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  1. idris

    Over thinking surface gas exchange?

    I keep learning new reasons why my tank is badly designed. (I designed it!) It is 110cm (w) x 75cm (h) x 30cm (d) with a cover glass about 1cm from the surface. Belatedly, I've learned this design reduces potential for gas exchange at the surface. I can see how this might reduce plant growth...
  2. idris

    Time spent?

    I timed how long it takes me to do a water change. I've got a system in place, and valves and hoses fitted to one filter to pump water in and out. Short of fitting a higher-powered pump (which is on my Xmas list) it couldn't get much more efficient. It still takes about 1h 20min to change...
  3. idris

    Brine shrimp shells

    Posting for "a friend" who only wishes to be identified as The Lazy Aquarist ...😅 TLA has found an unopened bottle of brine shrimp eggs at the back of their cupboard. They're only planning of feeding them to their fish maybe once or twice a week, and not with the aim.of raising fry, and...
  4. idris

    Leaf size

    (I'm sure the answers to this are going to get very technical very quickly :D :D :D but here goes ...) Is there any significant correlation between leaf size and how efficient a plant is at consuming nutrients in a tank?
  5. idris

    Ambient temperature

    With the current weather, my tank is sitting at around 30°c with the heater turned off. It's not in direct sunlight. Is this likely to be a problem for the short period the British Summer lasts? (On the up side, my shrimp seem a lot more active.)
  6. idris

    Post-apochalyptica

    Bear with me!!!!!!! This is little more than a thought experiment at the moment, and I doubt it will ever be much more for me. But I like the idea. And I'm sure there are 1000 reasons not to do it, and I'm interested in ways to theoretically make it work. So ... tuck the Don'ts and Can'ts and...
  7. idris

    Mantainence free shrimp bottle?

    I have a spare demijohn and stumbled across this Instructable. It seems to suggest you could effectively have a viable shrimp nano in a bottle without any filtration. This is counterintuitive, based on everything I've learned about aquariums, but other than Amans in a planted fish tank, I have...
  8. idris

    000 vs Dennerle cleanator

    Have just found out about the Dennerle Cleanator. "The stainless steel wool on one side removes even the most stubborn algae and residues, without scratching the glass". I'd never thought of using wire wool to clean aquariums - is there any reason not to use somethings like 000 wire wool?
  9. idris

    How many grams of Java Moss

    I've seen bags of Java Moss sold by weight online, but can't find any info on what sort of area it will cover. I'm planning to use it as both a carpet type plant and attached to some bogwood. What sort of area might a 10g bag cover?
  10. idris

    Hosetail cap

    Does anyone know where I can get a threaded end cap for 16mm hose. Something like this ... (Not sure img link is working so ... https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiSdxKZH7MXJgTxWzGObRUVJfpb6 ) I know I can get them for something around 2" hoses, but I can't find them for 16mm. Thanks
  11. idris

    Recommissioning semi-dormant tank

    For probably 6 months my 250L tank has been neglected. I NEED to get it back up and running properly. And as quickly as possible. Reasonably well planted with Crypts and Anubis. It has had a filter running but the flow has been lower than ideal. The filter has not been cleaned for months and...
  12. idris

    Most efficient water change method for large tank

    My tank is 250L and 2ft deep. For water changes it's always been "easiest" to ... pump water from the tank into a 25L canister (I have a small external pump for this) drag the canister outside and empty it fill the canister with tap water add dechlorinator etc, heat the canister to match the...
  13. idris

    H2O2

    My local pharmacist has stopped stocking 9% H2O2. Any thoughts on what the best concentration is and where is most cost effective to buy it?
  14. idris

    Liquid carbon and ligts on

    I have my lighting set to go on for a couple of hours in the morning and about 5hrs in the evening. It's light isabout 1.3 w/gal. I'm going to start using liquid carbon, and I know this is best added around the begining of the time lights go on. If I add it when the lights go on in the evening...
  15. idris

    Hardy fish

    In the wake of my recent disaster, any recommendations for hardy fish? (Nothing excessively hardy as I need some degree of Canay-in-a-coal-mine, but something that isn't going to croak in10 min.)
  16. idris

    Catastrophic water change

    Today I added some fresh water to my tank, and within a couple of hours, all my livestock was dead. (Fish, snails and shrimp.) Existing 220L tank that's been recently re-commssioned. Moderate number of plants that have been in for either about a month, or about a fortnight. New filtration, and...
  17. idris

    Rocommisioning and re-"cycling"

    Having recently moved house I drained my tank, cleaned (almost) everything hard / inorganic and am starting again (mostly) from scratch. The filtration is all new, so after replanting, the tank is getting "fishless cycled". So far the tank has been left entirely unsupervised while I was away...
  18. idris

    Chlorine based sterilisation

    Before I moved house stripped my main tank down I had more algae than I'm happy with, so am considering using Milton to kill off the algae on everything hard (pipes, pumps, glass, hardscaping etc.) and then recycling the tank. The substrate is Adakama and has stayed just covered in water as...
  19. idris

    Moving house

    What's the best way to move a well planted tank? Obviously my fish and shrimp will need catching and transporting in bags in insulate boxes, the filters need to stay wet, and it all needs to be done as quickly as possible, but without stripping the plants out a couple of days before and "letting...
  20. idris

    Long term decline

    My 240L tank's been going for several years. Where I used to have Valis, Crypt Wenditi and Amazon Swords (all pretty healthy), the swords have disappeared, a lot of the Valis has gone and the crypts have pretty much taken over. I improved the flow a few months ago by adding a power head, and...
  21. idris

    Decommission / Recommission

    250L tank. Some Vallis. Lots of Crypt Wenditi (more than I want.) Lots of algae of various types, on most of the plants and all the hardscaping. I'd rather not have to do a complete strip down and replant with new. I have another (smaller) tank I can move all the fish & inverts into on a...
  22. idris

    Best value brine shrimp

    Who sells the best value brine shrimp eggs? I'm sure I've seen someone on the forum say "the guy I get kind from is great" but I don't remember any details.
  23. idris

    Brine shrimp that don't hatch

    Each time I've hatched some brine shrimp there seem to have been a relatively high proportion of eggs that didn't hatch. 1) Is this normal? 2) I've read that some Killifish eggs will go through more than one wet / dry / wet cycle before hatching. Dies the same apply to Brine Shrimp and if so...
  24. idris

    Infusoria culture

    I'm trying to culture some infusoria to feed some Killifish fry I'm trying to hatch, but I'm not certain whether I've got there yet. 1L plastic bottle. Contains tank water, a plec wafer, small piece of lettuce. Lightly oxygenated via air stone. Kept on window sill for 3 days so far. Day 0 ...
  25. idris

    How to overhaul a tank

    I'm starting to think about a complete overhaul of my 250l tank and plan a couple of upgrades (primarily to flow). I'm going to need to do the whole thing pretty quickly as I only have a small tank to put the fish in while I do it. The substrate is also is well populated with Assasin Snails...
  26. idris

    Black-out for algae

    Roughly how long should you black out a tank to tackle algae?
  27. idris

    Shrimp deaths - water or ferts

    This morning I've found 2 dead Amanos and the other 4 are either almost static at the surface or almost static at the bottoms of the tank. They've been pleasantly active over the last few weeks. In the last week I've started using ferts (APF's all in one dry mix, as per instructions, though...
  28. idris

    Mulm

    Having recently done a little tank maintainence and snail hunting, I've found myself stiring up a suprising amount of mulm from the surface of my akadama. I've really not noticed it before when it's been undisturbed. To date I've not done any "gravel vac'ing" in the way I used to before I had a...
  29. idris

    Pathogen or toxin? And remedy.

    I'm having problems with continued fish deaths. In two months I've lost 8 Dwarf Gouramis, 3 (possibly 4) Kilis, at least 6 Neons. I only ocasionally see my Ottos but I've seen no corpses. My Amano shrimp seem very happy and have got more active recently. My Assasins seem to have bread and I've...
  30. idris

    Bottle trap empty

    I've had a bottle trap in my tank for a couple of days. Firstly to temporarily rehouse my fish whilst I do a spot of rescaping. And secondly to prove to myself that I still have some Ottos and Amanos left. For the first few months they were in the tank I'd see The Ottos and Amanos all the...
  31. idris

    How to post plants

    I know there was a thread with tips on how to send plants in the post, but I'll be damned if I can find it. Can anyone help?
  32. idris

    Temporarily rehousing fish

    Suplimentary to my large water change question ... I'm planning to half drain my tank and then stir up a lot of sediment with some replanting and rescaping. I could fill an old 25l tank to house some of my fish while I mess up the big tank - 3 Gouamis, 1 Rainbow, 2 Killis and up to 12 Neons...
  33. idris

    Aquatics Online

    Has anyone had an email from http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk with a voucher code recently? I've had two and there was something that just looked a litle like a scam. But then again it didn't. Anyone know the company?
  34. idris

    Large water change

    I'm about to have to do a water change of about 50%. ie About 100 litres. I can only get about 20 litres up to an appropriate temperature in about 12+hrs. I am warey of having the tank significantly low on water for a week. Any thougths on the impact or ways round it?
  35. idris

    Mechanics of re-planting

    I'm planning on taking out my Dwarf Hair Grass (it hasn't done particularly well and looks a little untidy) and Wisteria (it was only ever intended to help get the tank up and running) thought I've not yet decided what I'm going to replace them with. Draining the tank isn't a real option, so...
  36. idris

    Hatching brine shrimp

    I've just had my first go at hatching some JBL brine shrimp eggs. It took nearly 36hrs to be able to see the hatched shrimp, but I think the hatchery was a little colder than ideal. The problem now is that they're free swimming, not sinking. Is this incldicative of too little salt, too much...
  37. idris

    Nocturnal temperatures

    Is there any benefit to plants or fish of having the heater on a tank getting switched off at night, to allow temps to drop a little, as in a natural enviroent?
  38. idris

    Planting wet or dry?

    I'm planting my tank before I flood it, but is it better / easier to plant with wet substrate (adakama) or dry?
  39. idris

    New plants in a bucket

    My first plants have arrived today, a little ahead of me being ready for them. So they're in a bucket (with an old tank heater) in the garage. They're still in their pots of rockwool but there's no substrate or food source and no light other than ambient. Are the plants ok to spend a few days...
  40. idris

    Second hand mulm

    I'm going to be starting my plants emerged. In the meantime I'm thinking about getting a good bacterial culture going in the filter, and I've read the best way to do this is to get some mulm from another tank. I don't have another tank running but I know someone who does. So I'm wondering what...
  41. idris

    Tips on photogrphing tanks pleas

    My new tank is slowly coming together and I'd love to share some photos of it on the Journals board. I've had a very quick try at taking some pics but I'm having problems with reflections from the glass: in day light there's a reflection of the window oposite the tank, and at night the rest of...
  42. idris

    H2O2 concentration

    What concentration of H2O2 is worth buying? A local pharmacist sells 3%, 6% and 9% but says you can get 50% from hair dressers' suppliers. I've seen a recommendation for making up a 1:150 solution (IIRC) for cleaning aquarium equipment, but with no mention of what solution you're starting with...
  43. idris

    Surface agitation

    I've read that too much surface agitation leads to a loss of CO2. But also that it is good for getting O2 into the water. Obviously both are needed, so any advice on how to get the balance right? In the short term, I'm not planning on any flow pumps (Koralias etc) but are there any pros/cons...
  44. idris

    Plants - 1000% price difference. Why?

    I've been looking at different websites to order plants from and am surprised that the prices seem to vary by 1o times. For example: Vallisneria Gigantea from supplier A £0.95 Vallisneria Gigantea from supplier B £9.14 Hopefully there must be a good reason for this, but assuming you don't get...
  45. idris

    Carbon and cycling

    I'm getting some wood and rocks for my new tank from sources I can't be 100% sure of (ie not LFS). It's all supposed to be clean, and I have no specific reason to think it's not, but would it be prudent to use carbon in the filter at the start of the cycing process to make sure any contaminants...
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