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Thanks Steven, this is very helpful. I will pick up 1kg crushed coral this week. I've also just picked up an 80 litre plastic tub yesterday so I can start doing 1/3 water changes. Does the coral work immediately or should I overlap the neutral regulator for a few days / weeks?

Thanks Wills, I don't want to give the impression I'm tearing my hair out or anything, it is going quite well, I was just surprised that the pH had dropped so low. The fish have bounced back a little since a water change and I'm doing a 20% change every other day to raise back the ph up again...

Hi Byron, I use RODI water. My tap water is 40ppm, tested and reported by the water authority. It is unusable so I use 100% RODI. I use replenish to bring back GH/KH. I will measure the tank tomorrow. My water changes are always pH 7.3, GH 11, KH 7. I'm not aware of anything other than...

I don't (and won't) keep plants and am not aware how else to keep nitrates at zero but am willing to try any other trade secrets :-) While I'm interested in nitrates topic I would like to hear any views on seachem buffers. Is there something I'm missing with regards to seachem buffers in that I...

Typically between 10 and 20, latest test 20ppm before weekly water change was done.

I've had a tank for about 8 months. It's a 4 foot 240 litre with a male green terror, female dempsey, gold (caqueta) earth eater and a red bristlenose. I am using RODI because my tapwater is upwards of 40ppm nitrates. I use seachem alkaline and neutral regulators to set ph at 7.3 (my tap was...

This is one of my Golden Retreivers, called Luna. She weighs in at a lightweight 21kg, so possibly she's a cross but we just call her our mini golden retriever. Everyone thinks she's a pup due to her size, when in fact she is now 7 years old! Pre pandemic we never really had the time to...

Yes but there's at least a year before that kicks in and will need to wait and see how brave etc deals with the changes. Worst case is move to Firefox, which isn't terrible really.

Switch to Brave, you won't look back. Based on Chrome so feels very similar and works/syncs across Android / Windows etc but far more privacy and built in Ad blockers.

I used the Pozzani nitrate filter as an "off the shelf" solution. It worked well, reducing my Hull tap water from 40ppm nitrate down to 0ppm but I found the filters didn't last long, maybe around 200-300 litres before the nitrates started going back up, so it was fairly expensive for water...

I don't have the python but do have the cheap knock off version and had a similar problem. In the end I found that a standard cheapo 15mm valve worked well, like this one: 15mm isolating valve Discard the end caps and you're left with a double male, where one end screwed perfectly into the tap...

Hi, about a month ago I picked up a super red bristlenose, although he's more orange to my eyes! Here he is: He seems in good shape, is very active, moving all over the drift wood and sometimes the glass. He picks up any flakes that the fish miss and I also put an algae wafer in for him every...

The RODI unit is new and the container has been in use for 4 months and it's never been used for anything else. The only other thing I changed was the wood. It soaked for 4 weeks before I added it but maybe that could have brought something into the tank. They are both improving each day now and...

Great news this morning, he's out of hiding, moving around the tank a little and his appetite is back! Still a little lethargic and fins a bit low but hopefully on the mend. I got a video of him - link here: Green terror swimming Here's a couple of photos in case you can see anything else of...

He"s come out and eaten some food about an hour ago, which is a good sign and now gone back into hiding. If he comes out into the light at some point tomorrow then I'll get some photos / video. Thanks.

Thanks Essjay, the concern at the moment is that the water changes caused the shock, so I'm trying to lay off for a week or so. Nitrates are currently under 10, ammonia and nitrate zero. It's horrible seeing a previously very active fish looking like it's at death's door but I'll just have to...

Sorry for delay been out. I swapped out some driftwood about two weeks back, added two large in place of three medium pieces, about same volume overall. Soaked the driftwood for 4 weeks before it went in. PH currently stable at about 7.4, Dempsey back to normal, eating and swimming fine and...

Another 48 hours gone, he did eat something Sunday night but nothing yesterday and still hiding bottom of the tank. Starting to wonder if it could be something else other than shock from the water changes.

It rained here last night so hopefully you are ok. Back on topic for a minute, the Dempsey is now swimming and eating again but the Terror is still in shock. Been a few days of him staying at the bottom of tank completely still, fins clamped down, he will move maybe once or twice per day to...

Amazing it was that obvious just from water parameters, haha! I went to a lot of different places before settling on Scott's Aquatics over on Longhill. He has a great variety of cichlids and a lovely clean store, the water and fish always look in good health. Think his stock lands on a Tuesday...

Yes I do know where it is, it's about 20 minutes from my house, haha! My JD is female so I'm expecting her to land between 6-8 inches but time will tell. My 240L tank is 4 feet long but if they outgrow in time then I have space for a 6 foot in future. This JD and GT seem to be doing well...

Thanks Colin, this was my last change and now going back to weekly, I had quite a high nitrogen level so had to reduce and thought daily would be sufficient gaps to not cause them any shock. I'll keep an eye on them.

Hi, I have recently moved to RODI water (mixed with tap) due to having 40ppm nitrates straight from the tap. I tried some nitrate removal filters (Pozanni etc) before going to RODI but they were not particularly effective. I have a Green Terror, a Jack Dempsey, a Gold Eartheater (Geophagus...

So it's been a while and lots to update so a long post here we come..... I thought I'd update you with my trials and tribulations, successes and failures. I went with cichlids as planned. Started off with juvenile Jack Dempsey (female), Firemouth, Electric Blue Acara, and a Caqueta Gold...

I think I'm leaning towards Central American over the African, I'll be buying from a LFS that has a great cichlid selection and has same water parameters as I have. I'll also enquire where his stock originates from. Thanks for all the suggestions, will update once I have some fish, probably a...

Thanks, I sampled a number of fake plant ranges and decided on the Hugo Kamishi range of silk plants, so these are mainly Anubia, Shinnerisa and Ludwigia of differing heights. I tried some of their brighter oranges / yellows too but they looked very fake so I removed them. There are a few of the...

Tank finally set up, I decided to do fake plants as I'm still looking towards cichlids, although potentially Central and South American rather than African. Found a good local store with same parameters that has a good range of cichlids from juvenile. Main issue I found was the nitrates in my...

Thanks for the reply. Any thoughts on how many tetra would be appropriate and also any thoughts on the redtail or rainbow shark being in the mix, or could that be a bridge too far as I heard they might clash with the pleco?

Hi, I have my new tank, not decorated or filled yet so have a good while to go yet before fish are going in but I've started to think about options. I'd like a few attractive larger fish and maybe a school of tetra or similar. I'd like to avoid breeding of larger fish (at least for now) so...

I will definitely get some pictures up once set up. Still debating whether to go with live plants or not because growing and keeping then healthy seems like a challenge in its own right and I want to to avoid running before i can walk. Thanks for the warm welcome!

Hi, I just joined as I wait for my tank to arrive sometime in the next week, following months of thinking about pulling the trigger and visiting fish various stores (not my usual battered variety), plus watching hours or probably days of YouTube on the subject My tank will be 240 litres (120cm...

I'm in a similar position as a newbie, 240litre tank, water hardness 19.7dh. No plans to buy for a month yet but I was interested in some "beginner" cichlids, like the electric blue acara. Thanks for the various links to information.