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My dream tank would have a billion watts of lighting and no algae. Is that too much to ask for???

I think this makes it pretty close to the top of my list of "Places I'd like to live next to"

Hi Andy, if you can get a hold of Ocean Free 0 Algae, then I suggest you give it a try. I have dosed it before and have had good results with BBA specifically. This will get you through the current outbreak, but you'll have to resolve the over-arching causes later...

You don't really have to worry about nitrates at 80ppm. My API test kit read 80ppm and I thought I could stop dosing KNO3 since the tank was making its own nitrate from nitrifying bacteria. But my plants melted. When I was dosing KNO2 at 20ppm per week, my test kit was reading 80-160ppm! No...

Steve, here you go: http://www.adana.co.jp/en/aquajournal/archives/189. Its on the last paragraph. Sorry I was mistaken, she didn't say anything about marrying a German!

I think in one of her blog posts, she mentioned that she married a German and she's now living in Germany. So even nearer!

I don't think I can choose... please don't make me choose!!

I like no 1 and 2 personally.

If you don't plan to add CO2, then plants like Anubias nana, Microsorum ferns, common Crypts, Helanthium tenellum, Vallis species will be your friends. Dosing EI would be sufficient. You can also insert some root tabs under plants like swords and crypts.

I'd just calculate the total tank volume, easier than trying to estimate the volume of hardscape, plants, filter media etc etc.

Wow REDSTEVEO! I read Amano's daughter's blog post and remembered reading about this English man but couldn't remember where I read about it. So great to be personally touched by him in that way. The Online aquajournal also has some eulogies written by other people, its definitely worth a read...

I did have a tank once that had chronic green water for some weeks. So you may be thinking, green water, no biggie. Unfortunately my wedding was coming up and there would be actual people in my apartment at the time. No amount of water changes helped. In the end I just had to leave it. I think...

As with a lot of things in this hobby that I've realised recently, a lot of generalisations but no use getting into specifics sometimes. I guess its like asking someone "What's a powerful car?" My mum might say 150 bhp is plenty powerful, but I might think nothing is powerful until it hits 300...

Buying a heater for a planned planted tank, even though I live in the tropics (ambient 30-34'C in the afternoon all year round). And my hand-me-down tank had a hood which ensured that the water temp was more like 34'C. I still have the heater at home in its box!

How big is your tank? I had MC that didn't grow much for some months. And suddenly it's nice and compact, even growing with big leaves into the shade of Crypts. So many things changed in-between that I don't know what caused it. Light levels, CO2 diffusion methods and concentration, fertilisation.

Dwarf puffers will quickly eliminate all the snails in your tank. But they'll become their own problem later, as they will eat all your baby shrimp and nip at fins of slower fish that stay still like cories. I've had mixed experience in feeding them, some only take live food while others were...

Shawn, I hear what you're saying, though one thing I've learnt in this hobby is "common sense is not common". Some would say "look at your plants" and someone else would say "No, get a dropchecker" and another would say "Drop checkers suck, get a pH probe". And then you run into all sorts of...

Shawn... not sure what you mean, since your aquascaping portfolio on Flickr is gorgeous!

That might go the way of the whole hobby-losing-the-plot thing. Too much expection, too little ability (to hold your alcohol :D)

You could just donate some money to Marcel a.k.a. Ardjuna, if you support what he's doing. He's been running some nutrient-related tests on his site.

Redsteveo, your story really touched me emotionally. It's nice to know that even know he's got an air of superiority about him when he commands his troops to battle (I mean his squad to build scapes), he does have a kind heart. I saw the news last week and thought it was a hoax. So sad to hear...

I think you hit the crux of the problem right there. And reading this entire thread would have alluded to this - There's no one good book because information gets outdated, new methods are created, different manufacturers have different methods/biases. The first level of information is always...

The way I think about it, there are always multiple ways to go about achieving the same results. A good example is "format wars". Beta vs VHS. Bluray vs HD-DVD. Both formats achieve the same result but using different methodology. EI vs PPS-Pro vs PMDD vs Tropica vs ADA vs Seachem are all...

The ADA fert line content, as far as I know, was only done by Tom Barr which he sent off for chemical analysis. ADA themselves didn't publish the contents and concentration. Brighty K is just "Deep Sea Water with K" or something like that. Brighty Step 1 is Traces with no Macros. We all know...

No manufacturer will release all its info to the hobbyists. Most of them have good intent and do help out hobbyists, but they can't reveal their company secrets to the world. No commercial company survives on good will and good faith. Someone in Asia will clone it and that will affect their...

My advice is to give advice/scientific data, but don't need to argue with someone else. I'm a BMW fan, he's a Mercedes fan, she's a Jaguar fan... it all leads to flame wars and an overall loss for the hobby. Lets all accept each others opinions, take some as more scientific then others. If there...

I'm trying to figure this out myself. Previously I could grow relatively nice looking aquascapes with some algae but not crazy amounts. Recently I can't even grow ferns or glosso or simple stems. Equipment has remained largely the same. I still live in the same house so same water supply. Not...

Did anyone here subscribe to the ADA digital aquajournals that were hosted on the Coverleaf service? They've been removed for a long time and I've never been able to find them again. I emailed ADA twice with no reply. Kinda sucks that I paid money and don't get to keep a copy. Does anyone know...

I wonder how many tons of stones did amano have to ship there!

Love the style. Can't pay the entry fee. LOL. That flip down mirror is kinda weird, seeing that ADA tanks and cabinets in this size are quite low so you're always looking down on it as you walk up to it.

That looks cool. Mostly lowish maintenance plants too. Giving me lots of ideas of plant choices for my own tank.

Lovely landscape. Though personally I've tried to replicate scenery like this. Its actually quite hard to do because the picture is shot looking downwards. Hard to get a nice scape that looks good while looking down on the tank. If you know what I mean.

Release of IAPLC results and rules always manages to ruffle some feathers here and there. Great to read all the comments so far. If you don't like the premise of it, then don't join. And don't bash it either. The IAPLC goes with the spirit of what Amano and the ADA think is good aquascaping...

Glosso is my goto easy carpet plant!

HC won't move much really :-)

Since your plant choices can be grown in a low-tech tank, you should consider a low-tech setup. Less lights, no CO2. With all the discus and feeding, there will be enough macro nutrients in the water column. Might just need to add some trace or NO3 once a week.

I used to have that problem too. Trimming it would usually force me to do a lot of replanting. Using finer grain soil or sand should help for your next scape.

Could it be creating hydroxyl ions? I was introduced to an Ocean Free Hydra 30 internal filter which generates hydroxyl ions which oxidises ammonia. Just wonder if the lowering of ammonia is helping with algae issues. Here's a (not too favourable) review on PFK - Review: Ocean Free Hydra 30...

What happened to "left it under the sea for a year"? I was getting interested in it. Coat all my rocks and aquarium glass so algae can't grow on it.

Someone should send a unit to Tom Barr so he can get his labs to analyse it to the death!

Same problem here. The only way I could stop new tufts of BBA from appearing is to lower my lights so much that plants start suffering. Rotala sp green develope very small leaves (1/4 of their normal size) and Rotala macranda melt away. Increase it enough to grow those plants and BBA appears...

I have dosed 4x recommended Excel values and haven't gotten any untoward oto deaths. Don't recall them looking uncomfortable either.

I'm leaning towards ozone generator for the purposes of purification. Whether its solely responsible for algae control in a tank needs to be tested in an A-B test. Ozone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Don't forget that the lighting guide may have been written for commonly available first-time hobbyist tanks, those that come with maybe 1 or 2 tubes of lighting which are insufficient. Reflectors, full-spectrum tubes are all good advice. When you wanna move your game up a few notches then these...

So many posts daily on UKAPS that I missed this. Luckily it was bumped! What a great journal, I hope they continue!

Hahah I'm confused about the global warming part too.

You could make it a root scape. That large piece of driftwood looks like it could make the perfect trunk. I guess you should be asking yourself whether you want high tech vs low tech, high maintenance vs low maintenance, which sorta scape would you like to emulate. Because the possibilities are...

Congrats Mark! My dream job!

I've had way too many fish and shrimp jump out and commit suicide. I've got an acrylic cover now on my 60 cm to prevent just that. Also if you've got a hooded tank then running outlets and inlets will be a pain for most hoods.

Spray bars running along full back length of the tank would be my suggestion. Powerhead you can decide to use later if you find any potential trouble spots.

Here's a set i DIY'd. Couldn't get the lily pipe end either, no matter how much my face turned purple as I tried to huff and puff into the acrylic pipe. I did it over a gas stove set to the lowest and a sheet metal chimney. It helps to channel heat to a smaller area which aids in bending...

Actually I have dumped a whole week's worth of EI powders in my tank and left lights, CO2 timers all as usual with no undue effects before. When I was gone for 2 weeks, I mixed 1 week's worth of powders into a container and asked my wife to dump the whole lot in on specific day without any...

I've used a fibre-glass netting/mesh to good effect before. It's made for mosquito netting here in my country. It does have its drawback, when plants grow roots deep enough to penetrate the mesh, pulling out the plants will probably pull the mesh out as well, so have you be real careful when...

I'd say more important than everything else in this hobby :)

Sweden! Nice!

Nothing but a slight flu and a sore throat :geek: Must reward self!! :twisted:

I thought the other fella at the start standing behind the tank was even more bossy. I don't speak Jap but it sounded like he was ordering the other fellas to carry the huge stone. :lol:

Imagine driving a car capable of 155 mph towing another car driving at 155 mph. The max speed will still be 155 mph but you get more space for more people. Same theory applies to daisy chaining filters. Better to run them separately - major benefit to adjust flow around the tank.

I used to follow some F1 teams but they tweet EVERYTHING and it became information overload. Lewis is getting into his car Lewis takes a look at the timing screen Tire warmers coming off! He's going out! Jenson's waiting .... You get the idea... :D

That is insanely beautiful. Saves on hardscape too I bet, don't need huge driftwood or rocks.

+1 those are great pics!

Without CO2, I would recommend to turn off one of the 45W tubes you have. The plants you have don't require lots of light anyway. You can also get 10-15 young SAEs to help with the hair algae.

The scape that Amano made looks like its been growing in for a while. Really magnificent. Reinforces the idea to plant extremely heavily from the start. Glad to hear you guys had fun and learnt lots.

Maybe you can start by checking out some Youtube videos. There are lots of nice set up videos by The Green Machine and ADG Vibe among the other personal ones.

Sounds like you need to find someone around you to take you around!

There are lots of journals you can read to get that type of information. As for structured tutorials and homework... I don't know :D

I watched ST: Enterpise and enjoyed it a lot. Too bad they canned it. Got weird looks from my colleagues for not following stuff like CSI or Desperate Housewives. Lol.

Nice find!

I have to agree with Viktor regarding light. It's true that medium lighting can probably grow most plants, but some plants really need higher intensity lighting in order to reach their full potential. For example, turning plants like Rotala sp red and Ludwigia inclinata verticillata var Cuba...

Yea they should change that rule.if someone is really good enough to take a few spots in the top 27, why not right? The world should know about that person.

Just rescued a Yamato shrimp last night. My cat was staring at it. I've lost quite a few fish that way too, but the cat eats it. It doesn't eat the shrimp for some reason. It does a look a lot nicer (to me) without a hood though.

Check them out. http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Pack-Fish-Tank-W ... 2eb5bfa3b1 Many more on other themes from the seller!

That is cool!

Detritus alright. I get it too. Sometimes when I switch off my filter for waterchanges then turn it back on, a bunch of it comes jetting out of the spraybar. I use a normal fish net to trap them.

:shock: Gobsmacked! So lush and relaxing to look at. Those treadfins showing off look majestic too.

I'm registered on a bunch of forums, most of which have been mentioned here but I'm only active in two: MAC and UKAPS. I sometimes go to APC, TPT and ASW to look at nice piccies :)

Rinsing ADA soil will probably turn it to mud by the way, it crumbles way too easily. Powersand and Aquasoil mix is okay from a functional perspective. You can manually pick up any stray bits of Powersand that made its way up to the surface.

Came across this article on TFH. http://www.tfhmagazine.com/blogs/?p=329 Sounds like a recipe for disaster! 2x turnover, 298W of lighting which equates to 4 wpg - of which there are 10,000K and even actinic tubes and NO CO2. He says there are about 125 fish and 30 shrimps in the tank. And yet...

Anubias barteri sp nana var Petite? That's strange, I thought you can't plant the rhizome into soil?

Wow, the two scapes at Tropica's booth really represented the best in aquascaping styles to me. One is a lush fully planted tank with a carpet and one is an open-foreground one. Beautiful scapes from from UKAPS and TGM. Elos' scape is really nice too. Did you guys check the number of new...

Huh... good excuse to use when the wife starts nagging again :angel:

Brings back memories of my goldfish tank from about 20 years ago :eh: Only had a top filter back then and knew nuts about beneficial bacteria. The gravel (river pebbles) would have a *lot* of dirt in it after a while!

The most I can doodle is a top down planting view. Which doesn't help much :lol:

I once read something about McDonalds. A professor asked his students, "How many of you think, you can make a better burger than McDonalds" and a lotta people lifted up their hands. Then the professor asks "How many of you can sell a burger better than McDonalds?" and no one lifted up their...

Yeah the pics still get me every time. My next tank will definitely have an optiwhite front at least.

I guess its more of a coffee table book, for looking at the pictures and learning a thing or two from plant selection and placement. I won't hold my breath for an English version though. I have a few Aquajournals that are in Jap and I'd really love for it to be in English.

Looks tempting! Though I must say, Amano reuses photos a lot. After you read enough of his catalogues and Aquajournals and surf the websites, you're almost there. Great to have all of them in one place though! And when's he gonna release and English version?

There is an "easy" way to check if CO2 is the problem. From what I know, HC thrives on Seachem Excel. Perhaps you can try and dose Excel according to the recommended dosage in addition to normal CO2 injection and see if it helps things out a bit? If its any consolation, I can relate to your...