Space

Zoom, just remember that a lot of members on this forum are also on APSA.
If they "don't know what they are talking about half the time..."
Then they must know what they are talking about - the other half of the time! Lol! :bigsmile:
It all depends what half they are talking about on this forum! :blink1:

All in good spirit!

Gert.

 

Well...Just finished doing the tank. Backs a little sore and there are buckets lying around the floor. I will def post some pics when the water clears again. The new tank is 40L bigger than the old one so that means getting another bunch of things.
Tossed the other fish into my other tank with the angel, lost one Bala shark that jumped out when I wasn't looking.
Will wait about 3 days before I put any fish in.
Forgot how tiring it was to take a tank down and put a new one up!

 

Lol . . .hope my experience is not as painful!

 

So this is a day after the tank was set up. The water is a little brown from the wood.
Whole tank.

Right- I intend to add more wood here with some more amazons.

Left- I intend to put LOTS more Vallis here with the hornwort.


Please comment. I also would like to know what plants would grow quite big and fill the back. Please bear with me with the wall. I still have to put a background on the tank
How soon can I start dosing with the prof's ferts?

Thanks
M

 

Just a quick question, whats that stuff on top of the PFS ?

 

Any of the Echinodorus species . . . Major Martii looks to be quite larger than the others

Some may be BL so just be careful

 

Just some black gravel. Looks a little strange but I'll eventually mix it in a a bit. Thanks TM.

 

I've always looked up to and in awe of the guys on APSA, they even have plant guru Tom Barr on there and that guy knows what he's talking about. I have yet to see any planted tanks on here like on APSA and some of those tanks have made AGA. So, that comment seems a little slanderous to me and as Gert said, some of the members on here are on APSA too. Now I've never posted on APSA, but I do find that offensive.

 

Rlowe... I was having a dig at APSA. Most of APSA members are TASA members.... so I knew I would get a retaliation.

 

I'm sure you would not have posted otherwise, If you weren't ready to take some retaliation.

But lets not create rivalry where it's not needed. Back on topic.

 

DO you think I should add some more wood?
Thanks
8)

 

So I added some ferts and today I noticed the water to be very brown. I couldn't be the wood because it has soaked for ages. Could it be the PFP leaching?
Thanks
Michael

 

Yip . . .PFP . .

I was going to ask the Professor if soaking filter floss in Chemicult works just as well as PFP? A cleaner alternative. Sometimes I wonder how plants grow in a pot of cotton fiber.

 

But it's not bad for the fish- it is probably good for them right? Do you know if it will ever stop leaching?

 

PFP = Coconut husk . . .

From what I've read . . . It leaches for years.

 

What about the stuff they put in hanging baskets? Would that not work as well?

 

Potting soil?

 

Sorry, no the husk stuff that they line them with to keep the potting soil in.

 

I don't know what you are talking about.

But you could change over to:

Lawn Dressing
Kitty Litter
Potting Soil

maybe start a poll to see which is best?

Edit

just thought you could cover the pfp with filter floss so the tiny particles stay down and the floss soaks up the tannins?

The professor says that it's normal for the water to go brown.

You can soak the filter floss in water with iron tablets in it so it serves a dual purpose in your substrate.

TM

Buying enough filter floss to cover your tank may be costly. Get an old hollow fiber pillow and use the inner "floss" . Might save you some cash.

@Firefly

 

I'm going to "pull in the reigns" a bit here and slow this thread down a little... before people all go start doing crazy things on their tanks.

PFP will absorb and retain the Chemicult. When the roots come into contact with the PFP, it will absorb the chemicult from the PFP. The chemicult, depending on how heavily planted you have, will last approximately 18 to 24 months. By that stage you as the aquarist will more than likely want to do a re-scape in any case. (The Sera floradepot gives you 10months if you want to compare it to something else)

The idea is to cover the PFP with a MINIMUM of 2cm of gravel. This will keep it capped. Yes, it will leach for a few days/weeks when the tank is filled, but this leeching will stop... on condition you don't do too much fiddling. I believe the innitial leeching is actually due to you planting and disturbing everything. If you use a gravel vacuum to clean your tank every week... DO NOT plunge it into the gravel. Simply wipe it over the top of the gravel.

If the tannins leeched bother you so much, put Activated Carbon into your filter.

The use of rose shrub mix, lawn dressing, potting soils, compost is extremely unsafe, and is not advised on this forum. There are a few members who do use this method, however the dangers it poses far outways the pros. Again, all this substrate is capped well with gravel. The problem tho is that these mixtures are created in an uncontrolled environment, and in many cases, chicken manure and other nasties are used in the manufacturing of them. This gives rise to bacteria that will be detrimental to your fish. The breaking down of the compost, potting soil etc in the tank will also give rise to huge nitrates, and I've heard of one instance where ammonia spikes were constant.

Using filter floss I doubt will stop the leeching. I also doubt it will release chemicult back to the plant... but it would be interesting to find out.

---------- Post added at 08:10 ---------- Previous post was at 07:10 ----------

Oh, and I forgot to mention... the tannins that is leeched out of the PFP is actually GOOD for the fish. It has antibacterial properties and will ensure much more healthier fish. There are many aquarists who actually put PFP into their FILTERS in order to get the benefit of the tannins. (Certain fish will also feel more at home in a tannin dyed tank... it's just us humans that doesn't like looking at it!)