Matt_95

Probabaly a stupid question, but why did you re-add the corners? You could have made it rimless... What plants are you planning to use ths time?

Lol Jarrod you won't make much in the off season they pretty much stop growing in winter, mine also go well in indirect sunlight, you have to make sure it's not to strong otherwise the plants are driven to use more CO2 than is available. I grow a few emerges rotala outdoors, they grow much better than if I try them emerges under lights. Don't worry Paul, I still kill it too.

I'm sorry Paul but you honestly wouldn't have been able to get in the door, after you called mum and I threw all of the stuff on the floor into there, you wouldn't have even been able to see the tanks. You'll have to come over again and have a looksie. If you set up a shrimp tank I'll have some cherries and hopefully some of these native shrimp I have will breed. Lol, thats after a trim, I'll get a photo tonight, all my photos off it just end up as the pool the reflections are so bad O.o

I tried talking to my axolotl today, to make her eat... It didn't work :(

They are stunning! There was like a schoal of 20 of them in the shop. Watching Wolfy catch them was hilarious, he was talking to them haha

More cyano, I guess I should pay more attention to this tank, the infestation is very severe. Stunted growth of the mayaca One of my E. vesuvius reverted to its straight form, very interesting. Really bad water stains sorry. You can alos see that the blyxa and ammania is going great. The limnophila is also healthy Most plants are going insane, its just the algae that is the issue. One of the girls I got off Jarrod Someoen comment so I can post my new rams!

Hey guys it’s been ages since you have all seen this tank. Well its nothing impressive, well the exact opposite, I've had a recent algae outbreak, my thoughts are too much light and not enough flow. Also not enough Ca and Mg, more on that later. I have 4 types of algae, cyano, green tuft, thread and BBA, all point to lack of CO2. The plant growth is healthy on all my plants except mayaca and my new aponageton. Their new growth is stunted, This is a sign of Ca or Mg deviancy, that would make sense since I use rain water which lacks these elements and they aren’t provided well in fish food either. To correct that I dried some MTS and tipped them into the tank last night, that was a dumb idea, I just realized they float That’s were the ones with your angels came from Paul, I assumed they would sink. I should have added them to the filter as that would have exposed them to more water. Silly idea in hindsight. So to help deal with the algae I have halved my lighting and cleaned out my canister, the output is still not increasing though so after holidays I will add some powerheads. I will also start dosing NPK to hopefully help the plants compete with the alga. I will keep you updated on how I go, I thought this may interest you all. This photo shows the grean tuft and the cyano, the cyano is present at the top of the waterline on my back ground as well, I wont be using one of those again, they are algae magnets. Sorry about the bad pictures, I get reflections during the day. More pictures soon.

I should have said almost all algae issues are rooted in CO2, the vast majority are this is a good read by Tom Barr. Our goal is more horticulture, to grow and garden aquatic plants. So we focus on providing good conditions for plant growth. Plants, not nutrients define the system and their ability to grow and flourish. Ever seen a tank with algae and flourishing plants? I haven't. No one likes that look. They want nice healthy plants and no algae. In tanks where the plants are flourishing and doing very well we see little if any algae. We often assume many things about plants and think they are doing fine and we suddenly see "algae". What is the balance that kept things going well, prior? => the health and growth rate of the plants. These two may change some and you not notice it, only seeing the algae issue. Algae are good indicators that something is wrong with the health and growth rates of the plants. Plants themselves can also be indicators and often are. Getting them to grow well again is the key here. EI just rules out non limiting nutrients, it does not rule out too much light or provides ample CO2. No nutrient dosing method does that. So blame needs to be applied fairly/reasonably and look at the user and their light and CO2 systems much more carefully than nutrients which are rather easy to test and rule out causes. These tanks can seemingly have little or a great deal of nutrients, both are seen and there is a wide range of observed ppm's for N, P etc. Why is that? Well, light and CO2 play a role also. Less light, less nutrients, also sediment sources can make up for seemingly low water column ppm's and poor testing can also lead to poor conclusions, as is often the case. So sediment sources + water column dosing are synergistic, they make both methods easier. As long as the sediment is not messy and you are not making a mess as well, then this is a good method to add to any water column dosing routine. Less light = less CO2 demand = less nutrient demand. This is obvious to most people. and well supported in research from the Ecology to the Molecular levels. Fish load also can and does add some variation as well and load of nutrients(plenty for algae to never be limited). Plant biomass differences between tanks also play roles, and often tanks are nutrient limited which causes issues for CO2 demand(reduces the CO2 demand often several times), so if you add non limiting amounts of nutrients, then you have much more CO2 demand as result, if the CO2 is not adjusted for this, then you end up with algae, not from too many nutrients, rather, lack of enough CO2. Such indirect relationships cause many to assume algae is limited by nutrients, without considering what and how the plants are affected and without regard or measure of the CO2 and light critically. This was common decades or so ago, not so much today, but many "still cling to the past". Ironically referring to themselves as new, more evolved methods that dose less than EI etc. If you have low light, then it's not an issue, the tank is not limited by nutrients or CO2. If you have a PO4 limited tank, then you are not limiting algae, you are limiting CO2 demand from the plants. Very poor conclusions and even worst test method/s. You can find tanks with no PO4 measured and low limited PO4 and algae ridden. Likewise, where's my algae bloom if limited PO4 works as claimed? If this is true then I should be able to induce algae and run and high risk or a bloom if this theory is correct. However, I've never been able to do it, even at 10-50-100x the suggested amounts to keep the tank limited with PO4. This stuff is easy to test and rule out their potential cause. So both case experiments where we add lots and add none at all do not explain the results and observations. Yet they still believe it I guess the world is flat to some folks:cool: You can show reason, logic, experiments, results, examples based on a wide range of observations,(not just the critics' aquarium), suggest test and adding more CO2, reducing light etc to show and demonstrate this. They can go on with their rants about belief and simply not get that the system in not as simple as they want to try and suggest, yet in some ways, it is very simple: take good care of the plants, then there's no algae issues. On this point, most everyone is in agreement. Regards, Tom Barr

Thanks Sarah! They are a wild strain of angelfish, They look really pure, I don't know how to explain it haha Mt. Cotton, this little creek near a quarrie, there are areas where the soil has beein washed away and it leaves a mass of roots, they hide under there and you get them by the scoop full If your interested shoot me a pm and I'll tell you the location. No ID on the species, I'll be dropping Dave Wilson an email and will try find someone I can send some samples to get them ID'd. Male: Female Group The stream is freezing, its fed from a mountain so its they are in the chilled tank for now.

They really are nice Get them Yan, get them This is Mr. Nibbles

C)2 is teh root of all algae issues in the planted aquarium, I'm no good at exlaining it but I suggest you read soem of Tom Barrs work. The idea that excess nutrients causes algae is from the 60's I believe... If you don't inject CO2 you have to make sure you don't have to much light, don't add to much phosphate ect.

Thats them Yan, from memory they were mostly slightly larger than 50 cent size but I think there was one or two medium sized ones. Not much red yet but thats them I would email someone for a definate on how big they are. Wayne said they haven't been ordered yet, I got these guys on a bargain. No pics yet, still settling in. I got sooo many shrimp, only took around 5 scoops but have well over 100, I should have checked what I actually caught... tacken the leaves out or something, I also now have tadpoles, water scorpions and cray fish :/ The shrimp are all berried, probabaly from the rain.

Lots of IAL then!

You probably should... Did you collect any rain water?

the 17th, make sure the water is soft Maybe add some IAL.

OK, I think I know what it is Wow, the Ipod pictures are terrible! I left my dslr at home... Panther-$28 I think Yan there were also red cap macupaura for $45 each F1 The rest were all moggie marbles.

Thanks everyone I got a pair of channoides and a pair of electric blue rams as well as some rare plants. I have some pictures for you Yan Ummm after please, don't want it stuck in the mail, what are you getting?

I don't learn mum will always pull the "you should be able to drive yourself there" in fact she already does..... :/ Oh I will need to get pictures of the shrimp I get tomorrow when I go shrimping :D

Thanks Nicola!!! I don't want to be 16 I have to learn how to drive terrifying, everyone stay off the road hoping to get some gold shrimp or SSS CRS but there is a "no critters" rule for my birthday lol. Going to Fishchicks tomorrow!!!! Wooo my favourite place ever!!! No doubt I will spend all of my birthday money lol

Thanks someone! Hopefully I get lots of money so I can spend heaps :D

Wow you had it bad, what are your NO3- levels? Once you kill it of you don't want it back. Do you have a picture of the channoides?

I'll try tomorrow, I'm hoping I can pull the "it's my birthday card" and go down. I didn't see many last week, some mancaupura (spelling?) koi and the black lace was about it I think.

Is it the one with the Lego man?