I have a spare tank, (just can't fit my custom design shelf), it is a 3L tank made in Taiwan (not China), I can sell it to you at rm 250, and a basic regulator at rm 30, as is basis (last use is 2 weeks from today - almost finish)

And a lot of clearance lah

And about how long will a 0.5L last?, it depends on how many bubbles/sec you release, for my 2 ft (11G), a 3L lasts for almost 6 months, considering that I use a very good reactor.

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Added on July 30, 2010, 10:46 amGEX is cheaper, of course there are other brands which I have never heard off, about substrate what really matters is the cleanliness, about fertility, you can always use powersand or fertilisers (non liquid type)

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Jul 30 2010, 10:46 AM

1 bps (3s 2b), 24 hrs that is 11G

To increase PH, if you are using hang on filter, put some coral stones (or some PH raising stones into the filter), otherwise, you can use PH lowering solutions, or KH buff (sometimes work sometimes don't).

PH goes down could be due to many reasons,
a. CO2 too much (you have to release like 2x or 3x the recmd ammount to reach this level)
b. new substrate (especially ADA amazonia)
c. lousy driftwood
d. too many rotting stuff (like my tank, replanted and re-scaped, and plants don't like and start dying and ph goes to 3 or 4)

for problem a and b, it is easy, just reduce CO2 and use PH lowering solutions

for problem c take out the drift wood, put it into a pail and soak over night to confirm that it is causing the acidic change, if yes, use the boiling water treatment, if still fail, get a new drift wood

d. replant!

btw, ph6 is quite normal, you should be worry if it is 3 or 4

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Added on August 2, 2010, 9:18 amif you can wait, i can give you some after they re-grow back, i did a massive replant and threw away so many of my blyxa, and as for glosco, you need more light, the upgright problem can be solved via this step

a. trim it off
b. increase light (if you are using lights that is 9 mths old e.g. second hand ones, just buy a new 10k light, i recmd HO 24W by Hagen)

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Added on August 2, 2010, 9:20 amLOL, sure is good to have a solenoid regulator

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 2 2010, 09:20 AM

a. the best way is to buy the cheap plastic valve control, if you want high end ones, you check yellow pages for pneumatics, and check the pneumatic vendor would sell the speed controler as a single item

b. never heard of this brand

c. how big?, the only time I have problem with drift wood is I had 2 pcs as big (combined) as a 1.5L mineral water bottle, if yours is very small, I doubt if that is thecase

d. dead leaves - yes, but not enough to increase acidity, normally it will include dead leaves, fish poo, dead snails and shrimps combined together, if you have only pieces that can be counted with fingers, that is not the source.

ATM, my tank after replanting, all the old stuff is hating the new parameter, believe it or not, my ph is 3.5, and I put a pack of coral into the tank to neutralise the acidity

BTW, I have a spare tank 3L, you want?

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 2 2010, 09:32 PM

I have a spare tank to go, rm 250 for tank, and rm 30 for a simple regulator, otherwise, it will be rm 280 and rm 68 at RRP

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Added on August 3, 2010, 7:53 amdon't change too much water, otherwise your bio control might go haywire, even my case currently is pretty screwed, I only change little by little, like 2 L every 2 days

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 3 2010, 07:53 AM

UGPM

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Added on August 4, 2010, 7:26 amhow old is the set up anyway?, if it is new, eventually the ph will stable at 6 - 7 and you will need to remove the crushed coral, if not the ph will go above 7.

as for shrimp, don't add untill your water is stabilised, shrimps are a little "kecil hati" (siu hei) type

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 4 2010, 07:26 AM

glosco love light, the more the better, ATM, i recmd you use some real quality bulbs, last mth I re-planted and hand was itchy bought a new set of light 12k bulbs (some china brand), 50% died in 2 weeks, but when I get this HAGEN HO T5, everything re grow back, some bulb just can't perform as specs and hence, reduces the effect even if you have so many bulbs

Actually snails are not problems, from my experience, they don't eat live grass, and they eat ONLY dead grass. IMHO, I prefer to have them than not to have them because,

a. they are decomposers - dead grass, fish poo, aerating the substrate (by eating some dead stuff that is stuck in btwn and etc)
b. they are algae eaters - especially on the tank
c. they are harmless - and quite a fun to look at too, seeing them wondering around the tank slowly

Snails are problems when

a. they become too many - they membiak so demm fast
b. when become too many - they poo-poo like nobody business

The best way to control them

a. pick them up on WC
b. accept that it is nature at work

Never do this

a. chemical control - this screws the natural bio filtration and good bacteria
b. puffer fish - once the puffer fish is done eating the snail, you need to look after it (which have different diet from the usual guppy, tetra, discus and etc and puffer fish likes to nip fins)

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Added on August 7, 2010, 8:11 pmIf you are using canister filter, you should use reactor, which is by far more effective. My case is that I use 2 reactors and 1 long term CO2 detector, compare to the last ceramic difuser which allow Co2 to go up the surface and wasted it (unless you are using ADA diffuser, IMHO, by far the best solution, even reactor oso no fight - check it out at east aqua in ikea)

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Added on August 7, 2010, 8:19 pmHow big is your tank?, if it is a 3ft you will need 6 bulbs, if 2 ft, you need 4 bulbs. In east aqua ikea, they use 1 hagen and 3 aquazonic (since they already get the config correct, we can always follow, fyi hagen bulb ain't cheap).

I sugguest (assumming that you are using a 3ft tank), put the hagen bulb in the middle, 2 China bulb, 2 Hagen bulb, 2 China bulb, and by avg Hagen bulb lasts 12 months, others are somewhat btwn 3 - 9 mths before the light spectrum go haywire.

For my case, the 3 ft tank is in the store room, my nano tank (2pcs) is retired for good (too much work), and currently, I am working on my 2 ft, running on 1 Hagen HO T5 and 1 Osram 9.6K bulb and it works fine. Finally, I will keep the 2 ft tank in my trading room and 3 ft in the living room.

Abt glosco, if it is sprouting like taugeh, just cut it off (as close to the bottom as possible), and the new cabang will grow sideways especially if you are using new bulbs. For glosco, just becareful when it becomes too thick, it will become poo trap and when the lower ones die, it will create some major water imbalance (2 sens)

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 7 2010, 08:19 PM

If water is good, it is unlikely to get dirty, if it would slow down the water flow?, not much. I am using 1 inline difuser + 1 reactor (kebas from the other tank), so far, the only inline difuser that I can find is from a taiwan brand call sista, cost 49.9 from 88, I put it before the difuser using the following sequence

filter inflow -> filter -> inline difuser + co2 -> reactor -> outlet

So far, i only dismantle the reactor once for cleaning (in 2 years), and combined use onli a few months because when I temporary retire the 3ft, I just had too many parts lying around dunno wat to do with them.

If it is really really tiny it should be OK, I am using that reactor too and here are some tips,

a. the reactor must be upright 90 deg straight
b. the mixer on the top must always be rotating
c. the air space inside the reactor must be limited to the number of bubbles (means the air pocket must be very very minimum, like a few bubbles of air)
d. if it is brand new, it will take some time before all the "geseran" to smooth out the uneven edges inside it

BTW, where you buy the hagen bulb?, it is cheap, you must PM me!

6 bulbs is good enough, just make sure you don't plant high light plants on the side and it will be fine.

Glosco love high light, after trimming, it will take abt a week or so before you see any result (pandai-pandai adjust the bulb location)

you threw away rotalas? aww!!!! i just bought some, my last re-plant, I threw away, 2 big clump of blyxa japonica, all glosco, 3 big clump of ricia, 1 big clump of cork screw, and then the balance 50% died on re-plant

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Added on August 9, 2010, 9:02 amactually without the reactor, you will get bubles from the in line diffuser too, what I notice is that, as time goes, the bubbles get smaller and smaller. To begin with, how many bps you are looking at? In general, all difusers have a limit on the maximum bps, really good ones like ADA ones can tolerate high bps.

About reactor + inline difuser, I do this because I have extra parts lying around, but the end result is that, normal 11G tank will need about 1 bps (mature tank), my case is 20 bubbles per 60 seconds.

IMHO, inline reactors are hard to find (unless in ebay, which some HK and Taiwan guys will butcher you on the delivery cost), the best immediate subsitute is reactors (but good for "lebih kurang" 3 bps, higher bps will create a large air porcket on the mixing impeler - which is why, you will need POWDERFUL canister filters, more bps, moar POWDER!)

I am re-consolidating my inventory and once I am done, I am very likely to replicate this on my now "temporary retired" 3 ft tank.

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Added on August 9, 2010, 9:09 amI lol my eyes out!

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 9 2010, 09:09 AM

KNO3 is a source for K aka pottasium

KH2PO4 is a source for PO4 aka phosphate

It is good to get these substance directly, it is cheaper and easier to manipulate the dosage. However, for convenience, I prefer seachem products.

you can buy this gex fertiliser, put 1 piece about 1 ft apart from each other, it is a good source for K, hence, you only need to buy Nitrogen (1 bottle 6 mths - weekly dose) and Phosphate (1 bottle 1 year - weekly dose), and Trace elements (1 bottle 1 year - weekly dose)

which means that, if it ever gets dirty, you should clean it "gently"?

whoa!, you could have given me the stuff that you threw away,..... I am in a serious replanting mood now

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Added on August 11, 2010, 9:51 amApologies, I did not know that your glosco is at advance stage

if your glosco looks like that, I sugguest you replant them, using the following steps

a. pull out 50% (left side or right side - choose the easier side),
b. plant on the empty side
c. once the first 50% show sigh of success, repeat step a and b for the 2nd 50%

The problem with massive pruning is that

a. the photosynthesis rate will be completely screwed
b. it create nutrients leak massively
c. some will die and create water quality change

If you decide to prune them, exercise caution

a. prune 30% in the first week
b. prune 30% second week
c. prune balance on 3rd week

do it in stage, I kena before on my 3ft tank

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Added on August 11, 2010, 9:52 ammoss likes it cold

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 11 2010, 09:52 AM

your tank is a low light tank, you can go with moss and fissidens, or ferns, it would look great with 1 pc of large drift wood, 1 large stone, and a few small stone by the side

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Added on August 11, 2010, 10:10 amaiya, I thought yours are like taugeh oredi, if it is 1 inch or 1.5 inch with more leaves at the bottom, means it is normal, you only worry if they are like taugeh, 2 inch upwards growth. I tell you my experience for you to compare,

My experience with glosco
a. roots must grow deep, 2 inch of substrate is recommended
b. it should grow sideways
c. it will grow on top of another (hence, replanting is a worthy consideration)

Abnormal ones (as discussed with others)
a. looks like taugeh (cut it off, and it will regrow)
b. the roots have very little contact with substrate
c. small leaves

The general cause for abnormal is
a. bad planting approach, the stem is pushed in too deep and too straight
b. not enough light
c. not cold enough



This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 11 2010, 10:17 AM

good luck then, you can check out the edited post, I added my experience on them

lol, actually, you can soak them in excel or clorox before replanting, it is quite easy actually

a. 1 baldi of water
b. 1 capful of clorox
c. soak them untill bba dissapear (in the matter of minutes)
d. rinse with clean water
e. replant!

if step b is not enough, experiment step c, the bba should dissapear wihin 1 minute or less

btw, I think u need to change your light

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Added on August 11, 2010, 12:07 pmyeah 2.5 ft is more worth it, I retired my 3 ft temporary just to focus on my 2 ft, easier to manage

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 11 2010, 12:07 PM

I have a 3L tank I am letting go at rm 250 and also a regulator (unmetered type - really basic type) for rm 30, that is rm 280 in total, if u think it is worthwhile, you can get it from me, refill in KL is rm 40 per 3L, you can ask fire extinguisher company to refill since rm 45 per 2L is very expensive.

If you want to, I can re-load it for you if you can arrange a pick up

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 12 2010, 04:34 PM

well, expensive product have expensive feature vice versa for cheap products, hey rm 30 only and yes, you check it with the bubble count.

if you have friends in KL studying that will be easy then

where to collect the rotalas? ugpm

This post has been edited by Monsterjin: Aug 13 2010, 07:32 AM