peety

Couldn't say for sure, only just getting to know marine after about 8 months.... apparently new tanks get by on just rock, no filtration at all.... the rock is home to all kinds of life.... from other sites i have seen if you limit the number of things in the tank they get by, most don't include a fish.... give it a go If you want a marine one, get a small bag of aragonite from Jansens (it replaces the calcium reactor), and get some live rock from the beach with some red/turquiose algae on it (looks like blotches of hard slime), get some of the flat oak leaf type seaweed (v. small piece attached to rock), then leave it in the tank for 6 weeks with a small pump to circulate water. If the plant doesn't rot away and parms are all good then I would add a fish, or coral... The thing with marine is that you have to give it time.... when I add stuff that fails I have to wait about 6-8 weeks for my levels to stabilize again.... If you see little things swimming in the water after a couple of weeks you should be winning...

Yup, read that one, and about a dozen other articles with some pretty horrendous photos... the other link i posted isn't the worst i have found.... I debated for ages when I did some reading about TB. I thought about ditching all my tanks since I have a 6 year old who used to play with the fish.... I reconsidered opting for education. We treat handling anything in any of my tanks very seriously and she knows she can't touch the water... we are all very careful now....

Aqua, heard of Takashi Amano? He reckons the smallest tank he has holds one liter, requires 80% water change daily, plants grow in matting not soil, 15 watts lighting. Nano tanks are more like the goldfish bowls of the old days.... a couple of bits of oxgen weed to give the fish oxygen, and a fish to give the plant C02 and ferts..... those nano reefs do look nice though, just a couple of bits to keep it interesting... because in marine tanks the rock is your filter you save on equipment reqs, the rocks and frags equate to the same thing as plants in tropical...

Uh I guess I am.... :oops: it's called fish TB..... separating your equipment allows you to prevent it from spreading to other tanks if you get it.... if you do identify it in your fish you have the option to then dump one lot of fish, tanks, and equip....

If you set up twenty tanks at once then i would definately use twenty sets of equipment..... after a year or so I would probally feel safe to share... PS. I wash anything that goes into, then comes out of my tropical tank, including not putting my hands in if I have any scratches, children are not allowed to touch the water or touch the plants that grow on top of the tank, it has its own set of nets and buckets, check http://www.hkcfp.org.hk/article/2001/mar/20010304.pdf for reasons... If its a risk, treat it like a long lost friend, with smiles, and mistrust (ancient benny g.serit sanscrit re. Aqua)

Agreed, I have a couple of glow plugs that have bent bodies, but they always had bent bodies... the guppies, usually the female, develop a very pronounced hump in their back... its pretty unmistakable once ya see it..... it doesn't stop them from breeding and can live for quite a while. I assume they don't pass on the tb to their off spring since i have lots of others that heven't developed it. the tb is passed on by other fish eating the bodies of dead fish and other fish eating faeces. IMO ditch the fish asap. if you want to be sure take it alive (must be living) to vet to get a lab to dissect it, costs about $60. I took mine to Vets at Jansens. I don't mean to create a blanket diagnosis without even seeing the fish, but having had vets and others say it was most likely not TB, it was better to find out than treat my fish for unknown problems... I personally think that once you see it, you know it ain't a pretty affliction... some other fish have died, lost all danios, but discus, bristlenose, ram, neons, corys, etc. all still ok over a year later. I am sad my fish have tb, but take precautions not to pass it on to my other tanks, wash my hands after any maint, etc. I say its better to know than to ignore the possibility... it's more common than most fisho's want to admit..

Bad news..... The problem shows up clearly in guppies... its TB. If you want to be sure you can get an autopsy done (I did) and they will verify it isn't a genetic fault, but its 99% likely. I found it in mine over a year ago and since then expect some of my other fish to die occasionally, it affects the smaller fish like neons, guppies etc, my danios went skinny and developed red lesions. The vet reckons its a problem that affects about 30% of fish sold in LFS, so you can't even dump all your fish because you'll probablly end up buying it in again. It can be transferred via equipment and plants... there was a pic I saw on net that first alerted me but I can't find it. I cull any fish that look slighly odd asap to prevent it being spread but they still pop up now and then... if ya want some guppies I have over 100 that I'm about to kill (no sign of TB, just too many guppies), but I wouldn't sell them to anyone knowing they may be infected....

I cleaned my (large) filter two weeks ago after 3 months and found about 7 or 8 guppys alive and well..

hee hee... I have small tubes that syphon the sumps to keep them level, and a large pipe that runs between the two main tanks... both seem to get affected. It takes over a month though (maybe as long as two, but the smaller is worse) so as long as you can correct the prob it probally won't matter. My pipes are realllly hard to get at so it causes me mucho paino... I will probally need to rethink it at some stage. My large pipe i left open, its about 2 1/2 inch pipe which is just perfect for my smaller fish to go roaming... I just thought rather than go down that road, it may be easier in the long run to do it another way... There was a post in the past about the glass bridge thing which I thought was brill... heres the link again... my passive syphon thing works the same way, I just dont have a clear pipe, pity... http://www.bio-elite.com/waterbridge.htm

Ira, I know what you mean ...it uses a passive syphon to keep water in a hangon reservior at the same level as the main tank, the reservoir has the overflow. Problem is, I have a couple of passive syphons involved in the plumbing of my tank, and they fail occasionally... it seems that air bubbles in the water gradually fills the syphon and it eventually stops...there may be a fix for it but i haven't seen one. I have even had my fish swim from tank to tank through my syphon, so it could be possible for a fish to end up in there as well..... They do work but you just have to keep an eye them... Since the sump doesn't need to be huge because its not being used for filtration, it could all be held in a hangon...

Yup, probally come up with same reason for declining fish stocks in the North Sea.... (heat wave and all) :-?

Blackline Flying Fox is a generic term for the Chinese Algae Eater (not a good thing to have) and Siamese (a god send). Ignore anyone who sells Flying Fox since they never seem to be sure which species they have. Apparently one has longer fins somewhere... get to a shop who can guarantee an SAE. From my experiance Chinese grow too big, eat discus slime, and ignore algae....

You know.... hydroponics/indoor growroom shops...."the switched on gardener", etc. You can get ballasts for bugger all from them, and posts on net reckon you can use imported MH bulbs so I might give it a go....

I like sumps ! They hold all the gear ya hate to look at. But unless you have a hole in your tank, they are difficult to install. Ideally you need a hole at the max water height or through bottom with a pipe at max water height. Any time you try and get water out and back in at the same rate you are playing with danger...... the only alternative I can think of for you is... since you are making a hood.... put a small sump in the hood (above the tank). Pump the water up and have an overflow that allows excess water to overflow back to tank. If the pump fails no flooding.... for your C02 i would expect you only need a small shallow sump.... I find my syphons fail a lot because of air bubble buildup..... There are 'failsafe' add-on overflows but I have discovered that failsafe passive syphons aren't.... Shilo, what is min bell size for efficiency?

The grow shops have them called 'Flairform PH test kits', they are priced at $13 and have the same gradations as the 100 test kits from LFS except they do 1000 tests !!! They also have water and air pumps, air stones, and heaters. I find their prices are generally cheaper than LFS. I have got one of their 250 metal halides over one of my marines....

That sounds like the kind I saw for sale. Thats a good price... are you using it for reservoir ? I'll check T&E when I'm ready in case there are more..... Just imagine if you could stick a glass window in it somehow....

I agree, probally too early to sex them yet... mine don't show the 'dangly bits' for at least a month.....

I agree, a lot of money for a decidedly ugly fish.... just wait, the fad will pass and you'll find a hula hoop, rubiks cube and picture of a flowerhorn in the closet.... oh yeah and one of the scooter things....

You have to call them with your dimensions.... I had some extra deep ones built which required thicker glass,hence dearer. From memory my small tanks (breeding) were 40cm x 50cmx 70cm long and cost fifty something, they're about 140 litres, but little ones like 100 would use even thinner glass than that... I know for a fact that LFS just get standard sizes in and add 50% and flog em off. They all depend upon your dimensions... she goes away, figures out glass thickness required, then phones back with a quote. They have a nifty triangular one too that sits in the corner...

How old is your tank? Is filter run in? ie have you allowed nitrifying bacteria time to build up? If you can afford one a UV filter should fix any algae probs. What are your nitrate/nitrite readings? SAE's will help but bristlenose / all plecos do jump on discus and suck their slime coat. Do you do daily WC's ? Hate to say it but if you get the potting mix back in your plants will grow faster and soak up that excess waste...

Pies is a mind reader.... The room with marine tanks has the garage behind it. Unfortunately I rent (I would bang a hole in the wall quick fast otherwise), so I'm trying to figure out a way to get plumbing in without damaging anything. I have found out you can get 1000 litre tanks from resene that held acrylic paints...they can be cleaned easy and cost about $150 !!! I figured as long as the surface levels were the same I could plumb it with small hose, and wrap it in batts to reduce heating cost. Now thats an upgrade !!! Yup the snail is a conch then... (I assume they are OK since its happy just running around) The coral is one of those plate ones, I got given it free from LFS since it was dying. It has gone from about 12 polyps to 50 + I don't know what fish was doing the damage I have one I cannot identify (another unwanted item from LFS) My aiptasia is back I must have missed some and now its in my concrete rock, its impossible to move that stuff now... bugger

I had some for a while..... If you go to simplydiscus.com you will get the full low down but from memory.... you follow the line of the fins through to the tail. If the line misses the tail fin then its a girl, if it cuts through the tail its a boy (ie larger tail in relation to overall body). Amazingly this worked for me, and i could pair my fish Sometimes same pair get together if there are no other sex fish so you will never know. (I had two females pair up, lay eggs , and brood over them....) I had a pair with female bigger than male.... (normally other way round) Deliberately pairing doesn't always work either (tried it) because one sometimes isn't ready for settling down.... Discus are really hard to breed... but well worth the effort... good luck

Bare Bottom :oops: The black glass stops the fish from getting a relection and freaking... good for breeding since you vaccum the bottom every day...

Congrats!! Named them all yet? You'll have to start giving them to friends soon since once you get a few going they breed real fast. You could try swapping some with LFS and breed your others... peppered cats breed well too. peety

Ooops, Oh yeah, the bottom of the tanks are tinted glass (good for BB tanks since no reflection) and tinted glass is cheaper, so if you building sump, tell her and she will use tinted glass saving mo bucks...