Your current Fish tank Setups!

Looks really nice, Rob. :cool: What plants do you have there?


On a side note, I've just bought my new external filter, an aquamanta EFX 300. Will be setting that up today. :)
 
Brought a new pump for my betta tank as the last one was god awful and loud, so much better! Hopefully be able to get the tank cycled properly now and get a fish in a week or so!
 
arc@css said:
Looks really nice, Rob. :cool: What plants do you have there?


On a side note, I've just bought my new external filter, an aquamanta EFX 300. Will be setting that up today. :)
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Couldn't really name them all, but there are a few Amazon swords, including a Bleheri behind the bogwood that will hopefully grow nice and big in that corner. A couple of cryptos, a couple of Vallisnerias and Hygrophila's. Some others well. Quite nice plants. I got 4 Bleheri's from one pot, which is unusual as normally you get a max of two due to the size of the plant.

Put some fertiliser plugs in and dosing weekly with a good fertiliser weekly. Should be a proper jungle aquarium within 6 months.
 
robfosters said:
Couldn't really name them all, but there are a few Amazon swords, including a Bleheri behind the bogwood that will hopefully grow nice and big in that corner. A couple of cryptos, a couple of Vallisnerias and Hygrophila's. Some others well. Quite nice plants. I got 4 Bleheri's from one pot, which is unusual as normally you get a max of two due to the size of the plant.

Put some fertiliser plugs in and dosing weekly with a good fertiliser weekly. Should be a proper jungle aquarium within 6 months.
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Got a link for the fertilizer / plugs? Cheers.
 
When it comes to anything to with aquarium plants I can wholeheartedly recommend aquarium gardens at www.aquariumgardens.co.uk

The plugs can be found under aquarium plant food and are called TNC plugs. They look like capsules with small balls in them. You just push about 23cm under the substrate with about 2 per square foot and they slowly release ferts.

The plants I bought were in magnificent condition. Healthy leaved and a rich green, not a bit of brown anywhere.
 
23cm under the substrate, damn thats a deep tank you have :)

The ferts from there are expensive and weekly dosing might not be enough for the jungle you long for.

What lighting are you using?
Are you adding any form of carbon to the water column?

Have a look into EI (estimative Index) dosing using dry salts. Much more economical than pre mixed ferts and you can tailor make batches to your aquariums needs.
 
famas said:
23cm under the substrate, damn thats a deep tank you have :)

The ferts from there are expensive and weekly dosing might not be enough for the jungle you long for.

What lighting are you using?
Are you adding any form of carbon to the water column?

Have a look into EI (estimative Index) dosing using dry salts. Much more economical than pre mixed ferts and you can tailor make batches to your aquariums needs.
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Lol!, I forgot the hyphen, 2-3cm.

The fella at the place was very helpful and is very knowledgeable. Even though he could have sold me liquid carbon, he didn't as he said the plants I was getting are better without.

I will be adding a C02 system within the next 2 months. That should see them really take off.

The tank is great. Looking at it in person compared to photos on here, it's almost like ultra HD.

A side on pic....

 
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robfosters said:
When it comes to anything to with aquarium plants I can wholeheartedly recommend aquarium gardens at www.aquariumgardens.co.uk

The plugs can be found under aquarium plant food and are called TNC plugs. They look like capsules with small balls in them. You just push about 23cm under the substrate with about 2 per square foot and they slowly release ferts.

The plants I bought were in magnificent condition. Healthy leaved and a rich green, not a bit of brown anywhere.
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Thanks. Yes, that's where I bought my plants from, though until I saw your post I'd completely forgotten about plant food plugs. I'll order some now since they're so cheap.
 
If you're going to add injected co2 I would definitely look into EI dosing.

You're going to need to increase your fertilizer amounts with a high tech set up and its going to get costly with pre mix.

What co2 system were you looking at getting? I would recommend a fire extinguisher set up unless you have deep pockets.

Weekly 50% water changes as well as keeping on top of maintenance are recommended for a high tech setup. You may also want to look into reducing your photo period at the start, I assume you're using t5 bulbs and think I can see some GDA build up on the side glass.

Liquid carbon can melt certain plant species and other plants need time to adjust. though I've never had any problems with swords and the benefits out weigh the negatives.

Have a look into DIY mixes of Glutaraldehyde, which is the main ingredient in premixed liquid carbons and can be bought in bulk and mixed with water for a fraction of the cost, though there are some very slight health risks so its not for every one.

good luck.
 
Cheers for the advice. But it must be a trick of the light, there is no GDA build up in the tank at all.

Can I just gauge an opinion here.

How do the aquarium owners on here fare with their tap water?

Is it OK. Is it too hard, soft, high PH, low PH, and if not right, what do you do to correct it.

Thanks.
 
robfosters said:
Can I just gauge an opinion here.

How do the aquarium owners on here fare with their tap water?

Is it OK. Is it too hard, soft, high PH, low PH, and if not right, what do you do to correct it.

Thanks.
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Well, hindsight as they say is a wonderful thing. My tank has been running around 4 - 5 months, and until recently I simply used softened indoor tap water with, of course, water conditioner to be safe. The peat based substrate that I bought, although a substrate of the highest quality, serves to acidify water further (which is initially what I wanted). So currently, my water is very soft (GH 1 = 10mg / KH 12 = 120mg / pH 8.2). After reading an article by Neale Monks, I learnt that domestic water softeners aren't particularly good for providing soft water for the home aquarium. Yes, they remove the unwanted minerals like calcium and magnesium, but some models will add sodium - which is not needed.

Ideally, I would like the pH to 'eventually' be between 7.5 - 8.0 (no more than a fluctuation of 0.2 per day), and the GH to be around 5 - 10 (I'm happy with the KH). In order to do this, I've started mixing hard tap water (outside) with some soft when doing a water change, and also adding minerals too.

Filter bacteria tend to work better in hard, alkaline conditions - something else I didn't know.
 
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robfosters said:
How do the aquarium owners on here fare with their tap water?

Is it OK. Is it too hard, soft, high PH, low PH, and if not right, what do you do to correct it.

Thanks.
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My water is hard and acidic at PH 8.4.

I do nothing to 'correct it' as such I planned my stock around my water so I was less likely to encounter issues in my low maintenance, low tech setup.
 
robfosters said:
Is it OK. Is it too hard, soft, high PH, low PH, and if not right, what do you do to correct it.
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If your going the natural root then bogwood, indian almond leaves etc all adjust ph effectively. Obviously other natural alternatives if you need ph in the other range like limestone, Coral skeletons but cant say iv ever used them.

never any need to use chems with a little research, and your fish will be much healthier aswell.
 
Added my first fish today. 6 lemon tetras. Little fellas seem to fascinated with their reflections atm lol.

Best pic I can take. Photographing aquarium fishes is hard!

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kaptainmarc said:
right, I have a 180 litre tank that I need to move when I move house

luckily the house isn't far away only 5 minute drive
anyone got any tips?
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Moved down the road a couple of weeks ago and had to move my 160l. Buy some fish bags and a polybox from your local fish shop. Place fish in bags, place filter media in bags (with water). Place fish and media in polybox for easy transportation.

Completely drain the tank and dump the water. Put substrate in a bucket, will make the tank lighter when moving it. Set the tank back up, give your gravel a rinse through (good opportunity to give it a good clean), and start filling her back up. Bare in mind if you just use cold water it will take HOURS to heat up. I used hot/cold and all was fine. As soon as it's tepid and the equipment is on/set-up float the bags.
 
That's Ok if you have an external filter that can closed off while chlorinated water is in the system. If you have a Juwel tank with internal filter, remove the filter baskets before filling or the chlorine will kill your bacteria and you will cycle again.

What ever you do, I would grab a small bottle of Seachem prime as your dechlorinater and add a capful every 48 hours for a week. That will protect your fish should there be any kind of spike.
 
robfosters said:
That's Ok if you have an external filter that can closed off while chlorinated water is in the system. If you have a Juwel tank with internal filter, remove the filter baskets before filling or the chlorine will kill your bacteria and you will cycle again.

What ever you do, I would grab a small bottle of Seachem prime as your dechlorinater and add a capful every 48 hours for a week. That will protect your fish should there be any kind of spike.
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Obviously he needs to dose the tank before the media goes back in. And I already said remove the media and place in bags. That advice works for any type of filter, it's pretty self explanatory.
 
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