MarkLB

Good point, I'd missed that.

The water changes are the best thing you can do. You could reduce them to every second day in a weeks time and keep reducing them over the next couple of weeks after that until you're back to once a week, say in 4/5 weeks time. Forget about the pH for now, it will slowly become closer to the tap water because of all the water changes. Once you start down the road of pH up and down you'll forever be chasing it. When the tank is mature the pH should stabilise.

My thinking is that the only significant place for the bacteria to colonise is the sponge and the gravel so every time you clean the sponge and vac the gravel you are disturbing those colonies and therefore the tank is never given a chance to mature. Gravel vac,ing isn't too important if you don't over feed. I haven't done one for months. IMO you can get rid of the cartridges and one third fill the filter with filter sponge or filter wool and two thirds with ceramic noodles. Clean the sponge when you have to but leave the ceramic noodles alone, maybe a rinse in tank water if necessary. I have filters that haven't been disturbed in months and I still have clear water.

Are there any ceramic thingies in the filter or is it just the sponge?

Ammonia shows that the tank isn,t cycled yet. Maybe the tank is too clean?? How often do you clean the filter? It should only be cleaned when there is a significant loss of water flow and even then only gently so as not to kill off any beneficial bacteria.

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=38081

Maybe excess carbon is causing an algae bloom?? If I'm reading correctly you have CO2 injection and you're using Excel, both sources of carbon.

I'm addicted to Janes Addiction 8)

Yello-Stella

A day off from work today :happy1:

Chain loaches keep my tank snail free, they are great wee fish to watch too. I've used snail traps before but they do a better job of catching BN fry than they do snails. A piece of cucumber or lettuce under an upside down saucer with it's edge propped up a bit can work just as well.

I ordered something from them on 31 July and it arrived yesterday 8)

Hi. It sounds as if you're doing everything right. I'd ditch the carbon though. If you're using any medications the carbon will strip it from the water. Also, when the carbon is old and used it can dump toxins back into the tank. Best to get rid of it all together.

I use around a cup of bleach in a bucket of water, soak the rocks until they are clean then rinse them off. I usually leave mine in a cold shower for an hour or two. When I can't smell bleach I consider them safe. I have used this method several times and have had no losses. If you wanted to be extra careful you could leave them to dry for a couple of days.

Why don,t you want to use bleach? I have used it and it,s fine. Sunshine will do the trick too if you are patient.

He got too close to a protective female?? :lol: That,s the way the the program filled the background. I,ll touch it up tomorrow and re-post.

ArtRage looks like it could be fun. This is my first attempt to familiarise myself with the tools.

Thanks for sharing those pics. The time lapse makes interesting viewing 8) and the tank looks great. And don't worry about posting too much, no such thing if the posts are relevant

Yeah, Hi Caper. Drop us a post, let us know how you're doing.

Hopefully they'll come right with a bit of TLC. Can the Gourami make it to the surface? If it can't it might pay to put it in a fry trap or similar so it has less distance to cover if it wants to sip air.

Can/have you done any water tests?

A water change will help them.

Mmmmm...Brownies !drool: