bobo

Cooool

Yeah. My pH definitely sunk straight after the CO2 was added. I already have crushed coral, should I add more? I have tested my kH once before - it was quite low. Should this be an area I now monitor? The only way I can influence it is by adding coral right? (or chemicals, but want to avoid...) I'll google that plant... (and all the others)

Cool. Keeping?

Cheers dude. I only feed him once a day - should I cut back the amount or go to every two days? Be on grumpy Oscar. Irrelevant: Why are you selling up? It's a ncie tank

Hey guys, I have an established ~340l tank that has 1 juvenile Oscar (three inches or so), 3 Silver Dollars (slightly bigger) and a pictus catfish (prob 4-5inches). I cannot get my Nitrates to near zero; yet I read, any measurement = bad. I do a ~40% water change weekly, with gravel vac, and have a Sunsun 304. 1) Are these low level nitrate readings something to be concerned about? 2) Would I get better flow from my filter if I removed the spray bar, which would allow the water to gush from the larger hole? Cheers!!!!

Hey, thanks guys for the positive comments and the advice :bounce: I love tapping into this community's knowledge. I've got to research those various plants now... Cheers!!

Yeah... the whole 'work getting in the way of fishkeeping' thing happened. And Thanks!! Cheers ears. It's slowly taking shape. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the overall plan, but we shall see... Thanks for the prompt responses guys If I get a canister filter, am I after lowish flow? Say 600 l/h? I'm never very good at stocking numbers. If I bought 12 female guppies (6 males currently), say 6 corys, and a couple of dwarf cichlids - would that be a full tank? I wouldn't mind a little room in case of babies Is this too many? Could I add more fishies? ;p I'll look into those plants Cheers

So, the tank (a slow project) is currently like so (120l): 1) I have just started using DIY CO2 and my pH has plummeted. I heard that this isn't something to worry about, because fish aren't actually effected by a changing pH, more a changing kH, is this true? Should I add some more buffering to the tank? 2) Plant set-up. I'm hoping for the glosso to gradually spread until it covers the front of the tank. Then I have to place some plants betweent the ambulia and the glooso - I wanted something mid-height. I was thinking some kind of grass, any ideas? 3) Fishies. We are going for guppies. Can I keep some kind of small rams in there with them? Maybe some corys? Any other small fish you can recommend (not neons thanks!). I would love some kind of loaches to nail the snails (which are currently Oscar tucker), but am fearful they would munch the guppies' tails? 4) If we got female guppies as well, would they breed of their own volition, or would we have to play around with tank conditions? Could we do all the breeding within this tank, or is it necessary to separate fry from the mothers, and the females from the males? We would only be breeding casually/for fun. 5) Filter. At the moment I have a crap filter from my old 60l tank. Is filtration important on a densely planted tank? I was thinking it might help with keeping it clear of algae (in some way). Should I go for a canister? I appreciate any and all assistance!!! Cheers

So, an update and some questions (naturally): That's how it's looking. I'm happy with how it's going. 1) I'm not sure the val is going to give us the look that we want - we are after quite a dense backdrop - and I think that if it does get quite dense, it will require a lot of plants in a narrow space, and may also cause light issues. So, I was thinking of using something like this in the back row: Any other good backdrop plants? 2) Should we start fertlising? Some plants have only been in a couple of days, but some have been in a couple of weeks (the ambulia). I was thinking of adding low amounts of excel and flourish supplement and gradually building up? 3) Glosso planting: I just pulled it into plantlets and then plugged them (quite forcefully) into the ground until only the leaves were sticking up. Is that how to do it? 4) Any ideas on the other plants? Was thinking: - some kind of crypt along the front left. - a feature plant beside the macandra, with more stems around it. -another feature plant on the right hand side. - what would you use as feature plants? I was thinking of an anubias and tiger lotus. 5) Getting a dusting of green algae on the glass - just something to put up with when setting up a planted tank? Or can I do something to prevent it? 6) Finally...hehe... I have raised the lights by a couple of inches to stop the glass heating up and to provide easier access to the tank; that won't hurt the amount of light that the plants are getting (in any appreciable way)? As always, I appreciated your help Cheers

It looks very similar to an algae I used to get, which responded well to a blackout.

Cool - cheers guys

Now that I am starting to plant (just got some Ambulia - thanks Gill), how densely do I plant? Do I try to get the ambulia as close togather as possible? Or leave a little space between each stem? A pic prior to planting (cos it's funny): Cheers

Thank you!

Lol (those glasses are a real find) - will catch up end of this year / beginning of next

The concept: Of course I have never actually tried to 'realise' one of these tanks before, but this is the general idea: Image One - The concept we liked best from the three: Image Two - The following two concepts we canned. Image Three - We decided to rework the first image, with the stones of the one above (thanks Morcs ;p); this is the image we are working with, but I'm going to cut up the uniformity of the left hand side somewhat. I think the next step will be to draw a floor plan - not sure if that will happen though.

Yeah, We planned on an angle and it isn't quite as sharp as wished - will modify. Used about 90% Flourite, 10% Sand - I didn't think I was going to have enough Flourite (so was buffering with sand), but I actually figured out part way through I didn't actually need any sand at all. Yeah - we didn't want the stones to 'dominate' - we want the plants and 'space' to act as the features, but will certainly experiment with some larger rocks. Cheers guys

STAGE 2: Thanks for your help so far. We have just: 1) Replaced the bulbs in the light units we picked up: 4x36W 6500K. 2) Moved the tank to its rightful place. 3) Put in the substrate and pebbles. Next steps: Going to: 1) Get a heater and filter. 2) Start planting (I got Flourish sup. and Excel). 3) Put filter, water and fishies from current tank into this tank - temporary until we start stocking with the fishies we want. So, what the tank looks like right now: Looks like I should stick a lizard in there Plant wise: -We are going to have glosso in the clearing, bleeding out either side across the front of the tank. Might also interrupt the glosso with the occasional dwarf sag. -We are going to have a feature plant/plants, like Anubias, on the right hand side. Surounded by a few stem plants. -Val at the back left and back right. -The left will be dominated by bushes of stem plants and a few crypt. I'll put the concept sketch up if I can get a decent image of it. On a side note: Does anyone who has been helping me want a Bristlenose (for free - pick up only) - two years old - I don't want it in my new tank. Cheers!!

Looks awesome mate

That looks cool Sam

Hehehe Definitely interested in the plants, not so much the BN - already have an adult one, who I might not be keeping due to the fact I think he is stripping some of my plants. Time for bed - night night!

Of course! ;p We went and bought a couple of bags of flourite today, but we also bought another bag of sand to mix with it because it was so bloody expensive (wanted three bags of flourite). And my better half has sketched an 'idea' of how we are going to try to aquascape the tank... naturally her idea and my 'realising' of it may not marry. :0 A way off plants and fishies though...

They are approx. $5 from Mitre 10. The only 4ft bulbs they had there - 6500kelvin, 36 watts; seemed good.

Will ask at the store then

Sweet - didn't want to create an electrical problem. Thanks Sam

To make my rambles more concise: Can regular 4ft 36W fluoros from Mitre10 fit a 4ft 40W AquaOne unit? Cheers