Wednesday 31 July 2013

New LFS in Woodlands Area " Polyart"

Hoho, i found out there is a new LFS in woodlands area today... go there direct after work...

For those who are not familiar with woodlands area, it just a short walk from Marsiling MRT.. when i mean short walk, its only around 3-4 mins walk.


My review of the shop

Spacious, clean , sufficiently stocked with aquarium and fish stuff, around 6 big tanks and 2 racks dedicated  to aquatic plants. easy access from Marsiling MRT. Stuffs are decently priced (some items slightly higher than y618, some items are same price though) ... location, it win a lot of LFS hands down


Map:-
http://www.streetdirectory.com/sg/hdb-woodlands/166-woodlands-street-13-730166/93_122483.html


Updates-

The shop apparently changed hands... currently renamed to Polyart.


Saturday 27 July 2013

Up Aqua Inline SUPER Diffuser

Harlo, time for gadget review again

This time is UP Aqua Inline SUPER Diffuser




I bought this diffuser from online website and find it works well. There is totally no bubbles at all, all co2 should be dissolved properly...hehe not bad not bad..

However, you should take note before you buy this diffuser,

  • You need a canister to use this
  • You need a proper co2 system with 35psi for it to work, anything lower it might not work at all
  • This item is not cheap, around 40-50 in shops, i manage to get lower from online shops though... if it does not work in your tank, it might be a waste of money.
  • the co2 inlet is quite brittle, might break off easily, my friend's diff actually broke off 1 week ago..too bad, but can be epoxy back of course.
  • there are various size available, OPEN your eyes big big and look at the top right hand side behind the packaging for pipe size






Pearling Effect For Planted Tanks

Hi all, today i want to talk about pearling effect.



For planted tanks, pearling effect is like the "must have" effect..well for a newbie its very satisfying. However after a while, its quite normal-lah... There is no need to see pearling, as long plants and fish are healthy is good enough for me.

Some people complained  " I spend tonnes of money and time but there is no pearling!!! Help!!" well no pearling is not end of the world, it just mean to O2 level is not high enough. You need the tank water to be saturated with CO2 + your plants are creating additional O2 to get the effect.

To achieve pearling, you need to fulfil the following:


1) Sufficient and high Levels of CO2(30ppm and above) you can use a drop checker to check, minimum green to yellow status should be good enough.

2) Sufficient Fertilizer, you have to dose regular fertilizer. I find plants will pearl readily if there is sufficient fertilizer

3) Lights: need to have high level lights if you really want to see good pearling( 3-4watts per gallon) and your tank should not be too tall or your lights will not be able to reach the bottom or low laying plants. I would suggest max 40cm tank with 6500k light tubes. See my following experiment: http://theplantedtankblog.blogspot.sg/2012/03/upgraded-to-4-x-t5ho-all-aquazonic.html

4) Types of plants: some plants pearls faster and better e.g HC and Riccia. I manage to get java moss and US fissiden to pearl too.

5) Surface agitation: keep to low, too much water flow will blow the tiny pearls around and you might not see them.

6) Temperature:keep to below 30deg celsius

Finally if all above does not work, OFF your filter!!! Power up co2 /lights and wait for 2-3 hours.... You should see some pearling.

Hope you enjoy the video...:)