Search results

Thanks. It's a bubble counter attached to the CO2 cylinder. You can just see my glass/ceramic diffuser inside the tank on the right, the white line.

Full working shot

Super, thanks Planter. I look forward to seeing your work.

Hey Dave, How's this going? Not long until the PFK contest closes....

I prefer the Zoo Med if I had to choose one - it's a great tube. But it's a personal choice.

I use a combination of Zoo Med Ultra Sun 6500K and Arcadia Freshwater 7500K. The colour rendition is excellent, as is plant growth. Aqua Essentials does both. The new Interpet tubes with built-in reflectors are an issue for many. I suggest e-mailing Interpet with your concerns, as I and...

I would be wary of using non-aquarium electrical items near water. Try posting this in the DIY/hardware forum too and you may get some more comprehensive replies.

Life-Glos are better, for colour rendition, intensity and plant growth. But they are normally more expensive.

Those dawn tetras are awesome. I've been looking for something for Jeremy Gay's 120cm Iwagumi and they would go well indeed... Do they normally stay near the surface or are they just feeding?

Thanks. It should work now.

Hi all, I've been at Jeremy Gay's (Practical Fishkeeping technical writer) house all day setting up his 120x40x45cm tank. So far Jeremy has had difficulties with hi-tech methods, so he asked me to help with the setting up, maintenance schedule and aquascaping. Jeremy is a huge fan of Nature...

Thanks for the tips on cories. I'll bear this in mind if I ever do stock them. And thank you kindly for your comments. It means a lot to recieve feedback like that. :)

Thanks Dev. The Java fern has been in there for over 12 months now. The crypts have been planted gradually, replacing weeds (Egeria, vallis, hygro, ambulia) over the last 10 months. It's a slow 'scape, but that's what I was after. It's quite rewarding seeing it slowly evolve over the...

Your plants may take a few days to adjust to the new spectrum but they should be fine. FYI I changed from a Triplus 18w PC T5 to 24w PC T5 Daylight Plus with no problems. In fact everytime I've changed tubes in all my tanks there's been no issues. Plants are remarkably adaptive to different...

http://www.barrreport.com/articles/433-non-co2-methods.html

Ferns, Anubias, Crypts. No pruning. Fish are 10 pentazona barbs, 12 glowlight danios, 10 Amano shrimp. Juwel lighting (2 x 18w T8) with Zoo Med Ultra Sun and Arcadia FW tubes - 9 hours. 2ml Tropica+ liquid per day, 1/3 water change per week. Hard tap water loaded with NO3 and PO4. Standard...

Well, learning how to grow the plants is the first step. It's really not that hard with all the good info about. Aquascaping isn't so easy, for me at least.

Google "low tech aquarium", you'll get plenty of hits. Here's a good one. http://naturalaquariums.com/aquariums/art02.html And another - http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...og.php?blogid=7 Follow the blogs through to see the progress.

All plants need food (nutrients). The amount necessary depends on lots of factors, mainly the plant species and your set up. Do you have any photos of the plants? What set up do you have - Tank size, type and quantity of lighting etc? The biggest factor for plant growth is light. The more...

The foreground plants looks like dwarf mondo grass (Ophiopogon sp.) It's non-aquatic. I maybe wrong though. Has it grown yet?

Looks good so far, well done. The wood composition is very good, you obviously have an eye for design. Have you planted the stems in bunches? If so I recommend seperating the individual stems. This allows for better light access to the plants and will fill out the layout better. Despite...

Nice. I can't help thinking the redmoor contrasts too much with your bog wood. Watch the anubias too near your lighting. It's an algae magnet if not shaded. Especially with 4 x 54w HO T5 and no CO2...

ADA is relatively expensive, no denying it. A large proportion of the cost in the UK is from shipping, that the retailer (Aqua Essentials) has no control over. I think the plain film backing is probably an extreme example. Other products are quite reasonable i.e. ADA Aqua Soil.

Mixing your dry ferts with tap instead of RO/DI will make negligable difference, as I assume you're only adding millilitres of solution per dose. You can adjust EI dosing to compensate for NO3 and PO4 in tap, but IME it isn't necessary providing you have good CO2 and heavy planting. FYI my tap...

I wholeheartedly agree. I didn't mean to be overly negative about the article per se, just that John's set up is vastly different to be able to use Jeff's advocated techniques. "My" methods aren't suitable for all either. But if you want to use hard tap water with NO3 and PO4, like most UK...

I wish! No, I just help set up tanks for colleagues etc. I recommend the set up, depending on their taste, budget requirements etc. and help install it all and maintain. Once the tank has establsihed. the client does everything, unless they ask. I've only had two clients so far. I have...

Excel will damage some plants - vallis being one of them.

Yes, you can dose straight away, as long as your CO2 is 30ppm. Any algae and look at more water changes, better CO2. Some otos and Amano shrimp will help with early algae issues too. Jeff's methods aren't suited to your set-up. Unless you fancy tearing up your substrate, installing a heater...

Quick update. I've not seen the tank since last photos but the client is bursting with pride... Apprarently the plants are growing very well and there's no algae. The fish are very happy too. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow.

Nice shots. 'Scape's coming along nice too... I like to experiment with the manual WB setting by using off-white shades for calibration. With my current tubes though - Zoo Med Ultra Sun 6500K (CRI 98) and Arcadia FW 7500K adjustment isn't necessary as the rendition is spot on for my taste. I...

If you have the ADA substrate system i.e. Power Sand and Aqua Soil, then you'll likely be providing sufficient NP from that, for a good while at least. ADA Special Lights and Shade also provide NP. KNO3 and KH2PO4 are much cheaper though. NP in the water column is beneficial and won't cause...

Hi all, Just a quick reminder to let you all know that you have about 3 weeks left to submit entries to the PFK Aquascaping Contest. If you're thinking about entering, please do. The more the merrier! It's the taking part that counts, of course. For more details see here -...

Or ask questions in the planted forum... :)

Yes, the vast majority of plants only need CO2 during lighting. I inject it 24/7 as it keeps the pH more stable - that my crypts seem to prefer. I used to use a solenoid but suffered from melting leaves. When I switched to 24/7 they stopped. Could be coincidence though. I may try going back...

You can keep it on at night providing there's enough oxygen. It's generally only an issue with no surface movement and/or overstocked fish. I have my CO2 on 24/7 these day. The pH swing is lower than when turning it off at night. My crypts seem very sensitive to pH swings, and 24/7...

Hi John, Nice to see some plants... Consider splitting up most of your plants into smaller portions. The HC will carpet quicker. The crypts can be split up into seperate plantlets, this will fill up the layout better. The moss needs to be spread thinner in parts to prevent lower layers...

29C yesterday. I could almost see the crypts growing!

A pH drop of one equates to approx. 30ppm CO2, no matter the KH.

I've contacted Interpet a few times with no response. Shame. It's good to hear others are contacting them too though. If they receive enough feedback on this issue they may well consider bringing back the non-reflector models.

Yellow? Never noticed that myself. Just excellent greens...