Recent content by CeeJay

Hi At 350l I would seriously consider mixing your own by buying the dry salts. You will save yourself a fortune. It works out around £2 to make 500ml of your own 'All In One'. Compare that to 500ml of any commercial brand :wink:

Hi John PS I just looked up the two products you mentioned. I would definitely use the Waterlife Tropiflora as your plant food, but you can safely drop the Waterlife Bacterlife. Once your plants are healthy they will break down most, if not all, of the Ammonia in your tank. Think of it as...

Hi John I think as long as you feed your plants you will be OK, it just might take a bit longer to get rid of the BGA. Siphon out what BGA you can along with your water changes, and once you get the dosing right, it won't come back. Don't be afraid to overdose the fertiliser either, as you will...

Hi johnfw I had an outbreak of this when I first ran a low tech/low light setup. It transpired that I had low nitrate in the tank and BGA is usually caused by low nitrates :( . I dropped in two teaspoons of KNO3 and it was gone in 4 days :D . You do not mention adding any fertiliser for your...

Hi bigmel I haven't seen any difference in performance between the two. They both seem to do the same job :D

Hi all You will probably find the larger tank easier to keep everything more stable in the bigger volume of water. When small tanks go wrong, they go wrong very quickly. Good luck with your new project.

Hi jazjac I'm not saying your asking for trouble but your CO2, flow, ferts and maintenance needs to be spot on, as you've already found out. Me, I've gone to the other extreme now. I am currently experimenting with 6W of LED's on the 180L :lol: . Obviously, the tank looks dimmer, but...

Hi jazjac As Alastair says, you do not have to have a solenoid on your CO2 system. It just works out cheaper on the gas if you do. Providing the CO2 is at max, at lights on (the most critical phase), you will be OK. This usually means turning the gas on 2 hours before lights on and turning it...

Hi all Or the kitchen drawer :lol:

Hi all Mike I would up your KNO3 dose. I had an outbreak of BGA when I set up a 95L low tech tank a few years ago. I was dosing James' All In One at the rate recommended by Tropica (5ml per 50l per week). This I found was miles too low for the plant density that I had. I thought I'd get radical...

Hi all This is incorrect. There is no valid reason to underdose a tank...........ever. We are trying to grow aquatic plants here and aquatic plants need nutrients, and always will. It's when you underdose you get all your associated algae problems. rehman73 You will never have algae issues...

Hi rehman73 I always dose mine from day 1. I just can't see the point in risking any shortages when you want to get your plants off to the best possible start, although with your expensive substrate you would be able to reduce dosing if you wanted to. I've never had any problems dosing full...

Hi all If you keep the solution acidic the iron will not precipitate. Perhaps you should study this. James' All in One How do you think companies like Tropica keep iron in solution in their own brand of 'all in one'. Excel Yes............'All in One' Never

Hi all Off the electrics for a minute :roll: So you already have most of the ingredients to make your own "all in one", if that's what you want to do. Where did that come from? :shock: You will have to go some to kill any aquatic plant by overdosing, that's for sure :D That figures. If...

Hi Jason. Nice looking background plants. Not sure about the flowerpots though, but that's only me. Either reduce the volume of EI solution that you dose daily, or weaken the mixture by putting less teaspoons of the powders in the mix. Works either way.