Faran

Chris Dawson (Dark) recently had some large GAEs spawn in his big tank. I'd ask him what the conditions were but I think it was just in a hole in wood.

Oh, then probably not Ottos (RRP $15 each) so most probably the non-golden-golden-algae-eaters like you described a.k.a. Chinese algae eaters. So yeah, u gonna do the salt or meds? They both work, it's a matter of preference. I shouldn't have knocked the salt like I did (soz Sharn!) as I'm sure it works for lots of folks. I'm a plant man and the only salt I use is for hatching brine shrimp

I think Luke has a self-contained fishroom that is fully insulated so that the under-floor heating is warmed by the sun. With a setup like this, you don't even need solar panels, just piping running over reflective material to absorb the radiant heat of the sun, then piped under the flooring to transfer the heat into the room. His water to air ratio in the room is probably balanced so that the room is warmed and that gets transferred to the tanks... and on it goes. Extremely efficient... as long as the sun comes out! O course I could be wrong in all of this, but that's my concept of what he described.

IMO, increasing temps and adding salt just hurts plants and gives you a few weeks of headaches with WS coming back. That WS med you can pick up from any LFS is quick, easy and barely makes a dent in the wallet. Haven't had it hurt any fish, either. The black and white sucker fish are Otocinclus Catfish and very cool fish. Take care of them

Fresh, can I ask what ferts you're using and if you're injecting CO2? Still drooling over this masterpiece. My tank is coming along though. You definitely inspired me to take it up a few notches. Would be dead keen to get some of that sword ground cover. Getting a bit tired of dwarf sag.

No, and you're not allowed to. You're not allowed to TAKE fish there either... but from what I heard (factoid) that's how all the fish got there in the first place.

Thanks fishboi, I think I'm gonna go decapsulate some eggs!

I think a better explanation would be that they have chemically removed the outer layers of the artemia cyst leaving completely edible eggs with unhatched BBS inside. You just soak and feed. This method has even higher protein levels than hatched (and 100% efficiency).

Sharn, you're assuming that they haven't already gone after the sellers. Could be that they already found someone selling bad stuff and are now running down the sales they made. Makes sense to me, and also explains how they know who has what in their ponds/tanks (and who has ponds/tanks). Remember, there's a record of every sale made on TradeMe and I'm sure MAF can get your transaction record quite easily with proper justification. Would like to know what the plant was so people can avoid similar visits. If we know what it is we can just call in MAF to get it out of our tanks. I understand that you're being watched and have been warned... so how bad would it be to warn others?

Good point, diverjohn. Many plants sold at the LFS are grown hydroponically so leaves die off and new "submerged" ones grow in when put underwater. Problem is, some of the plants sold at the LFS aren't even aquarium plants (like Borneo Swords) so you end up with sad plants either way. My recs are above and a lot of them can't even be grown emersed (out of water) so you won't have those probs. As for the water changes, they bring in new minerals but remove the nitrates. The more water changes you do (discus grow VERY well with 50% water changes daily) the less nitrates, therefore the low-nutrient term. Plantman, if your water has nitrates or nitrites in it I'd be worried Yup, plants pearl like crazy after a big water change but this is probably due to the water having 100% O2 Sat. after a change. Obie, you'll see what we mean by pearling and stuff when/if you come by, mate.

Hi Steve! You have two problems with a discus tank. First is the high temps. That's easily checked for any of your plants on Tropica but many plants do well in higher temps than what they've listed. The other problem you have with a discus tank is the fact that the water has low nutrients due to frequent water changes. Do you fertilize your tank? I used Flourish for a while but now trying out a Red Sea product called Nova 24. These are liquid fertilizers that are added to the water directly to give the plants the food they need. Recommended plants for discus tanks - crypts, anubias, cabomba, swords (any type other than Borneo mainly come from the Amazon), Indian Ferns and Star Grass. That's just a small portion of the plants that survive easily up to 30 degrees. You'll have difficulty finding most in your LFS as they tend to stock plants that are suited for 90% of the tanks out there.

sharn, I think you're thinking of something else - hornwort, perhaps. Pennywort is the local common name for Cardamine Lyrata.

It's in his photobucket album, caper. Big bowl with a circular glass lid to form a coffee table. internal filter and heater have cables that just run across the floor to it. Nothing difficult to make yourself.... if you know how to form acrylic or blow glass, that is

Perhaps it's the colour pattern? Caserole is right, you've covered pretty much all the bases. Pix please. By the way, welcome to the forums! simplydiscus.com is a great discus site.

Dang. That usually happens with unlevel surfaces. Pegasus brough up some valid ?s about the base and poly. Little cracks happen when you drop a rock. See if Chris Downs is able to help you out. That's pretty much your local expert. Good work, too. My local tank guy is on vaca and it's a mish to climb that Wainoui hill! Just thought of Peter as he said he had some free time this weekend. As for the carpet, get a dehumidifier in there and suck the water out of everything that way as well. Mops and irons only do half the job, though steam cleaning or a shop/shamppoing vac does a fair job as well. Rent one from your supermarket and don't even have to pay for shampoo - unless your rug needs cleaning anyways Good luck with the cleaning and sorry this happened to you. It happens to all of us eventually *knocks on wood*

I'd have to say the brown stuff is bacteria of one kind or other. You need BNs in your tank to clean that stuff up before it builds up. Either that or wipe down the inside of tanks with no cleaners such as catfish or snails. That grey hair algae is funky. Does it crumble when you touch it? Funky stuff gorws on new driftwoods if they're not cleaned properly - specially from rivers.

Major prop, I;d have to say. The only improvement I could imagine would be a moss wall on the back but that would take away from the black/green contrast (have the same in my tank) and decrease depth perception. Best thing of this tank is that it photographs well and doesn't end up being a big green blur like heavily planted tanks. Nice work and a real credit. Would it be cheeky to ask for more pics in a photobucket album? List f the plants you have would be cool. Never know what you might have lurking in there that could be a rare item. Need wnat/some tennelus (Dwarf Pygmy Chain Sword) or do you have some?

Gorgeous fish, wow. Congrats on the spawning, as well. Tamz, we don't have Calvus in NZ, only Altolamprologus compressiceps which is pretty close but different patterns.

Heya Caper, With sterilization it's best to use a 10% bleach solution (90% water) and after you're done, simply dose the water with dechlorinator with the stuff in there and you'll remove the bleach from the water and equipment and make it safe to put back in the tank. Simple enough, right?

I'd have a chat with Pete at Port Nicholson about getting it repaired and what he recommends. You can always get advice and do it yourself but with that size mess/tank I'd be calling in a pro. BTW, tanks usually bust when the surface they're on is unlevel and tweaks the glass too much. Either that, or VERY bad luck. Sorry this happened to you, guys

The possibility that the size difference may be so great that the larger fry start eating the smaller fry. This can happen even in the same batch of fry, so not a big concern. Otherwise, no, we do it all the time. Even mix species as long as the water parameters are similar and keeping in mind the size thing.

Nice work, mate. Great example of a planted tank for NZers. Someone came by here the other day raving about your setups and now I see why!

Use hose clamps. As long as you have a solid surface the flexible tubing will be sealed to it, provided it's a snug fit to start with. Recommend using stainless steel hose clamps as the cheap ones rust with even a bit of moisture.

Just got back to see this thread. Agree with discusguru, water probably was too polluted and your fry passed from ammonia shock. Water testing will confirm this. You should be doing daily water changes to avoid this from happening with aged water or water from your big tank - making sure that temps are the same in both. As for salt, all those fish will be fine with a BIT of salt but don't go over one rounded tablespoon per 20 litres (as per directed on the epsom salt pack you can buy from your LFS) unless you have a tank for mollies and other brackish fish only. There are a few fish out there that are easily killed by salt and that includes elephant noses (which you don't have, just an FYI). But salt isn't your priority right now. Get your fry water tested asap and find out what happened!

have a chat with alanmin4304 on these forums. He's well into plants and a local that you can probably get all the types of plants you're after from at once.