Shilo

VitaPet Mineral grit is as good as any and available at the supermarket. So long as the bird grit doesn't have "added minerals & vitimans". The cheaper the better. As John said take things slowly. Since its a new tank I would use 1/2 the CO2, ferts and less light then I plan to run (shelf one of the CO2 kits for the moment). Pack the tank with as many plants as you can then after a few weeks slowly increase the light, CO2 and ferts to match the plant growth. Doing it this way will mean your less likely to get hit by an algae blow out. Let the plants dictate how much nutrients they need rather then you trying to dictate plant growth by overdosing them. Nothing worse then starting out with a few plants and trying to grow them up to fill in the tank. I know - thats what I'm doing at them moment and finding the balance between plant growth and algae is near impossible.

Your PH is already low, by adding CO2 it will end up dropping further. The Peat base wouldn't help either. Worse still without any KH the PH will swing all over the place (caused by extra high CO2 during levels in the night when the plants are using it then back down during the day etc). The KH is a buffer that will prevent these swings from getting out of hand. But all is not lost. Stay away from those $$$ LFS chemicals - they are not needed. To increase the KH you could add baking soda to the water. Remember to add it with the water changes or the level will drop drastically with each change and cause a PH swing. There is an easier way. Being on tank water my PH is also very low to start with. Instead of adding chemicals to the water I have just poured some Bird Grit (crushed oyster shell) into the filter. This will dissolve over time thus increasing the KH and GH. How much to use depends on the size of the tank. Experiment - start of with 1/3 cup per 100ltr and increase it over the weeks until the required KH is reached. Over time (months) it will dissolve and the KH will slowly fall away so add more grit as required. Of course there will be a reduction of KH level with each water change but it bounces back fairly quickly (the more acid the water the faster the grit dissolves). Unless you have fish that depend on hard water, I wouldn't worry about the GH to much. It will increase with bird grit anyway (but not with baking soda). Here are some helpful links: http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html Good explination of PH/KH/GH relationship http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm Recommended CO2 level and how to measure.

Diaphragms. The motor in the pump pulls them in and out to produce the air flow. These wear out over time thus the ones you have will be spares.

I don't see a problem - snails are probably the worst you will encounter. Best if the plants are collected from a spring fed (clean) stream or similar. If worried treat the plants with Potassium Permanganate (from the chemist) or a weak solution of bleach then avoid introducing any fish for a week or so. Apart from the "weeds" like Elodea, Hornwort etc don't be surprised if the plants die off slightly before producing new leaves and shoots. You have taken them from an environment they are used to and introduced them to alien parameters. They may take a while to acclimitise. If you plan on having a tropical tank take a look at: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Plants/NZ/ to find what plants are suitable. Increase the tempature slowly (over a few weeks) so not to shock the plants. For general identification you can't beat the Niwa site: http://www.niwa.cri.nz/rc/prog/aquaticplants/species/ Happy hunting!

With a very small hook! :lol: Caper, I don't think our cars last longer - they are just older to start with! We import alot of 2nd hand cars from Japan which are normally around the 5yr old mark. All the cars I've had have been brought at about 10yrs old and ended up being trashed because of rust after 5yrs. I think in your area most vehicles rust out in the chassis or underbody cause of the salt on the roads, while here its the bodies that rust because of the amount of salt in the air (majority of us Kiwi's live within 50km or 30 miles of the sea). About our roads: You may hear kiwi's refering to "metal" roads. No they aren't made of steel, rather this term is used to describe gravel roads (unpaved).

It will have the appropriate Kelvin rating that the plants will like, but is it any stronger wattage? If its a straight "bar" shaped fluro thats the same thickness as your existing one then it most likely won't be any more powerful then the one you got in there already. Plantmans PL (Power Compact?) will double the wattage but still fit on top of the tank. Watt's = Brightness, Kelvin= Colour Spectrum. Plants need both. In my opinion you shouldn't fear algae from the fert sticks if they are shoved an inch or so under the gravel. At this depth the plants can access it via their roots but none will leach out into the water column for algae to use. I also found that my Bristlenose was great as a glass cleaner but not the best for cleaning the plants. For this Siamese Algae Eaters excelled! A slice of blanched (to make it sink) Zucchini thrown into the tank once a week or so will have your B/N hopping out of the tank to give you a hug

The trademe posting starts off "Is your aquarium low in CO2?" yet its a fertilizer not a source of CO2. (do a google search - no mention of CO2 in other adverts for the product). An alternative are Jobes plant food spikes for ferns and palms. $4.95 for 30 spikes. These also last a year. No micronutrients in these spikes though, but thats easier enough to add to the water.

Hey Shelly, Thats a bit of a coincidence with the Derek Hansen book. Had my profile sitting on the comp for over an hour before hitting submit. Didn't even see your profile until afterwards. Enjoyed Blockade as well.

Name: Grant Age: 38 Occupation: Manager of a freight company Sex: Whats that? Book: Any SciFi, Adventure etc But favourite is neither of these - Sole Survivor by Derek Hansen (set on Gt Barrier Island) Hobbies: Aquariums, Kayaking, Fishing (no not in the tank!) Camping etc Family: Happily Single, but substitute dad to a 9yr old - best of both worlds Other pets: Nil, the fish are bad enough Location: Waiheke Island Car: '95 Jeep Cherokee Favourite food: Anything that only takes 5 min to prepare.

Are you able to put another fitting into the hood? 2 x 32 watt bulbs will be a major improvement. 3 will put the plants into overdrive 8) (if the fertz and C02 keep up with it). If the hood is too short for 3 foot long bulbs then you might be able to pack it out with 18watt energy saver bulbs (like what you use in the house to replace normal bulbs). Hardware stores sell normal screw in or bayonet fittings, and you (or an electrician friend) can fit them to the hood, wire them up and pop in the bulbs. The Rapid brand of bulb brand from Placemakers is a good one (6400k) Long lanky plants means not enough light. The stronger the light the less they have to grow up to reach it and thus the bushier they get. Also a deeper tank means more light is necessary.

q1a: Between 3 to 6 times the tank volume per hour? I have mine at 4 and it works well. Depends on your fish load. Most plants will handle a bit of current but some prefer "stiller" waters then others. q2a: All depends on what filter system you choose. With a W/D have some sort of prefilter but filter wool is not that good since it clogs easily. Foam or those green kitchen scouring pads work better. You can also have a prefilter inline. My W/D contains ceramic noodles, pumice and cut up straws mixed together. Don't think charcoals necessary unless you want to remove a chemical from the water, in fact it can be detrimental in a planted tank because it removes some minerals and nutrients from any fertz added. Unlike a marine tank, the plants process a lot of what filters are made to remove. Removing unsightly solids and turning ammonia & Nitrites into Nitrates (although the plants remove alot of the ammonia) is the freshwater filters main purpose. The plants will remove the Nitrates so not need for DSB's etc.

1. For plant growth stay around the 5000 to 6500k mark. I personally like the 6500K since its a whiter light (nothing worst then a yellow tank). As Caryl said you can add additional light if you want a different effect. 2. Mainly Fluro's. Not only are they cheaper but they are cooler and MH's etc are harder to find with the correct K rating. 3. Most people use canisters. A HOB (hang on back) filter is not the best if C02 is planned for the plants since surface distruption will allow it to "escape" Internal filters are too ugly in the tank. Wet / Dry filters are said to have the same effect as a HOB for C02, but I think they are fine (C02 is heavier then air so it redissolves again in a semi-enclosed W/D filter). Underground filters are debatable in a planted tank. Personally I wouldn't use one since it seems unnatural to me having water flowing down past the roots. 4. Sumps are not a must have like marines, but can be handy. I run a W/D filter so a sump is necessary in this case. But its also handy to hide heaters and other equipment, a place to dose ferts or chemicals, and makes water changes easy. It also increases the water volume of your tank making the system more stable. If you get a canister filter then it probably wouldn't be worth it but its still nice to have. 5. Caryl's right - don't trust them! My Banded Kokopu eat one of the larger shrimps in the tank the other day. This shrimp was so large the BK's stomach was stretched to the limit and the feelers were still sticking out of its mouth. Didn't stop him from trying to gutz some worms being fed to the other fish :roll:

Yes, you shouldn't have any problem picking up a bag of pumice from a nursery in their pebble section. Garden centre's in hardware stores etc will also stock it (in NZ the main supplier is Horticom). It will come in different sizes, personally I would go for the 5mm to 1cm size range to give a good surface area without restricting flow to much. Wash it before using though. Have been using a combination of Pumice, cut up straws and ceramic noodles in my wet / dry filter for a few years now. Works well, I have only ever cleaned it once and it didn't even need it then.

Thanks for the compliments guys. Here's an update: (excuse my lack of photography skills) Its only been 1 & 1/2 weeks and I would describe the tank as going though its "ugly" stage where the plants are leggy and have yet to full out. But the changes so far are: Plants Myriophyllum propinquum (the tall bushy ones on right) Have taken off. Some stalks are just starting to produce roots and I have already managed to top and replant some of them. Potamogeton ochreatus (the grassy stuff on left) & Ranunculus trichophyllus (centre tall) Both of these are changing. The original leaves are dying off but they are producing a lot of new ones. These were obtained submerged. Photo doesn't show it but most of the grassy stuff growth is above water level. It also pearls easily. Nitella hookeri (fluffy stuff ground level front right) Will revise my identification of this one. I think its just another form of moss (although a very nice one). Very slow growth showing. Various Mosses (center in front of slab and on upright wood) Very slow growth (to be expected). Some bright green tips are being produced. The bunch on top of the wood slab fell off so have left it where it layed. Others If the crays and Banded Kokopu left them alone they should be ok. Bullies love to burrow under the Glossostigma which doesn't help :evil: These plants are showing signs of growth but its early days for them yet. Fauna Crays are happy doing what crays do (as much damage as possible!) 1 Shrimp has moulted and another about to have its eggs hatch. BK being the same grumpy BK and the bullies have taken over as the clowns of the tank. Inangas are another story. 2 disappeared yesterday, found one in the filter system (have since covered up the overflow) but no sign of the other. Today another disappeared with no sign at all despite tearing the tank and filter system apart. A lot of the plants were floating around when I got back from work today and noticed the missing Inanga. Suspect the grumpy BK is now a fat grumpy BK but no proof. Don't expect the remaining Inanga to last since they are a school fish. Bit of a bugger since these are the only ones I paid for!

No I still haven't changed my tune, no matter what age he is. Its not the fact that he was selling them but the wording of the ad. If he had come clean and described them as native or NZ marine shrimp then it would have been a bit more honest. By the way if he is under 18 then he has already been dishonest by listing on Trademe. His wording was *WOW* RED AND ORANGE BANDED,GHOST CLEANER SHRIMPS to me that sounds like an imported $$$ shrimp. He then goes on to say "THATS WHAT I THINK THEY ARE" - Now if he caught them himself then he would know what they are (just open a NZ marine book or google). It could be that he brought them himself and if so my apologies and sympathies for getting conned. But if he didn't then to me the ad is misleading. Buying something you can catch yourself is fair enough - I recently brought 4 Inanga’s from a LFS for $9.95 each. I could have caught them but the hassle involved wasn't worth it to me (no suitable streams in the area I live). But I knew what they were and had could weigh up the pros and cons of buying. If he had called them "Common Shrimp" or Leander affinis then people would also be able to weigh up the pros and cons. In my opinion by making them sound exotic is just plain dishonest. Ask yourself this: would you accept this description for a common shrimp from a LFS??

Come on guys, Spend the extra money and "Buy Kiwi Made". Control's Hermit crab must be better since its locally sourced and can be replaced under a warrenty (parts may be a problem though). Anyway it must be a bargin since I can now stock a 60 ltr tank with 1 shrimp, 1 hermit crab and water for $360 so far (Snowman can you rent out the containers I've misplaced my water ceritified ones?). Add a heater then I could have a coral polyp and a tropical crab for only $40 (US or NZ?) more. Is there any come back if the crab eats the polyp? Cookie, if I only get a small amount of your "living" water, will it seed the rest of the tank. I want to keep the costs down below $10 000. Got the perfect tank for this setup. Its made from indestructable plastic. Nicely coloured blue to avoid fish stress and professionaly designed for fish. Made by "Sealord" and cost $500 from a guy at the local wharf.

Alan, wouldn't snapper and other species on the qouta system be illegal? Don't know how true the story is but back in the SeaBee Air days there used to be a pilot who sold crays obtained from Gt Barrier. To get around the fishery regulations at those times he used to tie a lead to them and sell them as "Pet Crayfish" "Here boy, time to go home to the pot"

Simple: You don't! The plants in your tank are a great filter system, they will remove any ammonia or phosphate etc produced from any gunk decaying in the substrate. It will also produce mulm which will only help the plants grow even more (mulm = soil). If there are any great furry chunks of left over food laying around then you can just syphon these bits up, but I would just leave the rest as is. Transform that gravel vac into a CO2 reactor or file it away in the spare parts pile. Its too bulky. Instead just use a length of tubing to syphon up any unsightly bits and peices. Any fish poo etc will just help you save money in ferts.

Herbicide? BGA is a cynobacteria not an algae like most sorts we have to deal with. But if it works - it works. Just be very careful if you have plants in the tank. If you have BGA thats out of control then its for a reason. Check out whats out of whack before resorting to chemicals and drugs. Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, Phosphates, light levels etc - check them. If something is measuring wrong then correct it and remove any BGA that you can see manually. Chances are this maybe all you need to do before it disappears. If it persists and you can't find anything wrong with the water parameters then hit the Bl_ _ _y stuff with all you can! But if you treat BGA with antibiotics or chemicals there is a good chance that it will be back within a couple of weeks unless the cause is fixed. BGA is a symptom, not a cause - treat the cause!

Hi Control, No I was meaning the cheap all in one portable units as well. Unfortunately a fridge, dehumidifier, air con unit, peltier or any similar cooling device also produces heat - energy has to go somewhere. If you feel the back of a fridge that is "going for it" you will feel the heat it produces. A fridge only cools the enclosed area behind the door but the heat it produces is expelled into the kitchen. The problem with a portable all in one air conditioner is that it is not only cooling the air in the room, the heat it produces is also bowen into the room heating it up at the same time thus its inefficiency. By having the evaporator coil in contact with the water (or in an enclosed space where the water flows through) then it will work - but room temperature will rise thus the reason for leaving the windows open for this heat to escape. This is the same as the dehumidifier / chiller concept of course and insulating the sump and as much of the tank system as I can is important. Hi BlueandKim, I considered peltiers pretty hard before deciding on a dehumidifier. You may be correct about running costs but the startup costs (well untill I stuffed the 1st dehumidifier) put me off. Figured that to get approx the same cooling power I would need 4 x 270w Peltiers, 2x large heat sinks, 3x computer fans and a 12v adapter. At $106 each for the Peltier's (Trademe) I would be looking at around $450 - $500 for the chiller. Guesstimate that the dehumidifier/chiller will only need to run for 3hrs (on and off) per day during summer to keep the temps 10 deg less then room so running costs will hopefully not be to much. But the proof is in the pudding, so will see what happens to the power bill. I still want to play with Peltiers sometime though!

From what I've heard the Air Conditioners aren't very effective unless they are vented outside. Venting will ofcourse mean cutting holes in a wall which I can't do. Without venting the a/c will be adding just as much heat into the room as it is removing. The advantage of using the dehumidifier is that it will be cooling only the water while the heat it produces is released into the air. This heat can be removed by open windows (where as a a/c unit will be trying to cool the outside air as well if the windows are open). Of course a A/C could be used to cool the water directly, but at $169 from Woolies or $153 at The Warehouse a dehumidifier wins hands down. If I owned my own home then yes a permenant aircon would be best, but mainly for me - the fish wouldn't notice

Thanks Neopole, Saw your threads when seaching for chiller ideas. But in my case I'm restricted to what I can do. Rental property thus no holes drilled in house (have a wicked workshop under the house that would be ideal - but can't pipe to it!) and a lack of room in the stand for anymore contraptions. Also have to watch the humidity levels if anything is put inside the house. But I AM NOT BEATEN!!!. Have sourced some free S/S pipe that is to wide but can devise a system around. Just means I will need to grab yet another dehumidifier. Plan on filling the chiller tank with the sort of antifreeze you get in chilly bin ice packs (not toxic) and pump the water through the S/S pipe set into the chiller tank. Despite writting off one dehumidifier ($169) and having to get another it will still work out much cheaper then a commercial model. Confident it will work OK this time around

Heres an interesting thread about getting rid of BGA. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16138&highlight=bga Tom Barr's (PlantBrian 4th post down) method of blackout and KNO3 has quite a large following - and no antibiotics used! You can dose it with Hydrogen peroxide to kill it (use a syringe to dose the BGA itself) or antibiotics or manually remove it etc, but what ever you do it will still come back before you know it unless you track down what is going wrong with your system. BGA is a symptom of something being wrong with your tank and unless the cause is treated it will just return again. For an example I always get it if I add salt to the tank without cutting down with ferts a few days before since the plants slow down their growth and leave an excess of a macro nutrient like Phosphate.

I second the use of a timer. It also means that you can use it when you are home and not have to worry about remembering to turn the lights on. Just make sure your filter and heater are not attached to it - these must be going all the time. Personally don't like those feed blocks since some can effect the water chemistry. Your fish will survive quite happily for a week without any food. Infact depending on what type of fish you have your tank will be nice and clean when you get back. Timer on your lights, top up the water to account for evaporation, and send them a postcard!

Epoxy is expensive if you buy it from a hardware store or marine shop, but try a place like Altex http://www.altexcoatings.co.nz/where.htm buying direct from their depots is much cheaper (1/2 price compared to some brands). I have built a couple of kayaks before(http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/grantglazer/Kayak/index.html ), and would apply the same principal to a plywood tank or pond (strength and water resistance needed). using fibreglass cloth would be a very good idea. You won't be slamming the tank into rocks like a kayak so 3oz cloth would be easier to use then the normal 6oz and all that you will need but the price difference between these 2 weights of cloth isn't much. Coating it with only epoxy or epoxy based paints i.e. pool paint could lead to the coating developing cracks overtime. Any crack or ding in the coating will start rot in the ply (even marine ply). The glass cloth will stop this from happening. A full size sea kayak only costs $600 to build so a 5 foot tank / pond should be around the $200 mark (guessing here). Actually using the Stitch and Glue method you could make the pond any shape you want - why restrict yourself to it being square?