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  1. Claire

    Covid Boredom Buster

    The black thing is the HOB filter, the two white things with the air stone beside them are the automatic top up - I used to keep marines so had one for that. Thought I may as well use it on the tank to be lazy! The white bits are floats and then the air stone is just stuck onto the top up pipe...
  2. Claire

    Covid Boredom Buster

    Another update. MC has almost formed a solid carpet now, rotala looks good. I replaced the left hand side plants with some pogostemon helferi and extra crypts for those that had melted in the post. The Hygrophila is almost a bit too chunky for this tank and grows very leggy compared to the neat...
  3. Claire

    Covid Boredom Buster

    MC is filling out well! The wendtii green at the back left has melted away almost to nothing - it hadn’t posted well. Wondering what to do with that side - the rotala is coming up well but to the left of that and round to the foreground is just lacking a bit at the moment.
  4. Claire

    First ever scape - New beginnings

    Looks good! The moss will cover the glue, don’t worry. Light looks bright! Keep an eye out for algae and be prepared to choose between adding floating plants to reduce the light intensity or adding co2 if it appears.
  5. Claire

    First ever scape - New beginnings

    If you are finding you are getting algae issues with not having co2 despite heavy planting then you have the choice as you said of floating plants, raising the height of the light from the tank or decreasing the photoperiod. I’d start with a 6 hour photoperiod for now and increase it if things...
  6. Claire

    First ever scape - New beginnings

    Yes I am, the one I have linked is very slightly different but I imagine it would be as good. My tank has just been set up for a week but I am seeing good low spread and pearling of the Monte Carlo already and the tips of my rotala are turning orange, so it must be giving out a decent amount of...
  7. Claire

    First ever scape - New beginnings

    Not sure if non-sponsor links are ok or not but this is very similar to the one I have on my 50cm https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142951464851
  8. Claire

    Covid Boredom Buster

    Managed to make a mess of the front substrate doing a water change last night - the last bit of water glugged down the pipe into the tank and boom, substrate everywhere :lol: Soooo the MC got replanted after all ... :rolleyes:
  9. Claire

    First ever scape - New beginnings

    I like number 2 as well! Looks a great start. With your light I know you’re questioning whether it will be powerful enough, it really depends on light spread front to back and the efficiency of the diodes. If it’s the light in your picture then you may struggle to get enough light for high tech...
  10. Claire

    Covid Boredom Buster

    Almost a week in now, got some melt on the crypt w green but the brown is doing ok which is odd. Ended up just using Anubias on the wood as although Ady suggested some nice plants, I already have MC as the carpet plant and I was worried that the hydrocotyle would be too similar to the...
  11. Claire

    Covid Boredom Buster

    A bit less bubbly now!
  12. Claire

    Covid Boredom Buster

    No, it was bought cheaply from a local tank builder to fit in a shelf in a racking system previously when we used to breed plecos, hence it’s quite short! It makes a few challenges with planting but the natural depth is nice. I haven’t banked the substrate much towards the back as obviously I...
  13. Claire

    Covid Boredom Buster

    So sitting around the house got boring. So I dug out an old tank and some equipment I had lying around and decided to set up the little tank for a bit of fun. Everything part from the plants and the CO2 diffuser I had lying around, so it was fairly friendly on the pocket! It’s certainly not...
  14. Claire

    5 foot planted tank - hints and tips needed!

    I’ll probably try a large diffuser going into the return pump initially, and I’ll formate a large spraybar to run the length of the tank - currently it’s just a duckbill. Then I can adjust the return pump flow to suit the amount of co2 and distribution in the main tank. Sounds perfectly...
  15. Claire

    5 foot planted tank - hints and tips needed!

    This is awesome, cheers!! I’m on a twin standpipe just now so will probably try to tweak a bit as currently I have a little water trickling down the emergency drain but this will obviously lose co2. Both my drains emerge underwater in the sump so that is good at least. I presume your baffles are...
  16. Claire

    5 foot planted tank - hints and tips needed!

    The tank is being broken down and all the livestock sold today - this is how it currently looks...
  17. Claire

    5 foot planted tank - hints and tips needed!

    Fil what type of overflow do you have? And what changes have you made to the sump? Had a look at your thread but struggled to find the right part that talked about this! Also thanks Zeus and Ady for the big tank inspo! I found this picture online, no idea whose tank it is but I like the dense...
  18. Claire

    5 foot planted tank - hints and tips needed!

    Running only channels 1, 2 and 4 still gives output of 124w which is more than the biggest twinstar at full chuck. I get the twinstar is more “suited” to freshwater but I’d rather try and reuse existing equipment if possible rather than spend another £500 on lighting. I also run 2xT5s at the...
  19. Claire

    5 foot planted tank - hints and tips needed!

    Tank with stand and sump filled weighs about a tonne. Luckily we’re on solid concrete slab flooring both here and at our new place. Yeah balansae and vallis has defo been on the list. I used to have some nice red aponogeton in my old tank too. Hoping I will also be able to achieve height with...
  20. Claire

    5 foot planted tank - hints and tips needed!

    Hi all, I currently have a 5x2x2 marine tank with sump. I am in the process of selling all the livestock as we are moving house and I don’t want the stress of moving all that along with everything else on the day. Our new house needs some renovations but once they are done I plan to set the...
  21. Claire

    Green Pekoe Pond - 40 litres

    How is your marine stuff getting on?
  22. Claire

    Is heat patch really necessary ?

    Yeah that's a good point. I poke a couple of holes in the box if it's one of the sealed polybox types with a screwdriver or something lol.
  23. Claire

    Is heat patch really necessary ?

    Next time I get a coral order I'll put some photos up of how they're shipped. Basically double bag them (often with a little moss for them to hold onto), into the poly box and surround with newspaper, then tape the heat pack onto the inside of the box lid. Make sure the heat pack is separated...
  24. Claire

    Is heat patch really necessary ?

    In this weather it is necessary. It got below freezing here last night and considering they are likely to be sat in a van or unheated warehouse then I would say it's essential. I got a coral delivered 3 weeks ago that had a heat pack in but it had only been a 12 hour pack, so by the time the...
  25. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    Well this was a long time ago! Have FINALLY got resolution with Hydor over the matter after sending the heater to Italy for an obviously vigorous testing taking over 3 months haha. But have now been offered £100 in compensation and free equipment from them to the value of £100. I am no longer in...
  26. Claire

    London Zoo.... back stage.

    You see them much worse in the shops!
  27. Claire

    London Zoo.... back stage.

    Love the hire-out copperband too :D They can be really hard to get to eat anything other than aiptasia so many die in captivity. Nice to see one being properly maintained :)
  28. Claire

    London Zoo.... back stage.

    Looks awesome. Wouldn't mind some of their seized corals right enough :P I didn't realise they weren't allowed to import them?
  29. Claire

    expired co2 ok to use ?

    I put my empties in my neighbours wheelie bin hahahahahaha
  30. Claire

    Filter for 180L

    When I was running my 180l freshwater high tech planted, I had a 1200lph unbranded filter that I got off of ebay for about £45 and a newave 2.7 that came on with co2. The powerhead is very quiet, the filter was always louder. I am now running marine with 3 of these power heads in the tank and it...
  31. Claire

    Filter for 180L

    You can look at something like the APS filters which will give you more turnover for your money than big brands, or you could have a slightly smaller filter and then have a tiny powerhead in the tank as the media capacity of a smaller filter will still be sufficient high tech. Some of the...
  32. Claire

    Cats and open tanks

    My cat used to go and sit on the lid of the tank coz it was warm from the lights underneath. So one day I left the covers off and she jumped up and fell in. Funnily enough she's not gone back there since :D
  33. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    Hahaha don't forget my discus… :D
  34. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    An update on this, hydor now have my heater away for testing and also have a list of my stock that I lost. They also offered me an internal 300w heater as a replacement free of charge, but it's not really necessary since their last heater killed everything in the tank so I don't really have a...
  35. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    Hahaha something like that :P Although it's not much more work than the high tech tanks in all honesty - just need to test for a few more things, since corals use magnesium and calcium to grow and phosphate causes algae :P
  36. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    Well I'm planning lots of corals, but it will be slowly stocked as everything is more expensive on the salty side! Although I've managed to pick up some second hand gear at a reasonable price so that's good. I can put some pictures in the photos section once I get up and running :)
  37. Claire

    Cheapest and Safest Sand?

    I used play sand from argos for ages.
  38. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    Hey guys, I have ordered one of the STC 1000 controllers from ebay, now looking at heaters. I'm thinking of running 2 cheap heaters in parallel into the unit. If one fails and overheats, the controller will switch it off, and if one fails and under heats, the other heater will be on for longer...
  39. Claire

    Co2 Cylinder Servicing!

    I use the aforementioned 10 year old FEs that are going to get thrown out anyways. Empty them and then throw them away and get a new one. I get them for free because they're going to get thrown in the dump anyways. :D
  40. Claire

    Beginner foreground plants

    If you are experiencing algae issues then you need to cut down your light, especially if you are no longer running co2. This will allow all your plants to grow better as they won't be competing so much with the algae.
  41. Claire

    Using two diffusers from one neddle valve and one bubble checker

    You will end up with more gas in one than the other as the lengths of pipe will not be identical and the pressure in the inline diffusers will be different. This wouldn't cause a huge problem though as all the gas is going into the same tank, so ending up in the same place anyways. For more even...
  42. Claire

    Substrate

    You can put sand or something over the top of it if you don't like the way it looks, but you can leave it uncovered too if you're not fussed.
  43. Claire

    Substrate

    The TMC aqua soil is all in one. Contains nutrients for your plants, although for the best growth you will be adding liquid or powder ferts to the water too once set up :)
  44. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    Not heard back from them yet… Not exactly falling over themselves to get in touch lol. Definitely wasn't a case of a knocked dial on the heater as the way the tank was set up, the heater was down the back and you could only get to it if you pulled the shelves out that are beside the tank...
  45. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    I got mine about 4-5 years ago so thought I'd avoided all this carry on. The other one I have is slightly newer, so don't know what to think now :/ Meh. I'd seen those controllers before and thought that since I was using an expensive heater that I wouldn't need one! Going to order 5 now for...
  46. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    I even took a picture as it's something I hope to never see again. This was after I drained the tank and took out the dead fish, so it may have even been a degree or 2 warmer before I started. That's interesting Andy. They're still being sold though so they're obviously not that concerned! I...
  47. Claire

    Another Hydor Heater Failure...

    I've read some threads about people's Hydor external heaters failing soon after they got them. Thought I dodged the bullet of the dodgy line as I've had mine a few years and had no issues. However I went away for a long weekend there - came back yesterday to find that the heater had jammed on...
  48. Claire

    Accidental whiptail catfish breeding

    You could try, in the tanks you are wanting to put the fry in, putting a lot of light over so that there is lots of algae built up for them and growing for them to eat as it seems that they aren't moving well onto prepared foods. I don't know if you already tried this as well but if you boil the...
  49. Claire

    Please share your thoughts about my ph drop...

    Don't worry about your ph going too low - my ph drops to about 5 during co2 injection. I have never had any problem with fish at this ph, in fact the opposite - they enjoy the low ph and I have had barbs and tetras spawn at lights on period when ph is lowest.
  50. Claire

    35L Noptiwhite

    It is pretty similar yeah! Thanks for the photo :) I'm just back from holiday where the tank has been running itself for a couple of weeks. The spiro algae has come back a bit so going to water change and remove as much as possible. Will probably do every other day water changes and dose with...
  51. Claire

    Easy foreground carpet plant

    Marsilea is a good carpeter and pretty hardy. It forms deeper roots than HC and doesn't grow over the top of itself like HC does to make a thicker and thicker carpet. I have hirsuta in my 180l and it grows a couple of cm tall, or you can get 1-2 grow crenata which stays smaller, more like glosso.
  52. Claire

    New to planted tanks help with set up

    Yeah definitely. This is actually a really good idea to set the hardscape and substrate and leave it for a few days before you start adding water and plants. This is because you are almost guaranteed to want to tweak the layout a bit in that time and it is so much easier to do that when...
  53. Claire

    Is an external CO2 reactor the best method?

    Not necessarily. It really depends on individual tanks, type of injection, tank size and a bit of personal preference. The external reactors and inline/UP atomizers give good co2 dissolving in the water and then allow it to be spread around the tank with your filter flow. Some people prefer...
  54. Claire

    New to planted tanks help with set up

    Yeah, they are much of a muchness to be honest :)
  55. Claire

    New to planted tanks help with set up

    You shouldn't really need 2 layers with the aqua soils like aquagro and the others as they have all the nutrients in them. You would only really need to use 2 layers if your top layer was something inert like sand and you wanted to grow plants in it. Then they could put their roots down into the...
  56. Claire

    Algae ID please, plus a bit of advice

    If you have a look here then you should be able to ID the algae and get a little advice too for getting rid of it. Nomatter what algae type it is though, antibiotics won't ever kill it as they only act on bacteria!
  57. Claire

    My best diy project to date, lily pipe cleaner

    Not sure either, but probably would fit other piping at a squeeze. You can get a set for about £80, but after hearing about them rusting I'm now not so sure!! Guess the ADA ones would be ok though.
  58. Claire

    Green Pekoe Pond - 40 litres

    Noticed you changed filter - did you find the 2213 insufficient for flow? I'm struggling to get good flow around my 35l with it now that the plants are growing in, but could just be the way I have it set up.
  59. Claire

    My best diy project to date, lily pipe cleaner

    :thumbdown: Well that sucks.
  60. Claire

    Accidental whiptail catfish breeding

    I'm not sure as we always leave ours in the tank. Then they can access any algae that is in the tank, as opposed to the breeding net which is very sterile. I would definitely not use liquifry though as it very quickly pollutes the water. I have raised many pleco and cichlid species and never...
  61. Claire

    My best diy project to date, lily pipe cleaner

    Great idea. I couldn't get my cleaner to go around the tight bend on my mini lily pipes previously, and managed to crack it trying to get it back out, resulting in a weepy leak :shifty: Will be using this in future and on my new lily pipes!! Although considering stainless steel ones as they seem...
  62. Claire

    Accidental whiptail catfish breeding

    I would advise to leave them with the parents in the main tank instead of trying to separate them next time. We raise plecos in tanks with neon tetras and they leave them alone. They are too tough to eat and when eggs the male will protect them from other fish (but not snails, esp assassins!)...
  63. Claire

    Entry/exit clear pipes glass/acrylic

    I made a spray bar out of a length of clear acrylic pipe. Got the same size pipe as the inflow and then joined them with just an inch of clear tubing which stretched over the two. Bought an end cap for the tube and drilled holes - hey presto :)
  64. Claire

    UKAPS COFFEE TABLE BOOK/CALENDAR

    I would love a book like this. Something to go to for a little inspiration. Would be great to have main tank pics, then a numbered/coloured FTS with corresponding plant list, so if you see a plant you like you can see what it is, kit list and maybe some setup/progress pics.
  65. Claire

    Sump or canister?

    Yup, more flow is better than less! Especially as the plants grow in and start to block flow patterns.
  66. Claire

    Sump or canister?

    You should consider if you are wanting to inject co2 as this may sway your decision. Injecting co2 in a tank with an open sump means that you will lose a lot of the gas through the weir, but you can seal the sump to avoid this. This is obviously more work but is possible. The canister filters...
  67. Claire

    Recovering from low CO2

    If you have no fish in the tank then you will need to remove it manually. A lot of fish though will eat dead/dying algae as it becomes easier to get off of surfaces (e.g. BBA and staghorn). Types like green spot algae may be eaten by ottos.
  68. Claire

    500 Litre sumped System

    Also, if you want a more aqua soil appearance substrate than sand, then either akadama as you mentioned or you could use tescos cat litter. I and several others use it and it is pretty good. Goes a reddish brown under water. Needs a good wash beforehand as it is pretty dusty otherwise, but cheap...
  69. Claire

    How many times a day do you feed your fish

    I feed about 3 times a week. More than that and I get over fat fish and messy tanks. Hungry fish keep the tank clean :P
  70. Claire

    Plants from Hong Kong

    It's only certain species that are banned on important which are invasive (mainly pond/coldwater) species. The majority of mosses that you buy online (especially the likes of fissidens) will come from asia.Can't say anything against buying from the sponsors though since they keep this place going :)
  71. Claire

    Spirogyra Algae Doing My Nut In...

    Okay, at the moment I'm only really water changing between a third and a half, so will up that and see if it helps along with manual removal. Should I just do weekly WCs or up them for now?
  72. Claire

    Plants from Hong Kong

    A lot of plants from the cheaper plants sales (think plants alive etc) import weekly from international growers. I think they order the plants on a Thursday, and they arrive at them the following Tuesday or Wednesday, at that point they ship them out to the customers (you have to have ordered...
  73. Claire

    Seachem prime ????

    Well to be honest I don't know how much is in my water, I've just been following the instructions and find it still to be very economical. The point is that you can follow the instructions and make life simple for yourself without having to try and measure minuscule amounts, which is what some...
  74. Claire

    Spirogyra Algae Doing My Nut In...

    Hey all, I have been trying to single handedly battle spirogyra algae in my 35l for the past few weeks and seem to still be losing. I did a 3 day blackout with daily water changes which really helped, there was only a tiny amount left, then started daily easycarbo dosing and only ¼ fert dosing...
  75. Claire

    Led lighting for a 3 foot tank

    There's a few different people sell the same one, if you search for aquarium overhead light or something.
  76. Claire

    Seachem prime ????

    On my tub of safe it says to use 5g (1 teaspoon) per 750l. Which to me works out about ⅛ per 90l. Maybe the concentrations are different for the sizes or something as the tube I have is the small 250g one.
  77. Claire

    Driftwood Questions

    Hi all, I'm looking at getting a few boxes of driftwood posted over to me from the north-east coast, but had a couple of questions regarding scaping with it. Obviously I will need to soak it for a while first, which isn't an issue as I never use my bath, always take showers in the en-suite, so...
  78. Claire

    selling my plants. how much are they worth?

    Top echinodorus looks like compacta due to size. A pot with 2 plants from AE is £4.50, so prob £2. Vallis isn't worth much, prob only about a £1 for that. The crypts are mixed up, looks like you have some wendtii green, brown/tropica and beckettii which would be worth a couple of pounds per...
  79. Claire

    Boyu EF-05 flow dropped

    I take it when you rock the canister back and forth gently when it's running that no more air comes out? The only thing otherwise would be that it's faulty somehow, and if it's just new then get in touch with the retailer/manufacturer and see what they say.
  80. Claire

    Holiday disaster

    You could use those pill box things if you were leaving someone to feed the fish. I just feed mine up before I go and they've been fine (up to 3 & ½ weeks)
  81. Claire

    Best root tabs/clay balls

    I have used TNC tabs before and found them to be good, but I don't replenish them so I don't know how long they last. I just use them for initial setup and then rely on water column fert dosing to supply the plants thereafter.
  82. Claire

    Holiday Stategy!

    Don't bother with the feeding blocks - they can make your ph and hardness go a bit squiffy and don't really provide much nutrition to the fish from my experiences. Feed up in advance. My fish normally only get fed every 2-3 days, but if I know I'm going to be going away then they'll get fed...
  83. Claire

    Led lighting for a 3 foot tank

    I have one of these lights on my 3 foot. There are 3 t5s inside, but you can switch to have the middle 1 on, outside 2 on or all 3. That would allow you to run the 1 tube for low tech and then you have the option of putting the other tubes on if you ever wanted to run high tech. It's really not...
  84. Claire

    Holiday disaster

    I'd be asking said friend for the money for the fish tbh… Boesemanis aren't exactly cheap like. :( As far as restocking goes, I really like a combination of harlequins and neon tetras that I have at the moment. They shoal individually, and I find their colours contrast each other nicely. But...
  85. Claire

    Seachem prime ????

    Just when people are saying about safe being difficult to measure, I really don't find it difficult to measure as I use the little baking measuring spoons as I said, and the smallest spoon ⅛ teaspoon does 90l. You dose (I think) 4x this amount for ammonia, so you don't need to worry about...
  86. Claire

    Seachem prime ????

    I use seachem safe - it's basically seachem prime but in powder form so more economical. I have those measuring spoon things and it works out at ⅛ teaspoon per 90l, so lasts a long time. I've never worried about the nitrate binding as I think it would be organic vs chemical binding, and since if...
  87. Claire

    Stocking 46l Fluval Edge, Apistos?

    You could keep a single male of one of the bigger species too instead of a pair of smaller if you liked as a feature fish, along with some cardinals or other blackwater shoaler. Or badis if you can get them in your area are great little fish that you could keep 3-4 of in a tank that size.
  88. Claire

    How to adjust working pressure

    These regs are set to about 3.5 bar which should be enough to run nearly all diffusers/atomisers/etc. If it were an adjustable type, there would be an allan key adjustment where the co2 art badge is.
  89. Claire

    Accidental whiptail catfish breeding

    No, once they hatch they will be complete miniatures of the parents as with nearly all pleco species and will be able to eat the same food as the parents right away. They will no longer be guarded by the parents but are quite hardy in that they have their full pleco armour :)
  90. Claire

    Andys 60l cube

    It looks good. Only thing I'd say is that you probably won't see much of the alternanthera behind the wood as it really stays small, but otherwise it's looking nice :) I found my monte carlo actually grew during a 3 day blackout on my tank for green thread algae - once it gets going it seems to...
  91. Claire

    Accidental whiptail catfish breeding

    We used to breed these. The fry are easy to raise, if a little sensitive to any poor water conditions (ie don't skip your water change!). They are easily fed on courgette, algae wafers or pleco pellets such as tetra or new era. They grow quickly at first up to about 1-1.5" and then grow more...
  92. Claire

    Are Hang on Back filters sufficient?

    Look out for second hand filters too on ebay or gumtree or whatever. Can get a good external at a fraction of new price if you keep your eyes peeled.
  93. Claire

    Will plants be ok for few days ?

    Assuming that you've no tanks already set up that you can plonk the pots in for a day or two, bag them up like fish (if they aren't already). This will ensure that they stay nice and damp without misting.
  94. Claire

    Looking for guidance

    I've also seen people split the pipe from fx5/fx6 filters into 2 smaller outlets and putting heaters and diffusers on them. There won't be as much pressure going through the pipe, but there should be enough water going through to diffuse co2.
  95. Claire

    35L Noptiwhite

    Cheers Stu. New scissors arrived today, along with a pot of ranunclus for this tank between the monte carlo and the wood. The filter outlet is pointing straight across the tank, should really have the inlet beside it, but they're at opposite ends. The diffuser is under the filter outlet - tried...
  96. Claire

    35L Noptiwhite

    It's been a while! A little update. I had issues with some sort of green thread algae for a while, but did a 3 day blackout and it's nearly all gone. Got a tiny bit of BBA on a few leaves, but will get the whole tank trimmed tomorrow when my new AE scissors arrive :D
  97. Claire

    Rookie error?

    Maybe time to clean your diffuser? If it was making small bubbles at first then needing a wee clean is your answer. If it's always made bigger bubbles, perhaps you're injecting more or something than the video?
  98. Claire

    mixed fish shoals

    I have neons and harlequins together in my 180l - most of the time they will shoal individually but sometimes they will come and shoal together. I also used to have dwarf corys that would shoal with my silver tip tetras, until I got some other bronze corys and they realised the bottom was where...
  99. Claire

    Rookie error?

    pH of 6 is totally fine. My ph goes down to 5.5 on my ph profile and there's no problems. My barbs love it.
  100. Claire

    Help with a couple CO2 questions?

    Glad to hear it :) That's what we're here for!
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