Recent content by Sands_88

Hi Sparrowhawk - welcome the world of tropical fish!! If you do decide to look for a slightly bigger tank - there should be facebook groups for your area. Type in something like aquatic and your town to see what comes up. Also have a check on gumtree and aquarist clasifieds (I got a 160L full...

These are mine. Schwartz's (I think) and an albino. The bronze I have don;t stay still for long enough for photos!

So that's it! £50 tank 5 days work about another £50 on ornaments and plants And ta dah!!

Last but not least I moved the fish from their old tank into my new. I think they like it! The glowlights have been hiding a bit, but are coming out for food and have schooled with the neons a few times! The cories are all just great, they're like fish with adhd...

On Sunday I had a massive sort out of the tank. I took out the snails and shrimp so I wouldn't squish them and took everything out of the tank. Gravel vacuumed the sand as best I could to try and lower my phosphates which were well over 5. I then went through all the sand with a sieve which...

My lfs didn't have any shrimp, snails or otos which was very unlike them! I suppose it was the weekend, it gets so busy in there! I therefore braved pets at home (great with plants, hit and and miss with fish, usualy a good seletion of snails, shrimp and others!) Luckily my phone was working...

Well she came round to look at the tank, and I was just explaining/moaning that someone who was going to buy them had let me down, and so I couldn't move my tiny glowlights from my other tank in case they got eaten by the raphael or just died of poisoning because the tank was overstocked... So...

So yesterday I bought a couple more plants and a new ornament and didn't do much else! I want to get more tall plants and make more hiding places so the fish come out more. I'm also going to add the contents of my other tank (5 glowlights and some cories) to the tank and get a bit of a clean...

Thanks everyone :)

Did you use any use filter media/substrate etc that bacteria could have been on? And +1 with plants. I'm just wondering if you've managed to kick start your cycle and plants are taking things out? Otherwise - you've realised all of our dreams!! An ammonialess tank!

Good plan I shall give it a go! Thanks :)

So on Friday I did a bit more work on the tank. On Thursday I couldn't get the external filter to work without leaking all in the cabinet, assumed it was my tiredness so switched it off, stuck an air stone in and left it overnight. Got up early to have a play before work and I think the...

Thanks for all your suggestions everyone :) The tank I bought came with an axternal canister filter so I'll use that. Even with a spray bar there are a couple of dead spots, so I might add in my little internal fluval to help. On that note - is it best to use a spray bar for water movement or...

Great minds think alike - managed to sell them yesterday :) They were already pretty big, around 15cm! I also sold the raphael because he was nearing 20cm and taking up a lot of space, and I read that he might eat smaller fish....I bought a bigger tank so I could have schools of small fish like...

Whats the best way to clean it now its in the tank? Take it out and clean a bit at a time and hope I don't have a mini cycle? Whats the easiest way of doing this now? Algae is almost growing as I watch because the phosphates are so high lol! (I know phosphates don't cause algae, but they...