alanmin4304

I think you need to clean a canister filter when the flow reduces. Sometimes this can be caused by the pipes getting gunged up. The timing has a lot to do with how heavily you are feeding and how many of what sized fish you have in there. I have successfully raised large numbers of fish in bare aquariums using frequent water changes and no filtration.

Plumber's rule of thumb---If you double the diameter you get four times the flow. The friction loss increases remarkable as the diameter decreases as there is a lot more water in contact with the walls of the pipe (proportionately).

Great setup. Freshwater or marine?

My first setup was a non asian one with a solenoid that was busted that I was given. I replaced the solenoid before finding that I could buy a complete setup including solenoid for a lot less off Ebay. Can you buy seperate solenoids from those manufacturers? Might be the way to go. I think you realy need a timer (from Bunnings) and a solenoid.

gotcha?

I got mine off Ebay. Best to buy the whole setup at once but make sure it is 240 volts. The gas will be OK but the cylinder may need to be tested and certified before refilling.

I breed my females at 50 grams, some say 45, but there abouts.

I must apologise. I have never read the instructions nor used the product, I was simply relying on common sense.

Why is it different? You are only treating the amount of chlorine and chloramines that is contained in the water being added.

If your girl is a girl, is sexually mature and gravid you will be able to see the eggs by looking at the underside of her belly.

I agree with Henward. You are treating the chlorine and chloramines that are in the water you are adding as part of a water change. Ammonia can be released as part of the treatment for chloramines but there should be no ammonia in the remaining water if the tank has been cycled properly.

Welcome and enjoy your time here.

The ammonia is your problem. What filtration do you have? I suspect your filtration is not providing a home for enough bacteria or you are overfeeding or both.

Before the shakes I had a small glasshouse full of plants grown that way.

There are two main ways to grow aquatic plants emersed. One is to do what you have and keep the plants and the atmosphere moist---often called the bell jar method. The other is to keep the media moist but leave the plant dry. The first can develop algae problems but is better for converting submersed to emersed, the second has less problems in my experience but requires that you start with emersed plants. You can do this by allowing stem plants to grow out of the water then nipping them off and sitting them in a glass of water until they develop roots. Virtually all aquatic plants can be grown emersed.

They can be worth a few cents to many dollars each and it depends entirely on the quality. Can't make a suggestion without knowing that.

If you are looking at importing yourself you will need an approved quarantine facility. If you are looking at using an existing facility then they will already have prefered airlines.

The pet bus takes two days from Christchurch to Auckland.

Air NZ have a pet service but it is about $180 to send inter island airport to airport. I have used it for turtles and lizards. A lot cheaper by overnight courier

Lesson one: There are many ways to cycle an aquarium. Lesson two: The best way is the one that works for you. Lesson three: Only experience will allow you to find out what the best way for you is. In the mean time enjoy your experiences.

If you have chlorine in the water you will also have chloramines. The answer is yes. When you use dechlorinaters they are usually sodium thiosulphate and it reacts with chlorine to give coloidal sulphur, hydrochloric acid and sodium sulphate. I don't know which of these is toxic to invertibrates. It further reacts with chloramines and one of the biproducts of that is ammonia which I think prime will handle, possibly by converting to ammonium.

Copied from a previous post & edited: When you add chlorine to water you get hypochlorous acid which reacts with nitrogen compounds like ammonia,urea and the amines (in all proteins) and forms monochloramine. When you add more chlorine you get dichloramine and even more you get trichloramine. All these (and other reactions) form part of the "chlorine demand" in the water. You cannot get free available chlorine until this "chlorine demand" is satisfied. Therefore when the reaction is pushed towards trichloramine there will be virtually no monochloramine present. In some states in the US they treat the water with monochloramine (made by reacting chlorine with ammonia) because chlorine will react with other impurities in the water and form some compounds that are not so nice (such as acetone) where as monochloramine will not. Monochloramine is not as effective in treating water as chlorine which is used in NZ but is still a strong oxidising agent. When people complain that the chlorine in a swimming pool is too strong and it is burning their eyes the problem usually is that the free available chlorine has been used up by contaminants in the water (such as urea) and this has pushed the chloramines back towards the monochloramine and this is what is burning their eyes. The problem is fixed by adding more chlorine. When you allow water to stand or aerate it to get rid of the chlorine the chloramines all move back to monochloramine and this will react with your fish the same as an under chlorinated swimming pool will with your eyes. Chlorine and all chloramines can be converted to more harmless chemicals with the addition of sodium thiosulphate which is the active ingredient you are buying from the petshop with dechlorinating products. Drinking water will contain various impurites that add to the chlorine demand and will form chloramines and other compounds. Ammonia is a bi product of the reaction when adding thiosulphate to chlorinated water. Chlorine only is used to sanitize water supplies in NZ and when you add chlorine you will always get chloramines unless you use distilled water.

Well done. It helps to have a bit of the good gear.

The fact that fish are still available means the price is not too high because someone is buying them even if it is not you.

No fish, no plants, just moved back in to the house after repairs---hoping to get set up again when all the other jobs are done.