maoripho3nix

:bounce: Thanks for the info once again Jen. Ok so Ive ruled out the cories, and have definately decided on the oto as the bottom dweller. I like the ember tetras too, is there anything that grows around the same size but with maybe more colours?? I like neons or cardinals (more because of the glowing colours) but I dont think I will be able to fit them in. And yup I knew about the bioload, had a piece of the dead shrimp from earlier on in there. For now Im looking at just adding otos to aid in cleaning up the algae.

I like the look of those cories....understanding that they are a species of catfish, will they cleanup like plecs do?? :lol: Yeah I tried to find an ID card for the fish in tank (This was at animates TGA) but then had to leave before I could ask staff.

After lots of thinking and lots of trips to various LFS. I have decided to go tropical 8) In my tank I still have only plants, no fauna. I have put the heater in the tank already and everything is going ok, will check in the morning. Brown algae is still slowly building in the tank, but I have taken a few ideas from replies to SamH's issue with the same algae. One that sparked the most interest was the catfish :lol: I have been scouting around for tanks, even though I dont have enough $$ for a big one, but maybe a similar size to the one I already have, but used purely for cold water species (will keep it native CW species), more of a smooth rock biotope. Now that I have the heater going, I am looking at getting some fish tomorrow. I want some small bottom/algae eaters, and something colourful but small for open swimmers. I'm looking at getting Plecos and Tetras. I'm not all that familiar with the different variations of plecs, i saw one today that was darkish brown with a few stripes (almost like a tiger) on its back??? And as for the tetras, so much to choose from. I liked the cardinals, but someone might have better ideas. Any suggestions are welcome. Keep in mind I have a small tank with limited stock room. So anything I get needs to be small but also doesnt grow to anything big. (BTW the tank has already fully cycled, pH is at 6.5, No2/3 are at 0,gH 0,kH 40) Suggest away :bounce:

I better be quiet or Ill be "Sleeping with the fishes" (Said in true Godfather style)

:lol: I PM'd HaNs aswell. I have been looking at different macro+micro mixes on the net. Would be good to learn how to make it and hopefully its relatively cheap to make. Thanks again for the moss. :lol: I take it P44 is the 'plant' man you talked about?? Now I just need some fert, some fauna and some patience :bounce:

Update: Did a bit of work on the tank lastnight. Full View Closer Driftwood + Moss Removed and cleaned the driftwood, had a bit of algae spot on it. After that I added the java moss wall/background, which is the mesh in the back of the tank. Then banded the Xmas moss to the driftwood. Black bands arent the best looking but once the moss has established, ill just cut them off. Did a small vac of the algae on the gravel. Added some more glosso. Hopefully soon the algae will stop spotting up. The glosso is continuing to run horizontally and the moss is already growing new chutes. Still need to get some liquid ferts, any suggestions?? Very low budget here so the best of the cheapest. :lol: Ive heard of Poor Mans Dosing Drops (PMDD). Is it any good and is it cheap to make up. Those who have made it, where can I buy the ingredients for it?

If you go to dollar value/2 dollar shop/variety store.....look for hair ties, small black rubber band type ones. They are way smaller than rubber bands and not as thick. Possibility anyway, fitting on the wood might still be an issue if you're tryna fix the plant to a thick piece of wood, although i can fit one around my wrist and my wrist is big.

My tank is the same, has brown algae spots, have removed some from the glass and wood, still a bit left on the substrate. Just a phase as P44 has said, unavoidable one might say, just hope it doesnt completely take over the tank or its a quick conversion to pleco tank

So wish I could buy them $325 for better lighting.......or different/easier plants

Did anyone else just see the clouds open up and a ray of light, beam down on this tank?? Very nice! Do I need to be patient with the glosso growth in my tank or need better lighting?? new runners are constantly growing outwards with roots growing down from them, making there way into the substrate, lil green leaf seems to grow tall though.

Thanks Jen, ive made the adjustments, almost no carbon (only what is stitched into the filterpad) and have adjusted the amount of time the lights are on. Hopefully it wont affect the glosso so much :-? I dont have any Fauna in the tank :oops: , I wanted to wait till all the plants have really grown in before adding anything else. Shrimp is on the menu again, JarrenB managed to acclimate our cold water shrimp to tropical, and has held them for 4mnths going now. Otherwise its plecs/otos and maybe danios or tetras, so hard to make my mind up, doesnt help with such a small tank with limited stock room. Atleast the shrimp will aid in eating the algae. With all that aside, is it still ok to add more glosso and the moss??

Hey all, the Glosso has taken off really well. Although now I have a small amount of brown algae growing. Anything I should worry about?? I was gonna add more glosso (in hopes of making it more dense and to contest algae) and have some moss on the way aswell. Is it still ok to plant them?? The algae is present on the glosso/gravel bottom left and centre of the pic, there was a spot on the glass but i wiped it off earlier Im doing 25% water change weekly Only fert used is the JBL Balls in the substrate Hang on Back Filter (normal filter and carbon) DIY Co2, 1bps 24/7 6500k 18w energy saver on for 12hrs a day I dont have any critters in the tank. Is the algae anything to worry about?? any suggestions or changing something ive listed above.

Its growing well in my 14L tank, i have JBL Balls buried in Black Silica, but would rather go with the suggestion of different substrate fert, less hassel and is spread better. Next time Ill be going with substrate fert As for my Lighting, Im using a 18w CF Energy Saver in a desk lamp (enough for my tank ) Also using DIY Co2. Growth rate....... 10 Days ago Now Obviously different combos of fert,light and Co2 affect the outcome. HTH

:lol: Just be grateful you have you have a large tank, if I put a bottle in mine it would take up the whole thing.

Haha here we go about the diffuser. :lol: You guys need to remember that not everyone on here can reach into their last $30 and just use 10 (or even a dollar) of it on a diffuser, finding a DIY way is cheaper and can be just as good. 9/10 you will have stuff lying around i.e a soda bottle which would suffice for cheap DIY equipment. And as Kiwis, its in our blood to use ingenuity to create something with our own hands and junk rather than buying something made in china or germany :lol: :lol: After all thats why we have a DIY section, its our ingenuity expressed to others to help them complete a task of similar goals. Yes some people would suggest jamming it into the intake to save the hassle. Somethings are harsh on the eyes of the enthusiast compared to newbies with a goal. But we all gotta start somewhere. No doubt the end goal here is to have the plants flourishing nicely. SamH has started with an idea and the idea will develop. People have different ideas or views on how they want "their" tank setup. IMO it gives you a visual of what is actually happening, easier to study, watch etc and for others to say..... Whats that for?? And it still works the same :bounce:

:lol: Yep I have mine running the same, I guess everyone has their own preference. Whats that in your filter??

YW Also I added a Airline control valve, the ones ya get to control amount of 02 bubbles (in this case c02), between the tank and yeast/sugar mix, it does build up a lil back pressure, but not enough to cause an explosion. In my case its let me control/regulate the amount of bubbles going into the tank. My setup: Mix Bottle - Gas Separator - Airline Control Valve - Tank HTH

Nice! My bro-inlaw had a similar setup, used a old school glass coke bottle instead, had the neck faced down and the outlet and co2 line feeding up through the neck. The flow from the outlet made the trapped co2 swirl like crazy, the force just pushed the water(now fused with co2) back out the neck. I have mine fed into the intake of a hang-on type, ive had it airlock a couple of times but its ok now, but as mentioned it can make a lot of noise when the bubble hits the impeller. May I make a suggestion, as its so cheap to remake these types of DIY diffuser, dont cut the bottom of the bottle, instead drill HEAPS of tiny holes in the bottom, enough for the water to still flow freely. Closing the bottle will allow to make more of an internal underwater reactor that you can see working, and any big bubbles that make it to the bottom will push through the tiny holes making them tiny bubbles. :bounce:

JBL LimCollect http://www.petsunlimited.co.nz/index.php?page=shop/flypage&product_id=59&PHPSESSID=1 Ive seen these in the JBL Catalogue that I have, on the jbl.de website it says bait it overnight you'll have a trap full, assuming you have quite a few in the tank. Maybe keep an eye on Trademe or Ebay. HTH

Like or Light?? Its just a desk lamp :lol: The base + arm that its attached to is out of view (around that corner wall section in the pic)

Hey all, Co2 setup seems to be going well. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=44517 I followed Zev's advice (thanks 8) ) and added the gas separator, although this was a fail safe so gunk doesn't feed direct up the line to the tank, it also seconds as a bubble counter, if you drop the tube fed from the co2 generator to the bottom of the separator, add a bit of water, presto!! I found the co2 bubbling in the whole setup to be inconsistent in feed that comes out at the tank. So what I did was add a airline control valve, this does build up slight back pressure (only in the separator), but no where near enough to cause any explosions or problems. The bubbles are now consistent at 1bps and controlled by the valve to a certain pressure. Here's my setup to help anyone doing the same thing HTH anyone

haha thank you kindly 8) :lol: Seriously I'm as newbie as they get, just done a lot of reading (more about the planted aquarium). Appreciate the comments, lets me know Im doing something right lol

Update: Day 9 Since first planting. Day 4 since c02 added. Full View Front Front Left Front Right Glosso Roots So far so good (well, to my newbie eyes anyway ). I've only added c02, and used JBL Balls in the substrate previous to planting. Might get me some liquid fert soon. Although I have been looking into PPS Pro (Similar to Poor Mans Dosing Drops). http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/pps-analysis-feedback/39491-newbie-guide-pps-pro.html Still in the process of getting some weeping moss for my wood, and also some java (or maybe just more weeping moss) for my moss background. http://www.aquamoss.net/How%20to%20create%20a%20moss%20wall/How%20to%20create%20a%20moss%20wall.htm With my DIY c02 setup, I found the bubbling to be inconsistent. I would get 1 bubble, then 3 seconds later get 2 bubbles and so on, or none at all then all of a sudden a blast of bubbles. By adding a airline control valve, its built backup pressure in the separator chamber, and now the valve controls the amount of bubbles (c02) coming through. Now have it set to 1bps This is what my setup looks like: Note: I took Zev's advice on having a gas separator (so gunk from reactor doesnt get to the tank)

Thanks for all the kind words, I think for now I'm gonna leave out any critters and just let the plants grow. Once the tank is well grown and ph ammonia etc is balanced ill add some critters. I agree, they were doing so well, and yup I was feeding them spirulina flakes, as soon as the flakes hit the floor they were on to it, I know they werent starving though. I'd have to agree antwan, I think there was too much co2, learning curve alright, just very unexpected. Just a question in a diy co2 setup, is there a way to limit the amount of bubbles per second?? Maybe using the filter as a diffuser worked all too well, as I know if I let the bubbles just feed out of the tube the co2 wont mix as well. Maybe using a glass spiral or ladder diffuser will limit the co2 mixing better compared to how well it worked injecting into the impeller. Maybe next time limit the amount of co2 (if i can on a diy setup) have that feeding during the day, and then at night run the air pump. From what I know the plants only take in the extra carbon during light times. But also that shrimp require good source of O2. Thanks guys

I setup my DIY cO2 last night, monitored the shrimp for about 40mins-60mins and they seemed fine, the one small one was nutting around the tank as he usually does. Woke this morning to find 4 out of 7 on the bottom of the tank lifeless. The other 3 I whipped out with the net into a large aerated container with fresh water. Watched them for a little while and had to go to work. Got home to find 1 alive but struggling. I suspect within the next few hours it will die too. The only conditions I have changed in the tank in the last 24hrs is adding the co2. I suspect the carbon may have been too much for the shrimp, although the shrimp did not show any signs of stress upto 60mins+ of putting the tube in the tank. I'm gutted because this is my first setup, and already having problems Anyone have experience with keeping shrimp+co2+plants??? Ive gone wrong somewhere and I wanna know where, dont want it to happen again. Im going to grow my plants out a bit more before adding anything.