alanmin4304

Mine was 12ft x 8ft with 8ft stud and was heated by a one kW heater on a thermostat and a fan wired so it went all the time. The fan evens out the temperature quite a bit, but you may think temperature layering is an advantage---depends what you want.

Nice work Shiuh, I will figure it out eventually

When I built my fishhouse I used batts, sisalation and pinex but the water got to the pinex so I lined it all with uncorrogated coloursteel with the joints sealed with RTV and painted it with mould resistant Maf approved paint---worked a treat. I bought the coloursteel as offcuts from a factory that rolled it to produced the roofing and it was quite cheap. The more insulation the better because the power bill can be a killer otherwise.

Langwidge is bowt cumunication. There are also many people on this site for which english is not a first language but who also have the skill of other languages and hoose opinions on the subject of this site I value so I hope this thread has not discouraged them. We do usually understand strains and they talk funny and poms can't even talk english.

Both the Ludwigia repens and Hygrophila look like they are suffering fome being grown emersed and having to convert to submersed growth and also from lack of light. the ludwigia is small and not red and the huygrophila leaves are small and yellow.

I just use a couple of ramshorn snails per tank to eat excess food and they also make the waste easier to siphon out a couple of times a week with good water changes daily.

Lots of plants are called oxygen weed but the only legal one I know of is Elodea canadensis (canadian water pest) which is sold in the shop usually as a cold water plant and I use as turtle tucker. People put it in their goldfish tanks. Is that what you have?

You just keep dropping the water level and saving your pennies to buy another one if it turns to custard. I presently have red special with runners both submersed and emersed. They are tropical plants so you need to do it in a glass house in the summer and have a way to keep them alive in the winter (like an aquarium)

Thanks for the help. I had completely given up so I enlisted the help of a friend who works with computers all day and in the end he was pulling his hair out as well. Hope you enjoyed the pics anyway. The parvulus was given to me as an unidentified Sagittaria but I am certain the flower is parvulus and I am now trying to find out what it looks like submersed.

http://pic70.picturetrail.com/VOL1855/7 ... 706102.jpg Echinodorus Red Special: plant grown emersed http://pic70.picturetrail.com/VOL1855/7706743/14564309/218706095.jpg Echinodorus Red Special flower

http://pic70.picturetrail.com/VOL1855/7 ... 706097.jpg Here is the flower (I am following the posted instructions to the letter to load these images, however due to the unstable nature of the net and this archaic process to load images when most other discussion boards have a single button to "browse my computer" to search, source and download my selected images. Why is this not a feature of this site? How many members of this site deal with HTML software language and have a clear understanding of the requirements to opperate this language. Please provide a 'simplified BUTTON' for this process and please advise on the EXACT process to load images to this discussion board. Iam the consultant for User 'alanmin4304' as he is unable to interperate this language at all. Thankyou for your time and speedy assistance. Yours completely frustrated and confused...

Here are some aquatic plant images I thought you might like to see... http://pic70.picturetrail.com/VOL1855/7 ... 706101.jpg Here is the Echinodorus Tenellus Parvulus: this plant was grown emersed. http://pic70.picturetrail.com/VOL1855/7 ... 706100.jpg Here is the Echinodorus Tenellus Parvulus seed pod.

Elodea canadensis is also called Canadian water pest and I think is that well spread throughout NZ that there would be no chance of getting rid of it. The others are generally got rid of when located. It is easy to tell the difference when you see them together. It wasn't that many years ago they were sold by all the pet shops along with many other nasties.

What are the plants that you have?

A lot of plants are called oxygen weed. Elodea canadensis is permitted but lagarosiphon and Egeria densa (Elodea densa) are not.

Blocking light is usually the reason for tinting glass.

I agree with the other Alan. You have to catch them to scan them and the pattern on the underside is as unique as a fingerprint so it is microchipped at birth by Mrs Nature.

Jude sounds like subulata, I don't have it sorry. Shiuh, it may have been grown emersed and is taking time to learn to swim.

These results make more sense: Finally caught it at the right time. There is a slight discrepency between the probe in the water for the heatpad and the probe under the sand for the thermometer but the results make more sense. The heatpad switches off at 24 deg and on at 23 deg and it dropped to 22 point something before going up to 24 again, so the water temperature is ranging from 22 point something to 24 point something. I caught the heatpad as it was switching on and the temperature under the sand, on the glass and over a heating coil rose to 33.5 deg before dropping down again. Although this is more than ideal I think I will leave it that way and see how various plants react to these conditions. It is obvious that any greater depth of sand would not be a good idea. Ludwigia repens and java fern are loving it at present but it may be a bit much for some of the swords. Time will tell.

Do you want S. subulata or S. microfolia?

It is the only heater on the tank and it is fluctuating between 23 &24 deg.

I have been watching the temperature all day and the heatpad is ranging from 23 to 24 degrees and the thermometer from 22.5 to 23.6. The probe for the pad is in the water (with good circulation) and the probe for the thermometer is on the glass under the sand and above one of the coils. The thermometer is more accurate I think but it indicates to me that the temperature in the media is not excessive. That result surprises me and I would put it down to the thin sand layer and good water circulation. Will continue to measure tomorrow.

Have checked 3 times so far. I set the thermometer for max,min,average but it keeps turning itself off. The heat pad is set to turn off at 24deg C (histeresis one degree)and the thermometer is reading 23.5 and 23.6 with an accuracy of 0.1. I will keep checking to see if I can get a highest figure, the element may not have turned on yet.

I have a digital thermometer hooked up at the moment with the probe at the bottom of the gravel. I do understand about anaerobic decomposition and how it will produces SO2, CH4, Methyl mercapten etc but I come back to my original statement that there are no undergravel heaters where these plants normally live and you would therefor expect them to have developed with the ability to do well in an anaerobic substrate at least from time to time, The same as they are periodically emersed or submersed. I think we sometimes get a bit carried away with science and forget that mother nature is a clever lady and has been getting it right for some time.

Discusguru have you rescued those lovely plants you had in a tank outside?