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Quite entertaining, I expect to see some totally pissed posts by @zozo very soon - they may be better than his normal ones 🤣

Mine usually surf in pairs or trios and based on results, it is a mating pattern in my case. The females are larger and being chased if I look at the behaviour closely. I've seen glass surfing from other fish in the past, solo. There wasn't a source of stress that I could point to in those...

I've always left floaters in when carrying out a water change.

My floating plants grow so fast, I just leave them there. If they get in the way, they just get plowed through. Either they’ll break down in the tank and snails will eat them or they’ll get chucked out into the compost when I need to cull them anyway.

Congrats!

If you haven't already made plans to visit the attractions at Mandai Wildlife Reserve I would definitely recommend that you do. I'm sorry for suggesting something touristy but I absolutely love it there. River Wonders is a must visit if you're into freshwater habitats (and since you're on this...

I always leave them in, that is if you don't intend to do a massive or 100% water change. Then fill back up carefully, most should be fine and orientate themselves the right way up, those that don't you can give a helping hand to. I think S. minima is smaller than S. auriculata. Maybe Tropica...

I haven't drank alcohol for 25 years and now i want to buy a soda stream and get started! This guy is great!

Great, will take a look. Thanks for the advice.

I recently picked up some Salvinia minima for the Shrimphaus after seeing it in action at @Aquarium Gardens at the recent get-together. How do people deal with floating plants during a water change? Do you just suck out the water working around the floating plants or do you scoop them out and...

Yes that would be a good idea. But it’s a balancing act between light intensity and fertz dosing. It's one you’ll get the hang of with experience. Once the tank has become established it is possible to slowly increase the photoperiod to 12 hours. For frets dosing take a look at Darrel’s Duck...

All the masses ,volumes and costs are editable by design, so the end user can update the costs of the products they are using locally. Then it is just the currency symbol which is wrong. Just checked myself and when the currency is changed there is no exchange rate conversion it is just the...

If you ever get bored with your aquarium... :lol:

Thanks, I'm planning to go heavy on the Anubias and Frogbit; hoping that the latter provides shade for the former. E2A: Am I right in thinking that when I first plant I should start with c. 6hrs of light and about half liquid fertiliser dosing?

If you’re planning a low-energy tank, I’d just go ahead and plant. Media from an established filter is always good. But also there will be enough microorganisms on the plants to inoculate the tank and get the cycle going. Plant very densely from the get go, and you’ll be off to a good start.

Welcome

It’s not a cut and dry as this. Each tank is different and requires adjustments depending on plant and fish growth. AIO fertiliser mixes are a great way to start.

Hello! :wave:

Welcome 🙂

Community tank

What species?

I think that’s what I paid too, that’s a pretty big jump in price!

I have a friendly LFS, so I will definitely ask them for some media if it saves some cycling time. And yes, my thinking behind a species tank rather than community was that I could accommodate more corys, and hopefully that would make them happier 🙂

I use this and think this is a good All in one, l imagine it's similar to Tropica Specalised in that it contains all essential nutrients, My low tech aquariums l just add at weekly water change weekly. No difficult plants but the Amazon Swords are 15inches in sand no root tablets,l do add a bit...

Excuse the the stains on the glass, it's still a work in progress. Does anyone have experience with Vallisneria? Worth it or too invasive??

I usually plant straight away with inert sand or soil capped with sand, though I do mainly grow stem plants. One of the best ways of starting cycling is a squeeze of dirty water from a mature filter sponge! Or even a piece of sponge you can tuck into your own filter. That has everything you need...

Sounds good, welcome!

Ah OK , so even without aquasoil it's worth it as it gives the filter a chance to grow nitrifying bacteria without the "competition" of the plants? Do you have any personal experience of an effective ammonia source to cycle the filter if using an inert substrate? The internet being the...

Welcome! :wave:

Its actually TNC

Just kind of randomly appeared in my Instagram feed. Check out some of their other posts/reels. This Las Vegas-based custom aquarium manufacturer & installer has some nice show pieces exploring the broad & shallow tank idea with other really nice hardware. I have seldom seen freshwater...

Unfortunately I don't have room for a cansiter filter in my room Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

Is it ok to feed dried mealworms to tropical fish

Yeah it makes sense. I'm using in pounds, cos I am a little bit more used to it. At the end of the day, it's just a symbol, I can write whatever it may cost in Reais and forget about conversion, because I feed it with the prices I get in Brazil. But thanks anyway, I was just to eager to ask it...

I always thought it was more to do with oxygen than temperatures, as in fish will be fine with 30 as long as you keep an airstone running. Speaking of Singapore, I'll be visiting end of May for a week - do you have any tips or suggestions of what to see besides the usual tourist things ? :D...

You can do dark start to cycle the filter without fish but you will need ammonia to start the cycle which is normally provided by rich aqusoils like ada amazonia or tropica soil. You could just add ammonia or ghost feed with some fish food / frozen shrimp. I have became a firm advocate of...

I do and my wallet definitely isn't happy. 😁 The Parotocinclus haroldoi they have are £16 ea or 6 for £90. They were 6 for £50 the last time I bought them, I wonder if Parotocinclus are contributing towards headline inflation 😅

Hello all, I'm in the slow process of setting up a 70 litre low-tech tank (Ciano Aqua 80). It will have pool filter sand substrate, and I plan to have mostly wood for hardscape. In terms of plants, I plan to attach plenty of Anubias to the wood, as well as have Frogbit floating on top. Once it...

Stop doing water changes imo . Leave it be now light at the end of tunnel is not too far away. Aerate the tank at night to increase oxygenation. One thing i have learned with this hobby is be patient, if you try to force things it can have adverse effects

Some close ups

100% water change and plants in place... I think it looks good

Hang on the back filter are not my cup of tea , i used them in the start and took months to cycle, external filters are preferred choice for me now and they look better aswell with glass lily pipes and have larger space for biological filtration

Do you have a full tank shot? They could be stressed out if your tank doesn't have enough hiding places.

High nitrates was a bad time to introduce some new buce from a tissue culture - all leaves melted, perhaps some rhizome survived. Also lost a few leaves from one variety of buce that was well established, but it's recovering. Refilled my bubble counter, and it leaked CO2 afterwards which I could...

Welcome! :)

Yes it is possible But not going to happen. The cost breakdown was installed for a relative cost comparison of commercial ferts compared with diy Ferts with reference to the size of your tank and fert regime. Plus the prices was taken from the web at the time done in English pounds and then the...

I know high ammonia levels cause algae and high nitrate doesn't buy what about Nitrite? I'm still cycling my tank and my ammonia levels have subsided and my nitrite levels are high. Do high nitrite levels promote algae growth? Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

If anyone was wondering, I started the tank with local river sand and collected driftwood. Botanicals, mosses and plants sent from friends on this forum. Snails from my pond. I’ve gone down the sterile tank route before so decided to try something different this time. I was aiming for...

My nano shrimp tank is almost ready. I’ve got plants growing in, plenty of moss and some healthy tannins. Lots of detritus and leaves. Some snails from the pond have been on algae duty for a few weeks now and I’ve got one or two invertebrates scooting about. Seems like a nice home so far. One...

I’ve not seen any dead ones so I guess they’re just not breeding as freely as they were?

Are you actually seeing lots of bodies all of a sudden or is it that they just haven't been reproducing enough and the population is decreasing as a result? That would still be a problem, but not exactly the same as a die off event. I agree that lack of mineral content could be the problem...

Mmm... seems the tip of my c. Nurii is getting some colour. Interesting! To the right on the rock you can spot my bucephalandra 'red scorpion'.

Hello there!

Plan was to have a reactor be built by someone else but the delivery time could be up to 4 weeks. Since i am between jobs as a plumber atm i have some spare time to do it myself. To be continued :cool:

I’ve had a look at the link Darrel. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/RO.htm I’ve got some gram scales I use with Fertiliser salts so I could get those listed in the link. I’m not sure exactly how I’d use the resultant 25K solution though.

Oh I love this. It looks really natural and a bit more dirty, which is probably heaven for the fish. Excellent job!

Thanks for that Darrel. I’m still on the original small bottle of Replenish I bought over 5 years ago. I didn’t use it very often but perhaps the last dose I put in a few weeks back has caused the problem. I’m going to leave things as they are for a while but I’ll try adding some tap water...

Another slightly quirky question. I'm taking delivery of a replacement 3D printer and wondering what applications folks have put these to in their aquariums.......again, maybe this is a separate post!? 😊

I should probably post a separate thread, but I'm looking to restock my shrimp population. Any recommendations on where to purchase these from? My limited experience has been that the local shops (I'm in Surrey, near Guildford) rarely have what I want and ordering online has ultimately...

Finally organised the cabinet and have things laid out how I want them :)

They’ll ship to you. They’re actually one of the best when it comes to mail order, I’ve had them send me tetras individually packed. I have had Parotocinclus Haroldoi from them. They’re not like your usual dwarf loricariid and are feisty little things. They were originally in a two foot tank...

at 80% humidity i'm not surprised!

Hi all, I've only passed through the airport a couple of times, and both times the weather was wet and my first thought was "wow, it is incredibly hot and sticky". cheers Darrel

Got home kinda late. I've been getting home later these days so i've adjusted my lights to turn on half an hour later and turn off half an hour later too. Also adjusted my CO2 to turn on later and changed it to turn on 1 hour before the lights turn on instead of 1.5 hours. Anyway, just wanted...

Hi all, That is quite a lot of salts (ions). The bogwood won't make much difference, the TDS meter is measuring conductivity and non-ionic compounds don't add electrical conductivity, although they would add ppm TDS if that was what we were actually measuring. I'd definitely stop adding...

How I wish I lived near Pier Aquatics (although my wallet would not be happy). Have been told they had a brazil shipment with Parotocinclus Haroldoi in for anyone looking for them.

Hi all, I'd guess the water has got too soft for them. It has rained a lot in the last 18 months, which will have washed all the limestone (calcium carbonate (CaCO3)) dust from both roofs and the atmosphere. I measured the conductivity of the water from the water butt at home recently (not a...

Welcome to UKAPS.

...Acids and Bases | Introductory Chemistry">. What the calcium hydroxide doesn't add is any carbonate buffering (dKH) because <"it is a strong base*"> and the hydroxide ions (OH-) go into solution (solubility is only 1.73 g/L (20 °C)). It will raise dGH, because you've added calcium (Ca++)...

So I have good news, after doing multiple tests spread throughout the day I'm glad to say that my cycle has transitioned to the next stage and I no longer have high ammonia readings (my tests have shown 0.2ppm) and I have 8ppm Nitrites. My question now is Do I have to do excessive water changes...

Thank you for your replay Darrel. I think I was just inpatient, Tuesday evening pH was already bit lower, and Wednesday morning reached 7.5 and didn't go above 8 since. I can forget my worries of harming fish when I let them in. (I'm using calibrated probe with fresh, trusted standards) My tap...

This morning I came down to loads more shed and decided to remove all damaged plants. I don't want to deal with constant water changes through build up of decaying plants. My tanks is a shell of its former self but we will get back on track.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll round up a few more things and explain the connection with these ideas. Kitebuilding and kite flying are really rich areas to explore and a nice way to get outside. If you might want to pick it up again, that Urban Ninja kite is extreme fun to fly and available as a...

🌝

Yeah luckily we were there for Summer only, so didn't see the flip side, but its supposed to be one of the few places with those extremes, who knows. Would love to visit Singapore, was supposed to go a few years back, but Covid cancelled our trip :(

My 60L Nano used to have hundreds of shrimps in it but just recently there aren’t that many. The Corydoras are doing fine though. I’m not actually that bothered by the shrimps at the moment. The reason being that nearly all of them were their natural pinky brown colour. The original shrimps...

Welcome to the UKaps! :thumbup:

I'm new to fish keeping and hoping to start posting regular updates on my progress. I've just ordered an Aqeal 200l aquarium with cabinet, 2000lph external cannister filter, and an external heater. I'll be using aquarium soil and sand as my substrate. I'll be using bio balls, sponge, activated...

Hi all, You get a much wider range of fish in Trinidad and Tobago than you would in the other <"West Indian"> islands, because T & T are a (recently) detached part of the S. American mainland, in the same way that Britain and Ireland are detached parts of the European mainland. cheers Darrel

Those are some extreme temperatures holy crap.

Hi all, That is one of the advantages of a fertiliser <"designed for hydroponics etc."> it has to "work", or the company that made it, and the growers who used it, would have gone out of business. Have a look at <"What is the “Duckweed Index” all about?">. cheers Darrel

What species of corydoras are they?

There are scenes of the river Biotope with fishes.

As I mentioned, I undid the modification yesterday after noticing how long it took for the chiller to cool the water. I mentioned before that it has to do with the placement of the temperature probe. Without the mod, there is usually a difference between the actual temperature of the aquarium...

Actually sorry work iGel didn't expand the TPN you mentioned it isn't the tropica one it's an dark apple green. I'll check the label, when I remember later

just multiply by 6 ... thats a fair bet :lol:

Your work is profoundly fascinating. And now it turns out you fly kites too! I had so much flying kites as a kid! Cheers, Michael

Might that be the dreaded algae monster? He appears out of the blue from the fifth or sixth dimension (depending on what version of string theory is in fashion) when your maintenance is inadequate or you just have unexplained plain bad luck :) Cheers, Michael

Hard to differentiate when you just throw things out there without context and details... No need to go "clearly stated" on a fellow member - in case of misunderstandings the cordial thing to reply would be, "sorry I didn't make myself clear" and explain because thats usually what is called...

Just trim everything down replant all the tops and your good. Too much excel damages leafs I've seen that on buces also it will recover just give them time to recover. Leggy plants growth is probably from over shading(?).

I formatted a new poster for the Mars terrarium project mainly with pics I had handy already and got it mounted too. I'm expanding the astrobiology with a new idea, kites, among a few other additional concepts. I'll explain more later when I have more components built, but here is the...

This looks great already! A more natural vibe. You can ceremoniously remove the drop checker now 😂

An update on the tank. The emersed element is coming on nicely. Starting to develop and in another few months should be looking much better. The emersed element is suffering from my 'overfeeding' , two months without a water change, zero flow (the aquael 2000 filter discharges onto a rock to...

Hello guys, this worksheet is amazing. Is it possible to add BRL currency (Brazilian Reais - R$) into it? Hehe :)

Hmmm. Not sure we’re on the same page. I’m asking about options and opinions of others on what to do, how much to trim, what to trim. Just a general discussion! Not targeted at plant health. My post also clearly stated above the photo it was taken in Jan.

I think if not spawning and a waterchange can bring this on, they just settle ,my Bronzes sometimes make repetitive up to the surface periods but then just stay on the substrate, no idea unless it's a pecking order thing, just a guess

Okay, that wasn't made clear. Take a look at this and then maybe you'll get the help you need. Also moved your thread to "Plant Help". https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/please-read-the-guidelines-for-plant-help.60671/

Nope. The trimmed pics are from July 2023 and Jan 2024. Right now it looks like the first photo. Had been dosing potassium for about a month, Seachem. I also spot those liquid carbon for a period of time which made things deteriorate. Do you think they can be covered as they are or should I...

Looks like you've already done it. I'd have perhaps added more of a shape to the cut stems and taken a little more off. But as for the pinholes in the leaves, could be potassium deficiency. The stems are fast growing and will sequester nutrients more efficiently than slower growing plants like...

SO if you were me, in this position, what would you do right now. what would you change? Add? Cull. I have been a bit busy of late with some major DIY projects at the ranch and my tank has just survived with top ups and fortnightly water changes for about 8 weeks now, i need a big trim and i...