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  1. X3NiTH

    Camallanus Apistogramma Treating Tank

    The Epsom salt suggestion I made when I spoke to you is apparently the go to remedy for prolapse now that I’ve had time to look. Here’s hoping the fish can heal🤞
  2. X3NiTH

    Acrylic Hooded Aquarium!

    Yup me too! I modded my CFL version to add a TMC Mini LED 400 Tile. Added a canister filter but then couldn’t close the lid, I’m sure I could have modded it to work out better. And then I took the lid off to add more gubbins. It’s a robust tank, quit a job to hack the lid off! :-)
  3. X3NiTH

    Finally joined, hi all

    Welcome! :-)
  4. X3NiTH

    Hello from Glasgow!

    Welcome! :-)
  5. X3NiTH

    Hi from Glasgow

    Welcome! :-)
  6. X3NiTH

    Hi From Gloucestershire!

    Welcome! :-)
  7. X3NiTH

    Ista CO2 Cylinder

    They were 2kg brand new cylinders, filled and safety inspected. It’s a reasonable price to pay if like me you run out of gas and forget to plan ahead for not getting refilled on the day and you absolutely can’t do without it. It pays to have spare cylinders, I’ve got 3 FE and two 1Kg cylinders...
  8. X3NiTH

    Ista CO2 Cylinder

    You want to pay a visit to Forth Fire Protection in the Elizafield estate off Bonnington Road in Leith, Edinburgh. They’ll fill your extinguishers or other gas cylinders for you no problem, can’t do Sodastream (new type) bottles though, we’ve tried already and it’s got an anti-fill device. If...
  9. X3NiTH

    Spare tropica soil

    Don’t see why not but you’d have to add a complete fertiliser because it’ll be nutrient poor compared to say a John Innes compost. :-)
  10. X3NiTH

    C02 injection with already low ph

    In the above instance two pH controllers were being used, one controlled CO2 and the other Air. One of the controllers could be set to reverse operation ie ‘turn on power’ when a set pH point was reached. The CO2 was dialled in so it never reached the set point to turn off the gas so it flowed...
  11. X3NiTH

    Prime

    I used to do this since forever until there were major road works in the area diverting water supplies and rebuilding the supply network, I knew nothing of Chloramination at this time, 24hr typical offgas before use and every water change became a death sentence for fish, it took a long while to...
  12. X3NiTH

    C02 injection with already low ph

    Nope it’s not a problem if you intend to stick soft water species of fish. Here’s my first scape running CO2 on a controller, you can see the pH is 5.36 and the drop checker hiding on the back is visibly lime green indicating about 30ppm CO2, the tank is rammed with plants in rude health and the...
  13. X3NiTH

    Best light setting

    Only running it at 16W output. The light was about 8” from the water surface and the tank depth is only 12”. I matched the output from the previous device illuminating the tank by taking a pic with my phone to get the ISO, f-stop and exposure settings and then just matched the exposure...
  14. X3NiTH

    Black algae in new setup :(

    Yeah definately a problem as you’re seeing the results with uncontrollable algae growth that’s just swallowing everything, most fabrics are useless at keeping out direct sunlight, you would be better using something that was light impermeable like black plastic sheeting instead. The direct...
  15. X3NiTH

    Black algae in new setup :(

    Looking at the reflections in the tank glass I can see that you’re up high (large horizon) and the tank is next to the window and it looks like direct sunlight is making it into the tank, this is a no no, the plant obliteration and rampant algae growth is very likely a direct result of this, it...
  16. X3NiTH

    Best light setting

    I use one of these on my freshwater setup, here’s the settings I had for running low light over a 60L with Buce, Crypts and Vallis. This is what the tank looked like. :-)
  17. X3NiTH

    What’s this goop then? Fungus? Bacteria?

    It’s a bacterial/fungal growth, it’s harmless, you can rub it free with your hands while in the tank and just let the filter deal with it, alternatively if there’s too much for the filter to handle then just net out the excess. It will eventually go away on its own. Shrimp will eat it. :-)
  18. X3NiTH

    Prep for missed water change

    It will be fine without the waterchange, just do it when you get back. If you’re CO2 runs fine on a daily basis week in week out and you’re not having to adjust it then I would leave everything as is, just make sure there’s enough gas in the bottle to last the two weeks you’re away. Two things...
  19. X3NiTH

    ~Heyya new member here!~

    Welcome :-)
  20. X3NiTH

    Plant Identification Help Please

    Looks like Hygrophilla, probably Siamensis. :-)
  21. X3NiTH

    Does this look like ich?

    The only negative to running UV 24/7 is that it can degrade any light sensitive chelates bonded with any micro fertilisers, mainly Iron, as long as this is dosed regularly (every day or every other day) then you would reduce the chance of the plants suffering Iron deficiencies. :-)
  22. X3NiTH

    Does this look like ich?

    This is always my suggestion for treating this. Use a Malachite Green and Formaldehyde formulation, Protozin from Waterlife has both and also includes Copper Sulphate (not invert friendly), or alternatively Anti Whitespot and Fungus treatment from Maidenhead Aquatics which is Malachite Green and...
  23. X3NiTH

    Hello everyone!

    Welcome! :-)
  24. X3NiTH

    Hitech, some plants problems.

    I’m assuming you are fortifying the Micro mix with additional Fe because looking at the ingredients on the Intermag micro plus the Iron to Manganese ratio is already 2.25:1 whereas you are dosing a ratio of 7:1 with additional added Fe which should be plenty Fe (more than I dose per week). If...
  25. X3NiTH

    Review my fert solution mix

    That’s fine, the FeDTPA is good up to pH7.5 so it will stay chelated inside your pH range.
  26. X3NiTH

    Review my fert solution mix

    The Planted Box EI kit is equivalent to APFUK, same instructions, Vinegar or Ascorbic acid it doesn’t really matter as long as the water receiving the micro ferts is acidified beforehand. Water reports never usually state the K content but the world wide average according to the World Health...
  27. X3NiTH

    New to this exciting hobby!

    There’s no need for a quarantine tank generally if it’s the first fish in because the new tank serves this purpose and if subsequent fish are coming from the same batch/shop then there generally shouldn’t be a problem. Catching, Transporting and New Introductions are general stressors for fish...
  28. X3NiTH

    New to this forum

    Welcome :-)
  29. X3NiTH

    Shrimps unhappy in a small UNS

    If they look like they are on the hunt there could be a female/females that are ready to breed and are releasing pheromones attracting them. If it’s not this then I can only point to a possibility it could be the cherry leaf, I only say this because I had thought about using Cherry flowers to...
  30. X3NiTH

    Hitech, some plants problems.

    I’d increase the Mn dose to about 0.2-0.25 per week increasing its overall ratio with Fe to around 3:1 Fe:Mn, I would also go the alternate dosing route and split the weekly dose into amounts to dose every other day. It looks like you’re dosing micro once per week and phosphate every day so...
  31. X3NiTH

    Help with auto doser

    How about sand/carve the outer diameter of the Acrylic to fit into your tubing or you can ream out the inner diameter of the Acrylic tube with a drill bit to the required diameter or alternately use heat to soften the Acrylic tube and then push fit the tubing inside. :-)
  32. X3NiTH

    KNO3 or calcium ammonium nitrate?

    It’s the Un-Ionised form NH3 (Ammonia) that’s is most toxic. Total ammonia in aqueous solution consists of two principal forms, the ammonium ion (NH4+) and un-ionised ammonia (NH3), with relative concentrations being pH- and temperature-dependent. The un-ionised form is most toxic due the fact...
  33. X3NiTH

    Cycling my first new tank

    The Liquid CO2 in question is MicrobeLift BioCO2 which is Humic and Fulvic acid based and not the Gluteraldehyde you assume so there is no acute toxicity risk (I have dosed at 6x the rate on the bottle when I use it as the liquid carrier component for phosphate dosing instead of just water)...
  34. X3NiTH

    Calcium and dosing fertilisers

    I aim to have 15ppm NO3, 5ppm K, 3ppm PO4 present in the water, I also target a ratio of 3:1 Ca:Mg (plant tissue ratio). This is easier to achieve in a tank without fish because there won’t be accumulation as they are dosed only once at waterchange. Fish in then you need to test to find out the...
  35. X3NiTH

    Calcium and dosing fertilisers

    Yes, that’s all I’ve ever needed to do. I’ve measured in GH10 KH10 Fe dosed at 0.15ppm on one day (0.1ppm Fe Gluconate and 0.05 Fe DTPA) reduced to 0.025ppm by the next day (lots of plants in the tank), the Gluconate chelate is very temporary lasting only a few hours at best so assuming this...
  36. X3NiTH

    Calcium and dosing fertilisers

    I ran a tank with GH10 and KH10 (remineralised RO/DI) and didn’t adjust the levels of micro being dosed other than using the appropriate chelate which in that case was DTPA (I also dose FeGluconate), when I was running a tank with GH6 and KH0 FeEDTA chelate was sufficient. Dosed every other day...
  37. X3NiTH

    New to this exciting hobby!

    Welcome! ;-)
  38. X3NiTH

    Approximating and Maintaining Water Chemistry of a Meromictic Lake

    Can you post the brand of Reef Salt you are using and the batch number (some salts provide elemental analysis of content per batch) so we can get a better idea of extra minerals, obviously there’s not just NaCl in the salt you’re bringing along a 3:1 ratio of Mg:Ca and extra carbonates (usually...
  39. X3NiTH

    Approximating and Maintaining Water Chemistry of a Meromictic Lake

    At a minimum I would aerate the mixture to help with dissolution, if I wanted this to more rapidly solubilise I would bubble co2 through the mix to reduce the pH, it still could take a while to fully go into solution. I would prepare this mixture at least a week in advance of its use to fully...
  40. X3NiTH

    Approximating and Maintaining Water Chemistry of a Meromictic Lake

    Don’t target for the Total Sulphate content as per the paper a lot of that is surface run off from anthropogenic activity (digging etc). If you use CaSO4 to target for both the Ca and the SO4 values it should be sufficient to reach the exact figure for Ca and have around 1000ppm SO4. Targeting...
  41. X3NiTH

    Overhanging grasses in riparium

    Lilaeopsis would be my choice also and if I didn’t want uniformity in height I would mix the species, Brasilensis, Novae-Zelandiae and Mauritiana. :-)
  42. X3NiTH

    Microbe lift bio,

    Directly it will have no effect on the control of algae it’s not how the product works, however indirectly it can affect the growth of algae. The indirect method is that you are increasing the health of plants by providing an extra source of carbon nutrition that the plant can then use...
  43. X3NiTH

    Approximating and Maintaining Water Chemistry of a Meromictic Lake

    You can use Calcium Hydroxide to replace any Calcium that is up-taken in the system but personally I wouldn’t be using it to form part of the remineralisation process of RO/DI unless I needed to elevate Calcium levels a little without adding additional Chlorides or Sulphates beyond the target...
  44. X3NiTH

    Approximating and Maintaining Water Chemistry of a Meromictic Lake

    These waters are Sulphate dominated more so than bicarbonate. Doing rough calculations for the significant ions in the water - 1,119ppm SO4 200ppm HCO3 420ppm Ca 72ppm Mg 34ppm Cl 17ppm Na 3ppm K 2.8ppm SiO2 1.8ppm NO3 You’re going to blending a combination of Calcium Sulphate, Magnesium...
  45. X3NiTH

    IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator

    Can you post the full chemical formula for the AlkylPhosphate you have because as an Organophosphate some of them are highly toxic to aquatic life in the 1-10mg/L range. If you can identify the compound you can look it up to see what the safety data says for it here -...
  46. X3NiTH

    Greetings from Edinburgh, Scotland

    Welcome! :-)
  47. X3NiTH

    Macro mix stability

    The highest likelihood here is a Phosphate compound precipitating out, concentrate solutions containing Magnesium and Phosphate compounds can form less soluble or insoluble precipitates depending on the pH of the solution. If the source of KNO3 you have has any Ammonia present then there is a...
  48. X3NiTH

    Internal UV filters

    UVC can only penetrate about 1cm of water so it’s a pointless danger to use an exposed bulb in an aquarium, enclosed UV units are designed to channel water around the quartz sleeve with a gap of around 1cm from the quartz sleeve to the enclosure wall to maximise the effectiveness of UVC...
  49. X3NiTH

    How do I get my plant in to market?

    You could also try Aquafleur they are a competitor to Tropica. Contact Aquafleur :-)
  50. X3NiTH

    Hello from Livingston

    Welcome! ;-)
  51. X3NiTH

    A little introduction

    Welcome! :)
  52. X3NiTH

    Mystery disease - caridina mariae

    Interesting indeed, so the main culprits here are the Gram Negative bacteria and the suggested treatment using H2O2 is not overly successful. I had a quick look to see if there’s a way to improve the success of treatment with H2O2 and came across this very interesting paper. Killing and Lysis...
  53. X3NiTH

    Curious case of no Nitrates? Expert opinion needed.

    I would dose way more frequently than that and judging by the content analysis I would be at the very least double dosing that weekly amount while spread out to dosing every other day. :-)
  54. X3NiTH

    Microbe lift bio,

    I still use it augmented with potassium phosphate, I dose it alternate days to my micro. I’ve not been running gaseous CO2 on the tank for a while and while it’s no substitute for that it’s better than nothing. You can overdose this stuff without killing thinks unlike glute formulas or ethanol...
  55. X3NiTH

    Curious case of no Nitrates? Expert opinion needed.

    Colombo Flora Grow Pro Is there a nutrient percentage list on the back of the bottle and if so could you post a pic? Here’s hoping Nitrate and Phosphate aren’t token amounts. I would increase the overall weekly dose but splitting that to also increase the frequency of dosing to every other...
  56. X3NiTH

    Curious case of no Nitrates? Expert opinion needed.

    Did/do you ever test for the presence of the precursor Nitrogen compounds, either Ammonia or Nitrite? :-)
  57. X3NiTH

    organic/ inorganic nitrate?

    Nitrate (NO3) whether derived chemically or organically contains no carbon, there are however many Nitro compounds that are produced organically through all forms of life that do contain Carbon in their molecule. Naturally Occurring Nitro Compounds That’s a short list and the list for those...
  58. X3NiTH

    Journal 300

    When you run out of Asterina for the Harlequin (and this will happen in short order) I would avoid buying Black tipped Orange Linkia as replacement food, my Harlequin was able to tip one upside down to feed on it that was the size of my hand (took about 12hrs first time to tip over but once he...
  59. X3NiTH

    Diluting ‘complete’ commercial fertilisers

    It’s ok to dilute but as @Hanuman says acidify the diluting water first, you can use if you have it 0.5g of Ascorbic acid per Litre of water which will drop the pH low enough that precipitation of the compounds are unlikely, or like @dw1305 says you can use a little vinegar, ideally you want...
  60. X3NiTH

    CaSO4 vs CaCl2

    I read the paper and came to the conclusion that Crowd Dynamics plays a great part in this in that the lower the ionic concentration the greater the ions are free to move around without impedance, and the resulting conductance is higher, put more ions in the way and there is a resistance to free...
  61. X3NiTH

    New Member

    Welcome! :-)
  62. X3NiTH

    Noob from Edinburgh

    I actually find the JBL 7 in 1 test strips very useful, I use them all the time. Measuring CO2 with them is not though and I tell everybody this when I recommend them, specifically what’s been said above about not accounting for other acids in the water. Where I find they are accurate is when...
  63. X3NiTH

    Noob from Edinburgh

    Welcome! :-)
  64. X3NiTH

    Cacl2 purity

    Btw ‘I am not a Chemist’ but I do find Stardust fascinating enough to read about it occasionally! I just hate the Math! :)
  65. X3NiTH

    CaSO4 vs CaCl2

    It’s a definite possibility that the compound has taken on some water, you can heat it to drive of the water of crystallisation to get you back closer to the anyhydrous compound and then re weigh the sample to see if there is a difference in weight from before heating, you can then retest to see...
  66. X3NiTH

    Noob from Livingston

    Welcome! ;-)
  67. X3NiTH

    Maq's low-tech troubles

    If you use CO2 with a UV it can eat the plastic. My Aquamedic Helix developed pinholes while I was using it on a Marine tank after a few years of using it in CO2 laden freshwater, saw what looked like a cluster of glowing stars on the side of the unit which I brushed with my finger only to...
  68. X3NiTH

    Maq's low-tech troubles

    That’s the Pourbaix diagram for Mn if you need to work out the reactions. :-)
  69. X3NiTH

    I'm new here, so decided to introduce myself

    Welcome! You can always try replacing with Lagenandra Meeboldii Red it’s a nearly similar looking plant in shape. If it were me though I’d swap it out for some Bucephalandra, either Theia variety or Lamandau are fairly easy to obtain. :-)
  70. X3NiTH

    Journal 300

    Interesting, thanks! Wow the colour examples in that article are making my eyes drool! :-)
  71. X3NiTH

    Journal 300

    Took a pic of this today to get a definitive ID for a customer, they thought it may have been hairy mushrooms but I was nope definitely not, I was semi sure it’s a Lobo. Doesn’t look as happy as yours with the polyp extension in this pic (I had just moved it) but as I found out the above is...
  72. X3NiTH

    Pygmy Cory - Not thriving (pale)

    I keep Salt and Pepper Corys, while a little larger than Pygmy’s they have no problem slurping up live bloodworms and tubifex, the worms get savaged before they’ve had a chance to bury themselves in the sand, once the corys (and everything else) are done with the worms they move on to the bug...
  73. X3NiTH

    Pantanal Aquatic plants

    Thank you for posting these amazing pictures! :-)
  74. X3NiTH

    Rare plants from Poland

    Have you ever tried to produce any seed from your absolute stunning collection of Buce? Or perhaps even looking at trying to produce some tissue culture specimens for the more stunning varieties. Can I also say that I’m probably not the only person here who would love to see a pictorial guided...
  75. X3NiTH

    Understanding my water report

    This is Lanthanum Chloride, it’s very effective, it can be detrimental to fish though if allowed to accumulate but the formed precipitate can be filtered out using 10 micron filter material. More suitable for Marine tanks where you can dose it in the overflow where precipitation is immediate...
  76. X3NiTH

    Plant ID

    I reckon high humidity will be key to growing these successfully out the water, you can see in the graph below that the humidity in the Bahia area of Brazil where these originate is consistently high throughout the year. I think the average air temp is around 25°C. :)
  77. X3NiTH

    Hello from Scotland

    Welcome! :-)
  78. X3NiTH

    Me

    Welcome! :-)
  79. X3NiTH

    Hello

    Welcome! :-)
  80. X3NiTH

    Nitrification not beginning in new tank, and PH/hardness mystery

    Yes you can do that or alternatively take the cycled media from the internal filter and put it in the canister filter and you are good to go. :-)
  81. X3NiTH

    N concentrations vs dosing targets

    Okay checked you’re in Florida, it’s ancient Karst Limestone formations so there should be some Mg along with Ca in the water.
  82. X3NiTH

    N concentrations vs dosing targets

    Yes and yes. Treat the potassium bicarbonate the same way as the magnesium carbonate dose at waterchange (we want consistency in KH and not rising through the week) this K dose should be sufficient for the plants week to week through waterchanges. You shouldn’t need to add any extra Calcium...
  83. X3NiTH

    Is precipitation really bad ?

    I would make the mix again without adding the Urea because it won’t be lab grade 99.999% pure, it’s going to be the compound with the most impurities. It doesn’t look like a carbonate precipitate because the sediment is not opaque and has transparency. It’s a lot of potassium salts going into...
  84. X3NiTH

    N concentrations vs dosing targets

    I would omit adding MgSO4 (already a decent amount of Sulphate in your tap water) and swap to MgCO3 at waterchange for both the Magnesium and the Carbonate. Use in conjunction with KH2CO3 to boost your Potassium level and Carbonate. Nothing wrong in having a little extra carbonates in the...
  85. X3NiTH

    Could your tank survive a bullet?

    Watched this a few days ago, was disappointed that they never mentioned the silicone on that panel deforming like ballistic gel and squeezing out between the seams in little droplets before springing back to original position having absorbed and dissipated a shed load of kinetic energy! :-)
  86. X3NiTH

    What Remineralisers are you using ?

    Yes you can but not with your chosen compounds and need for a concentrate, the Calcium Chloride will react with the Magnesium Sulphate and precipitate out Calcium Sulphate as soon as the concentration exceeds Calcium Sulphates solubility limit. If you use Magnesium Chloride instead of Sulphate...
  87. X3NiTH

    Help! Green Dust Algae

    Your tanks running low or out of Phosphate you need to add some back in, regardless of the level of other nutrition, run out and boom GDA (personal experience). I wouldn’t be hoping Tropica soil is that rich in nutrition to keep all those stems healthy, any fertiliser you do add will help to...
  88. X3NiTH

    Water Meter

    I bought a Corrente Flow Meter and Sensor to monitor throughput for the UV on my 250L Marine tank. Here’s a review on ReefBuilders. Not cheap though £200+ for meter and sensor. :-)
  89. X3NiTH

    Hello from Edinburgh

    By any chance did they tell you this place is a Rabbit Hole with a Gold Mine at the bottom! ;-)
  90. X3NiTH

    Aquatic plant ideas for DIY tissue culture?

    Eleocharis sp. Red, now that would be amazing! More seriously though - Bucephalandra! :-)
  91. X3NiTH

    Thailandia Sunset

    Regarding the CaSO4 I think the difference is probably just down to purity with one being possibly industrial grade and the other food grade. The calculated differences in TDS suggest this. :-)
  92. X3NiTH

    Anubias Disease!

    Looks like it, I would remove from the tank and dose a Nematocide to treat the tank. :-)
  93. X3NiTH

    Making biochar root tabs infused with urea ++

    My reasoning for assuming a precipitate is because I’m reminded by a dry/semi dry precipitation reaction in one of my previous remineralisation mixtures I stored in little baggies for ease of use and the Potassium Phosphate reacted with the Calcium Nitrate (owing to Calcium Nitrate having an...
  94. X3NiTH

    Making biochar root tabs infused with urea ++

    I think the intention is not 1:1:1 and entirely MAP but instead forming a conglomeration matrix of MAP that holds the compounds together isolating pockets of Ammonium between the MAP so the release is inhibited. From what I read on Osmocote manufacture it’s the same compounds as the ones...
  95. X3NiTH

    Problems with White spot

    Waterlife Protozin has worked successfully for me in the past for white spot, really any Malachite and Formaldehyde concoction should do the job, Anti-White spot treatment from Fishkeeper (MA) is an equivalent that should work. I have to ask if you are adding any extra minerals for the Platys...
  96. X3NiTH

    Making biochar root tabs infused with urea ++

    I’m going to take a guess that the ingredients list states source compounds and the final product may actually be the precipitate Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate (white interior) coated in traces. Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate is micro-soluble in water, so very slow release of nutrient, acid...
  97. X3NiTH

    best free food for shrimp ?

    You could try a button mushroom, it’s a good source for chitin, also I have fed a sliver of pork loin to my cherries and they went nuts over it. Both of these foods you can’t leave in the tank for longer than a day as they’ll both spoil quickly and affect water quality. :-)
  98. X3NiTH

    Tumble dryes water to make ferts ?

    It’s an impure distillate and as such there will be a risk that compounds present may react with with the trace elements and cause unwanted precipitation, there’s also an increased chance of having mold formation due to where the water collects in the dryer, this water is not fit for human...
  99. X3NiTH

    Cerges reactor - bigger sized pipes needed?

    You might want to look at using a 20 inch filter housing for a dwell time reactor, it’s what I use for 16/22 pipe work. I run mine in-line after the filter (inline Qanvee 16/22 atomiser between filter and reactor), my flow rate is around 900lph, the reactor can easily handle more flow. :-)
  100. X3NiTH

    DIY all in one fertiliser solution going cloudy

    Acidify the receiving water first, always! Adding an FeII compound to neutral pH water containing oxygen there’s going to be an oxidation reaction and while the pH may drop significantly a chunk of FeII is going to be converted to FeIII, FeIII is more acidic than FeII, at some point the reaction...
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