Bishop

Sad alright. Be interesting to see if anybody fills his role at ADA and globaly.

Very true. Kind of want to get it "finished" before I tear it apart again. Like the idea of corys but they poo so much all over my ( what was once white sand ). Good call though. Might look into it.

Love to see a tank from start to finish. That stand looks like my old ones in the sense that it could probably hold a bus. Best be safe than sorry though eh. looks good

Thanks. It's really quite astounding how a tank photo can change when you take out the filters and heater etc. It's really the first time I have kept fish without the plants so good to let the fish take the attention for a while. Might look at getting some focus fish, like 2 angels or German rams. not sure yet.

Ended up needing 4 new bulbs as I had put off buying new ones for quite some time and my CO2 regulator fell over and Damaged one of the gauges so now it just looses CO2. Diatoms still over throwing my tank. I swear this tank is cursed. Anyway the fast growing plants were growing too fast and I lost motivation to prune them. Decided on moving my plants to a smaller tank till I can decide on what to do with them and try my hand at a hardscape. On a good note though the java ferns and Anubias ended up growing really well so looks like they will be the main focus of my next scape. Tried my hand at some proper tank photography which turned out okay I guess.

Thanks bro you're too kind. I just see a mess of things that need to be fixed. But I have done well to keep my hands out of the tank this time.

Slowly filling in. Moved the wood out of the tank to clean it and can't seem to get it back in the right place by eye.

I found the Raid stuff to to rubbish. there is some other stuff in a yellow box that is in liquid form and you pour it into a bait station. Works on the same method as the raid ones but much much better. Forgot the name though sorry. Got it from mitre 10, yellow box, think it has the word ants on the front with the red cross through it. But my memory is fuzzy. Edit: Close enough

Day 28 Bit of growth happening and tank is starting to fill in. Have to wait ages for the emersed plants to have immersed growth. Fair bit of BBA which I think is due to the bulbs being old as everything else seem correct. So will have to get the wood out at same stage and clean it off. Brought a 6 plug for my timers only to realize when I got home the timers faced the wrong way. Took them apart and rewired them so they faced the way I needed them to.( Away from the 6 plug ) C02 diffusion was quite rubbish and my glass bubble counter has too small bubbles. Interested in an inline diffuser but at $40 I made my own just to see how good they were. and went back to the DIY bubble counter which is much better imo. Bit budget but it actually works well.

Cool

Not sure if this link will help or not but just in case.. http://www.oratianatives.co.nz/index.php

Bad, but to be fair that's from personal experience. It's not a terrible thing to use of you just want to grow plants but if you are going for full planted high tech tank you may as well spend a few $ more. However I remember Phoenix44 telling me he just used sand and fert balls. So there is proof that you can use whatever you like. If you have the money or want that assurance you are buying a good product then mid to high end products like ADA, seachem and JBL are money well spent IMO.

Daltons is bollocks. :sage: I have not seen ADA soils in NZ. I remember there was a discussion on here about it a while back and I think the conclusion was that it was banned due to it being imported soil. Would be nice though but very expensive.

I should add. The roots coming in from the top left are what I can only seem to identify as a pine. Which I found three stems growing in my garden randomly as there is none around me. Going to leave the roots in there till I can plant them.

Day 14. Unimpressed with java growth, but everything else has had to be trimmed. Lights are dull so have new ballasts on the way which should help. Switched to PPS dosing system today which looks promising. Its amazing how cheap dry ferts are. Diatoms are about to cover everything :fshi: and some early signs of BBA seems to have subsided. Added 2 Siamese algae eaters, Advertised as black line flying foxes :slfg: and 10 Cardinal tetras. DIY skimmer which is the JIF bottle, seems to work okay in short bursts. Hygro Difformis added But hidden at the back till I can prune them and replant them. This fish hobby thing is expensive. But things are looking up. Need some Ludwigia Arcuata if anybody has some?