bobo

Cheers Ira. Appreciated

So, I thought I would save money by 'dry dosing', but wanted to check I was doing the right thing. I read this thread here on low tech tanks: http://www.sudeepmandal.com/hobbies/planted-aquarium/low-tech-planted-tank-guide/ It states I need to dose: 1/4 Teaspoon of Seachem Equilibrium (for traces and Calcium + Magnesium). (1.42 ppm Ca, 0.42 ppm Mg, 3.43 ppm K and 0.02 ppm Fe)1/8 Teaspoon of KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate) (5.27 ppm NO3 and 3.32 ppm K)1/32 Teaspoon of KH2PO4 (Potassium Mono Phosphate) (1.61 ppm PO4 and 0.66 ppm K)per 20g, once a week/fortnight. So typing into trademe I get these sources of Potassium Nitrate and Potassium Mono Phosphate: http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/outdoor-garden-conservatory/greenhouses/auction-1040925403.htm http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/outdoor-garden-conservatory/greenhouses/auction-1043707818.htm So, it's working with these raw chemicals that I am nervey about. a) Do I just get a teaspoon and sprinkle the raw chemical straight into the tank? No prep? b) Do I need to know anything about storing such chemicals? c) Anything else I need to know about dry ferts? Thank you! \\

Awesome. Thank you to all the posters. I think I'll need to pull some out and spread em out

Thank you for the feedback. Sorry if I am being dense, but I still don't get how I should space the plants, i.e. 10cm between each? Further? Cheers :)

A quick question: Should I be spacing Amazon Swords a decent distance apart to give room for the root structures? I would like to grow a lot, large and dense. So planted them together, but am worried they won't have enough room. Thank you!

cooool

Hey guys, The tank will be heavily planted, 120l x45d x60h aquarium. I'm planning to keep some female bettas, a schooling fish, some bottom dwellers. My current thoughts: ~6 female bettas 20-30 single species of a schooling fish. This is where I am most stuck, I am looking at emerald eye rasboras, harlequin/espei rasboras, x-ray tetra. What are your thoughts? ~10 Corys, probably peppered/sterbai. Maybe some zebra or pakistani loaches. 6 or so, Not sure about these. Perhaps some odds and ends as the mood fancies: such as some kind of small dwarf cichlid(s), BNC, ottos etc. Any other ideas? Particularly interested in your thoughts regarding the schooling fish and the loaches. Advice much appreciated!

Thanks for the response Shilo. Still dithering - just can't find much specific information/reviews out there for the Sanrise, and I'm a natural ditherer anyway.

Hey guys, I'm aiming for a low-medium densely planted tank. Thinking probably swords, crypts and other low light plants. Dimensions:120l x45d x60h Does this LED unit look useful: http://www.trademe.co.nz/pets-animals/fish/lights-lamps/auction-973710751.htm A bit of technical detail on the smaller model: http://www.aquasanrise.com/List.asp?L-1166524031.html Or should I go for a 2x55W T5? Where can I get ~6500k T5 tubes from? Struggling to find any. Thank you in advance!

All gone

Thank you Crunch

Heya, I have a 120cm Dymax 2x 55W fixture above my tank. I have dropped it a couple of times. 2nd time was pretty bad, a clean fall from the top of the tank to the ground. On this second occasion one of the tubes shattered. I have cleaned everything up and the fitting still works. There is a bit of rattling if I move each end up and down, as what I assume are shards of glass move behind the reflector. What I would like to know: it safe to use or could it potentially create an electrical issue? i.e. should I replace the whole unit despite the fact it is working? Thank you in advance for your help.

Yay. Fishies Lookin good

Baby clowns = exciting!

Yeah totally; in the past I set it up from the get go. This time, with just coming back from overseas, I'm trickling money into it, rather than buying everything upfront, so will slowly add to the tank. Thanks for the feedback btw

New Tank: Substrate/Heaters/Filter/A few Neons: Does the plastic cap that goes on the bottom of a heater matter? I lost one. The filter is kinda ugly, but I don't care too much; if it isn't up to scratch I'll replace with a canister/canisters in the future. I think I will move the filter to the left a bit, and put some hard-scaping in-front of it. Next step is hardscape. Followed by some initial planting

Cheers Pete

Thanks for the info: re SAEs. It's a shame; I do like them [

Yeah. Might leave excel alone for now. Cheers

My better half is off them, so the question has become somewhat redundant. Thanks for the answers though!

Yeah... I did a gravel vac once a term on my last tank, when I did my water change - just a general maintenance (pruning etc). Never had any noticeable (through testing or fish) water quality issues. But I didn't use Excel, unless it was to kill algae, so that's a bit of unknown to be; I thought it would add a little boost to the plants, but probably isn't needed on a low light tank.

Heya, I had to get rid of my tanks as I moved overseas, but am back now, and have lined up: 120cm x 45 x 55(h). So am busy planning it now and would welcome ideas. It's going to be a heavily planted, low maintenance tank. I will add photos as I go through the process of setting up the tank. Planning: Substrate I was planning on Dalton's aquatic mix. With some kind of sand on top. 1) How much Dalton's should I place down. How much sand on top of it? I can't remember. 2) Is sand ok if you have burrowing fish? I'm worried about the potential to mix up the Daltons. Lighting Coming with 2x55 of 6500k lighting. Additives Will dose PMDD, Excel (dose each day or every two days) Filtration How important is this on a heavily planted aquarium? On my last planted aquarium the canister filter broke, and I switched to the hooded filter and noticed no difference to the tank. What volume of movement should I be looking for 3x? 6x? Flora Thinking of a Tiger Lotus focus. Densely planted with them; may look cool? Thoughts? Do the red Tiger Lotus need higher light and supplementary iron? Fauna Really looking for ideas here. (which have to be vetoed by my wife) She likes bettas, killifish (I've never kept them), angels (I'm loath), discus obviously(pricey -not a good match for a low water-change aquarium?), colourful tetras. At the moment I'm looking at: 1) Male Betta 2) 4 Female Bettas - I was hoping this would work in a heavily planted environment? Reading up on the combo yields mixed reports and a lot of hearsay. 3) 1-2 schools of small fish such as tetras. Active, colourful, schooling ideas would be appreciated? 4) Siamese Algae Eaters 5) Some kinda bottom dwellers, such as cories, or loaches. Ideas? 6) Can killifish go into this environment? Any other fishie ideas and comments on stocking would be appreciated Setting the aquarium up What's a floating plant I can use in the aquarium until the Tiger Lotus start doing well? Or would you recommend stem plants to suck up the nutrients. Would you cycle with a school of the tetras? Will post photos on the weekend once I start setting up. Cheers!

So, still potential problems? They would be my least successfully kept fish, by a long way.

PMed So the amount of excel I quoted for a 290L (7.5ml daily) makes sense? I find that affordable. Does any ingredient in Excel build up? Once the tank is established I plan to do one water change per term.

Hey guys, I last bought Dwarf Gouramis (cobalt blue/flame) around 2009, and they died of some weird disease. I posted on the forums around then, and people said they had a tendency to be sold diseased, or with high susceptibility to disease. Have things improved since then? A second question: Do they operate well in groups? i.e. I was considering getting 10 or so?