Matt_95

You mean power sand? I don't believe it's the nutrients in it, hair grass seems to spread better in a finer substrate. I had a massive amount of riccia I could have given you but I melted it with my Dino spit It's a shame sieryu rock is so hard to come by, it looks absolutly spectacular. Make sure you post pictures off them!

Sarah, its a joke....

My plants just arrived today, I'm putting a few lotuses and swords in. My apon arrived as well :D

Looks Cozy! Much better than my tank, just driftwood in mine lol.

The female was the more sociable one for me aswell, the male disapeered for a week and a bit at first, I thought he had jumped out. She said if I got the CB ones then yes they were, I think I bought one of the captive bred ones, I avoid buying WC fish unless CB isn't an option. Yes it was definatly Hermanus, she put me in conntact with him when they wouldn't feed so I could find out what he does. Good luck with them Jarrod, they are beautiful!

What enzym stuff? A lot of that ADA stuff is just snake oil. The substrate is good though. Which one did you get? I, II or "new"? I ment to take a picture of the setup Wolfy did in someone's shop, it looks great. Can you get honey comb rock in Perth?

Lol, look up Tom Barr, he explains it like a million times better than me, explaining is not my strong point. I would assume the natural water bodies are CO2 limitedas well. Low CO2 is the root of most algae issues. I'll try find a link that explains it better than me (I failed) This looks good: http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php/3347-Does-too-much-phosphate-cause-algae was hoping for anarticle but I am tired. Didn't read it so I hope it's a good one. Another thing to keep in mind are that planted aquariums are vastly different to natural bodies of water. Detergent was also a massive cause for algae, it used to be full of phosphates. Oh and perhaps this would be best as a seperate topic? This is a very interesting subject (to me at least) and would like to discuss it but don't want to hijack Jarrods thread.

Something I observed from when I was a child, I used to visit a creek it grew in fairly often, after a large rain in which it ended up below the water line it would rapidly grow to the surface with in a day or two, I never saw it grow submersed though, fingers crossed it does, it would look very interesting.

You've got me down for a pair too don't you Jarrod? (hoping I actually have asked and I'm not loosing my mind ) I'll be interested to see how that plant grows for you, I managed to grow it in the pond but never submersed. I'll have some E. Tennulus soon Jarrod if you want aswell, I'm just growing mine out :)

Phosphates don't cause algae... Lack of CO2 does, your right though, you do want to keep it down in a non CO2 injected tank. The higher levels of P cause the plants to demand more CO2 which of cause is limited in your tank. When you drop the phosphates the demand for CO2 also drops which will make the problem go away. This leads some people to make the incorrect assumption that P causes algae, this was what PMDD was based on, that limmiting P will keep algae away, it's now an outdated method which has been replaced by EI, non limmiting nutrients so there are never any shortages. Sorry for the ramble, just wanted to say that... In your case though you do want to limit P. Since it's a new tank you should be doing frequent water changes. It takes a while for the substrate to stop releasing nutrients abd an equalibrium to take place with in the tank. Sorry, I assumed you were doing water changes, Diana suggests that in the last chapter of her book. Once again sorry, I thought you were doing water changes right now.... Another thing I do is soak the soil prior to use so that I've leached out as much stuff as possible.

Something is seriously wrong if it is growing back that fast, even in tanks I have started with way less plants than I shoudl have all I get is a litle bit of algae... I di use a different substrate though... I'm stumped.

I've grown it, no idea what's called though, I've found it tends to grow slowly and then disintergrate.

Its free.

Yes, might not stay as red though.

It depends how short you trim it, I've kept it short and long.

Loogs good! I hate it when shops sell terrestrial plants... I usually get my plants online now. E. tennulus would probabaly be better than blyxa, my blyxa melts if it doesn't get enough light and with tannins in the water it might just get a bit to shady, E. tennulus needs a lot less light IME Do you want me to bring some ludwigia sp. narrow leaf to the meet for you? I have a lot and its red :)

That guy is stunning! I wish I had room for more :(

That should work as well :)

Blyxa aubertii would be a great choice for a taller back ground plant, it sways in the current like the hair grass does and grows alot faster with a bigger root system. Jeff at Liverpool Creek sells it.

I would assume the rise in PH is due to the marble in the substrate. What Diana suguests in her book is the addition of fast growing plants during the start up phase, perhaps the addition of some water sprite would be helpful while the tank stabilises?

You used NPT stands for natural planted tank. HC, it's a tiny stem plant that creeps along the substrate. UG is utriculata gramiflora, it's a bladderwort that forms a carpet. Was it Vivipara? Or the really common on that gets around 15cm?

I've never had luck with HC or UG in an NPT. Glosso and JHG grow crazy for me though. Blyxa is a great choice for an NPT as it is deep rooted and very fast growing. If you have enough you should be able to do away a lot of the floaters. DSM is the dry start method, it's when you grow the carpet without water initialy.

My username is mthom211, a heap of us talk there on weeknights, you should join in, another Aussie to the mix :)

I left the fish in, should be fine but you can if you want. You can also spot dose, get a syringe and squirt the peroxide on the algae.

Since it seems severe you should try peroxide, let the plants get a hold before it begins to grow again. http://www.aquariumslife.com/featured/algae-control-with-peroxide/ I've used 0.5 ml per gallon of 6% to kill string algae with no problems.