Faran

Have you tried it out yet? Fluval make different dimension flexi hoses and can be ordered in by your LFS. From what I remember, they connect the same... just get the internal diameter of the hoses. So they really have two different sized hoses, or is that just the way you got it from me? Are the connectors different sizes?

I believe the dimensions include the hood/light/filter. A AR850 is only 44cm tall. From the Aqua One Website - 84W x 58H x 44D cm 165 L, Lighting - 2 x 30" 25W, 1 x 23.5" 20W - which means the lighting is decent at 70W. You really can't go with higher wattage bulbs, just get better quality bulbs. Sadly enough, the LFS is the only place to find 25W bulbs, so they're going to be pricey at $25-$35 each. A $8 20W bulb can be found at any light shop, just ask for 6500 kelvin or "daylight" bulbs. Aqua One make decent units, but a wee bit low on the lighting. Change those bulbs and try very hard to get proper 6500K lights and you should see improvement from the plants.

The top I'd reckon to be Giant Hygrophia/Hygrophilia Corymbosa and it's a hard plant to keep from growing! The bottom... well, there's a lot of plants that look like that. If I had to venture a guess I'd reckon Broad Leaved Amazon Chain Sword/Echinodorus Quadricostatus. Both plants are proper underwater plants and the chain sword will be unhappy if there isn't enough nutrients in the soil, or light. I'd chalk the brown algae to insufficient lighting at a guess, which increasing will both take care of that and make your plants even happier. Why do pet stores sell improper plants? Tell you the truth, it's a matter of lack of knowledge. They sell it because they often don't know or don't care, and customers buy it because they don't know and usually won't even go back to complain when it dies. I have a beautiful Peace Lilly/Borneo Sword growing in a pot which was sold to me with my first tank from a LFS as a "proper amazon sword plant". After 6 months of struggling to keep it alive, I was told what it was and planted it properly.... The LFS gave me another plant when I explained it to them, but sill sell them to this day. Oh, and since neither of your new plants need the fertilizer balls you brought home, put them in the soil around the roots of the little chain sword. It'll love ya for it

your floating glosso looks great! As for planting it, you'll need to plant it and lay some teaspoons over it to hold it in place while it roots. If you have catfish in the tank, it probably won't take hold as they'll constantly dig it up. The glosso will have a hard time surviving with big leaved plants blocking out the light. Recommend doing a BIG prune and rip out any excess plants before and while glosso is in the tank.

The first pic looks like a emersed (above water) form of Ludwigia Repens, which is an underwater plant but may be difficult to convert to submersed (underwater). The second pic is definitely Mondo Grass/Ophiopogon japonicus and is a bog plant. This means that even though it enjoys wet roots and can survive submerged for a little while, it will die if left underwater too long. My ID on the first plant may be off, others here will confirm or not.

I was being sarcastic. Try reading the article instead of getting moody. And by the way, many clubs HAVE locked forums that you can't get into that are part of these forums.

I wrote a whole article about it on here almost a year ago. Understandably, the search function is bung, so here you go. Some of my postings? If you get upset over me telling someone that I'm PMing them, perhaps there are other issues involved? People that get emotionally involved about things on the forums is exactly why I choose to PM people most of the time rather than post. Sorry Alan, I hope you understand. Sure is, it's called the FNZAS. Are you a member? If not, please support it by joining your local fish club.

congrats, buddy. I'll PM about what to do.

Nice mate, did all the plants I sent settle in well?

Wikked barbels on them, sharn. Will grow up to be an impressive "monster" I'm sho.

Why buy Marines from a shop when the Great Barrier Reef is so nearby? I'd be pullin a Finding Nemo and trying to collect my own gear from nature.... if it's legal, o course!

LOL, no one ever put up any Fryeri pics for the poor guy! Here you go, buddy. Of course, I've never seen Fryeri juveniles so that's purely Google speaking. I suppose now someones gonna tell me I put up the wrong pic :lol:

Yeah bro, definitely emersed (grown out of water). The other form, submersed or underwater, has the branchy leaves, etc etc. hence the name difformis, etc. I guess I should clarify that the sprig indeed became a large bush of leaves that look like this and not an actual tree when grown under water...

white GBAs indicate weakness and will most likely die. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but as a breeder it's an indicator sign. Your tank could have water problems or it could have just ended up ill. These things happen, best of luck nursing your wee fella.

Yes, that's the emersed form of leaves on H. Difformis. The plant has been grown emersed or hydroponically. You'll have to go through the conversion process which may result in the death of the plant. On the same note, I got a wee sprig of emersed Difformis from waterplantz (on TradeMe) with an order and it turned into a underwater tree. Had to give the stuff away. Grows like a weed in planted tanks.

Congrats! The fry will spend the next few weeks feeding off the parents, and when the bodies change from a tadpole shape to a more fish-like shape you should start dribbling BBS over the sides of the parents. The fry will start recognizing the BBS as food and will soon go tearing after them whenever they see them. They'll eventually become independant of mom and dad and can be removed to another tank, but take your time, and there's no real rush until you see the skin of the parents start becoming damaged from the feeding. Another option is to ignore the fry and keep on feeding the parents. If you crush up the discus processed food into a fine powder, the fry will start eating it when they're ready and will transition on their own with little to no aid from you. The mortality rate with this method is much higher and it's really a "survival of the fittest" method of raising fry. Best of luck with your endeavours, happy to help. Blue

"Albino Red Pearl" Looks very much like a female albino red on the champguppystar website, but with a wicked pearl through the body. Very nice, yes?

I had the exact same thing happen and tried fixing it by patching glass below and above the original sheet. Long story short, I have a tank with 30cm of glass on the bottom and is twice as heavy (empty) as any of my other tanks the same size. Replacing the entire bottom is neater, easier and less trouble.

General rule of thumb is body width plus one pectoral fin, but my males seem to enjoy barely being able to fit in. Females don't like to be cramped too much tho.

aluminium is lighter and steel lasts longer. each have pros and cons...

Afrikan nailed it - freshwater sumps. Figured Marine keepers would know where to go to get stuff like this better than any of the LFSes as none deal with anything saltie around here. Have queried with a few injection molding people around here and will get some quotes within a few days. Overseas manufacturers have heaps for cheap, but shipping would require "surface" and boats will take 4-6 weeks for delivery...

They're good units and excellent for fry and fish that require live food.

Hey salties, I need something like a metric tonne of Bio-Balls and wondered where to go for a bulk order? What price would I expect for this amount? Thanks much! Blue

Wrote an article on this a while back - http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/artifi ... 13000.html Your eggs can be raised the exact same way. Cheers!

Must be an acrylic tank, cuz the glass would have to be massively thick, even with that welded frame for bracing... glass thickness calculator tells me 105mm for the front pane...