Recent content by pastabake

The idea of going to Alton Towers to see an aquarium is perverse to say the least ... There are worthwhile public aquariums all over the country ... and the ZSL is building a huge one somewhere in the docklands London.

Boboboy - Technology has moved on mate ... Go take a look here, they also sell ballasts for those wanting to dim LFLs using a standard dimmer switch ... h**p://www.varilight.co.uk/Pages/page%20digiflux.htm btw - no amount of wrong makes a right.

It can't be that hard to dim LED's ... I've got one of those torches that you shake to make power ... the LED gets brighter the more you shake it ... so it's basically a case of limiting the power so a simple variable resistor should work. I've also just bought a CFL that claims to last 8 years...

Over filtration is an oxymoron. You can only ever filter out what is there and going beyond that apart from being a talking point is plain silly. As for the two is better than one ... well one working and one still in its box (free from mechanical wear etc) is even better. So in a nut shell...

I bought mine from ebay, and apart from having to cut it to size, it works great. You can also buy the stuff from garden centres btw.

I have never ever seen any extra support for a bath and I've lived in quite a few houses around the country.

As it happens I use a vivarium heating mat (I can see no difference in principle between it and substrate heating cable btw) to heat my small 45l tank it works a treat and is hidden from sight. So obviously substrate heating isn't a waste of money, especially as I got it for free ... as to...

Porosity wouldn't make a difference ... there would still have to be a driver to make the water move through it, perhaps this is why some people use substrate heating.

Yes and no. The water in the air is from the tanks. So any water you take from the air will change the equilibrium and further water will enter the air from the tanks. So a dehumidifier is pointless in an area with loads of water, even having a fan isn't that great but unlike a dehumidifier...

I seriously doubt that the age of your copper pipes has anything to do with it. Metal toxicity is closely connected to pH because at high pH (7+) they are not bio available and so simply are not a cause for concern. The previous poster is right EDTA is the primary (if not sole) agent for...

Make sure that all the joints are covered, you could skim it with that artex'y stuff that they sell at B&Q for smoothing walls (own brand will do and cheaper) seal it using PVA (follow instructions - something like 5 to 1) then a couple coats of paint (kitchen and bathroom paint is best). Any...

Bees wax it.

Dave - I'm living in Leagrave at the moment, moved here from N.Wales (Gerlan) wish I hadn't. You might be right about the ADA soil but from their website it's clear that they want you to believe it's made from Black earth. I spoke to a soil scientist about this and she assures me that due to...

I would guess that ADA's soil is not clay based as it claims to be black earth based Also ADA say that their soil will have an effect on the pH and KH of the water. So you might as well use peat under the substrate, in fact I'd suggest that it would be better than carbon on its own. The...

I know nothing about ADA Aqua Soil ... what I do know is that your statement regarding carbon just doesn't make sense.