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Here's an odd but effective alternative: Get some of that "fake fur" wool in dark green (make sure it's 100% polyester). Wind it around a small river stone until the stone is completely covered. Put it in your tank. I've been using that method for some years now - making fake plants as well as fur balls. The wool seems to be fine in the tank and doesn't come apart. I've even boiled some of my fake plants to sterilise them and they are still fine. I now have dark green, black and black/orange fuzzy rocks in my tank. Must take some photos to show you how they look. By the way, I often see my bristlenoses sucking on the wool. I think it probably traps some interesting bits out of the water and the BNs come along and suck it all off. Probably also a good place for beneficial greeblies to live, so would make a useful addition to a new tank. And my barbs use the fake plants for spawning in.

Yep. Barbs. Boost the gold barb school and add either rosy or cherry barbs. Colourful, active & hardy.

By the way, my stand is made of pine with a varnished finish, so waterproofing isn't an issue. If I were making it out of MDF I would definitely seal it somehow - either varnish or paint it thoroughly. Make sure you seal EVERY surface. The cut edges of MDF are especially vulnerable to soaking up water if there is a spill, and water that seeps into joints can be impossible to get out. You might like to consider cutting all the components out of the MDF, sealing them thoroughly with an undercoat while they are still in bits, then assembling the unit and putting the top coat on. Also looking at Olly's design, it is worth thinking about the carpet underneath the stand. If you can build your stand with a small air gap between the bottom of the stand and the carpet, you can stop dampness and mould forming under the stand in case of a spillage. But that makes your stand design much more difficult, so flat on the floor is definitely simpler. (I have a wooden floor so don't have to worry so much about that.)

Nice stand, olly. Simple and effective! The stand being low would help with its strength. I'm all in favour of making your own stand to suit your exact needs. I built my stand so it's exactly the right height to see it over the arm of the sofa (which is rather high). I also have two drawers at the top for putting all the small stuff that I need to access often, and two cupboards at the bottom for bigger stuff. The filters and all electrical gadgetry go in the cupboards to stay tidy. My tips if designing and building your own stand: 1) The back forms part of the structure. It will help prevent sideways movement (known as 'racking') so attach it well. Cross-braces at the back can achieve a similar effect, although they're not as strong. (Doors do not form part of the structure as trhey cannot help support the weight of the tank and are only attached by hinges.) 2) Use screws wherever possible rather than nails. Drill guide holes first, so the MDF doesn't split when you put the screws in. Ideally glue and screw every joint. 3) Use plenty of full-height vertical dividers to give support to the top of the stand. I would suggest a vertical divider at least every 600mm if using MDF. One every 450mm is even better. 4) Also consider using an extra rail screwed under the front top of the stand. This is a single piece of MDF, running the whole length of the top. It only needs to be about 50mm wide. Turn it on its edge for extra strength. And remember - it's INFINITELY easier to add extra structural strength when you are building the stand, rather than having to take everything apart later and try to reinforce it! If in doubt, make it stronger than you need. Over-engineer it right from the start for peace of mind. Have fun!

Also don't worry too much about the cloudy water. The tank is still very new, so give it plenty of time for everything to settle down and sort itself out. I wouldn't worry about a UV steriliser - just be patient and the cloudy water should disappear. Also I don't want to sound like a meanie, but chances are you will go through a period when your tank will start going mad with algae! Again, don't worry too much about it. Just give everything time to settle and make gradual changes rather than trying anything too radical.

How about some cherry barbs? The males are a gorgeous glowing red, and the females are pretty too - oranger than the males, with dark stripes. They are quick enough that they won't get bothered by the betta, and look lovely in a school. People say that barbs can be nippy, but I've had a variety of gold, rosey and cherry barbs and never had a nipping problem.

Some people top up their tanks with cold water all year round, but personally I like to top up with warm water, especially in the winter. This is partly because I have clown loaches, which are pretty sensitive to cold water. I just use a mix of hot and cold water from the tap. I don't worry about testing the temp, just as long as it's not very cold (or very hot!) I just put it straight in the tank. With this method you need to make sure you don't have an old house with copper or lead pipes - often old hot water pipes used to be made of copper. Another method is to use water from the cold tap, but boil a kettle-full and add it to your bucket of cold water. Give it a good stir, then add it to your tank. Also if you have a second heater, you could put it in your bucket of water overnight to equalise the temp before adding to the tank - but don't let the heater touch the sides of your plastic bucket! The consequences don't bear thinking about! But if you have hardy fish who don't mind a bit of temperature variation, and if you do smallish water changes each time, you can probably just get away with cold water changes.

More thoughts: I just re-read your original post where you mentioned the substrate and ferts you are using. You really sound like you are doing everything right. Perhaps it is just that the plants need some time for their root growth to catch up with their foliage and they will be able to pick up the nutrients from the substrate once the roots are better established. Also the fact that you are supplementing veges for your BNs will help - they are less likely to damage your plants if they have plenty of other greenery to eat. I could look at your tank for hours. You probably do!

You're right there - I would LOVE to have this "problem" in my tank! All that growth in just three weeks?! Don't think of the leaves as browning - think of them as gaining colour - reds and oranges add a gorgeous dimension to the tank. Also remember that as your tank matures and the plants spread out, the leaves closest to the surface will block some light. So you will end up with redder colouration near the surface and greener underneath. Lovely. I believe the thinning of the leabves may be a result of some nutrient deficiency - perhaps iron? When plants are growing as fast as yours are, you will need to dose ferts frequently to keep the nutrient levels high enough to support the new growth. Well done - I look forward to following the progress of your tank as it matures.

Blue rams certainly are very pretty fish! I have never tried keeping them (I've been scared off by the stories of being hard to keep!) Instead I will keep watch on yours through this thread and enjoy them vicariously

Bristlenoses will sort out their own breeding spots if they have a few options. Mine made a 'nest' under a piece of driftwood. Just make sure the substrate is reasonably fine (so they can clear out the space they need) and there are some overhanging plants to make some nice dark corners in the tank. Some things can't be rushed! I don't think you can hurry it along, except by making sure they have plenty of good food available, plenty of options about where to nest, and some quiet time together. Good luck.

Wow... a 25 year old clown loach! For her 21st did she get a key to the house? What's she getting for her 25th? Actually 25 seems pretty old to still be living at home. Will she be moving out and getting her own place any time soon?

A tank that size can be harder to keep warm than a larger tank as there is less water mass to hold the temperature. I would definitely have a go at insulating the tank on the back and sides. Heaters are notorious for not showing an accurate temperature. If your thermometer says your tank is steady at 25 degrees, then you can rely pretty well on that. A lot of fish can adapt well to a temperature outside their optimum temperature as long as it's reasonably steady. If there are wild temp fluctuations that's when you really end up with problems. In saying that I have neons in with my loaches - the loaches like warmer temps than neons. Unfortunately the neons have never thrived and often suffer from fungal infections. I think this is due to the water being too warm. Poor fishies.

What are your existing lights? What is the depth of the tank? What plants do you have in there? How long are your lights on at the moment? Generally leaving lights on for a longer time is no substitute for intensity and appropriate spectrum of light. Depending on the age/type of lights you have now, you might be able to get better results by simply changing to fresh tubes/bulbs - the cheap ones from the hardware store rather than the expensive ones from the pet store.

I always think insulation is a good idea - there's no point in heating the whole world while you're heating your tank! Personally I find polystyrene a bit of a pest to use on the outside of the tank. Sometimes bits flake off and end up floating in the tank, and also the poly is quite thick so some of my hoses etc don't hang on the tank properly if I have poly on the back. I prefer to use something like plastic bubble wrap or corrugated cardboard. You could even use one of those cheap hypothermia blankets that look like tinfoil. (I haven't tried that myself, but you can buy them for less than $5 so they might be worth a try!) Wrapping the tank in a blanket would certainly be effective if you can be bothered doing it! Again, I wouldn't do it personally because my lights sit on top of the tank and they might overheat if I covered them with a blanket and forgot to remove it in the morning. I'm not familiar with your setup, so if you have a wooden hood over your tank it might not be so much of a problem. Try insulating the outside of your tank with polystyrene or whatever, keep an eye on it and see if you need to take any further action. Some fish are more sensitive to temp fluctuations than others, so your individual situation will determine whether you need to do anything more.

What size/shape is the tank and what wattage is the heater? We haven't got to the really cold part of winter yet, so keep an eye on temp fluctuations to see if they become more extreme. In that case you might need a second heater for the other end of the tank. Insulating the tank with polystyrene is a good idea. I am going to add bubble wrap to the back of my tank, because it is near a poorly insulated outside wall. But I live in Auckland where the outside temperature never gets too cold so I don't have to worry about it too much. Good luck with keeping the fish and yourself warm in Dunedin!

This depends on several things including the type of fish, the ambient temperature of the room, etc. The 'safe' answer would be to throw towels or blankets over the tanks to keep them insulated until the power comes back on. Warning! Do not put towels/blankets on top of your lights in case the power comes on earlier than expected! If the power is off for longer than expected (5+ hours) you should probably have a 'plan B' ready. Have a thermometer in each tank so you can keep an eye on the temp. Do you have another way of warming water to top up the tanks? (eg gas or wood fire) This could be important, especially if it's a cold day, an uninsulated house, or the tanks are near windows or outside walls.

Yeah I'm a fan of infusoria for fry. I'm also a fan of using a planted tank for breeding because there is usually enough random stuff in amongst the plants and gravel to keep the fry fed. You can't really grind up flake food small enough for the fry to eat when they are really tiny, but you can supplement with ground flake when they get bigger. I'm sorry to hear that your cherry barb fry didn't make it. The most success I have had with barb fry is when either: a) I put several adults in an established planted tank, then remove them a couple of days later. b) I do a gravel vac of a tank full of barbs and pour the "waste" water into another tank along with the eggs that are already in it. Using each method I have raised fry to adulthood, and on each occasion there have been hundreds of babies, so you don't need to worry if the adults eat a few eggs! In my experience I've had the greatest success when the tank containing the spawning adults has been near a bright window (the adults spawn at first light), and when I have included artificial spawning grass along with the real plants in my tanks. I make my own spawning grass and I've been considering making more for sale. Unfortunaltely I have to sell it rather than give it away because the polyester wool I use to make it is quite expensive. Let me know if anyone is interested and I'll make some more and put them on the 'online auction' site.

Photos please! :bounce:

Eeew that sounds nasty with contaminated groundwater. I wonder what other nasties are in there? (I'm thinking fecal coloforms and other bad bad stuff). Have you had the water professionally analysed? I know of several people in the USA who use bottled water exclusively for their tanks. It can get expensive, but not as expensive as some of your other options, and a much more predictable/reliable source of water. By experimenting with some of the other suggestions, you might find that your mature filtration system can handle a reasonable amount of ammonia, but not the full dose. So you might end up being able to pre-mix some tap water with some bottled water without causing too much of an ammonia spike. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Well that depends how well they get along together - are they in the same tank at the moment? My personal opinion would be to put them all in there (if you know they get along) because you have plenty of places for them to hide so hopefully they can all live happily ever after! :bounce:

Agreed FF - it can be hard to remember when we first started out - I bet most of us started with a goldfish (or several) in a little tank with an under-gravel filter! My goodness we have comne a long way since then! Hello dutchfish and welcome to the hobby. I don't have much to add to what has already been said. I will just agree with those who said you have come to the right place to get help and advice! Take a look at the threads about "cycling" a new tank. The concept can be a little hard to understand at first, but it is very important for the health of any fish you are going to keep in a tank. Basically cycling means allowing good bacteria to grow in your tank (in the filter and on the gravel) so they can help keep the water conditions balanced. If you over-clean the tank, this cycling process needs to start all over again. Cycling can be hard work for the fish and their human, and require a lot of patience. So stick around on this site, and hopefully the good people here can help you through it step by step. It will be worth it all in the end. Good luck.

Tannins from drift wood are preferred by some fish - especially any of them that come from places like the Amazon River where tannins leach naturally into the water. It is likely to keep the water nice and 'soft' for them. It certainly won't harm other fish. The length of time it takes to leach the tannins depends on a whole lot of factors - the size of the wood, its density, the type of tree it came from, how long it has been submersed before you got it... Personally I like the look of slightly tea-stained water and I would put the wood in the tank right away and leave it in there while you are planting, cycling etc. Depending on how big it is, you can build a very attractive aqua-scape around it. Chlorine is a whole other subject! In part, it depends how much chlorine was in the water when it came out of the tap. Also if you are aerating the water, the chlorine will dissipate more quickly. If it's left out in the sunshine it will go even faster. You can also buy lots of different products that are designed to take the chlorine out of the water instantly. Personally I use them simply for convenience.

I wouldn't worry too much about its lack of growth. Juvenile fish often have growth spurts where they don't grow for ages then suddenly grow a lot in a short time. On the other hand, have you watched the two fish eating? And do they have places to go, where they can get away from each other? Just to be sure that the smaller one is getting her/his fair share of food and isn't being bullied by the bigger one. I have two bristlenoses. They were originally in two different tanks and developed different feeding habits due to the habits of their other tank-mates. They have now been in the same tank for about 18 months but they still have different feeding habits and the one that spends all day eating is still smaller than the other! I suspect the big one probably eats all night and gets any left-overs that the other fish have left lying around.

Oooh I'm looking forward to seeing that photo! What a good size loach! I wonder how old he is to have got to that size.