low tech choices would be anubias, java ferns, and java moss. There are many others but I cant recall.

If you're going the Excel route, your choices would be more.

meaning using Seachem Fluorish Excel to replace the CO2. Small bottle should last many years for a 1ft tank.

shopkeeper probably wants to push the CO2 set sales

my office tank has anubias, growing well without CO2 and under low light.

cheras / ampang not so sure. i always get my plants from the petstore at midvalley and the curve. more choices over there. plants as well as fertilizers.

another easy plant, if you dont mind a free floating plant - anacharis. this stuff grows like weed. just dump a few in the water, and after 2-3 weeks it will easily double in amount.

my experience with shopkeepers:

"do you have smaller filter?"
"small no good one, even this size a lot of people complaint is too small, better get the bigger one"
*tank ends up being a whirpool, guppies restless, and plants are moving and uprooting inside the tank*

"do i really need to use the powder type soil for my carpeting plant?"
"need to use, otherwise very difficult for the plants to grow the roots around the soil"
*powder type soil is too fine and too loose, plants always get uprooted*

"my tank has blue green algae, do you have maracyn?"
"never heard of that, get some oto fish, it will eat the algae"
"but i read that no fish will eat the blue green algae"
"can one, put a few then will be clear in few days"
*puts oto fish in tank. doesnt even touch the algae*

"boss, how come the box says 20 LED but the lamp only got 18 LED?"
"this is new version, they still use the old box but the lamp inside is new version ady"
*googles about the lamp, cant find a single thing about the 'new' version with less LED*

This post has been edited by danny_sp15: Aug 30 2015, 01:38 AM

My personal recommendation:

Plants: Petswonderland midvalley, Pet safari IPC
Tanks: Aquascape paradise shah alam (but not much choice if u want curved tanks). Petswonderland great eastern mall for all-in-one tank setup (E.g. fluval edge, fluval spec).
Filters: Petswonderland great eastern mall, Pet safari IPC
Lighting: Fish depot aman suria (apply member got 10% disc)
Fertilizers / conditioners: Petswonderland midvalley, Fish depot aman suria
Aquascaping (rocks, driftwood): aquascape paradise shah alam

For Pet Safari at IPC, got 2 sections. East Aqua occupies a small section in the Pet Safari and they sell plants/fishes/accessories, while Pet Safari themselves sell aquarium accessories as well (near the back). The prices can differ, so be sure to compare the prices if u're getting some accessories.

The ones i didnt mention here dont mean I dont recommend. Just that the above are the shops that I always visit. The pros here might have more suggestions.

IPC is at ikea, used to be known as ikano

1 utama pet shop only focuses on dogs n cats. No fish stuff there.

80% macam a lot leh

I'm changing mine once a week, max 40%.

East aqua at IPC has it. Got malaya shrimp also.

If it's the green carpet algae, i had the same problem with my new tank back then. I put one oto, within 48 hours all licin he ate.

I dare not guarantee, but my oto in the pond is friendly with my amano shrimp.

Btw, mine was blue green algae i think. Sorry for the wrong info previously. Cos when i googled green algae, this pic came out, which is what i had:



I know people say nothing eats bga, and if they did it will be harmful to them. But my oto did eat it, n it still looks healthy.

This post has been edited by danny_sp15: Oct 3 2015, 02:35 AM

Anyone here successfully established dwarf hairgrass? Mine is still in dry start. It's growing but the roots are going in too deep, instead of going horizontally. It's spreading downwards to the very bottom of the aquarium. Subsequently the shoots are having a hard time getting to the surface. Is that normal?

i see. but mine seems struggling cannot wait to flood the tank

why not otto?

Otos wont touch it. U sometimes see them try to nibble on it, but once they realize it's hair algae, they'll get away from it.

Photoperiod needs to be reduced.

Nutrient wise, some say u should maintain so that ur other plants will grow well n ur tank will be cycled faster n the algae will go away. Some say need to reduce so that the algae will not have access to nutrition as well. I tried both way, didnt really help. Maybe cos my utricularia grows so slow.

U can try dosing excel. I found out that once u double the dose, the algae will start turning brown n become fragile and u can easily suck them out or brush them off. But if there is livestock, need to monitor them scared overdose.

2 months progress:




Unfortunately apart from the center part of the tank, the rest didn't grow much. In fact left part turned a bit brownish. Do you guys think now would be a good time to flood the tank, or should I wait longer?

lamp is on timer, so 2 months of pretty much forgetting it.

not sure what's wrong. the middle part seems to be doing okay. since the soil is all the same, my best guess is light and water level variations. maybe i could use a mirror to maximize the lighting.

Im using amazonia. the light is LED, set for 14 hours per day. probably gonna try mirror for the time being, see if it helps.

up aqua pro z series.

my guess is due to the rock positions, some area probably arent receiving as much light. i've placed a mirror on the left side. gonna see how it goes within the next few weeks. if still no change, then im just gonna flood after a month or two

thanks

i'm actually going the excel route, hence the reason im holding onto the DSM for as long i could but if it fails, then might resort to CO2.

I meant that once i flood my tank, i will be using co2 if the excel isnt working.

Temperature shouldnt be too high, as im living in a condo and i have blinds on the windows.

Soil thickness might be an issue. The thinnest is 2 inch, peak is about 3 inch. However the peak isnt doing very well either. If u notice in the pics, the dense part is somewhere in between.

Mine is eleocharis belem.

Just a thought, if i were to mist them with ferts (diluted seachem fluorish), would it help?

just sharing my experience (but i tried without CO2), UG doesnt root nicely. needs a lot of patience.