FraserNZ

Nice, but I thought you were going to go 100% Seachems Flourite? If only you where doing this a couple of months ago when I broke down my large tank, I got rid of a load of plants

I would ask Tom Barr on his Tom Barr Report Forum... I think he would have experience with lighting a tank of that depth.

Hi Mate, Unwanted Organisms living in them so its best to soak the wood first then let it dry outside for about a week or so. Most wood does leach tanneries when you first put it in the tank however, this normally settles down after a month or so. Just do regular water changes to keep this under control. With regards to rocks, some rocks can affect the PH of the water. Put a bit of vinegar on the rock, if it fizzes then its no good, if it doesn’t it should be fine. But always keep an eye on the PH when adding rocks just to be safe. F

In my experience with T5 lighting you are really getting to maximum carpeting depth at about 50cm. Adrienne has said, when you get to about 60cm in depth they do no provide enough power to be effective in a high-tech tank. Depending on the types of plants you are wanting to grow, you could be up for quite a challenge with a tank that's 80cm. What type of plants are you looking at using?

I'm guessing you will have to spend $2100 just on dirt

I have a mix of both sachems flourite sand and fluorite black in my tank, I think it works well. The only problem I have found is its very cloudy when you first add it to the tank. The other problem is the cost, my tank is only 140L and it required 3 bags. I would hate to think what yours would cost to fill!

Really? Which site do you get deals like that from??

exactly, hence why I said not in Auckland anyway

I disagree, with regards to the problem being high phosphates. I actually have to add phosphorus to my tank and maintain it at a certain level. Before I did this I had loads of problems with green spot algae. http://www.hollywoodfishfarm.co.nz/deta ... ml/m/1007/ High phosphate levels are actually quite hard find with the water in New Zealand (well in Auckland anyway) My water doesn't have much at all, well not enough to read with a test kit anyway. Graham I would recommend you google Tom Barr, and the Tom Barr method of fertilizing, you will not look back...

Yeah they are normally pretty immature at LFS

This I think is normally the key issue, and my understanding is Java requires certain levels of both in order to do well.

Bottom Pic: Left Fish = Male Right Fish = Female - Note the female reddish stomach coloring, and is a little smaller, (both tell tail signs) Once you get use to the differences you can tell them a mile off... The pink in on the females stomach on the second picture from the bottom is as clear as day. (fish on the left) F

I think everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and at the end of the day it's whatever the owner of the fish/aquarium enjoys more as its a personal preference. My tastes have changed a lot since I got into fish keeping (I hate that term) some of the things I thought were cool back then I think are horrible now and its only been 2 years haha. PS that red Aro is horrible :slfg: ( just my opinion please don't be offended) F

A little more info on Dragon Stone can be found here... http://www.wowpedia.org/Stone_dragon :smln:

I have a love hate relationship with Java Fern, I have a really nice Java Plant that is pretty big. It seems to completely die off once a year, goes completely black, then a few months latter it springs back turns green again and starts to flourish?! (running in a high tech tank with ferts and co2) :dunno:

Generally people that have no serious fish keep addiction will list their tanks as "huge" or "very large" when in reality they are only 100- 150L It makes me laugh when you see people advertising "huge tanks" they put no measurements in the auction, and you can tell its more like a 30L at most. On the other hand fish freaks like ourselves stand out like a sore thumb on TM :slfg:

I prefer Aros under candle light :sml1:

I found raising ram fry too much of a pain... impossible! But nice fish!

most of what you see there has been planted for just under 2 weeks and some of the plants are already starting to run. In saying that I have have had smiler success when growing it in water so not completely convinced. I'm going to give this a good go before before adding water so will be interesting to see.

Hi Guys, I have had this tank in the build for the last couple of weeks now a thought I may as well show you all what I'm up to and if anyone would like to share their opinions they are more than welcome to. My goal with this scape is to keep things very minimalistic, with only 3 or 4 different types of plants. Plants on the list so far are Glosso, narrow leaf java. Tank Specs: 100cm x 40cm x35cm Filtration: Fluval 305 and Fluval 205 Lighting: 4 x 36" T5's (2x Power Glo 2x Life Glo) CO2: 3.5kg Bottle, UP Regulator (with solenoid on timer on/off with lights) Heating: 300w Hydor inline heater Substrate: Seachems Flourite Back, and Black Sand mix The plan is to have the centre of the tank as the focal point keeping the rest of the tank pretty much bare. At the moment the tank does not have any water in it as I'm trying to get the glosso going emerged first so it can form a thick carpet before I add any water. According to Tom Barr, this method also doesn't require you to cycle the tank which will be handy! I'm planing to add another bag of fluorite which I will be using to make a slope at the rear or the tank to adde more depth, I'm also thinking of adding some thiner branches to the center to give the scape more height. Will try and keep this post updated as I go Cheers, PS, Sorry about the photos the tank is pretty dirty and photos where taken using a phone camera :smln: Fraser

Yeah it's hard to read, don't worry you're not color blind

haha yes, but only this ones cheaper :slfg:

http://www.fish-street.com/aquarium_atc-300_timer_with_temperature_controllerheat?category_id=60 How about that?

Ive been having a look on Ebay at the different thermostat options, and they all have a variance of 1c or .5c no real point in adding one in my opinion. However, I'm like you, I love burning money on aquarium gadgets and what not :lol: