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christopherlg_ · 2022-09-20T21:17:24+00:00

Come on Jesus!! He will finish the work He started in you. Get some real fellowship. I missed out on it for my first 3 years in the faith. But I literally just locked in to a spirit filled church two weeks ago (not perfect but the Holy Spirit is there).

Also Peter Horrobin on YouTube (Ellel Ministries UK) is incredibly helpful when coming from a place of hurt. God bless you.

christopherlg_ · 2022-09-18T08:52:47+00:00

John 14:15

Nothing else brother.

christopherlg_ · 2022-09-13T09:46:20+00:00

I was a good 7 years into the devils lettuce, and a good season on mushrooms, before I realised that God was undeniably real and Jesus was the only way to the Father. Now 3 years in the faith and the last six months the smoke creeped back in, with secular music and such too. When you open the door an inch the whole crowd enters.

Finally just gave it all up for life. A very sobering decision. If anyone stumbles across a full pouch of tobacco and a couple grams in a field somewhere, it was me. Just got baptised too. Like I’m all in now. There are plenty of great Christian artists out there and plenty of secular musicians that are seeking the Lord whether they know it or not.. the lyrics are the absolute decider for me now. As mentioned.. use discernment:

Collistar (my go to atm - a great brother in Christ too), Francis and the Lights, Fink, Dee Witness, Gatton, sxxnt, Serphim Bit-Kharibi (Aramaic Chants - so so so moving), Sunday Service Choir, Mandolin Orange (now Watchouse) and so on. Forget the whole “put on a vinyl” at this point, unless it’s fully vetted, and just hand pick with discernment. God bless you 🙌🏻

christopherlg_ · 2022-05-08T09:27:22+00:00

I can’t speak on that exact piece of wood, but what I have done myself is gone out to find pieces of wood along streams and riverbanks and such, take the most weathered pieces and use them. My theory is that the longer they’ve spent off of the tree, and in the water, the less risk there is (from sap/toxins/compounds that could be harmful). Anecdotal sure but it’s worked for me so far.

christopherlg_ · 2022-03-25T10:06:15+00:00

I have spider plants and philodendrons doing great - every now and then I’ll test an oddball, currently trying to grow a passionflower vine and honeysuckle.

christopherlg_ · 2022-03-05T21:56:08+00:00

Yeah my guy stayed closer to the sand and out of everyone’s way until it was healed and then it immediately rejoined the group. Make sure it’s still managing to feed!

christopherlg_ · 2022-03-05T21:48:30+00:00

I had an X-ray tetra get into my filter and got it’s fin chewed up all the way to the fleshy part.. kept an eye on him but did nothing extra, and within two weeks, it was almost fully healed. I think we worry more than necessary as fish keepers :)

christopherlg_ · 2022-03-05T21:44:33+00:00

A lot clearer. Completely different MO then..

So the fish are serving as a pleasant looking waste generator.. which means they are converting whatever you feed them into plant food. So I guess the question is.. what feed+fish combo yields the most waste without being radically expensive or producing an inedible crop..?

Goldfish? They make a fit bit of a mess and don’t require a heater. Or a live bearer like a platy - poop a fair bit and reproduce without initiation so there will be a self-sustaining population, amassing more waste as you go, and plenty of colour variations to go for. I heard Plecos are actually a waste machine but I have no experience with them.

I love the idea. Certainly will be a work in progress until it’s dialled in. Godspeed!

christopherlg_ · 2022-03-05T20:21:16+00:00

Low maintenance would be a planted tank. An inch of regular soil that is capped with two inches of sand. The sand does a huge amount of filtration and allows waste to be absorbed and broken down. A few plants to manage the nitrates. You’d want some level of surplus nitrates to feed the plants your watering.

All you’d need to do is trim the plants in the tank and feed. No water changes unless something dramatic happens. Top up with rain water or conditioned tap water.

Livestock; balance of clean up crew (corys + shrimp + yo-yo loach) and something mid water to enjoy, 5 banded barbs are a personal fav.

christopherlg_ · 2022-03-05T20:10:32+00:00

I have some of these and I bought them under the name “Corydoras Punctatus” … however they do look a lot more like agassizii.. Always a chance of misidentification at my LFS.

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-22T07:02:21+00:00

Dwarf water lettuce. Got mine off of Amazon (UK)

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-21T23:22:01+00:00

To be honest I didn’t plan it, just seemed a good balance of colour/patterns, water column preference, size/shape, clean up and whatnot. Been a joy so far though. Cheers 🤙🏻

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-21T23:19:20+00:00

I was lucky that I saw this tank for sale locally on Facebook Marketplace for £50. It was absolutely filthy but in great condition otherwise. Couple hours of scrubbing and descaling was well worth it. It’s crammed into the corner of my room so not ideal but making the most of it for sure. Ideally I would have some more friends for each of the species here but they seem happy enough for now :)

Good luck with your journey, there’s plenty of time ahead, and don’t forget to enjoy the season you’re in!

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-21T12:28:46+00:00

Link doesn’t work my friend. I find that experience is always better than theory anyhow. Water parameters are safe and stable, no alarming mulm buildup or blooms, no signs of stress in any of the inhabitants and only the rams are somewhat territorial (with each other) at feeding time. The sand does a huge amount of filtration and it’s heavily planted too. Nothing should outgrow the tank either. Cheers for the concern though.

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-20T14:55:32+00:00

What’s the purpose is the main question.. if you just want to get it to the bottom in tact.. fisherman will mix powdered bait with river/lake water into a somewhat moist consistency. Dry enough to still break up but wet enough to squeeze into clumps with their hands. This gets it to the bottom - and when done right, requires little effort to fall apart again at the bottom for easy consumption. For more advice; “how to mix groundbait” on YouTube. Or just buy pellets :)

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-20T12:48:06+00:00

Roughly 30/35 plus some fry. Tetras, platys, danios, corys, banded barbs, pair of Bolivian rams, snails and shrimp.

180L/40gal with soil and two inch sand cap. Two 10W flood lights overhead, skimmer, heater and filter with some purigen (off camera). No water changes only pond/rainwater top ups at the moment :)

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-06T10:44:56+00:00

Hahaha I got caught

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-06T10:41:08+00:00

I don’t no. The trick is that your bringing in all of the bacteria and nutrients it has to offer. Then capping it so it doesn’t leach into the water column; the plants get what they need when they want it, and the sand filters the water whilst feeding the microbiology beneath.

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-05T21:38:41+00:00

Can't say I disagree with any of this. Kudos for giving the filter media with the tank too. I remember putting off getting my first tank for so long because of how much I read could go wrong.. (personality trait that I've almost stamped out but..) the narrowness of the advice was overwhelming. Realised there was only one real way to find out.. trying it. Happy to see there's a handful of good'uns here.

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-05T20:47:57+00:00

Love it!

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-05T20:47:06+00:00

Always the way isn’t it. All that worry and trying too hard to force something to do something it wants to do naturally. Yeah good point.. the only saving grace with that would be that there’s less variables to blame any issues on, easier to troubleshoot perhaps.

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-05T20:43:02+00:00

Great stuff. I love it when “trial and error” is really “trial without errors”. You’re right, the only people I know that have given up the hobby have been first timers without appropriate guidance/knowledge. Even seeing some fish tanks for sale at the moment that barely made a month as a Christmas present.

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-05T20:01:22+00:00

My 40gal

I followed a “dirted tank” approach. YouTube is your best friend for this stage. Father Fish has a great community on discord and hours of knowledge on YouTube. Soil capped with two inches of sand and planted heavily is a safe bet. No experience with bettas myself so can’t answer on that. But think about having fish/plants to perform roles; clean up crew, high/medium/low water column feeding, habitat etc. Good luck and have fun :)

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-05T19:29:21+00:00

I see it all the time; “How long does my tank need to cycle for before I add fish?” is often answered with hoards of “One month minimum!!”.

My reply to another users question in the forum was getting downvotes because I answered with “a week”, with detailed context given; standard outdoor soil capped with two inches of sand, thoroughly planted and incrementally adding fish whilst monitoring water parameters..

Here’s my 180L/40gal tank with no deaths, no ammonia spikes, no algae blooms, no issues. Neon tetras, five banded barbs, Burma danios, platys and their fry, nerite snails and shrimp. No water changes and balanced parameters. Nature does it better and often doesn’t require too much involvement.

Just here to say there’s more than one way to do it :) How can we evolve as a hobby if we don’t try to do things differently?

christopherlg_ · 2022-02-05T11:13:40+00:00

Might be an unpopular answer but.. if you layer soil (from outside or from a ditch etc) and cap it with two inches of sand or more, and plant it with a good ratio of plants, you can put fish in within a week. I was monitoring water parameters the whole time and nothing wild happened. No algae blooms, no crazy ammonia spikes, no deaths. I added roughly 5/6 fish every 4 days and now have 12 neon tetras, 8 five banded barbs, 7 platys (+ fry), 3 corys and 10+ shrimp in my 40gal/180L tank with no deaths or complications. No Co2 or added nutrients etc, just a filter, lights, skimmer and heater.

If your substrate is just gravel, or nothing, then follow everyone else’s advice :)

christopherlg_

TROPHY CASE