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The continuing saga of the 700L tank


the-obstacle

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I dismantled one of my cheap internals and just used the powerhead part as a diffuser. Put the Co2 tube inside it and I find that works really really well

Ahh! I can actually do that - I've got a crappy internal that does nothing in my guppy tank. Put it down low so it gets blasted out and has heaps of water to rise to the surface? leave the little spray bar on it?

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Obstacle, give your plants a while (a week or two) to realise what's going on with all the new ferts/lights/CO2. After they're used to what's going on they will start going nuts and pearl every day.

You were so right! Today the plants are pearling like they are soda stream machines! Even the crypts are pearling which I've never seen before.

It seems one of my cannisters has decided it will go through a cycle again as I've got a bunch of brown algae on the rocks near the front. I'll give it a really good clean out tonight and a water change and see if that helps. Amonia and Nitrites are still at 0 since day 1 so there must just be a subtle change going on.

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You were so right! Today the plants are pearling like they are soda stream machines! Even the crypts are pearling which I've never seen before.

Nice! Had you done a water change that day though? Or are they still pearling every day? My plants always over-pearl after a water change.

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Nice! Had you done a water change that day though? Or are they still pearling every day? My plants always over-pearl after a water change.

I had done a water change the evening before and yeah, they slowed down. Still pearling in the evenings but it takes all day under the halides to get to that point. All the stem plants have taken off! I've split all of them once already and I'll have to do them again on the weekend. Alright!

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Sorry if you've mentioned before, but how are you diffusing the CO2?

DIY into an old internal filter powerhead. It's not perfect but it's working.

I have a co2 extinguisher on it's way next week so I'll be going pressurised in a couple of weeks. Thinking of going with a reactor up front but will probably get an ebay ceramic diffuser to start with.

any news on :digH: ? 8)

Not yet. Turns out I'm a little bit picky :roll: :facepalm:

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I think the powerhead will work better than just a ceramic diffuser, because the powerhead will at least blow the CO2 around the tank. I had a ceramic diffuser underneath a powerhead in my tank which worked really well, but I had a constant mist of tiny bubbles throughout the water column which wasn't very nice to look at. Inline reactor all the way!

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You could always use an in line diffuser that leads to the powerhead? Can never have too much :D

The line actually goes into the bottom of the internal filter through a course sponge, through some filter wool then into the powerhead. By the time it comes out it's pretty much the same size as the micro bubbles that come out of a ceramic diffuser.

look at me getting all defensive :slfg:

I think the powerhead will work better than just a ceramic diffuser, because the powerhead will at least blow the CO2 around the tank. I had a ceramic diffuser underneath a powerhead in my tank which worked really well, but I had a constant mist of tiny bubbles throughout the water column which wasn't very nice to look at. Inline reactor all the way!

Yeah, I'm getting the little bubbles everywhere at the moment. The tank looks a bit cloudy because of them. That and I haven't sorted out the overflow to suck the film off the surface (it's halfway built, just need the sump return plumbing) so the bubbles all sit under it until they get blown around a bit by the single outlet that's rippling the surface.

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Might I add...

Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii :sml2:

Get them small and you get to see them grow up, which is also very fun :D

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Might I add...

Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii, Acarichthys heckelii :sml2:

Get them small and you get to see them grow up, which is also very fun :D

now if you had have said it 30 times I might have been convinced....

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28 Times not enough? :lol:

Bolivian rams are nice too. Don't get very big but they are really colorful etc

I've got a german blue pair already. I'm pretty much set with apistos, rams, panda cories, angels and lemon tetra, just need a geo/eartheater of some sort to be the feature fish.

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I've got a german blue pair already. I'm pretty much set with apistos, rams, panda cories, angels and lemon tetra, just need a geo/eartheater of some sort to be the feature fish.

You won't get away with a geo/earth eater, they will eat the apisto and cories and anything else thats small.. happened to me once but I caught him/her in the act and got the fish back just in time :o

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You won't get away with a geo/earth eater, they will eat the apisto and cories and anything else thats small..

Yep a big altifrons might be able to snack on smaller fish like ottos, or maybe even cories or apistos. A "jurupari" might be a better choice, shame we don't get the orange/red heads here...

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Yep a big altifrons might be able to snack on smaller fish like ottos, or maybe even cories or apistos. A "jurupari" might be a better choice, shame we don't get the orange/red heads here...

Bummer. There goes that plan... I assume this includes the acarichthys heckelii?

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They get to a similar size to altifrons so not sure I'd trust them with smaller fish when they're full grown. Could be worth a shot with either though, if it gets to the point where you think their mouths are big enough to grab a panda then move them on?

What about Biotodoma cupido?

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