Shilo

Drop the Antiseptic and go with the Methylene blue following the directions on the bottle. Antiseptic is only any good for bacterial infections while the Methylene blue is best for fungus and ich. My rainbows are always butting each other but its only the males that do it. Kind of a "I'm stronger then you" sort of game. With the female they flashed a brilliant yellow from the dorsal fin and down their heads (thus the name rainbow?) and shimmer up against her. Keep us informed on how it goes

I don't know Caryl, A long finned and peaceful species wearing psychedelic colours would fit right in. Yeah, real groovy. If they started to roll some of your aquarium plants, then I would get worried.

A Nemo orphanage! You could gather up all the unwanted "Nemo's", keep them for about a year till a Finding Nemo 2 is made and sell at a huge profit (only to good homes of course).

Vacuuming isn't so important in a heavily planted tank. When you do you just lightly vacuum so you don't distrupt the gravel. The laterite or peat or other substrate is covered by at least 1" of gravel so you won't have to worry about sucking it up. Fluorescent light does make algae grow. The difference between the 2 is the strength of natural light and the difference in the spectrum produced. You will need some very powerfull artificial lights to equal the strength of sunlight. Algae will only grow if the the 3 components of plant growth (light, various nutrients and CO2) are not in balance. High order plants are more competitive in using these components when they are in balance thus starving the algae. Algae can make do with a larger imbalance. A common solution to an algae problem is not to decrease light, fertiliser or Co2 but to actually increase one or the other until the algae disapears. Of course you need enough plants in the tank to use up these components before the algae can. Finding the correct balance for your tank and setup is a matter of trial and error (and research). Rob Thanks for the reminder a years coming up for mine.

Hi Killifan, Welcome to the forum. Plants need the following to grow and survive: To Eat:- Nitrates, Potassum, Phosphates, various trace elements To Breath:- CO2 To Energise:- Light If any one of these is increased then the other 2 also have to be increased to meet the plants demands. The more of these 3 supplied the faster the plant will grow. Of course a limit is reached and different plant species need different amounts. Any excess that the plants don't use up will encourage algae to grow. Depending on the type of plant, the majority of the food is obtained from either the substrate or from the water. Most common plants obtain thier nutrients from both. Laterate is an iron based clay that is commonly used as a layer under the gravel since aquariums normally lack iron for plant use. Other mediums can be used or fertiliser sticks can be poked under the gravel. I am even using Kitty Litter (not used! :lol: ). For fertilising the water a brand name aquarium fertiliser from your LFS is best to start with. Research as much as possible before adding anything to the tank otherwise you could end up with a algae bloom or sick fish. A good site to look at is Pauls: http://paul.aaquaria.com/home/Home.htm

How about using plants that attach themselves to rocks and logs like Java Fern and Anubias. They will still look good if their base is uncovered.

Pies, Wait 6 months or so. If any have survived, or have avoided being "set free" in the sea :evil: there should be quite a few going cheap.

Warren, Don't forget the cost of the scuba equipment for tank maintenance

Thought I had seen it somewhere before: The black fish is a Six-lined Grouper, Grammistes sexlineatus. Only a drawing in The Complete Home Aquarium (Hans J Mayland, but its an identical likeness. Grows to 25cm, hardy and from the Indo Pacific ocean. The book describes it as voracious and to keep with fish larger then itself.

Definitly not negative on the film itself. I want to see it for the graphics as much as anything. 150 000 frames at 8hrs work per frame = a lot of effort has been put into it. And yes as stated in my 1st post I think there is a good chance of aquariums becoming more popular. But when mum and dad go buy a Nemo for their child, I only hope the fish shops steer them in the direction of a goldfish or similar setup. Having "Nemo" die before the Visa bill is in the mail won't encourage anybody to get into aquariums. Come on Caryl, grab a kid to take. That way you can carry on like a kid yourself and get away with it I promise not to throw any Jaffas!

Ahh..... I can only get 1 and a 1/2 channels here so missed it Oh well plan to borrow a kid on Thursday and see the movie myself. If Josh asks for a Nemo afterwards I'll just let him name / adopt one of the tropicals in the tank.

It worked for me. Take a look further up on this thread on page 2. Don't just tip it into the water, you will kill off your bacteria etc. Instead you squirt the H202 onto the algae with a syringe. Of course killing the algae in your tank is only curing the symptom and not the cause. It will come back unless you find out what is favouring its growth.

Yep, keep very very quite about it Actually I don't think MAF will come knocking at your door over one snapper but if you want to do it legally you might be able to get one from Pah Farm on Kawau Island where they are bred. Of course if it does outgrow your tank you won't have to think about what to cook for dinner that night

I just remembered something else he said that may be encouraging. Just about every LFS that stock marine have clown fish yet Holmes stated that they had tried many "sources" to get a clown fish for the program and only managed to get one from a Massey pet store. Maybe the other LFS's that they tried wouldn't lend them one because they realised that the publicity will result in fish going to bad homes? If so then they would probably be screening potential buyers. I still have faith that the majority of LFS's are in the business for their love of animals rather then a quick buck. After the Ninja Turtle craze that Dennis reminded us of, they might be a bit more wary this time round. The onus is on the shops to look after their stock before and after a sale. Educating the public may reach a few people, but educating fish stores will reach all potential buyers. Clown fish aren't a species you can just breed up to meet demand. But then again "Hey look at that, there’s a straw just out of my reach!"

Just watched the Holmes segment on the movie Finding Nemo and although he mentioned the $ of clown fish and the fact that it could survive up to 30 years, not once did he say anything about the care needed for aquarium fish. With the demand for clown fish about to take off once the movie hits our screens, I can see a lot of them brought up by people who have no idea about keeping saltwater (or anywater) fish. Maybe I am just being cynical and the movie will increase the popularity of aquariums, but somehow I think clown fish will be going cheap next year when the movie is a forgotten memory and the demands of an aquarium are a recent one.

I have used it in an occupied tank for Blue-Green Algae with no ill effects on the fish or plants. The "extreme care" is in using small localised doses and not just tipping it in like other algae killers. Use a syringe (without the needle) or pipette to place the H202 on the algae itself. It breaks down fairly fast with a rush of bubbles lasting about 30sec. Once the bubbles stop being produced there is no more H202 left and its done its job.

Likewise, I can only dream of setting up another tank for the same reasons as already stated. But I have kept natives (Inanga, Giant, Redfin, & Common Bullies, Eels & a crayfish) before and found them fantastic! The tank was in a downstairs basement so it was fairly cool over the summer months thus my worry with the high summer tempatures where I am now. The natives seem to have so much more "character" then the tropicals I am keeping. The school of 6 Inanga I had used to follow my finger single file - including jumps when I took it above water level. Synchronised swimming at its best. Charles it is not that natives are not exotic enough, for the Joe Blogg public they are too exotic. Most people will say that trout are native and not even know of the Bullies and Kokopu living in the stream at the bottom of their section. Education is the key to selling them. This forum is only a very small section of your market but one which is very interested in your "obsession". IMHO the biggest and best market for you would be the garden centres and those specialising in ponds. Natives may not be as colourful as Goldfish, but they are much more interesting. Natives have cropped up a few times on this board and will again so hang around, your input will be most welcome. P.S. I often spend an hour or so just watching some wild Banded Kokopu in a stream at the local Forest & Bird. I to am obsessed!

So long as the freshwater and saltwater tanks aren't connected. You don't want to find your Bristlenose chewing on some coral one morning :roll:

Definitly bigger. I'm using a 30mm pvc pipe from a sink elbow and have no problems at all with air in the syphon (input to the tank is from 2 x 13mm pipes). When I tried 2 x 20mm tubes I had major air problems. Also Peety do you have a grid ("teeth") at the top of the internal overflow container? This should stop any fish going on a hydroslide ride . The only trouble I have experianced with the system is if I haven't cleaned this grid for a few weeks and it has become blocked with plant debris. This causes the tank level to rise high enough to allow the fish to jump over the container wall. I have no worries about leaving the system going by itself while on holiday for a week or so at a time.

Major shug of shoulders. I just grabbed the size container that is low enough for my sump water level and high enough for the pumps. It probably depends on the size of the CO2 bottle and its output. Currently there is about a 1cm layer of CO2 in the bell (Layer size is 25cmX25cmX1cm = .000625m3). I have 2 bottles of 1.5ltr and 2.75ltr running. The larger one I changed yesterday so is at max output. The level never gets more then 1cm in the bell. If you are only running a 1.5ltr then you could safely half my bell size. I did have a conventional bell setup inside the tank as an experiment for awhile. This was 1cmX10cmX5cm (10cm2 surface area) but the CO2 used to bubble out of it from a 1.5ltr bottle.

It should work. Basically an oversize CO2 reactor with the heater in it. But some things to watch out for are: 1. To much CO2 build up. If your CO2 bottle is too efficient you will end up with a tank full of lovely little bubbles when the water level drops to the pump height. Same goes if the water falls down near the pump (don't ask me how I know!). You might want the pump inside the tank or in a separate container (with the heater) instead. 2. A good sealant will be hard to find since CO2 reacts with silica. Rubber O rings and bulkheads may be better.

Hi Aqua, Take a look at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/2637/canopy.html for a general idea. It is quite feasible to build the canopy high enough so it fits over the lights to save dismantling them. The reflectors can be bolted onto the lid of the canopy so lights and all lift when you open it. For your old light, you may be able to dismantle it and glue the sockets for the tube into your new canopy. The ballast, starter etc can then be hidden in the stand. Depending on the width of the canopy you might have to make some "walls" on the canopy lid the width of the tube to mount the sockets. If you do go ahead leave a good gap at the back for airflow otherwise the lights will heat up the water.

Hydrogen Peroxide will kill it fast. Just fill a syringe (no needle) or pipette with with it and squirt a small amount directly onto the B/G algae. Safe for the fish, plants and filter bacteria since it breaks down before it can spread around the tank. I used Jif Oxy-Gel from the supermarket watered down 50:50. But as Warren pointed out it is better to cure the cause then the symptom otherwise it will keep coming back. Antibiotics and algae killers will destroy it but the spores are in the air so after a few weeks it will start off again unless the nutrient parameters change to make the tank unsuitable for cyanobacter growth.

Works out as 1.5watts / gal, on the lower end of the scale but ok if you don't have any "high light" plants (i.e. red leaves). My tanks on 4 watts / gal but that’s over kill. If you have a highish fish load in the tank you have the perfect fertilizer factories swimming around. The fast growing plants could still do with some extra ferts like Nitrate, Potassium, and Iron. I played around with adding Yates Lush from the supermarket for a while and seemed to work but don't know about the long term effects. One thing I forgot to warn you about is to keep an eye on your PH levels. CO2 will bring it down and DIY CO2 is notorious for creating PH swings as the bottle hits peak production then runs out. Using 2 bottles with the tubes connected together and renewing the mix alternatively will help to avoid this. I have a 18w light on a separate timer. It comes on at 6.30 for 1/2 an hr which allows me to check the fish before work. Its the only time one of my Loaches come out to play. It also comes on 1/2hr before the main lights at 12.00 and stays on for 1/2hr after they have gone out at 10. I never liked the thought of the fish being suddenly blinded by all the lights on at once then plunged into darkness 10hrs later. Hope you have a chainsaw for pruning

Its great seeing the tank take off isn't it Your plants will never look the same again. You should find your Anubis nana's leaves doubling in size and your Indian fern will start to take over the tank, I throw out one the size of a dinner plate every three weeks. Another example is with Java fern, the mature leaves in my tank are light green, 5cm wide and 20cm high. The Cabomba is very Nitrate dependant so keep up the fertilizers to keep it looking good. I've recently learnt this the hard way. What wattage per liter do you have and what sort of fertilizers are you adding. CO2 is only part of the system.