Search results for query: *

I used to keep a breeding pair in an 18inch tank, they were very happy. I think in the wild they live very close by their spawning site (a small cave type thing) so they are quite well suited to small tanks, they are my favourite fish. These two are quite small at the moment, I'm hoping that...

New critters: A piar of Apistogramma cacatuoides and some Endler's guppies. also planted some Staurogyne and it seems to stay anchored, hopefully will grow away happily and make a carpet requiring less maintenance. Also been playing with a white background but it makes everything look a bit...

People often say I'm like marmite. Wonder if it's because I come in a small glass jar at the supermarket.

Well, the HC started to do my head in. I tried a pot of it, but was not around much to keep an eye on it and it kept floating away. Every few days I'd come in to find it all floating again. Half hour of replanting then the same next day. Scooped it all out and chucked it. I have some Staurogyne...

That will certainly stop them itching!

D E A T H S T A R

Hmmm, radical killers being introduced into households across the western world by unsuspecting consumers unsure of what they are actually buying.

I'm on there rather a lot, @Monk_Wally_Honk, but rarely discuss fish/aquarium things, use it more for silliness and a bit of work.

Z-Y-Z, you seem to be just living for pleasure alone. It's not fair. ;-)

I used to play guitar really badly in one band, and bass not so badly in another band. Absolutely hated being on stage. I used to collect odd instruments too, and used to enjoy getting a tune out of anything, accordions, melodica's, uke's, recorders etc etc. Most I play now is the kids toys...

Out of all the youtube shredding videos, The Beach Boys - I Get Around has to be tops :-)

Beautiful collection of bikes. I started on a Vespa 125, then Yamaha Fazer 600, Honda VFR800, BMW R1200 GS and for a while a Yamaha MT-01 1700 which was the most ridiculous bike I ever rode. Like riding a plank of wood in town and almost impossible to hold onto once over 60mph on the A roads...

Oh, and tentative talks with the good lady wife have started to soften her to the idea of a home tank. She was keen on all kinds of bow fronted, triangular style tanks, which I'm not, but have persuaded her to think about a nice optiwhite. I just need to find the right cabinet. Needs to be able...

Nothing much has changed in the tank, except for much more growth on the stem plants which is down to the amount of nutrients I can afford to throw in using the EI starter kit. Only thing bugging me now is the riccia. It grows so vigorously that if I'm not trimming every few days it starts to...

Too much protein?

:D :D :D :clap: Bravo!!* *How many Stella's?

It's a Sha-a-ame, the way you messing with my Twinstar. It's a shame the way you play with my osmosis. It's a Sha-a-ame, the way you messing with my Twinstar. You're like a child at play. With My Little Ponay. And you pay with bucks, but then you throw them away.

I do get that, but there's really no need to babysit, changes happen relatively slowly. Make a small change, have another look in a few days, or a week. If there's no improvement go a bit further until there is. All the solutions are on here and fairly easy to find, I have no expertise in...

You could try the old fashioned approach. Algae issues are a sign of an inbalance in the system, and there are quite a few articles and posts on here that point you in the right direction. Brown algae is a result of too much light, or more specifically an inbalance between the...

Thank you, hopefully I have some CRS arriving this week and one lunchtime plan a drive up to Enfield to peruse the tanks and dream, I may invest in a few more ottos and some endlers. I have a colleague coming back in this week after a month away who is a dab hand with a camera. Hopefully we'll...

Quick update, Doesn't look much different in the photo but a week of dosing EI and the stem plants look tons better. I've cut them back yesterday to try and encourage them to bush out a bit so a lot aren't visible but the stems in the centre you can see have improved. I'm thinking of a...

I don't test anything! London tap water with the chlorine removed so just a tad softer than concrete. Last time I checked PH more than a year ago It came out at 7.8 on a test strip but no idea how reliable that was. I used to test all sorts of things but no longer bother. I used to try and...

Thats Blyxa Japonica. Grows like mad for me.

Will do, just need to find some bags and envelopes.

Well, the lawn is going far easier than I expected, have to trim it at least twice a week or it becomes too buoyant. As I was away from the studio for two weeks over christmas I wasn't sure what to expect. This whole tank came about because of a powercut to the old apisto tank last christmas, so...

Oh, it's working, just a bit of a delay.

I just tried my first tapatalk post but nothing appeared. May have to buy a bigger basin as it's hard getting my whole head in and I just burnt my lip on the hot one.

That would be great for a reef tank. A two or three tube version would be more appropriate for tropical planted, especially if you are planning on injecting CO2. If you are planning on a lower tech tank then one or two would probably be enough. Best place to start though is to decide on your...

Excellent posts Plantbrain, I have no idea about it, or a particular like/dislike or a particular need of it either, but agree wholeheartedly about the company ethos.

Faves of mine so far have been:- Wire, Sopranos, The Killing (subtitled originals, not the US remake), The Returned, Spiral and currently Boardwalk Empire. I've heard The Tunnel is quite good on Sky1, plus a couple of people have mentioned Breaking Bad ;-) Couple of great older ones I like...

Don't know about the dot but my Apistos always ate in that manner, lived happily spawning regularly. I presumed it was just the way they ate, they must be getting nourishment from it. Is their behaviour otherwise ok?

amen sister!

That'd be a right pain in the arfe.

Oh and there's a filter bag hanging on the right hand side full of Pelia I have no use for. Will let it grow over christmas and someone can have it in the new year.

two weeks and the left side of the 'lawn' has knitted together, more wire mesh squares arrived so I've made some new lawn and planted the rest of the substrate. Hopefully, in another two weeks I'll have a very green looking, lush lawn the entire width of the tank. Did a water change the other...

This guy really knows what he wants for Christmas.....

I have a Boyu t5 luminaire and although cheap, seems to be pretty well made. Can offer no advice on the LED units though. I've recently been looking at something like this: Aquarium Fish Tank Clip Clamp Lamp 42/60/96 LED Light White Blue Lighting | eBay and was wondering if two would be...

Beautiful stuff. Really.

Fantastic looking bit of kit, and as a bonus you can install it upside down at christmas.

Yes, they are loving it, can't see any in that pic as they are usually 'lost' around the back in the tangle of stems.

Cheers Kirk, I'm not sure about that, I think it's like gardens, some plants work well, some don't. It's about learning which ones suit the tank and its parameters. Just wish I didn't have to go through so many that don't before I find some that do. ;) I must borrow someone's decent camera...

So, thought I'd try a riccia carpet, did one triangle which took a week or so to matt together nicely and has been trimmed once, just started the other side with the intention of keeping a winding path through it, and eventually the full width. Really want my stems to be nice and bushy...

The new Eheim Jayne Mansfield.

Mine also seems to evaporate, at least it's not going anywhere else. I top it up again every couple of weeks. Doesn't seem to affect it's operation when empty though.

They grow to 10cm, I reckon they'd clean out any shrimps that might be present.

Now you are making people jealous. ;-)

The Gertrude's Rainbowfish I have are lovely little fish, none have jumped in my tank, although it does have a lid after lights out. I had them posted to me from Kesgrave's ebay shop. You need a minimum of six really.

I find wafting a gravel cleaner on a syphon gently over the surface of the sand/gravel does enough to lift waste and leave the sand/gravel undisturbed. With most aquascaped planted tanks you shouldn't have too much waste anyway as stocking is usually small fish and shrimp. Just try not to...

A lot to read here, and it's very impressive, but has anyone pointed out that you won't be able to close the door to the room. Sorry to break it to you if not. ;-)

Music is probably my biggest hobby, collecting and listening to it rather than playing although I have done a bit of that in the past. Reading about it and sometimes writing about it too. I like music from all genres, the more 'out there' the better though. Currently trying to put an article...

No, no, never had this issue. Although my diffuser is after my filter ;-) I have been using a Mixmax Co2 reactor which has worked fine for me and keeps the bubbles very small, my outlet is also just above the gravel at one corner blowing a fair current across the plants, if you watch a bubble...

I think that this is an amazing achievement, lovely layout too, will watch with much interest. In as far as the diffuser issue, why not install it before the filter, the bubbles will be fully dissolved before re-entry into the tank.

A long overdue update....in transition. Put some wood back in and moved the rocks around enabling me to make a terrace behind wood of deeper Flora base. Plants need to be looked at and moved around slightly but for the moment are in and growing quickly. I have a floating matt of ever expanding...

Ha! :clap:

Still haven't done an album cover though.

No, no work actually done on the queen, in fact it was stipulated that I wasn't allowed to adjust her shape or retouch her face in any way. I worked on the robes and jewels and mainly the background which came from lots of different images. It's actually the second official portrait I've done...

I don't run but have read Murukami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Well worth reading.

Photographic retoucher. Always wanted to design album covers but leaving school in the late 80s, and starting in old school design companies, meant that two years in everything started to change to computer based design and for some reason (I was the only one who could be bothered to read the...

Very nice, is the head mounted on a wall?

The bubbles coming from CO2 are probably floating upwards before reaching most of those stems. Place the co2 diffuser at the back right corner, and the mini pump nearby quite low down, blowing the bubbles across the stems, hopefully keeping them in the water for longer allowing more to be...

Try some filter wool around your filter intake if you think it's bypassing somewhere in the canister.. I've used a small secondary internal before just with wool in purely for this problem and it worked. Removed it after problem was solved. Tank is looking fantastic though. I'd love one like...

Well, they did eat the algae, it was almost entirely gone within one night. Today some shoaling fish should be arriving, 10 Pseudomugil Gertrudae, they look lovely in pictures and I've never kept rainbows before. After a trim today...

Black Neons can reach 4cm but standard neons normally max at about 3cm. Green neons are usually slightly smaller at 2-2.5cm. As you are unsure of the bacterial load of your filter, I'd be careful to start with. Add a small shoal of 6 and carry out daily water changes for a week or so just in...

Latest update.... Changed the backing to black paper. An instant improvement to this tank. Bought an inline CO2 reactor that made an improvement to the plants within a day - amazing transformation. I think the ceramic in the glass diffuser was clogging quickly and the bubbles were just too big...

Same happened on mine, changed from glass CO2 diffuser to a inline reactor (£9). Almost instant improvement. How are you injecting your CO2?

I used my own name.

Why do 'for sales' suddenly appear. With the Ei natural and lo tech near just like me, you must be, 25 posts in.

Perfect thanks, doesn't mention hebe specifically but I may wait for it to dry out more for a few months, then go the boiling/oven/soaking route and see if it works. cheers

Anyone know if it is safe to use shrub roots/branches from the garden in an aquascape? I recently dug up two Hebe bushes that had outgrown their space and cut them down into a lovely sized twisty rootball that would look fantastic in an aquarium, just not sure if they can be used or not...

I went to Living Waters in Croydon this morning and they had them. I bought a pot of Bonsai (as well as other things) and it was the biggest potted Anubias I've seen and in lovely condition. In fact the shop is fantastic for plants.

Oooh, looking forward to this.

I really like this, nice video.

Lovely.

Well, some things have grown, some haven't. Some of the stem plants seem to be a bit 'mushy' at the bottom, not sure if this is the transition to immersed growing or bad management by me. I also have some shrimps from The Aquatic Design Centre, 8 Amanos and 3 red shrimp one of which has eggs...

Beautiful. Really nice.

Very nice, love the stainless pipes. Even more stuff to save up for now.

Very nice.

Lovely setup Thomas. I agree about that stone on the left, I'd try and replace it with one much smaller (Not that I know what I'm doing) I saw this over the weekend and thought it looked very nice. Only just had chance to respond.

Amazing stuff. Truly inspirational.

About a week and a half later and after a four day break from the studio with no liquid carbon or ferts going in I came in this morning and to my surprise it all looked OKish. HC is spreading and I've trimmed and replanted the stem plants. The Hygrophila is the only plant that hasn't really...

Moved the stems from behind the path, they now are placed behind the right hand rock, already growing and appearing over the top of it. Everything else seems to be settling in nicely. Today though I noticed that some of the plants are pearling, which is nice and something I've never witnessed...

Lovely. Utterly lovely. Great photography too. I work in a photo studio in London with one of the best advertising still life photographers in the UK. I am absolutely hopeless with a camera though, so if my tank ever gets to a decent enough place to warrant a good picture, I'll ask him.

Here's a (fairly) simple solution, have a perspex lid made to measure. It's very cheap, my simple version that fits on the braces of my aquarium was £8. Obviously it will cost more to have cutouts for pipework but not too much I'd have thought. I used The Plastic People, who were quick and...

Hello All, An update... I received all my plants yesterday from Aqua Essentials and lovely they were too. For the foreground I have HC to try and create a carpet and Eleocharis intended to place around the rocks in the foreground, with the idea of keeping it trimmed fairly short at the...

A brief update: I removed all the rock and wood in order to scrub any signs of algae from them. I also removed some sand and used some washed slate to (cheaply) build the height up at the rear of the tank a bit and then replaced the sand giving a much nicer depth. I used my photo of the old...

I don't think I'd be able to keep the temperature and humidity high enough, especially at the weekends or if I have a long weekend away from the studio.

Hi All, Seeing George Farmer's wonderful tank in the journal and reading about the dry start method has made a question pop into this tiny brain of mine that I can't find an answer to on here. (It may exist but I can't find it). My tank is in my workplace so I don't get to attend to it seven...

I'll think of it as a rite of passage :-)

I like the look of Pogostemen helferi, I'll add it to my little list and see if it makes the final cut. I'll also have a go with the angle on that right hand rock (actually two that fit together really well).. As I submitted that last post the doorbell rang, two bits of glasswear from the far...

Right, played around with hardscape, moved everything forward a bit to allow for planting behind rocks. Frustrating waiting for parts to arrive but at least it gives you time to live with the initial layout I suppose. Still need another bag of sand or two to add depth towards the back, If anyone...

This is an inspiration. Beautiful tank George. I'd love to try the DSM as the mosses look superb, really natural. Maybe on my next tank.

Now you've pointed that out I can't stop looking at it, sticks out like a sore thumb. I was hoping for a bit of guidance planting wise, I was hoping to carpet with something like HC or glossostigma at the front, some grass around the rocks and bushy stem pants behind. I have a few ferns/moss...

Thought I'd start a journal for this, the new studio tank. Originally I was going to refit my old 24" tank that housed a breeding pair of Apistogramma Cacatuoides and a few Otos. It was planted and had a large piece of bogwood they used as a cave and did alright as long as you didn't mind the...

Disaster. I arrived at the studio this morning to find there had been a power cut last night. The small tank housing the Rummynoses and my lovely breeding pair of Apistos obviously couldn't retain it's temperature for long enough and they were all gorn this morning. The studio is unheated over...

Just thought I'd actually post instead of just reading, of which I've been doing a lot of lately. I was directed here by George Farmer after asking him a couple of questions on Twitter and now I'm spending so much time here reading everything I wish I'd never asked in the first place. ;-)...