Romeo

I find that a thick piece of black cardboard from the craft shop works well. Just tape it on with clear tape, it's the best looking solution I've come across yet.

You guys are probably right about the rinsing, when I pulled it out of the bag it was *very* dusty and clay-like. So I rinsed as much of it out as possible. Probably took out about a years worth of nutrients but I was afraid of the the nutrient overload, since my tank had quite a low plant load (about 50 small crypts - now large crypts!). I guess it would depend on what substrate you were using as to your top layer? If it's larger gravel then you'd need a thicker layer, smaller/finer gravel and it wouldn't need to be quite so thick.

Careful, this AquaBasis stuff is potent. So make sure you've got a good 1-2cm layer of substrate ontop of it. Make sure you rinse off your plants really well in correct warm water before putting them in your tank, as ANY algae will go NUTTS in a tank like that - we set ours up about 6 weeks ago and we're slowly getting rid of the brown algae. So be prepared for quite a bit of algae while the plants get established, once they're established they should be able to take care of the excess nutrients. PS: Did you rinse the AquaBasis first? It's pretty much about 80% clay that'll come up into the water column unless it's rinsed out. Plus the tank will be cloudy for about 1-2 weeks afterwards.

Note: When removing substrate from a fish tank use a scoop. Don't use your hand and drag it up the side!

I'd say go for the smallest gravel possible, one step up from sand - so the roots can spread easily and new shoots can come up quicker. Or, alternatively, go for sand - but sand will stir up and look bad, plus fish poo sits ontop and looks manky. I'd recommend a sub-substrate fertilizer like some JBL fert balls, JBL AquaBasis or Daltons Aquatic Mix. Colour wise, some people say light gravel reflects the light back up, increasing the amount of light hitting the plants. But black looks mean, makes the fishes colour more vivid and the detritus will be less obvious. I'd go with Flourish Excel for CO2 (available carbon), and Flourish Comprehensive for micro nutrients. You'll only need about 0.5ml of Flourish every 3rd day, and about 0.5 of Comprehensive every 6th day (or divide it up and dose daily if you're that way inclined). Depending on how heavily planted, stocked, and water changed the tank is you may need more or less. Get yourself an eye dropper from the chemist, they're about 50 cents. If possible upgrade the lighting as well, a wide, even light would be the best, not sure which Jebo unit you're talking about, but with 20w+ you could grow a lot more. Good reflectors help as well ;D. Luckily for a tank of your size you'll probably only need to be up in the 30-40w region to grow Glosso and the other carpet type plants. The problem I've run into is the less light you have, the skinnier/spindlier the plants and leaves are, so why not upgrade ;D. Stocking, I'd say if you're going for a planted tank then keep the stocking really low, will mean less water changes and less fert wastage. A pair of Sparkling Gouramis (2-3cm) look wicked against a lush green backdrop - plus they'll sing to each other ;].

Shouldn't be too bad coming into summer, may not be on much during the summer months ;].

What's your dosing regime for the Flourish Excel? I found that when I started dosing Flourish Comprehensive the number of holes slowly decreased, now my leaves are mostly fine now. It's could be just a certain micro nutrient deficiency. I find that Dwarf sag also needs quite a lot of light to grow well. Also, if you've freshly replanted it then it'll fall apart, then slowly regrow.

There's only one piece of advice you need for growing Glosso, and that's "listen to Alanmin".

Congratulations, what's the word count :]?

In my AR-380 I add 0.5ml of Flourish Excel every second day. Works a treat, nothing in my tank was really growing until a few weeks after I started dosing it, after that the growth exploded. If you use a good fertilizing substrate that's at least 1cm under another top layer of inert gravel (the finer the gravel the better), the ferts won't seep into the circulating water quite so quickly - hence less algae (hopefully). PS: Speaking of fine gravel/substrate, go to http://www.dyersroadlandscape.co.nz/ - they're on Dyers road, Christchurch (duh!). They have a GREAT range of fine gravels and large sands that are PERFECT for the fish tank. Only problem is all the really good stuff comes in little 1kg bags, so you'll need 3 or 4 bags for an AR-380.

I have dwarf Sag in my AR-380 and it hasn't grown that much. I got a whole lot of it off a FNZAS'er for a few bucks. Most of it died, but some survived. I'd hardly say it's flourished though. I'd say you'd need a good fertilizer substrate (JBL AquaBase or Daltons Aquatic Mix) as well as either Flourish Excel or DIY-CO2 to get it growing well. It'll grow healthily as long as it's got the right amount of carbon and ferts, it'll just grow slower with the low light.

Don't underestimate the lights on the AR-380. I'm literally getting about 2 inches a week on my Java Fern. The Sagittaria hasn't grown too well, but it has survived. The Crypts are growing really well as well as the Ambulia, too well in fact so Joliet ripped it all out. See the pictures from my AR-380 Planted tank project.

So how come they don't sell them to the pet trade? I guess MAF would be all over them, kind of in the same way that parks can have Koi, but individuals can't. Because I'd love a massive prawn for my tropical tank ;P.

Hey, what's the deal with this. I just saw it mentioned in another thread and couldn't believe this is an NZ venture. Surely there would be all sorts of MAF issues right? As far as I was aware there wasn't a native freshwater giant prawn in NZ! Can someone fill me in, their website has every possible piece of info, except about their prawns :-?. http://www.hukaprawnpark.co.nz/

One of my Inanga lept from the tank one night after I left the lid cracked open. Found it in the morning fluffed, dried and stiff. Popped it in the tank and went to work. Came home and it was alive and well, all of it's fins were dry and cracked though. These shredded back a few millimeters over the next few days, but a few weeks later it was as good as new. They're tough little critters!

Seems to be a sign that my filter media needs cleaning, because in the past when it's built up I've wrung out the filter media and it's slowly gone away again. May not be the best idea if you've got a heavily stocked tank though.

Could always get a school of native fish, like Inanga. They're pretty cool and good at keeping the mozzies down.

Go to your nearest art supplies store and get a piece of Black A1 Cardboard, tapes up easily, doesn't crease and looks really good. Probably cost you about $5 to $7 and will last as long as you don't spill water on it :].

Should be for all off-the-shelf sub-50-litre all-in-one tanks. There's not enough emphasis put on small, cheap, stunning and easily maintained planted tanks.

I know very little about fancy plecs, but what's stopping someone like jamosfish from getting half a dozen L270's and breeding hundreds of them? Do all the expensive ones have unique and difficult to reproduce breeding habits?

Yikes, I guess that would be anti cross linking server side software!

Wow, that's nice. Looks much bigger than it really is! Great balance of colour, scale and layout. Much deserving of #1. Here's my entry, I got a call today telling me that I've won 2nd prize and I can pick the tank and vouchers up from Animates Tower Junction on Sunday Plants: Various Crypts Dwarf sagittaria Windelov Java fern Normal Java fern Indian Fern Ambulia Stocking: 2 Sparkling Gouramis 1 Female Bristlenose pleco 1 Whiptail catfish Dosing: 0.5ml Flourish Excel every second day 0.5ml Flourish Comprehensive every fourth day Misc: Stock AquaOne AR-380 9 hours light daily

Wow, there sure are some nutters out there aye! It's insane, the wanton destruction of the act is what gets me, there must be some some serious rage in that individual for them to do such an act. Especially against what they thought were "defenseless" creatures, hopefully the big parrots have wounded him up good.

Wow, really? Do you have a picture of your tank, or the picture you submitted?