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It only produces aerial roots if there arent enough nutrients in the substrate and it needs to get food from the water column. To propagate, simply take a stem cutting with at least 5 leaves on it. Remove the bottom leaves and push the cutting into the substrate. The OLD stem can be either...

My diffuser is on the right. The filter outlet at back/left, forcing the gas down and across the front of the tank. Dropchecker is on the left.

Mine is starting to throw out red leaves now.

Crypts grow extensive root systems that will go much deeper than those of small carpeting plants. The Crypts will be fine but you MAY find poor growth of the carpet in the immediate area of the Crypt unless you add extra substrate ferts.

Pygmy Chain Swords do extremely well if they are in a nutrient rich substrate with med/high lighting.

In theory, ANY terracotta pot SHOULD work

Try putting your dropchecker in different areas of the tank to see if the colour changes. If its the same colour in each location, you have good dispersal; if not, then you have poor flow.

I agree with Wookii, I've just added a pair of Golden Rams to my 50ltr setup and am dialling in the CO2 VERY slowly! I'm at 11.5ppm at the moment which is JUST at the lower end of effective concentration but would rather have slower growth of plants than dead Rams!

I totally agree with ceg4048. After spending ages looking up charts, reading articles, calculating % etc. I realised that I was spending more time researching co2 than I was looking at my tank. I suspect that in a 310ltr aquarium, your issue is flow related. Is the filter effective at...

Ive given the appearance of it being buried by attaching it to pebbles

Limnophyllum

I give up. This is absolute nonsense

So Crypts don't melt for any other reason than not having a co2 system

What the hell has root uptake got to do with a movie franchise? I'm referring to THE MATRIX. My comments are based upon my 40 years of horticulture and not on conspiracy theory!

I've uprooted Crypts to divide them and found extensive root balls wrapped entirely around clay root tabs despite being in nutrient rich water. This is further evidenced by Crypts growing fine aerial roots when grown in a low fert substrate. If they absorbed the lions share via leaves, aerial...

In nature, many Crypts spend an equal time emerged and submerged. This annual change, caused by the rainy season, is the main reason why crypts melt because they have to grow new leaves which are adapted for optimal nutrient uptake. The ONLY constant is the roots which DO grow massive, both to...

There is only a minimal amount of oxygen created by bubbles. Extra oxygenation takes place in two ways: 1) The column of bubbles draws water from the bottom of the tank to the surface where it will absorb oxygen from the atmosphere. 2) The upward flow creates ripples which increases the...

Good lighting and good substrate ferts with lots of iron put red into most crypts

All Crypts are mainly root feeders therefore co2 won't have much impact on them. They grow in stages. Roots/leaves/roots/leaves. Before sending out lots of new leaves, your newish crypts will be establishing a good root structure first. I suggest you focus less on co2 and start feeding them on a...

I'm assuming that you DO have the plants attached to wood or rock as opposed to buried in the substrate. IF your plants are attached to wood or rocks, that's OK. If you only get the occasional leaf turning brown, its not a problem. If you are getting lots of leaves turning brown all at once, its...

My personal experience is that it loves high light, a decent flowrate and plenty of liquid ferts. Individual stems should be planted 1" apart so light and waterflow can penetrate. PH and temperature aren't crucial. Under good conditions, expect at least 1" a day growth. When mine grows too...

OK. Here's what you need to do. The working pressure can ONLY be decreased this way: 1) Turn off the gas at the extinguisher 2) Turn the knob on the regulator right down to minimum. 3) Open the bubble counter to release all residual pressure. 4) Turn the solenoid OFF 5) Close the needle...

I use TDS to give me a rough idea of erm total dissolved chemicals. I use the aquarium note app to keep track of changes in chemistry over the hours days and weeks. I have a baseline tap water reading and also have a baseline reading of my aquarium taken after a 50% water change. Finally, I have...

I totally agree with CEG4048. I live in an area that has EXTREMELY hard water (14.5) and things COULD get horrendously complicated if I aimed for perfection. At the end of the day, my plants are thriving and my fish are spawning in an aquarium that looks fairly attractive and that's ALL that...

My Cryptocoryne cascade

Agreed. I DO keep a log using aquarium note.

The reasons why co2 goes off an hour before the lights are: 1) To save wasteage. 8hrs of CO2 per day costs 1/3 of 24/7 usage. 2) To avoid stress to fish. Plants only use co2 whilst they are photosynthesising (when the lights are on). If we turn off co2 an hour before, the idea is that the...

I went down this road when I first started with CO2. It can get horrendously complicated to the point where one is spending more time researching than fishkeeping! Nowadays, I content myself with healthy fish and plants and a nice lime green dropchecker. I DO move the checker around...

Limno is notorious for attracting and trapping debris and algae due to its fine leaf structure. Apart from constantly planting new shoots, it's something that has to be lived with. This is one of the reasons why Limno isn't seen too often in display scapes.

Bearing in mind that 99% of aquatic plants also grow above water, you shouldn't have any issues. I personally find Limno to be extremely Hardy.

Here's a vid of my pkacement

There WILL be a pH swing in a heavily planted tank whether or not CO2 is infused. Here's why: CO2 is acidic O2 is alkaline. Plants photsynthesise producing oxygen during the day but they BREATHE producing CO2 24hrs a day. This means that during a 24hr period there are slight net swings in pH...

Cherry Barbs Spawning. PH 7 28°c

Do you have a photo?

To remove string algae effectively, I use a toothbrush

MTS will help to turn over the sand, they will help to keep roots healthy too.

The brown one is even finer meaning better efficiency!

A UV works by causing green water algae particles to clump together whence the particles become big enough to be trapped by the filter. For this reason, it's best to use a dedicated product that is fitted inline on the inlet pipe of the filter. If exposed to continuous uvc there is a risk of...

You are forgetting that algae not only consumes liquid nutrients but for plants, the most important nutrient is LIGHT! IF a leaf has algae growing on it, yes a tiny amount of nutrient is used, BUT the algae 9n the leaves prevents the plants from photosynthesising as effectively! 50% or more of...

You have misunderstood several of my statements. Re: plants competing with algae. I am saying that glut kills the algae. Once the algae is dead, there are more nutrients available for the higher plants so they grow. Re: Company secrets: If its only known by a few people who are bound to...

Flourish Excel won't change the colour of a Dropchecker. It's more of an algaecide than a source of bioavailable carbon. The amount of Carbon released is TINY and WONT show up on a Dropchecker. It's made from glutaraldehyde which is extremely toxic if used at greater concentrations than...

Only problem with paintball is that sodastream canisters are much more readily available, being sold even in places like asda and argus whereas paintball is far more specialised.

I'm running my 50l aquarium at 1bps using a Pro SE and paintball adaptor. Started using it mid December and the gas has hardly gone down. I am expecting for it to last for at least 6 months at this rate. I use sodastream because the adaptor has a tap, making removal and setup really easy; also...

I'm having great success with a substrate based mainly on playsand. The back is playsand mixed with gravel and the foreground is pure playsand. All areas are fertilised using a clay based formula. There is also co2 and EI liquid.

My opinion is that most newer models are gimmicks and are recipes for disaster! Every connector is a potential leak and every compartment or attachment reduces flow. Most "features" are gimmicks, designed to sell new products. I find that the more basic a filter is, the more reliable it is. My...

Metal is far more practical.

I have used several methods of infusing CO2 and have found the #co2art pro se to me easily the most, efficient, effective and economical. Here's a link to an article which documents my experiences to date... My CO2 article

I totally agree with Mr Shenanagins. My 50l is currently running at 27.5 ppm and I'm perfectly happy with that. However, there are a few slightly darker areas in the corners of my tank and the slower growth is NOTICEABLE

My EF150 is almost a Metre below the top of my 50l aquarium and I've experienced very little loss of flow. The trick is keeping pipework as straight as possible and having no sharp bends, this maximises flowrate.

It HAS to be the Allpondsolutions EF150. It's simple, effective, easy to maintain and is adaptable.

Using "liquid co2" is just a temporary fix. You need to identify and address the root cause.

Assuming that your existing filter is working to full capacity and is the correct size for your tank, adding an extra filter will NOT increase the bacteria! The bacterial population is limited by the amount of available Ammonia and Nitrite. So... Unless you add more Ammonia, it's impossible to...

I would suggest that any Ammonia added as part of an EI regime is EXTRA to that produced by tank inhabitants. The bacterial colony in a filter has a constant supply of food as the amount of waste produced by fish stays the same. Any Ammonia added as part of an EI regime WOULD be consumed by BB...

Best way to keep Crypts low is to have bright light. Under low light, they reach upwards towards the light but under bright light the leaves open out and lay much flatter.

I have around 50 plants, all split from one C. Wendtii mother plant. They are in 3 different aquaria and look COMPLETELY different! I personally have found that Wendtii and Wendtii "Red" both seem to grow best (and quickest) in a soil-based substrate ferted with an iron-rich fert (I use a...

I don't completely remove the leaves but I DO regularly prune the outer leaves. By regularly, I mean Monthly. I do this to get rid of any traces of algae which grows on older leaves and also to encourage new growth.

Hi Paul. I've used Pinia and they are very very good but make sure that you plant them deep to prevent clay getting into the water column if you have fish that dig.

We have two tanks that employ playsand. It IS slightly higher maintenance than pool sand, requiring agitation to prevent compaction but on the plus side, our Corys love it, the plants do too and finally, its really inexpensive. You deed to wash it for ages before using it though. IF you are on...

I personally recommend the Allpondsolutions 500IF due to its ease of maintenance, simplicity and effectiveness. As you can see, it keeps my 50L tank crystal clear and the cherry barbs spawn regularly too! Here's a link to the review I did on my website...

I have made my own root tabs which have proven extremely effective and economical and you only need two easily sourced ingredients! I used: Fullers Earth in my original experiment however, I am in the process of ordering some red pottery clay powder for my next batch. It's really important that...

Agreed. All we can do is a pale imitation of and tribute to Mother Nature. I've been down many roads in my history of Fishkeeping and by searching out diy solutions and operating a low(ish) tech system, I'm learning more now than I ever did whilst I was running a shop!

I think that with the theme in the big tank, it wasn't so much trying to exactly recreate a slice of the Amazon as trying to recreate the ambiance of the area and adapt it so that it also looks visually appealing in a lounge. For example, I wanted Blackwater and used oak leaves. Obviously, oaks...

Hi there Matt. Here is the logic behind my use of 12 hour lighting. All of our tanks are tropical. By definition, in the tropics, there are equal hours of day and night all year round. Therefore, we have a TOTAL of 12 hours light. This equates to 10 hours of full spectrum lighting with an hour...

Here's my take on running a successful low maintenance low tech low budget tank. I have adopted these rules over many years of aquatic experience and have learnt by my mistakes Pick a theme. My particular themed tank simulates a medium flow river bed. Do your research. Learn the water...

Hi everyone, just a quick message to introduce myself and our tanks. The top tank is my personal tank which is stocked with Crypts, Swords, Java fern and aponogetons. Its got a sand/gravel/pebble substrate and is fertilised using homemade ei salts and clayball substrate ferts. The filter is a...