DennisP

It damn well better be! :evil: :lol:

Alright then. Today I have totally changed all the water. Not sure how many times as I was running a siphon and hose into the tank simultaneously. This should have taken out most of the bacteria. Will do a black out starting tonight then leave the lights on a timer for the limited amount of time possible for the plants to survive. If its not gone in 10 days when I get back. Drastic measures will be taken. :evil:

This was my amazon "themed tank". As for a boitope I think this + tannins would be more accurate. Or you could go for the roots + tannins + Floating plants look. HTH

What if theres only like 3 swords in there... Are the nutrients really necessary?

I was looking along the lines of a bit empty. :lol:

Well, there were a few signs of it turning up and I thought that either: It might go away, or, that I was redo-ing the tank in a couple of days anyway (Yesterday). After 50% water change, removing all the bacteria I could see, and totally stirring up the sand etc etc, after a few minutes I could see more forming where I had just moved the sand. There are no fish in there at the moment, and am going away for a week which forces me to be patient and let it run its course. That is why I would like to do something now.

Yeah... 8) Its in my tank... I did a quick google search of it (after manually removing it and only finding more patches appear in 30 mins) and all I found was to either use antibiotics or starve it to kill the stuff. Antibiotics would be preferred as I am going away on thursday for a week so can't really monitor the progress of the starving. But then again, antibiotics = more resistant bacteria next time. :-? Someone here must have had the stuff before. What have you done? Also, if I starve, I'll starve from light too. So what is the minimum length of time plants need light each day to survive?

Possibly. You would have to pressure cook it or something... Raise the temp above 121*C without burning it to kill the spores though...

Nope. Year 10 science for me! Screw Chem. :lol:

12 micro sags?! How long did that take?

Thats pretty cool. Do you take out the driftwood or leave it in? My guess is a chemical reaction of sorts. http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/vents/ ... omod.html# Click on "white smoker" if it doesn't take u directly to it. This is probably way off but may get Ideas going. My guess is something in your water is (maybe from pipes) goes into ur tank and reacts with something in the wood. You could try boiling the wood as the heat speeds up reactions and my guess is there are less reactive materials in the water than in the wood therefor the stuff in the water gets used up before the stuff in the wood (causing it to happen again). HTH :lol:

Most likely true. Although the MICRO sag comes first. :lol:

Then again P44, I find in ur tank the focus point for me is the part with the tall dwarf sag right up next to the glass. Maybe the big sword for others as I always tend to look to the left.

True. If I introduce a knifefish or pleco they will most likely dig a tunnel beneath the driftwood and I have dug the wood in pretty deep. :lol: I did think about that, and there also should be enough sand for them to dig in. There is atleast 2 or 3cm worth.

And have your poor eyes searching for a place to look at and then going cross eyed, crazy eyed and eventually seeing double?! I THINK NOT! :lol: But that does work too. Although you will need a LOT more plants for that too work.

That too, haven't seen one around yet though. Again, I want one that looks natural so not a gold nugget etc. Oops, got it wrong btw. It was a magnum plec I had my eye on. They had both there. :oops: Royal plec would be good, although it does remind me of a fish in pajamas. :lol:

Not a problem! I too still like advice. :lol: To show you how the golden ratio works... When you look at these pictures you eyes SHOULD first look at: ... Anubias. Somewhere between the center rock and left wood spike. Sticky out log. And for a random one... The left side of the shoe. These are the areas you want to make your center point. If you really do your research and are talented you will find that Mr Takashi Amano (renowned aquascaper if you didn't know) strategically scapes/photographs his tanks so you eyes follow the path he wants. :lol: I have yet to do that well.

The one and only positive of smoking. :lol:

Indeed it is. :lol: Umm, so far Am thinking of getting 3 geo altifrons, hopefully pair them up and sell the remainder if necessary. Also a pair of firemouths would be nice. I have my eyes on a blue phantom plec (I think), for $180 but that would need a lot more thought. :lol: Possibly a BGK, or Carapo knifefish if I can find one. Something Nice because I want to make this tank perfect. :lol:

Have a look at aquascaping articles online, they're very useful/inspirational. Most importantly would be the "golden ratio" and "placement in threes" (which I think originates from all that Zen Japanese stuff.) Golden ratio work wonders but it is hard to do well. The ratio is believe is 0.618:1 approx. but you can judge it as it is about inbetween the middle of the tank and a third of the tank point. If that makes any sense. If you think of this picture as the tank, the black line is the center mark, and the red is each 3rd. The Yellow lines are about the 1.6:1 mark. This is how I judge mine. :lol: Planting in 3s is a simple rule that speaks for its self. It is far more natural than find single random plants, rocks etc etc lying around. (Unless you go for a single centerpiece of course.) Never plant in even numbers as it encourages unnatural "evenness". HTH Also hope it doesn't sound like a load of bull.

:lol: :lol: I'm glad I'm not the only one. Also... Dark Night - TV2. Do it. As for layout, I would spread out the grass stuff a bit more and Hide the heater behind those plants. If theres room. Is that a Full tank shot? If so, try facing the driftwood the other direction. Something about it is a little to balance. Maybe more the Sword plant (?) to the side of the driftwood. HTH. Looks good though.

:bounce: One thing I HATE about sand is planting. When it moves is all liquid like so plants just float back up. I threw some pebbles on the roots of the ones at the back. Also put some medium sized pebbles at the back edge to soften the contrast between the sand and black background. Should be good.

Harmless. Can't remember the name but they are a sign of over feeding. Some fish eat them, others don't.

:lol: A river! 8) In gisborne, I really wouldn't know... Maybe a pond or something?

Might pay a visit there tomorrow. If only I had got my liscence asap. I still need rides everywhere... :roll: Thanks.