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Hello from NE London

scootamum

scootamum

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Joined
13 May 2015
Messages
69
Hi everyone!

Long time lurker, first time poster!

I've been keeping freshwater tropical fish for a number of years now. I currently have four tanks on the go, that range in size from 28L to 125L. They are all low energy set ups, planted with low demand plants.

I'm looking to change that soon, and will (hopefully) be the proud owner of a new tank to replace one of my nanos.

I want to do something different with this one, and will be taking my first tentative steps into using CO2, so I will most probably be picking your brains for advice on using that.
 
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. :)

Thanks for the advice Andy - I will definitely check out the tutorials.

I received my new tank yesterday, but it is still around someone else's house at the moment (a long story, which I won't bore you with). It will hopefully make its way to my house today. :)

I've got a few things left to buy (substrate, CO2 kit etc.) so I will be ordering them in the next couple of days, along with the plants. I'm thinking of going with 'cultured' plants, to avoid snails which have be problematic with my other tanks.

I'm not going to be setting it up for a while yet, as I'm going to be very busy over the next couple of weeks.
 
Thanks Jim, I definitely will. :D

I've been spending the last few days reading through the tutorials, and also some of the threads involving the dry start method. I'm particularly interested in this, as when I've set up my other tanks, no matter how careful I've been filling the aquarium with water I've always ended up a lot of plants floating up to the surface! :mad: If I've understood it correctly there's less chance of this happening if they're roots have had a couple of weeks to establish in the substrate before flooding!

I'm also very interested in trying out my first 'carpet'. I've not attempted it before as I know that they are very difficult to do successfully without using CO2. Anyone got any suggestions as to which carpeting plants would be the easiest for someone with zero experience of creating a carpet? :confused:

I still haven't got around to ordering a CO2 kit yet. I'm looking at those that it is possible to fit a solenoid to, so that I can use a timer to switch it on and off. I've looked at lots of them, and have narrowed it down to two contenders - Colombo Flora-Grow 150 and the JBL Pro Flora u402. The Colombo one can be adapted to fit larger canisters, and a solenoid is available to fit onto it as well. Anyone got any recommendations? The tank I will be fitting it to will hold approximately 80L after displacement.
 
scootamum said:
two contenders - Colombo Flora-Grow 150 and the JBL Pro Flora u402. The Colombo one can be adapted to fit larger canisters, and a solenoid is available to fit onto it as well. Anyone got any recommendations? The tank I will be fitting it to will hold approximately 80L after displacement.
Click to expand...

I spent a lot of time looking at the CO2 options that are available and finally decided to go with CO2arts soda stream kit, Link: http://www.co2art.co.uk/collections...get-sodastream-system-for-aquarium-up-to-120l (this is the one i went for) or http://www.co2art.co.uk/collections...uarium-co2-system-for-planted-tank-up-to-500l I have had it running for 6 months and changed the bottle once (2-3 bubbles per second). The actual bottle is not supplied so you would need to buy one, i got mine from Argos for £19.99 http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8424963.htm and for the refill it's only £9.99 http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8424956.htm

scootamum said:
I'm also very interested in trying out my first 'carpet'.
Click to expand...

I have had great success using Monte carlo http://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/Micranthemum'MonteCarlo'(025TC)/4442 Tropica have given it a hardness rating of 'Medium', i would say that it is easy to medium plant to look after. It is really fast growing and attaches to the substrate really well, from one pot it has almost covered the front part of my tank
20150521_231615_zpsbvxrnc7l.jpg

I mixed Eleocharis mini http://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/4571/4571 and Pogostemon helferi http://tropica.com/en/plants/plantdetails/4499/4499 in with the Monte to give it a more natural look.

I have not tried the DS method yet, so i can't comment.
Jim
 
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply.

Your tank looks fantastic Jim. I really like the way you've broken up the textures of the carpet by adding other plants into the mix :)

Thanks as well for link to the soda stream CO2 kit. If the bottles last as long on my tank it should work out a lot more economical to run in the long term, than the options I've been looking into. :)

The new tank eventually found its way to my house on Saturday (must of stopped off for a few drinks on the way over... :D ). It is sitting in my hallway, still boxed up, taunting me at the moment. A massive distraction from my revision for my exam tomorrow. :oops:
 
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