DiverJohn

Plantman: Will get you the "recipie" tonight. But its not flash, 1 teaspoon of this 1/2 of that. But pretty close to the recipies on the net. Caryl: No worries, I am hoping to get some flowers for exactly that reason. I might have to update the pic i supplied him too, its a weeeee bit bigger now.

Ya think!!! :lol: Strewth, thanks mate, I still have heaps, will probably drop you a line some time in '07 :lol: . BTW I am not using any KNO3 in the mix any more.

Thanks Plant Man, Good news, that "stalk" is soo big that I was able to carefully move it out of the tank, and lay it gently on the sheet of paper for its photo shoot Then put it back under the glass The shoot is ( i estimate) about 60 - 70 cm long. The main plant is about 50 cm across and about 45 cm high, good colour, and even the shoot is red!! The main plant is producing 1 or 2 new leaves every 7-10 days. Any idea how long the shoot takes too mature? how long is it going to get?? Could this explain the brown/green floaty "pollen" like stuff I have been getting on the water surface?? I have had planty of shoots come off the smaller swords ( tenelus, leopard etc ) thats how they have spread, but this is a bit different.

Hi Guys, Any thought on what to do with this??? Its E.Orisis Couple more pics here... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/ ... 6Small.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/ ... 7Small.jpg

edited....

Gidday James, I have some Rotala Macranda, which is supposed to be hard to grow, but mine is growing great. Its red which from what i have read usually indicates it needs good light and nutrients. Here is a close up.... And this is what it looks like in the tank... PM me if your interested..

Try " Healtheries Jointex" my dad swears by it :lol: :lol:

Just to go against teh flow.... I vac maybe once a month, and evn then i dont think i do a particulary through job of it. But I have quite a few plants so Ira's comments about roots applies to me.

They look like the Osram "floura"

What is the substrate you are using? Looks quite fine?

#1 could be Rotala Macranda. Allegedly hard to grow, but goes like a weed in my tank. The green suggests lack of Iron, light and CO2. As decreasing any of these in my tank brings out the green. Does it look like this??

Hi Oscar, IMO, there is no right answer to your question. It depends on your tank, and what you are trying to accomplish. Mine is quite heavily planted, I run quite hi levels of light for 12 hours per day. I have my lights running on two timers, Four tubes turn on at 10am, off at 10pm, and the other two tubes turn on at 1030am, off at 1030pm. Some where between 8 and 12 hours is probably, a good place to start. HTH.. John

Hi Nicky, How many lights do you have over your 4foot tank? If you are trying to get colour out of your fish first off you need enough light. IMO 4x 4foot tubes would be minimum. What colour is you substrate? Again, IMO, darker gravels look best. Light coloured gravels tend to reflect alot of light into the eyes of the observer My tank is a wierd size being 1.15 m long so unfortunatly i have to use 3foot tubes. I have 6x 30 watt which gives 180W of light. I use a mixture of tube colours, which i get through our electrical wholesaler. Could get some for you if you like. Would be about $25 for a PAIR of tubes! I can also get light fittings - commercial grade - about $90 for a twin tube setup including tubes! PM if interested Hope that helps John

Hi Pablo, I wouldnt worry too much a bout the theory of it all... I was just trying to save some $$. I also IMO wouldnt worry about the silicone... but perhaps invest in a slightly thicker sheet of polystyrene. Over time the weight of the tank will push the cable into the poly'. If you are worried about damaging the cable maybe a double layer of black polythene between the tank and poly'. Its how the "Nu-clear" people recommend you do it when using their heat pads under seed raising trays in a nursary. john

Yep your right Ira, but when i was thinking it through i decided that having cold spots would be better. I imaginged this is what happens??? End of the day its probably going to achieve the same result as spreading the heat. But when Pablo said... I just thought $$$$ John

I actually emailed the people who make the "Nuclear mirror demister" for a 500l (5foot) tank. They do a range of other heat pad products/ sizes as well as a cut to lenght option... Word from them was as per Caryl. Just straight onto poly' then tank on top, can handle load, but no movement. I thought maybe a layer of plain tinfoil between poly and cable but apart from that it seemed a good idea. Just wondering tho.. why dissapate heat across the glass? I thought the idea of heater cable was to create a thermocline type circulation in your substrate? Hence hot spots + cold spots? John

Hi Liam, dont panic about the kuhlli's... they are really cool fish, but honestly they just seem to disappear - I am lucky if i see one at a time.

Yep sounds like drift wood to me, tanins leaching out. I had two bits of wood in my tank, one just wouldnt stop turning the water yellow. Carbon might help, i just use the cheap stuff from the LFS, and bought a reusable filter bag... no idea about "salts" sorry..

HI Liam, Just to give you an idea you might like this comparison... the spec's of my tank are here.. Diver John or here I think it is fairly well stocked, but for a tank of 250ish litres it has got a very big external filter (need to double check the size - i think its actually a 2228) which is good for a tank up to 600l ! I do about 30% water change evry week. SO like caryl said... HTH John

Hi Todd, Why do you need a fish tank?? Go for a dive!! :lol: :lol:

HI Saffa, I know how you feel, its a fine line getting your plants right and not having algae. SO heres my take anybody else feel free to correct me if i am wrong.. To answer your first question re: wattage. 5x15w is only 75W, on the face iof it this is OK. I am running 6x 30W on a 250ish litre tank. You also need to consider the "rated temp" (the number with a K) and the age of the tubes. Over time the temperature output (colour) of the tubes changes. And not for the better Typically expect a standard flouro to last 6-9 months, before the clour shift is detrimental. Also algae seem to LOVE old tubes, the clours are better for them to grow. I have had a problems with algae and delt them in several ways.. try some of these.. 1. decrease light to about 8 hours a day 2. Added ottocinclus 3. Soak some of the hardier plants in a solution of Aluminium Sulphate ($5 for 1kg from Nursery) for 1/2 an hour - rinse them in clean tap water and finally a rinse in tank water before replanting. Soon i hope to be putting up a post about supplying tubes & electrical gear to my fish keeping mates , so PM me if you need any help in that respect. HTH John

HI Warren, Could you post some part #'s for what you are using for your FW tank... It is an option i would look at for my 5 footer. John

I dont have a problem with my fish eating the plants but I have HEAPS of plants, and i dont think many of my fish are particularly herbivorus. You can alway supply them with lettuce and some other vege's. My silver sharks are particularly keen on zuchinni. And Spirilina discs dont last long either. At one stage I had difficulties with my large silver sharks uprooting plants because they zoomed about so fast. Real plants rock !! John

Oh sorry :oops: I just used a 10l bucket, and trips back and forward to bathroom. But i suspect due to the PITA factor i was "under changing" my water. A rubbish bin & pond pump makes lfe so much easier. Just fill the bin the night before with cold water, drop in an air stone & heater, in the morning add 4 squirts of aqua plus. Then syphon 6 buckets out of tank, ( I reckon I loose about 1 bucket load a week to evaporation) . Turn the pump on and refill tank . If i am in a rush, this takes about 15 minutes. DJ

HI CB, Water all over the floor?? Strewth think your doing something wrong there! Out of all the time i have spent browsing this site, and all the "Technical" discussions on pumps and flow rates etc I have never seen any one describe the technique of starting a syphon without getting a mouth full of water... after some practice you should be able to do it easy, and not get a mouthful of water or wet carpet. So here's my thoughts on how to keep your carpet dry and do it the easy way... 1. You need a decent length of hose. clear stuff of at least 15mm diameter is best and costs about $3 per meter from hardware stores. get about 2 meters but that can vary, the piece i use is about 1 m long 2. Hold one end of the hose in the water, drap the other down towards you bucket.. 3. Take hold of the end in the bucket and STAND UP STRAIGHT. The end your going to suck on is ABOVE the water line. 4. Start sucking! you will see the water go up the tube and then towards your gob As the water aproaches the end your sucking on. Stop sucking. and quickly stick your thumb over the end. The water should stay in the tube and you shouldnt have a mothful of water!. 5. Lower the end BELOW the water line, aim into your bucket and let your thumb off the end. Hey presto! Gravity takes over, the water flows out the tube creating a vacum and sucking more water out of the tank. To stop the syphon lift the tube out of the tank . Once you have the technique "down pat" you will be able to get your syphon going really easy. & it is exactly the same when using a gravel vac. ( i feel this could best be described with a video :lol: ) HTH DJ