CAE is a no-no. Its aggressive. SAE is okay. Its good in fact as algae buster. Only thing is it can grow quite big, so you need at least a 3 footer tank.

Don't you need lights? I would like Marco Polo as foreground due to its ease in growing, but I've never tried to plant in a 1 feet mini.

Marco Polo is low tech.

Anyway I have some time. Thought to upload some photos.


During setup.


Five months growth. And many renos.


Yamato shrimp. Always berried. Pity they can't breed in freshwater.


My CRS. Still waiting for the fella to berry.


Dream Blue.


Tiger shrimp.


Bucephalandra. Just added over a month ago. Still waiting for the leaf to turn purple.


Panda Garra.

Yes, I have CO2 - injecting at 3bps.

Buceps can be planted either on a rock or into the substrate - but I opted to tied the buce to a rock, and partially bury the rock into the substrate.

Panda Garras are territorial - its nice to look at, but I regret adding this fella coz its always chasing the SAE. Would not recommend Panda Garras, but that's just me.

Hey, what Buce is that? Just want to compare notes because not many places are selling buce and its expensive - I bought mine during the Pets Wonderland fair at Mines, but also got some from Penang.

This buce I believe is Brownie Ghost.

Thanks for the tip with the monte carlo and buce.

Panda Garra it seems is safe with shrimp. So far mine has never bothered the shrimp. But it constantly chases the SAE. One SAE jumped out because kena chase like crazy. Now left one more.

I'm using chiller, so my temp is 25-26C. As for algae, there's very little algae except for those that grow on the Buce. I was warned that its so slow growing, that algae would be a risk on buce, but I wanted to try anyway.

Other than that, I have a bit of problem with green spot algae that grows on the glass - so it needs it weekly cleaning otherwise the glass will turn green and ugly. I'm still trying to deal with this. Do you have any tips on how to control green spot algae?

For ferts, I'm using the full range of ADA ferts - Brighty-K, Step-2, Brighty-Shade, Brighty-Light, Green Gain, Phyton Git, ECA and Green Bacter. There's a dosing regime that I follow which is recommended by ADA Malaysia.
Through the naked eye, the algae is hardly noticeable, but in photos, its noticeable. But for control, I use my cleaning crew - SAE, Yamatos, Ottos, and Panda Garra. But Garra is not doing his job and causing problems. To me, SAE is the star performer in my cleaning crew.

But most important for algae control is the plants must be healthy. I'm still giving the buce time to adjust and shed its old leaves. I believe that's why algae is growing on its leaves. These are the challenges I'm facing with Buce.

If the algae gets very bad, which it did for me around the 3rd month of setup, with green hair algae getting out of control and some BBA taking root. I dose Phyton Git one drop per liter, and institute lights out and aeration for 48 hours. I've had reason to do it only once and after one week, it clears the tank. This method was advised to me by ADA Malaysia - they're my main lifeline for my tank.

If the plants are healthy, the algae should be in check. But that's the age old question isn't it?

What's your setup? I'm trying to catch the Panda Garra - and I'm looking for a fish trap to trap it. If you know any fish traps, please let me know.

Thanks. Just for the sake of discussion

Yeah I agree about the chiller. Its a deal breaker for many cases. Without chiller, my temp goes up to 31-32C. And I don't like to use fan.

As for SAE - here's my experience. There are many mistaken identities where the Flying Fox is sold to unsuspecting customers as SAE. The Flying Fox looks almost identical, but that is the one that you described - eats algae when young, and when it grows up, it becomes aggressive and eats only pellet food. Whereas the original SAE eats algae all its life and is never aggressive.

I had a similar fish last time which I thought was SAE. At first it was okay, but after a few months, it started to bite my shrimps and became aggressive. I returned it to the LFS, and I got the true SAE from another trusted source. I see my SAE now is always busy nibbling on the plants and it leaves the shrimp alone - although its over 3 inches long now. I may be wrong about this conclusion - but this is only from my experience.

I have no experience with Nano. Do you need to cycle the filter and how will you be controlling the temperature and algae?

I've always toyed with the idea to setup a Nano for my study room - but these uncertainties held me back.

I would wait another month. The grass is not dense enough.
What soil is that you are using? Need to have good light for this.

What CO2 are you referring to? This is DSM right?

I have no experience in DSM, but the main reason why I didn't start my tank with DSM is because of the temperature in Malaysia is too high. Have you checked out the temperature requirements?

Also, what grass is that? Is it Eleocharis acucularis (not sure spelling)?

And what is the thickness of your soil, in the middle and the sides? I don't scientifically know how many inch is enough, but I know when I planted Elocharis sp mini in my old tank, my center was around 2-3 inches thick. And the sides thinned out to slightly over an inch. The sides did not do well. Yes they grew there, but it could never be dense.

I learned later that certain plants need a thick soil to root its growth. When I restarted, I made sure my soil is no less than 3 inches thick at the thinnest. During setup, this means it must be at least 4 inches thick, because after a few months, the soil compresses and from 4 inch, it becomes 3 inch.

At the spot where I have planted Rotala, its 5 inches thick. I know for a fact plants like Rotala needs thick soil for good root growth.

This post has been edited by davido: Nov 11 2015, 09:37 AM

I'm also using Eheim 2217, but there is no air leakage. You must have a leak somewhere, maybe in the inlet connecting valve. I fully open my valve.

About that reactor. I also bought that, and threw it away after one day. For me it was a waste of money because of a few reasons. I couldn't get it to stand straight unless I screw mount it to my cabinet (which I didn't). And then it reduced my flow rate because of the resistance caused by the reactor. After one day, I gave up and went back to using normal diffuser.

I have used inline diffuser though, and got satisfactory results with it. Just my experience.

Hi Jen,
Browning is caused by deficiencies. Its in your ferts regime. Have to dose both macro and micro ferts - Potassium or phosphorous alone is not enough.

For me, at this stage of the tank, I would use ADA Bright-K, Green Brighty Step-1, and Phyton Git. Dose only 50% of recommended dosage (since you only have Marco Polo), but can adjust and play around with the dosage.

If ADA ferts is too expensive, then can try Estimate Index dosing.

I used to use EI too, but had algae problems but many have had good success with it. Also admittedly I didn't follow the EI schedule strictly. But certainly your answer is in the ferts.

I have Marco Polo too - I love that plant, and week by week I'm watching it spread its runners. I don't have browning issues though (or any issue .

Anybody seen this Chilli Rasboras for sale? I'm looking to pick up a dozen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In2gRp8Noe4 - please ignore the horrible music

Thank you all. I will try to check MV. Just be careful because last time I bought from MV and they had Ich which infected my tank. Since then I'd quarantine any fish from MV.


I've never heard of this, but it sure looks interesting. Can share more info please? Price? Location?

Yes, a review would be nice. I'm looking more at the ES1200 though.

About fish food. Yes I used to have that problem on my 2 footer. Its a common problem though, that oil slick is bacteria film buildup. I use ADA fish food, but still have that problem.
I fixed it by using a glass surface skimmer.

Although many people have that problem, and many reasons abound about the cause. But I think it is due to the pump being unsuitable for the tank size. The bio filter may be too small, or the flow rate is too low. If you don't want to change the pump, a glass surface skimmer can help. Let us know if the fish food solves the problem as we're all learning



This post has been edited by davido: Dec 3 2015, 01:43 PM

Lol, I also broke my glass surface skimmer before while detaching it from the tube..

You're not planning to get a solenoid regulator? And I also I can't tell you how many regulator solenoids I have ruined. They are so filmsy.

Finally I got the one from Algaefarmer
http://www.lelong.com.my/md-co2-solenoid-r...5-12-Sale-P.htm

Since I got this, it stuck. No more leakages or filmsy o-ring. The o-ring is not the 50 sen sized that we're used to. This one is thick like an eraser. This made all the difference because I constantly had o-ring leakage problems.

About getting a separate regulator and solenoid (2 piece). That did not work for me. The pressure is too high. The regulator is always open, and when the solenoid closes, the tube connecting the regulator to the solenoid had burst under pressure. Pop!!! gave me a shock..


This post has been edited by davido: Dec 4 2015, 11:22 AM

Oh ok... I used to use Up Aqua solenoid regulator and Intense Pro. Both had leakages. But so far the MD brand worked out well for me.

About getting a separate regulator and solenoid (2 piece). That did not work for me. The pressure is too high. The regulator is always open, and when the solenoid closes, the tube connecting the regulator to the solenoid had burst under pressure. Pop!!! gave me a shock.. Suggest you to aks the shop assistant whether that setup will work.

Here's my Intense. It become my spare because the o-ring is so fragile. Leaks too easily.


Attached thumbnail(s)

Well, very malu. My Up Aqua lasted maybe 3 months. It leaked because I turned the head.

My Intense is still working, but because the o-ring is very prone to leakages. It can work fine, then one morning I wake up and the tank is empty. See, see, the o-ring leaked. Happened twice.
I used it for maybe 6 months - then decided to drop Intense.

My MD has been working for 8 months now. Still good.

And i fully open the valve.

Yeah, this Intense cost me over RM4xx and that was some years back. The reason why I paid premium price was because I messed up the cheap (so-called) Up-Aqua regulator. So I thought get a good one - once and for all.

At first, Intense worked well. But on the first refill, the o-ring started to leak. So I changed the o-ring. It was an original ring, and it was like RM30 I think. the shop is Pets Wonderland Ikano.

A few days later, my tank went empty. So I refilled again, and few days later, empty again. A lot of troubleshooting, until I sent the whole CO2 tank with regulator back to the shop. They set it all up nicely for me. I happily take it back. And you guessed it, a few days later, tank empty again. Sent for warranty claims, came back 1 week later. Same thing.

Fed up. Bought an MD. Case closed. Been working fine for 8 months now.

The seller Algaefarmer advised me - I don't know true or not. He says this type of hand tighten regulators are prone to O-ring leakages. But MD is spannar tightened. The o-ring is about 1 cm thick. He says no leakages, so that was my story