Ian Wilson

Yes it's a freshwater setup, only a couple of hundred litres as much for the kids as anything. I've kind of got back into the hobby after a bit of a layoff for a few years. I like my gadgets and the last time I was serious I actually built my own PH controller from a circuit I found on the net. I noticed a difference with plant growth straight away since the controller responds immediately to the demands of the plants. Remember as your plants continue to grow their appetite for CO2 will continue to rise so you are always going to be half a step behind, on a macro level their demand will vary during the day. Given how cheap the Weipro 2010 unit is (just over $70) it seems like a cheap investment with a good return. That was all I was going to buy today but I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present and get the dual PH/ORP unit the ozone unit was only another $30 and ozone is more effective than UV as a steriliser with the added benefit introducing another layer of filtration and clarifying the water. Given my tardy record of water changes it was a bit of a no brainer. As I understand it the reason large aka public aquariums use ozone is because it's impractical to do large water changes. I've always thought it's better to tickle feed fresh water in rather than big 25%+ changes since you are introducing a sudden large change in the water chemistry, the problem is it's just not practical to do so unless you can permanently tap into a water supply with the appropriate drainage. Your tank btw looks fantastic, it's not often I see a real life tank that could belong in an Takashi Amano book. The only problem you're going to face is the need to constantly prune to prevent the tank from becoming overgrown. I used to take out bucket fulls of plants on a regular basis when mine was in full flight.

Are you using a PH controller to regulate the CO2 levels or just relying on the bubble counter? If not using a PH controller then I recommend you get one. Otherwise you'll be wasting CO2 at night when the plants don't need it plus your PH will fluctuate. The shop in HK you've been sourcing your equip from does a Weipro unit pretty cheap. I just bought their dual PH and Ozone controller as I'm going to play around with introducing ozone into the system to control dissolved organic matter not caught by mechanical or biological filtration. Nice article HERE

Thanks everyone. Not a great effort with the video just threw it together and the quality is nothing like the raw footage, first time I've tried to film a fish tank and there's a lot of room for improvement. The tank unforturnately is going through a cloudy period at the moment, part of the cycling process I guess and the sump is going to need some major revisions at some point. I'll do a proper video at some point when the tank has settled down and Freshwest decides to clean the front glass

Grabbed a few pics over the weekend of Freshwests Tank. Also shot a bit of video of the tank. The video is about 5 mins long and includes some footage of a pair of Discus spawning. In addition I also grabbed some backroom stuff along with some footage of his other tanks. I've compressed the file down as much as possible, quality is still OK. You can see it here - Clicky The link works if you can't see it you probably need to download the Divx codec

Been meaning to post on this thread for ages. I was one of the helpers early on - what fun that was building the stand and getting the tank into place If you're interested in why Freshwest checkout the little bags of Chillies in your local supermarket sometime... He does a mean Capsicum as well Anyway enough of the free plugs.... That last lot of photos are rubbish The tank is looking stunning and I'll have a go and getting some better shots this weekend. I'm afraid Freshwest has got a bad dose of fish fever judging by his ever expanding fish room. I just have the one tank a 4 footer - currently empty (just moved from Holland back to NZ). But when it had water and fish it looked like this - in one of its many reincarnations . OK but not in the same league as Freshwest's.