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Six month update. The new cherry shrimp are doing much better than the previous lot, all the adults have grown huge (or at least bigger than I expected cherry shrimp to be!) and there are at least three shrimplets courtesy of the female who was carrying eggs when she arrived. I've not seen any...

Haha! Well I'm not the best at sexing shrimp but some are paler so it looks like a mix of males and females to me and at least one was berried so I have hope for shrimplets, if they don't get eaten! The endlers have already settled in and are trying to mate with my male threadfin rainbows...

Glad I visited the LFS today! They had a tank full of beautiful bright red cherry shrimp! :) Gorgeous colours. I've got 13 of them currently acclimating and I think I only got charged for 6 of them. Maybe I will have a chance at seeing some baby shrimp now, who knows?! I picked up some...

I don't think so, I bought from Sharnbrook Shrimp and they state the shipping sex is female. http://www.sharnbrookshrimp.co.uk/Fire_Red_Sakura_Shrimp_p/sakura-red-fire.htm I would love to have a breeding colony of cherries in the tank. I might have better success with my LFS, think I'll give...

Unfortunately the supplier I bought them from was careful to only give me females - I guess they want people to buy more from them, not breed their own.

The nice thing is I barely touch it except to trim the odd stem that breaches the surface! I decided to clean the filter this week since it was coming up to two months since the last clean but I needn't have bothered really. It was hardly dirty at all. Long may the low maintenance last! :)

Yes I drip acclimated the shrimp. They were larger than I expected so I think they were adults. I do have hard water so perhaps it was the shift in water parameters that weakened them. I haven't seen them for a long time so I'm not sure I've got any left now :( Thanks so much! The water is...

Thanks so much for the encouragement and kind comments! I've been taken by surprise by the sheer size of the crypts in this tank. I expected that C. petchii would be a fairly small crypt but today I had to remove one at front centre which I felt was taking over the tank! I wonder if it's the...

That's a good plan, I have a small unheated propagator which I try to keep cuttings, my first attempt with the Monte Carlo failed but I have a few off cuts growing in there now - not enough for a mat though!

Thanks Troi! I feel a bit intimidated by all the beautiful CO2 tanks in the journals section tbh! :) I'm hoping that my experiences might contain useful information for anyone else thinking of starting a soil tank, so I put it here!

Thanks for the feedback, I agree the branch is probably a bit too vertical and could be angled better aesthetically! I was attracted to this piece of wood because the natural twistiness reminds me of a kudu horn (an antelope from South Africa where I spent a year of my childhood). I also chose...

Hi SF, it's good! :) Thanks for your suggestions about the calcification. It hasn't seemed quite as bad for the last week. There's still scale on the glass but not so much on the leaves, at least I didn't have to bother wiping them off this week. pH seems quite stable at 8.2-8.3 and I've...

I think I remember seeing one of those environmental hazard signs with a picture of a dead fish on my tin of brasso - I don't think I'd trust the stuff anywhere near a fish tank, empty or otherwise!

A wipe with white vinegar does the trick for me. Inside of reflectors too.

Thanks SF! The lileaopsis might be getting a bit overshadowed but the monte carlo isn't shaded at all. I'm actually surprised that either of them have lasted this long without melting completely! :) If they deteriorate then I was thinking of trying some small crypts like willisi and legroi...

Coming up to 6 weeks. I've added 12 celestial pearl danios and looking to get my hands on some more in a couple of weeks. The bulbs are suddenly putting out some heavy growth (aponogeton back left and red lotus back right). The 'carpet' isn't doing much though.

Nearly 4 weeks since planting now. Snails are helping to keep the tank clean but still there is really very little algae. I'm very pleased with progress so far, it's exceeded my expectations. I'm not sure if the carpet plants are going to work out or how long this algae-free growth is going...

8.3 is the current tank pH in both my tanks (neither co2 injected). Water out of the tap is around 7.6 the last time I checked. 300 mg/L is the water board's reading, I don't have a TDS meter.

The first time I had problems was with an unplanted tank with baby platies. The tank scaled up with white dots similar to the ones I see on my Anubias now. Two weeks later the baby platies started to get sluggish immediately after a water change and some died within 24 hours, the rest...

Many thanks for all the help solving the mystery of the white dots, the information has been very interesting and I really appreciate it. I'm still somewhat bemused by the fish lethargy and deaths that seem to go hand in hand with this apparently benign scale. I deliberately chose platies as a...

The fish being affected are platies though, which should be okay with these parameters.

I've noticed that the scale forms more quickly on leaves where green algae has already taken hold. If you look at my first photo, you see that the worst affected leaf looks weak and has a layer of algae. I'd have expected the strongest leaves to develop the most scale, if this were merely a...

So it is basically limescale as I first thought and completely harmless - not a toxic fungus after all. I guess that's good news! It also makes sense that I have only ever seen this appear in non-CO2 enriched tanks. It never appeared in the two gas injected tanks I've had and appears only very...

Okay I put the leaf in vinegar and I could see tiny little bubbles rising from the affected areas. I also dug out the kid's microscope and managed to get these pictures close up: It looks pretty crystalline to me. Does this confirm it's just calcium carbonate?

That's an interesting theory Troi! Perhaps it does have something to do with a bleach reaction. It's been three weeks since the bleach dip though. The bleach was sodium hypochlorite and was followed up with a dechlorinating bath. Other plants (e.g. crypts) were also bleach dipped and do not...

Can anybody recognise and identify these white dots on my anubias plants? At first I thought they were calcium deposits or salts since I have hard water. However I have anubias in other tanks in the same water which did not show these symptoms. I've had fish (platies) growing sick...

Lol, yes. Bit of a bun fight! The H. polysperma has doubled in size while the H. polysperma "rosea" isn't doing very much. I knew the rosea was a bit more delicate but the difference in growth is very marked.

After suffering BBA meltdown in my last attempt at a scape, PinkMummy79's success story has inspired me to try a soil tank along with the invaluable guidance of members like Troi and ScienceFiction. I'm going for something simple with not too much hardscape, mineralized topsoil substrate with a...

Thanks for the info Troi. I've been mulling it over a lot :). Have you used T8's in a setup with lots of floating plants which provide shade? I'm now thinking about adding a TMC Aquabar alongside my existing T8's. With the option of a dimmer switch for the LED's and adding/removing...

Oh a 1kg sample would be perfect! I couldn't see an option for less than 5kg so perhaps they no longer offer samples? I hope so, Troi!

What about Juwel T5 tubes vs. standard T5 tube sizes? e.g. a 24W Juwel tube is 18 inches whereas a standard 24W T5 bulb is 22 inches. Does that mean that Juwel T5 tubes give more PAR because they pack the same wattage into a shorter length?

I've just bought some pottery clay for the purposes of mixing with mineralized topsoil for added iron content and to help the soil settle if disturbed, as advised in Aaron Talbot's guide to mineralized soil tanks. After some shopping around I decided to buy 5kg of Red Earthenware Powdered Clay...

Did you ever get a PAR reading for the tropical version? I'm struggling to make sense of these numbers but I think it's saying the PAR at a depth of 40cm (16 inches) is 13.11 W/m2, which converts to about 60 PAR as we recognise it?

Lovely healthy plants :) Thanks for posting. I like the natural colour compared to the Arcadia Stretch. I thought that plants needed a minimum continuous 4 hr photoperiod though to make efficient use of the light?

To put the question another way, if you have a 60cm tank with a 24w tube and a 120cm tank with a 54w tube, both tanks being 50cm deep, and you measured PAR at a central point on the substrate in each tank would they be about the same? I think that's what's being asked :)

Thanks Laurie Dear, I'm no expert on LED lights but the Novatouch ones look a bit gimmicky to me. I can't see any rating for the LEDs so I'd have to assume they are cheap 0.1W type bulbs and not intended for plant growth. That UP Pro LED looks the proper business! :) I'd love to see a pic...

Are there any alternatives to the Arcadia Stretch that spring to mind for a low-tech tank? I need something quick because the old light unit just failed on my low-tech 45cm tank and I want to get a replacement. The Arcadia Stretch is the right price and the right type of frame - anything else...

I also assumed that a single T5 tube would give comparable lighting per unit area regardless of length. If not then this would imply that shorter tanks with fluorescent lighting have lower light levels than longer tanks, all other factors being equal?

Thanks Troi, I love the healthy plants in that tank. So would you also recommend that higher quality T8 tubes are better for plants than my cheap tubes? If so I might go with option 2.

I was hoping to avoid LC because I'd like to keep shrimp. I already have another tank with double-dosed LC which I don't dare keep shrimp in. If I have to go hi-tech then I'll probably go the whole hog with this tank and inject. I'm flexible regarding plants, I thought MC would be a good...

The tank is a Juwel Lido, 24" wide and 20" deep from tubes to substrate. Currently it has 2x T8 tubes with Arcadia reflectors. My aim is to increase this without entering high light territory. My plans for the tank are a mineralised soil substrate and no additional CO2 or LC if I can help it...

Many thanks. The reflector graph in the first thread leads me to believe that a T5HO with 'fair' reflectors (such as the Arcadia clip-ons I use for my T8's) might not be as overpowered on my 20" deep tank as I first thought.

Ian what does 'other PC' mean on that chart please? I was hoping it would show a comparison of reflector-T8 with non-reflector T5, does a reflector roughly double PAR?

Embarrassingly, they're already clearly labelled! :oops: I could really use an extension socket with switches so I don't need to keep pulling plugs out.

OK I've been an idiot. I've just now discovered the melted remains of plastic around a nano-heater that I had stuffed in the cabinet. My guess is that I accidentally plugged the wrong heater back in after a water change and burned the nano-heater dry. What a frickin' moron! The good news is...

If you do get the Aquatlantis please do post PAR ratings compared to TMC, I'd be interested to know :)

Cheers, I've gone ahead and ordered the Aquael Easy Heater (I figured since I will be hiding it behind plants and I don't fiddle with the temperature much it'll do just fine for me). I also picked up a second one for my other tank to replace the eyesore Interpet heater I've always hated in...

I remember seeing that thread last year and worrying about it. That's one of the reasons I've always tried to look after mine, kept it as clean as I could (really hard to reach inside the unit) and made sure to keep it upright and never run it dry. I've heard a few people have problems with...

Thanks Henry, I was just browsing Aquael Easy Heaters with interest but didn't realise the NeoHeaters were a different model. It looks like the Neos have extra fancy LEDs. Would you say the NeoHeaters are worth the extra £10? I don't mind paying a bit more for quality as long as its reliable...

My external Hydor heater burnt out this morning, filling the kitchen with a strong burnt plastic smell. It was only 18 months old. I don't feel safe with external heaters any more. I want to return to a submersible in-tank heater. Any recommendations for a good model for a 120L tank?

Thanks. I need to get WPG out of my head completely then :)

I've only ever used T8's so I'm used to thinking in terms of WPG. Currently I have 2x 15W over a 31 USG tank so I know I have 1 WPG. My aim is to upgrade to 2 WPG. I could consider buying T5HO's and immediately recognise that 2x 24W T5HO would give me 1.5WPG. It's a simplified view but at...

Are you sure? The AllPondSolutions blurb says that "Using one Easy LED Universal system is the equivalent of using two T5 luminaires on your fish tank." Worshiper above also mentioned it is equivalent to two T5HO's. The 438mm length is rated at 1738 lumens but I don't know how that compares...

Oh I like the look of these AquaAtlantis units! I've been looking at upgrading my old T8 Juwel Lido unit to the new model Juwel High-lite T5's. The AquaAtlantis LED works out about the same price as the Juwel High-lite unit and would give about the same amount of light. Am I right in thinking...

Thanks, that confirms what I was thinking. I'm going to have a go at mineralising my garden soil and see how it fares, keeping Homebase topsoil in mind as a backup. I have a raised bed which I was going to dismantle anyway (a disused rockery) so I have plenty of topsoil going spare. It should...

Thanks SciFi. I read your 'Disaster!' journal last night. Sorry to hear that you had such problems with your lighting. I wonder how the tank would have progressed without all the hiccups! I noticed that you used a mix of Homebase and B&Q topsoils. I was leaning towards Homebase as there are...

Darrel - many thanks for your detailed reply. I understand about the surface agitation method of maintaining low levels of CO2, in fact I try to employ this method in my current liquid-carbon dosed tanks. Unfortunately one of them is a Juwel Lido 120 which is nearly 2ft deep so I struggle to...

I've decided that I want to try a Walstad soil-based tank but I'm getting confused about what substrate to choose. I've read Troi's introduction to soil substrates and he recommends peat due to the release of carbon-reach humic substances, if I've understood it correctly. Peat also interests...

Hi to you guys, I'm also in the Bracknell area!

I'm reconciled to breaking the tank down as it's beyond rescue by spot treatment but I'll bear the sprayer idea in mind for future treatments, thanks. Do you think that hydrogen peroxide would make a better algaecide than bleach for blitzing the empty tank, hardscape and substrate? I've never...

Will do but I'm still in the planning phase for the new setup and it might be a few weeks yet before I'm ready to take this tank apart and bleach the plants.

Thanks for the replies. According to your link and other sources on the web, plants can be left anywhere from 30 seconds to 15 minutes depending on who you ask! :) Judging by what I've read so far I'd be tempted to try a 2-4 minute dip for the anubias and less for the cryptocoryne, maybe 40-60...

Algae has overtaken my tank, mostly a long-haired variety of BBA with soft wavy black strands about an inch or two long. I want to tear the tank down and start from scratch. There are a couple of plants that I'd like to save, namely a beautiful cryptocoryne and some anubias species which are...

It must take some skill to use those tools - I find it hard enough using normal tweezers without extensions!

Suddenly I have a desire to visit Tokyo :)

I enjoyed your journal - sorry it didn't work out as well as you wanted. I would have loved to see if you could figure out that algae problem and crack it on the head. Nice looking scape, even so :)

Only the cyanoacrylate based ones I believe.

This tank is somewhat over the 1 year mark now and has fulfilled the vision that I originally intended for it... Although I have had some problems with BBA since last June and I lost all the moss because of it. That's simply down to fluctuating CO2 from the yeast-based system... I was warned it...

Thanks for letting us know, good to know how it got resolved! and... gorgeous pics!

Hydor externals got pulled from the UK market for a few months and then recently reappeared and now the prices have gone up. I heard a rumour that Hydor had pulled the stock while they fixed a fault so I guess that means the new models might be more reliable. That's just a rumour though so I...

I likewise killed some anubias but the rhizome survived and eventually bounced back.

That sounds like my missing link! Suddenly it makes sense, thanks so much!

Thanks! I'd forgotten that Wet's calculator included those options, that's handy! :) Just to set people's mind at rest, the reason for this question isn't for calculating my own EI dosing. It's to reverse-calculate in tanks who are following some random teaspoon recipe and we want to evaluate...

Thanks for explaining this. I'm still having a hard time getting my head around the idea that the air actually has more impact on tightly packed grains than it does on coarse grains! Common sense tells me that the larger crystals would have more air trapped and therefore a lower effective...

Thanks Vinkenoog, that was exactly my thought too. However the result with the highest discrepancy was for the potassium sulphate which is a fine-grained, tightly packed salt. If air was a factor shouldn't this result in more of a discrepancy for the magnesium sulphate which has much coarser...

I want to find out what one teaspoon of any particular salt weighs and I'm having difficulties. First of all, a very polite request to anybody who would like to tell me "it doesn't matter" - I do know that EI is not based on exact measurements, however in this thread I'm looking for a more...

I'm honoured by all the kind comments, thank you! Lighting is standard T8's with reflectors, plus backlighting.

Cheers, Mainly long narrow-leaf java fern and Taiwan moss Anubias petite, trident fern and Java fern 'mini' around the base, also some hydrocotyle tripartita Crypts legroi, beckettii, amicorum & miya oya Plus more recently experimenting with various foreground plants and stems to sides and...

Thanks for the comments! This was how it started back in October:

This is my Juwel Lido 120L island, my first attempt at an aquascape and now 7 months old.

I've been using this diffuser for about four weeks I've got a spare ceramic disc but I can't unscrew the diffuser to get at the disc inside I need to clean it :( Anyone had a problem getting it open?

Thanks for the tip about the syringe, Tim. I remembered this and tried it out today and my diffuser is good as new :)

Great, that's very helpful thanks! I will keep testing a while longer before I attempt a diagnosis.

Should I expect to see the chlorosis disappear in the existing leaves, or is it only new growth that will benefit from the new ferts?

This is the advice I keep seeing: that it is best to use fast-growing plants when starting a tank. That's why I was concerned that a tank planted with slow-growing plants would not be able to absorb the NH4 fast enough. But Clive says the 6-8 week method will work even for slow-growing plants...

Thanks to all for an interesting discussion. How do you determine whether a lightly planted tank has enough plants to mature naturally in this way? Would the same principles work for yeast CO2, liquid carbon or non-CO2 tanks?

At what point can fish be added? Would you recommend adding a small 'test' dose of ammonia (say 1ppm) to ensure that the tank is ready for fish before adding them? I'm thinking especially of tanks filled with slow-growing plants such as fern, anubias and crypts that might take longer to mature.

A key problem that I see happening time and again is that many test kits including the API kit will give a zero reading if the actual measurement is off the scale. This leads to people assuming their cycle is complete when their tank is actually deadly. It happens frequently when people dose...

I think that 10ppm is the weekly target, so I am dividing it by 3 and adding to my Macro solution dosed three times a week. That works out as about 1g of Magnesium sulphate per 30L. Daily dosing would be about 1g per 70L.

Got it, you're a star!

Great thanks Darrel. It turned out quite expensive to ship a kilo of magnesium sulphate (about £5.50 plus £6 postage) so I followed Three-fingers advice and checked out my local pharmacy, 2 minutes walk down the road, 1.5kg of pure Epsom Salts for £3.99! Result! So I've got the magnesium now...

Thanks Darrel! Yes my water is very hard, I didn't know that calcium could affect magnesium uptake. I'll get some potassium nitrate + magnesium sulphate. It might be interesting to add one at a time to see what effect they have!

Clive - I am dosing half EI because that is what Tom Barr advised me to do. It's standard advice to dose half EI in a tank with only liquid carbon and slow-growing plants? Everything I'm doing is exactly what he advised me to do at the time (though of course he couldn't know my tap nitrate...

Thanks for the replies. Here's a pic of the anubias, there are three leaves on the left, right and middle showing the dark veins. The tank is 64L. I aim for half-EI dosing of potassium, phosphorus and trace. I dose twice the standard dose of EasyCarbo. Nitrate reads 30ppm in the tank...

I've noticed some lighter coloured leaves on my anubias and crypts with darker veins (can upload a picture if required?) According to this guide it is a sign of magnesium deficiency: http://miyabi-aqua.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/plant-deficiency-labeled.jpg Is this correct? (Currently I...

I was just checking this out and Argos charge £9.99 for a refill - have they put the price up? Results for SODASTREAM GAS

Brilliant thanks for all the advice!

Thanks guys, lots of ideas for me to try here! Currently I've got three bottles with 1/4 tsp yeast each = 3/4 tsp total for a 120L tank. How much yeast would I need to drive a ceramic diffuser? What's the best way to check for leaks? I've heard that washing up liquid is useful to watch for...

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions! Three-fingers - that sounds very encouraging! Do you know if Sander size 1 or 2 fits a standard air tube? tim - are ciggy filters definitely safe for aquariums? LondonDragon - unfortunately I just tried a nano diffuser that looks identical to the...

Currently I use normal airstones for my DIY yeast CO2 system. I've got the airstone positioned under my filter intake and I'm quite pleased with the results. The only problem is, the airstones crumble after only 3 weeks. They're cheap so I don't mind the cost of replacing them but I don't...