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I'm interested in this too. I was looking at the ubends, good to know the glass ones fit over the tubing. You can get acrylic ubends which seem longer. Most dosing fittings seem designed for multiple heads rather than one though.

Which deficiency is this? It' Hygrophila polysperma (I'm pretty sure) growing emersed with it's feet in the tank. I'm dosing TNC Complete 1ml a day, I've been using an autodoser to improve my dosing consistency for about a month now and I was expecting it to sort this out, but although it's...

I think you'd have to be careful with the RRF as light plays into the colour. I've had it growing packed densly (so much it didn't move) in a tank with the light about 1" above the surface and there was a very noticable line across the plant growth showing the extent of the light - red under the...

I use Esha Exit for ich - should be able to pick it up in your local fish shop or amazon. I know salt gets recommended a lot in the US, but I don't think it's that common to treat with salt and temperature increases in the UK. Have you got a photo of the fish?

I leave the courgette in the tank, never take it out. I pop a 7mm ish slice in a small bowl, pour boiling water over, when it's cool enough to fish out without burning my fingers pop it in a clip that sinks it to the bottom. They usually show interest initially, then ignore it for a bit and go...

I do too, but I'm also aware my aquarium is very lean - there is probably more nitrate in tap than tank. So don't just assume that aquairum water will have all the nutrients. Water from a fish only tank is probably much better, full of excess nutrients, where are planted tank water may have...

I would guess water height is the trick for the swords. My tank is 30cm deep, so maybe 20 cm of water above the substrate surface. I brought them with emersed leaves that were tall enough to break the surface and they've grown emersed leaves consistantly the whole time. I imagine if you start...

Eleocharis Acicularis (hairgrass) should be able to find it cheaper in the pond section rather than aquaiurm... although more likely to have hitchhikers. You could try soft rush, I have (I think) it growing and it stayed about 1' for ages, although over winter has decided to shoot up to closer...

There is no maths because there are too many variables. You could have a long shallow tank with lots of length to swim or a tall narrow tank that a larger fish couldn't turn around in and they'd both be the same volume. Tank length effects swimming area which is relevant in fish activity levels...

I don't have a bag to hand, but I'm pretty sure the gravel is meant to be a minimum depth of 4cm. That does seem unusal amount of ammonia - have you tried testing your tap water, both before and after adding declorinator, incase you are getting a false positive. Have you planted it? I've...

Have you tested your tank water for nitrates, just curious what reading you got if you had? I wonder if you are actually having the opposite problem to excess ammonia - not enough ammonia/nitrates for the plants to grow well. A lot of fertilisers don't include nitrate they are more like vitamins...

I think the main concern is that in a canister filter, the bacteria may run out of oxygen and die and/or if you've got a lot of 'goo' in your filter and you take away the oxygen then you end up with stinky sludge... turn it back on an you could be dumping ammonia back in the tank as it...

If it's a 27l tank, I'd be tempted just to go with a gh/kh remineraliser - a pot is going to last you a pretty long time.

If you wanted to use the tropica soil, you could stick it in a bucket for a few weeks with an airline and change the water regularly so any ammonia leached out before adding it to the tank. I guess it depends how much you were adding too - an entire substrate worth will obviously be more ammonia...

Which product do you actually have? Tropica Plant Growth Substrate is designed to be a 1cm layer at the bottom that's then capped with a couple of inches of gravel. It's like a fine powder that is mud when wet. Do you mean tropica soil? The soil can be used without capping it. If you've got an...

That's a good suggestion for fitting a glass cover which will block easy access to the water, but I would have a poke at some tanks in a fish shop and see if that's going to give you the sort of access restriction that will meet your needs. Those type of tanks are really aimed at people that...

Cool puzzle! The first side looks something to do with royalty - king & queen - the dates are 1330 and 1930. Google translate suggests the text is something on the lines of 'back to the beloved' or 'as you love one another'. Can you make out the text on the other side better in person? Or try...

If you can't tell from the heater, you can get an electricity monitor plug (goes between the appliance plug and the wall plug) and that will tell you whether the heater is drawing power (heating) or just sat idol. If it's a lack of power - have you tried running both heaters at the same time...

Almond leaves, very clean water, oxygen and good foods - perhaps some live food if you can get it - its about all you can do. It's mostly about preventing infection to give it the best opportunity to heal.

Are you running your bucket test attached to the same electrical socket?

I don't know what the process would be but could you freeze it? Encouraging them to each frozen live is probably easier than dry. A bit of current and you can trick them into thinking it's wiggling. You could also try gel food - there are some diy recipies and again could be frozen for storage...

That was my original intention, I'd probably have split the batch if I had more hatch although I also didn't hatch mine until July though so by the time they were more than tiny specs there wasn't much summer left. Once the weather warms up a bit more I've a tub for them to hang out in see if...

I got some eggs last summer, not quite that many! I had a bit of an issue with fungus (some of the eggs were clumped together and think I should have spaced them out). Anyway five hatched and all survived months, I've lost one since but four still going. I raised them on very fine powdered food...

I think everyone is right. You need to account for the fact previously some of the 'filtration' was being done by established plants and bacteria on surfaces other than the filter. A bare tank with the established filter can potentially still work but things like more water changes, light...

I agree, the scape looks great, but the banked soil means even more reduction in space/volume. 13L is too small for fish, their welfare should always come first. I would enjoy the shrimp which will really thrive without any potential predators and save the fish for a future setup.

Welcome to the forum :) How are your floating plants? Could we have a photo? They are a really good way to judge nutrient deficiencies in your tank.

Coraline algae? I've seen them in reef tanks but not freshwater.

It will be a best before, so it could mean it has less nutrients than claimed on the tub so wouldn't feed as the only food but mixed should be fine. If its been opened so could have had mould or similar introduced then I'd say chuck it.

They are more lower 6" slow sculking around slowly looking for snacks in behaviour, so I think unlikely jumpers. Not sure how they would get on with the honeys.

Scarlett basis maybe? They are micro preditors. They will only take babies so you might need to combine with physically removing some adults to reduce the visible population and baby production.

I think a lot of the variation you'll see on advice fish and maintaining a shrimp population will depend on the habitat you've created in the tank. You can get away with some quite larged mouthed fish if you have dense planting and hardscape... and possibly also linked in how and how much you...

Sorry, yes, you are right I should have multiplied it. Even then to have that much nitrate does seem to imply your plants aren't using a lot. Perhaps alternating with TNC lite or something else to just top up micro would be an option?

As much as I agree nitrate testing isn't particularly accurate, but it gives you a rough ball park. I'd still be a bit interested in how you are running in the ballpark of 40-80ppm when dosing 11ml of on TNC a day - which the rotala butterfly calculator suggests adds about 1.8ppm (so roughly...

You're welcome. They do genuinely have tiny mouths so you'll probably need to grind/crush your standard food to make sure they can manage it. Once they settle and colour up they are fun to watch sparring.

Threadfin Rainbows? They aren't that much bigger but the fins when displaying give them presense that makes them a bit centre piecey, but they have tiny mouths. No threat to shrimp at all.

Lovely hardscape :) There isn't really any value added in cycling when you are planning to establish plant grow and then move a cycled filter over. I would plant up, plan for 4-6 weeks of letting the plants establish and then move everyone over. It's hard to predict the effectiveness of plant...

You may find this video helpful: It discusses plant species and ways to attach them above the waterline including using planters. The two plants you mentioned (monstera or pothos) are both very large and sprawling, but there are much smaller options that might suit you better. I've ferns...

Do you have the venturi attachment for the mini pat? (attachment with a bit of airline). If you don't already you could pop that on and it will help with aeration. I like the mini pat - I've one in my 180l for extra circulation with a hob the other end. You might consider a second one - it's...

I don't think a sump rules out floating plants - how were you planning on plumbing it? You can use a guard around an overflow to stop the floating plants being an issue. You can also grow floating plants in rings so they are limited to particular areas. You could also consider emersed plants...

Another vote for Aquariums4Life - have had two batches - last one was two 4' tanks with weirs and a sump. Excellent quality. Their website is very old school, they don't have a big web/social presence but the tanks are great. The lead times are longish but sometimes it's quicker depending on if...

Your RO water with nothing added is 50? It should be zero or atleast under ten. What type of shrimp? For cherry shrimp, you really want you gh atleast 6. Equilibrium only adds gh not kh - you might could consider a shrimp specific remineraliser if you are just keeping shrimp. Alternatively...

I think my scedule is just not organised enough - my water changes probably average around 10 days but the gap isn't rigid, so calculating the percentage change and the time period would be tricky. I appreciate the thought though. I think the autodoser will keep a more stable base line even if...

I'm thinking of getting an auto doser. I'm just not very good at the routine of daily dosing manually and it seems a good solution. My duckweed is doing terribly and I know I'm chronically sort on nitrate! (I'm going to remove the duckweed while it's not fighting back in favour of frogbit). I'm...

I wonder if all the non-planted aquarium owners look at us in horror and declare they would never add plants to their aquarium... they don't want to turn their home into some new age water treatment plant. Who would want to have to remove handfuls of floating plants and trim back a jungle when...

I can think of situations where if it achieved the same thing it would be prefereable to removing and replacing water e.g. if you were running a large system with different parametres to your tap water, you were in an area with water restrictions, water prices were high or your supply was very...

It depends. If you've used an active substrate that initially leaches ammonia then you need to wait for that to stop which you'll need to test your ammonia/nitrate to determine. If not, then you can add a source of ammonia (fish food or actual ammonia) and when you stop registering...

Although they don't hatch, they lay eggs like little white spots. I've avoided them for that reason although they are popular so obviously doesn't bug everyone. Sounds like you might need another tank, they are addictive.

I agree, I don't think order will matter too much, the shrimp and snails would be a good early addition as they'll help with cleaning up any die back you get from newly added plants or biofilmy drift wood etc. I don't think your substrate will produce any ammonia spike so I'd probably add the...

I keep looking at them and I'm tempted, my other tank has a DD temp controller running the heater - because my dad had one kicking about at the time I needed a heater rather than I went looking - and I do like the precision and reassurance. The other tank is just meant to be quarentine really...

Mine was doing that, noticed what I stuck my hand in and it was very chilly! I'd rather they fail off than on though. Luckily had a spare one in the cupboard.

I can't see anywhere where he explains what his routine is. I would say it's technically possible, but doesn't mean he necessarily does what you imagine 'no water changes' to mean. For example - you could take your tank water run it through RO system, remineralise and pop it back in the tank the...

If you have a well fertilised aquarium, you could flood it using water from that, then drain the water again. You can get fertiliser sprays for house plants, which are presumably diluted to avoid burning leaves - I've not used them personally though.

I think the TDS reading can be effected by temperature... have a Google for the science if someone doesn't pop in to expand. I can't remember the reasoning but that might be a starting point for research :) Glad your livestock made it OK!

Seriously fish is a good source for information a lot of places just repeat info where as that links to orginal references. https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/ctenopoma-acutirostre/ https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/xenomystus-nigri/ I can't see a page for black spotted eel but you...

Mine go on at 8am, ramp up until 2pm, then ramp down from 5pm to 11pm, blue light from 11pm until 1am. So more of a 7 hour light off cycle. I enjoy the ramp up/down and seeing fish at different times of the day. I don't both with room lights as much so it probably evens out the electricity...

Before disposing of it, perhaps contact the manufacturer and give them the batch code in case it's a wider issue. They'll potentially be able to trace the batch/wholesaler/shop etc. I hope the rest of the fish stay well.

Still illegal here. There is the occassional report of them being imported, but stamped on if found out. I'm not 100% sure who you'd report to though, maybe these guys: Home - Cefas (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science) fhi@cefas.gov.uk

I think filter preference is a lot down to what you find easier to maintain. I'm definately leaning towards the sponge blocks, I just pull in off, rinse it in the bucket of water I've just emptied out of the tank and put it back on. I've the powerhead running it just hung over the tank edge...

Wow, nice bit of wood! What are you thinking for planting? I presume the soil area will be covered in plants? If so I think you'll lose all those rocks at the back to the plant growth. It looks like you are trying to create height on the back right? I would probably do this with taller plants...

I don't know that it's necessarily related as you aren't having issues elsewhere, but GH5 seems quite high if you are using rainwater and no remineralisation or ferts. Likewise for your ppm to be going up by a third in a week seems a lot if you aren't adding ferts. I'd be curious what is causing...

I've used D-D ones for years, no issues, batteries last for ages and seem to stay reliable, cost about £20.

When you tried this, other than the plants not waving, what issues did you observe?

I use prime. I dose the bucket - so do 0.25ml prime in 10l of new water (which is roughly 6l rain and 4l tap). Technically that's over what the tap portion would need by itself, but I know you can dose for the tank volumn so it's well under the standard dose once diluted in the tank (mines a 70l...

I think surface detritus is more down to individual tank flow, often there is a spot that collects it and the rest is clear but if there is less flow in visible areas you'll see it more. I only have one tank with sand (about 1" deep) and I can't vacuum it - there are too many fine roots...

Sorry for your loss, I can imagine you are kicking yourself. How cold was it? As others above, I regularly drop mine during a water change/top up. Mine go from 24oC to about 21/22. The heaters a bit oversize so heats it back up pretty quick. It's one of the things that seems to trigger breeding...

Does anyone use epoxy for rock work? It seems popular in reef aquariums but not so much for freshwater. It was quite expensive orginally which I guess was off putting, but closer to a bottle of superglue, depending on brand/quantity, now.

Do you have substrate? I read something suggesting sand improved survival over bare bottom, but there are others doing to opposite. I was wondering whether to add a dusting of sand.

That's a really interesting thread - I like experiments with controls and testing different species of snail! The alder cone is definately making a difference. I pulled two more eggs and both hatched in the cup of water + aldercone. I didn't add a snail as I have pond snails and it didn't seem...

What's your substrate?

Hot water issues are around water storage tanks or water softeners. If that applies maybe dig a bit deeper. If it's just hot water out of a combi boiler I don't think there are any issues.

Aquaone have used to do a range with rounded front corners I've a 70l one, I know they had a 200l ish one too, but not sure if it is still available or if they did anything bigger. They were all rimmed though I think.

I think it's been the norm for a long time (decades). If you go into most fish shops they'll have a display of pre-made tanks to choose from. A lot of complete setups too - lights, filter all included. There is a much wider variety now than there used to be and more aimed at the aquascaping...

Google suggests this might not be an issue in the UK. Although other worms are, which is why worming pets and washing hands is a good idea. Also worm kids cos they are gross 😝

The fox poop I've seen looks more like this, sometimes a little more log like sometimes not, than the wildlife link. I would guess they are showing rural foxes that have snacked on rabbit etc. rather than leftover takeaway. Dogs fed raw food have poop more like the white/dry stuff too. Fox poop...

Try Goodreads - if you look up books you know you like then you can find suggestions of books people that liked those also read. It's also not selling anything so less prone to floods of fake reviews than amazon. The graveyard book neil gaiman - that's available as an audio book. It's not...

Thanks thanks a good idea. I've bladder snails in the main tank, but they haven't made their way into the breeder box so I will help one along.

English is weird. I didn't find it particularly hard to read, but I know I'm reading/recognising them as whole words not phonics patterns. I definately remember as a kid (that read a lot) knowing words that I had no idea how they were pronounced. My nieces are primary school and trying to teach...

He was still kicking yesterday evening, but I was looking for him just now and can't find him so he might have popped his clogs and the shrimp cleaned up :( I will check again later as it's so tiny and see through it's hard to spot unless it's moving even in a 6" clear container. I did a water...

I agree the suction cups are useless. One I brought separately had a hanger to go over the rim, but my original that came with a shrimp set didn't. I made my own hanger by heating up a bit of plastic and bending it then using small cable ties to attach the back plate. Obviously only works on...

What sort of capacity do you want/need? For example, I like the aquael mini pat - which is a small powered sponge filter. I've doubled it's capacity by extending the tube and using a longer sponge. You can buy the parts pre-made here: Poret® Sponge Replacement for Aquael Pat Mini Filter 20cm -...

I imagine you've probably read: 1 - add magic bacteria and you can add fish straight away 2 - you need to cycle a tank with ammonia and this takes weeks You are aiming for a 'cycle' where your filter takes the ammonia from fish waste and processed it to nitriate and on to nitrate. The bacteria...

Just one, but atleast now I know they can produce fertile eggs!

Not particularly high light, but the breeder box was the brighter end and there are windows opposite - the cup is very shaded. The adults are about a year old I think. But, just checked now and one of the eggs has a tail! By torch I can't tell if it's mid hatching or just the yolk sack making...

Some plants, particularly stem bunches that had been grown submersed, are imported and as part of that treated for pests to avoid importing invasive species. The chemicals used for that can kill shrimps or snails. It might depend on your country/plant source, I don't think it's as much of an...

Yes pegged to the side. The room temp drops at night so I thought floating would be best. I will change out the water regularly and see if the last two do anything. If not I think I will add to the numbers as hopefully more fish means more eggs to help the odds of them being fertile.

I think its from the tannins. The other batches I stuck to the side of a hob breeder box (main tank is 75l with a airline sized feed into hob), which has some small rice fish fry and a cherry shrimp but they all fungused within 24hrs so I thought I'd try an alder in a cup to up the tanin. The...

I was having trouble with my pygmy corys I have four left but they seem to be doing really well now. They are plump and really enjoying a diet of micro/grindle worms once a day and bug bites once a day. Over the last 6 weeks I've caught them spawning about four times. There is one female and...

You could try taking the photos in daylight? Sometimes it's hard to tell with the flash on what's silicone and what's reflected light. The important bits are the silicone squished between the two panels, which looks fine. Ragged bits on the bits you can poke outside the joint probably weren't...

I use HOB breeder boxes - I've superfish and a marina one - very similar. They do a couple of versions, the bigger one is 2l. Makes it easy to observe the fry. I feed the with an airline positioned in the outflow of the main filter and don't bother with the airlift part. I think that gives you a...

I've seen quite a few AI generated aquarium related photos on social media - people asking the usual questions on IDs on plants or fish and not realising they are seeing an image of something that doesn't exist.

They are hardy, you can move the hanging baskets somewhere a little sheltered if you want but not much point repotting them now - unless you want to move them to be somewhere else for next year. They'll die back for winter anyway and not do anything until spring.

ADA might be your thing, fair enough, but if not, you can get the same style hooks via amazon/ebay for quite a bit less. You can also get clear ones if you prefer.

Sounds a plan. Do you have seperate circuits? My parents rewired the tanks to be on their own circuit, rewired some lighting, and swapped out the fuse board. We did as much as possible ahead of time - all the rewiring, then the elecrician came in checked it and changed out the fuse board. They...

I agree, they're not going to bother shrimp at all. I don't think they'd get a tiny shrimplet in if they wanted to and they aren't hunters. You will need to make sure you have very tiny food available though.

The male amanos are quite a bit smaller as adults than the females if you want to keep them more proportionate (although still about double the size of the adult cherries) you could select for them. An adult female amano is huge and chunky compared to a cherry shimp. They are quite pushy...

I think some aquascapes would look quite good with a foggy repeat of the hardscape e.g. if you had an out of focus blurry shot of your tank wood repeated in the background it would give it depth - but I think a lot of people would also think that was cheating :) The white/frosted always look to...

Wouldn't guarentee they don't off a few shrimplets or munch on a dying/dead shrimp, but I've kept them in the same tanks and never observed them going for cherries.

How did you move it? With the tank completely empty? It looks like the substrate has been disturbed as there are some roots showing. Disturbing the substrate in a tank can upset the balence as you kick a lot of mulm up that's settled and I imagine mix up the layers of bacteria etc. that live in...

I think there is a bit of jumbling between terms e.g. lid/glass cover/hood. You can have a glass cover panes with or without a hood, and a hood without it necessarily having a top e.g. you can have a 6" tall trim around the tank that cover the water line/hides a light bar without the top being...

I think you can do a newish setup, but it needs to be at the really grungy stage - diatoms everywhere and new wood covered in lovely slimey biofilm - and you have to be willing to leave it that way and not manually clean. I've done that for quarentining them. I second (third?) the repashy. I...