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As far as I was aware, Chloramine doesn't break down like that which is why they add it - it's more stable than just adding chlorine, although maybe it just lasts a bit longer before breaking down. I'm starting to sound like that indecisive Dave bloke off The Fast Show.....

With some people giving good feedback on the gravel supplied in the Dennerle nano cubes, I thought I'd try and find somewhere which sold it. I found this place: http://www.livingreefaquatics.co.uk/Dennerle-list.aspx They seem to have the whole range of Dennerle stuff. The gravel comes in...

I'm sure this has come up before but I can't find a mention. Anyway, can i use ADA powder with corys or will they turn it all to mud and cloud the water? Is it better to use sand for the non-planted planted bits? Cheers Graham

That's not stricly true. A number of people have experienced vallis die back when using carbon supplements, but an equal number of people (including me) have seen no ill effects. There may be other factors at work, including variety susceptibility. I didn't overdose Excel and my (straight)...

Good stuff, I'll look forward to that. Cheers.

When's the substrate review going to appear in PFK George? I'd be interested in photos of any substrate really, It's nice to see what you're buying and there's aren't many places you can buy them "off the shelf" and even then they're usually in opaque plastic or tubs.

Never heard of them mate. Are they available in the UK?

Drop checkers aren't fool proof and are slow to change. The colour you see is actually what the CO2 level was a couple of hours prior, so they're not fantastic but are better than using tables of pH/KH. Many acids other than carbonic exists in most fish tanks which can skew the results. This was...

Most aquarium gravels raise KH overtime IME. Silica/silver sands are pretty inert though so you could use those.

I saw Fullers Earth in Aldi last week. It actually has the ingredients as "Baked Clay" on its own. No other cat litter that I've seen lists ingredients.

Reminded me of that old snooker commentary... "for those with a black and white television, the pink is just to the left of the yellow...." :lol:

I wasn't saying that AS is a cheap way of doing things, just that it wasn't as expensive as I expected and was comparable to others. I was always under the impression it was good, but you have to pay twice as much (if not more) for the privilege. I imagined other people thought the same. In a...

Ouch! I've never looked at the cost of powersand. Nice to see Malaya being used, makes a change from the usual Amazonia. Looking forward to the photos.

Just to say that laterite is iron rich, or is supposed to be. It's a bit old fashioned these days but it's still being sold. It goes under the gravel/sand.

Because everyone says AS is very expensive, I thought I'd compare the top 3 "All In One" substrates, namely Seachem Flourite, Caribsea Eco-Complete and ADA Aquasoil. I worked out the amounts needed and the cost for a typical 91cm x 38cm aquarium (36" x 15") to give an average depth of 5cm. This...

Oh, and LD, I've heard people do use the powder on it's own or capping the 'normal', but at powder bags of 3l costing the same as 9l of normal it's alot more expensive.

One of the good things about AS is that they give the bag sizes in litres, rather than Kg, so it's easy to work out how much you need. Your tank is 79"x24" (lovely!), so in new money roughly 200cmx61cm. A substrate depth of 5cm, give a volume of (200x61x5)/1000 = 61l. AS bags come in 9l...

Is that the "normal" type or the powder?

Yeah, it looks like the description for the "Flourite Black" has just been copied over to the sand version. £26 a bag is still quite alot though. I thought I might buy a small bag to see what it was like, but I might just get some playsand instead :roll: :lol:

Hi all, I'm currently using "fine black river gravel" over tropica substrate and in short, I don't like it. I don't like the gravel as it's not particularly black and it's not particularly fine either. I also don't like the tropica. It seems to grow plants well (or maybe that's just me :oops...

Re: Can I use John Innes no.3 in aquariums? You can also get ericaceous John Innes which I assume is much the same as the others but without the lime.

This is an issue for me as well, although maybe no to the same extent. I've used aquatic soil for ponds under sand in a previous tank and pulling up a plant created a bit of mess but it was manageable. I've now got tropica substrate under some fine gravel and when I pull a plant it makes a huge...

I did some calculations and reckon 2 bags should do it. It's alot more help to sell substrates in volume rather than weight, as it's (relatively) easy to work out what you need. For a 60cm x 30cm footprint: 60 x 30 x 5cm depth = 9000 cubic cm = 9l so one bag...

It's it's just the odd bubble it might be air that's been trapped when the tank was setup and working its way to the surface.

I've just worked out the cost of it all... Tank is 60 x 38 x 38 cm. Giving a total of 87l. According the AE, I would need 1 x 9l and 1 x 3l bag of normal AS and 1 x 3l bag of powder giving a grand total of...... ...£57.97 Ouch. Thanks for the info Garuf. When I looked at AE for the cost...

...how do I use it? I'm thinking of setting up a 2' (60cm) tank with AS powder as I like the fine look. I've heard it's not for use as a complete substrate and should be used to cover the main 'layer'. Can anyone confirm this and if so, what would I use underneath? Tropica? Sand? Cheers for any...

What were your water parameters before adding ecocomplete? It might have lowered it :?

I've heard it affects KH for a few months, but the AE info on it says that it won't. It does say it contains calcium though, but don't know in what form.

It may be worth mentioning that ordinary garden soil is made up of many things including sand, clay, stones, organic humus etc so it makes sense in my eyes that a good balanced substrate would have similar mixes in it (but maybe not in the same proportion).

Just wondering why you strip the tank down every 6 months? Is it for aesthetic reasons i.e. you want to try new a new scape/arrangement or something else? My old tank was running for 7 years or so without any major clean...

Where are you planning on getting your sand from? From the sand I've seen, both silver sand and play sand are quite fine (< 1mm). There's horticultural grit, but I think that has fairly sharp edges.

I agree with ed. Vinegar is always mentioned for testing gravel and rocks but is seldom strong enough to show up anything. Try using kettle/bathroom descaler on it, that should show it!

Thinking 'old school' there are some references to using cat/kitty litter as a substrate. Does anyone know what the attraction was of this? It's probably old hat now, but I quite like the idea of trying it. My worry is that you don't know what's in it - de-odourisers etc. Any thoughts?

Your small rena sounds like the same design as my juwel.

My Juwel tank didn't need polystyrene. In fact it explicitly states not to use it in the setup guide. My 3' tank has it though (it's a Rena I think).

I wasn't sure if people put the substrate in dry (i.e. straight out of the bag into an empty tank) and then planted and then filled, or add an inch of water, add substrate, plant and fill. It seems like it's the latter. Cheers.

That's what I thought! Why dose anything if it's going to remove all the nutrients? It's as though they are saying that you should have a nutrient rich substrate but nutrient poor water. This seems to go against everything that I've been reading (and seeing in peoples tanks).

I've just noticed that on AE for the description of Tropica Plant Substrate, there's the line "Removing nutrition from water reduces the risk of undesirable algae growth". Anyone else noticed this?

I've noticed a few photos of people setting up tanks where a substrate or substrates are added 'dry' to the tank and then the tank filled and planted. Others have an inch or two of water as they add the substrate. Does anyone know pros and cons for the different approaches? I imagine filling a...

The BGA I had a while ago smelt terrible, a really acrid smell. My wife had to leave the room whenever I tried to clean the tank! You could try just disturbing the area a couple of times a week. I sometimes use the pointy bit of my algae scraper to poke things in the tank.

Cheers. That tropics stuff does look pretty chunky, a bit like cookie dough..... Are you pleased with the sand? It's looks nice, not the very even black that I guesed it would be. Does the tropica give you that laterite doesn't? I suppose that's more of a general substrate query, but with all...

AFAIK, only crypts, amazon swords and apongetons need nutrient rich substrate, others such as glosso, HC etc just need nutrients in the water column.

I've got silver sand in low tech 2' tank with lots of crypts and haven't noticed any anerobic areas at all despite what I've heard about sand substrates. Does gas escape when you disturb it? Could it just be algae? BGA? If you've got a humus rich substrate, it's supposed to rot and cause...

I think I've decided (?!) when I move house to use Aquaclay Ground. I used to think black was best, but then thought it looked a little artificial. The malaya AS looks good, but I can't afford it. I too am looking for something 'complete' rather than a layer underneath, basically because I want...

Is this because the controllers sacrifice stable CO2 for a stable pH? What kind of pH swing occurs in a fully planted tank with CO2 but without a controller (average Kh, say 6)?

I believe the numbering on JI composts is the amount of fertilizers they contain: No 1 is for seeds and cuttings and contains little or no ferts, no 2 a bit more and no 3 more again for established plants. I've got a small (2') tank in which I've used aquatic soil sold for potting pond plants...

I've never owned a bow-front tank but from what I've heard (and seen in large public aquariums) they distort your view of the scene depending on the angle you're looking at it. They're also made of acrylic instead of glass and so are easier to scratch which is worth bearing in mind for your...