Search results for query: *

Is it not possible to simply put this tray at the top and lower the other trays x 1?

The general consensus for a high tech tank is to change 50% or more using the following regimen, week one - every day, week two - every other day, week three - every third day, week four - twice ang once a week thereafter. However, as far as I am aware none of your chosen substrates leach...

I got ahead of myself here, @Happi has already done all the math's and descriptions, Solufeed 2:1:4 and Solufeed Sodium Free TEC or Solufeed Coir TEC Combination. Well worth a read of the whole thread. Cheers!

Looks great, and you are doing a sterling job of keeping the soil from off of the sand!

Hi, Neutro+ is I believe a comprehensive fertiliser with NPK so should be good (although I am not sure of the composition). I would look to dose as per the manufacturers instructions with a view to increasing it as plant mass evolves. The liquid CO2 (a misnomer) would be better put to one side...

This, coupled with a few hours of direct sunlight is quite possibly exacerbating the problem.

Under those circumstances my personal plan of attack would be just use the natural light for 8 hours/day to begin with, and as soon as possible (like now) add floating plants and more fast growing stems. Once you have a reasonable amount of plant mass, surface coverage and no other unexpected...

Is the tank 60cm's high?

What are the intensity %'s of the lights in the three photographs, all 100% ?

Hi, If the GH and KH values are rising in your tank it's highly likely you have some calcareous hardscape or substrate. I don't know if I personally would bother using RO and remineralising just to lower the pH a little, especially if aforementioned hardscape is leaching CaCO3 into the water...

Looks like Diatoms to me, they should disappear naturally over the next couple of weeks as your tank matures. Light intensity looks good (from the photo) for a new tank, just keep the photoperiod stable, and keep an eye on the plants, if they begin to look to like they are beginning to suffer...

Are you doing any water changes?

...and Yes, get some floating plants!

It is quite possible that it is Diatoms but difficult to tell without a photograph, if so, snails and shrimp will eat it or manual removal, i.e. agitation and sucking up during a water change. What was your light setting before? Your plants may well be now not getting enough light but possibly...

Are Caridina not an option, The Tangerine Tigers I have are thriving in 4 dGH 0.3 dKH?

Yes I do now. While I now pretty much abhor trimming and replanting stem plants (and cleaning pipe work), I do like to fiddle about and tinker. So, I now (with a recent complete rescape) remineralise with CaCl2, CaSO4, MgSO4, CaNO3, KHCO3 with a tad of NaHCO3. I also front load KNO3 and KH2PO4...

1 litre of TNC Complete is £16.50 on Amazon, used at their recommended dosage, 1ml/10 litres (I have heard some folks double or even triple dose, depending on plant mass) will last 40 weeks, so not too expensive. Are these your new additions? If so, they will have been grown emersed and...

I personally would say it is too small for one. I have recently had to move my one on from a 230l, as a 12cm fish in a 90cm tank is not a good ratio. I'm sure these fish ideally need at least a 1.2m tank, if not more. The MA in Notts has a tank with a good few of these which have out grown...

Hi, 639 seems exorbitant to me. Are you doing water changes and topping off with RO, DI or rain water? 300 from the tap sounds about right for hard water areas so the TDS meter is good. I suppose it is possible the root tabs could be leaching into the water column. As such, I would be tempted to...

I am still unsure what your original target values were, but 4.25g of Solufeed Sodium Free TEC dissolved in 1 litre of water and dosed 10ml/day, 7 days/week into 50 litres of water will give you a 0.5 ppm Fe weekly target (EI Dosing). For a 0.1 ppm target just add 0.85g to the 1 Litre of water...

You should be able to glean some information from this thread, Something... Something... Shallow UG Tank! Cheers!

The 'Chihiros WRGB Universal' is (I think) designed to be fitted/used under a hood, you may have to find an alternative way to install it as 140cm is not a standard size. Chihiros WRGB Universal LED 1000

I know it is subjective but to me your tank looks far better now, kudos for the effort. Under the circumstances I personally would not bother with CO2. Looking at that plant list and the plants you already have in your tank, I can't see many species that will vastly benefit from it's...

The Sodium Free TEC Micro has an extreme similarity in make up as the APFUK Micro that they sold before closing down. If no one else has worked it out for you, I will a bit later, but have to nip for a couple of hours.

Hi, Any chance of slightly more info, size of tank, water change amount etc? Cheers!

It must surely be some kind of mistake, I have quite recently ordered a few different rare Crypts on separate occasions from them and all has been well.

Congensis or Heterophylla perhaps, I stand to be corrected.

I'm sure I have read somewhere that Frodo Stone is practically inert and after a while the effects become negligible. I am also quite sure that I have read/watched a tour of Adam Paszela's studio where he explained that the Frodo Stones were hand collected by aquarists from the Carpathian...

Hi and welcome! I'm curious to know, what are the yellow and black striped fish, please? Thanks!

Hats off to you for managing to count them!

10 gallon shallow rescape, mentioned earlier in the thread Flora First Aquatic Planting Substrate Brown, and available from MA in the UK, I'm unsure of the availability in Brazil. Cheers!

They do, but it is more inline with the requirements of the Chili Rasboras. As mentioned above, a small amount of a cheap salt and you can target whatever KH you want (using RO), 1 dKH is fine, I run at 0.3 dKH with no problems. If the tank has inert substrate (as opposed to active) that is...

Consider starting a Journals where all your questions, answers and photos are in one place.

I think you would be better off contemplating Caridina rather than Neos to live with Chilis as they both prefer more similar parameters. You could use slightly less SK remineraliser targeting 4-5 dGH and a small amount of Potassium Carbonate/Bicarbonate will up the KH, 1 or 2 will be fine.

Using ripe biomedia (as mentioned by Darrel), and established plants will help speed things up, along with some other processes we want to happen in the substrate, but whatever you add, the Nitrogen cycle will not balance out until you have added your last fish and everything becomes a constant...

A couple of photographs would be nice!

Personally and being slightly pedantic I would split the difference, and dose Saturday's pump on the Friday and forget about Sunday. Your tank is around 3 months old now, and as they mature they become more forgiving. As such, I don't think it will make a whole lot of difference whatever you do...

I had 2 pots of in vitro Crypts sitting on my desk for well over 6 months before some of the leaves started to turn brown, although I would not advocate leaving them this long. The following morning will be absolutely fine. Cheers!

Hi and welcome, It will reduce the velocity but should improve distribution/circulation towards the sides of the tank where at present there may be dead areas, especially on the side without the inlet. I assume that you are running low tech and as such I personally think this is a better...

Do you still have them above, or are they now below the waterline?

I spoke too soon on that thread.

Look forward to seeing them hanging above your tank!

Hi, and good luck! I think this could quite easily be brought back round without the need of a complete strip down. Keep us posted and we can offer advice along the way. I presume your first point of attack is to clean the glass, hardscape and equipment. Substrate could be added gradually if...

I must admit I'm suspecting the pH meter reading. It's highly unlikely you will get a reliable reading of RO (even slightly remineralised) with a hobby grade pH meter. I gave up trying to measure pH a long time ago with 4 dGH and 0.5 dKH, after buying two fairly expensive meters. I would also...

What is the percentage of RO/TW (I would imagine your TW is pretty hard?), and I presume that is the pH of your mixed water?

Are you using any form of Aquasoil?

I think a lot of this has to do with lighting, mine looked practically green under a A360X but immediately looked shocking pink when the A360X was replaced with a P900.

Really difficult to tell from the photo but could possibly be Neon Green Rasbora Microdevario kubotai (Microrasbora kubotai) — Seriously Fish ? Can't see any compatibility issues, but Tetras, Corys, pencilfish (NG Rasboras?) and the Barbs would more likely prefer an acidic environment, whereas...

Black quartz sand is an option, not sure how much you need (size of tank, substrate depth etc) or want to pay. Hugo Kamishi do 8kg's for 16 quid (I've never used it), I'm sure it can be obtained cheaper if unbranded. You can also go down the Basalt route with Eco-Complete (I have used it) or...

Up to 0.9m - 40kg, I think you might need something even bigger than a 6'x2'x2'. But anyway, as Darrel mentions they're illegal in this country. Myxocyprinus asiaticus – Chinese Sailfin Sucker — Seriously Fish

Samurai Gourami, nice!

Trimmers paradise 🙂 looking good though!

Difficult to know for sure what it consists of, so cannot really advise one way or the other, their website is a bit sparse for information. How big is your tank/water change, and what are the parameters of your tap water? Calcium Sulphate and/or Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Sulphate and...

At first sight to me that looks like Pleco/Bristlenose damage, do you have any of these in your aquarium?

I'm no Chemist and never used Equilibrium, but looking below I understand that it will not raise the KH significantly if at all, on it's own. If you want to stick with Seachem you will need to spend more money. Quote: 'Equilibrium™ raises the essential mineral/electrolyte content (General...

Similar, but I have a 130l premix container of which I first filled by syphoning out of my full tank when full and new (leak test) and marked the level with a Sharpie. Now it is syphon off to mark and pump back prepped water, job done.

While I fully agree that low KH will cause pH swings, I'm not so sure about a pH crash or even a detrimental swing. My last (and current) aquarium ran for over 3 1/2 years with 0.3-0.5 dKH with no problems at all and other's are running at 0 dKH with CO2 and without any problems. Large frequent...

Tap water to die for. Another option for you is to add approximately 1.25g CaSO4 and1g MgSO4 to 15l (50%) of water change water giving you 4 dGH. 0.3g KHCO3 will give you an increase of 0.5 dKH (or thereabouts) on top of your very low tap water KH, all of which is pretty much ideal for Caridina...

Am I right in assuming that this is the TEC- Sodium Free?

Hi and welcome, Look forward to seeing what you come up with, and your progression. When you have found your way around the forum you could consider starting a Journals, so you can have and show your journey all in one package. Cheers!

Did you watch until the end? At the 5 minute mark and thereafter he explains that you need to address the underlying problems and using it is not an excuse to be a lazy aquarist.

He will do, he made a sale. Looking at the last FTS above I would recommend rather than throwing your money at multiple quick fixes, to roll your sleeves up, get your hands in the tank and do maintenance. That algae on the glass needs to be removed (followed by a water change), most of the...

This don't think this is quite right. The Indicator Solution will change colour according to the amount of CO2 that is above it in the void of the Drop Checker regardless of KH or any parameter of tank water (unless you are using tank water in the Checker). Premixed fluid is generally mixed with...

Quite a few of us including myself have been doing this for years, you need the gel type cyanoacrylate rather than the liquid (I haven't actually tried that), it takes about 10 seconds to bond. Don't use very much or you will end up with a big white blob on your hardscape.

Difficult to tell for sure from the clear water photograph above, but it looks like you may have a few to many plants in your corral, you can use your planting tweezers to ensure at least some of them are upright and floating. I have never had RRF's before but understand they really do not like...

Yes. Yes, but Powersand is a base layer for Amazonia (or whatever) as Nutribase is a base layer to go under sand or soil.

Any half decent RO unit should get your GH and KH down to zero or undetectable amounts anyway, mine brings the TDS down from 300 to 10. You don't really need the DI module with fresh water, just sediment, activated carbon, carbon block prefilters and the membrane, you may need a small boost pump...

It is not resting on the doors. There must be thousands out there but I have not heard of any catastrophic failure. The vast majority of pressure on the front glass will be pushing out, not down.

So, New Years Eve was strip down day. My intention was to keep my Little Lava Rock wall but removing the Spiralis Red lifted this and the whole substrate, it measures a meter long in the photo but I had to scissor off most of the roots to get it out of the tank. I was unable to use my own...

When the back of the tank is flush with the back of the cabinet does the front of the tank overhang the front of the cabinet to sit flush with the doors when they are closed? If so, this is commonplace with some modern cabinets. I presume the 60cm width is OK Here's a (blurred taken in the dark)...

If that is your only problem then as already mentioned more plants. A couple of bunches of fast growing stems wouldn't go amiss, you can rid yourself of them later if they do not fit your final plan. You don't need to plant them either just weighed down in a bunch, you have a large tank so when...

Not sure quite what you are asking, but the substrate will suck up lots at the beginning to sucking up none, how do you intend to keep your hard water at 6 -8 dGH thereafter?

With the tank still being relatively new it might be wise to just trim one bunch at a time anyway, to avoid too much of a sway towards imbalance. A fully mature aquarium/substrate will cope with this more easily down the line.

Hi, Do you have any more information on these grass seeds, I'm interested as to what they are?

According to their website it's just Micro with a dash of Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium, try it for a couple of weeks and see if there is any improvement. Are you in a hard or soft water area?

....and most probably a couple of teaspoons of Magnesium Sulphate (Epsom Salts), the IFC will give you an accurate target.

The unit can possibly continue to run when using a float valve (although I'm not familiar with this particular system, just the generic RO type). When the float valve is closed the small amount of pressure that builds up on the low pressure side will shut the valve off on the high pressure side...

I'm not sure how familiar you are with RO but you will need auto shut off valves to work in conjunction with the float valves.

You was advised when you first revealed that you had these fish in an immature 60cm aquarium with wildly out of balance and fluctuating parameters to return them to the vendor and yet you chose to keep them until they sadly passed taking the Angels et al with them. I really cannot understand why...

And they have liquid ad vapor co2 ? = Vapour withdrawal. What is best for us ? = ??? Not sure what you are asking here. Food grade ? = Any, welding, food, medical or beer, (cheapest) etc... Please can someone advice what of the cylinder to buy from there? = One that has the same thread as your...

I Know they can be successfully kept in the right environment but I wonder how many people over the years have bought 5 of them and put them in their peaceful 60cm community tank. Put me off keeping Barbs since the 70's until I recently discovered the Desmopuntius family, they act like fish.

Take them back now to the guy who sold them to you under false pretenses, if they do manage to survive in that tank for 6 months they will certainly not be very healthy.

I see no mention of Calcium or Magnesium, is there a list of ingredients on the back of the bottle?

They are not Tetras, they could well be young Red Rainbowfish (Glossolepis Incisa) and can potentially reach 6 inches (150mm), what size tank have you got them in?

For clarification are you just using pure RO water and added fertz, no Calcium, Magnesium or Carbonate compounds?

I would have expected 5kgs to last at least a year on a 60l especially only running 1 bps for 6 hours a day. I'm sure you will have checked your joints with soapy water?

Back to UKAPS again!

I might well be wrong but seem to remember reading that when the last bit of liquid CO2 turns to gas in the cylinder the pressure increases. I would have thought a non budget modern day single stage reg and a half decent needle valve would probably help alleviate the problem but perhaps not...

Have a browse through the Journal forums Featured Journals and Journals and probably the best for quick browsing Planted Tank Gallery

No thoughts on using expanding foam? Expanding foam

Hi, I'm afraid I don't quite understand this statement either, any chance of elaborating? I ran my last scape (and also running my current one) at 0.5 dKH without any problems whatsoever, a few on here run their tanks at zero or close to and are some of the best plant growth I've seen.

Correct. I don't know for sure but I have heard/read on here that some advise it's a more stable environment without the TDS fluctuating through the week plus other factors. I can't see a problem with this method just less Iron more often but with less I would imagine it would precipitate out...

Not really, just find a dosing regime that suits you and your tank requirements, for me stability is the key factor in this instance so once found stick with it, as long as your targets are in by the end of the week. Then you can make incremental changes if something is lacking or overabundant.

As I said earlier I'm no biologist or expert but to my understanding Iron is usually the casualty in the conflict. For eg, some folks front load their Macros and daily dose Micro because Iron is the element which is not going to be around for too long before forming insoluble compounds with the...

Yes of course there will be but how much, are you testing for it, I don't? Relying on waste and food could be somewhat unreliable on higher tech tank, targeting 0.8ppm is not really adding that much Phosphate but it will always be there or has been.

Yes, but only from the Potassium Phosphate that I add. Did you mean the Phosphate from tap water? I use RO. If you are using tap I presume you have populated the 'Your Area Water Report' under the Core Settings tab? I can see you have been using the IFC, you can just change the dosing frequency...

1, Yes you are correct, I've made up 4 weeks supply in various strengths (including full EI in the past) for the last 18 years or so and never encountered any mould or falling out of suspension of both macro and micro (separate bottles) using salts and commercial micro. 2, The problem is Iron...

It does!

Hi, If you have a largish tank and now that you have experience remineralising you could consider using Calcium Sulphate and/or Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Sulphate (Epsom Salts) and Potassium Bicarbonate, also using the Remin feature of the fabulous IFC Calculator IFC Aquarium Fertilizer...

It looks to me like they have turned the corner now, I love planting them, watching them melt and then slowly come back better than before, the world of chilled aquascaping!