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I'd agree with the above-the best place in the UK for planted tank goods. Always responsive and prompt. The gear is top notch. I rarely use anywhere else. It isn't always good for you bank balance though! Nick

Sounds like you had a rather bad experience that I think is pretty rare. You could wash them off I guess using a snail-icide, so to speak. I guess they are copper based? Alternatively I would use a different retailer. If really is nearly impossible to get rid of all snails.

I'd stick to fishing line or cotton if I were you. Leave the silicon to holding the tank together! :D

Depends what you are looking for. I've tried most online retailers. The best results are from those who can get Tropica plants-I've used Birstall in the past. Excellent service and absolutely A1 plants. Also try Aquaessentials. If you want the best, then go to a Tropica retailer.

I agree with the 'no' camp. I had a Dennerle one in my full Dennerle system. Eventually I turned if off. I noticed no negative impact on the plants, in fact the Crypts (big nutrient feeders) seemed to do better. I personally think they are a waste of money. Spend the cash on a decent...

Try some root tabs. Swords and Crpyts like nice nutritious substrates, and contrary to popular belief, laterite isn't the best for providing nutrients-it has a lot of iron but has a low cation exchange capacity-in other words, it isn't very good at binding other important nutrients. Whenever...

Hi Chris Looking good-just keep those hands out for now and don't trim! Ammonia may be a little worrying, but I wouldn't worry too much about the shrimp-I had a major issue a filter in my standby tank where I kept the livestock prior to setting up the new tank. I lost a lot of fish, but no...

Chris, Looking very good mate. Leave the background out-you don't have bright walls so it looks just fine-Neil must've been referring to my orange walls earlier! Don't get hung up on any algae issues or anything. Expect to get a little of the brown stuff-perfectly normal at the beginning...

Hi 3.9 WPG will be fine - but you need to be cranking your CO2. You MUST plant very heavily. Ditto for the 5 or so WPG case, although you may be walking a bit more of a tight rope. Some folk will use up to 9-10 WPG, but they will have a lot of experience in plant tanks. Nutrient deficientcy...

Sam is referring to Red Sea's Flora Base-a very similar soil to Aquasoil, but to be honest, no less expensive if you look around. I use Aquasoil at the moment and it is the best thing I've used. I'm a big fan of nutrient rich substrates-I've a journal on AE forum at the moment-you can see my...

Hi In answer to your question regarding lower light foreground plants, you could consider Marsilea hirsuta. It is like a aquatic four leaf clover, and should grow in lower light tanks quite well. It has a simiilar creeping habit to Glossostigma, but is a much slower growing plant and thus...

Get some Tropica Master Grow. I've been using it on and off for years now. As Chris said, it's been re-bradned Tropica Plant Nutriion. If you want a do it all liquid, they've added Plant Nutrition Plus, which also adds N and P to the original formulation, which contains K and Mg already. I...

An interesting admission there Madcaow! I must admit I've not recently heard someone describe themselves in such terms before-perhaps it means something else in Australia! I guess the hot weather over here is keeping people from there machines and everyone is getting out and about-always seems...

Add up number of watts for all your tubes and divide by tank volume. Conventionally, it is referenced in US gallons, as this is where the measurement kind of sprang from. It's really just a rule of thumb though, given that all lighting systems are not equal. Nick

George is right-I used 2 whole bags of Aqua soil (9 L) in my Rio 125, plus 1 bag of Powersand Special S. To be honest, a 9 L bag of Aquasoil is really no more expensive than Flourite, Aquabase or any of the other popular 100% substrates. I think it is £25.99/bad compared to 24.99 for...

Gutting. If I might say that tank was looking great, with real potential. I am surprised it went downhill so quickly. I had some issues in the past, much more slow burning, with a similar algae. It seemed to coincide with me adding extra Flourish Iron-a bad mistake in the end too. I guess...

I think you're right Chris-a tank that deep might need a MH over it to get the penetration. T5's/power compacts won't penetrate deeply enough.

Hi Interesting looking tank there-you seem quite amused by it! Anyway, Flourite is generally used on it's own. Some folk don't like it and then add a covering of grit whatever..Bear in mind that the Flourite and gravel/sand will probably mix over time defeating the object of having a layered...

Buck I'd suggest you have a look at ADA Aquasoil Since your in the US you can buy from ADG in Houston-look them up: Aquarium Design Group. A lot of people have been using this substrate recently with huge success-it is very rich in nutrients and is ideal where you don't want to use other...

I wouldn't see a problem in mixing Flourish and Fl. Iron together-Flourish contains chelated iron already so adding some Fl. Iron to it should be a problem. As mentioned above, it is the tendency for PO4 to react, particularly with Fe which usually causes concern when dosing. Nick

Neil, I see you've given it a good trimming-should come back nice and bushy eh? I might be tempted to give the central area some depth-to me you've created quite a 'suggestive' mood-where is that channel leading? I would plant some crypts down the back to help soften the lines and draw the eye...

Awesome tank. Barry can you share with us the lighting, ferts, substrate and so on. As you can tell, many of us are keen to learn from you guys in the CAU. Nick

I think this is the thing. When we see the kind of superb growth that you've attained in your aquascape, particularly when there are alot of stem plants in there, you need more light than a lot of planted tank folk use in the UK. Strong light is the thing that can make such a difference-I see...

Excellent aquascape. Neil-don't give up! You're using the same substrate, same ferts, same CO2.....What is the remaining thing on the equipment list that we often skimp on in the UK? Light. Go back and look at Jeff's tanks, look at Luis Navarro's tanks. A lot of those tanks done with...

Hi I personally wouldn't use Flouite again and would advise others to steer clear of it. I'm using ADA Aquasoil at the mo, and will use this again from the experience I've had so far with it. Something else you might try is Deponit by Dennerle-it has clay and peat in it, and so is ideal for...

I would still like to know though. Seems a bit fishy to me.

I wouldn't worry about adding 30 or so to a reasonably mature tank. Shrimp in my experience are pretty robust. Unfortunately while having some fish in a holding tank, the filter bacteria died off I saw a very nasty ammonia peak, and while this killed some fish the shrimp were still very active...

Had to post this link, for you fans of EI. Strange things afoot over at Aquatic Plant Central! Tom has been a big contributor to the hobby, and although often forthright in his views, he is widely considered the man to have popularised EI as fert method. But it appears he's been chucked off...

I have ~35 in my 125 L. I would add more. Nick

It is because they use Power Sand Special in the substrate and Penac W, wouldn't you agree Neil??!! Where is Tom when we need him!? I think there are a couple of things that help. I've set up a similar tank myself recently with virtually no stems and almost all slow growers. I'm using ADA...

Cyperus helferi is spot on-Chris I've used it in my recent set-up (pics soon.....). In the 3 weeks now it has grown a fair bit as it goes. Mine came with what looked like ears of corn dangling off-check out the pic from the Tropica website. I also have to agree that it is a fair more elegant...

Yep-the stuff around them is just mineral wool. Really just a nice medium for the cuttings and small plants to strike in before shipping on. Roots tabs are an excellent way to supplement heavy root feeders such as Echinodorous or Crypts, which can be very demanding on the substrates. Both...

Without doubt, if your aim is to have a planted tank, as opposed to a tank with plants in it (I think there's a difference), then you should plant, and plant heavily from the outset. Your plants and fish will both benefit-so will you-planting up at the beginning is way easier than trying to do...

The oringal idea, developed by Dupla and Dennerle, was that the heating cables would mimic natural springs circulating thorough the substrate to help in the provision of nutrients to the roots. I have a Dennerle one that I tried when I started out with plant tanks, and towards the end of the...

Tom raises some very interesting issues here. I agree very much that most people don’t add anywhere near as enough plants at the beginning, and this makes for a bad start no matter what you system your using. Mulm, bacter 100, old filters…it all points to one thing-get the bacteria in there...

o.k. here is my 2 pence worth... A soil has three basic compents, a mineral one, a humic/organic one, and a bacterial one, irrespecitve of whether it is in an aquatic environment or sub-aerial. To me this is where Powersand special comes in. Notwithstanding the efficacy of bacterial starters...

Hi Give us what you think your KH is in German degrees. I make it ~9.5, assuming you're quoting ppm of CaCO3 (although if you want to determine your CO2, dissolved calcium carbonate doesn't really have much to do with it-you want to know alkalinity). At pH 7, and given the above KH, I make it...

Hi I've just set-up a new tank using an Eheim external that has been running on the previous set-up for ~ 4 months or so. New tank set-up with Aquasoil and Powersand Special, CO2, ferts from day one more or less, and planted with mostly Crpyts, Anubias, Narrow leaf Java fern and Cyperus...

Hi I would just shoot for plant specific tubes-any of the big brands work fine IMO. Arcadia, Dennerle, Hagen. If you want more light, one option would be to substitute the existing unit for a T5 one - Arcadia do one called I-Bar: http://www.arcadia-uk.info/product.php?psu...=10&lan=en&id=4...

Look at it like this for you calculation-1 litre or water weighs ~1 kg, so I'd be surprised if your tank would get up to 500 kg - 1/2 a metric ton!. Can three people stand close together on a floor without a collapse? I think so. That would equate to the kind of weight you might be talking...