Tanksman

Hi Marinegirl. Might I suggest Monaro1 was not insulting you but rather more guilty of what alot of us do here - Answers are a bit brief. However I reckon Monaro was on the money in that you should be asking your customers what are their requirements - not perhaps idealist hobbyists who have different requirements. I certainly think your later posts have changed the whole tone of this thread for the worse. Why would anyone feel obliged to divulge commercial information after The members here are all different and at varying stages of the hobby (or addictiveness as we smtimes refer to it as) some of our ideas or comments are going to be strange to others here. Tolerance is what is required. I for one wouldn't ask others in a public forum for ideas on how to setup my business - simply for reasons of commercial sensitivity - I will not divuldge commercially sensitive information either. I'm sorry if you feel that this is unfriendly

Thanks Caryl - I understand you need acrobat writer not just the reader. I havn't got my newsletter yet. I'll take it in any format Daniel if thats an option.

Well the lesson for me is stop taking products at face value. Thats a shocker. How many people would assume that the product does what it says. Just looking at the flow is no good either its too hard to judge for an amateur. Time to start testing my filters - Gee I only have to do this 6 times :roll:

Yea they'll be fine... And they don't really need feeding either Seems cruel ay - but they can eat algae

I wouldn't do it if I were you - 12volt is a bit different to 240v. You could get electocuted or it could even wreck all your fish tank and gear. The word "fire" comes to mind

OK thanks. Sounds like a nice place to live. As long as the place you get the weed from is clean and disease free you could chuck in a piece or two every week or so. It would help with providing variety in their food. No fish likes to have the same thing day in and day out. So yea feed them a bit if it is available. They probably eat lettuce and cucumber and other garden veges to.

Oh OK - Actually I have just bought two fluval 404's - no mention of carbon sponges in them - They have bags of activated carbon in the baskets but no carbon sponge - And the most important part of the Fluval's is the foam prefilter - it stops the media getting clogged and being less able to house biological filtering bacteria . Much the same as the aquaone CF series. EDIT: Thats a good point Monaro re having an internal Filter as well. It provides redundancy to the filtration system and gives more tank circulation.

Re carbon sponge - thats news to me Monaro What stops all the crap in the water from clogging the bioballs and the noodles? The water is drawn in from the bottom.

Yes I agree with the guru. Probly too many fish in there before cycling complete. However I like the tank - is it like this http://www.aquariumsdelivered.co.uk/cat ... 042253fc9f This may work so long as it doesn't choke the flow too much. Re the poly pads in the top - chuck em out. You only need one big sponge right on the bottom to filter out the big particles so they don't clog the media (the prefilter) The more you have in the filter the less it will pump through it. I doubt wether there is such a thing as a carbon sponge - If it is it will not be a sponge rather a rocky hard material. As I said above the main sponge needs to be on the bottom of the bottom basket - the prefilter - If you have other sponges you can use them to help hold the bioballs down but this is not essential. The main thing is the filter needs a chance to operate without constant cleaning / opening so that the bacteria can culture it - Maybe it just needs some peace and quiet.

Plastic Plants might be the trick. It would be hard to get any plant established as some of the fish (10 years old) must be quite big. PS I never did find out where Tai Tapu is!

So using the advice then what is left to go in the top tray. If its activated carbon chuck it out - it may be leaching posion into the water. Re sucking in sand - don't have the intake to close to the sand? Is it sucking in and pumping out of the correct connections? Is it pumping 1200 liters an hour (roughly) With these filters they have tubes / holes through each basket which should all line up with each other and also must line up with the connection from the inlet side of the motor housing. each basket tube / hole should have a rubber grommet on top of these tubes, to aid in ensuring the water is sucked into the bottom of the filter before rising back up through the media in the baskets. Definitely clean the hoses often - Curtain wire is useful with a small bit of rag used as a pullthrough. I have 4 CF700's and they are excellent - deathly silent and troublefree - unlike my fluval pita. EDIT: I also wonder what sponges you are using and if these are original. If they are new are they food grade and non toxic?

You need your own test kit - Ammonia - Nitrite - and Ph kits minimum. Especially with ten litres - you need to test everyday at different times especially if you are having problems. When did Jansens test your perfect water? It is a bit of an outlay but... you can't really do without this in the long run.

Yeah fingers crossed MCT. Just a thought - do your test kits work in salt water?

Thats good advice chimera. However sometimes peoples behavior does make my milk curdle and I might just cut of my nose to spite my face. Go hard layton. Its a big world out there.

Oh yeah conaquavict 10 / 10. Shes gorgeous. I'm gonna get some convicts soon too. They are funny. I was in an LFS the otherday and in a little tank with severums and a couple of jack dempseys here was a momma convict with some babies tucked up one end.

sounds like a nightmare actually - how you seal it to the gully. Why not just use containers filled with water - doesn't have to be glass.

Read carefully - I didn't say anyone was making super economic profit. I am merely saying that if the earlier importers had not reduced prices in line with the currency appreciation then others - like yourself - would have been encouraged to enter the market anyway. It seems you are patting yourself on the back for the appreciation of the NZ $. In saying all that however it is great for the hobby that you have added competition to the marketplace.

Hows that for a contradiction - The question is would the others have passed on the currency savings. Ultimately yes as with any industry if someone or firm is making super economic profits then others are encouraged to enter the market. I think some of you are in danger of constantly banging your head in doorways or falling over your own ego's

Can't resist. Do you put the egg eating discus in a chicken coop on the lawn? That will stop it eating eggs allright

Thanks for that - The trouble is all that is left after the plant regenerates and is laid on again is a big stalky stick bush. I hope it does gro seeds sometime. Will the seeds be an autumn thing or spring? They certainly can eat.

Thanks Blue Yep Inkweed :oops: should be milkweed - And it's swanplant even So the wasp nest outside's no good and neither is the caterpillar idea . Well off to the supermarket for pumpkin then - Hate to see them all starving I'd still like to know whether I can grow more swanplants from cuttings - need more grazing for the wee blighters.

Thanks Alan I did a quick google on it and It may be posionous - it said they live on inkweed which makes them poisonous so don't know about the swan plant scenario though. I did chuck one in with the jewels earlier - it was a bit big I think and they found it weird that it grip them so quickly spit it out. I was surprised cause usually it is all over in a mouthful - but they retreated and stuck up their fins at it so I took it out - it was only 20 seconds in there tho - someone else may be getting away with it. Hey does the swan plant grow from cuttings?

Does anyone know whether I can feed caterpillars to my cichlids? Now after I put my flak jacket on - click - they are monarch caterpillars living on a swan plant outside. They have eaten it in less than two daysand are now all going to starve to death unfortunately. I know this because I seen it a couple of months ago and this batch is bigger still. I'm thinking why waste a live food but are they poisonous ???

Its called a comb isn't it? I need one too