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Ah yeah, sorry 1. Size of tank - 60 litres 2. Age of the system approximately - 1 month 3. Filtration - corner matten filter 4. Lighting and duration - led bulb, 7 hours 5. Substrate - thin layer sand 6. Co2 dosing or Non-dosing - no co2 7. Fertilisers used + Ratios - VIMI micro, 1 squirt daily...

Hello, My aquarium water is quite obviously deficient in something, but could anyone help to determine what? I tried increased nitrates (to around 30ppm) but it made no difference whatsoever to the frogbit. Floating plant growth in other aquariums is also very stunted. My salvinia is now...

Hi, I'm wondering if there are any similar products to the lominie asta 20 that people know of? I really like the look of the light and it seems to grow plants well from things I've read and videos I have watched. The only thing that concerns me is the safety aspect, there are quite a few...

Great, cheers both

Hi all, I collected a few leaves this afternoon. Picked up from what I thought was a pile of oak leaves but realised they're not all the same when I got home. Any idea what they are? Lot 1: Lot 2: Are all of the second lot oak? A lot waxier than the first lot Any help much appreciated!

Hi all, Is the thread of this large disposable CO2 cylinder the same as that I would find on a smaller 600g or 390g bottle...

Looks great MirandaB, do you inject CO2?

Thanks all for the replies, very helpful ta! Came across this also, interesting read: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/33-plants/876457-so-called-heavy-root-feeders-fact-fiction.html Do crypts do well with an emersed start? Also, would it be a good idea to start things off with a DIY...

Hi all, I'm just curious to see which substrates people have had good success in low tech setups with crypts? I currently have a small aquarium, which is going OK but I'm tempted to overhaul it with a crypt dominated setup. I think it makes sense to get 'good' at propagating less demanding...

Cheers, this made me laugh - they're interesting little fish. Not so cocky when things change heh! The tank is approx 30cm cubed yeah, I want to upgrade to something a little bigger with a big integrated filter soon enough, for now I will grow up the little female GBR that is no longer being...

Cheers very much alto, I wasn't sure if the spangles around the spot at the bottom were encroaching enough to be a female. They're very interesting fish and have really captured my interest, sounds like the have quite complex social systems too. Unfortunately, I discovered that said fish had...

Thanks again, After reading further I'm not so sure it's a male after all. I added what I think is a definite female to the tank yesterday. Initially they were getting along fine, fish #1 displaying regularly but no aggression. Today the pictured fish is chasing around the new addition like no...

Ok thanks both, will be sure to keep him/her well fed!

Hello, I've recently added a German blue ram to my aquarium, I only bought one initially as I wasn't of the sex - any ideas? I'm after a pair eventually.. Only been in the aquarium a few days. It seems fine - active, bright and eating well! Initially I thought male, but now I'm not so sure...

Yeah I have heard good things about them too, can see clearly that everything is well hidden in this video (not my vid): The only thing I'm not keen on is the curved edged at the front, still looks nice though

Great, cheers! May post some results in a few weeks or so then - fingers crossed :)

Thanks everyone and really nice setups Manisha! To add to my initial question - can anyone recommend a good reliable heater for a small aquarium which is fairly inconspicuous?

Great, I'll make up a solution tomorrow and give it a try. I was thinking i'll trim some of the rotala stems and add 0.2ppm of iron per day for a week or two and observe to see if anything changes. Does this sound reasonable or would you recommend adding a bit more? If I don't see any...

Thanks a lot, I'll give this a try :thumbup: Thanks again Darrel, I already add MgSO4 at my 50% weekly water change. I started doing this primarily to increase dGH by 2. I figured that using only MgSO4 would kill 2 birds with one stone: up GH and Mg (which my tap water has relatively little...

Hi, the tank is 30 litres. I dose 1ml of Profito every other day. This works out at 0.08ppm per dose, so approximately 0.2ppm - 0.3ppm of iron per week (not much?) Interestingly, I added 2.5ml of profito last night - this morning the rotala is visibly greener! Could this just be coincidence? I...

Thanks Derrel, I use EL Profito for micros. From the EL website: "The nutrients in ProFito are stabilized in a number of different ways by various chelators." Which chelator would you suggest I try? My tap water is very soft, is it possible that Ca could be deficient?

Just in case anyone is interested, the new light arrived today. It is very smart indeed! Noticeably brighter than the leddy smart and is dimmable. There are 7 settings in total from lowest to highest. It seems good quality for the price and a lot of it is made out of metal with a...

Thanks, I think the flow is quite strong though. All of the plants sway in the current. Thanks, I alternate dosing NPK and micros every day. I'll work out how much I add exactly Here are some pictures from today. I got a new light, which makes it easier to see how pale everything is -...

Hi all, I'm considering ways of concealing various bits of kit in my aquarium when I add stuff in the future, the main one being a heater. I'm tempted to go down the canister filter with inline heater route eventually as this takes up minimal space in the aquarium and everything is out of the...

I already ordered the C301 :cool: I'll let you know when I've set it up. I think I spied what looks like and in-line dimmer in one of the pictures

Thanks, they look perfect! Any idea if they have a built in dimmer? Cheers for all if the replies, I'm glad I asked!

Thanks Tim, they look good! Might be a problem as my tank is 28.5cm edge to edge, could probably work around this though - any ideas?

Hello all, I'm looking to upgrade my light. I'm currently using an Aqauel leddy smart 6W. As much as I like the light, I'm after something a little bit more powerful. I really like the look of the Azoo Flexi Mini, even if it's a bit pricey. I'd like to get some reds developing in my H...

Cheers Mick, the new growth does look better but still a bit deformed - was just wondering if there is an obvious deficiency. Time & patience is fine with me ;) Thanks

Hi all, My plants haven't looked great for a while - recently (2 weeks+) I have been fert dosing using a rough 50% EI regime, to try and cover all nutritional needs. One of the things I don't add is any calcium, as I would have thought my tap water would have enough of this in (out of the tap...

Ah! Thanks a lot Marcel! My tap water is around 17ppm Calcium and 2ppm Magnesium. So I just added enough dissolved MgSO4 to up the dGH by 2, which I added after a 50% water change. My aquarium water should now be : 11ppm Magnesium 17ppm Calcium around 5 dGH I'm not sure how important Ca:Mg...

Hi all, So why do they? To raise GH either/both CaSO4 and MgSO4 would do the job if the right amount is calculated and added to the aquarium, why do we need the Potassium at this point? The majority of K can come from weekly/daily fert dosing can't it?

Thanks Darrel, I'd like to make a GH booster to add at weekly water change for increase GH to around 5 or 6. In my case would making up a solution of just MgSO4 and adding the desired amount work or would this bump up the sulphur levels too much? For example, for +1dGH (from rotalabutterfly)...

Taken from aquariumcalculators.com Whilst trying to figure out how much MgSO4 to add when creating a stock solution, I realised that the ppm reading between the calculators are different. Am I missing something here / doing something wrong? Using the EI calculator: Using the stock...

I'm getting pretty bogged down with all of this water chemistry info :arghh: Do any commercially available test kits give accurate GH and KH readings? If I do try to up the hardness of my water a little, I'd like to be able to keep a tab on things as I do so. I feel like this is becoming more...

Great, thanks!

If I do consider hardening up my water a bit, don't I need to figure out the KH and GH values straight out of the tap first? If so, how do I do this as I've read a lot of stuff about hobbyist water testing kits being a waste of time

Ah cheers! The solution I made up today didn't contain any Mg, I'll try to figure out how much to add (any ideas?) - this should also raise the GH right?

I made this up today at work (free ferts!) using calculations from http://www.aquariumcalculators.com/aquarium-plant-food/estimative-index/ Macro solution: Start with 380 ml of water and add:- 47g Potassium Nitrate 13g Monopotassium phosphate Then add more water to increase the volume to...

Hi Marcel, Thanks for the info, I've just been reading about making a DIY fertiliser. I didn't realise but EL Profito just seems to cover the trace elements, instead of being a true all in one fert. I suspect my plants are all basically nutrient deficient in some way! Time to change things...

Ah brilliant! Thanks @tim I will use that tank in your signature as a main reference point.

Just read this about EI dosing http://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=dosing-with-dry-salts I was going to say I may go down that route, but as I don't inject CO2 as advised with this method perhaps it's not a good idea

Cheers Tim, I guess it would make sense to test the phosphorus and nitrogen levels in the water first then? Or I could get a fertiliser that covers all bases and try that?

Hi, I don't plan on injecting CO2, no. I've seen several setups using the same plants that are low tech but are much happier than mine. From what I've been reading I was thinking it looks like some sort of nutrient deficiency, but may be wrong! That's why I started the thread really, I'm hoping...

Hello all, The plants in my aquarium don't seem quite right. I set up this tank around August and all seemed to be gowing well, growth was good and the plants looked much better (taken a few months back) Since then, over the space of a week or so when I was away lots of the plants...

Thanks all, problem with getting it from different countries is obviously shipping costs etc Cheers, they look quite good. I take it it's easy enough to add your own media combinations? If anyone else has HOB filter recommendations for a 30l cube I'd like to hear about them!? I heard good...

Hi all, I'm wondering, does anybody know if it's possible to get the Azoo Mignon 60 filter in the UK? I'm after one for my 30l cube aquarium, I think they look pretty smart and have heard good things about them. It seems to me like they were once available here (lots of old dead links to...

Thanks @Manisha ! No livestock yet, no. I was just trying to establish a stable aquarium first, but it's trickier than I thought! I think I need to keep up with the water changes a bit more regular, when a lot of my plants died off I also hadn't changed any water for a week so this may also...

Thanks, I used cal aqua labs black earth - I'm still getting highish ammonia readings! :( Thanks, I will try to improve the flow somehow. On a different note, I wasn't able to dose the tank with easycarbo for 3 days a few weeks back, the consequence was very detrimental!! A lot of my rotala...

Hi all, Made some slight changes to the tank. Removed the big flat rock and added H. pinna at the back as well as Rotala rotundifolia in the end. The rotala is growing really well and the H. pinna hasn't melted yet like I was full expecting and also seems to be growing. My P. helferi melted so...

Out of interest, is it necessary to add a tap water dechlorinator if you just top up using small amounts, or does it become so dilute anyway that it doesn't make much difference? Great tank, looks brilliant!

That would be fantastic, thanks Marcel - if you definitely don't mind? I'm more than happy to cover postage costs etc, if you don't mind messaging me then we could sort something out. Cheers Darrel, I'll bear that in mind - looks nice

Hi all, I'd like some M. p. "phillipine" in my tank, but have read that it does not do well in soft water. I don't have access to my aquarium at the moment but the PH is around 6 and information regarding my tap water is as follows: (from united utilities website) Analysis Typical Value...

Great, thanks very much! I like the looks of both of these. Crypt. spiralis looks like it would fit the bill nicely! Hadn't come across this on the tropica site. I assume "high tech" refers to intense lighting and advanced CO2 input?

Ah, this is what I was unsure of - it's a shame, really like the look of "Reni". Ah yeah, hadn't really thought of that. I really like java fern, will definitely consider that! Cheers This is what I thought, looks really nice though!

Great info - thanks a lot for taking so much time to reply. Another question, how important are water changes at this point? My water is visually very clear and the water chemistry doesn't seem to be changing much (as far as I can tell anyway), is it safe to just let it be for now?

This is fantastic, one of the best I've seen. How is it getting on?

I'm considering Echinodorus 'reni', rotala indica or Crypt. crispatula for the back - any thoughts?

Cheers, I have a few more rocks that may be a bit more suitable than the flat one, I'll persevere first and then decide. Some planted driftwood would perhaps be a better option too. I just feel like it could do with something nice and tall at the back to fill in the gaps between the wood! So...

Hi Manisha, Thanks for your input, I'll check out those plants! The light is this: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/gear/reviews/articles/review-aquael-leddy-smart-lamp

Cheers alto, seems like everyone has their own way of doing things! So adding ammonia ensures that you can build up a big enough bacterial colony so that when you do eventually add livestock, the colony is developed/big enough to deal with the waste? It seems to me like I'd get bacteria...

Hello, I've just set up a small aquarium and although I am generally patient, I'm not sure that the crypts that I have selected will grow tall enough to cover as much of the aquarium background as I thought. I opted for crypt. wendtii 'green' for the back corners.. What would you suggest for a...

Thanks a lot, very useful thread. I noticed this: "No problem, I haven't really made 4,000 posts, I've just posted the same thing 4000 times" - Apologies for being another +1 ;) I'm just gonna let the plants grow for a few months, by which point I'm sure that enough bacteria will have...

Hello, I have recently created a small (~30 litre) planted aquarium. I'm new to aquariums and fishkeeping and am wondering if the water chemistry test results that I am getting are usual at this point. The aquarium has been running for 4 days and is currently going through fishless cycling. Do...