Sam's Nano Journal

[Themuleous]

If they've not heard of Gertrude's Rainbows try asking for either spotted blue-eye or Pseudomugil gertrudae. I see there is a MA in Bristol, every MA Ive been in have always been very good at answering questions and things. Have you asked them if they will get some in? The Oxford MA dont post fish.

As for cost, I got mine for 5 for £7 I think it was, but around £2 each seems about right.

Sam

 

[arif_93]

If they've not heard of Gertrude's Rainbows try asking for either spotted blue-eye or Pseudomugil gertrudae. I see there is a MA in Bristol, every MA Ive been in have always been very good at answering questions and things. Have you asked them if they will get some in? The Oxford MA dont post fish.

As for cost, I got mine for 5 for £7 I think it was, but around £2 each seems about right.

Sam

i phoned my local ma and they said they dont have any and they wont order any in cuz they have to order a bulk of load of 200 in !
they said they have lamp eye rainbow fish i never heard of them and i can find on google
can anyone post any pics of lamp eye rainbowfish
plz

 

[Themuleous]

They are an equally good looking fish, have thought about them myself. Here's a pic

No offence but if you want fish advice could you start a new thread in the main section, so my journal doesn't get to clogged up with irrelevant stuff, cheers

Sam

EDIT - you cant have looked very hard for lampeye pics, google images has millions.

 

[arif_93]

They are an equally good looking fish, have thought about them myself. Here's a pic

No offence but if you want fish advice could you start a new thread in the main section, so my journal doesn't get to clogged up with irrelevant stuff, cheers

Sam

EDIT - you cant have looked very hard for lampeye pics, google images has millions.

sorry sam will do but 1 last thing i have found a shop and heres wat im getting 2 forktail blue eyes 2 gertrudes and 2 signifer and also 4 cherry shrimp all for under 20 quid

 

[DevUK]

Any updates sam? Would love to see how its doing at the moment

 

[Themuleous]

Sorry it is a copy of the PM I sent you but it saves me time writing it again! Yes, I'm that lazy!

The nano has never been right since the first scape. I tried a new scape but the plants didn't grow. Added some T5 lights but still the plants didnt grow, even tried several combinations of light bulbs still nothing. So I reverted back to the good old T8 Arcadia freshwater tubes and moved things around a bit. That was 2 weeks ago and still my HC wont grow. Its better than it was but not growing nearly as fast as it should. The glosso is doing ok but not pearling like it should. Its very frustrating and I've tried lots of different things with the lights and ferts but it just isn't working like it did when I first set it up. I'm gonna give it a few more weeks and if its still nackered, I'm gonna try my last hope and replace the substrate, will use eco-complete again, but use a fresh bag. Both times when I stripped the tank down, I cleaned the substrate with boiling water and a bit of bleach to get rid of the algae and I'm beginning to wonder if that might have affected it. Whether its a bleach residue on the substrate or the lack of bacteria due to me sterilising it that's the problem I don't know. The hornwort certainly grows ok floating around.

So the short version is, the tank is not going well at all! And I'm determined to reach the acclaimed 'algae-free' point that EI is 'supposed' to bring! Time will tell, at least being a small tank its been relatively cheap to re-do it so many times. If it had been any bigger, it would have cost a fortune by now!

Sam

EDIT - not that Im going to win, but I entered the first scape into the PFK comp

 

[George Farmer]

Sam, have you considered PMDD with PO4, as per JamesC's website? The latest I've read is that low NO3 and PO4 are more suited to soft water. Not sure how much truth there is in that but I figured as you've never had success with EI...

 

[Themuleous]

I hadn't actually George, but guess its worth a try, cheers The tank did run ok when I first set it up and the plants certainly grew! ok I got algae but I think that was due to the weekly water changes, had I done them every other day then I think it might have worked. All I need to do now is to get the tank back to that same point in order to see if the increased water changes do actually work! if only it was that simple!

Out of interest, why is soft water more suited to low NO3 and PO4?

Sam

 

[George Farmer]

Out of interest, why is soft water more suited to low NO3 and PO4?

I don't know. I don't know if it is. I just read it in a few threads on APC. Could be balony...

Worth a try though. JamesC is having great results with it, less CO2, less water changes, slower growth and no algae. PM him for more info, he's a top bloke.

 

[Themuleous]

Will do, cheers

EDIT - guess what's annoying is that I know the EI system works, as you, peter and so many others have proved it works, I just want to achieve that myself!

 

[mlawson]

Looks great to me Sam

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Themuleous]

You mean it DID look great, looks nothing like that now! I wish it did!

 

[DevUK]

New substrate should help Doesn't Eco and some other substrates have a bit of a "shelf life" anyway? Or is that just ADA substrates?

 

[zig]

Sam what way are you diffusing the CO2 in this tank, I've no doubt you are fertilising correctly so that really only leaves the CO2.

Here's how I do it on my Reckord 60, that tank is 24x12x12 and it has the same 2211 filter that you have, this method works a treat on a tank that size, only time I ever have problems with CO2 in that tank is because of the diffuser getting clogged with algae buildup, so to avoid that I just swop it out each week with a fresh clean glass diffuser, I keep one spare for that reason.

Anyway, CO2 basically is sucked up the filter and gets distributed into the tank nice and evenly fully dissolved, in the tank when working the intake is a lot nearer to the diffuser practically on top of it bar a few mm's, the filter strainer is also removed just like in the picture, I have never had a problem with fish getting sucked up, this tank has been up and running since last April with 5+WPG.With PPS Pro method you may find growth very slow but its worth a try, I currently use this method in my main big tank.

Personally I would focus on CO2 and make sure thats right.

 

[Themuleous]

Thanks Zig I have a drop checker at the far end of the tank to the diffusers and its a nice green, with just a slight hint of yellow, so pretty sure the CO2 is ok, but cheers all the same

Steven - yeh substrate do have a shelf life, in that they can get used up, but Tom says that with EI there is less demand on the substrate so it can last years. The glosso is growing now, so will see what happens, perhaps change it if it doesn't work out

Sam