alanmin4304

What you are smelling is chloramines. When you smell that at a swimming pool most people think there is too much chlorine in the water but it actually smells a lot better if you add more chlorine because the monochloramine is pushed up to trichloramine and free available chlorine is formed. It is usually stronger in the shower because of the hot water and aeration. That is where I really notice it when at a place elswhere with chlorinated water. Have to admit it is a bit of a backward step having to deal with chlorine at the moment.

If the water supply is reliable like it is ariound here people in rural areas usually don't have a storage tank. They use a pressure cylinder between the well and the house. If you have iron in your water it is acid. Water has a greater affinity for oxygen than CO2 and it is usually that which makes the water acid. If you aerate the water it drives off the CO2, the pH rises, the iron changes from ferrous (soluble) to ferric (insoluble) and it will settle out. Iron leaves a brown stain and manganese (often present also) makes the white washing come out grey. Red plants need iron to stay that way.

How much water do you need to change? If you need to do a lot I have sodium thiosulphate here that is the active ingredient in the commercial additives to neutralize chlorine and chloramines. If you want to pick it up you can have it for free. You will need 3 grams to treat 1000 litres

What about this: Guest Editorial According to Roddy Conrad: Sodium thiosulfate instantly takes care of the chlorine in chloramine, as well as straight chlorine. The reaction to get rid of the chlorine with either chloramine or chlorine is instantaneous on mixing of the sodium thiosulfate and the chlorine or chloramine. The reaction of sodium thiosulfate with chloramine produces ammonia. Assume you are doing a 20% water change and there is 1 PPM chloramine in the water. 1 PPM chloramine neutralized with sodium thiosulfate becomes 0.2 (20% water exchange) times 17/51.5 (molecular weight of ammonia divided by molecular weight chloramine) = 0.06 PPM ammonia level in the pond. 0.06 PPM is too low to even measure, and is safe for the fish anyway! My point is that it is perfectly safe to dechlorinate with sodium thiosulfate unless you are doing a 100 % water change and there is a huge 5 PPM chloramine concentration in the makeup water. Only then can the ammonia from the chloramine reaction with sodium thiosulfate get up to a 1.5 PPM ammonia level to give a possible real fish problem. Even then, please remember koi shipped in bags normally arrive at their destination in water that is 5 to 10 PPM ammonia level by measurement, and that is done all the time by the koi handlers without giving it a second thought. Yes, that level can do damage to the fish if you allow it to continue, no argument about that. So all those warnings about using sodium thiosulfate to dechlorinate water containing chloramines is just so much hype from folks making a profit selling the ammonia binding products to my way of thinking about the actual technology in action.

Each fish is different. Some fish fade their colours in strong light (many killies for example)

If they are brumating they will need a low temperature, no basking and no UV.

I have sent and received reptiles by post and courier and they have all been OK.

It would take 2 days by petbus and $170+ to send airport to airport by Air NZ so overnight courier is starting to look good.

The stargrass will go black at the base if there is not enough light.

Echinodorus uraguayensis is legal and looks a lot like a giant Valisneria.

Be aware that they also propagate from little bulblettes that form around the main bulb.

The twisted Vals are allowed---I think the only ones around are V.torta and V. contortionist. The first is wider and shorter than the other.

They are the right shape but when mature they are black.

You need a bit more than a certificate.

I used to feed them to my turtles but have never fed them to fish.

They are not hard to breed if you have good food to condition them well, they are relatively young and have been in soft water so the eggs are OK. They will breed better if you spawn them regularly.Good advice above. There are easier tetras to practice on.

It is probably easier to see any eggs if you use a stainless steel net rather than marbles. A small shallow tank is all you need. You will need to make sure you have a male and female (They are temperature sensitive as to sex so many batches are the same sex)and they go better as teenagers rather than oldies. The eggs are not light sensitive but the fry are. 23-24 degrees will give mainly females.The first spawning of eggs will probably be calcified and no good.

Greatly missed

I get a good deal from lamp specialists down here but I don't know if they have that tube. They might get it in for you if they don't stock them.

That breeder lost most of his tanks and all of his rummies in the quake but is in the process of trying to start up again. He sure can breed fish so pray for an end to the shakes.

I have been using one for a few years and they are very good.

Angels will breed every 10-14 days if you give them the right conditions. Think about what you would need to raise all them and sell them. Albinos and blacks are good sellers but people are wary of angels.

There are only a few pet shops that give good advice. They are in the business of selling stuff and as retailing gets harder their advice may get worse. Do your homework before you buy. Having said that, there are a couple of petshops down here that I would consider give good advice.

Carbon will take a lot of solubles out of the water but has a habit of getting overloaded and dumping them all back out. Good to remove dyes or meds but I haven't used it in years.

Using Flourish excel?