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what i may do is do away with the u4 , after all it is a big ugly black box with a very narrow jet of flow , and swap it out for a newave 1.6 wavemaker . adjustable from 800 to 1600lph and probably more diffused/spread out flow .

perhaps its even a bit too strong . there is a stem of L. sesiliflora about 9 inches tall the opposite end to the filters and flow forcing down the glass that end of the tank is so strong its almost laid on the substrate!

yep lots of tall plants at the back , crypts , annubias etc in the midground and a carpet of sagitaria subulata in the foreground . ive just swapped the u4 to be at the same end as the external outlet . at the opposite end of the tank flow is so strong plants are bending over but once its about...

i think il experement now by putting the u4 same end as the external and havethem both flowing right to left . ist the possible loss of momentum over 4 feet that concerns me

well the flow will be coming from a fluval 306 rated i believe at 1150lph , a fluval u4 rated at 1000 lph and an as yet undecided powerhead but probably at least in the 1600lph region all flowing from right to left . should be pretty strong id of thought

also i guess that with fine enough mist , if i can keepmit down at substrate level until its traveled the length of the tank , that a fair bit would dissolve by the time its travelled 4 feet too so lemonade effct possibly further reduced?

no worries . quite tricky to shoot from that distance . :D

any chance of a video showing the extent of ypur bubbles jose?

torn between reactor for viewing and atomizer for effectiveness. tank is up and running jose . was seeded with mature media and currently houses 2 keyhole cichlids

of course but the slower pace /lower demands of lower light must be mkre forgiving when it comes to finding the balance

works out at 0.333333 watts per litre of t8 so pretty low :D

some real food for thought here. so far biggest attraction is the increased plant choices

i like the idea of reactors meaning the tank wont have the "7up" look but fro what i read the mist is more effective for the plants , is that true?

1 thing i remember wheni used an inline atomiser was losing most of my bubbles to the surface .

at the moment im just weiging upmthe pros and cons to decide if the return is wortj the investment for my current setup .

im considering having another try with co2 , not 100% decided . its mainly going to be decided be wether or not i can find a cheap local supplier / refiller of bottles . ive also got a lot of questions that will affect the decision. 1) what sort of benefits could i expect if implemented...

im starting to think it must be Mick. leaves double in size in around 2 days . not something id expect damaged leaves t do

aponogeton still rather annoyingly throwing out brownish leavez

the aponogeton has since sent out 3 new leaves , all of which opened up brown and were removed even though they still grew when brown . another leaf is opening up today and touch wood it appears green. another shoot sprouting too so hopefully its ready to blossom .

popped into 1 of mymlfs today asni happened to be passing . the valis all looked a bit ropey . stilk didnt stop me from leaving with 3 pots of ludwigia repens rubin and a pot of limnophila sesiliflora though :D

well for the sake of 3 or 4 quid its gota be worth trying a pot to see how it copes i guess

interesting . that just happens to be my fave valis too . might try a pot to see how it does and add more if all is well

i love the look of a nice big jungle of valis in the background of a tank , but as i use liquid carbon , that rules it out as a choice for my tank . is there anything easy that will give the same look that doesnt turn to mush with liquid carbon ?

il use up the neutro+ ive got over the christmas period and then order the ei starter kit and measuring spoons when it starts running low

thoughts are its got the ada badge on so price will be a joke like all ada stuff :p

yeah . AE wont reveal the makeup of the neutro ferts . main reason for thinking about switching to dry salts is how much cheaper it works out long term .

thanks Mick il remove them and see what the next ones are like .

il see ifni can find out using a calculator the ppms im getting a if i can il post it here . il probably end up investing in some dry salts before too long

thanks jose.yes little update and question too . sagitaria subulata taking well , echinodorus xinguensis went yellow at 1st but looks to be bouncing back . in fact its now thrown out a long shoot , but this shoot looks knothing like a leaf and more like a flower stalk . not even sure if they...

Today i added double dose of ferts . No algae at the moment and only a small amount of melt.

timer changed . looking for something to block 1 tube with

some tank specs 1st . fluval roma 240 so 4ft 240L , lighting standard roma 2x40w t8 , soil substrate capped with sand . no pressurised co2 . planted the tank saturday and as expected leaves are starting to suffer . this i put down to the plants having to adapt from emeresed growth to submersed...

i think its just part of the soil mineralising to be fair. my water actually went slightly yellow at 1st .my soil has been in about 10 days now and had a few water changes in that time . lqst water hange was friday , planted it last night and water seems clear now . still going to add the...

so plants coming tomorrow . the new soil is still putting a slight haze in the water , so its big water change this evening . got some purigen coming with the plants too which should help watef clarity whilst things with the soil settle .

thanks jose . yep il be sure to post some pics saturday once ive planted it . may even start a journal

after a miserably failed high tech last year i packed it all in in utter dismay and disillusionment .picked up a 2nd hand roma 240 so decided to take the bull by the horns and have another go, but this time low light , no co2 , easier plants and liquid carbon with soil substrate. saturday ive...

im thinking a nice echinodorus mother plant to instantly cover the unsightly fluval u4 im using as extra flow would fit the bill just nice :thumbup:

its a roma 240 il be planting . the APF website states that using the starter kit each 500ml bottle you make costs approx £1.12 , so around 8x cheaper than off the shelf stuff . seems a bit of a no brainer really

4 ft 240L.

well the ei starter kit is a little cheaper than the large neutro+ which i worked out should last around 70 to 80 days on my tank . guessing the ei kit would last a fair bit longer

do you use the full dose , or reduced dose ?

i had wondered about the ei starter kit from APF wasnt sure if it would be suitable though .

get the 1 that gives macros as well as trace :thumbup:

my tank is low light no pressurised co2 and il be using neutro co2 liquid carbon from aqua essentials. im also planning on using 1 of their 2 neutro brand liquid ferts . these are neutro t which is marketed for tanks using neutro co2 but not pressurised , and neutro + for tanks running co2 . now...

tjanks , i figured it would probably be the case . plants should be orded thursday , lots of em too . will prob do 50% watwrchange every other day in the mean time , then once planted test daily a d waterchange as appropriate until things settle down

oops , typo . meant cm :lol:

so the soil has been in 24 hours now . water was crystal clear when i filled the tank , but now has a very slight haziness to it , along with quite a surface film . also im seeing the odd little bubbld here and there pop up out of the substrate . small bubbles say 2 to 3 mm . hopefully this is...

Well yesterday i got a bee in my bonnet and thought sod waiting for ebay , went to b and q and got a bag of verve aquatic compost . Drained the tank down took out the sand , in with the soil and capped with about 2 cm of sand . Timer plug for lights is here too. Hoping to be able to order plants...

Will be nice if that happens lol never had moss do anything other than turn brown. Determined to succeed with it this time though as it just looks so good when healthy and growing

thanks Mick .

when growing both moss and anubias on 1 large piece of wood , do you need to make sure the moss doesnt spread over the roots / rhizome of the aubias ?

Looking really good

Theres no reflectors on the tank i was just debating wether or not to buy some. I think i might just leave it for the 1st few weeks and see how things develop

so i can soil it , plant it and just keep testing until the ammonia and nitrite says i can add fish ? hell im liking this low tech approach already and i havent even started yet ! 1 more question for now , re lighting . the tubes on this tank are pretty old and crappy looking , covered in a...

no fish will be added until im getting zero for both ammonia and nitrite . a plus side of this waiting period is that plants will have a chance get well rooted . at what reading of ammonia would you reccomend a waterchange when its just plants ?

Nope no fish yet . Filters will be seeded with mature media too which should help too .

Will i need to be doing daily water changes to start with ?

intensity wise its a fluval roma 240 and i will be using the standard lights , being 2x40w t8 no reflectors . duration wise im thinking 6 hours fir the 1st 2 weeks , 7 hours week 3 and then 8 hours from week 4 onwards .

right wobble over plans back on track . 20L bag of aqua soil ( aquatic compost not ada) ordered from ebay . as soon as that arrives il get the tank drained , playsand out , soil in and cap with sand . going to have another read through the soil tank tutorial laternthis evening , but if i plant...

Probably just a wobble because of how badly the last effort ended! Just want to make sure i get it right this time

So valis and carbon from the soil it is then

Right so having slept on it ive decided that im going to just go gor it and do a soil substrate tank . The playsand will be coming out , soil going in and a little bit of the sand back in as a cap. with the slower growth in low techs i was going to use liquid carbon to boost growth . But does...

but with the plants having acces to unlimited co2 during that period wouldnt you get a lot of die off when you flood it and suddenly starve them of it ? im actually giving serious thought to just biting the bullet , getting some aquatic compost , draining the tank down putting it in , capping...

still not watched it yet but will do later . thinking i may swapm1 of the crypts for hydrocortyle leucocophala. a plant i really like

2 bags of sand already washed and added . i did read on here somewhere about mineralising the soil in the oven . now the missus has put up with a lot with me and my tanks over the years , but dirt in the oven? testicles and blunt knife spring to mind !!

1 of the reasons i chose aqua essentials . from what i remember not only is the quality spot on , but you got a good ammount in each pot so plenty of plant massmfor your money

thanks for the vid

ive also deliberately chosen easy plants too . nothing that needs too much care

yeah i will no doubt need help along the way going on last times efforts mate . 30 kg of sand being washed and added today . this is the 1 side of the hobby where success eludes me . hopefully this time the fact that im going low light wilk help that change

i was worried about crypts melting . they did when i tried a co2 injected setup last year . water changes arent a problem , planted or otherwise ive always dine 50% weekly faithful . opted for crypts as they seem to be considered a beginner plant

ordered some substrate capsules from aquarium plant food , tomorrow il pick up a couple of bags of sand , then once the timer plug ive ordered on fleabay turns up il be ordering plants

oops forgot to add the chosen plant list !! aponogeton ulvaceus aponogeton capruoni echinodorus bleheri ceratophyllum dimersum microsorum pteropus anubias barteri anubias nana crypt wendti brown crypt undulatus brown

after a badly failed high tech i shyed away from all things planted , but having just picked up a used roma 240 ive decided to have another crack but not high tech . low light using the romas standard lighting of 2x40w t8 , neutro co2 and neutro+ along with APF substrate capsules

i lack the knowledge to use dry salts and mix up my own . the neutro+ supposedly contains micro and macro , and aqua essentials is a site i trust . ive seen aquariumplantfood do a complete liquid fert too which may be worth lookung at

plan is daily dosing with neutro co2 and neutro+ with root tabs under the swords etc as well . where im at right now is ive got the tank , lights , filtration etc . just need substrate , plants , ferts et .

how about just playsand and root tabs? would this compact too much and lead to failiure?

ok i see. typicly how long does this leeching last for ?

thanks for the link jose .

the AE website says 5ml per 50L daily for neutro+ . does the pond soil leech ammonia?

i was planning on using neutro co2 and either neutro t or neutro+ from aqua essentials .

tank plan is ive just picked up a 2nd hand roma 240 . looking at using the standard t8 lighting and trying out a low light setup using liquid carbon and an all in 1 liquid fert . simpke plants such as aponogetons , swords , anubias java fern etc maybe some moss but with chrimbo on the horizon i...

as a cheap aquatic compost that doesnt need mineralising and doesn leech ammonia in the early stages of use ? something i can cap with playsand . i was looking at using just playsand and root tabs , but worry that it will compact too much at the required depth.

stunning fish when they colour up

thanks mate .

ive got some hygrophila corymbosa in the tank at the moment , which seems to be ok since removing the co2 , so i can keep that . maybe some cardomine lyrata as well ? thanks for the heads up re the aponogeton mick . i will try and find a crispus instead .

can they not be controlled like echinodorus , by removing the largest leaves ?

ive had a little play around with the hood configuration , and managed to get it so that a single tube sits central , giving even light throughout the tank . so im going to just stick with the single 24w t5 tube . soil etc will be ordered tonight then once that is all set up and ready il order...

looking on aqua essentials for some plants to go in the impending soil substrate tanks . so far ive come up with these . cardamine lyrata , rotala rotundifolia , echinodorus bleheri , anubias ( nana , petite and afzellii) , crypts ( petchi , willissii and bullosa ) , java moss , aponogeton...

my problem is exactly the same .

good idea , il drop him a message . i seem to remember something along the lines of 1wpg t5 or 1.5wpg t8 . with an impending holiday to pay for im restricted to using the money from the co2 sale to finance the switch . i really dont want to be using most of it to swap lighting if avoidable . im...

its a fluval roma 125 , 80x35x45cm 125 liters . not planning on using any liquid carbon

with my co2 gear as good as sold , i will be converting to a soil substrate tank very soon . im not sure the best way to go with regards to lighting though . the current light unit i have got will allow me to either have 1x24w t5 or 2x24w t5 . problem i can see with that are that with 1 tube...

i have given it considerable thought . i was going to put the gear up for sale yesterday , but decided to sleep on it and see how i felt today .

to be perfectly honest im sick of the sight of co2 for now .

i agree , i expect more algae , but so far light has already been halved , pohtoperiod shortened , co2 gear put up for sale , and once its sold the tank will be set up again from scratch as a low light soild substrate low tech using t8 tubes instead of t5's .

i will deffinately be after an aponogeton crispus , some more anubias , an echinodorus ozelot "green" , some microsorium , egeria densa and some moss . not sure what else . not really wanting to do crypts , although i might try a few . will have a look into the others in your list for sure ...

i was thinking more along the lines of a couple of big echinodorus mother plants , and then loads of small plants . going to try and find something other than crypts though

80x35x45cm . same as you describe , i had bright yellow drop checkers , co2 right at the limit of what the fish could handle and close to 20x turnover .

im also thinking not to ever put the 2nd t5 tube back in , but instead to get a t8 ballast so it will be 2x20w t8 . 1.2wpg in old money :) edit: t8 tubes the right length for my roma 125 seem to all be 25w , so would be 1.5wpg t8

thanks , ive bookmarked that . will come in handy when the time comes