SamH

Eating lunch at conference :bggrn:

I'm here too 8)

You'll have to ask them about that.

Perhaps ask someone on the brewing forum where they get theirs from, I'd be keen to know. I got my large cylinder from HFF, call them and see if they have any at the moment. Generally it'll be around 5-7kg and they take cash only.

Your tank isn't on the smaller end, anything over 60L can't economically use a sodastream rig. You're looking at around $100 or so for the regulator and diffuser, bubble counter etc then another $250 for a proper sized cylinder. Sodastream would last you maybe a week on this sized tank and at $12 for 250g refill of CO2 it ends up being about $50 a month. Whereas only $30 for 7kg refill of CO2 which would last you around 7 months, the investment in a larger cylinder pays for itself fairly quickly. Hope that all makes sense.

Welcome back!

You're probably looking at around $350-$400 for a decent CO2 rig, the biggest cost these days is the cylinder. I'd definitely check out inline diffusers for super stealth.

I'll be there both days, looking forward to putting more faces to names 8)

Cleaning the mechanical media at each water change or even monthly is fine, just leave the biological alone for a bit longer. Without fish it shouldn't get too dirty anyways. I will be following this thread very closely! Any chance you could add your location via the User Control Panel? That way local members can assist if need be 8)

What would you recommend for best cycling? I just used cloudy ammonia from the supermarket, used seeded media ever since. Is this going to turn in to algae soup with 80w t5HO and root tabs but no CO2? It's a fairly deep tank but only time will tell. Be prepared for new tank algae (brown algae) for the first 3-6 weeks. You'll know if you need CO2 after a couple of months. How often/how much should I do water changes in this initial stage and how often should I clean out the filter given it's cloudy? I usually do weekly water changes at the start, perhaps thrice weekly if the algae is looking nasty. Do I need to buy anything else right now? A big bag of patience couldn't hurt

This reminds me of my Project AA build, it's good fun modifying these all in one systems! Any plans for CO2?

Something like this is about right. You can buy in bulk and mix your own but it's good to start off easy.

It's not lupus, it's never lupus :facepalm: My guess is old age but it always pays to keep an eye on the other fish just in case.

Welcome to the forums Jahann. That high PH sounds like a real issue, be careful when doing water changes! Do you have any photos of your aquarium?

1 month 8 days actually. 21st April - 29th May but let's not get technical

Only a month late Monzae

I find HFF to be good if you know what you're looking for, although the prices are retail. TradeMe or here are where I usually go to.

It looks like a Geophagus of some sort to me. Not my area of expertise though.

So you're after a large variety of bushy, healthy stems in the background? Those dutch tanks use high lighting, an intensive fert regime and of course additional CO2. It takes a fair bit of effort and money to go down that road.

For the background? A sketch of what you want might be useful here.

I'll start with the BP 70L. Whatever is growing well in there now, I'd keep. If you want something to fill the back then I'd go with Ambulia but seeing as you hate it maybe go with polysperma, I assume you know how to trim the plants and replant the cuttings? Then polysperma transitioning from the back to the mid ground with glosso in the foreground. I'd cover that wood in moss and tilt it so it goes from the centre front to one of the back corners. The 31L, 2x 39w of T5HO lighting on such a small tank is going to be insane, even if you do run CO2 and ferts on it. Also, aren't 39W T5HO tubes 3ft long?! I'm hoping you made an error here or else there's a big issue. The hardscape in this tank lends itself to an iwagumi scape at the moment, I feel that adding too many plants and driftwood would ruin that but it seems you've got another look in mind. That front rock will take away from planting space and get lost so you'd may as well take it out. You need to think about what it'll look like when it's all grown in, a forest would hide that rear rock so a change of hardscape seems to be in order here. You could always make that sword your focal point, hairgrass in front of it and stems behind. No idea what that mystery plant is sorry.

Not paraphenalia The left side is glass lily pipes, the right side is a CO2 drop checker 8)

The top layer is called "Sea Green Grit" from Stone and Water World, nothing special just an inert top layer with a good consistency for plants. The bottom layer is aquabasis and the hairgrass seems to be loving it.

Here's how things are at the 4 week mark. The new tank algae is in full swing although I did siphon most of it out moments before these photos. The overall health of the grass is satisfactory and I'm confident that things will settle in around a month. As you can see, there is plenty of new growth coming through despite the choking brown algae.

But it's dark blue, sure sign of laziness