Faran

Okay, there should be one more part in this puzzle. Try and find a small cube-ish shaped peice. It should have one open ens with two grooves and one end with two snap connectors. Basically, the snaps should affix the cube to the bottom of the filter box and the power head should then slide on to the cube on the grooves which act as rails. Once this is connected properly then re-attach all the parts for the spray bar and you should be done. As for "dribbling"... once everything is properly connected there should be a signigicant amount of water coming through the spray bar. No dribbling should be happening unless there's a blockage somewhere. As for the spray bar, it sounds like you have things sorted if you're getting a dribble through the spray bar itself. If there's no water going through the holes try turning the bar around and try again. "How many Yanks (me) and Brits does it take to put together an AR850?"

the spary bar (tube with holes) only needs to go over the baskets with the filter medium. Mine only goes about 3/4 of the way across the filter. So basically, the long part of the elbow joint goes down and the short part goes horizontal and uses the connector to attach the spray bar. Don't think there's any more to explain about it. You'll be amazed how simple it all is once you put it together the first time. One thing though. Make sure the spray bar is the right way. One end is sealed and you'll obviously want that to be at the end of the bar. As for the filter wool. You should be giving your filte medium a quick wash about once a month in tank water (during a water change just use the old water) so it's a good time to rinse or change the filter wool at the same time. Rinse the wool as best you can, but if it looks like it's done, you'll want to put the new peive at the very bottom and the old peice on top for a couple days to give the bacteria a chance to colonize the new piece. Just another common sense tip

LOL, funny thing is; my cardinals started hiding in the plants when the young discus arrived. Ronnie is right, of course, but I recommend dwarf cichlids and other slow moving, peaceful fish for discus tank mates. Danios are just too zippy and they'd soon be in another tank - much like my guppies and other excitable fishies have gone. What to do in your situation - give the young discs a few days to adjust and use a eye dropper to squirt some blood or white woms into the plants where they're hiding. I'm not sure how you feed yours, but this usually gets my discus out and about after a few days no matter what changes have taken place. If they're just too scared of the danios.... well, it's a choice between the discus and danios then, isn't it? I always choose the discus...

Sorry, we have a AR980 and there's actually three baskets to play with in that one. With a two basket setup I'd most likely set the white filter pads on the bottom of both, and on one basket put both carbon bags and the other the ceramic noodles. If the spray is too noisy, just head down to your local fish shop and get a bulk pack of filter wool and put it on top until the sound of the spray is muffled. There's no such thing as too much filtration! Once again, hope that helps. Did the assembly instructions help at all?

Don't wanna get caught up in the legal debate, just showing that the rules are the same for Caryls council as well. Caryl - congrats on the surprise grandkids! I spent a few hours touring my first goldfish farm today (jaykoy from TradeMe). Very interesting experience and I started to appreciate how interesting our coldwater friends can be...

So what plants are ya gonna throw in as a bonus "if we order within the next 24 hours"?

Hi Juwel, We went through the same issues when we bought our AR980. Simply put, there's one connector peice that is longer than the other - this fits through the hole over the power head and slides into it. Then the elbow joint goes into that, which uses another connector to attach the spray bar. Bob's your uncle. As for the filter mediums - The ideal setup would be white filter pads on the bottom with the ceramic noodles over it, with the black carbon filters at the top. We do it the other way around as it is easier to adjust/replace the white filter wool this way. As for the black bags, they're full of carbon and we have a separate basket in the middle for them. Let us know if that was enough or if you need some more help

LOL Monaro, you've never seen a Blue Ram defending eggs, have ya? It's a cracker when a little 2cm fish takes on a 15cm+ discus. They win, too. Then again, I wouldn't like to see them try it with something that has a mouth big enough to swallow them... Zoe - congrats on the shift to Aussie. Sure gonna miss ya round here. Have fun and watch out for all those nasty venomous indigenous species!

I think they're a newly discovered subspecies - Brachydanio Billaneyatus ROFL!

Nah, not a problem. The connectors carry signals from all the connections from one socket to another so it shouldn't matter what the wire config would be. Besides, it's easy enought to recrimp the end with the right wires easy enough, eh?

I have Xmas moss and java moss but haven't ever seen mini moss in NZ. If you find some, let us know!

True Mystic, I didn't even think of Kribs. Good fish, breed well, excellent parents and full o' personality. I found that a 1:1 male/female ratio was important with them, as I've experienced (and heard) they can be pretty darn agro at times. Just a note - the different cichlids have different requirements for breeding. Most breed at 26 degrees but Rams and Cockatoos just need a flat surface, while Kribs require a cave (upturned flower pots work just fine). Agassiziis... dunno, haven't bred them yet.

It's my understanding that Uaras can be sterotyped as shy due to lack of human interaction, just like discus. I always work hard to try and break that preconceived notion with anyone that sees my tanks. My discus will generally come to the front of the tank and line up (cuz they think we're all walking fridges) unlike some tanks where they scatter and hide with any movement in the room. As long as they're raised properly that shouldn't have any problems with being shy at all. Alan- never heard of that before, thanks for the info!

I highly recommend any of the three most popular dwarf cichlids - Rams, Cockatoos and agasizzi. I have all three in my discus tank at 28 degrees and they're active, peaceful (a little territorial when breeding) and fun to have in the tank. The Blue Rams have spawned quite a few times and seem to be easy-as to breed once we've moved and I have a individual tank for them. I expect the same of the cockatoos (just got a small group of juvies) and prolly the agasizzis too... if I had a pair. People quite often have a long sit and watch the discus, then eventually notice the little community of cichlids at the bottom of the tank and easily get distracted by the amazing colours and personality of those little fishies. A true joy and valuable addition to any peaceful community tank. For what it's worth I advise staying away from Convicts. While they may be easy to breed, they're tough little buggers that think they're a foot long. They tend to tear up the tank by digging furiously and it's pretty difficult to sell the offspring when they breed... and they WILL breed. I'm guessing someone was trying to get rid of some Connies when they recommended them to ya

I'm in. Looks like a valuable addition to the aquaria library. How many books can be shipped to Welly together for $6?

Hey freshwest, I'd grab them in a heartbeat if I was offered a pair. Uarus are VERY similar to discus, a bit more drab but a lot of personality. I actually had a friend with a tank full of them in California and he preferred them to discus. Got pix?

You'll have to do a bit of work to mount them up, but seems like a great price for MH lights. I've never used them (like most freshies) so hopefully a saltwater tank owner will come along and give an opinion.... or someone that grows plants indoors...

That's kinda cheating, don't ya think? Just kiddin, it's a thought... As for the reasoning behind the thought, it's to use one pump for dual purposes. By setting up a sump-style filter with a simple return pump, you have nice fresh water going back into the tank. By diverting it through the water cooling system you utilize the same pump to do both functions... I've seen case modders do this with simple tank setups where they dropped in a fish for character, but haven't ever seen a true aquarist do a setup with a proper tank. The biggest problem with this setup is lack of portability, but if it's a PC that's integrated into your home theater system (like Craig/suphew and a few others such as myself have) it's really not an issue...

So we were looking at incorporating a fish tank into my water cooling system. Here's the basic concepts. Water from the tank passes through a filter then a radiator to cool it, then past the CPU and possibly GPU which would warm it back up again before it returns to the tank. Simple enough concept. Now, here's the issues that I'm trying to get past. Icky tube residue. We've all seen the filter tubes after a period of time. They get full of gunk and need periodic cleaning. Algae and bacteria can be avoided by utilizing UV inside the computer case, but that gunk is something you DON'T want in your CPU cooling block. Does anyone here have a similar setup and what did they do to avoid that simple issue?

We got a tank that had a turtle ramp and ledge in it. We used the blade from a stanley knife, as suggested, and it worked a treat. the piano wire idea sounds pretty clever though... As for silicon remover, I'd be very careful to keep it away from the silicone you want to keep, as well as checking the toxicity to fish....

That sounds about right... along the same pricing as a Tin Foil... Would LOVE to see pictures of them sometime. I'm imagining a Tin Foil barb with very yellow fins (tin foil barbs are already pretty yellow) with shiny scales on the sides, but that's just a guesstimate!

Hi Plecs, I just did some Googling and from what I read on another fish forum here it seems that they're a "yellow-finned barb" and probably would be priced about the same as tin foil barbs? Just my humble opinion.... don't have time to search up pics yet, maybe someone else will give it a shot. Got pix of yours, Plecs? Blue

I've "paid it forward" twice so far and I'm happy to say the Riccia is still growing like mad (the new lights help). So, the offer is now going out to non-locals. I'll be putting it on TradeMe soon, so you better move quick!

And it would be necessary for you to actually be a member of FNZAS in some way, such as joining the local fish club (KMAC) or another affiliated club. Consider it a joining bonus if you're not a member already

Heya Tams, Yes, bettas are well known for shredding the tails of male guppies. They see it as competition or whatever... they think it's another male and go agro. Now, did you buy 2x 1/2 males or 2&1/2 males? I'm guessing they're half blacks, aye? Best of luck healing them and getting them in with the gyrls! blue