Your current Fish tank Setups!

Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2011
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Melanurus wrasse are superb. They are very active fish and at 6" need a pretty good size tank - I'd say 4' as a minimum... try and get one from Indonesia rather than Australia - better colours and should be cheaper. H. biocellatus is a good choice also. Slightly smaller with similar markings when mature, but red rather than green base colour.

I'm a bit of a wrasse addict.

Its a male that shows the beet colours aswell am i correct?

Will they display on thier own or is it best to have 2? Hoping can just have the one
 
Soldato
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Cumbria
@Spook187 or anyone else

Do you have any experience with wrasses? Loking for a colourfull fish to add to my tank and thinking of the melanurs wrass

tMxweB5.jpg

Yes mate I have a few, silver belly, Exquisite, peacock and nebulous, the nebulous is a pure bully though and when feeding is on the go he's just a dick, they can turn on shrimp and snails son types.
 
Soldato
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Cornwall
Its a male that shows the beet colours aswell am i correct?

Will they display on thier own or is it best to have 2? Hoping can just have the one

Yeah males are more colourful. A good shop should be able to order them by sex. Single is fine, you can keep them as pairs but there's definitely a risk of aggression from the male.
 
Soldato
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24 Dec 2011
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Indeed, but you buy cheap you end up buying twice, the vectra is an excellent pump, dead silent.

Well my jabao is slowing down if that even seems right.. its on 90% now to keep up with what i need. Started life at 60%. Refuse to run it at 100 so its being replaced
 
Soldato
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Liverpool
I'm hoping I don't fall victim to the bug of aquariums but at this point I'm pretty excited about doing this tank for my lad and am having to reign in my desire to go buying plants and decorations etc let alone fish lol

Having day dreams of a 6ft reef tank lol
 
Soldato
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9 Mar 2003
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14,059
Would a Betta be a good fit for my lads tank? If so what fish are a good tank mates so I can help steer him in that direction.

I would say yes, but others will say no because of the way a Fluval edge is constructed. A betta is an anabantoid which means it has an extra organ so it can also get oxygen from the air. I say yes because there is still a significant sized opening at the top of the tank so it shouldn't be a problem, the fish will know what is the surface and what isn't after all.

Good tank mates are anything that will not fit in its mouth or out compete it for food. Betta's can be aggressive but normally only to their own kind, your mileage may vary. I would still avoid anything with long flowing fins like fancy guppy's or fish that will nip the fins of the Betta like serpae tetra's.

I would start with the betta, get it established and then try and introduce 5 or 6 of one of the following:
Dwarf Corydoras Catfish species (edit removed these, not sure if suitable)
Neon Tetra (Normal, green, black etc all fine)
Endlars
Small Rasbora (Harlequin, Dwarf species)
Lampeye Killifish
Ember Tetra
White Cloud Minno's (Gold or Regular)
Amano Shrimp (your mileage may vary with cherry, don't be surprised if they end up as dinner)
 
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Associate
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29 Jan 2008
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Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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25,289
Location
Lake District
I have what I think is beard algae on some of plants, the treatment seems to remove them and place them in a solution of 10% bleech for 10 minutes, does that sound right?
 
Soldato
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9 Mar 2003
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14,059
I have what I think is beard algae on some of plants, the treatment seems to remove them and place them in a solution of 10% bleech for 10 minutes, does that sound right?

You can do that but I really wouldn't, it could make things worse for a few reasons:
Removing the plant from the aquarium disrupts the root system putting the plant under further stress and hinder future growth, this can encourage more algae.
The bleach its self will stress the plant, a stressed plant will likely encourage more algae
It doesn't address the route cause of the algae and thus it is highly likely to return, often with vengeance due to the above

You can spot treat effected areas with a glutaraldehyde based product such as Seachem Excel or Easy carbo. These are marketed as liquid CO2 and increase the available carbon in the tank but they have a side effect of killing algae if you spot dose with a syringe/pipette. The downside is that these products are toxic to livestock and plants if you put too much in and it still doesn't really address the root cause, I wouldn't bother unless its getting really bad.

You are better off removing the effected leaves and addressing the route cause.

Algae grows on plants because there is something that is stopping the plant thriving which means there is an imbalance somewhere in your tank its either:
Too little nutrients
Too much organic waste
Low or fluctuating levels of CO2 in the water
Lights on too long for available nutrients or CO2
Lights are too intense for the available nutrients or CO2

It really is trial and error getting the balance right, unless you have a CO2 system then CO2 is fixed which means the only things you can control are lights, nutrients and waste. Frequent large (50%) water changes are the best thing you can do to combat an algae outbreak while dialing in your lights and nutrients.
 
Soldato
Joined
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6,012
Just put the heater out of site somewhere assuming you dont have a sump. I used to like having mine standing upright then you have minimal wire in the water

Also dont rely on the heaters internal thermostat as i find they are anywhere from +/- 3’c get yourself a controller
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
25,289
Location
Lake District
You can do that but I really wouldn't, it could make things worse for a few reasons:
Removing the plant from the aquarium disrupts the root system putting the plant under further stress and hinder future growth, this can encourage more algae.
The bleach its self will stress the plant, a stressed plant will likely encourage more algae
It doesn't address the route cause of the algae and thus it is highly likely to return, often with vengeance due to the above

You can spot treat effected areas with a glutaraldehyde based product such as Seachem Excel or Easy carbo. These are marketed as liquid CO2 and increase the available carbon in the tank but they have a side effect of killing algae if you spot dose with a syringe/pipette. The downside is that these products are toxic to livestock and plants if you put too much in and it still doesn't really address the root cause, I wouldn't bother unless its getting really bad.

You are better off removing the effected leaves and addressing the route cause.

Algae grows on plants because there is something that is stopping the plant thriving which means there is an imbalance somewhere in your tank its either:
Too little nutrients
Too much organic waste
Low or fluctuating levels of CO2 in the water
Lights on too long for available nutrients or CO2
Lights are too intense for the available nutrients or CO2

It really is trial and error getting the balance right, unless you have a CO2 system then CO2 is fixed which means the only things you can control are lights, nutrients and waste. Frequent large (50%) water changes are the best thing you can do to combat an algae outbreak while dialing in your lights and nutrients.
I will start dosing co2 and see what that does, the bottle says 1ml per 50l so I'm dosing 2ml as it's a 125l, should I double the dosage initially?
 
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