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I have 30 wcmm in mine with 15 celestial pearl danio, I know they are all juvenile but i feel like I want to add some more. Maybe a feature fish I'm not really sure TBH, Green neons look good in the scapes I've seen, as for numbers I'd say 30 would easily be a good place to start. They are quite...

Looking really good Dean. I like the scape, plants have filled in really nicely. Wish I could keep my sand that tidy 😔 What are you thinking stocking wise or are you holding on until your planned rescape?

Thanks Dean, I'm sure she'll grow out of it or get bored at some point, probably as a teenager lol, only time will tell.

Think I'll be going for a scape with carpet next time, just to change things up. Mind you I have Cory's and wouldn't be fair to not give them sand 🤔

Thank you Paulo, just struggling with keeping the sand clean for more than 24hrs 😬

My 4 year old daughter is starting to take more and more of an interest in the tank and fish, well especially shrimp which she thinks are crazy 😂. So I'm trying to keep her interested as much as I can with simple and fun tasks such as feeding and checking the fish and other bits and bobs, I've...

That makes sense, very tidy cabinet btw 😅

Great looking scape 👌 Noticed you've got 2 filters running on the tank. Did you find that you needed 2 on the 900?

As Alto says after you have added soil I would do several (as many as needed)running water changes to remove the cloudiness and dust from the water column, being careful not to disturb the substrate. The plants won't appreciate dust landing on their leaves. After you've removed all the dust from...

Ah OK I see sorry. I've added more after planting, you'll need to up the water changes to siphoned the dust away and you'll be fine.

So can you not add more soil before you plant?

How long ago did you plant it?

I have the tropica spring scissors, nice light easy to use scissors. They weren't expensive. I don't trust my scissor work to buy any more expensive ones 😜

Good job I have a proper phone then [emoji6] Thanks all done. [emoji106]

What is this app version and where can I find it for my phone? Had a look but can't seem to find one. Tapatalk can be slightly unresponsive at times.

Aquael ultra or easy heater. Good flat shaped heaters for small tanks. Can be hidden quite nicely and seem to be reliable.

Just received my signed copy today, very well laid out book, cant wait to get stuck in! My wife ordered it a few days ago for valentines but didnt expect to receive it this quickly. Thank you George Farmer for the excellent book and speedy delivery!

Ticking along nicely. Suffered a little with a small amount of bba on the buce and anubias, due to me having a few manic days at work and taking my eye off the ball. (co2 tank ran out) [emoji22] All the stock have settled in nicely, love the characters of the wcmm. Scalped the H'ra back quite...

When I did my dry start I removed the wood to stop the mould spreading. Moss will attach to the wood when the tank is flooded so its probably your easiest option. IMO mould will damage your plants.

Just whack up the co2, they will shed some emersed leaves. I'd be doing daily very large water changes though.

Are the plants new? As in just bought and have been grown emersed? As for the co2 you can't put too much co2 in the water, 30ppm is recommended in water to keep fish 'safe' however emersed they have access to unlimited co2, therefore high levels of co2 will not upset your plants.

It's not for me to view the tank, just a little bit of light so I don't startle the fish. I'll use a night light for now.

Not really as then the lights in the kitchen and movement throughout the day would affect the plants and the fish. Also my lights come on at 1300 so I can see the tank after work. Also in the summer afternoon light can hit the tank so I need to make sure co2 levels are spot on.

I'm in Bridgwater and I have panda corydoras. Great fish with cool characters, and perfectly happy in my water, which is slightly softer than yours I believe I, some good quality ones in Sanders maidenhead last time I was in there. Not sure how far that is for you.

+1 on ebay problems, got to declare DOA within an hour of delivery and in the bag, the problem with snails is that you can't tell if they're dead of not [emoji15] All 10 of the ones I bought died in transit or shortly after. Safe to say I received no refund.

If they do sleep I don't think it's for long, as when I get up between 3am and 4am they are pretty active and can often feed the cories at that time so it gets past the minnows.

I've been using my daughters night light plugged in on the other side of the room, which like you say stops the room being in total darkness. I've only been doing that for 2 weeks so I may carry on using that. Was just trying to find out if anyone was using something to deter their fish from...

Thanks Andrew. To be honest it's not the look I am after, and with manzanita sticking out of the top it could be quite tricky. I thought the same thing however after doing some research online I was starting to believe that certain colours wouldn't affect the plants. I thought it was a long...

Looking amazing @Jayefc1. Quality looking scape. Stunning growth and colours. I've cut KN03 from my ferts and not noticed any difference in plant colour. Do you think your vivid has something to do with the colours more than the ferts? Saying that my tap water supposedly provides 6.5ppm nitrate...

Thanks, that's something along the lines of what I was thinking, just wanted some advice so I didn't extend the photoperiod for the plants. Last thing I want is some bba growing.

Hi all, I wanted to get everyone's opinions on small night lights or back lights. I've had a few fish jump out recently and it's not great really so I want to try and stop them. Myself and my mrs either start work early am or finish work around midnight, so lights can go on after a long period...

It doesn't have the typical arrow shaped head and weird looking 'eyes' that planaria has so I don't think so.

Fenbendazole. Absolutely I had quite a population of them, used to be on the glass even when the lights were on. They are the ultimate scavenger and their population will grow reasonably unhindered as long as you have food/waste. In your situation I would try baiting a bit more, they are quite...

Caught red handed no, seen plenty of planaria next to shrimp who have jumped away when they have came into contact with something (possibly the slime trail they are supposed to leave behind). Ramshorns breed prolifically and their numbers started falling and I didn't see any small ones. So even...

Never grown it, but it always looked really good in AGs 900 aquascape. Those embers really pop under the vivid.

Amazing growth, healthy looking tank.

Exactly that, I always make sure the water is around room temp, not freezing cold or scalding hot, but we're talking a reasonably quick blast of fresh water that removes a lot of crud. Just thinking out loud here so don't shoot me down please, but could we compare it to washing our hands, in...

I wash everything under the tap. Sponges, media, media trays the lot. Never noticed any adverse effects on livestock.

Most of my planaria were whiteish/cream coloured, but they definitely took shrimp and small snails. On a note of caution the no planaria says it doesn't effect ramshorns but it did effect a few of mine. I've not seen a worm since though and shrimp and snails are back to normal.

Yes I've witnessed them 'flinch' or jump when they come across a planaria. Ive witnessed an increase in shrimplets since treating the tank, and that's even with the 30 wcmm and 15 cpds.

Hey. Rescaped my 55l scapers tank recently, moved all the snails and shrimp to the 900. Started up this one as a bit of a test/chance to learn more about water, co2 and ferts etc. The tank is being run on 100% rainwater and aiming to keep a tds of around 100ppm. I'll be trying a lean dosing...

It depends on what sp of snail you have. I have/had nerites and ramshorns. I removed the nerites as all meds for planaria are fatal to them. However the ramshorns bred throughout the treatment. For the sake of removing the few nerites I have it was a safe choice compared to the downsides of the...

I had to get rid of mine. Noticed a lot less baby shrimp and found the odd dead one, can't say if the planaria killed it or just fed on it after it died but they just creeped me out. They supposedly feed on shrimp and fish eggs too, if you are against meds at the moment you can try 'no more...

Fixed and working so far. Thanks for the the walk through [emoji106]

Thanks guys. It's an older reg and has been stored in the garage for some time so maybe some maintenance would be helpful [emoji849] I'll give it a go later Cheers!

Hey guys, The solenoid on my reg doesn't switch off when unplugged, as in it carries on releasing the gas into the tank. Not the end of the world as the tank is empty and at start up but is there a way to fix it? I turned off the switch last night and the gas has continued to release into the...

Water change and a little thin out of the pinnatifida, found a few buce in the middle of all the stems I'd forgot I'd put there. Quite happy growing in the mess of stems [emoji4]

I followed the exact same advice when I set up my AS900, co2 was high for the first few weeks to help the plants acclimatise. As you are exceeding the 'optimum' amount (lime green drop checker) you can easily drop it back down slowly without any downsides. If there is an excess of Co2 then the...

Yea exactly that. They swim in but can't seem to find their way out again.

You can use a large (2l) drinks bottle, cut in half and pop the top in the bottom inverted if that makes sense. Cut the lid off the bottle about 2 inches down the neck should be OK. Don't need anything to weight it down then either, plus with the larger hole you'll catch Amanos too.

With the exception planted discus aquariums I think most of us run our tanks at 22-23 degrees. Which is just above most people's room temp. I have a aquascaper 900 and run mine at 22, I do loose water throughout the week mainly due to my heating being on I think [emoji57] but I've never had any...

I remove the tubing and submerse it in the sink/bucket of hot water. The deposit will be salts so I figure the hot water should dissolve them. Mine haven't really been dirty enough to need anything other than warm water.

They are quite a timid species when kept in numbers less than 10, I wouldn't keep less than that. Not sure on tank size but something tells me it's quite small for these very active fish.

I've found Hairgrass melts slightly when added, seems to lose its emersed growth but should show some nice green new growth at the same sort of time. I've always added ferts from the beginning so I'm not sure if dosing some ferts would help it, I'd definitely be doing daily water changes though.

I like the first scape, rocks look very natural and the wood 'in my opinion' looks better pointing up. Following with interest after your other scape.

Sand siphoned out, good clean out, removed the fissidens off the stones as it attracts crud like a magnet. Little scrub of a few stones, not all of them as the otos seem to like grazing on it. The blyxa japonica seems to be doing well, growing more bushy by the day. Monte carlo is finally...

I've got the tropica fine tip tweezers. I like them, I upgraded from my cheap ones and they are much much better. Can't comment on ADA, [emoji848]

Cracking looking set up, I would be very proud to have a aquascape as stunning as that in my living room.

Full tank shots will have to wait mate [emoji6], sand needs changing as the cories have had a field day when I fed them grindal worms. Soil all over the place. Needs a tidy, didn't have a great deal of time over Christmas. Moss needs a little trim too.

Happy new year all, Stocked the tank with 30 WCMM yesterday. Never kept this species before and I'm quite pleased so far. They have coloured up reasonably well and quite quickly, they've not noticed the co2 infusion and most importantly they haven't been phased by my 4 year old dancing like a...

Hold the floaty skimmer bit in the correct place and use a syringe to inject air under the head, done that a few times and seems to work

I've had problems with mine too, drives the other half mad. I've managed to wedge a small piece of frogbit between, seems to keep it floating just in the right place, but I agree when it starts bobbing there's just no stopping it. [emoji15]

That treatment does need a few days @Deano3 to work properly, definitely try to do the water change as soon as you can after the treatment time has passed though and probably a good idea to do a couple on the trot. I did 5 in 3 days, 80% ones. Just in case there was an ammonia spike from the...

Two siphons, one attached to a eheim strainer and out to the garden (into a water butt in the warmer months) the other pipe connected to a spray bar pointing up the front glass leading to a pump in a bucket, in the sink. Empty out the tank roughly 70-80% whilst cleaning glass, lily pipes, crud...

Thanks Jay, if you ever need to trim it back give me a shout [emoji6]

@Jayefc1 yeah the mc on the rocks. Looks really healthy, I'll persevere with mine and hopefully it'll turn out OK.

Wow Jay, looking great. Amazing growth, how do you get the monte carlo to grow like that? I struggle to keep mine down. Looking really good Jay.

To be honest I couldn't tell you, don't trust test kits and never really looked into it. Thank you [emoji106] Aren't you running a chihiros wrgb11? Which is putting out more light than my twinstar? Doesn't bode well for me then. My Amanos generally strip a plant to nothing as soon as it starts...

I use a APS skimmer and it gets a weekly clean, I also replace the filter floss inside every week on water change day. So quick to do and they do catch a lot of crud.

Buce envy [emoji2956], stunning colours.

Mine is growing like a weed, but my water is nowhere near as hard as some on here (180ppm). It's growing everywhere and I'm having to trim it constantly to try and keep it semi nice looking. I'm not sure it's 100% healthy, but hasn't got any holes as yet. I've just planted some blyxa japonica...

Little update. Sand siphoned out and replaced, H'ra and pinnatifida trimmed. Gave the rocks a little scrub, removed the messy plants in the foreground. Had some Hairgrass, hydrocotyle and marsilea from the other tank that was looking really unorganised. Replaced with some blyxa japonica, that...

Which meds have you bought @Deano3? The one @Tim Harrison recommended or the one I did. Not sure if the esha is OK with snails but the one I posted about contains Fenbendazole which is toxic to nerites, meaning you cannot return the snails to the tank for at least 7 days.

Definitely remove the snails though, the kit comes with full instructions. Not sure on a temp home but I imagine an old ice cream tub with a lid would be OK,

They are planaria, you can buy a dog wormer medication on ebay. Search for planaria on eBay [emoji106]There's a chap that sells it ready made/dissolved. Just have to remove nerites. They can come in on plants/hardscape and nerites, not sure if they can travel on fish but I wouldn't be...

I am using the same ferts and I am dosing 10ml per day, so compared to Jay's tank I am still dosing too much, I'm slowly lowering it and trying to reduce the nitrates. I had an issue with iron a little while ago but that was down to the way I mixed the salts.

I like the wood, will look nice planted. Second what @dw1305 says about the pebbles, I think prodibio do some small rounded ones. I might be inclined to remove a little sand in the foreground, to make cleaning easier and stop algae/dirt build up against the glass.. That way you can siphon out a...

I was told they can be quite fragile after being transported, took me quite some time to find decent stock and stock that had been in the shop for more than 2 weeks. Watch for the odd jump after introducing them, they aren't jumpers as such but the new tank and their desire to gulp air sometimes...

I've got 6 pandas in my 900, great fish with character, always active, love a cooler water tank too, breed readily also. I do have a sand/beach area in mine however they spend most of their time in amongst the plants.

Cracking looking tank [emoji106] Do you have any close ups of the pinnatifida? It's growing in mine at the minute (tank not as established as yours) and in a similar position to yours, high up and getting plenty of light and co2. Just curious to compare,

Well my Saturdays involve the other half going to work and a movie like Frozen, so after all that 'singing' I'm craving some decent music [emoji23]

Quite a turn around Jay, gotta love those long maintenance sessions, music on, beer in hand and immerse yourself. Some people's idea of hell, my idea of a Saturday night [emoji23] Scape's looking good [emoji106], loving the colour on the H'ra

Welcome, [emoji106]

I always understood bba to be caused by excess waste in the water or poor/fluctuating co2?? So I'm trying to limit the excess waste and checking my pH. I hope I'm on the right track. I've found my prefilters on the oase get clogged pretty quickly so I do them twice a week now, in tap water too...

Thanks guys, I've emptied the shed and checked for any form of nest or sign of nest and couldn't find any. Getting a professional in to look at the shed wasn't on top of my list of priorities at the minute, nor possible. So I've literally cleaned it as best as I could and sprayed it (liberally)...

Hi Dean, I'm struggling with similar at the minute, I've been doing what you've said in your post with cleaning the filter, soil everything I can think of. Not getting any staghorn that I can see but BBA and GSA (I think) on the anubias. I wasn't sure whether it's just still the tank settling...

Haha @Wolf6 senior moment

Hi guys. I need an ID is possible please. Ventured into the shed for the annual Christmas light power on.... And found quite a few of these scattered across the floor and some actually inside the wood. There are little piles of sawdust on the floor, and I'm a little concerned the shed will be...

Definitely extremely helpful and inspirational, looking forward to what you do next. [emoji106]

Thanks guys, made my mind up then. Green neons it is, I think 35 would be a good number, @CooKieS that is a stunning picture, thanks [emoji106]

Looking good Dean, I've been spot dosing my anubias and a few buce with glut every other day and it seems to be working, I upped my water changes and try to do 2 in the week. I've recently attached some airline tubing to my turkey baster and use that to remove crap as I blast the plants (seen...

Green neons would look great I think, I think 35 of these tiny fish would still disappear to a certain degree. Ember tetras are an option, not sure why I was avoiding red fish, maybe due to the cherries. Would green neons be OK in my moderately hard (160ppm) tap water? And at 23 degrees celcius...

Can anyone help with stocking plans, after loosing all my Harlequins due to sickness. I'm now ready to restock my tank, it currently has 8 panda cories and a boat load of shrimp (which I don't want to be eaten) I'm looking at one of the variations of neon, either black, green or the 'standard'...

Thanks guys, I'm really enjoying this tank.

Of course not, it is what it is. You live and learn. [emoji106]

Coloured up nicely. Quite brave little things, stealing food from the large amano females. [emoji23]

Ah these are running around rather fast to my eyes. Very small. They've made one culture overly wet though.

I've just noticed mine have small white bugs crawling around in 3 of them, I'm guessing cereal mites.

+1 on the inspirational journal, I can remember reading through so many pages of this journal when I started out on here. Hope the move goes smoothly [emoji106]

Update time. Big maintenance session the weekend and a small tidy up today. Think I scalped the moss a little too much on the wood unintentionally, but it was starting to die underneath so glad I did. H'ra and micranthemoides trimmed, pinnatifida trimmed back (even though I always seem to miss a...