PETEYPLECO

Diverjohn - will light from such a unit get to 600mm depth???

Yeah Brianemone I know what your saying but are their any steps you can take (apart from a generator worth $1000+) to prevent illness or death. 17000 homes in Auckland without power yesterday ! :evil:

AWESOME - keep more feedback and info comming. Any ideas (apart from the librar) where I can find species and water specifications? Anywhere on or near the north shore where I can collect fishies?

Hi Nick, any chance of some photos? Is it legal to collect native freshwater fish?

I planning a native fresh water tank and I would appreciate all manner of feedback regarding types of fish you have, where you obtained these from, water conditions, substrate, plants etc etc etc THE WHOLE SHEBANG !

Did anybody else have the power out on the north shore tuesday 24TH ! Mine was out from 3pm to 10:30pm, during this time I kept a close eye on my fish who looked most unhappy, temp had dropped 4 deg ! I drained out approx 10 ltrs of water and replaced to try and keep the water somewhat clean. I was told by the power company if any die to take a photo of the beloved deceased and they would replace them - so far no deaths though. Any other tips to keep fish happy in the case of power loss?

I have a similar problem with my two tropical silver sharks - clamped fins very lethergic and unhappy then I was sitting there watching and one fish suddenly shot off in a crazy high speed swim around the tank and I saw a scale come off. I tried catching them both to administer the salt treatment but rounding them up with two nets was like trying to catch a bullet with a wet paper bag ! I cannot see any white spot but I noticed some scales look darkened compared to thier normally bright sliver colouring. No other fish seem affected or infected but I worry about treatment as I have some sensitive clown loaches in this tank and my plants may not take the salt. What is wrong and what to do? !

PH still the same after 5 days and after filling up filter with extra noodles, the bird grit thing sounds good can you elaborate further eg should you put it in a stocking, how long will it raise the PH for, will it continue to raise PH through the roof?

Carbon's gone, filled up the remaining 2 media baskets in the filter with ceramic noodles, the "wall of bubbles" has turned into a trickle, leaving the allmighty 30w of light on for 13 hours a day and all off at night for the plants to rest, I'm feeding the plants with fertiliser. I think I can see some changes - very little but begining to perk up. ( by the way I have 2 twisted val, 2 ambulia and a sword ) I am researching and pricing lighting to add to my tank,I guess I need around another 40 or so watts so its either approx $70 + for a twin tube setup from LFS so long as tube are available, $30 - 40 for a nice home made unit with either tubes or twin power saver lamps s olong as this type of lighting is siutable for plant growth, or is it to be $100 or more for a nice metal halide unit seeing as I have electrical supplies contacts? Remember my tank is 600mm deep so I have to worry about fluro's not getting the light to this depth. . . . . .mmmmmmmmmmmm? :-?

YEH go the plecs Gotta love em, on my "to collect more" list. Just have to decide on some other species and whats available - check my other topic. Hey Mystic where was blue?

WOW great to hear from you all about your Plec's - keep em commin and how about some nice pics too? Notes to Kyle, ilah and Phill let me know if I can get some nice fish from you, wanting some of the smaller species that grow up to say 200mm when adult?

Hey Caper - already planning the next tank ! Gotta try and sell the wife and kids though - any offers? LOL Thought about a NZ native tank with Inunga and fresh water crays maybe? Or maybe more PLECO'S ! YA BABY YA !

Let me know of some of the rare or different breeds of pleco you have, its size and where you got it from? At the moment I have a 4" Goldspot who would be to large for my tank in a few years so I am looking at keeping several of the smaller species (mango, zebra etc) so let me know where I can find them. PLECOS RULE ! :bounce:

Hi all, anybody know what happened to the NZ site "Catfish Madness" as all the posts are quite old (May 05). Trying to study up on oddball or imported smaller sized breeds of pleco for my collection. Also trying to get hold of the chappy at NZ discus for the same reason. Any info appreciated.

Do they also get very hot ! ? !

On these bottle type DIY Co2's do you have to have some kind of tap to regulate the amount going into the tank or is the feed just based on building pressure to release? When do you know its time to look at a Co2 system?

What wattage lamps have you used and are they available in the correct type to promote plant growth? I think I may make something like this but with one lamp at each end. FANTASTICO !

I have a fluval 204 external filter that has been running for 3 to 4 months (yes I have changed the carbon in this time) and I have decided to remove the carbon which leaves me with just the biomax in the lower basket. I now want to increase the media area in the now empty two other baskets and I am wondering what are some of your usual setups for this type of filter. Please give me some idea of what media to add and in which position in the filter lower, middle or top baskets?

I will remove my carbon and buy some aditional media for the empty baskets to increase the surface area for those helpfull little bugs. CHEERS.

So I guess I will try turning my "bubble curtain" down a bit, remove the carbon from my filter so I can use my plant growing additive, turn the UV light off at night and save those hard earned pennies for another twin tube light unit and we'll see how we go. Thanks alot guys. :roll:

I have thought about removing the carbom altogether but I love the shiney crystal clear water. What else can I use to keep the water clear like this or what are the most common filter media used?

I have just bought some "aqua master liquid plant food" and added the recomended dose p/ltr to see if this type of treatment improves the plants. Will the carbon in my filter remove the nutrients in this out of the water?

Have thought about Co2 like the homemade yeast mix setup and also the soda stream thingy sounds DIY enough for me but I think I will lay low for now and see what short term fixes there are. Any other thoughts?

Thanks for the replies, I have posted a few questions that have been eating at me for a while and I cant wait for some feedback.

Hi Ya, Glenfield here, I have a small goldfish tank with some small minnows and also a 130 ltr tropical set up containing petey = 1 goldspot pleco, Krusty, Ronald and Bobo = 3 clown loaches, Snappa = 1 geophagus surinamensis, Jaws and Jabba = 2 silver sharks and 7 un nameable neons. I will try and get to a North Shore meeting ASAP. Nice to see you !