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?

Always amazes me how he ( Amano ) can design in a three dimensional space with plants and the way they will grow into a space an hold the eye. That hardscape seemed quite boring but once the plants were added even in the early stage it all came together. Eagerly anticipating a new video.

I have used Selleys for 90% of my tanks, Hasn't let me down, even when I had no idea what I was doing. make sure you get the right one.

all good, I would have paid for it, but no stress mate.

Thanks man, kind of have to make do with what I have ( as does everybody else i guess ) but I think that's the best hardscape I could come up with. It's a bit rough looking ion there right now but with a bit of pruning and care It might look good. Not very often but i'm sure I could. Do you think it would be enough to cover what I have now on the wood? If so I would be very keen. Wood has to come out for a clean anyway, it has that white bacteria all over it which is annoying as it's supposed to be treated wood from animates.

So I was hopping that this would all come together and I would be able to put all the hassles of this tank behind me but I am sure this tank is cursed. Less talk more images.. Got some stones for around $7. Got some wood from animates, that was more than I wanted to spend but looked far superior to what I had laying about. And with the money I saved on buying cheap lights I had some $ left over. I wanted to put everything I have learned so far into practice and see how far I could take it so I used one of my design cannons with the layout to see if anything matched up. Found what I think are some nice lines so went with it. Then onto my plants. The whole reason I am into this hobby. There really needs to be some sort of policing on trade me for plant names. People are using pics from the net and I am pretty sure they have no idea what thy are selling. Some though are pretty good but don't always have what you need. All of my Java fern looks dead and mangled covered in BBA. My Xmas moss is actually just Java moss. So they are all things to add to the story of the cursed aquarium. :dunno: Anyways Day one: On the Fourth Day God said lets annoy him some more, and so it was. Watching TV and a rather loud bang followed by a few smaller ones. I figured it was my wiring job but looks like it was unrelated and just the led controler, ( which wasn't even on ). Seems it's a common issue with the Odesea brand lights. So if you are a cheapo like me and they look attractive do not buy them. Spent all night wiring up an old light fitting, in hindsight it would have been much better to make my own from the start or shell out $400 for brand new ones. Was supposed to keep my hands out of this tank but can't help it. Still lots of work to do and a lot of plants to source yet, but getting there. It is what it is, lets see what else is in store for this tank. Day Seven:

Welcome aboard mate

Funny that you would have Hanlons razor in your signature but ignore it. "Let us not attribute to malice and cruelty what may be referred to less criminal motives. Do we not often afflict others undesignedly, and, from mere carelessness, neglect to relieve distress?" —Jane West What If he's not Trolling you? Should we just be rude to everybody just in case they are trolling us. This community is withering away enough on It's own without us making everybody feel unwelcome.

Do you guys get some sort of enjoyment talking down to him like that? I know it's the internet and all but still, some manners wouldn't go a miss.

The reverse is also true. Just because you believe you are right doesn't make it so. The argument here is that you have seen it on TV ( or not seen it ) so it must be true. Welcome to corporate America. Name a reality show that isn't manipulated to gain the best amount of followers for that target market. I agree with you for what it's worth but that's an opinion at the end of the day and based on personal preference rather than factual evidence . The show does give a bad impression but only to those that are educated enough to tell the difference or those of us that know experience rules over whatever animates will tell you. So the only people running round having a fit about what the men on TV do is us. Those that don't know get introduced to the hobby and then their education begins. And if it comes up in conversation you can educate all your friends and explain to them just how the nitrate cycle works. I guarantee that your audience will drop because nobody actually gives a s*&t That argument goes both ways. What you see or do not see is not the exact truth. You can't complain about it because you just don't know based on watching the show and hearsay alone. Can you prove this? I mean can you say that the stocking isn't just for TV or that their filtration systems and maintenance schedule can't support that? Because I have briefly looked around and all I can find is other forums complaining like this one is and I can't find anything factual at all. I would be keen to find that info before I made an opinion. I wouldn't be too hasty mate you have real evidence either. You are making the opposite argument based on the same evidence. Which is none. All I have seen of you on this forum is you being mocked by the community that look down on others from their high horses ( which you seem to be oblivious too ). Regardless of their attitude I support anybody in this hobby regardless of education. So I will give you the same advice that was given to me many years ago... If you write or act like you don't care then nobody will care what you write, take the time to learn some basic grammar and peoples attitude towards you will change. Better to get looked down on because you used the incorrect contraction once in a while than just looked down on.

It's for TV and its fish, who cares. Perhaps they overstock the tank just for the unveiling on TV, perhaps they educate the clients behind the scenes. Perhaps they themselves have no say over the production of the show. perhaps is just TV and any adult that can turn a computer on must know that everything on TV is scripted. Why the hell would they waste 10 minutes of the show educating people who aren't clients on how to keep fish, they would loose their audience because people just want to see fish and crazy tanks. If it was animal abuse it wouldn't last long animal planet and if all their fish died in the tanks they set up then they would have a bad rep and go out of business, not be one of the top tank manufacturers in the world. There is nothing worse than fake plants and fake coral with shoes and hamburgers in the tank for sure. But if that's what people like ( and they do ) then that's what they are going to put out on TV. You think that the X factor judges aren't payed to argue and create drama? It is not their job to educate people, it is their job to create content and get paid. http://www.mrsaltwatertank.com/mr-saltwater-tank-interviews-brett-raymer-star-of-animal-planets-tanked/ http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/tanked-an-aquarium-reality-tv-show-full-article.htm