whetu

Oooh they're beautiful! Maybe if I spent all summer lazing round the back yard swimming pool I would be that beautiful too! :lol:

I'mactually trying to avoid having a clouding-type material in my middle layer - I do have diggity fishes (loaches) so I would like to confine all the cloudy stuff to the bottom layer if possible. Which of my proposed middle-layer stuff is likely to cause clouding? Seachem Flourite Laterite Aragonite sand JBL Aqua Basis

I'm still awaiting the call from the mysterious benefactor who's going to donate a 1300 litre tank and stand to my clown loach breeding project. :lol: Oh and I'll need several high-quality filters, a few hundred litres of substrate, an enormous piece of stunning twisted driftwood, some rare and spectacular plants (and the appropriate lights etc to grow them) and probably just a couple of hundred neon tetras to keep the loaches company. In exchange you'll get naming rights to all the new baby loaches when they're born. Who can resist a deal like that? :bounce:

Yes, that's going to be an on-going problem. (Did I mention that I hate moving?) Maybe each time I move I will just put the same substrate back in, and put another layer of sand on top! That's at least three moves before there is more substrate in the tank than water! :lol:

Yeah it sounds like once you've cleaned the glass, got the best & newest tubes and installed reflectors (if it doesn't already have them) you might have maximised your lighting ability. I'm afraid it doesn't sound like an ideal glosso tank.

Ok I have my little notebook out and I'm putting together everyone's ideas. So far my 'perfect substrate' looks something like this: Top layer (2 - 3 cm deep) A thick covering of black sand (1 - 2 mm grains) Perhaps topped off with my existing dark gravel Middle layer (approx 2 cm deep) A mixture of nutrient-rich stuff (proportions will depend on what I can afford): Seachem Flourite Laterite Aragonite sand? JBL Aqua Basis? Bottom layer (approx 2 cm deep) Dalton's Aquatic Mix Perhaps with JBL Aqua Basis mixed in? So the total substrate depth will be 6 - 7 cm. The Dalton's will be under about about 4 - 5 cm of other stuff, so if the loaches start digging they will have to go a long way down before they start making a big, cloudy mess.

Alan, what texture is JBL Aqua Basis? Will it do the same thing when stirred up as the Daton's? ie send a big cloud all over the tank?

Thanks Craig. I already have all the fish, so I won't be able to delay adding them unfortunately. They will be in unfiltered, unheated buckets for the move so I will need to get them back into the tank asap. I have heard that flourite is an excellent substrate so I'm thinking I might get some of that and mix it into my middle layer. That allows me to control how much $$ I spend by kind of diluting it down with other substrates. I already have some fairly well established plants like swords, and a lot of fast-growing stem plants. Perhaps by letting the stem plants run wild for a while they might slurp up some of the excess nutrients while the slower growing plants are getting re-established.

For every answer I think of a multitude of questions! :lol: My tank has a footprint 1200 x 450mm. If I put 15 litres of Dalton's in there, how deep would it be? I know this is a very simple calculation but it seems to be beyond my brain capacity at the moment. :-? What is the purpose of the aragonite sand? Is it just to hold the Dalton's down or does it add nutrient? You mention that the black sand on top is inert - does that imply that the aragonite is not inert? Does that make it ert?

Hmm... ok, looking at your pics I can understand that Dalton's is not essential for growing plants! On the other hand, I need to take the tank apart for the move anyway, and the current substrate (dark gravel) needs to be boosted because it's a bit thin in places... so I might as well set it up properly. Sounds like Dalton's would be a good base layer and at that price it's very affordable. So, in your non-Dalton's planted tanks what sort of substrate do you use? do you add any kind of slow-release ferts to the substrate or do you rely on liquid ferts for your impressive results?

Here's what the Tropica website says about Tropica Plant Substrate: Is this similar to Dalton's or something else altogether? :-?

OOh yes please! I always like perving at (oops I mean admiring :oops: ) other people's tanks! :bounce: But I'm still left wondering - what exactly is Dalton's? I mean, what purpose does it serve? Is it just a fairly inert substance that forms a layer for plants to get their roots into? Or does it actually contain nutrients etc? Do I need to add other nutrient-rich substances to it?

So it's 60cm high? That means the light has a lot of water to get through before it reaches the bottom of the tank - meaning you'll need extra v v. high light to grow glosso. I'm with the dwarf val!

Unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to move again in May. I am TOTALLY OVER renting and having to move whenever it suits the landlords! :roll: But that's another subject... The only good thing I can see about moving is that since I'm going to have to break my tank down and start all over again, I can take the opportunity to change around whatever I want. So now is the time to plan my new, fantastic super-duper planted tank! First, the substrate. I might have to adapt some things to suit my tight budget, but before I start cutting back I would like to know what would be the ideal, then make compromises as necessary. So... what's the perfect substrate for a planted tank? I just watched a video on the Practical Fish Keeping website (sorry, I can't find it again to link...). The guy in the video used the following substrates: Bottom layer: Tropica plant substrate Middle layer: He made up a mixture of various nutrient-rich substrates along with some inert silica sand. The mix was: JBL (?) Flora? (couldn't quite make out what he said) Aqua Clay ADL Aqua Soil Eco complete Top layer: Black silica sand The video was made in the UK so I don't even know if we have all those things in NZ. Would the bottom layer be something like Dalton's aquatic mix? Help and advice appreciated. I'm going to spend the next few weeks dreaming about how lovely my tank's going to be after the move, so I don't go crazy thinking about how much I hate moving! :lol:

In a tank that is heavily planted, the problem could be that the taller, faster-growing plants block out some of the light so low-growing plants are effectively growing in the shade. No matter how much light you have on the tank if it doesn't reach the bottom then it won't do any good! I'm not familiar with an Ar980 tank. What are its dimensions?

Once you exclude thicker glass as an option (and from the posts here it would seem that it is not economical) I would second Ira's point about putting polystyrene on your tank to insulate it. Even if you just put poly on one side (the back) it is likely to make a difference. Here are some other thoughts: How warm is your tank? Would your fish be just as happy and healthy if you turned it down a couple of degrees? How long are your lights on each day? Could you cut that back by an hour or two without any ill effects on plants? Are your lights on a timer to make sure they don't get left on accidentally? Do you really need all the lighting you have? Perhaps if you have several lights you could use different timers so some of your lighjts are on for 10 hours a day but others are only on for five hours (for example) Have you considered changing to plants with low light requirements (or fish with low temperature requirements for that matter)? Do all your lights have reflectors to maximise the light getting into the tank? And is the glass clean - both the tank covers and the light covers? Where is the tank positioned in the room? If it is against a cold external wall (or near a window) it will need more heating than if it is against an internal wall. Is it practical to cover your tank at night once the lights go off? The heater is likely to be working hardest during cold nights. (You would need to be very careful to uncover it during the day if your lights were being covered, to guard against overheating!) Is your filter working as efficiently as it can - ie well maintained and not clogged? With a name like humvee perhaps you should consider your petrol consumption before you worry about your tanks! :lol:

Only 50?! Oh my goodness!

kyla, what kind of fish do you have in your tank? And how much water do you change each time? Personally I do put chlorine remover in the tap water because chlorine can both kill off beneficial bacteria and irritate the gills of delicate fish. (The lucky people in places like Christchurch don't have chlorine in their water, so they don't have to worry about it.) Sometimes the water supplier will put extra chlorine in the water after heavy rain, or if there has been damage to a pipe, or if there is some other risk of contamination in the water supply. This is to protect our drinking water from harmful bacteria, but isn't so good for fish! So it's up to you - if you have hardy fish and do smallish water changes each time, then you'll probably be fine. If you have more delicate fish and/or do large water changes, then you're probably better to remove the chlorine first. Also if your water has a strong chlorine smell, or your fish start 'flashing' (rubbing themselves against rocks etc) after a water change, I think it would be a good idea to add some chlorine remover. You can also remove chlorine by leaving water to sit for a couple of days in a bucket or tub. It will work faster if the water is warmed, aerated and/or left in direct sunlight. But most of us find it easier just to add the stuff out of a bottle!

I think a lot of people would have observed this kind of behaviour in their clowns over the years, but had no reason to think of it as spawning. It's only after Colin Dunlop's article describing similar behaviour then observing them laying eggs that the (potential) significance of this behaviour has come to light. I can't swear that I have never seen them doing this before, but it is certainly different to their normal 'clownish' activities. My partner called me to look because he has never seen them do something like this in the four years he has known them (yes I've had my loaches twice as long as I've had my partner :lol: ) He isn't especially interested in fish, had no idea about clown loaches and breeding, and I had not mentioned Colin Dunlop's article to him. He was just watching television, got distracted by the loaches' vigorous swimming and called me to have a look.

Your description of 'feathery' algae may mean bush algae (BBA). Is it very dark green and growing in small clumps? Does it grow long and stringy or does it stay short and thick? Photos or a clear description would be helpful as the remedy is different for different types of algae.

I won't be putting any effort into breeding them as I don't have the money or the space for a breeding tank for them. At the moment they are in a community tank, so any eggs would get eaten up pretty fast (even if I could see them).

She has always been fatter than the others, but no, she didn't look gravid in the sense that other fish might look. She is very greedy and eats as much by herself as the others eat between them all! Don't know! I haven't seen her since we took this video on Sunday night Not specifically. There is a pile of rocks in the back left corner of the tank that has been siliconed together to create caves & tunnels. There is also a piece of driftwood with a 'slit' in it that belongs excluseively to HatuPatu and she won't let other fish go in there. LOL! Keep asking! It's interesting to share!

The story so far: I have five clown loaches. Three of them are eight years old and two are five years old (ages are approximate only). I am aware that clown loaches don't breed in captivity unless injected with hormones (although there have been a couple of undocumented claims that they have bred in captivity). The other day Luke* very kindly linked to this article that had been published in Practical Fishkeeping magazine in the UK: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/p ... ?news=1429 The key part of the article is this: Colin Dunlop's loaches ended up laying eggs, which all turned out to be infertile in the end. Still pretty remarkable though. Anyway, on Sunday I did a water change in my tank using rain water, and also threw in some mosquito larvae from the rainwater buckets. About 9pm on Sunday my partner called out to me to come and look at what the loaches were doing as he had never seen anything like it. After we'd been watching them for about 15 minutes he got his new phone and started recording what they were doing. I have just loaded the resulting video on YouTube: The video is extremely poor quality, but I think it pretty much shows exactly the behaviour described by Colin Dunlop in the PFK article. So whaddaya reckon then?

Actually I just re-read that and it's a very complicated answer to a simple problem. :oops: I suggest setting up your filter with the output at one end of your tanka nd the intake at the other end. All the rest of the detail can be worked out by experimentation. The only thing I would say is make sure your intake is high enough above the sand that you're not going to end up with all the sand inside the filter. Once you've done that you can just experiment with the position of the output/spray bar.

It depends on your setup, the kind of fish you have, where your plants are placed, where ytour hard landscaping is, and what you want to achieve. Hope that helps. :lol: Ok more specifically: If you have fish that like a decent current, then yes you will want to make sure you are rushing the water straight from one end of the tank to the other, as fast as possible. If you have fish that like a slower current, then you may want to point your spay bar towards the tank glass or anothr solid object, to create a less direct current. With sand, you will need to make sure you don't keep picking up the sand and blowing it around the tank. I have gravel and if I point my spray bar straight down I end up with a big hole in the gravel and I can see the glass on the bottom of the tank! If you have plants you will need to give them a slightly sheltered area to grow, at least until they get established - otherwise your stem plants will end up growing horizontally (actually not a bad look if it's what you want. However you arrange things you are going to end up with eddies and with some dead spots where gunk will collect behind rocks, plants, in corners, etc. you will need to vacuum them out once in a while, or just stir the water up to let the filter get hold of them.