alanmin4304

If the sand is too deep it can culture anaerobic bacteria which can produce some foul smelling gasses such as sulphur dioxide (rotten eggs) and methyl mercaptan which is one of the compounds tested for when guaging the offensiveness of large commercial composting operations and is so strong that about a cup full is added to a tanker of LPG (which has no odour) so leaks can be detected. It smells like rotten cabbage. Rotten fish produces a lot of ammonia amongst other things. I use sand in my aquariums for growing plants and do not stir it up but it is only about 25-40mm deep. It causes no problems. I have had it a lot deeper in the past without a problem also. It may be that any excess food is being stirred up in the sand and the subsequent decomposition is anaerobic then.

I think 43 is too hot, better round 30.

You may be better to stick to the beardies where you are as your Regional Council has declared blueies an unwanted organism which means you cannot sell them on trademe or send them by petbus (can't legally breed or sell them). They have live young , don't need to incubate eggs and are more likely to survive in the wild up there and feed on our natives.

Barrie hasn't been on the sitea since Dec 23 2010 so best to try someone else or ring his business.

How deep is the sand?

Corrie eggs are sticky and she got caught with her bottom lip in the cookie jar.

Swindon is in Ireland to be sure to be sure.

What do the test kits read for? Are they ammonia and ammonium or just ammonia? Ammonia is soluble in water and will form an equilibrium with ammonium.

Can you imagine that 6 danios would produce 20mls of ammonia?

You only get nitrites by adding ammonia and having the bacteria to convert it to nitrite. You need now to develop the next stage. 20 mls is a lot of ammonia if it is at a decent strength.

Your ammonia to nitrite bacteria are developing but your nitrite to nitrate bacteria still have a way to go. One of the broblems with your method of cycling---you added too much ammonia.

Same as fish but with no heatpads.

Apart from us oldies with memory loss.

I use a 100watt on a 1600x600x600 so either would probably be OK. I think it would depend more on your insulation and ambient temperature. I don't know where you are so that does not help.

I have not used that but I have used similar sources of micronutrients. You probably need more clean sand on top of it to keep it out of the water.

I used to let it rain for a bit then collect the water into a 200 litre drum. Waiting a bit gets rid of the dust and pollen carried by our famous norwest winds.

It is a hard balance between feeding them enough and poluting the water. If you look at the numbers that hatch you can see that the potential is there for a lot of fish. The problem with gouramis is that they seem to grow at different rates no matter how well you feed them so you will need to seperate them out by size regularly if you want to get a few through rather than a couple of big fat ones.

I used to boil the peat and tip the water into a bare tank then put the peat in the filter and set it running on the bare tank. Used the water (rainwater) to breed tetras etc. Got people down here breeding neons in tapwater with peat these days.

Boiling the peat will sterilize it and help it absorb water so it will sink.

Nobody got into your boot?

If the flouro is for UV I would keep that and use a ceramic heat emitter instead of a bulb so you can then have lights as required instead of 24/7. Also get a thermostat to control the temperature if they don't have one. I use a ReptaProbe and have found them very good (unless the tubing to the probe gets damaged in an earthquake ---which hopefully you wont have to worry about).

You can also buy a thing like a light dimmer that controls the current and therefore the heat output. Some people use these and I have when starting out but a thermostat is way better and will control the temperature regardless of outside influences. They are dearer but in my view are worth it to keep your pet healthy.

In a previous life I used to have a number of reverse flow diatomaceous earth filters that would have cleared that up in a few minutes.I think they are still popular in USA. I have not seen them around now for years, but if you could get one it would do the trick. The real solution would be to figure out what is causing it.

I and others I know have used it in a bag in a filter when breeding fish and it is no problem. As stated, the other things will work as well (add teabags and oak bark). It will make the water brown and is normally used to produce tannins and lower pH.

Splish-splash?