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That's what I'm thinking mate, unless we're talking different stuff here the colours @Andrew Butler is looking for is pretty much the norm everywhere. You can buy crusher run stuff from local quarries which grades from 75mm down to dust and the local beaches are covered in the stuff. St Bees in...

Are you talking stuff like this but smaller?

Maybe stocked too early. You could also have lost a fish and not noticed and the decomposing body has overwhelmed the still fragile filter. I would just keep going with water changes maybe twice a week and don't add anymore fish for a while. Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk

You may be in high Nitrite Zone, if the tanks only four weeks old and already stocked up with fish you could still be getting Ammonia or Nitrite spikes. Ammonia is less toxic in water with a low PH but converts to toxic as PH rises so if your water is naturally high ph the ammonia could turn...

Maybe the roots take so long to break down because they're in fact the storage facility of the plant. It's the last chance saloon for the plant if you like so if the roots are in tact there's still a glimmer of hope of it starting to sprout again one day given half the chance? Sent from my...

I often wonder, would taking plant cuttings, drying them out then throwing them through a blender be any use if you were to put them under the substrate on startup?

AFAIK they all contain Ammonia in one shape of form.

I'm <currently maturing a low tech setup> re-using cat litter as a substrate with Osmocote underneath. So far so good (fingers crossed) but I do appear to have used a little too much. Quite difficult to gauge how much to use exactly so I suppose it's trial and error. Would be great to experiment...

I think there maybe some benefit in fish only systems would be my take on it. We are dealing with things here on the microscopic level, the friendly bacteria just want something to cling to so in a planted aquarium the optimum medium to use would be something with maximum surface area which...

Good of you to share Paul, must be liberating. What about the volcanic rock though ;):D

There's still the option of the Tesco cat litter when washed many, many times. I still use and re-use it when doing little setups that are intended to be stripped down at some point. After use I was it and put in a bucket for the next project. Supposedly has high CEC, extremely cheap when...

That's the way to do it.

Going to be a lot easier with all the scape out first I reckon. Less places to hide and avoid the net.

How does Tropica Soil fair? I recently moved my tank to a temporary location and kept it all in tact but next time I will be starting from scratch. Was hoping to re-use the soil buy I notice when you put a bit between your fingers it crumbles into dust. Can it just be shovelled out perhaps with...

Here's mine. Now when I take a closer look there does seem to be a layer of brown algae on the glass below gravel line so probably oxygen bubbles with the sun light. Time to get the credit card out I think and for once it's going to cost me nothing. Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk

Yeah, makes sense zozo, I'll run with that. Last couple of week been getting some pretty intense sunlight at gravel level now the sun's sitting a bit higher in the sky. Usually direct sunlight just misses the tank and gets shaded by a wall by the time it gets round that way. Been closing the...

hydrogen sulfide was what I meant BTW, knew I'd seen that somewhere.

Good or Bad? I was trying to get a pic before but there was too much sunlight so all you were getting a shot of was me taking a shot :) Wondering if maybe some nerite snails working through the substrate and loosening it up a bit.

Just wondering, tanks been set up prob over a year with Tropica Soil to the depth of probably 6/7 cm at its thickest. Never really noticed up until this last week or so how many air pockets appear to be in the soil near the front glass. Oxygen from plant roots or maybe trapped nitrogen bubbles...

Nice one pal. I was in a similar situation not so long ago. I also put a couple of pipes in the 5 gall bucket I was storing the fish in so I could carry on running my external filter. Good luck with it, I hope it goes well.

Yeah I would assume that the op will be siphoning off some water to store the fish somewhere while the tank gets stripped down. More he uses of this the better initially. Less stress for the fish in a clearly stressful time for them and hopefully get some good bacteria in there from the off and...

Nice one mate. You might have issues with the water clearing up but Shouldn't do the fish too much harm.

If you're just using gravel then it doesn't matter that much, it mainly depends on what you like best. As Kipper said certain fish may show less certain colouration against or not contrast very well against certain coloured gravel, it's a defence mechanism from above predation. I had Red cherry...

:DI know what you mean. I'm trying my hardest to get some hair grass carpeting and have a pair of Kribs that seem to enjoy ripping it out strand by strand. I even find myself throwing a bit of food in their direction to try and distract them. Only works for a while though! Where do you get the...

My current setup is the first time I have used cat litter and can highly recommend it. At first I was a bit dubious with the smell but this has faded after about 2 months of running. I probably spent an afternoon washing it over and over again in a 5 gallon fermenting bin then left it over night...