supasi

To be totally honest Alan, Im not really sure and would be guessing in saying its Echinodorus X 'Rubin' Was purchased a few years ago for my discus tank, from a store that didnt even know it was called a sword. Its a slow grower and I have never really given it much care.It has never sent off any runners or flower heads as of yet.

Price is usually determined by demand. Same as anything, if its plentiful, then price cheap. As goes with angels i saw selling in auckland for 3 bucks each, some might say thats normal, but here in Wanganui they sell in the shops for over 10 bucks.Not as many around.

Alright, Im impatient and turned the light on. This is my tank today, So it proves you can successfully grow plants under lower light, keeping in mind that other than the sword, all other plans are low light requirement plants Xmas Moss on stone on left, Anubias nana on wood right of sword and Anubias nana "petite" on stone to left of sword. Various crypts and a small java sword. The crypts and the sword have a few JBL 7Balls under them as they are heavy root feeders

Dont let it deter you though. In slight contradiction to my previous post, here is a pic of my tank with 2X18w t8 tubes and 1X 8w t5 tube both the 18w tube are 6400k bright daylight osram tubes(cheap as chips at bunnings or mitre 10 mega) That pic was taken shortly after setup, but i have succesful growth of the sword with red leaves and the crypts are starting to become a forest. will post updated pic tonight once lights back on. Keep going, Plants become addictive in my opinion, I have more plants than fish at my house and always looking for more.

Just gonna post the pics from freshwater thread here so people arent having to trawl back to look, hope you dont mind

Straight up. NO If you have two flouro tubes you are more likely to have 2X 18 watts or 2x 36 watts. look on the tube it will say.If not let us know the length of the tubes as its easy to tell. With a tank of that depth , that is low lighting. Plants that would grow good in that lighting would be Java moss, Anubias sp' and java ferns, and some crypt species. If you increase light intensity you should find it easier to grow more plants. You mentioned that the tank seems well lit, but if you consider your tanks brightness compared to the sun, you will realise it is very dim. HTH

Also, after browsing the pics in the freshwater forum, I see the plants you have have been grown emersed.Meaning they have been grown above the water line. This is common for most LSF bought plants and although not necesesarly a bad thing, can reult in plants dieing off after a short time.Dont let it bother you as the lower leaves may turn brown and then fall off, just keep removing them as they do so and the plants will start to to produce submerced forms. does that make sense? The plants are grown commercially emersed as they grow faster for the producer. HTH

What sort of lighting do you have. Unless there is enough light, adding extra nutrients will not male a difference as plants require three things to thrive. LIGHT, CO2, NUTRIENTS. For the average tank, co2 is produced by the fish.

Looks great so far. Cant wait to see updates as you progress. Im not sure if you have already stated it, but what is the lighting? watts etc. I use daltons in all my planted tanks with great success. Are you going to go CO2?

If your having the tank made, Id go sump. get the hloes drilled etc and designed to suit you. For a 6 foot setup a sump will have bigger filtration and you can hide ugly heaters etc

Any pics??????

I agree, Greg makes a good quality tank. I travelled to Auckland just to pick it up(Well not really, went to visit my old man, but got a tank off greg as he was recommened) Im very happy, and my mate who is a glazier said he couldnt make one as cheap as he did.I fully recommend his work.

Imsweet, the car normally gets parked in there but not today when i took photo. Yes it is a McD's cup, lol

All previous inspections they have never asked to look in the shed. No one has complained.

Just been talking to someone who used to work for the company, and he said that this guy is new and prob trying to look good to the boss. He told me to ignore him as what ive got in my garage is what is allowed under my contract. Funny though, he never said anything about all the fishtanks and equipment in the spare room. There is four tanks running and two empty and boxes of filters and other fishkeeping essentials.

I dont know what made me laugh more, the penguins or the comentery.

Hi all Yesterday I had a house inspection as I live in a rental property. The guy who came over said that i needed to clean up my garage as I am accumalating to much junk! The so called junk in question is a lounge suite, spare washer, spare fridge ,my tool, fishing rods and my kayak. It is a double garage and the stuff is mine(not illegal) its not visable from outside, and its not damaging the property. :evil: Can someone please clarify for me, Can rental managers say what i can store in my garage? As stated above, it belongs to me, its not illegal property and I thought thats what garages are for, storing property.

Me too! :lol: :lol:

Can I ask where you got the light fixture from?

Hey that looks awesome. What substrate are you using (looks like good ol west coast iron sand, am I right) Also is this the tank the cat has been fishing in??

Is the tank new(ie has it been running long?) Brown algae is common in new setups and will dissapear on its own so long as water conditions are good. I currently have tha same in my Geo setup and it has been running for several weeks now. HTH

Great pics. What camera are you using? Is it just a standard point and shoot or DSLR?

Exactly what i was thinking. Thats one beautiful cat :lol: :lol:

Hello and welcome