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Thank you. Actually the WCCM look even better under the new LED lights which are a bit less bright but more directional, and seem to now really make the scales and eyes more visible. They're lovely fish, and as you say when the males display they are quite spectacular.

From the landscaping at the front of my garden. Sorry, not a helpful answer I realise! I’ve seen them at Wyevale Garden centre if there is one local to you, they sell rocks of all types. I got my black rock there.

A quick update. I broke the inlet glass swapping over the inlet to the right side of the tank, and can’t seem to find a reasonably priced replacement so reverted back to the original Fluval inlet but connected it to my clear arcylic pipe. I still have the glass Lilly pipe on the left, so I’m...

The complexity of ecosystems is one of the only lessons I seem to have taken away from this wonderful hobby of aquascaping! I was having problems with brown diatoms, and then fell ill for a couple of weeks with a persistent flu/cold virus. So I’d let my water changes lapse, and neglected the...

I’m a relative beginner too, but thought I’d share some ideas that helped me with my first tank when striving for a more natural look. The rocks I think complement the wood nicely in colouring terms. I personally like the subtle and natural combination of colours, not too much contrast but...

Thanks Rebel and Fiske. I have a small group of peacock gudgeons/gobies now that I’m delighted with, so I think I’m finished stocking now. I had considered corydoras, they are lovely. Will check out the Hará Jerdoni out of interest... The Gobies have evicted the minnows from the caves/crevices...

I came across this video by Dr Anne Jefferson who runs the Water Hydrology Unit at Kent State University. Thought it was worth a share for those who've not seen it. She has a great blog as well.

I can feel a winter long weekend coming on. Beautiful.

I have a temperate tank and initially contained myself to cold water species until I realised that many 'tropical' species will be happy in unheated tanks in our homes. My average temp in the tank is 24 to 25c, which as Edvet suggests is just room temperature. It goes up a bit at the end of...

Thanks again. It looks like the changes have already helped actually, there is faster new growth in the 'dead corner' already. I suspect the pruning (more light reaching the bottom, and flow improved) and CO2 increase has helped, and I managed to make small tweaks the circulation pump...

Ha ha, yes it's always preferable to have something to blame that involves a new gadget purchase. I'll leave the lights for now as I'm pleased with the look of the tank lighting so there's no hurry. Probably best to see how the other changes fair anyway, and then decide if I can usefully...

Thank you Dave. Yes I'm going to look into the inline diffuser option given I'm moving the inlet pipe and will be playing with pipework when I install that. I'm a bit worried by the cloudiness though, since when I clean the filter I get that cloudy look in the tank until the filter settles...

What a beautiful place. Look forward to hearing how the plants get on.

Okay, some acrylic pipe on order to move the inlet pipe to the other side. I've been mulling over the CO2 as well after reading some of the articles on here. I have an atomiser from CO2 Art, and chose to use the ceramic diffuser for mainly cosmetic reasons. I think i'll try the atomiser and...

Thanks for the comments so far. What do you suggest re the lighting? I was thinking of getting the Arcadia LED bulbs for the T5 standard lighting, to get more light to the bottom of the tank as it's deep. If I do this alongside EI ferts, will this work for this setup? My tank is not as...

Sounds like a good idea, I'll try that. Will order some more pipe as the current one is too short to reach. Thanks.

Hi thanks, I've lowered the Lily pipe. Can you say more about the stunted growth you see, are you referring to the smaller leaves on the stem? The leaves seem to grow faster and larger only when they reach the top of the tank. Thanks.

Thanks, did that today during the weekly water change. I plan to see if that improves things.

I have a dilemma about which way to go next with my planted aquarium, as I'm seeing some signs of deficiency on the stem plant leaves. At the same time, my tap water supply has changed chemistry a bit of late. SOME CONTEXT - tank was planted about 2.5 months ago - aquarium is a 200L Lido...

Playing last night with the new lens and flashes. Focus is tricky with the shallow depth of field, and I haven't quite figured out my flash modes yet. I also forgot to submerse the white card and do a custom white balance, so the colours are a bit off. But results are quite promising... So I...

I bought mine from CO2Supermarket and it seems to work properly, ie you can see the vortex and its effect when just below the surface. Mine's attached to a Fluval 306 via clear acrylic pipes, and has been running for a couple of months.

Thanks for these thoughts. I'm reviewing the video guides I bought when I bought the camera to get familiar with the photography modes of the camera. I decided to go for a macro lens second hand (old Nikon Micro 300mm f4, manual only like my other lenses) which was within my budget...

Morning all. Just in case of interest I thought I'd post some web link resources that I found over the weekend. I came across this article by Mark Berkery which was delightfully refreshing, and full of his passion for little critters and his love of nature. Quite zen... you'll have to read...

Yes I'm going to experiment with my studio lights and see what difference this makes. The tank is in a corner position, so I'll have a nightmare trying to position the lights... a small flash might be more practical, and would help to achieve higher shutter speeds and smaller apertures. It...

Thanks, much appreciated. Yes my Panasonic GH4 has a log profile, I've only used it for video but I'm sure the principle is the same. I'll remember to try this. Also thanks for the tip re white balance: stupidly I hadn't though of submerging my grey card! In fact, I have a colour card as...

Hi Nigel, thanks for this. I'd reached that conclusion from my research online since I posted this! Basically, I had to go back to basics and have a think about what I was doing technically... see my answer to Ivan which explains my current thinking and direction, which chimes with what you...

Thanks Ivan for your advice. I have some quite wide lenses which I will certainly use for full tank shots as you suggest. In hindsight, reading my post, I wasn't clear - but my question is really about doing macro photography. My camera is similar: not full frame, but micro four thirds. So...

Thanks Ivan for those links, much appreciated. I shall digest all this with pleasure. Referring to your post above, I was playing with my camera today. I tried using an 85mm, 135mm and 300mm lens (all primes, 80s Nikkor glass) on my four-thirds format camera (with a speed booster) but had to...

I realise this is an old post, but those photos are simply stunning...

Ivan, one question: what focal length lenses do you favour, and for what uses? Many thanks.

Lovely pictures of your fish... I noticed that some of the photos seem really sharp with lovely colour, whilst a few have a slightly cloudy/hazy look to them. I have this problem, and I was wondering if you could share any insight you have about the difference between the shots? I'm trying...

Polarising filters also help with reflections: a circular polariser on the lens will enable you to adjust the effect. Haven't yet tried it myself for tank photography, as I'm just learning about this too...

I'm interested in the answers too Nigel! If I may, could I also add to your question what focal lengths people prefer for 'whole tank' shots, and for other types of shot? Two bits of kit you might find interesting are: 1. Delkin's sucker mount for DSLR cameras. Amongst other things, these...

Watching this process with interest, and loving the scape so far... Building on Silviu Man's comments, I also read that tea tree oil is a natural treatment to stop mould (sprayed on, diluted in water first). I read this whilst researching natural ways to kill mould on training mats in a gym...

Stunning aquascape Luis, and love the attention to detail. Beautiful photography too.

Hi everyone, I just joined the forum and thought I'd post progress on my tank project. I've been reading this forum for a few months, and often got results from here on Google search. I started the project end of May with brainstorming ideas and researching second hand tanks. I bought a tank...