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The only plant that seems to visibly react to the dosing of Easy Carb are the various types of Anubias. A lot of plants don't seem to benefit and can even be killed by Easy Carb dosing such as Valisneira and Amazon Frogbit. The best thing you could do to encourage proper plant growth would be...

Update: I now have several Anubias plants and Valisneria spiralis in the aquarium. There are new leaves growing out of both of these plants, however the leaves are much smaller and also, in the case of the new Anubias leaves that are growing through, they are lighter in colour. I feel that the...

Hi, thanks for your response, but who are you addressing with your comment?

Thanks. Will watch this when I have a little more time to spare :). Update: I now have several Anubias plants and Valisneria spiralis in the aquarium. There are new leaves growing out of both of these plants, however the leaves are much smaller and also, in the case of the new Anubias leaves...

Ok I'll give it a try. RO water is something I may have to consider, especially if I buy a Discus that is wild and therefore used to brackish water conditions. The Discus I have seems to be doing well in Derbyshire tap water which can have a high hardness level. Perhaps it would be easier for me...

The tank that the Discus is currently in is co2 injected using a Dennerle canister and a Dennerle pressure valve. The pressure valve is configured (using a basic UK plug timer) to inject co2 for about 12 hours per day to sufficiently cover the pre-photoperiod and the actual photoperiod time...

At this time I inject co2 into my old Discus aquarium and the only issue I noticed was that the Discus appeared unsociable after I did a small water change. I would attribute this to a sudden pH swing. My hope is that having a new low-tech aquarium would mediate pH swings since water changes are...

Hi Tim, Is there any downside to injecting co2 even if it is not needed? The reason I wish to inject is due to the fact that the pH of my tap water rises from 7.4 to around 8.0 after it has been in the aquarium for 24 hours so I need to mediate that effectively with dissolved carbonic acid. I...

My new aquarium is now set-up with seeded filtration media taken from a well established pond filtration unit. The aquarium is 260 litres (around 57 gallons) in capacity and contains a 70cm length piece of Red Moor root. I've decided to attach a variant of Anubias, as well has a moss, to this...

Thank you for recommending George's threads and provided plant recommendations :) Having looked at the 'My best low tech so far' thread I noticed that a substrate named Colombo Pro Soil was used. Could I manage without this and just use natural sand? I currently have sand in my current discus...

Due to work and miscellaneous commitments I am now finding that I have less time to devote towards the maintenance of my high-tech aquariums. As such, I am now drifting towards the idea of maintaining a low-tech aquarium that doesn't need as much rigorous cleaning and pruning. The footage...

I agree with DrMike on the points raised about M.ramirezi. They are often short-lived, most commonly succumbing to the hexamita parasite which is one of the most difficult infections to treat and they can easily die from having to put up with stressors. From my experience, the real culprits that...

Unfortunately not as I threw the envelope contents away as it had been stud in the envelope for many days while I recuperated. Thanks for sending them, but as the time came to use them, the fry had passed on and I'd contracted food poisoning and still have the food poisoning!

Apologies for the confusion. I'm referring to the walter worm culture that I tried initially.

They had plentiful oxygen as there were holes in the container lid. I didn't want to remove the lid as I was thinking the worms may crawl out. Additionally, there is a pungent smell created by the yeast and some of the cultures I've used so I kept the lid firmly on so that the smell was contained.

I'd be quite concerned that any left over food might rot in the same fashion that it did in the fry tank. If this happened and the water quality became worse I'd lose all the fry and the parent stock. The banana worms did arrive but I've been ill with a stomach bug which mean't I only opened...

Yes, sadly, the food that was mean't to help them killed them, probably because I was panicking and adding a lot, but then again, I didn't exceed the product feeding guidelines. I'm determined to give this a second attempt at some point but I'm going to let Mr. Ram and Mrs. Ram "bring up" the...

Bad news everyone... I've tested the fry tank water for ammonia and the result was 0.5 ppm which explains why most of the fry are not visible.

I will look for a bag of natural sand on the internet and add a very thin layer of it when it arrives. I will also look for the almond leaves that you've mentioned. I do have a bag of catappa leaves. Are these just as useful? I've never bothered using them as I know they can drop the pH and KH...

No, I left sand out thinking it would just trap detritus. I may try this but it will make water changes quite a headache as when I syphon the dirty water out I won't be able to place that water in the toilet due to the sand. Sand can cause problems if it gets into the drains I think. I hadn't...

I actually went to the Brook garden centre today and asked them if they'd take some of my fry in when they have grown up. They said they would take 10 at a time in. I only asked after having looked in their aquariums to see how healthy their fish are as I'm not taking them anywhere if they...

I'm from the Chesterfield area.If somebody here had GBR fry, what would you feed them and how often would you do so? Is there a stage of their growth where they will refuse any food? And lastly, does anybody vaguely know how many fry inevitably die, if any?

HITH seems to develop during old age in GBR's or if they are being chronically stressed. Simply moving a GBR from A to B can be perceived as stress. For me, I think co2 plays a compelling factor in the downfall of GBR wellbeing because I've experienced too much dissolved CO2 entering my...

I did one 30% w/c today and got all of the rotting liquifry out. I will do the same twice tomorrow. I know they can be quite expensive fish. My LFS sells adult GBR's for £7.99 each! The fry tank is a ClearSeal 20 litre aquarium and this is the filter that is in use which I've attached to an...

Ok. I'll syphon the water 1-2 times tomorrow by 50-75%. I've just gone to feed the adult GBR's (the parent's of the fry) and I've noticed that 50 or so eggs have been deposited and the male is fertilising them. I guess they are giving me a second attempt! Between them, the 2 females are...

Well I'm just feeding them as frequently as possible with Hikari but I'm not putting much in as its been mentioned that it pollutes the water. I am worrying and very frustrated purely because they are too small to observe. Even with a torch and magnifying glass, its impossible to know if they...

My walter worms don't seem to be growing so I ideally need something that I can buy and feed to the fry straight away. Can you bag those worms up and put some pure oxygen in the bag and send them to me via Royal Mail Special Delivery? I'd pay the postage fee. Most appear to be getting by on...

Thanks for all the tips, advice and information all. I've syphoned some of the uneaten liquifry out. They don't appear to like eating it so I might discontinue using it. I'm using Hikari First Bites which seems to send them into a frenzy. I'll continue feeding Hikari until the walter worms are...

I know that GBR's and Bolivian Rams are very sensitive to pressured CO2. So much so that I reduced my aquarium lighting intensity by about 80% so that the plants would not photosynthesise as fast and, thus, I could get away with injecting less co2. The said fish will gasp where anything from...

I guess, in my case, liquifry isn't a brilliant option as GBR's / GBR fry are bottom, mid and top dwellers. At the moment around 40 or so of them are congregating at the surface. I've mixed some liquifry in a beaker of tank water and added it. As the fry are so small and the liquifry as...

I haven't opened up the bag yet but thanks for the pre-warning about the smell haha. I just squeeze the liquifry bottle while the tip is in the water and I watch it float to the bottom. I snipped the end of the bottle with the scissors as I was squeezing it so hard, to no avail, and getting...

I was sent about 200 grams of what looks like, well, sick in a bag! I will get all the ingredients I need tomorrow and concoct it all. Thanks for your help. In the mean time I've been feeding the fry Interpet Liquifry. It comes out of the container as a white gel substance, however, the fry...

Ok thanks for that! So basically, I get a container (with holes in the lid), mix the oats, dried yeast in with tepid water and then its just a case of adding a small amount of culture? Would you say 1 teaspoon of this 'walter worm gloop' would be enough or are we talking about adding a lot more...

Hi NC10, A bag walter worm culture arrived today and some frozen vinegar eels arrived in the post too. Do you know procedurally what I need to go about doing to grow the walter worms? The seller hasn't provided any clear instructions sadly. Its the same situation with the frozen vinegar eels...

I have removed another batch of 30 GBR eggs (attached to a pebble) from my main aquarium into a small fry aquarium, seeded with filter media from my pond. Over night, most of the fertilised eggs have moved from the pebble to the base of the tank and there appears to be waving fins poking out of...

No as the drop checker has turned yellow without any co2 injection at all. It only turns yellow after adding the phosphate and potassium nitrate. After adding these ferts, the nitrite increases slightly but this never happens when adding the same ferts to a separate tank. Why is there a...

I acquired the potassium nitrate in salt form from Fluidsensor; I add it to RO water. As said in my first post, I've been using it for 5 years and its never presented a risk to the fish in my other aquarium.

My aquarium currently contains 4 albino corydoras which are all continually gasping for air. I have tested my ammonia and nitrite levels and the former is at 0 ppm while the latter is between 0 and 0.25 ppm. I'm finding that every time I dose the aquarium with nitrate (a fertiliser for the...

I've taken some pictures of the male GBR as I noticed a pin-prick sized white dot on the head. I'm not sure that the said dot should be there and I am thinking that it may be pus-filled. Anybody else agree with this assessment based on the picture evidence below?

Thanks for all of the feedback. It is very reassuring. I think I'll give it several days, as suggested, before feeding them. When I do feed them I'll put some de-frosted daphnia and small blood worm in. I'll make it known that so far I've tried Hikari micro pellets, Nutrafin Max Baby Fish...

Today I bought a pair of German Blue Rams (one male and one female). I thoroughly checked the pair while they were in the LFS aquarium for gaunt bodies, Hole-in-the-head and any other issues. Based on appearance they ticked all of the boxes and I was reassured by the LFS employee that they were...

Any ideas?

I purchased an Aponogeton longiplumulosis plant just recently. It came with a lot of foliage and a bulb with 30-40 long white roots, each about 15cm long. I was simply wondering if the bulb needs to be fully submerged into the substrate, partially submerged or not submerged at all to grow new...

I was thinking along those lines too. I've not trimmed the plant yet as its as though the top leaves seem to be causing shade to overcast the lower leaves and I'm not getting any algae growth on those leaves. I've upped the co2 and it would appear that this brown algae is disappearing by itself...

Empirical scientific testing and reading about the results of such testing gets you to the truth not hobbyist experience. I will never profess that the experiences I have gone through have lead me to the truth. My arrogance might say otherwise but fortunately I'm not an arrogant person. With...

Planting one of the many species of echinodorus plant at the back would be my suggestion. They are not too difficult to grow and if you plant one of these so that it somewhat over shadows the Anubias var nana you can impede algae growth (which typically grows on slow growing plants in high light...

I currently have an issue with brown dust algae growing on the tips of leaves that are about 5cm from the water's surface. At first I thought it was diatom algae as the aquarium that as this algal issue has only been running for 4 months and was not cycled (I know diatoms are often colloquially...

Wouldn't agree with you on this. The KH needs to be at a given level, typically 4dH, to buffer the pH from large swings or crashes. All of the 3 parameters are equally important to consider before placing wild caught fish in to closed systems as their natural environment won't be one that allows...

I thought I'd provide a quick update to show the array of flora that is now in the aquarium. The flora list, it's placement and the temporary fish stock can be viewed in the video and the video's description:

Thanks for the suggestion. Do you happen to know how tall Glosso grows? I don't think I've planted it before so I have no perception of how it looks.

I am looking into choosing a foreground plant and have been drawn towards Hemianthus callitrichoides. The growth rate seems quite fast which is something that I was looking for. However, I know that this plant only has small roots and was wondering if they anchor themselves quite robustly after...

I am now looking into choosing a foreground plant and have been drawn towards Hemianthus callitrichoides. The growth rate seems quite fast which is something that I was looking for. However, I know that this plant only has small stems and was wondering if they anchor themselves quite robustly...

Thank you :)

The stubborn piece decided to sink but thanks for the suggestion. Here is my first bog wood arrangement; should I make any changes?:

I was going to upload the final placement of the bog wood pieces today, however, the piece that is known as suteishi is floating on the surface. There must be some trapped air somewhere within it causing it to rise. I've taken it out and applied boiling hot water in an attempt to dislodge the...

Well all the pieces of bog wood that I require have arrived. The larger pieces are in while the smaller pieces are not in just yet. I've had to do a big water change as the water went a yellowy brown colour from the tanins. I haven't placed the pieces in their final positions yet; when they...

At the time of filling I was planning to do a fishless ammonia cycle rather than transferring filter media in and planting. If I run into problems I'll just have to empty it.

Thank you for your advice and the URL provided. I have on order several varied sizes of bog wood and will attempt to place these according to the rules set out in 'iwagumi aquascape'. May have to print the article out and follow it while I place the wood with it being a lengthy article. Next...

Your previous set-up looked really impressive. May I ask what the name of the plant in the centre of the first picture (the one with the broad leaves) is called?

I've acquired a new Juwel Aquarium which I'd like to transform into an aqua-scape that has the feel of a naturally propagated eco system, but one which also provides sufficient space and attractions (i.e. hiding spots and burrows) for a dwarf cichlid pair named Microgeophagus Ramirezi. While I...

This is certainly a unique aqua scape! Great job. Where will you put the aquarium heater given the minimal height of the glass?

Thanks for the suggestions. I have decided to go with the Unipac fine Fiji sand. Will be starting a journal in a second to record what I wish to achieve with a new Juwel Lido 120! :)

Thanks for all the suggestions and also for pointing out that I was ripped off by the play sand seller!! :( I've decided to buy from the Unipac range. I've bought the non-course Fiji Fine Sand (12.5 kg). I replaced my open-top aquarium with a Juwel Lido 120 with 1000 LPH pump so will be...

Ok thats good to know. Did you use the Unipac in a open-top aquarium or one that is enclosed? My play sand came from eBay and it wasn't listed under 'fish supplies'. This is what I bought: Children's Playpit Sand Play 25kg Sandpit Play Pit Kids | eBay .

Does silver sand contain silica? If so, does this cause algae outbreaks and bacterial growth? Also, I bought some play sand for my previous tank and I ended up with a highly contagious slime and surface film growing all over the tank (look through my previous threads to learn about this). The...

Is that also known as silica sand?

I'm looking for a natural sand which closely resembles naturally occurring beach sand and which does not contain PH, KH or GH boosting/lowering properties. I'm ideally looking for pre-washed sand. I know that Caribsea used to manufacture 'live sand' which was pre-washed. However, at present...

This technique has helped me remove it but it isn't a permanent fix in my case. I am very inclined to think that the substance is wholly or partially created by incoming airborne bacteria/fungi as I've only experienced it in an open-top aquarium. Other aquaria that I have have closed hoods...

I agree that adding a prawn or anything that decays slowly is not ideal because of the stench it would produce and the potential mess that it could create in the filter. Additionally, the end result is to have ammonia be processed into nitrite and then in turn have that nitrite be processed into...

Ok. I guess it's not certain what would happen if I dosed all in one go. I think to be on the safe side I won't change the frequency of the dosing knowing that it doesn't cause any issues to dose after lights on. Thanks for your advice! :)

I would recommend that the OP takes your advice, BigTom, and my advice, along with any pieces of information provided within this thread, with the same degree of gravity otherwise you risk sounding arrogant and insultive insinuating that your own views hold more weight.

Ahh I see. I still like the idea of dosing macro-nutrients once. What are you thoughts on this?

If OP is intending to add sensitive fish to the aquarium I would definitely recommend he perform a fishless cycle before adding plants. In my opinion, you could only get away with adding fish to a non-cycled planted aquarium if the the aquarium was filled with plants that uptake nitrogen...

I would recommend purchasing a PowerWalker UPS. I put connect both my aquariums to this when I lose power and it can usually power them for about 10 hours.

I'm a big fan of the Estimate Index dosing regime which involves interchangeably adding macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients for 5/6 days of the week and then removing 50% of the water on day 7. I've found a minor downside to this though. The downside is that I'm not always near the aquarium to...

Just one other yes.

As said previously, the aquarium grows the problem-substance when planted and when not planted (i.e. during a fishless cycle). Whatever the conditions, the substance grows. Thus, after 6 months of trying to get rid of the substance I think it's best I move onto another aquarium with a lid. This...

Its a Tetra O2 testing kit; nothing fancy. While its probably not extremely accurate it did tell me there was under 2 mg/L of o2 in the water when my Tetras died from oxygen starvation. I did the o2 test and the result was 4 mg/L which is a good result. But having took another look at the...

I know but nobody knows the specific source. Going to do a 02 test in a minute. My expectation is that there will be little o2 in there again.

There's nothing in the aquarium. It's completely empty a part from the water, suction cups and inlet/outlet pipes. The filter contains ceramic rings for biological filtration and filtration sponges to collect waste. The only reason the filtration system isn't choked up is because a 9w UV is...

Well it doesn't grow in moving water. It grows in little to no moving water. When it over-runs the tank and clogs up the filters you then run the risk of ammonia building up if there isn't another plant to opportunistically utilise the organic compounds that the decaying duckweed has leached. I...

No, I've only experienced it with this aquarium. I have a Seachem Iron test which I could use to test for iron but I don't think it's an iron residue as the same dechlorinated tap water is used in my pond and other aquarium and they are spotless with respect to this orange substance and their...

Did you experience low O2 levels and fish death with this? The slime I have kills fish. Nobody knows what it is.

What happens if the duck weed doesn't grow? Whats the backup plan then?

It isn't yet. I'm doing a fishless cycle on it beforehand as I'll be adding sensitive stock (Microgeophagus Ramirezi). I've had the stuff in the pictures grow after and before cycling and with and without plants.It was only a couple of months ago that I threw away over £50 of plants because of...

I would clear the tank by scrubbing all of the algae away from the decor and then I wouldn't bother keeping the lights on for any length of time until you've completed your fishless cycle. Ammonia is a useful thing to quickly cycle an aquarium but it can cause problems too if the correct...

Well I have some bad news. The orange slime is back again but there isn't as much of it. The UV filter seems to be keeping it from flourishing. Here's a few pictures showing where it is growing: Yellow/orange slime in the pipework Orange slime deposited in bucket Slime...

Yes, it's not new to me either. I was just very scared that it was the recurrence of the previous growth that I had in the aquarium which was impossible to get rid of up until I chucked 4-5kg of salt in and 25ml of bleach. It was a dark orange skin particle that stuck to the glass, filter media...

Ahh ok. In that case I will clean it later this week.

They are brand new. The spare ones I have smell of plastic and do have what feels like a powder on them; pretty sure if I wiped them on a white t-shirt it would become marked. Should I take the suction cups out and boil them in salt water? Salt seems to get rid of a lot of nasties. I do my...

Will keep my fingers crossed that the stuff on the suction cups is not going to spread in the fashion that I've been used to of late with this cursed tank!!!

If I were you I'd complete your fishless cycle without anything in the aquarium other than dechlorinated water. Adding pure ammonia to an aquarium encourages all sorts of algae formations so you don't want your substrate and other structures getting clogged up with that stuff. I'm not sure how...

I've had this occur before and it is currently growing on a small segment of bog wood in my established aquarium (not the one discussed here). It's a fungus that is completely harmless. The fungus is usually a grey coloured fuzz and grows a few cm away from where it was seeded. The stuff growing...

Definitely. I can definitely remove/clean it but as for dealing with causation, I'm very clueless :confused:

Ok hopefully this proves to be true as it's unsightly and it has grown very quickly. I'm on edge when it comes to anything mysteriously growing in this aquarium as a few months ago I had a substance in the same tank that covered almost all surfaces and consumed all the dissolved oxygen; see...

Thanks for the replies. Is the substance something that will only crop up in a new aquarium or does it keep recurring no matter what? I have a separate tank and all the suction cups in there do not have this growth.

I have 4 suction cups in an open-top aquarium and I have just noticed that they are covered in a white slimy substance (it has a very slight yellow tinge to it too). To the touch it resembles a cream that say you'd apply to the skin/face. There's also a bit growing on the output pipe. Take a...

Thanks. I'm not factoring play sand in here as some contain some hazardous stuff not even fit for children to play with. Are there any Unipac sand users here? If so what are your experiences of using it? Any issues?

I'm currently preparing to set up a new planted aquarium, and after having the most horrendous experience with play sand which seemed to be leaching nasties into the water, I'm now on the look out for a decent alternative substrate which has a fin and minuscule properties just like play sand...

Thanks for putting forward your views. I guess your saying that ammonia and nitrite will naturally occur in warm water over a lengthy period from plant decay and not all of this ammonia and nitrite will be utilised by the thriving plants for growth, allowing for small colonies of nitrosomonas...