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Thanks for the tips, here is an update here is a FTS- I couldn't be more happy with how things are growing in at the minute, not only that the fish I have are getting on great, this is one of the most enjoyable set ups I've had in a long while: forgive the poor quality iPhone pics, I don't...

Hello all - been a few years since I last dabbled in the hobby - I've just bought my own place and first port of call was a planted tank! Quick run down of the setup: Juwel Lidl 200 Dual 28w T5's Pressurised CO2 Insert substrate Aqua essentials fertilisers Sieryu stone Redmoor wood First fish...

Lighting replaced with DIY LED's:

Here we are, the first 'proper' full tank shot:

Nice, that is a very pretty Betta, I'll take a better tank shot tonight when I get the tripod out, the others were taken whilst holding the camera and I don't have steady hands!

Quite a lot of die off from the Crypts but they're growing back, the lower leaves of the P.helferi have receded also but they're growing which is good. S.repens added:

Thanks :D

Everything bar the S.repens added, I'll have to order it online.

Thanks :)

Besides the plants it'll be just shrimp, I'd like some CRS but at the moment I have about 10 Cherry Shrimp waiting to go in.

This is my first proper go at a nano so here goes: The tank is a TMC microhabitat with a clip on LED lighting unit and built it 150lph filter. The substrate is TMC nutrasoil and fertilisation will be TPN+ and Easy Carbo The hardscape is Blue Stone from The Planted Box and the proposed plants are...

Thank you both, Glass ware is on the shopping list, I've been meaning to get some lily pipes for some time but never got round to it so I need to have a look around and see what I can find, I'm tempted to invest in an in-line heater too. I don't think I've ever had any Hyphessobrycon georgettae...

The tank went under a rescape at the weekend:

Lighting is still a bodge job, LED's should be here next week:

That is soon to be changed, the tank is now running low tech so only has 1 Arc pod over it, soon to be replaced with a DIY LED rig. I'll be adding a few more fish this weekend, probably some dwarf Cory's and a pair of Apistogramma spp.

It's been a while since this was updated, but here's a sort of photo montage! to this: and a few of the inhabitants: Half of the group: Male: Female: Male/Female comparison, this pair has spawned, the Male is on the top and the Female on the bottom (apologies for the slightly out of...

They're sub tropical, will do well at 18oC.

Dario dario would be suitable, other than that I can't think of any suitable fish that would be able to cope with the lower temperatures.

Quick update:

I'm 16, and work part-time at Next, I do 20 hours a week at £6 an hour so it's a neat earner, I also work at Maidenhead aquatics part-time too.

When using a splitter you're presented with the following problem, gas will always take the path of least resistance, so if you have 2 atomisers then they're bound to be slightly different, one of them will operate at a lower pressure than the other, which is why only one will work, it can be...

Here's a bit of an update, the second light unit now added:

Wow, I totally forgot about this thread, this was the finished product anyway, I used the Mignon on its own for the months the tank was running, never really had any algae problems, it contained 12 or so Celstial Danio's and a trio of Threadfin Rainbow fish:

Bit of basic info: Equipment: 2*11W compact T5's, pressurised CO2, Tetratec ex 700 Ferts: Substrate (Mulm, peat, dry powders and sand), TPN+ at the moment, but I'll be using my dry salts when it runs out, and a few ml's of Easy Carbo daily. Fauna: Hyphessobrycon amandae or Ember Tetra * 12 I've...

An additional 11 watt unit would be fine.

Re: RE: Oscar recovered from Pirahna tank The RSPCA only ever seem bothered if the animal has fur.

I wouldn't be too bothered, we live in a throw away society, and the expiry dates of foods are only estimates, lots of food is thrown away when it is actually still perfectly edible and just as nutritious, dry foods do last long as well, I'd think you would be fine for up to 6 months past the...

Hut then again, the area under a bath has a higher number of joists compared to the rest of the house, in my eyes, getting a structural engineer to survey and check is the safest option, if you do decide to go ahead, make sure the tank is over as many joists as possible.

Use graded gravels to give a river bed effect, add some dried oak leaves and maybe the occasional plant.

I had this problem in a marine set up and increasing surface agitation resolved the problem, I don't know if it will be the same in this case but it can't hurt to try :)

Aquarium silicone would do the job better, or drilling holes and securing with wire.

I was wondering this too.

Everything is sorted now, tank is filled but no plants yet, I'm going to Wharf Aquatics tomorrow in the hope to fetch the plants I require, and I'll drop the water level, plant up then refill, I'll post pics when I'm done :)

I'm planning on ordering with them tonight, does anyone know if their tweezers are any good? they look good, their just add water fertiliser looks good too, which appears to be formulated to James' DIY TPN+ recipe.

Thanks for the tips, but I have a solution ;) The pump that comes with the stock filter with the arc tank has a removable powerhead, so I took that off, fitted a guard and botched a spray bar, so I now have a 250L/ph pump as well as the stock filter, I'll probably need a bit of additional flow...

Free bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Hello :) Having planned this tank for a few months now, and saving up the money to buy resources, I figured that now would be a good time to start the journal and run through what I have so far and what plans I have. :D So here goes: Tank: Arcadia arc 35 Litre tank Filtration Azoo mignon...

That is slick, looks fantastic!

Zebra Danio's and White Cloud Mountain Minnows would love the flow, but would like the temperature a tad lower, when I kept Rummynose tetra's they loved sitting in the flow but I found them quite demanding in terms of water conditions and the 6 I had was soon down to 4 within a week.

IMO, an inert substrate can grow anything, but dosing has to be spot on, with a nutrient enriched substrate, the odd forgotten dose isn't going to matter so much because the plants can get the nutrients from the substrate.

I do 45 minute acclimatisation for the more expensive and delicate species, I empty the contents into a jug, then I take some air ling and tie a knot in it so it limits the flow, then I start a siphon from the tank allowing 2-3 drips a second, as the jug fills up you can empty it into the...

Re: Saintly's 120cm' Fraggle rock' That's fantastic, the hardscape give the tank a real sense of depth and adds a vanishing point to the tank, the red tape idea is a nice one too, it really accentuates the redness of the plants.

Very nice, the first one gets my vote :thumbup:

how big is the tank? and what kind of set up is it?

I've found that with this plant, it takes a long time for it to establish itself before beginning to grow, mine looked awful for about 4-5 weeks and then it suddenly grew very quickly.

Jealousy is a cruel mistress, they're very nice, and I'm very tempted to order some myself in the hope that they breed, do you have any tips Paulo?

Oasis - Wonderwall

It's about 28 where I am and quite nice too! My tank is holding up nicely, currently at 27oC 1 degree higher than normal.

I've spent many a failed music lesson designing scapes :lol:

That's good, thanks :D

Hi all, I'm planning on having some of this Rotala in my next scape, now I have the choice of 1*15 watt T6 tube or 2*15 watt T8 tubes, Do you think I could get away with growing it under the one T6, or should I go for the twin T8's? ps. The tank is a 60 litre 2*1*1 and I will be dosing EI and...

Yeah, I agree I may struggle, I've had a change of mind...as usual :lol: and I'm just going to buy the plants I want, place them where I want and place the rocks in suitable places. Thanks for your input.

Hi all, I have a 54 litre 2*1*1 to play with and it will be a lowish tech setup (15 watts T6, Full EI, Liquid carbon dosing) I currently have this rock placement and was wondering what people thought: Ignore the terrible photo, I didn't have time to take a proper shot and the shells have been...

Re: Saintly's "purple rain' ? This looks stunning mark, a real inspiration. :thumbup:

I'm going to try C.parva, when I've done all of the christmas shiz, I've really cut back on lighting so I'm Sticking to the slower growing species, I'm also waiting for the microsorum on the righ to fill out more as it was only added last week, I've thought about getting a pleco, I may get a...

I haven't updated this for some time, so here goes: I've added more microsorum and wood, and some shrimp, and I plan on replacing the Ember tetras with Trigonostigma hengeli or espei, the vallis has been removed. heres the pictures: Constructive comments/criticisms are welcome. Cheers,

what is the maximum glass thickness that the brackets can support? excellent article btw Cheers, Jack

cannot wait :D I Love TG

much appreciated, thanks :D

Cheers for the reply, how do you make your mix? How many grams in how in many mls? And what do you dose? Cheers, Jack

I've started dosing EI on my tank, and I still haven't mixed up my traces which are due tomorrow, what is the recommended dose? I have shrimp so I want to avoid dosing too much copper if possible. Cheers, Jack

wow...For saying you're not using Co2 its astounding! I may try this technique with HC, amazing!

I don't know if its excess CO2 or what, but ive got hundreds of bubbles :D It will be gassing off quickly though, but ive kept a lid on the container, to keep the CO2 in, in the hope some of it is usable through gaseous exchange, I am also revealing that the tank is 6*6*6cm Its a case to a...

The size of the vessel is similar to mine, its a nice design that, very imaginative!

Fair play :lol:

I was thinking just the other day about this, why save the rain forest? when we can grow algae a lot faster! and it uses co2 for photosynthesis. If we could do it on a big enough scale we may be able to reduce the amount of CO2 in the air, although I think methane is the biggest problem. bio...

I forgot to add, the reason for the name is that I'm using 40mls of carbonated water to provide CO2 Cheers, Jack

yeah, sorry about the cheesy name :D Name: Jack Middleton Tank Dimensions: 6*6*6 units will be confirmed later ;) Aquascape Name: carbonated miniature Hardscape/Materials used: ADA zebra stone, Play sand Plants: P.Helferi Fertilisation: 0.1ml of TPN+ and 0.1ml of Easy carbo About the...

yep, I added a 10 tea spoons of Kno3, 3 teaspoons of KH2PO4 and 3 teaspoons of traces into my mix and then capped with sand, it seems to be working!

ok, thanks for the info, Jack

could I possibly use DI water to mix up the solution to prolong its life? to prevent the chelator braking down and forming the precipitate?

anyone? I can't find any info

The cat litter absorbs nutrients from the water column, so any fish waste, fertilisers etc. The only reason I use it over nutrient rich substrates like ADA or naturesoil is because of the price.

only if it isn't capped, I've capped mine and I'm having brilliant results. I believe that if its baked its safe to use it on its own, don't quote me on it though.

I use it and I'm not going to pay for other substrates again! It's just as good IMO. It has a high CEC (cation exchange capacity) so it can absorb nutrients and release them over time, so water column fertilization is required.

Hi all, will my fluid sensor traces breakdown in my hard ph7.2 tap water? I'm guessing so with the Chelator they use? Sorry if grammar is poor, on the iPod. Cheers, Jack

I got banned too, wow and no reason! now theres a forum I won't be visiting again! Banned for expressing my opinion, they're a bunch of nazis.

Another brilliant series, not quite as good as life in cold blood I must say, I find that the music ruins it a little. Brilliant series otherwise :thumbup:

Thanks clive, excellent reply! It all seems a lot clearer now! I have been rounding up values to he nearest 1/4 of a teaspoon, I just need to buy some DI water and some dosing spoons now, Cheers, Jack :thumbup:

I'm tired of him, and- people are taking his ancient advice because: A. he is a moderator B. he has been keeping fish for 20 years C. his posts are lengthy and are full of ambiguous drivel D. He quotes people that have admitted they're wrong!

You have just taken the words out of my mouth, i was about to post the same thing :)

I have another question (sorry) I have used Clives recipe for the 20ppm No3, 2ppm Po4, 30ppm of K and, Appropriate levels of CSM+B in fractions of teaspoons, but how do i convert each of these values into mass? Thanks for the help

I've just made myself feel stupid! O is the oxygen :oops:

thats confusing me now :? Why have they not just made the values up so they equal 100%?

This is FSO's KNO3 breakdown Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) contains 13.9% nitrogen (N) and 38.7% potassium (K) What makes up the remaining 47.4%?

Cheers, Aaron

Hi, I'm just wondering what are the ideal values for N, P and K in a high Tech, densely planted aquarium? I'm just asking as I'm working out how many grams of each substance i should put in my own PMDD+PO4 solution to achieve appropriate levels I have so far gathered that 1ppm is appropriate...

try placing the DC in different areas of the tank to see if it remains a greeny yellow, if it doesnt you know its a flow related issue as CO2 isn't getting to that position very well

The NO3 and PO4 aren't the trigger though, its the excessive light

Whether its a planted tank or not is irrelevant, nitrates and phosphates do not cause algal growth

Cheers, james!

Hi all Ive read both the pins but i still don't understand how you go about working out the amount of each substance is needed, I will be dosing micros and macros on alternate days I Have the following and I am making the shift from TPN+ because I believe the Ammonium nitrate in it is causing...

Re: Low Lght + Aquasoil Powder = Diatoms? I know aqua soil releases ammonia for the first few weeks and when disturbed it also releases ammonia. Ammonia and light will more than likely cause brown algae (diatoms)

Cheers, Aaron, excellent reply! Thanks

Hi all I have heard this mentioned on a forum a few times and i wondered whether it is true as i don't think it is! This person claims that excess potassium will restrict iron uptake, surely this defeats the whole point in EI?! This person has an amazon sword with pin holes, potassium...

Use them until they physically don't work anymore, the colour temperature may shift over time, but you can replace them if you don't like the colour. The change them every 6 months thing is more of a way of lining the manufacturers pockets with money in my opinion.

Thanks everyone :)