Search results for query: *

I have stopped mine bobbing by pulling out the stopper at the bottom as far it will go, this frees up an extra slit on the intake which reduces pull.

Haha brilliant 😀

I accept payments in crypto-currency 🤣

Thanks Paulo, glad I can give back to the forum in my own way 😀

Thanks, it was born from lockdown boredem, did it during UK lockdown #1 when i needed a challenge 🤣 I'm pleased that many of you approve. It can go either way when changing an identity of an established brand, especially one thats community based! 😉

I let mine go all the way down to near 0, if the working pressure doesn't start going down you should be good. Something doesn't sound right with the amount of time it has lasted. I have a AS900 probabaly about 150L after hardscape soil and plants. a 3kg bottle lasts about 3 months on...

Hello, I would Ideally dose the DTPA before the lights come and when PH is lowest from the addition of CO2. I think DTPA starts degrading around PH7.4

I'm a big fan of planting very heavily from the beginning, that's what i did on my first proper aquascape. 14months in now and i have a proper flourishing system with minimal algae. The only algae i have is because i lowered CO2 for a couple of weeks. I think when planting a high tech tank...

K2SO4 has lower solubility level than the others i think? Could also be a depleting KH thing as you have suggested.

That's so pleasing to look at, it looks so neat! Great job looking forward to following along ,👍

Could be phosphate related considering you have phosphate removing media and that phosphate is less available at alkaline PH7+. But it also could be old leaves dying off on other plants. You shouldn't be worried about phosphate, I use very hard tap water in my tank and dose 6ppm PO4 a week...

That bent rotala needs a trim 😉

I know you know that 🤣 was mentioning to the OP.

Flamingo does very well with root tabs i only recently added some and i have had an explosion of growth. I would say mine grows fairly fast especially if it isn't shaded.

Also on a side note, the more you trim and replant rotala the better it grows, not as in size but in form. My rotala use to have thicker leaves, only after repeated trimming over a couple of months they now grow much slimmer and needle like.

Looks great, good job! 👍 One thing i would do is move that lily to behind something, as once it grows in you will have to look "through" it to view the scape if that makes sense. I would maybe put it behind the wood next to the trident fern?

That's a great idea, i don't have a gopro but i'm sure one of my mates will. I shall ask around and get on the case! 👍

@X3NiTH @dw1305 this is what the plants look look when the lights come on. 2.40pm (10min into 45min ramp up) 3.40pm (25min after lights reach 100%)

I hope we do, this is very confusing. 🤯

In a proper heatwave your tank will probably reach 28°C+

I have trimmed the rotala all the way down and replanted them many times, my scape is 14 months old now. The pale tips remain no matter how tall they are or how far away from the light they are, which is even more confusing. I have tried increasing my micros which would increase my MN and ZN...

Cut out KNO3 out my mix, it's been 3 weeks and hasn't made any difference to the rotala. Still pale the first half of photoperiod and then colour up the second half. Took a closer photo to illustrate the "problem" further. I've decided it definitely isn't NO3 and It can't be FE as the lower...

I had this issue for over a year until i figured it out, my surface skimmer would bob up and down multiple times a day and it was really pi**ing me off. I tried a few things like inserting a bit of airline tube under the "hat" to stop it from being sucked under. The thing that has essentially...

It's not that either, i have GH21 and KH13 tapwater PH 7.9 degassed. The other plants may not be effected as much because rotala is a fast grower and will show CO2 deficiency first. I would say my rotala grows more than 1cm a day, and that's only now i've improved my CO2 which i already...

I just read back to your post about switching to inline, in the photo there are a couple of rotala stems that seem to be growing better and less stunted. Now that you have improved CO2, If you think you have a nutrient deficiency why not just dose EI? The theory being if you dose EI and still...

It's definitely CO2, i have a 180L tank that's half full of rotala and some of them use to stunt often even thought my CO2 was "good" with a lime green dropchecker. I've recently increased CO2 a lot so now i'm verging yellow dropchecker and my rotala are growing better than ever, out of like 400...

If you have hard water the disc may not last very long, mine seemed to die off in 2 weeks.

This device will not stop algae, it's main benefit is the added oxygen.

You usually just pick a setting and it turns on and off on it's own. Probably something like 30sec bursts every 10mins.

Looks amazing! With all those new plants i would reduce light intensity down quite a bit. It would give you the best chance for the plants to adapt to under water life and start growing well and help with the BBA situation. The last thing you want to do is blast new plants with high light as you...

I say both females, both have slight pink near belly and they have blue spangles inside the black dot 😉

If you do not get back to ph8.4 before the CO2 comes on the next day then that means your tank hasn't degassed the CO2 overnight, but it depends what your tank sits at without CO2 as if you have aquasoil it could be buffering your PH and KH a little

The glass ones are quite fragile and can/will easily snap.

You need to get a glass or metal u-bend thing. https://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/accessories-76-c.asp

I turn my filter off when feeding. The fish know it's feeding time and gather at the front. You can target feed each fish that you don't think eats enough by slowly dropping food infront of their face, rather than let the filter blow it around. Also i feed my shrimp at night, i usually drop a...

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/broken-special-style-neo-diffuser.59828/

There might not be many places selling them anymore because there were problems. I had a problem where the disc popped off when cleaning it. Also the disc is definitely smaller than the "normal" version at corresponding sizes. I recently changed my "normal" for a "special" and i have had to...

Yeah my male and female rams do eat quite a few shrimp, they are much better at hunting now. I think the reason they don't eat too many is because they do most on their hunting in the dwarf hairgrass. I don't have a massive carpet so i guess it limits the amount of shrimp that hide in there and...

Little update.... It's happened, h.pinnitifida has started breaching the surface! 😀 I'm really enjoying the tank right now. My CO2 and flow is much better and i have noticed a big difference since the last update. The rotala have gone crazy, they are growing so quickly, feels like an inch a...

I've used water life products in the past and seemed to work. Recently used water life octozin for internal parasites. Usually if a med doesn't seem to work, i try again with an increased dose if i have it remaining, which usually works. The esha products are very good IMO i've used 2000, exit...

Realistically i wouldn't put any fish in the tank as in a couple of months there should be loads of shrimp if everything goes well. If you really want a fish i would get a betta and hope for the best with the shrimp.

Ferts definitely don't cause algae, i've been dosing 1ppm PO4 (phosphate) a day for the last 2 months to see if it improves growth and colouration. Hasn't caused any problems at all. Algae grows on mainly unhealthy plants, feeding them with all the nutrients they require, especially CO2, will...

I have 7 corys and they don't dig up my dwarf hairgrass. They might root around in it but it's not a problem. Most of the time they spend their time around big crypts and dig about in the sand area.

Wow that looks amazing! Great job, i'm glad you didn't scrap this one. Very enchanting i could watch that all day!

I cleaned my impellor area on sunday and mine has become much louder. I guess it needs to build up some brown stuff so theres less friction, so should quieten down in a week or so. I wrapped some ptfe tape around the two red plugs on the impellor to give it a tighter fit which has helped slightly.

Is this in the 17L tank? Maybe he's still in breeding mode and she isn't? Maybe there's no where to really hide or break in sight lines? Maybe the male has become territorial as he's been moved back to a smaller tank?

Is it dimmable? If so maybe just run it low and work your way up!

I don't really think a hose can just pop off on its own especially if they have been secured. It's possible and more realistic to happen when fiddling with the filter, like tilting it for example. You could also add some jubilee clips for extra security, but i don't like using them as then it...

You definitely have to dose a lot of tnc complete to get to proper EI levels, from memory something silly like "double the tripple dose daily". Also note that says N and not NO3.

Little update.... Everything is going really well at the moment, really just plodding along nicely. Been increasing my CO2 over the last month slowly and my male ram seems fine, if anything he's doing even better. Fed them some bloodworms earlier and my male ram was just so colourful, never...

Yup i clean the prefilter weekly, usually the day after a water change as this gives the prefilter a chance to suck up any detritus i didn't manage to suck up during the water change. Also gives it a chance to suck up any plant bits after a trim. I clean the tubing and glassware every 3 weeks...

The only thing i did from that video is drill extra holes in the prefilter tube, no idea if it improved things as i did it before i started using it, but i imgine it would help a little. I have a blue sponge in the bottom tray, then a couple of baskets with a little bit of seachem matrix and...

I've had the same twinstar reactor for a year now and it still works like new, the chihiros doctor reactor barely lasted a month. I clean mine every 3 weeks when there is some limescale on it. A mug of warm water with 1.5tsp of citric acid for about half hour while i do maintenance. I think it...

Good to know that i'm not wasting loads of water, i thought it would have been more. Does it matter how "open" the tap is? Or is it always 7 to 1 regardless? I haven't sucked up any fish so far, any fish that have entered the inlet thing quickly swim back out. But i have found a way to guard...

I actually got for some acrylic cut to the height i wanted and screwed them into the sides of the extendable arms, imagine "ghetto twinstar style". Then i cut a triangle shape out the bottom of the acrylic so they would sit and stay on the glass rim/hood

Python water change system just makes life easy but obviously wastes a lot of water, which goes against sustainable water changes. I connect mine to the kitchen tap and i can do 80% water changes while "hoovering" in about 15min. The only thing i ever have to lug about is the filter when it...

Has Bill Gates contacted you yet? 🤣

Ideally you would dose before the lights come on, the ramp up doesn't matter as the ferts should be available for the first couple of hours when the plants need them the most. The first half of the photoperiod is most important in terms of CO2 and ferts. If your target PH is 6.4, then you want...

I dose my micros as soon as my PH drop allows my DTPA to stay chelated, so an hour after CO2 turns on. My lights turn on after 2 hours of CO2 when i have achieved my targetted PH drop which stays stable during the photoperiod, drop checker very lime green at lights on. Also not a good idea to...

Yes i am using DI water, I haven't tried that on this tank but i will do if i run into any NO3 problems.

Adding FE 2hours after lights on is not a good idea because FE is used within the first 2 hours of the photoperiod. Also the peak of your PH drop should be happening at lights on and should remain stable throughout.

Even though i use large dilute doses i think it was more of a reaction than a dissolving problem. I made up a new macro solution with K2SO4 and KH2PO4 and left out the KNO3, it seems to have dissolved properly.

Thanks that makes sense. I'm due to make a new mix soon so i'll leave KNO3 out and substitute the K with more K2SO4. Will report back if it helps at all, will he interesting. At the moment about 4 hours before the photoperiod. Not much direct light is hitting the tank but the room is bright...

In that post you mention lowering nitrates which is done to bring out red pigments, something which i have not attempted as i've just dosed "full EI". My tapwater contains on average 35ppm of nitrate with a minimum level at 24ppm. In other posts you also mention there will naturally be less...

Why not That's what the bottle says, but i've measured it before and it was like 6-6.5ml per capful

Looking good, always love a lily. You probably need to add a lot more hairgrass as you have a lot of empty/exposed soil. Also all your lighting is concentrated at the back and the hairgrass looks like it's not recieving much light at the front to spread and create a lush carpet you want. The...

That is definitely one of the main solutions, i always make sure they are locked in properly. On a side note, does anyone else struggle to take off the hose adapter part? For me it requires a lot of effort, i think i made it harder to take off as i lubricated the two little o-rings.

Not sure really, i'm using the twinstar too on level 1. I think the difference between the settings is maybe "level 1" comes on more often for shorter bursts and maybe "level 2" for longer bursts less often.

I usually add water that's 1°c cooler than what the tanks set at. Doesn't take long for it to heat back up to the desired temp.

Thank you for the input, i did think it was something to do with lighting, that's why i have been opening my blinds to give the tank some natural (non direct) light. I have also observed that when the lighting turns on and ramps up over 45min, the plants do not look pale. It is only when the...

I'm probably wrong, but i think the co2art inline diffusers require a higher working pressure than 35psi? From what i remember my pro-se regulator goes up to like 39/40psi, not sure if this is enough?

Don't think letting in some daylight has made any difference so i'm pretty stumped. Maybe they are running out or can't move a mobile macro nutrient during the first half of the photoperiod and then moving it up the plant later on from the soil? PO4 availability in PH above 7? I've increased...

The EA cabinet does move quite a lot if pushed from the side, i only realised recently. It's quite scary and i get quite paranoid about it now as it definitely moves with very little effort.

Then i would get a female. Pick one that has the dark line down the side to be sure 😉

That may be the case but if you put in another male without any females they can be aggressive to eachother rather than with everyone else in the tank. Ideally i would get 2M 3F.

Just saw this, made me chuckle. Fluval marketing department at it's finest 🤣 https://www.pond-planet.co.uk/aquarium-c4/fish-tank-cleaning-tools-equipment-c75/fluval-3-in-1-waste-remover-feeder-p2189

This is one of mine

I have some "sunset honey gouramis" and "red robin honey gourami", they are totally different, i only realised when i got home and observing them. The body shape is a dead give away really, the "sunset" honey gouramis are more oval shaped with very small mouths. Where as the "red robins" are...

I'm not going to repeat what others have said, as the advice is clear. In reality the fish need to be happy with their environment before they will consider spawning. The fish might be small but this doesn't mean you can put them in a small tanks, different fish have different requirements and...

A toothbursh will sort that right out 😉

That's a shame, i don't have much trapped air but i do get trapped CO2 during the photoperiod, but after it's turned off the filter no longer has any trapped CO2 or air as it it doesn't purge when tilted. I don't think the hoses need an extra clamp, but they definitely need to be seated and...

I use to think that but then realised 2 things: 1) air is getting sucked in if you have a surface skimmer attachment to the inlet which contributes to trapped air (i haven't used the filter with a standard inlet to compare) 2) it's more likely a build up of CO2 bubbles (if you use CO2) as the...

My tank light is essentially my office light 🤣

Lubricate and reseat them every maintenance session and everything should run smoothly and last ages in theory, as long as you dont let the rubber dry out and harden. I lubricate all the rubber seals regularly, on the main head, the prefilter seal and the rubber bits on the sides of the...

Any time the impellor makes any sort of noise that doesn't sound "normal", opening and re-seating it usually solves any issues. Also if your pipes are touching any part of the cabinet there will be more noise, solving this reduces any noises massively. I would say the hiss from my in-tank CO2...

I've started using the "app version", takes some getting use to considering previous access through the browser.

I had an idea last night after a message from @alto. I realised that my tank gets no sunlight at all, i don't open my blinds so the room is fairly dark until the photoperiod. So the only light my tank gets is literally from the twinstar light. My next experiment will be to open my blinds...

First half of the photoperiod the tips are pretty much white or very pale, and second half they colour up more (maybe not fully?) and the whiteness it gone leaving more orange, green and pinky colours. Probably more evident side by side rather than how i posted before. If you click the photo...

Stable lighting during photoperiod, twinstar 900SA 13-14cm above the waterline. Controller thingy settings: 2.30pm 0% 3.15pm 100% 9.45pm 100% 10.30pm 0%

Bump post Still have this weird problem and i would like some more thoughts. Since starting the thread i have tried a few things but nothing has fixed it. I'm not sure if it is a deficiency, but realistically It's definitely not a NO3 deficiency. It's not a trace element deficiency i have...

I would time how long it takes to fill each tank and then set countdown timers on your phone to sound the alarm 5mins before it finishes filling each one. Then you can safely do other tasks without the risk of overfilling.

It does sound surprising but i have taken PH readings a lot, especially in the first 6 months when worrying about everything 🤣. I feel like i have decent surface agitation from my EA lily and i also have a tiny 500LPH powerhead in the opposite corner which provides a little more agitation...

I find that my tank degasses the CO2 i have injected in about 1.5 hours without having to angle my lily pipe upwards. I only angle the lily upwards before i go to bed.

Aesthetics aside, maybe in an open top tank there would be too much splashing outside the tank depending on water height and pump strength? Some people raise their lily pipes for extra surface agitation/02 exchange. Personally i do increase surface agitation at night by angling the lily pipe...

I've been dosing micro and macro the same day couple hours apart for like 3 months now and everythings going well. My thinking is what's the difference between dosing both on the same day and dosing an AIO fert? Only thing i can think of is the AIO has acids to lower the PH to keep everything...

Increase bps to like 5bps and turn on the CO2 3hours before lights on and evaluate from there. I aim for a light green drop checker at lights on, i have a 180L tanks and the bps is uncountable, if i had to guess maybe like 9bps, maybe more.

Quick update.... Everything is going really well at the moment, i've been doing "experiments" aka fiddling, especially with lockdown blah blah gives me something to do and observe. I have been dosing half micros for 6 or 7 weeks now with APF micro, just to see if it helped with pinholes in my...

I would only get more corys if they are the same type as the ones you already have.

Weirdly enough I do this all the time, it looks so cool and natural. But there's no way i would want a point source light as it would get annoying and would probably make me feel uneasy as sometimes i get vertigo when looking at my tank from above or weird angles 🤣

Dosing to EI levels assumes you have a heavily planted tank which i guess is 70%+ of the substrate covered). Yes technically the dose would be the same regardless of if you had 2 or 200 plants. But you wouldn't need to dose EI if you have a few plants as most commercial fertilisers will be plenty.