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Java moss will start off attached, but when it gets old and cuts off the light to where its attached to, it will die off and detach. Same goes with the mosses in the same family like christmas moss, flame moss etc I don't think I've ever seen willow moss attach in water, and its stems are too...

I was looking at getting one a while back and of the reviews on amazon, half of them said the thermostat went after 12 months. I think its sadly just a design flaw - lucky for you its still under warrantee. :)

So after the remaining 2 crs snuffed it, i did the sensible thing and drained the tank and went and removed all the substrate. I put in florabase topped with their 'shrimp safe' black microgravel. I've conditioned the water with some blackwater extract / tropol, kapta leaves and after a month...

So i put the RO in with half the minerals in (up to a tds of 80) on a 20% water change. pH went up to 8, all but 2 of the 10 CRS died. :meh:

Garlic is recommended by some people as a natural antibiotic. Its also meant to counter act the effects of copper. Not sure if its shrimp safe so ill leave it for some more knolegeable to step in.

Mosses prefer cold water. Im guessing with those lights its quite warm. Fissidens seems to tolerate warmer waters better than java type mosses, so maybe give that a try.

I've heard cooked egg yoke mixed with water and added a few drops at a time is good starting food for fry.

marsala is a good low tech carpet plant. Ive also had lot of luck with monty carlo in my low tech setups.

i think my mistake was landscape rock and co2 injection - I've been paying for it ever since.

Its neutral when i test it after ive remineralised it. To give you some context, the tap water in this area generally comes out the tap at over pH 8

the ph is resolutely over 7.5 with forabase and loads of drift wood. Only ever use RO. Remineralise with salty bee shrimp.

My CRS tank's pH is still over 7 despite having colombo and 100% RO. I think the culprit is the landscape rock i had in it for a about 3 months when i first set up up a few years ago. Ive tried kapta leaves but its still over 7. I was wondering if distilled vinegar would be a safe option to...

Mix some cornflour and water, dip the fish in and deep fry them for a few minutes. Serve with a slice of lemon.

personally id go with freezing 2L coke bottles with water in them then putting them next to the filter canister wrapped in a towel to insulate it, or floating them in the tank, or wrapping the filter tubes around them.

Aqua safe is amine-based. To quote seachem's support person

I used these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/L-K-Salt-amp-Pepper-Pot-Stoppers-Cruet-Set-Bungs-TWELVE-SIZES-AVAILABLE-L-K-/171057310498?ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:GB:3160

If you want to go the whole hog: http://www.clearplasticsupplies.co.uk/acrylic_tube_clear.htm http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/259l-bookcase-rebirth.19287/page-3#post-202833 But from your profile you seem to be in Greece so you might want to try and find a source closer to home ;) (google...

I am thinking of only putting in the pava crypts and ordering these: Bucephalandra sp: Kedagang Mini Bucephalandra sp: Alamanda V3 Marsilea Hirsuta Sagittaria subulata Dwarf Grass with the Marsilea in the foreground, and the Sagittaria in the mid-background and the Bucephalandra attached to...

Here is the tank from a year ago, the crypts from the back have pretty much taken over. Im not sure if the akadama is suitable for any carpeting plants. I have some posmegon hefferi from another tank i might shove in . I have a little Brazilian chain sword that might work well at the front. Im...

I've moved house, and while I was waiting for my new place to come through my cousin kindly gave me a place in her house for them to live. Sadly she's not a fish person so what she said were "1 or 2 dead" turned out to be 0 alive and guppie soup. Thankfully most the celestial daneo's in my 130L...

All plants, aquatic and non aquatic, can absorb nutrients to varying degrees through their leaves. Crypts are at the low end of this, they much prefer to take nutrients through their roots.

Exactly right :P As far as i am away crypts can only take up sufficient nutrients through their roots, and these are generally not exposed to the water column. If you increase the CO2 and don't provide nutrients at root level then you're barely going to see an increase in growth. If you add...

I've seen people who've breed them before recommend boiled courgettes.

they wont attack healthy fish. They will learn to take the food from the surface tho. I've seen them eat a half dead fish before. But this is because they are scavengers.

Root tabs are your best bet there. CO2 will help but not as much as other plants, root tabs on the other hand have an insane effect on crypts' growth.

wake up at 4am when the lights have been off for a while and he's still asleep and net them then. I had to do this with my daneos a while back. The only way is to catch them sleeping.

as nduli said, it most likely died as opposed to being killed and then got scoffed by the remaining shrimp and snails.

When you start adding plants they restrict the circulation and produce a lot more waste by the simple act of leaves dropping and rotting etc. This is also why some people have powerheads in their planted tanks. (personally i don't have one because I'm scared they would probably act as a small...

They probably came on the plants and are mostly a cosmetic problem. If you want to prevent them from hitching a lift in future you can leave you plants in a salt water bath for 10 mins before rincing and planting next time :)

Your probably going to want a larger filter than a 900l/p JBL e900, or 2 of them for a 200L planted tank. Idealy you want 2000 L/h turnover.

Tank volume in Litres is Length (cm) * Width (cm) * Height (cm) / 1000 TDS testers are cheap. This is the one i have. Digital TDS Meter Tester Water Quality Filter Purity | eBay

For CRS its reccomended: 60L tank External filter Buffering Substrate ADA stuff or FloraBase RO with Salty Bee Minerals added and a A TDS tester (£10 on eBay) Nothing in the hardscape that will raise the pH (ie, no landscape rock) Some plants and mosses If you want them to breed and the...

I highly recommend going with a 600L/hr external filter on a tank that size if you want to breed crystal shrimp. Also bear in mind that the landscape rock will raise the pH and hardness.

Only if you're french I'm afraid.

When i change my tank water i siphon it into a bucket and then use that to wash my filter media in, then pour it down the bog or on the garden.

Its highly recommended that they be the only species of fish occupying the water column. They are renowned for nipping at the fins of most fish - and they are pretty small so they make a tasty treat for anything with a mouth big enough to accommodate them. The fact is each puffer needs its own...

My dwarf puffers have decided to start killing the cherry shrimp in their tank :'( Lucky they were all the low grade rejects i moved out the breeding colony. We knew this day would come.

salami is cured with nitrate/nitrite and is high in salt. That in addition to the high fat content which fouls the water - really not a good thing to feed them.

Is the wire from the transformer directly wired into the light? Theres always these: EURO TRANSFORMER TO UK CONVERTER ADAPTER 2 Pin to 3 Pin | eBay but it depends a lot on the length of the plug part coming out of the transformer.

Computers ;)

Who knew there was demmand for something that can charge your iPhone and Oxygenate your pond! Portable Solar Panel Power Oxygenator Oxygen Air Pump Pond Pool Aquarium Aerator | eBay

a cheaper solution is to passs your external filter hose through a bucket of iced water, or wrap them arround a frozen 2L soft drinks bottle of water.

Turn the lights off during the day as well. They heat the tank up a lot.

also consider lighting for a massive planted tank. the higher the water column the more lighting intensity required for plants to thrive. Apart from the electricity cost, thats a massive amount of heat to dissipate.

Pets @ Home isn't something a generally associate with quality aquarium stuff. Every one I've been to the fish are all infected and the tropica plants plants have all rotted away to leave nothing but a plastic pots with some mouldy mineral wool in it.

Don't use plywood. it has a horrible surface finnish. On the other hand, I probably wouldnt put mdf above the tank either. Composite woods are going to absorb the condensation from the tank and start expanding unless you have the special treated stuff.

oodles of noodles. Premium Ceramic Bio Rings - Filter Media For Aquariums 1000g - 1 KG | eBay I orderd a load of these for the 4(!) trays that came with carbon on my 406. Its highly porous, much better than the solid stuff that comes as stock. Its like the premium "BioMax" stuff fluval sell.

I really would recommend treating for 2 weeks - especially at 25˚C. You can ignore everyones advice but it can come back and not be visible for another week or so - and then you've dyed everything in your tank cyan for no reason. Stubborn cases can take up residence in the fishes gills and will...

Esha Exit chemically is probably OK for hardy shrimp. I wouldn't risk it with CRS tho. The stuff has methyl blue in it for one iirc. Theres a whole host of carcinogenic chemicals in it so be careful handling it. If you want to isolate the shrimp before you treat the tank, remember that you...

They like cooler, well aerated water. The water shouldn't be hotter than 24˚C/75˚F While primarily scavengers, they will grow to about 6 inches long so anything that can fit in their claws can be considered dinner. They will probably be fine with the plec.

in theory its true that crypts particularly and anubs to a lesser degree release a chemical that is an irritant to shrimp when they are damaged.

Removed the Balansae Crytps and put some bolbitis in its place. The lugwidia in the middle needs to find itself a new position. Also upgraded the filtration from a Fluval 205 to a 406 for increased flow. I also re-scapped one of my fluval edges as a new home for some pygmy puffer fish

nice find, sadly they dont have them in store at any of their shops :'( I messaged the ebay vendor and he said that he should have some more back in stock next week, so i think i can wait :)

crap, i just went to buy them and the seller has removed them from sale :arghh:

I find the airlocking happens on all of them with the fluval hoses as the ribbing can catch a lot of air bubbles. I've acutally started using a power head to prime the filter and it gets it going in no time. Anyhoo, ive seen the 406s being sold for £118 inc delivery online and im sorely tempted.

I'm considering getting a fluval 406 for my 130L tank that currently has a 205 attached to it. The growth on the side of the tank where the spraybar comes in is noticably lusher, and I swear that im getting localised amonia spikes in the areas of planting thats too dense for the flow rate at...

cold water, CO2 and iron. Oh, and trimming.

you can always cover up a hole or 2 if the jets aren't strong enough. a bit of pvc hose with the right ID warmed up would do the job.

the area of the holes is greater than the area of the cross section of the spraybar then the outflow will be slower than the flow entering the pipe. The volume of water passing out the holes in the spray bar will be the same. So if you want fast flow (ie strong spraybar jets) you want few...

if (number of holes * surface area of holes) > area of the cross section of the pipe then your flow is going to be slower. (ie it will exit the bar at a slower speed than it enters at the end)

The neon green rasboras have gone to live in my 130L after they obviously didnt like the lack of horizontal space and fast flow. After much pondering I bought some rosey loaches and they seem to be loving it. The staurogyne has gone nuts - lots of really dense growth - better than i...

Got rid of the balansae crypts on the right hand side to let a bit more light in. Seriously debating getting a hydor external heater. Should probably clean the algae of the front of the tank before i take pictures :oops:

Scooter you say? /hides

I too have a Eheim 2213 with an unfixable buzz in the head unit. Sounds like an air pump :( I currently have it under 3 towels and it still makes a racket.

oh, if you've split the line with another one with a different resistive pressure then that would explain it.

I can get over 4bps with a coke bottle diy co2 reactor and my fluval ceramic difuser (and way more than that with my 2kg FE) So theres insufficeint pressure in the bottle or the regulator is restricting the flow.

about 250+l/hr from what i gather thats too fast for clown kilifish. Which is sad because the water is proabably the right prarameters for them. :( I just took the microdevario out and i have loads of boraras in my main tank so i was looking for something diffrent. I was sorely tempted by some...

Has anyone got recommendations for fish for a 30L Cube? I currently have some shrimp and an otto in there. I did have some Neon green raspboras but there wasn't enough horizontal space for them to assert their territorial nature so i moved them to the 130L tank. I was looking at getting some...

A few more deaths later, I've spotted some tiny white worm/leech things (about 3-7mm long tapered at both ends) in the tank. Slithering around on the driftwood etc, they might be Planaria but I'm no expert. Do we think these are the cause of the deaths of the adults I've been having recently...

And army of ottos is the only way! They are so cute in groups of 10. :joyful:

I really want some for my tank, but the few varieties over here are generally pretty pricey :(

Frogspawn and associated hair algae bloom here -.- Id love to be able to give the stuff away, sadly illegal. I'd love newts tho :(

RO is the only way. But bear in mind that RO is neutral until it has something disolved in it to change the pH. So if you add RO to alkaline water your still going to have alkaline water. If your using CO2 that will help lower the pH a bit but once you add the RO you will have to have something...

Im no expert, but Nymphoides Aquatica might be what you are looking for. They are about £4 on ebay.

hehe, thats pretty much what every cichlid does. My oscar used to pick up whole potted plants and move them to the other side of his tank.

I can see one of them hanging on the glass opposite the spraybar - the rest are probably hiding in the plants like the rest of my ottos during the day. I'll see if they come out when i turn the room light out later. I think they shop said they might have ordered them from John Allan. Not sure...

The water parameters were stable enough to put the livestock in. 7 Neon green rasboras that look amazing - but they seem a little cramped. I might swap them over with some exclamation point rasboras i have in my 130L tank. There's an amano shrimp and the pioneering cherry shrimp in there as...

I really wouldn't worry about it. But if it does bother you - take it out an soak it in a bucket for a week.

heres a pic of one of them settling in: (apologies for the terrible quality)

Who says i didn't get them at the old price ;) They are selling them for £5 each - its everywhere else that is doing them for £8

I went back and got 4 of them (they've put their prices up since i last went in :(, they said everywhere else that was selling them were doing them for £8 each so they had to :bawling: ) They seem to be the H. Notatus.

Hehe. Its a Maiden Head Aquatics. They've only had them in for a week - and I was going to leave it for another week before picking some up - see if they have survived the travel from where ever they have come form. I'll ask where they ordered them from next time I'm in.

Ill tell you after i buy them ;)

there were only 3 references to "Histonotus notatus" on google it seems they are generally know as "Otocinclus notatus" this is them I'm guessing they are compatable with normal ottos. Anyone ever kept them?

I set my new tank up with colombia flora base. The pH was 5. I actually had to add some tap water to get the pH back up. :p

My LFS had some fish they labelled as "Black Ottos" I was wondering if anyone had seen these before. They evidently grow the same size of normal ottos. They definably weren't Hypoptopomas. The only reference i can find to back ottos is "Histonotus notatus" Anyone seen them before?

Its agar with a mixture of nutrients in there. the Agar itself it just to give it body. Here's a good set of instructions on how to set tissue culture jars up: Tissue Culture Basics Remember keeping everything sterile is very important.

High flow rate, and then just shove a sponge and lots of biomax/rings in the canister. Don't use carbon unless you've boo booed with over dosing - you'd be paying to take stuff out you paid to put in.

Its normal, it goes down after a few weeks. My ottos and shrimp loved eating it. You often get a bacterial bloom (not amonia related) a few days after putting the wood in quite often.

Infact, there is no yeast at the bottom, its all suspended in the goo

I just fished out a dying CRS today. My 2nd to last berried one :arghh: I think the signs are pointing to this being bacterial. Does anyone know where to get Furanol in this country? Or know the brand name of a human one I could persuade a doctor to give me some of that is safe for shrimps and...

Thats what normally happens yellow yeast culture at the bottom, booze on the top - this time the boozy stuff on the top is a thick slimey goo. Its quite funny, you can see the CO2 bubbles moving through it at about 1 inch every minute.

Have you tried watering them?

The weirdest thing happened to the mix in of of my DIY yeast reactors, it turned into GOO! And very viscous goo at that. I've never seen this happen before - I'm guessing its some kind of protein soup from the yeast.

So after starting with the intention of this being a low tech tank, I've ended up buying one of these :oops: My justification was that the yeast reactors couldn't be regulated and for a tank this size the levels could easily get lethal - and its my birthday in a month :angelic:

Get one of the fluval ceramic ones, they are arround £5-12 and are one of the best diffisers out there. If you can, put the diffuser on the opposite side of the tank to the outlet so the bubbles get swept down as the water hits the glass like this: Otherwise, you're probably going to have...

I've got a 8mm spring, i think I'd get a 14mm pipe with a 10mm ID. That shouldn't be too much of a difference between pipe and spring should it?

I got it from amazon so they only take returns (the item is "out of stock"). I also got it for £30 so id rather have a replacement part than a refund.

I send them an email, so hopefully they will get back to me next week. :meh:

These people are the cheapest I've found: Clear Plastic Acrylic Perspex Tube £10 delivery but about £1.50 a meter. So its almost worth just ordering 8 meters of it to justify the delivery costs :D