amtiskaw

It's not just AV you have to keep updated. Make sure you have Windows updates set to auto, and patch each month. Ditto for Adobe Acrobat and Java - keep 'em patched, plus any other software you've installed. Try using an account with no admin rights. I highly recommend the NoScript and Ad Block plug-ins for Firefox, as well as Ghostery, ShareMeNot, Better Privacy and Facebook Blocker.

It's just the growing tips. They are just darker green

Some new growth

Not too sure yet :dunno:

+1

I'd go for the one on the right, but without the plants in the centre behind the wood. But it's your tank - go for the one you like best!

Anyone else playing ME3? The captain's cabin on the Normandy has a nice aquarium. It was empty at first, but I bought some fish from a vendor at Citadel. You can even feed them. Pretty cool game so far

Tons of light and ferts. :dunno: I've been dosing Flourish Excel instead of CO2 - quite high doses, too. It's only been in that tank 12 days. Bugger, I was hoping there was some magic trick, as opposed to plain old hard work :roll:

Yay, it's finally saturated - I no longer have to dose ridiculous amounts of ferts daily :bounce: It's might be a bit early, but I'm gonna call this one a win. Anyhow, if you google, there's tons of people saying Turface is great stuff. I'm getting ready to tear down my 440 L tank and re-do it using Turface as substrate. I went wading for rocks today, and got a sweet feature rock, plus some other interestingly shaped ones. I went for rocks with a reddish colour so they go with the substrate. I've been soaking some tea tree branches for a couple of weeks, too. The plan is to bore some holes in the big bit of bogwood, and mount tea tree branches off it. I'm still deciding on whether to use the golden ratio or the law of thirds for the basic hardscape design - lots to think about! I'll measure up tomorrow, and do some mock-ups in SketchUp after importing pics of the rocks and wood and scaling them to match my tank dimensions

How did you get it like that, Zev? My new growth wants to float off :facepalm: Or will it get more dense over time and sink again?

Wow, that tank is stunning :love: I love the almost black and white aesthetic :bounce:

I was thinking the same thing last night. It's a shame it wants to float off, and doesn't just spread via runners like dwarf chain swords.

Speaking of good service, I bought a couple of things in separate Trademe auctions from Redwood Aquatics. Debbie refunded the shipping on the second item without me asking :thup:

Diffusers aren't as efficient as reactors. Just saying, as you were worried about how long a bottle would last earlier on

It's not good for the filter's seals either, the CO2 lowers the pH, so always best on the output side of the filter

Very cool, I love the colours

World of Water in Hams sell it, too. I use Sera flakes and Vipachips, my fish seem to like it :spop:

I saw a Mythbusters episode when they disproved the 3 sec memory myth. They put several dividers in the tank, with openings at different locations on each divider. They timed how long it took fish to get from one end to the other for food, and the fish sussed it out fairly quickly and lap times went down as they learned the maze. Then they took the dividers out for a week or so. When they put them back in, the fish still had faster times than before they'd learned the maze. Mythbuster or Top Gear presenter - dream job for me

10 days in, one water change later, and the water's nice and clear and the turface smell is gone. The dwarf chain sword is taking off, and the amazon swords and hairgrass seem to be doing well. I put a few snails in as crash test dummies - no issues there. I'll introduce a few fishies in a week or so. It's still absorbing nitrates like crazy, and dropping from 40 to 10 ppm in a day. Hopefully it'll saturate soon :dunno:

Is that a cat detecting van? Can I purchase a fish licence from Grant?

I dosed the ferts, reading nitrates at 60 two days ago, and it's down to 15 now. Ph is stable :thup: Turface smell is mostly gone. Water change tomorrow. Turface is lighter than the quartz I'm used to, and it's harder to anchor mini chain swords till they take root. Not difficult, just a bit harder.

35 days, give or take :spop: Lots of info half way down this page

Good idea on the roots - I didn't think of that. I'm going bush with a spade this weekend :digH:

Not sure, I've never used carbon. I suspect it just some fines in suspension, as I don't think the clay can dissolve in water, so a few water changes should take care of it eventually :dunno:

So far so good. The cloudiness has almost gone. The water does smell quite strongly of Turface - a sort of slightly minty clay smell. I'll do a water change in a few days and see how it goes. The high porosity and CEC rating seems to be doing it's thing. I had the nitrates up to 40 yesterday, and it's down to 10 today :bounce: I'll keep dosing it up to 40 each night and see just how much it can absorb. I usually keep my main tank at 20 to follow the EI method.