Stella

It is hugely dependent on the fish. Say a bunch of fish have an ideal temp of X degrees. Some fish will stress when it is X+4 degrees while the others are fine till X+7 degrees

cheap stuff might be worse at twisting.... Depending on the fittings etc, I wonder if proper garden hose would be more effective? Mine (from bunnings) twists and drives me mad :evil: the filter with the 'proper' eheim hose (secondhand) has never twisted or collapsed. Probably the best long-term option but more expensive.

None in Palmy sadly. I joined Caryl's club, seemed easiest at the time. I do think there is little need these days for local clubs, what with the internet and all. I am not saying the local clubs should end (I envy people living in areas with strong clubs!) but the amount of work required to run every little club is enormous, hence lots of keen people and no club in Palmy. I would love to see the federation change to allow people to join the federation. It wouldn't undermine local clubs, but I think it would strengthen the actual federation. Anyway, I know it is unlikely to happen for a while yet. Mel, just join the cheapest club

hehehe wow....! I guess everyone works in different ways. In that case, why do you recommend refill over books?

thanks phoenix. I find the refill turns into chaos for me. I know you are unlikely to fill up an exercise book, so I buy the smaller ones. (apparently there is no correlation between the quantity of notes a student takes, and their pass rates in exams. Ah the things people get to study! 8) )

don't watch it! or the radio. life is good without advertising 8) surely someone here has just had to buy books for their kids?

Phoenix, it is so individual. It depends on the temp fluctuation of the room, the size of the tank, the escape of heat away from aquarium appliances and the aquarium.

The filtration sorts out the ammonia-nitrogen-nitrate side of things, the surface area and possible agitation does the oxygen levels. One thing I learned recently which I found quite interesting: an aquarium can't actually be over-filtered biologically. There is only so much ammonia to go around (the amount of course differs tank to tank, season to season etc). The filter provides the media for the bacteria to grow on, but only so many trillions of bacteria can be supported by the bioload of the tank. So you could have the world's hugest filter on the world's smallest tank, and it would have no more actual biological filtration capacity than a much smaller filter. Likewise, running two filters on one tank does not mean you can remove one filter and have the other filter immediately pick up 100% of the slack. It would be more like having two filters running at 50% capacity each, then remove one and the sudden excess food (ammonia) causes a bloom of each bacteria in turn, and in a space of time, the filter will wind up being at 100% capacity for the tank. Now say the removed filter (which was kept alive on another aquarium) is returned. There is now 150% 'capacity' but only enough food for 100%, so 50% of the bacteria starve to death. Their decomposition can cause a further ammonia spike, feeding the remaining bacteria, but eventually it will get back to two filters running at 50% capacity. (this is all ignoring allowances for different rates of water flow and oxygen, which is so dependent on the setup, and doesn't change the general rule) I am NOT saying that having excess filtration is a bad thing. Redundancy is better than underfiltration. And is also gives you an emergency backup pre-seeded filter if something goes drastically wrong. Man, I am exhausted. You wouldn't believe it but I can barely keep my eyes open, my head hurts and I am about to have a nap on the couch! I have to stop finding this stuff interesting. Overstocking is fine till something goes wrong :roll:

Azolla is not large duckweed... Azolla is a tiny floating fern. It looks kinda scaly and is in a V shape. Usually less than 2cm wide. It is the one you see on farm ponds as a thick red carpet. It is green in lower light. Azolla needs strong sun and very (very very) still water to grow. There are two species in NZ, the invasive A. pinnata has mostly replaced the native A. finiculoides. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito_fern There are two types of duckweed (Lemna spp.) here. The native one is slightly smaller, and has one root per leaf platelet. The introduced one is bigger and has multiple roots per platelet. Obvious if you look, but otherwise totally negligible differences. Gawd why do I know all this stuff? Never write a book, it forces you to learn so much pointless stuff! :roll:

I need to get a few school exercise books for uni, and thanks to the WONDERFUL 'no circulars' sign on my letterbox, I have no idea where is good to go. Where is cheapest?

Oh Caper, that is not a good ending to artistic experimentation! I find my fish do not seem to react to the flash (but I still feel bad about it) however they seriously dislike the little orange flashing light that the camera does when it is focusing. If I have the orange light going I just get photos of tails! It may have been coincidence, stress or injury, no way of knowing really.

It can carpet a pond, but it depends on the situation. Not sure what it requires to get like that... presumably still water, strong sun and no duckweed-eating fish (or ducks) I like duckweed in tanks

woohoo! :bounce:

If it really was the airline, then your tank was overstocked. Well, overstocked for life without the aerator, stocked survivably with the airline. By adding more fish you are choosing to keep the risk of losing fish if anything happens to the aerator. The temperature probably was an aggravating factor, so if anything happens to the aeration over summer you risk fish death, over winter you might get away with it. You sure having the high stocking level is worth the risk? Sorry for your loss, losing fish always hurts

They are in your outbox until the recipient looks at it. Handy way of knowing if they have seen it or not. Rockwork will have been informed there is a PM waiting.

Didymo? I guess a wet, long-haired pale ginger cat could totally look like didymo.... Am I close?

and if you need any more convincing, in the words of a boyracer obviously seeking the status of notoriety: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4844547a1861.html

Exhiliration Control Power Some: yes When people feel out of control of their lives, they seek anything to get that feeling of control back. When people feel they have no status, they do what they can to gain some form of status, either from their friends, peers, family, wider circles, or society at large. Some seek status in a positive way, some in a negative way. This basic part of human nature is what is really behind: Flash car/house ownership. "keeping up with the Jones" Encouraging your kids to be a doctor/lawyer rather than a plumber/labourer the drive for fame (thousands of people effectively approving of you, saying 'yes you are good') as well as: Boy racers (status amongst peers as well as status through notoriety) Controlling behaviour towards your partner/children. Anorexia and bulimia and self-harm (where the control is directed privately toward the body) Racial supremacy beliefs (scapegoat others to feel better) Many religious converts (the religion offered answers and control of life at a time when people felt out of control, or the status of being 'saved' or conversely, no longer sinful) General aggressiveness (if other people are scared of you, you have power) Crime (status is gained by the 'have-nots' taking posessions for themselves, as well as 'punishing' the 'haves' for having more than them) Rape (we all know it is not about sex, it is about power) ..........and many many more Studies are showing that this behaviour, this drive for status, is evolved behaviour (not learned) that is an innate part of us. The learning is in WHAT things will bring us status. BIt of a tangent, but yeah, that is probably what is behind these arsonists' thinking.

actually, thinking now, MOST of adult pet cat behaviour (that we like), is KITTEN behaviour. We don't let them grow up: we keep providing them with food, keep rewarding them for kitten-like behaviour (playing etc). Spaying and neutering, aside from the obvious effects, also keep them kitten-like. This is most noticable in males, where the 'entire' male will roam, spray, fight and develop thick-set features, but the fixed male stays nearer home, is less likely to spray or fight, and stays looking 'cuter' (read: non-masculine ) When a cat sits on you and kneads you with its paws, it is doing what it did to its mother to aid the release of milk.

yes but the amount of actual muscle meat to fats and misc disturbing structural bits makes them not worth it. Of course an elephant heart would be even better, if you can get hold of one

Firefish, I think someone's kid a while back tipped a whole jar of moisturiser into a tank... though I daresay the film wasn't the main problem! Good point though. BnB, the volume of the waterchange depends on the size of the tank. 30-40 lt on a 200lt tank is only 15-20%. That may be sufficient if the stocking is low and the food input is low. (every tank is so unique in what it needs to be healthy! it is so hard to guess what a tank may need) The tank is still very new, it would probably benefit from bigger waterchanges. Changing how much you feed may help too. See if it makes a difference. Remember the more food goes in, the more waste comes out. I feed my fish heaps and mostly meat, so I know I need to do big waterchanges. I have 220lt tanks and usually do 40-50% once a week. It might be more than they need, but a bit of leeway is good too. I do think it is appearing rather quickly. I guess you just need to tweak things til you work out where it is coming from.

OK, I am surprised I made such a sweeping generalisation :oops: I actually mean the FREQUENCY and SEVERITY. Yes there will be fires. Yes there will be enormous, really bad ones. With serious, regular, controlled and managed fires, then ON AVERAGE there will not be as many huge bad ones. By 'this is preventable' the first time, I should have explained further: these enormous international news headline fires (ok this one was more destructive than usual) are happening with alarming regularity. I am not an expert on it, but these fires ARE made worse by human activities and inaction. I do hope the arsonists are found and lynched.

Hmmm, since it is mostly covered.... is the film forming quickly? Or has it slowly formed over a few months? Is there any surface turbulence? How regular are you waterchanging? It is also possible for a buildup of muck within the water to affect the surface tension and stuff gets held there. This is more likely if you are less religious with maintenance, or not doing big enough waterchanges.

Brad, I don't think it is preventable, but... the frequency and impacts could be lessened. Of course I don't know a huge amount of this, you are obviously in a better position to know the detail. It is silly the way people think they can live anywhere and control nature. The Manawatu used to be swamp forest, essentially an enormous wetland. Now the forest is gone and the land is drained for agriculture and people are horrified at the floods we get. Go figure :roll: We can't keep changing the environment to suit us, or living in more extreme places, and expect nature to start playing by our rules. 140km.... horrible though people running out of petrol...

If you don't have a lid, then that is the problem. It is stuff falling from the air onto the water. My tanks get it particularly bad as I use fans to cool them, so more 'stuff' is forced into contact with the water. I often wonder how much it impedes gas exchange, but I have never seen anything saying it does or doesn't. Having the surface disturbed helps to dissolve it into the water. This would be an airstone, spray bar, or having the filter outlet pouring into the tank. Kinda distasteful the idea of all that muck being in the water, but regular waterchanges keep it low. Paper towels do achieve some removal, but are a huge hassle. If there is a good reason for not having a lid, then deal with the film. If there is not a good reason, get a lid