nays

Hi Matt. I have an Aqua One tank with the filter in the hood and I've never used the carbon cartridges that are sold for it. Supposed to use biorings on the bottom, then the cartridge, then a coarse sponge - I'm using a finer sponge in place of the cartridge. I would definitely swap the cartridge in yours for a sponge. The carbon cartridges are unnecessary and a giant rip-off.

Used it once, did not read Seachem Cupramine so no good to me, but useful for anyone wanting to test for other forms of copper. Expires 08/2019. Free to anyone who can collect from Churton Park, Wellington :-)

But the other has a more menacing stare!

I feel pearl gouramis are a bit too big for a 70ish litre tank. A dwarf or honey would be perfect. You might want to get a few more corys as they are also a schooling fish.

Several plants are available on Trademe. Not cheap though, it's not widely sold (at least not where I live) although it's supposed to be easy to grow and propagate. It's grown as a houseplant so you could try calling local garden centres, they can probably order it for you if they don't have it in stock. Hopefully someone here can share a cutting...

I started a 165l planted freshwater aquarium with a fish-in cycle in January. I tested daily for ages for the dreaded ammonia spike - it never came. To this day I've never seen ammonia or nitrite registering, and nitrate only shows up when I add it myself. Gotta love those plants :-)

I think it's a spider plant...

Nice! Kinda reminds me of an ancient Aztec shrine that Nature is reclaiming...

Beautiful, the lighting really shows off those yellow labs...

I second this :-)

That's just wow...

Good job, it looks great with its paint job

That looks awesome, look forward to see it painted and running!

Awesome! A new baby crypt emerged from my substrate in my other tank today, nice to see them settling in isn't it

Dry ferts and Flourish, but I'm still trying to find the right balance in that regard, my tank's only been set up a few months so I'm definitely a novice. Got brown algae and green water, when I stop dosing ferts they go away but I've got very soft water and zero nitrate without the ferts, so then the plants start going downhill... hopefully as the tank matures it will improve... at least I seem to have got the lighting sorted. We started with mostly stem plants but the tetras have developed a taste for some of them so now trying out crypts, etc. Definitely a work in progress!

Just had another thought Marty - you may want to consider replacing your other tubes depending on how long they've been in use, even though they're still working. Their spectrum shifts down as the tubes age which means they put out less light that is useful to plants. The recommendation is to change them every year, I believe that's based on 8 hours use per day. Then again, if your plants perk up and are happy with just the one new bulb, and you're not having algae problems, you probably don't need to bother :-)

I have the same tank, bought it second hand and it came with Hagen 30" tubes fitted. I looked for cheaper non-aquarium 30" tubes but couldn't source any so in the end I ordered the Aqua One tubes, one 30" daylight, one 30" tropical and one 23.5" tropical as they were less expensive than the Hagen. I've actually stopped using the 23.5" tube as I was getting some sort of black algae/bacteria stuff that looked disgusting and was killing off the plants. Running just the two big tubes is working out well, the plants are fine, still slowly growing and the tank is basically algae free as long as I use minimal ferts. Honestly I wouldn't stress too much about what tube you get, none of your plants are particularly demanding so it probably won't make much difference. Usually plants will go pale when grown in too little light. I would guess that the dieback on your Val is either just normal transplant shock or a reaction to the Excel.

What the hell was that bug thing laying eggs in the bubble nest? A mosquito? Freaked me right out!

Awww so cute!

Thanks for the suggestion Adrienne, have done :-)

Thanks Adrienne! I hadn't seen the databases. The info on C. cordata and C. griffithii is a bit confusing: the database refers to C. griffithii (siamensis) but these names are not synonymous, C. griffithii being a blackwater species and C. cordata var. siamensis tolerating harder water and higher pH. I have read that plants referred to as C. cordata are almost always C. cordata var. siamensis as it is much easier to grow than other cordata varieties. In any case I'd like to give either a try, if I knew where to get them.

Yep only grow in the far north as far as I can make out, both the native and unwanted varieties. There used to be a carnivorous plant society, I was going to contact them but they seem to have gone and their name has been taken by a Mexican fantasy band, whatever that is... lol

Would love to get my hands on some bladderwort/Utricularia if possible, I wonder if anyone is keeping it and could spare a little bit? Barclaya motleyi is supposed to be in the country, but I've found no commercial sources. Crypts, would love C. cordata var cordata, or C. griffithii, or any species that will grow in pH 5 or less, but I have no idea whether these blackwater crypts are in NZ. Putting together a blackwater tank and hoping to plant it :-)

Your photos are amazing! Thanks for sharing them.

I recently cycled a sponge filter in a clear(ish) lidded 60 litre Taurus one from The Warehouse and have some gouramis in it now while I get their tank set up. The heater is stuck to one long side horizontally using the suction cups; even when it's heating, I can't really detect any temperature difference between the plastic beside the heater and the rest of the bin, so it's certainly not going to melt. I cut a couple of slots in one end of the lid with a hot knife for the air line and power cords. Think I put about 50 litres in there, no substrate. The sides and bottom are bowing but it's holding together fine (I wouldn't use one that has seen any UV though). I just rinsed it out with hot water in the shower. Fish haven't died yet :-)