alanmin4304

If it is alive it must work. It needs a lot of light and will get it at the top.

THE OLD TANKS WERE NOT SILLY: 24x12x12inch was 2cub ft, 12gallons and each inch of water was one gallon.

Ammonia is one of the biproducts of fish rotting and that is what you are getting from the shrimp or your fish.

There is no chlorine in Christchurch water and don't add salt.

No trubs---the invoice is in the mail.

I have used JBL micronutrient as well but I suspect Daltons aquatic mix is just as good and is certainly cheaper. You are puting the nutrient in the bottom and holding it down with washed media.

No, and the cheapest is best as it is very soluble and is washed off easily.

The only way you will get ammonia from fish food is when it breaks down by rotting. The bacteria are every where in the environment. What you are doing is encouraging the ones you want to go forth and multiply.

I feed my babieis as much as they can eat of a varied diet but my adults only get fed once a day but I vary that and include insects, snails and plant.

Fish diseases like to be wet (funny that) Salt and sun dry them out.

I would boil the media and rinse the filter parts with a paste of salt, then rinse of with clean water and dry in the sun. I used salt and sun to clean tanks when breeding or quaranteening fish without any problems.

I don't think plants will make any difference to the cycle other than removing some nitrate. I plant my tanks out in the early stages because the plants need to be established before they become effective at removing nitrate. I would not use fish food because you are talking about the nitrogen cycle so you need nitrogen. This normally comes from the urea from fish waste after they have eaten the fish food. Bacteria break this down to ammonia then oxidize it to nitrite and then nitrate. You need a source of urea or ammonia to start the cycling process. Like most things in an aquarium it is about balance. There is nothing cruel about using fish to cycle your tank provided you do it slowly and allow the bacteria to multiply as the food source grows until the balance is achieved. I never use any additives to cycle with Christchurch water as there is no need.

What looks like roots on Java Fern is just an anchoring mechanism. They feed through the leaves so need their nutrients in the water.

When you do a water change you are removing some of everything in the water , not just nitrate. Your plants will use some of the nitrate

I set up a tank and plant it out and leave a day or two. I use the mechanical sponge filters and put a used one in and add the fish slowly over the next couple of weeks. The bacteria multiply or die off in relation to the amount of food available so gradual changes can be accommodated. I put the new filter into an established tank and haven't had any problems so far.

I wouldn't use goldfish as they tend to carry a lot of parasites.

They only breed in the warm weather in Christchurch when outside.

Caryl has said it all. The only difference the plant will make is to use up some of the nitrate, and continue the cycle as the plant dies (if you don't remove the dead stuff)

I am not sure about turtles carrying campylobacter as I think that is mainly from birds. The usual worry is of turtles carrying salmonella, but so do sparrows,chicken, ducks, rats, cats, dogs, lizards and many others. I don't think condies would kill either, nor do I know how effective it would be to control algae. It is a strong oxidizing agent and would be indiscriminate.

I don't have dageti but I always spawn my killies in a bare tank then seperate them and condition them again. I have males and females in seperate planted tanks with clown loaches, siamese algae eaters and corries.

If you remove the eggs they can't.

I have a good Eheim filter and do about 90% water change every 4-8 weeks. The worst offender is feeding lots of Elodea canadensis. I have fish in there also-- a large pleco that has grown up with the adult turtles and a few guppies that are too fast and have bred.

Washing things and puting them in the sun works for smallpox so it should be OK for fish diseases.

You can vac the gravel then put a net over the intake and walk away.

I personally think tenellus tenellus would look better than the tall hair grass. I haven't seen the short stuff in years. I had a bit hear that came with another plant and I ended up throwing it out as it grew to about 150mm. Sagittaria microfolia would be even shorter at 25-30mm