if your tank already cycled and the bacteria have colonize the tank (this is why dun too rush put any fauna in the tank before it properly cycled), no need to worry much about the wastes. those good bacteria will help to diffuse the waste and the plants will make use of it. take it as it's a free natural fert. hehehe. but what i normally do is just vacuuming as much as i can (or visible enough) fish wastes during waterchange. if you already have a carpetting foreground, those wastes are hardly to be seen. just vacuum from above the carpet. the rest, let the nature do their job.

hope this helps. ask the pros for more info as i am a newbie as well.

erm.. bro, someone from penang wanna sell his T5NO 4x14W in MAC. but i think he;s selling along with the cover. i can help you to get his contact if you interested.

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Added on January 30, 2009, 2:30 ambro, last thursday (not yesterday, the one before CNY) i went to EA Mid Valley. I saw they have quite a a number of packets of mosses. i didnt browse thru all their mosses tho since i wasnt there for mosses but if im not wrong, java moss is among those. maybe you can check it out.


This post has been edited by usermode: Jan 30 2009, 02:30 AM

erm.. i got snails in my tank. zebra snails and zebra thorn snails. bought these 2 types of snails to clear my Green Spot Algae. They are doing the job very well but as IME, dun buy Zebra Snails as i regret to have them in my tank currently. they will lay eggs. their eggs cant hatched in freshwater but the eggs looks ugly and it'll be all over the tank on driftwoods and stones. Zebra Thorn Snails is the best choice IMO for GSA.

Im not a fan of snails but i would love to see few snails hovering and moving in my tank.

Also, there's unauthorized snails in my tank too. Malaysian Trumpet Snail and small snail that looks like apple snail. these 2 comes as "unwanted" package when i bought some of my plants before. Normally i'll just squash them and my yamato will be happy to clear the mess.

IME and IMO, pros to have snails (that eats GSA), they clean your tank and free from GSA when no any algae eater fish can. saving your effort from scraping them and save your tank from scratch if you using acrylic tank.

Cons, like MTS and those small weird apple snail looks alike, they breed DAMN FAST. if it's out of control, they'll colonize the tank and change your tank from planted fish tank to planted snail tank.

if you want GSA eater snail, get zebra thorn snails i recommend. they dont breed (no ugly white eggs), long lifespan, didnt get out from your tank (as zebra snail sometimes) and does a cleaning job well.

more, maybe the rest (snail fans) will helps as I also not that familiar with snail types.

This post has been edited by usermode: Jan 31 2009, 04:03 PM

my 2ft tank used 2x24W T5HO before. ok for most plant i have in that tank but for some unknown reason, it;s not enuf for my glosso. it always crawl upwards. changed to Philips 36W PLLs x2 and the glosso start growing as it should. but in my limited knowledge, T5HO should give more better light and more brighter. it;s ok to use T5HO or more higher setup. just make sure ur co2 is sufficient and ur fert also balance with the light to prevent algae (GSA mostly). with higher lights, ur plants will "eat" more during their photosynthesis.

1 - looks like you need to buy and if u wanna buy it, buy a smaller one. then u can play around with the arrangement of ur hardscape. try avoid using bogwood if your tank is small.

2 - your tank i assume not matured yet. yes you can uproot the stem plant first. they wont die easily when uprooted and re-plant back. it's still ok if u dun wan to make the backside higher. it;s not a must anyway. it just more for creating the depth. but u can achieve this with plant arrangement also.

3 - background plant normally a plant that grows high. usually is a stem plant. you can get vivipara or acicularis (for not so high tank) too. mid ground plant are those plant that is higher than ur foreground but shorter than background plant. got alot of plant range for this purpose like blyxa japonica, HG, mini java fern (but this one need to attach to something), anubias (also need to attach to something), etc etc.... have a look around on the net and read about their maximum growth. you;ll get the idea.

btw, im a newbie too. with my limited knowledge,my opinion might be against the pro's .

erm..catacomb bro, "small" i mean is not stones. i mean if you wanna go buy another wood, buy a smaller one. there's another type of wood beside bogwood and normally doesnt comes cheap. but you can buy the small size one like ranting2 size. the just cost around RM5-10 normally each. And for the stone you said want kutip from roadside, errr.. unless you know what is that stones and check for their alkalinity/acidity, then i hardly suggest you kutip em and put in your tank. they'll affect your water parameter and worst, even can make your fauna died overnight sometimes.

yes, normally LFS will sell by kilos. RM4/kg is consider cheap price in fact (but im not sure what stones are you referring to anyway). ah, that's not the point. normallyy, we bought a big one, and then use hammer and a pick, and break em to smaller pieces. or..u can always hire those indonesian workers in construction site to help break em with their freaking big hammer (i never do this before...just came up on my mind tho).

for the plants, hmm... ya i can say not many LFS carrying plants for aquascapers. i also used to have a hard time too to find em. where do u stay? if around KL/Selangor i can help you with my shot paper list of "place-to-go-to-do-shopping" LOL~!

p/s : btw, dun say ur DW not nice. for me, every nature is nice. just play around with it and eventually you'll know what to do with it. but it;s always good to have options

@nezumitaro

seriously, im a newbie in this hobby too. but sure I'll share whatever i know with my extremely limited noobness knowledge. i dun dare to say much except for the newbie stuff because i dun think i am at the right place yet to comment on others scape. hahaha~!

@red_dream

hmm, for a tank below RM100...i wish i can find em too. >_< rarely to find a co2 tank below RM100. the cheapest i can see is around RM180-200+. but bro, if you're looking for having a co2, maybe you could try this : http://www.petmountain.com/shop/standard/c...lant-system.jpg

it's more like a commercial DIY co2. hahha..~! i never tried it before but i will give it a try very soon with my new tank later (no time to setup atm). i saw this in Pet Family at Taman Megah KJ at around RM70+. but not really this brand. but it;s just the same mechanics. need to buy the refill pack monthly as they mentioned in their packaging.

yes, DIY will get cheaper of course. my bad, dun follow my options tho mr red_dream. expand ur budget a lil bit more for the co2 tank, or save all the money and just DIY instead. ur choice. sorry ching4ever.

yo tenchi, so far so good for a start and welcome to this poisoning hobby. im a newbie as well. good luck to both of us

hmm, first of all, maybe you want to give a lil trimming on ur stem plants. try not to let them get to the water surface because they'll create a "dead-spot" on ur water surface. but since not many that reached the surface atm, i guess it should be ok.

is the middle plant is glosso? it does looks like it to me from the pic. if it is, err.. it;s a foreground plant and it should be buried and leave the leave on top of the gravel to reach the nutrients and lights. by this, the root will go into the gravel (maybe u will have a hard time to maintain it from floating with ur current gravel) and will grow into a carpet.

maybe u can put another layer of holland sand at the top perhaps so ur glosso can be buried without floating back.

anyway, if it's not glosso, then ignore my comment. btw, nice to see that you do care about ur water temperature tho

erm, to be honest, i dunno the price of holland sand because i never use it. i guess others will answer you that. but from what i know and sure of is, holland sand is much cheaper than ADA aqua soil.

i dunno why the glosso been tied to a rock when u bought it. maybe just for temporarily for the LFS to make it submerged. but for sure they are not grown like that. most LFS just let them float normally. hahaha... it doesnt matter anyway since they'll be there for temporary. but you shouldnt follow what the LFS do by tying glosso to a rock too.

btw, good luck tho.

p/s : glosso is a high light plant. make sure u give a good amount of light and with it, you will need a co2.

1 - ada amazonia soil so far is the best for planted tank since they have some "secret" ingredients a.k.a nutritions for your plant growth but this soil do comes with a "good" price. huhuhu~!! but if you want to cut cost, you can always use sand because it;s finer than your stones. when it;s finer, it;s good for your plant since they can grow their roots and holds in the sand without being floated.

2 - no actual specific plant for soil and sand. as long the "ground" you mentioned fine enuf for the roots to hold, then it;s ok already. both sand and soil can be use.

3 - the point for the glosso is, make sure the roots are inside the gravels and the leaves are outside to get the lights and nutrients from the water. the best way to plant glosso is cut each strain (with the roots) and plant them as dense as you can. yes, this requires patience and you need to be in zen mode. or you also can cut them into smaller patches (the smaller the better but the more works required), and then plant them closely. the more dense you plant glosso, the more faster it'll create the carpet evenly.

4 - if your tank was bought as a "fish-only-tank" package, then the light is not suitable from my wild guess. what kind of light it is and how many watts the bulb? then the pros can tall u it;s ok or not for your glosso.

5 - good to hear you;re going to have a co2. DIY or pressurized, both is okay as long there's a co2.

6 - from my limited experience and knowledge (this is my personal opinion), i dont have air bubbles in my scaped tank is for one main reason; it looks makes my tank looks like an aquarium instead of aquascape and it doesnt bring the "nature" and "scape" looks. but for the actual reason, i guess you already did your homework. hehehe...

7 - holy shieet~!!! 4 years never have WC? *salute*...*speechless*

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Added on February 11, 2009, 1:05 amph swings? temperature swings rapidly? ammonia spike? co2 overdose kaw kaw? if these are okay, then i will keep my eyes on the others for any symptom of disease in case got infections. if there's any then move them to quarantine/hospital tank a.s.a.p (to treat or to let it die there instead in ur main tank). if all is okay also, then just assume it's already their "time" to go. just buy a new one

This post has been edited by usermode: Feb 11 2009, 01:09 AM

LOL bro, i dunno that you have serpae tetra along in your tank until u mentioned. they are one of the notoriuos fin nippers~!!!! they shoud be kept in a large group or larger tank to reduce their bad habit of fin nipping. or else they'll harass others with this behaviour. expecially fish with long fin like guppies and bettas.

silvertip tetra also have this bad habit too if kept below the number of 6 minimum. they also quite active and fin nipping. but their ranking is lower than serpae tetras.

these 2 types of tetras is doing okay if kept together but realy not suitable to be a tankmate of other smaller fishes or fishes with long fins.

so my rough guess is that your rasboras getting bullied and stressed out due to harassment from these tankmates leads to death. but this is my own personal guess. reason for fish to die is vary. but you never know what happen when after the lights are out.

btw, those 2 type of tetras you have on the other hands, is a good schooling fish when being kept in a large group (minimum of 6-8). just, becareful on which fish to be a tankmate of the other fish next time. dun rely on what the LFS workers told you unless the LFS is highly reputable and proven with knowledge.

This post has been edited by usermode: Feb 11 2009, 08:37 AM

LOL, dun throw them into longkang. that's the worst and very bad action taken to fish by any fishkeepers. pity the fish as they're also live being. since u already bought them, take care of them

ya i know the pain catching a fish in heavily planted tank. i once mistakenly throw CAE in my jungle tank setup and i was dying to take him out back. now i know already (but prevention is better than curing). so if you wanna take out a fish from heavily planted tank, either use 2 net and trap them from 2 sides if your aquarium is big enuf to have 2 nets in it, or build a fish trap bottle (but will consume longer time usually and sometimes not that effective for smart fish). but if both not working, either empty your tank (which i wont unless i desperately need to) or just leave them in there.

err..catacombs bro, ADA fert small bottle anywhere also RM5x so far from all the place i've went. ... if you can find anywhere below RM50, i want tapao also from you. >_<

have you bought green gain before? RM9x for small bottle like Eye Mo. ekekekeke XD

the valve you mentioned is check valve. IMO, they're as important as a diffuser. it's to prevent water to go into your regulator expecially if you're using solenoid regulator which if it happens, it might cause your regulator to be broken (you dont want to buy another RM200+ regulator just because of this mistake will ya).

but on the other hands, diy co2 and manual regulator ALWAYS have air pressure to push the gas. so no water will coming thru. Only happens when there's no co2 anymore. so check valve is an optional item for you. but still, for myself, i use check valve in any tubing that leads to any hardwares. so in case anything happen, i got prevention. huhuhuu~!!

most LFS that sell air pump got carry check valve too. but sometimes, they dun know what is that thing call. if they dont, just ask them to take out whatever valve they have and you look by urself (i;ve done this plenty of times. LOL~!)

wah,... what are those? LOL~!!! if those are check valve, then i never seen any looks like it in most LFS i've been. i only know that the blue wide shape is azoo's check valve.
most of the check valve you can find around is like this :

erm.. nezumi bro, i maybe a newbie so my opinion might be wrong. but IME, glosso and HC have their pro and cons as below:

glosso :
- high light plant and high maintenance.
- can live in medium light but it'll grow vertically instead of crawling. need to keep pinning them down to force em to crawl (while you get more light).
- they also is like a crazy monster once they're matured in the tank. they'll takeover your foreground and also anything they can climb onto to cover. when at this stage, frequent trimming is needed otherwise the base will die off.
- good thing about glosso, they still can grow in shaded area (only might not crawl).
- glosso also grows faster than HC.
- good for bigger size tank for their way of growth and bigger leaves.
- some have success to grow glosso without co2 also (but i never try before).

HC :
- on the other hands, can thrive and crawl in medium to high lights.
- they barely goes vertical (some case does depends on your tank condition but special case only).
- it grows slower than glosso slightly. will takes sometime to cover the whole foreground but there's a way to boost them.
- once they're matured and ready to spread, they're quite easy to crawl over the foregroud.
- HC also harder to plant because they tends to float. must plant em good to prevent floating back (but this shouldnt be big issue).
- but good things about HC, they doesnt really need a high maintenance. unlike glosso, they'll take a lot longer time to overlap and even if they do, it wont be as thick as glosso that will cause the base to die.
- temperature plays role with HC growth.
- suitable for smaller tank because of their small leaves and growth way.

tenchi bro, there's another foreground too that you could choose. just depends on your tank setup and compatibility. some other foreground plants that normally use are :

- normal hairgrass
- japanese hairgrass
- Utricularia graminifolia (quite a challenging plant, i just stated planting this to try, never have experience tho)

there's more varieties for foreground. mostly people choose based on their scape design and hardwares compatibility. the easiest are hairgrasses. for nano, erm.. i dunno. LOL~!! u should ask others opinion. i du have nano tank. huhuhu.... i hate small tank >_<

as i said, with my limited experience and knowledge... i might be wrong. you should get more precise information from other pros.

gd luck bro.

nice crs!!! i always envy crs breeder tho becoz i never have any luck to breed shrimp that good. even my RCS also rarely to have babies.

wah catacomb bro, i really dun think people will just "give" their CRS freely. a good grades ones people sell for hundreds liao... >_<

tat's why i scared to breed/rear shrimp. scared my money will burnt just like that when the shrimp die. XD expecially CRS. heard they are one of the hardest.

i saw a D grade CRS at EA MidValley selling for RM20 each.

if you get from breeder, they'll sell you cheaper normally. but normally, they'll sell you high grades (usually only high grades will be sold off).

SSS grade can up to RM150+ to RM250+ a pair if you get from a breeder/hobbyist. and better get from these people instead of shop. because they know better about CRS and at least can give you a proper startup advice.

of course amano and RCS is cheaper. different type of shrimp ma....better follow ching4ever advice.

or perhaps, you might wanna try CPO (Orange Dwarf Crawfish). they're less demanding unlike CRS and they're not bad also. SLS selling RM100 a pair. im thinking of getting a pair or 2 soon when my shrimp tank is ready.

LOL~!! milo. your cpo should be more "sihat dan kuat~!!" ekeke... damn. so sorry to hear that. CPO is just a nice shrimp and i've admired em since the first day i know about shrimp. but that 24/7 cctv idea is just agressive. huhuhu... i hope i wont have ny reason need to put those.