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Hi everyone, I have a pea puffer tank I’m trying to plant with asian plants. Went to our local fish shop and saw a plant I’m fairly sure is from the right area. I do know its name but can’t recall what it’s called so I’m hoping someone can help as I’m getting frustrated with myself now...

Hi I’m hoping for some advice on adding gammarus to my 120l pea puffer tank. Am I crazy to consider adding these to a planted tank? Are they going to destroy the plants? How fast are they? Will puffers be able to keep the population under control? If they are OK to add which type are...

Hi everyone. Hope you are all doing OK A while ago I asked about growing Hygrophilia Pinnatifida low tech as I was struggling and several of you gave me advice. I wanted to share my recent success. I’d tried several pots of established plants that just dropped leaves and melted away. I...

Hi everyone. I’m hoping the plants experts in the group can help me ID plant that has appeared in my pond. The pond was set up this summer and I bought some plants on ebay as stick at pur local shop wasn’t great. I didn’t buy floating plants Aftet I added the plants a couple of floating...

Question for those of you who grow your own live foods. I seeded my ember tetra tank with Daphnia and Tubifex long before adding fish and shrimp. I add spirulina powder to the tank every few days to sustain the daphnia. Initially the tetras ignored the daphnia completely as they were...

Good afternoon. Lookimg for advice please. Which beginner friendly pond plants are going to grow quickly in a shallow pond without overwhelming it? I will also plant pond baskets in the top of the filter. Hoping there are some evergreen plants other than ivy that are happy to have wet...

I was trying to raise daphnia. Just dipped a jar to check if I need to add more green water. The water is full of these things. Photos taken from a video as I don’t know how to add the video. Are these mosquitoes? I assume whatever these are are safe for the bigger fish. Not sure I want...

Hi everyone. I used to buy EI salts from aquariumplantfood.co.uk. I just went to their site to get the ‘recipe’ I used to use and restock to find they have closed down. Haven’t had to buy any for ages as I scaled back dosing when I moved my big tank to crypts and low light plants. Where’s...

Please can one of you lovely plant experts in my phone ID a plant for me. I brought it back from a MA shop in Devon where it was growing above the water in their holding tank. Perfect for my little eco tank where I want emersed growth. No label on it. Only delivered a few days before so still...

Sorry if this question has already been answered elsewhere and my search skills have failed me. I have two small tanks that run very low tech. Both have emerged plants to help with chemical filtration and daphnia to clean the water. (My fish ignore the daphnia or maybe just keep the...

I’m learning a lot from your advice on live foods but still have questions. Thank you for all the help. I have a open topped waterbutt outside that housed an uninvited but welcome supply of daphnia and other little live foods until Hubby decided to and move it a few weeks ago. I refilled it...

I’ve had a lot of good advice from this forum over since I started keeping planted tanks. I’m looking to create a low tech, low light, relatively low maintenance tank. I have the latest edition of Diana Walstad’s book and (possibly still have the original hardcopy somewhere too.) I’m also...

I’m thinking of starting a microworm culture for my Pygmy corys and ember tetras but as my husband struggles with the smell of repashy, green and the infusoria culture I started recently I need to find the least smelly option. They really aren’t great at eating anything. They take some micro...

Apologies for the dumb question but I’m confused. I set up a little tank yesterday morning. Thinking of trying it as a breeding environment to experiment with ember tetras and Pygmy cories. (Yes, I‘ve been watching Mark’s Aquatics) Everything in the tank has come from a mature tank or has...

I’m reading ‘An alternative Aquarium: A Robust Habitat‘ by Matt Owens as it is free with my Kindle subscription. The author recommends adding pond snails, tubifex and scuds as the top three invertebrates to add as a natural part of the tank ecosystem. When I first got into the hobby I...

Has anyone used a frag rack like this or the corner equivalent to suspend bare rooted house plants in the top of a tank? If the holes are a bit wide I would probably wrap the stems in a bit of floss My husband has said he’s arranging a holiday and a friend will be pet sitting for us. They...

Been talking to my husband about my new 4ft tank and the fact that I’ll still need a shrimp tank. My current options are 12l, 25l or 120l. He thinks 120l is excessive but I think a colony of RCS, a few amanos and a filter shrimp with 10-15 pygmy corys and a similar number of ember tetras would...

I have had some very small ember tetras for a few weeks now and they have been really difficult to feed. I’ve tried live, frozen, powdered dried foods, fry foods and crushing commercial fish foods. They must be eating something as they are still here and have grown a little. I have never seen...

Tank 40l Substrate fine gravel over soil Heavily planted (very little substrate visible) with floating plants too Lighting 7W daylight bulb in a desk lamp Heater 23c Filtered (sort of). Sponge filter on a powerhead to keep water moving without sucking up shrimp Apologies for the newbie...

I love the look of hygrophila pinnatifida but I really do not want to use co2. I’ve seen a few videos showing people adding it to low tech setups on YouTube but they rarely show the tank again or talk about their failures. Have any of you had success growing it low tech? I have fairly high...

In vitro Anubias nana petite and smaller. Do such things exist? Please point me to a good place to get healthy plants if they do. I need a lot for a future scape in a large tank I don’t own yet so I’m planting existing tanks with plants I want to use later. I watched a MD fish tanks...

Hi, I’m looking for some advice please from all you knowledgeable people who set up tanks all the time. I have a tank on my windowsill that is heavily planted, dirted low tech tank on a north facing windowsill. The plants are growing well but it with the limited light (a desk lamp) and no...

I’m wondering if any of you have trained this to grow on and around wood? thinking of trying it amongst moss on spiderwood. I want to provide shaded areas for my diamond tetra. I have some wood that is curved like an arch. Thinking of planting adding Java fern and anubias along the thicker...

Been out of the hobby for a while. Had a large tank planted with slow growing plants and had little need to buy new plants for a few years. When I went looking for plants I found places where I used to buy plants locally were gone and the options that replaced them were poor. More recently...

Was worried that ottos I found when I tore the down my big tank would starve in the new one as it is too new so I invested in BacterAE and Repashy hoping they’d have something to graze on. Being contrary fussy eaters like all ottos they had been ignoring all the blanched veg that others have...

I’ve been a member of the group on and off for a long time. I know a lot of people on here are serious aquascapers who create amazing tanks and choose fish to complement the scape. Some of the tanks are spectacular. There must also be people like me who are fishkeepers that like plants to...

Don’t know how to post a poll on here or if it is even possible. I’ve been here on and off for a long time and always wondered how the membership is split How many of you are: aquascapers who keep fish to complement your scape? fishkeepers who keep plants to benefit/complement your fish...

My husband has just told me that another fish tank is arriving tomorrow as he got a bargain. Tank It will be glass measuring 30cm x 20cm x 20cm (12l) so a bit small for fish and he hasn’t bought a filter yet. The tank was only £20 inc delivery so won’t be fancy Substrate/planta I’m thinking...

Hi everyone. More questions I’m afraid. Please be patient with me. I feel like I’m starting again I used to use Seachem Prime in my 520l tank. When I was running it with EI and big water changes Prime became an expensive option as it was only available online so I moved to a pond...

Hi, I have rubbish eyesight these days. I struggle to read text in messages. I have larger font enabled on my device and still squint. The joys of getting older 😂 Is there any way I can increase font size for things I read just for my profile. The majority of the forum wouldn’t need the...

Hi everyone, I’ve been a member of the group for years but I haven’t been on the forum for a few years. I had a 5ftx2ftx2ft tank and a couple of smaller ones when I first joined. I had lots of help and encouragement during the setup and the disasters that followed while I experimented with...

My last tank was 500l and I had a big budget, no experience and no clue. Too big, too deep and hard to maintain. I’d like to say I’ve improved but not sure Anyway, it’s going and being replaced with a smaller no budget alternative Tank: 120l second hand tank that arrived witha broken lid...

Hi everyone In thr process of moving from a 500l to a 120l. Reusing as much hardscape and as many plants as I can as the budget is limited Does this look OK as a starting point? Tank 120l second hand bargain Filter FX4 with a mature biofilter Substrate: John Innes No3 capped with gravel...

Hi, I’m back after a very long time and hoping for some advice on a low-budget setup as things have moved on a lot since you all helped me setup my 5ftx2ftx2ft tank over a decade ago. We’d planned to replace the big tank with something slightly smaller later this year but it just became more...

Hi, Please can I have some advice/recommendations. I'm looking for a small external filter that will fit under my fluval Roma 90. The doors are ridiculously narrow so need a filter less than 17cm wide with narrow hoses as the cutouts on the back of the tank are impractical too. I currently...

Not a great photo. Taken with an iPod by a 9 year old. It seems the main tank has some new inhabitants. Lots of tiny baby fish

Over the past week I've notice Java fern leaves looking ragged with chunks missing from the edges. Now I've found the culprit. An angelfish is biting chunks out of them then spitting out the bits. Looks like it is just destructive behaviour rather than hunger as it doesn't eat the other...

Hi I'm hoping someone can give me some advice regarding azalea root. A couple of weeks ago, my husband bought a huge lump of azalea root for my 5x2x2 tank. So big that we couldn't find anywhere to soak it except the tank itself. It was given a good scrub and now resides in the tank at a...

I'd like your advice/opinions please For the last two days my Bristlenose Plec has been darting to the surface occasionally then going straight back to gnawing the wood or cleaning the glass. I've seen him go to the surface about 4 times in total. He's active. He's eating my sword plants and...

Hi, Looking for advice regarding Cardamine lyrata please. I'm thinking about adding it to my tank. I have 108w HO T5 over a 500l tank I dose EI and 10ml easycarbo per day Tropical says it is easy but has medium co2 requirements. Will it grow under low light and tolerate easy carbo? Thanks

Hi, My son bought his first tank today. He will be using it for a single fighting fish. It is in his bedroom do I do not want to use liquid carbon or bottled co2 so it will be low tech. It has built in LED lights with 3 settings. I'll encourage him to keep them on the lowest setting. I'll...

Went to have a browse around a LFS today and hubby bought me some new wood for my tank. It will replace the big mass of driftwood I'm making do with that is too big, too dark and blocking flow. What do you think? It is just under 2ft tall so the tallest part will almost touch the top of...

My son managed to capture this silly pic of the otos in the tank lining up for the 'All you can eat buffet'. :rolleyes: They hang around that corner of the tank just before feeding time to see what veg are on offer. Not usually in such an orderly fashion. They love sweet potato and sweet...

Hi, Looking for some advice please My husband is suggesting we add plants to our Fluval Roma 90. It currently has two 15w T8s He will not let me strip it down to upgrade to T5s as I know some people have done. He's seen this led lighting solution. Has anyone tried them? I'm not looking...

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice please. I have had Java Fern in my tank for about 3 months. It looks green and healthy by doesn't seem to be growing. My tank is 500l Low light 108W HO T5 (8 hours per day) I dose EI as per the planted tank doc (high light doses) and dump it directly...

This am one of my angelfish has a large silvery white patch on its side. This has appeared overnight. It wasn't there at lights off yesterday. It just seems to have started and spread very quickly. I'm assuming it is a fungal infection. Do you agree? I'm going to dose the tank with protozin...

Took my 9 year old to the LFS on Saturday and was really amazed to hear him ask For ottos Ask how long they had been in the shop? What they eat? Have you seen them eat that? When did they last eat? Are there any fish they shouldn't be kept with? What size tank do they need? How long can they...

I've had a bit of a busy eventful afternoon that ended with me reorganising my tank. I received some lovely plants from Darrel and decided to attach them to the driftwood temporarily rather than leaving floating around the tank. The wood in the tank has been in there since 2010. It was 3...

Hi, I did a larger than usual water change on my tank today (to rescue my scissors that I dropped at the back of the tank without ending up soaked - the joys of an extra deep tank when you are short!) The replacement water was a bit cooler than usual (both heaters came on immediately) and it...

Sometime around Easter I hope to rescape my tank as it's been the same for years, the wood is crumbling and a pesky catfish is using the swords as 'an eat all you can buffet'.The crypts and anubias I have are healthy (except for old traces of bba on a couple of leaves) The tank will be low...

Hi, I currently have a group of 8 Angelfish in my large 520l tank. At Easter, I'll be moving my Son's goldfish into a garden pond so that I can use their 120l tank as a community tank for the smaller fish currently in with the Angels. I'm planning on leaving the larger tank planted and...

A friend of mine bought Nori flakes to sprinkle on her food as part of a New Year health kick. She doesn't like them (I'm not surprised) and she had offered them to me for the fish. She says the ingredients just say Nori seaweed. I believe it may be a slightly different Nori variety to the...

Hi, I know Ottos are supposed to only be interested in algae and veg. Twice in the last 7 days we have dropped a frozen cyclops cube into the tank and, while the main feeding frenzy has been taking place at the top of the tank, we have noticed the little shoal of ottos start swimming round...

Hi, My tank has been running for years and I'm suddenly seeing diatoms on plant leaves this week. Not a serious outbreak but noticeable. I know it will resolve itself as it has in the past when I've moved stuff about or added too many fish at once. I'm just curious about the possible cause...

Hi, Has anyone been able to successfully grow Blyxa Japonica in a low light setup? I know some of you have grown 'difficult' plants such as carpet plants under lower light. I currently have 2 x 54w T5 and a 3ft (temporary) single T5 running on a 5 x 2 x 2ft tank. I use easycarbo and...

Hi, A few years ago I had some great advice from this forum when I was setting up my tank. I'm hoping you'll be kind enough to help again The tank is 5 x 2 x 2 planted with swords, anubias and crypts. I use powdered ferts and easycarbo It was running 4x54w t5s for 4 hours a day and just 2...

Hi everyone. Not be on here for ages as a shoulder injury has prevented me from working on my big tank as I couldn't get the lid off.. Yesterday hubby took pity on me and bought me a little 15l tank for shrimp and I set it up today Details are a bit sparse but here's a photo to start with...

Just wondering if any of you have managed to crack your iPod screens. Thought the screen was reasonably tough until my toddler came wandering out over to me holding my iPod touch out to me. It has a huge star shaped crack on the screen :( left it in the sounddock charging and have no idea how...

Hi, Do rainbow fish have a lower tolerance to co2 than other species? I have recently added a pair of bosemanni rainbows to my high tech tank and have had to move them back to the quarantine tank as they seem unable to cope with the co2 levels. They were added when the co2 levels were very...

I have just realised that my panda corys have spawned successfully. :D :thumbup: Tonight 4 tiny babies have ventured out of the plants for the first time to nibble at a novotab tablet. They are so tiny that their full body fits onto the top of the tab. I'll try to get a pic posted but...

Hi can anyone recommend a cheap submersible pump that will fit onto standard garden hose that I can use for water change? Ideally somewhere between 500 and 100l/h and in the UK. The interpet one I was using rattled and died a few mins ago. Siphoning through the hose is sooo slow with 250l to...

Quick newbie question How long after planting should I give HC Cuba a trim. It's been planted about two weeks. Originally, I cut each pot into 8. Now each of the cuttings is about the size of the original pot and about 1.5 cm tall. Is it too soon to cut it? Also, some of the new growth...

Got a few spots of GSA on the remaining anubias in my 500l tank. It is the only sign of algae so far. I seem to remember reading on here somewhere that upping PO4 can help clear it.. Did I imagine it? Currently dose (2tsp KN03 + 1tsp KH2PO) X3/wk (1tsp trace + 1tsp Epsom salts) x2/wk...

Just added 4 fish extra to my tank after spending an hour slowly acclimatising them, gradually replacing the water they were in before netting them and releasing them. Now they are gasping at the surface. The drop checker is green rather than yellow and the other inhabitants of the tank seem...

Is there an algae that can look like reddish brown whiskers on the edge of leaves? My 90l tank has had algae issues due to a bad layout and intermittent filter failures. Cladophora appeared on top of the driftwood directly under the lights and the edges of the plants became covered in what...

I've got 8 anubias plants in my tank 3 of which are falling apart. The plants are in various parts of the tank and two are right next to other anubias that are perfectly fine so I'm baffled. If it was flow or co2 wouldn't the problem affect all plants one part of the tank rather than what I am...

Hi. Looking for a fish for the top of my 5ft tank. I'm stuck for ideas and with an extra deep tank that's not good. The rest of the family seem to have chosen mid/bottom shoalers. So far we have cardinal tetras rummynose tetras Odessa barbs rams (captive bred and happy in hard local tap...

Has anyone compiled a list of plants that do well without co2? Always thought crypts, anubias and swords were ok but since joining this forum have seen instances were lack of co2 has been blamed for issues with these plants. Which ones are ok for low light, no co2 setups? Thanks Amanda

Hi Do any of you keep cardinal and rummynose tetras together? Do the shoal in two distinct groups or together? Had to agree to DH getting 24 cardinals (part of the deal for me to get a big tank). 12 more coming next month. The kids have fallen for rummynose tetras and I'm thinking of getting...

Quick question. What is the minimum photoperiod I can get away with for a planted tank? Currently have 108w t5 running for 8 hrs over a 2 week old 500l tank. This is already down a bit from where I started. Noticed a few diatoms on the spraybars today (plants are ok so far touch wood) and...

What's the name of the safety bracket that holds toybox lids open. The bar that goes from the toy chest to the side of the lid and prevents the lid from slamming shut. It only allows the lid to be closed if you release the mechanism by lifting the lid a bit higher then lower it slowly. If I...

Does a JBL reg for refillable cannisters work with Halfords disposables or will I need an adapter? Think my JBL reg may be faulty. Has been setup 4 days running 10hrs a day. This am it was on 50bar, now it's on the red :shock: ok if the gas has genuinely gone.. But some warning would have...

Hi. Are any of you running an Aquamanta 600 filter? Any good? Looks like I'm going to have to add another filter to my tank but haven't got the cash for Eheim or Fluval. What size hoses do these things have? Could I fit it onto my existing fluval spraybar? Is it possible to fit an...

Hi. Just wondering if this is a difficult plant to grow. Got it as part of a bargain plant pack when I set my tank up last week and it seemed fairly healthy but I just accidently uprooted some and it dissolved into mush when I lifted it out of the water. Just wondering what i'm doing wrong...

I'm currently using TPN+ but it isn't going to last long. My CO2 set came with two bottles of Ferropol. What dry ferts would I need to add to it to make it 'complete' like TPN+ as it doesn't contain phosphates and nitrates. Will eventually go over to using dry ferts but am too skint at the...

Hi Thinking about getting a pub style cannisters from Calor, Guildford. Do these bottles require a stand? Thanks Amanda

I'm sure I've seen pics on here of moss attached to bogwood with dressmakers pins. Has anyone been successful at using this method to attach plants/mosses. I want to attach an anubias nana to a recess in some bogwood but the shape of the wood means it will be very hard to tie.

Just set-up CO2 on my new tank this am. Both drop checkers have stayed blue all day. Moved the drop checker to a smaller tank with a working DIY solution this PM and the colour changed after an hour. Drop checkers were postioned at the rear right and front center. My question is how long do...

I have setup my tank with two x fluval 405 with spraybars on the back wall. The left filter has co2 fed into it's intake and has a triple bar just below the surface pointing to the front. The other filter has a double spraybar positioned an inch below the first. Would it be a bad idea to...

MA @ Farnham is shut until further notice after a fire. May save some of you a wasted trip. Shame as it was a great source of tropics plants full info on Maidenhead aquatics website

Sorry if this has been answered before. In the past I've rinsed all substrates before adding to the tank. LFS said not to wash aquabasis as I'm topping it with Manado. What would you do?

I received a box containing two bunches of plants through the post yesterday that I wasn't expecting. I can only assume that they are from someone on here who has sent me plants before as I haven't ordered any yet from online suppliers. I think they are some form of rotala but not too sure...

I'll be setting up my tank over Easter. It is going to take a lot of plants to cover 75% of the substrate. I have a fair budget but it's not massive so allowing for the fact that (I'm a beginner) should I 1. Go for the plants that I really want, buy as many as I can afford and add more...

I have not been able to look at the fluval spraybars at the LFS as they are special order items so have a couple of questions that google can't seem to answer. How big are they? Can I fit two sets into a 5' tank? Can the outlet hose be fitted to either end or is it's postion fixed? This is why...

Hi Can I have you expert opinion on what this might be. It looks someone has drawn a little cluster of circles on the glass with pencil. The photo doesn't show it particularly clearly. Scrapes off easily. First thought was diatoms as this tank is new but ammonia has consistently read 0...

Really excited as the LFS have just called to say that my 5'x2'x2 custom built tank and cabinet are in :thumbup: Seems like a good point to start a journal as it maybe delivered on Saturday (Nice Mother's day gift!) Spec Tank: 5x2x2ft - 570l Filters: 2 x Fluval 405 Lights: 4 x 54w T5 CO2: JBL...

Hi everyone. DH has bought me some plant tweezers but there is obviously a knack to using them that I haven't got yet. I know the theory is 1. Hold plant with the tweezers. 2. Push plant into the substrate 3. Open and remove the tweezers 4. Plant stays put. So why does the plant float to the...

Hi. Just aquired what I suspect is a tiger lotus bulb. LFS were clearing out the plant tank and found a loose bulb. They gave it to me as I was in buying plants and they didn't recognise it. It's about the size of a hazelnut. Dark brown and shiny like a conker and slight soft. Definately a...

Having managed to keep a few plants alive in various tanks over the past few years I've decided to get brave and setup a proper planted tank so this is my first attempt.. Having seen the wonderful tanks in these journals I'm a little nervous but hopefully I'll get some good guidance here The...

Hi I'm setting up a 90l tank this pm and I'm thinking of using inert gravel with vermiculite and zeolite to the bottom layer as I think I read somewhere that this can help to enrich the substrate. My original plan had been to use an Eco-Complete and gravel mix but the EC delivery has been...

Hi, My husband found two huge bits of driftwood for my new tank that will be too much unless i can soften the look with some moss. I like the look of spiky/pheonix moss and fissendens fontanus but haven't kept either before. Does they adhere well to driftwood and would they drape/hang in the...

Hi All, Hopefully you'll forgive another question from a newbie to the forum. From searching the forum I know that some of you are very successful at keeping bristlenose plecs and was wondering what you feed them? We've recently adopted two 2cm long bristlenose plecs who are cute but such...

Hi, Is it possible to fit an inline co2 diffuser to fluval ribbed hosing without leaks? The LFS advised me against a hydor inline heater as they said it wouldn't fit the hosing properly. Will I have the same problem with an inline diffusor? We've just had our hardwood floor replaced after a...

Hi everyone I have got home to find one of my 48l tanks is seriously cloudy.. It seems DH mistook api root tabs for algae tabs even though both are clearly labelled and attempted to feed 4 root tabs to our baby bristlenose catfishes. The fish and shrimp seem unharmed so far but I guess my...

Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum and after managing to keep two small planted tanks reasonably healthy I'm about to invest 2 yrs savings on a large tank. I'm hoping you can check out my proposed setup so that I can avoid costly mistakes. I'm a stay at home mum with busy toddlers so can't...

Hi. I'm a newbie on the site and looking for some advice. I'll soon be setting up my first large planted tank. It will be custom built 5x2x2ft with a wooden hood. I'm looking at lighting it with 2x double T5 HO units (maybe with reflectors). I'm new to all of this and I've been looking at...