Search found 154 matches

by Christie_ZXR
Tue May 08, 2012 4:33 am
Forum: Brackish Tanks
Topic: Planted Brackish
Replies: 27
Views: 3103

Re: Planted Brackish

I've still got a bag of john innes no2 left over from my other planted tanks, so I was going to use that underneath the sand. Got a busy week this week, so I don't think I'll be able to fiddle with the tank until the weekend. If a regular peat planting substrate worked okay, I should think the soil ...
by Christie_ZXR
Mon May 07, 2012 3:42 pm
Forum: Brackish Tanks
Topic: Planted Brackish
Replies: 27
Views: 3103

Re: Planted Brackish

The 100ppm of nitrate was bothering me, so I checked the book to see. Apparently, within the soil you get a set of bacteria which perform denitrification. (you do also get the regular nitrifying bacteria) Nitrate converted to various things, finally nitrogen gas. She says that in most of her tanks n...
by Christie_ZXR
Mon May 07, 2012 3:25 pm
Forum: Brackish Tanks
Topic: Planted Brackish
Replies: 27
Views: 3103

Re: Planted Brackish

I have to say, her method's worked a treat for me. Got the book some time ago and it is a fascinating read. The tank I run without a filter doesn't have over 100ppm of nitrate, I'd agree that's stretching it a bit!! But it does sit generally around the 40 odd mark, which I'm happy with. The plant gr...
by Christie_ZXR
Mon May 07, 2012 6:15 am
Forum: Brackish Tanks
Topic: Planted Brackish
Replies: 27
Views: 3103

Re: Planted Brackish

IMO, it's genius! In a FW tank, you do water changes a few times a year!! Which so totally goes against the grain, but it really works. You're basically creating a mini ecosystem where the plants work pretty much as they would in nature. I do a water change on my modded biorb probably about once eve...
by Christie_ZXR
Sun May 06, 2012 11:55 am
Forum: Brackish Tanks
Topic: Planted Brackish
Replies: 27
Views: 3103

Planted Brackish

Had a thought about planting my fig 8s tank based on the walstead method. Just wondered if anyone else had experimented with this? Soil and sand mixed with stones as substrate, tapwater instead of RO, and possibly keep the salininty at 1.003-4 instead of 5? I keep a few FW tanks like this already, a...
by Christie_ZXR
Sun May 06, 2012 9:24 am
Forum: Freshwater Puffers
Topic: How to low pH and water hardness?
Replies: 14
Views: 2186

Re: How to low pH and water hardness?

Just wanted to chuck in the problems I had with remineraliser. I mucked up the dosage once and murdered a DP :( was really horrible! Which is why I don't use it any more, I mix RO with tap water to get the minerals back in. Depending what water you want, it's worth experimenting with a bucket of wat...
by Christie_ZXR
Fri May 04, 2012 4:41 am
Forum: Freshwater Puffers
Topic: How to low pH and water hardness?
Replies: 14
Views: 2186

Re: How to low pH and water hardness?

I think he'll probably be fine in that water too tbh. But if you do want to go for RO, personally I use a mix of RO and tapwater in some of my tanks, saves mucking around with remineraliser which is easy to get wrong. My unit came from ebay for 40 quid, (Hong Kong special if I remember rightly!) But...
by Christie_ZXR
Fri May 04, 2012 4:32 am
Forum: Brackish Puffers
Topic: Orange saddle puffer question
Replies: 13
Views: 2088

Re: Orange saddle puffer question

Terrance wrote: Seems like last month when you posted the same question as caroltan. Time does fly.
You're telling me! It's quite scary. Bless him, I wouldn't be without him now :D He's such a little sweetie.
by Christie_ZXR
Thu May 03, 2012 8:48 am
Forum: Brackish Puffers
Topic: F8 in a 10 gallon?
Replies: 75
Views: 11040

Re: F8 in a 10 gallon?

That's incredible! So the chances are they can see their reflection in the tank glass if it's dark! I love the "sponge birdy" by the way!! lol. As for kids periscopes, can I venture to suggest some plastic tube and compact mirrors..? Lets go DIY for these experiments!! If I get a proper ch...
by Christie_ZXR
Thu May 03, 2012 7:34 am
Forum: Puffer of the Month Photo Contest
Topic: POTM April 2012 - winner announced
Replies: 4
Views: 1306

Re: POTM April 2012 - winner announced

That is an amazing photo! :D Well done :)
by Christie_ZXR
Thu May 03, 2012 7:28 am
Forum: Brackish Puffers
Topic: Orange saddle puffer question
Replies: 13
Views: 2088

Re: Orange saddle puffer question

Hi! I've got one of these. Mine's the front one and he's called Mushroom :D Had him 9 months or so now. He lives in a 4ft tank with an external filter. The salinity is 1.020, and it's taken nearly all 9 months to get to that. I kept him in 1.015 for a fair time before doing the final raise gradually...
by Christie_ZXR
Wed May 02, 2012 5:50 am
Forum: Brackish Puffers
Topic: F8 in a 10 gallon?
Replies: 75
Views: 11040

Re: F8 in a 10 gallon?

How did I miss this thread!! Genius!

I think we need a video of the tank-dunking experiment...

Also, did you try a tank with a black background...?
by Christie_ZXR
Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:17 am
Forum: Puffer Pix and Flix!
Topic: The Awesomely Amazing Mister Mushroom!
Replies: 7
Views: 1558

Re: The Awesomely Amazing Mister Mushroom!

Thank you! :D Wish the figure 8 was this easy to photograph. Mushrooms a little star, he just sits still with only the eyes moving, so it's dead easy to get a picture of him. Impossible to get a picture of him when he's swimming though...I have a ton of blurry mushroom-in-motion shots where you can'...
by Christie_ZXR
Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:56 am
Forum: The Lounge
Topic: What did you do with your tank today
Replies: 526
Views: 44591

Re: What did you do with your tank today

I finally gave Mushroom his G6 today. Despite my careful measurements (so I thought...) it's still a bit big for the cupboard! Oh well, bent hoses it is then, still works fine. Not too sure what it reads salinity in, it's not SG, gonna have to dig the manual out and get figuring. I've only used it o...
by Christie_ZXR
Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:17 am
Forum: Puffer Pix and Flix!
Topic: The Awesomely Amazing Mister Mushroom!
Replies: 7
Views: 1558

Re: The Awesomely Amazing Mister Mushroom!

Cheers guys. :D

I've had him since sept. last year, so coming up 9 months. That's a scary thought!