henward

i know there are a few higher grade aros around but they are not forum members. i know a vip red is in the mix few crossbacks

IAL or Ketapang leaves are best reason is that you can buy your average lowering kits. but they are just lowering your PH by putting wood. Or better yet, IAL or ketapang leaves. you actually put goodfness into the water. most of all, nutrients and trace elements. calcium etc. believe it or not. i cured my six bars hole in the head with a mixture of melafix and ketapang leaves wtih a dash of tonic salt. it was early stages, but just shows how good it is. if you dont have a massive turn over of water with water changes. its relatievly cheap!

so yes they SHOULD be ok?

ok, optional is that i will keep the 4 spotted metynis in the tank. they dont eat java fern or hard leaves like anubias, do you thin wysteria will be ok? how bout swords?

Hi Everyone, My name is henward and im an arowana addict. Its been 10 minutes since i sat and watched an arowana. ............. 8) i have a RTG about 45 cms? dont know bad with lengths (thats what she said) :bounce: and a red aro - sold though. Hopefully a black aro soon! dee thats a nice bday present! wow. fully purchasd or subsidised? man! i never got presents like that! lol

weird. i find the arowanas colour for example, brighter, more gold in white substrate. clown loaches too. i find though with bichirs, they adapt to the colour, but i dont mind.

i disagree. in my experimentation, colours becomes brighter in light substrate. but dark markings also go lighter, but thats ok for discus

yeah i like silica sand lol i love it in fact easy to clean looks good, enhances fish colour by reflecting light from underneath!

ok what is power glo? is that a good rendition index?

well, daltons what is that? how bout whit silica sand, thats what i want the tank to look like really. also reason is taht it reflects light up heavily which enhances further the colour of fish. can i use silica sand as substrate - i actualy th ink they would make good substrate for roots to go to. but the main thing is that i am renting. so i dont want to have to uproot the plants and start again in a new substrate setting. also. how thick of substrate do i need? the pots were gonna be 5 to 6 inches high. providing plenty of root space.

well put the geos up for sale/swap:D so yeah. they are going when i set this up! clowns should clean up enough. so question is. sand fluroite or coraser red?

yeah i knwo there are cheaper alternatives but i dont want to grow the plants and have to move them and uproot them. thats why i wanted to try the novel pots idea lol i am seriously if not borderline gonna get rid of the geos now actually i think about it. they are the problem really. non of the other fish in the tank and future fish will uproot and sift through dirt

yeah considered removing geos. even if i remove geos, im still gonna use the pots because the tank is way way too big to fill up entirely with that sort of substrate. but it would fix my problem of having to put stuff on top of the tank. i really liked the geos how they cleaned after the discus you see:P i will have 5 smallish clown loaches in there, but im not sure if they will be enought o clean after the geos. the geos were particularly good at sifting through the sand and cleaning up!

the fine mesh bags will get cut up with the fluorite edges. the sand may go through you see very fine. considered it. i dont know what else to use. also, i dont want the tank to look unsightly, this project is somewhat more ambitious lol cos i want aesthetics and a balance of practicality. the glass pots would look unique and nice i think. just reading up on the fluorite. apparently its high in CEC so it absorbs and stores nutrients floating in the water, and makes these avail for roots. wow! awesome! now figuring out now to put more flow through the fluorite. if i use the sand stuff: i cant drill holes on the sides of the pot, i have to put stones on top to stop geos eating it. black sand looks better if use coarser stuff, i dont have to put rocks on top, and i can drill hols on side of pots. But does not look as good. also sand holds roots better while the rocky stuff may not? its a tough one.

also when you say lots of water flow? you mean turn over? or litereally strong flow in the tank? i will have reasonable flow in this tank i think. not too much but reasonable circulation. will drilling small holes on the sides of the pot help put newer water into the pot and let the nutrients absorb in the fluorite?

yeah the java and the anubias are fine, tie to wood. i will try indian fern. last time i tried they grow like weeds!!! and some amazon swords or sword type plants. the containers i am using are big. they are not small. in fact the total volume of pots i will use per plant is probably more than some planted tanks i see on lfs displays. are the facts i said about the fluorite true? do they absorbe nutrients in the water for roots to easily use? was just curious tahts pretty cool. so in that case, i should use the coarser fluorite, not the black sand. so there would be more water flow getting to the roots? im gonna experiment in this way, its the only way i can plant plants in that discus tank. geophagus will destroy the substrate and uproot plants. so the question is 1) does it really pull nutrients from the water? 2) black sand flurite by seachem or the same stuff but coarser?

yeah i asw them those lights artificially colour though it was very very red power glos i got a good deal $30 each. so im buying 4 of them. lasts ages! i just tried it out. i had an old arcadia freshwater in my rtg tank. i loved it to my discus tank. look sgood! brighter! brings more life to the tank and the green looks greener:D

well i redesigned my 'pots' making them way bigger. deeper too. a bag is only 60 dollars and its enough for all my pots here is my question. i readonline and other forums CEC id ont know what that is its responsible for pulling nutrients from the water column. column means just the water right? ok.. then heres my plant. plant to get the sandy fluorite. reason is that its finer has more surface area to absorbe nutrients...IF INDEED IT DOES THAT which im sure they wotn lie about. but i want to put heavier blukier stones on top of the blank sank so my geos wont get to them. will that still work? will it still pull nutrients even wtih the bigger stones on top of the sand? or does that nullify the purpose of the nutrient pulling? the way i see it, the bulkier stones wont actually WATER TIGHT seal the sand from the water column so to speak. but feedback would be good. jsut want the plants to grow, invsting much on them, and dont want them to die. also, i was also told that nitrates in the tank will be absorbed somewhat by the fluorite. so, if i turn down my water change - the nitrates should get absorbd a little bit. and i can just test it every other day to get the balance right.

yeah powerglo f or plants but the difference inc olour, would it be better if i combine aqua glo? or power glo should do pretty much the same? discus are a mix of colours. reds, blues, greens and albinos. if i do a combo of 2 each. do you think thats sufficient for my plants? anyone here use power glo and colours come out well still? or is power glo really aqua glo but brighter? aqua glo is the one that has a red pink tinge to it

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product ... kSand.html Ok was looking at this in the LFS apparently this is fertilised so it has that for when you first put it in. but what it does and how it works is that it absorbs ferts and nutrients from your water so its readily available for the roots of the plants. is this how it works? would like to know as much as about this as possible.

ok the tank will be predominantly discus fish. i will have plants too. i ws thinking 4 power glo bulbs. this should bring out the colour of the discus also but will it be better to have aqua and power glo, 2 each? i want the plants go grow well but i also want the discus to show colour. do you think having nly powerglo will show colours of the discus too?

yeah, im growing different types of plants:P

yeah, thought of that exact thing. so far i am playing on probability. am considering the more expensive system. will investigate when i return. the way to fix it really is to ensure my sump is big enough. but unfortunately, thats not possible as there is no room lol. the pumps in the barrel im not too concerned about its the main pump in the sump.

unfortunately, even pacific growers said, gardena does fail like that frequently. to me its 100% failure rate, they certainly aint making profit from me. they recommended an orbit start controller, and i have to get a solenoid, 4 times the price but said its reliable. will have to weigh it up i guess. cost vs minor inconvinience lol

calling pacific growers