Search results for query: *

Most rasbora come from swampy pools high in plant matter and low PH and KH so a biotope type tank would have dark peaty water and relatively few plants. Those plants there are would need to be low light to grow effectively so probably crypts and anubias with a few floaters. A sponge filter is...

Thanks for the prompt. Both tanks are doing fine with minimal maintenance, too little really as the pogo is showing signs of legginess due to being overshadowed by the MM ditto the HC which has grown but really has not got the root system to hold in the cat litter so I will be removing that. I...

I've found getting plants that are small in leaf tends to make the tank look larger than it really is but there are no small red plants so have had to make do with brown crypts. Make sure that the MC never gets shaded and it should be OK, a bugger to plant though - hence the dry start. Bromley

I worried about the water changes on a small tank at first and was making more changes than now but providing you do not overfeed or have large dirty fish I believe there is some sort of balance eventually. I also believe that a shallow tank is easier to grow some plants in than a deeper one as...

I am very lax about water changes probably on average around fortnightly with topping up as required, no more than 50% often less. The shrimp can act as an early warning system, if they start swimming around rather than eating then things are getting critical. That has happened once when a tank...

Hi Zoe, Mature Espei look stunning mine are with green neons, pencilfish and various other rasbora no problems at all. http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/espei-rasbora.31352/

There are similarities with us both having small tanks and hard water (London). I believe that the shallowness of the tanks helps a lot - just think of a small stream. Many will tell you that high circulation is everything but I think that only applies to high light tanks where plants are being...

I have nine tanks, all planted with varying degrees of success. Like you I am after something low tech with less maintenance. The first ones were planted in gravel or silica sand with some Tetrabase underneath to supply iron etc. Gravel much less successful than the silica sand. THe three tanks...

Take a look on Gumtree or preloved, I've picked up good second hand ones, Lido 120 £100 and Trigon 350 £200 for example often with heaters, filters and oddments included. Still have another four or five 60x20x20cm breeding tanks in the loft and they were free! Will have to trim pogo and...

Cherry barbs are attractive and mix well with other fish but I would not say have much character. The rosy loaches do though but you need dither fish with them to overcome shyness. I have not gone down the Co2 route so plants largely muddle along. Good luck with the job hunt, let me know if...

8 tanks and one transitioning from dry start blacked out at present to deal with blue green algae. All started when wife gave me a tank at Christmas 2011 Juwel 180 but never really got to grips with plants. After losing many learnt what would grow. Second tank was a reciprocal gift Juwel 120 to...

I always think this hobby is a bit lonely, not easy to find others with similar interests without accosting others in an aquarium shop. What sort of fish are you going to be keeping?

Welcome to the forum, I'm in Bromley too so maybe we can swap a few things sometime.

I currently have a tank on dry start with no heating (even the house heating is broken) (as low as 12C) and full light 12 hours a day and all is OK with only irregular misting. Weeping moss, xmas moss, HC, eleocharis mini, hygrophila araguaia, pogostemon helferi, micranthemum micromoides...

No CO2 or liquid carbon now though I did use liquid carbon in the transition from emersed and added a bit of feedthen but stopped that about 3 weeks back. I have a relatively large surface area to tank volume and a soil base so figure they may not be needed - time will tell.

I think it is because the tank is so shallow, better light and a relatively large surface area to volume. The filter is the smallest All Pond Solutions filter rated at 200lph with spraybar flowing length of the tank at surface so some ripple helping too. After decoration and substrate tank is...

Time for an update. Shrimp breeding like crazy but have lost a couple of cory hastatus. One may have been due to heater malfunction - only 2 months old - short circuit. Fortunately had a spare but water temperature dropped to around 17C. Plants growing now without liquid carbon or added ferts...

I have experimented with various alternative LED lights. Firstly LED strips glued inside the lid. Not very bright and over a relatively short time they start to fail, probably not totally waterproof. I have replaced them with these as I have no headroom and wanted something thin...

Finally found some, Pond Life Aquatics at Finchley Nurseries Mill Hill NW7 1AS. Lawrence who runs it has a small number of tanks with a particular leaning towards livestock suitable for Nano tanks (and reasonable prices too). He also says that he reckons he is able to get in fish to order so if...

Your tank is tricky to scape in proportion and is not really deep enough for stem plants. I've had a go - take a look at http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/first-time-aquascape.35466/ It is shallow and as a consequence you will have better light than many but the biggest issue is depth of...

I was looking for something "branchy" as due to the tank dimensions 60x20x20 I'm very limited on space. This is the only one remotely close from some half dozen shops and I think it works. Will have to see what a weeping moss coat does for it.

Some good news about the anubias I treated with Easycarbo. New leaves are appearing, ever so slowly but there is definite growth, just lost one rhizome. Pogo is growing insanely fast and still not staying in the substrate. Shrimp and cory hastatus appear quite content only algae is a small green...

Might be the impeller, same happened to me and I found a crack in the impeller, replaced and as good as new.

A month on and it has all gone a bit crazy. Hardscape getting obscured so time for a trim I think. Pogo still not rooted so comes adrift on trimming. What to do with trimmings? I know another tank! Not quite what I originally set out in mind but difficult to find bogwood to fit.

These are smaller http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25W-50W-100W-150W-200W-300W-AQUARIUM-HEATER-FISH-TANK-THERMOSTAT-TROPICAL-MARINE-/300881563536?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&var=&hash=item460df04f90

i have a tank with odessa, gold and rosy barbs and if you think odessas are bad you should try the others. I have tried feeding spirulina granules in the hope of sating their desire for greenery but not seen much difference. Plants they do not destroy include anubia, giant vallis and crypts...

Two weeks after flooding and ticking along nicely, slight algae on the glass but nothing major. RCS doing a good job. Sand cap has made right hand side look a bit sparse but that will rectify with new growth.

10 days on from flooding and all going well. Added a dozen or so cherry shrimp to combat any algae and apart from a slight ammonia spike (which shouldn't happen after a dry start) when they all swam about frantically put right with a water change plants are looking good. Dwarf swords putting up...

First day after flooding, HC pearling and pogo visibly issuing oxygen bubbles, some on moss too. Minor problems with some HC uprooting due to pearling - not sure that the cat litter is heavy and dense enough to offer sufficient rooting for HC but have placed a lead weight on top and will wait...

Time on my hands today so decided to take the plunge and flood the tank. Before After Pogostemon have no roots at all so a couple came adrift along with odds and ends of HC but on the whole looks good. Now I have to keep it that way! Was a bit worried that the small PondSolutions filter...

Been running a number of tanks (well 7 actually) for a while now, all containing plants but none planned and scaped and all of which have for one reason or another been a disappointment so I am having a go using a 24x8x8 tank and a cheap over tank led light off Ebay...

Giant vallis appears OK with Easycarbo in my tank, no visible damage even when dose is administered through surface leaves.

Just setting up a new tank using the dry start method, been two weeks now. HC is getting going, pogo is starting to show new growth and pygmy sword looking fine. Christmas moss attached to wood showing new growth but anubia leaves are dying. Probably my fault as they had a little algae so when I...

I wouldn't trust the unit either though does look quite sturdy. If it had a couple of extra verticles, the back strengthened and not those feet it would probably be OK. I'd build from MDF but may well get that MDF from IKEA as their damaged/remnants section usually offers excellent value, just...

Another 3 weeks on and it appears that I am winning a bit. Plants are growing and new growth is not being affected by brown algae, still the odd spot of BGA and green spot but nothing unmanageable. These only started after I increased the photoperiod from 5 to 7 hours so maybe the best time is...

Just seen this http://www.fishpetsreptiles.co.uk/products/detail.php?prodcat=&prodtype=&prodid=2471 which might be an option, have just ordered one myself.

With apologies computer issues mean I cannot upload any pictures - software on dead computer! Hopefully will be resolved by next week.

I used one tube to replace the back pair in a Trigon 350, tube comes with a number of fittings but I found none suitable to work with the Juwel fitting still in place however as it is waterproof it was easy to attach it to the fitting using plastic ties. If you opt for a tube slightly shorter...

I got an Interpet waterproof LED tube and used plastic ties to attach to the old Juwel fitting, of couse it does not have to be the same length...

7 day blackout has reduced but not eliminated the algae, a week of dosing and have started to see new growth. Added a few extra plants to see if they get affected and learnt a lesson. Barbs like pogostemon helferi, heminathus and are now munching on hydocotyle, no wonder it all gets uprooted...

That makes sense and sounds like a cunning plan Alastair. In fact am on day 5 of a blackout as it will eventually clear the algae and may just possibly allow the plants to photosynthesise a bit better. It is early days with dosing anyway so the plants are probably showing pre-dosing symptoms, I...

Leona - make sure they are waterproof! Ian - mine in the much more hostile Trigon have suffered similarly, but then they are cheap! I used superglue to attach to the hood. I see there are different LED's available now with what looks more like cree elements, might give them a go next-time.

be interesting to see. I tried a white LED strip in the back of my Trigon 350 and it looked just like moonlight but did not light the bottom much.

Faced with the problem of lighting small Clearseal tanks I decided to try the cheap LED strips stuck to the lid at a ration of double the tank length. These tanks are only 8" deep so light penetration would not be an issue but could the light be enough to grow plants? With limited substrate I...

Mine's far worse, if only you could make money out of brown diatoms...

Just read your thread and it gives me hope for my tank, check back in 6 weeks!

Sounds exciting, we'll be watching

I believe they can be a bit nippy too, but maybe that is just the snapping ones. Seriously agree with the messy, and tanks need to be covered too they are adventurous

Yes I have seen them in a number of fish shops, rarely much choice though. What part of the country?

worth all that elbow grease, looking good

thats useful to know

I'll try that, certainly a blackout in last summer's hot weather resulted in all the algae disappearing but it all came back again. Trouble with 5 hours is not much time to enjoy the tank, what about splitting the light into two 2.5 hour segments, would that work?

I have had brown algae issues from day one in my Trigon 350 which I had originally put down to silicates leaching from the cat litter substrate until I found this site. Ceg told me to dose nutrients which I started two weeks ago and there was a definite pick up in plant growth. I started to dose...

'][/URL] This tank has been established 2 years and is lit by a cheap clamp-on led 40 white 8 blue, no dosing or CO2 though there is some substrate nutrient. Crypts very successful, anubias obviously size limited and amazon swords are a surprise. Danios, rasbora and shrimp. Just wish I had...

Thanks for the tips guys, clearly best to avoid getting family or friends involved if you wish to avoid problems. I like the pill box idea which world avoid overfeeding.

Thanks for the leads, both around a 5 hour round trip, original 6 came from Sweet Knowle in the summer (well you have to break your journey somewhere!). They seem to be delivered as juveniles with a predominance of males - well those with obvious lateral lines anyway, wonder if they are using...

Spurred on by Big Tom's success with breeding rosy loach I set up a tank for this purpose stocked it with 6 rosys and waited only to discover that all were male. I have searched all over the place but have not found a single female anywhere so I was wondering if any members had seen any lately...

Wow! That really looks great

Which time delay food do other members recommend to feed the fish whilst away? If they are calcium based how will they affect the water quality?

Anubias, crypts, vallis and microsorum work for me, all others sre a struggle.

250lt for £50 hard to refuse. Juwel rate their jumbo filters at 1000lph and they are in 350lt tank so on the face of it filter is adequate though depends on stocking level. I tried Tesco cat litter but find it too light, am told 1 LITRE BONSAI SOIL - MOLAR CLAY is better. Have always found...

Thanks guys, perhaps I should have paid more attention in science classes. I have removed the silca/phosphate remover and will get some dosing salts and see what happens.

So you think I was on the right track with the nitrogen dosing?

About a year ago I was lucky enough to get my hands on a second hand Trigon 350 and having read about kitty litter as a substrate I decided to try this as the cost and weight of gravel was going to be substantial. In fact I got all the substrate I needed for under a tenner. First observation...

Looks more like a fungus than a plant

I really like the dwarf pencilfish Nannostomus Marginatus, mine tend to go around in a group.

If you have ever seen these for sale in the shop and passed them over think again. Just look at these (very poor shots) to see how they colour up. Please ignore the state of the plants, ravaged by snails and limited by a single tube - I have joined to learn how to improve this. Tank info 140...

Totally agree that cat litter is light, vacuuming is tricky, better to allow the fish to do all the disturbing. Go with plants with big root systems, amazon swords, crypts etc but be prepared to keep replanting. Even after 9 months I have continuing problems with algae so do some water tests. My...

Thought I'd say Hi. I was given a Juwel 180 two years ago and now have 7 tanks. The wife is very tolerant but not sure she knows about the other 6 small tanks waiting in the loft! There are Juwel 350, 180, 120 and an old 3ft tank plus 3 small "breeding tanks". All the tanks are planted but I am...