phoenix44

He doesn't look particularly happy does he? :lol: I would do that if I had a suitable fish.

you realise the brown algae phase is actually a good sign?

barley straw?

The SW stuff you will find in the wild here are coldwater, so Cleaner Shrimp won't be particularly thrilled in cold water. from memory they prefer temps around the 25- 27deg C mark. do you have a marine tank at the moment? will need a lot more info about size of tank, lights, skimmer, pumps, filtration etc before live-stocking suggestions are made.

Don't let it discourage you! keep working with what you have, and it may just work! There was a customer at the shop i occasionally work at, who was determined to grow a low foreground plant for her tank, but I did not think her lights would cut it. And given that it was glosso that she wanted to grow, her lights were just not enough to sustain the growth. She was disappointed cause i told her that she would be wasting $6 a pot for glosso, but one day after weeks and weeks of her coming back to talk to me, I told her to try it, and see if it works. what do you know.... it worked. she split the pot, and within a few weeks the glosso started growing. didn't grow well.. but grew, and she was absolutely thrilled. Even came into store and gloated about it :lol: so try growing it, cause its near impossible to apply a generic set of rules to our individual circumstances.

lots of growth within the past week. those lights must be doing some good. Thanks to zev, supasi, mystic and a tank at work where I grew some crypts; I now have enough crypts to add to the puffer tank, and the main tank. Here is the tank now. Just waiting on a proper diffuser that hans is sending me, and I can run a second CO2 unit. PS- spot the congo fern :lol:

I want a BT too! It is awesome to watch them eating an egg (as in chuck an egg in the tank and watch them destroy it).

Mate, the key difference with DIY setups and the one evil_elmo has used are the lights. the powerglo t5's are about $75 each for the 4ft lights, and the light fitting itself is about $250+ (those are the units I use on all my tanks). I do not in my opinion think you can achieve those results with home made / powersaving tubes. The other thing is that you will notice he said the results under the stock lights with the juwel did not cut it... the stock lights are 1x10000K T5HO and 1x6500K T5HO. The powerglos are 18000K and HO in this case, and are specifically developed to propagate plants. you spend your money and get your money's worth. HTH

start off with maybe 20 BPS, see how it goes from there. I think you got a good deal. get a pH controller if you so wish, but your discus will be fine in that pH - if it ever did go that low - I personally would go with a pH controller and a timer if that system does not already have them. A good diffuser is one that work well :lol: if you see tiny bubbles it is good enough, but technically speaking the more expensive high quality diffusers will have been tested for diffusion rates, surface area, frit size etc.

looking good so far! how big is this beardie?

PS- the glosso will be happier if you plant it

just test the pH now, and over the next few days, and you will notice it is quite low. once its stable, add your fish if you choose to be that cautious. My puffer tank has CO2 running through the HOB filter, and the pH is near the 4.5 mark or so, and they are thrilled with that.

It will die down, but yeah initially it looks like that. you don't want it to continuously be like that, but is almost unavoidable in DIY CO2. unless you use baking soda? but i dont use that.

I was going to dig up your thread last night evil_elmo, with so many people wanting to know about glosso. All that achieved under stock tubes from a lido 120 if i remember right?

ahahaahhaha :lol:

The most difficult fish to capture on camera would have to be my L168. In all the years ive had it, I've managed to take 2 maybe 3 good pictures of it. It is also hands down, the most unnoticeable fish that ever existed.

Any one travelling from Tauranga to Palmy, through TGA?

its not a dslr. sony cybershot H3. good camera for what it is

would it have made a difference? :lol:

but that is the senders fault not the courier company's fault! again, darn tree hugers! :evil:

I dunno :lol: luck maybe? I have another L66 who's patterns are no where as clear or well defined as this one. what i need now is females this is the not so clear one.

thanks mate. these are not the easiest fish to photograph so I have to make the most of every opportunity I get really.

The plants seem to be doing well so far. No ferts in the gravel at all, no carbon in the filter, and I use the odd bit of flourish comprehensive. I'm doing regular WC's and keeping the gravel pretty clean. The tank has no algae eaters at all, but im considering some panda cories (maybe 4) to eat any extras. So where are their teeth? I've taught them to jump an inch or so out of the water to get food (blood worms) as it hovers above them

where is mine?

did you land up getting any?