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Bump :p Could do with some advice on what to do with co2 while I have limited lighting if anyone has some suggestions. Cheers, Chris

Ok so it's not the dimmer section. I tried removing it and plugging the light straight into the power. The AC/DC converter itself is "popping".

Hi all, I hear a loud "pop" when my light tried to turn on this morning and it went out. Initial thought was the fuse in the plug but it's fitted witth a 13A fuse which would have needed a huge amount of current to blow. Changed the fuse and still nothing so it must be the in-line dimmer unit...

Hi all, So I'm aware of TDS creep and in my low tech tank it was never a problem however, in my planted tank it just keeps creeping up, despite doing 50% water changes weekly. Started at 250 TDS when the tank was set up, and is now at 559 3 weeks after starting ferts dosing. Is this a problem...

Just 2x Amano shrimp and a horned nerite at the moment. They survived the spot treatment and didn't show any signs of distress when swimming over the treated patch.

Hi all, Just wondering if it's ok to use Hydrogen Peroxide as a whole tank treatment as part of maintenance. My algae/BGA issue seems to be largely under control now after spot treating and doing a couple of good tank cleans and water changes. No real re-growth since my last WC but I am...

I had this exact issue without the empty canister ha. I just had to let the system settle for a few days and then it seemed to stabilise. I wonder if it's anything to do with the ceramic discs needing to "saturate" with water before holding stable pressure? No idea what the cause was but in the...

Hi Ian, Out of interest I've just used the ph meter to test some newly mixed RO water with GH/KH+. Mixed to my usual TDS with a KH of 4 after leaving it to rest it reads a PH of 7.1 which seems bang on to me. So I think it's just my aquasoil pulling it down in the tank because it's still quite...

I think if I use my small lily pipe (provided it fits) from the main tank filter it will actually be quite beneficial. My PAT Mini will be blowing straight across the tank and down where the co2 diffuser is, and the skimmer will be causing the surface agitation and then blowing along the front...

Hi all, So I'd like to get a little EHEIM Skim 350 for my 25L tank to help with the surface scum. Problem is, the outflow pipe is going to be sat just above the substrate. I'm going to try and direct the flow upwards slightly by using the attachment from my PAT Mini filter but just wanted to...

I used my API master tetst kit and it showed it being 6.0... could well be trying to show lower but that's as low as the kit will read. So do you think the probe is being fairly accurate in that case?

Is this the pH before co2 comes on? So for me 3x3x10^(7-5.8) = 142.6ppm? :/ Or if let's say my pH was 6.4 before co2 it would = 35.8ppm? I'm wondering if it's worth me fiddling around with it, because my current drop of 0.7 is almost there and my drop checker is green with a slight hint of...

This should be nice and straight forward since I have a bit of adjustment on the flow rate of my filter :) I'll give it a try. What are the reasons and/or pros of having a pH drop of precisely 1pH? What's the disadvantage to mine being just 0.7? Cheers, Chris

Here's what I've got: Co2 on at 10:00 Lights on at 12:00 Co2 off at 17:00

That's good to know. If I may Darrel, would it be OK to pop you another PM this evening to have a look at the results of my pH profile? I create enough new topics as it is and I feel bad about it :lol: Cheers, Chris

Strangely enough my Ammonia has been very low. My API test kit has been showing 0-0.25ppm. Tank is cycled according to tests (I always use Seachem stability to get things going) and shrimp have been happy in there for a couple of weeks now with successful molts and showing no unusual behaviour...

I use RO and mix my water to a KH of 4-5 but it seems to get pulled down a degree or two in the tank and sits at about 3-4. TDS is 250-300 at water change - higher at the moment due to ferts It was calibrated in the labs before I took it away with me but I'll re-calibrate it tomorrow before...

Still seems to drop quite a bit, but if I keep stirring it eventually settles... more or less. 5.8pH just before co2 on seems quite low to me... then again the tank is still fairly new so maybe the soil is still pulling it down a fair bit.

In tank, Ian. I'll try with the filter switched off, thanks.

Hi all, I've borrowed a pH meter from one of the labs at university to do my pH profile but I'm noticing that when I'm stirring the probe as per the instructions to wait for the "ready" symbol, the pH seems to just keep dropping. Am I stirring too much? Has anything experienced this with their...

Also interested in peoples thoughts/recommendations here. Thinking of buying a book but not sure which one :)

I've tried to make itt so it creates more flow around the tank. Positioned to push the water up and to the side, then round to create a vortex. That's the idea... it just means the surface agitation is slightly lower.

Amano shrimp seem fine and the plants are doing great, that's all I have in there at the moment. The adjustment was made yesterday but I've noticed today that it's more yellow than previously. Filter sponge was cleaned with my big bit of tank maintenance a couple of days ago - I have changed...

Hi all, As the topic says, I've reduced my bubbles per second and somehow my drop checker is now turning more yellow? :/ Why could this be happening?

I am indeed. I've got it turned down quite a bit now. I wanted to have the extra power if I needed it (for future tanks as well). A lot of people I've spoken to think it's actually blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) and it matches the photos I've been looking at. From what I've read on various...

Hi Edvet. I've just done some tank maintenance today. Spot treated the BGA with hydrogen peroxide and after a few hours manually removed as much as I could followed by a large water change. I was wondering however - h2o2 turns into water after 24 hours or so. If this is the case, could I do a...

Everything I've read about shrimp/fish keeping has been "make sure kh, gh and tds are the same for water changes". Are you saying that TDS/KH and GH creeping up or fluctuating up and down will do no harm to the livestock in the tank? :/ I've always thought stable parameters were one of the most...

Was advised by the guys at a very well known aquascaping specialists to aim for a KH of no less than 3 and no more than 5 so that's what I'm aiming for. My tap water seems to vary a LOT week to week. Last week it was 7KH and 381 TDS, today it's 4KH and 208 TDS. I don' really want the parameters...

Hi all, So originally I had water in my tank of KH 0 because I incorrectly thought I should be using RO and mixing to this level. I tried to bring this up to around KH 3-4 by using water out of my tap (KH of 7) and doing a 50% water change, but my test kit still says the KH is 0-1. How does...

This is something I'd like to do in the future but at the moment I can' justify spending the money on an auto dosing set up. I think I'll have to just dose for the week unless I know my house mate will be in. Is it ok to do this even if it means the plants won't get the minimum 6 hours?

Hi all, I'm going away for a couple of days, and again in September for about 1 week. With ferts that are designed to be dosed daily, can you just do x-times the dose for the number of days you're away for? I know some ferts are designed for weekly dosing, so is it safe to just adjust my daily...

Perfect! Thank you AverageWhiteBloke

It is indeed the PAT Mini with airline option. Will adding the air mess with the co2 at all? Or shall I just open the air valve at night time?

I'll give this a try. I've ran out of money you see so a skimmer is going to have to wait a while :lol:

This might be a daft thought but could it be lots of the tiny tiny co2 bubbles just collecting on the surface? It definitely doesn't look oily, it's like really tiny "bits"

I'm not sure what it is. Only that it doesn't look too pleasing to the eye lol. Do the skimmers act as a filter as well or should I keep my PAT mini in the tank as well?

I'll leave it a couple more weeks and see if it disappears then :) Are there any very small surface skimmers? It's a very small tank. Also, do they require an external filter to function? I'm wondering if it could be the bacteria getting established as it's a new tank... beneficial bacteria...

Hi all, So I've been noticing quite a significant build up of surface scum/ some sort of oily looking film in my newly set up tank. Is this causes by an imbalance with my light/co2/ferts? I've dialed back the light intensity and duration recently to try and tackle my algae problem but I'm...

Quick question about this then. TDS is going to drift up over time if I just use straight tap water right? Normally I would correct it by mixing up RO with Salty shrimp salts to a lower TDS to bring it back down. Do I just mix my tap with RO to the same effect to maintain the desired TDS/KH/GH?

Looks like mine is fine for most things then. I'll start with a 50% water change tomorrow using tap water and test the tank water in the evening. I do have a Nerite Snail arriving so I hope it'll be OK.

That was using the API GH and KH tests. Just tested the TDS with my pen and that reads as 380.

Hi Darrel, My water straight out of the tap is KH7 and GH 18 approximately. This should be perfect when added to the tank right? So if I just make sure the TDS is the same each time by adding/not adding RO I should be ok?

Thanks for the info Darrel. I'm going to do another 50% water change tomorrow with either a 50/50 RO/Tap or just straight tap depending on how the tests come back. From what I understand the substrate will drag down the KH and GH slightly so I should take that into account and add water that's a...

It probably won't even be a shrimp tank to be honest. Do you use ADA Aquasoil? There are some old forum posts from like 2007 that say carbonate hardness with ADA Aquasoil makes the soil turn to mush and the water permanently cloudy. Is this from a previous version of the substrate that has now...

Things that I've read had led me to believe that KH was a no no with active substrates and that it will always fight against itself to bring the KH right back down again so I thought I'd get more pH problems than if I used RO :/ I don't rly know why. If it's fine and stable then I'll probably...

I do intend on keeping a single Horned Nerite snail in the tank. It's just going to be a small school of maybe 5x Endlers Livebearers. Does having KH in the water get neutralised by the substrate? So if I set my water to a KH of 4, will the substrate not consume that and try to bring it back...

Hi all, As the topic suggests, my API test kit only goes as low as a pH of 6... I've just tested my pH 15 minutes before my CO2 comes on and it's already at between 6 and 6.4 - I'm assuming by the end of the day just before CO2 goes off it's going to be way lower than this (KH = 0) but I won't...

Hi Darrel, I'm struggling to make sense of it all if I'm honest ha. So my tank parameters at the moment are TDS 200, KH=0, GH=7-8. Is this OK for plants and livestock or am I going to have serious problems with pH swings with my co2 injection?

Hi guys, Can anyone please explain to me the importance of KH in planted tanks and how it works with active substrates? I'm aware that KH buffers pH, and often in the shrimp keeping hobby people say you should keep KH at 0-1 so the buffering capacity of the substrate is not consumed. Basically...

I'll reduce the light as you suggest Edvet. I have some of The Aquascaper complete liquid plant food arriving tomorrow/Thursday that I'll be dosing as per the instructions.

Hi all, So I've been doing a dry start on some Monte Carlo for a few months and have just recently flooded the tank and within a week I have a lot of algae growth. Some on the substrate but not too much, some on the rocks, and some appearing on the glass now as well. Injecting fairly high doses...

Update: The bubble counter did seem to be slightly loose where it attaches to the needle valve. Tightened it up a little (scared to go too far incase anything cracks) so I'll see if that's solved the issue. The working pressure seems a lot more stable now. Holding at bang on 40 instead of...

It's a bran new cylinder, only a few days old and the pressure is reading 850psi from the cylinder and working pressure of 40-50 psi when the system is on (60 when off). It's a 25L tank, Roadmaster so 1bps is pretty high for this tank. Actually it needs to be lower before I add live stock...

Hi all, So as the topic title suggests, my bubble count seems to drop over night. I set it to 1 bubble per second, then the next morning I need to adjust it again. It appears to slow down over night. No apparent leaks anywhere (tested when I set it up) and so I can't figure out why this would...

This looks spot on, Siege. I wanted something a little cheaper than the EI kit as well so this will do nicely! Quick question off topic regarding algae - I appear to have what looks like some algae that actually started to grow during my dry start (I guess it could be a type of moss). Will ferts...

Hi all, I was wondering what alternatives to EI ferts you recommend. Ideally I want something that's hassle-free and able to be dosed either daily or weekly in case I need to go away on holiday for example. Are there any good all-in-one ferts that come with a mixing bottle for a reasonable...

I don't know why I didn't get any notifications for this threat but thank you everyone for your responses.

Hi Stefano, How big are the fish in this tank? I've read that a tank this size can only hold like 1 single betta and nothing else. What size are the Paracheirodon simulans? I have a 25L tank myself that I want to add some fish to. Possibly some Endlers Guppy's. Do you think these would be OK...

Hi all, I've got my tank set up with Aquasoil and injecting co2. I've always been under the impression from what I've read that having water with KH depletes the nutrients in active substrates quickly? I've also read that some of the plants I have need a KH of 4-15. Is the plant going to suffer...

Ok, seems to be fixed. It appeared to have blocked itself somehow - I loosened the regulator from the canister slightly and gas began to flow again. Re-tightened and now have correct pressures. Will monitor to see if it drops to zero again.

Hi all, Just set up my co2 kit and filled my tank today. The CO2 kit went together fine, and I heard gas flowing as I tightened the regulator to the canister, following the instructions word for word. Working pressure initially read slightly lower than advertised on the sodastream website at...

Thanks Roadmaster. This makes sense, thanks for clarifying :)

Hi all, I'm hoping someone can clear things up for me. I purchased my co2 kit a couple of months ago as recommended by a staff member of the company I purchased from, after giving them some information about my tank. I have only just noticed that the kit I was recommended is advertised as being...

Thanks Tim, I will do.

Hello everyone, Flooding my tank soon but the bank is running a bit dry. I plan on getting an EI starter kit at some point but wondered if it's ok to run the tank without ferts for a month or so? I will be injecting co2 and use ADA Aquasoil Amazonia. Cheers :)

I like the look of this one! I can only seem to find it on amazon with a £13.99 delivery charge though! Do you happen to know anyone who sells this plant?

Hi all, I'm looking for a red plant that pearls well and would be suitable to create a wall along the back of my 25L aquarium. I really want to add some more colour to the tank because at the moment it only has a carpet of Monte Carlo. So far the only plant I've been looking at is Rotala...

Thanks Ian :)

Hi all, In the next week or two I am going to be flooding my 25L tank following a dry start of Monte Carlo that has been growing for a couple of months now. I've heard that it's best to pump a fair bit of co2 in initially, to help the plant overcome the sudden change in available co2. Now I...

I'm starting to see roots against the glass in the front of the tank below the substrate now, so all is going well. I'll probably leave it another 3-4 weeks for a total of about 8 before flooding. Some slight signs of a bit of fungus potentially on a couple of leaves but nothing serious. I'm...

Hi all, I'm about a week and a half into the DSM now. Quite a bit of new growth but the roots are still showing no signs of making their way into the substrate :/ how long do the roots usually take to anchor and pull the plant into the soil? Many thanks

Hi Keith, The filter I currently have is a small internal filter. Rated up to 400l/h with a switch to reduce the flow http://www.aquael.pl/en/products/akwarystyka/filtry-wewnetrzne/251-pat-mini I'd just like to free up as much space inside the tank as I can and get rid of any unsightly filter...

Hi all, I'm 1 week into my dry start but I'm already starting to think ahead. I have an Aquael PAT Mini filter to go into my Superfish Home 25 aquarium, but I'd quite like to swap this out for something external in the future, to open up more space in the tank and use a glass lilypipe set or...

Where can I find the book? Is it on their website?

Plenty of new leaf growth happening so far however the roots don't show any signs of making their way underneath the soil yet :D I guess this part is what takes the most time.

I have a hygrometer I've sat on top of the main stone inside the tank.

I've opened up a bit of a gap around the cling film to allow better air exchange and hopefully allow some of the water to evaporate (I might even use the tanks plastic lid because it has a small gap around the edges). Humidity in the tank is holding at 70% near the top.

I'll try and allow it to dry out a bit over the next couple of days - maybe lift the cling wrap for 10 mins a day to allow it to air and evaporate a bit before spaying and closing again. I do have a sealed pot of MC still however it's looking like it's in pretty poor condition upon arrival. I...

It's not this wet any more. Soil has absorbed it :) I have two corner of the cling film open for air as well.

I found it a bit hard to tell where the water level actually was - the soil seems to have absorbed a bit more of the water now so hopefully it's ok (definitely below or at least level with substrate now). I'll leave it a couple of days before spraying.

Just finished planting. Ordered far too much MC but figure it would be better to do a thin layer with a few stems and let it do its thing. Will see where I'm at in about 4 weeks time :) Got the lights on full power for about 11 hours a day at the moment. Once flooded I'll reduce this to about...

Aah excellent. I plan on keeping mine short and dense so fingers crossed I don' get too much dying at the bottom :)

Thanks guys :) One other thing I'd like to ask about is that I've read that carpet plants need to be removed and replanted after X amount of months and that they only last a certain period of time? Is this true? :/ I was hoping this set up would last a year to 18 months at least.

They're the Tropica 1-2 grow brand. It sounds like simply placing them on the substrate might be the best way to go if they'll sort themselves out. Do they need to be separated into individual stems or can they be places in clumps of about 1.5cm?

Hi all, Im going to be planting my Monte Carlo in the morning to get my DSM going. The roots of the plant appear to be quite long in the packet. Should I trim these or just make sure they're pushed into the substrate? (Pretty sure they're longer than the substrate depth at the front of the...

Hi all, Well my Chihiros RGB 30 arrived today, way earlier than I expected. I took a bit of a risk with this lightt and thought I might have to DIY a way of attaching it to the Superfish Home 25 but much to my surprise, it fits perfectly. Great spread of light. Here's a couple of pics...

Hi Keith, Yes I think your layout has improved the look so I'll leave i as it is until this evening and then think about starting to plant my MC. Unfortunately one of the tubs I got had turned the MC upside down so the leaves were sat in the water and it looks a bit worse for wear but I'm sure...

Hi Keith, I've changed the scape again and tried to match the angle with the LH stone but the strata doesn't flow in the same direction a the main stone. What do you think? I still like the way it looks but perhaps theoretically it isn't 100%

Hi Keith, Thanks for your input. Do you think the RH stone creates enough tension in this set up? Also could you explain why you think the LH stone looks out of place? I tried to position it so it looks like it came off of the main stone. Thanks :)

This is one of the reasons I've decided to dry start, and the fact that I can start with less plant matter. I have two pots of 1-2 grow on order and I'll let that carpet nicely over 4 weeks or so before flooding.

Yes dry start is what I'm referring to :) Was the 1 bubble per second enough following the dry start method? I know that atmospheric co2 is around 400ppm so far higher than what would be in the tank once filled with water. I've read that the plants can melt a bit in this period as they adjust to...

This is where I'm at currently.

I've put a bit more substrate down at the front and increased the slope at the back so it's now 2.5cm at the front, going up to about 6.5cm at the back. I'll take a photo later this evening and post an update of how it looks. The plan is to keep it basic with simply a carpet of Monte Carlo which...

Yes I think I agree, but I don't know if the right hand rock is a bit too big. Perhaps I could sink it into the substrate a bit more. Do you think there is enough tension in the set up? I know one rock is supposed to be angled differently to the main stone for this reason.

Damn I keep trying new things :lol: here's the latest (after taking a hammer to some more dragon stone)

Hi JenCliBee, I'm trying to sick to the three stone set up if possible. I've had a tweak and swapped the right hand stone for something different. What do you think now?

Thanks, Zozo. Would 2bps be a good place to start with a small tank like this then? That's kind of the number I had in my head, reducing it to less than 1 bps when I put shrimp in.

Hi all, I've just set up the hardscape in my 25L and I am looking for some critique and any potential improvements I could make. With the rock on the left I tried to create the illusion that it had broken off of my main stone. The placement of the rock on the right hand side I am unsure about...

Hi all, I'm going to be trying to put together my hardscape later but I have a quick question about the stone sizes. Is size determined by mass/overall size, or by height? I have a stone that I believe to be smaller than my main stone, but it's tall and narrow. Is this OK or should I try and...

Hi all, I think I've decided to go with the DSM for my tank but I was wondering how much CO2 I should inject to begin with when it comes time to flood the tank. It's a 25L tank. Should I dose so that my drop checker turns yellow for the first week or so while the Monte Carlo adapts to being...