Recent content by hudsonpd

Hi all, After reading this thread I decided to buy a new ceramic for my atomiser (as I'd noticed the bubbles had got bigger and thought it could probably do with a clean). I followed all of the advice and this morning was saddened to see that less CO2 seemed to be around the tank - I was hoping...

HI All, Is surface agitation imperative to help getting the right CO2 balance? Every time I get the CO2 right / Ph drop of 1 before lights on, my fish do not behave normally. Every time they are alright, the CO2 and ph is not. The only thing left to try is to increase surface agitation. But...

Do you think it improved your diffusion rate?

Are there any problems associated with putting the diffuser on the intake to the filter? Does it affect anything inside the filter? It just seems that I can never get the balance right on the ph drop at lights on - whenever I do, the fish don't like it. So I am thinking the diffusion needs to...

Folgatesafety on ebay is the one I use. £18 for a refurbished 2kg bottle. Will send to your door for about £12

Ok, great - that explains why I haven't had a problem so far! Does anything happen to the FE/gas in it? Does the water get through the reg into that?

Hi all, I'm finally moving to a FE set up - taken me ages, I know! My question is - what help does the check valve (on a bubble counter) have? I haven't been using one on my old DD set up as the bubble counter wasn't in a good position to be of any use. I've read it stops the back flow of...

Hi, I wonder whether this is a problem? In the last week or so the top leaves of this plant have started curling. Is this a problem with anything that will cause other plants a problem? I dose ferts using the EI method currently. The only change in recent weeks is that I have uppsed the...

Ok, so I took readings yesterday, although I am only using a standard, test tube-type test, so I'm afraid my readings are all quite difficult to get. Tank water left out over night was about 7.8 At 11 am (as gas goes on) it was about 7.1-7.3 By lights on at 1pm it was about 6.4-6.5 I'd say...

Thanks guys. I am pretty sure this is an issue with the diffuser (probably linked to poor maintenance), so last night I installed a new, better inline diffuser which made a huge visual difference - the mist was very fine compared to the other one and less seemed to immediately escape at the top...

As always Ceg, thank for your time and answer So you are saying I need to take two ph readings in order to work out how co2 is dissolving? I will take a video at the wake if I can because the flow is good. The dissolving may be an issue I suppose but using an inline diffuser, it has never...

What does it mean (if anything!) if crypts develop small holes in older leaves?

Ash Thanks for the tip! Do you dose frets or have high light? Strange how mine doesn't do much despite these! Paul

Hi all, I have consistently had some difficulty with this plant. Is it easyish to grow? It seems to do quite well when I leave it in the pot, sending out runners etc. However, the leaves are very thin and shorter than usual. They tend to look quite 'straggly' - certainly not like it is in...

Thanks for your reply and summary Parotet - without wanting to be patronising, you have written an excellent summary and all learnt very fast by all accounts! My difficulty is that easy growing plants grow well but other ones die within 2 weeks of buying. And everything on here has advised it...