Shilo

Nothing to worry about and perfectly natural. Remember you are building a complete & self contained ecosystem in your tank, and every ecosystem needs fungi to break down waste and algae to power it. The stuff on the food is just natural fungi whose spores are always in any air or water. Its currently breaking down the food into ammonia and nutrients that the good bacteria you want in your system will feed on. Once the cycle is finished just syphon up any remaining bits before adding fish, until then don't worry about it. You will never get rid of fungi in the tank since the spores are floating around in the air and it won't hurt your fish unless they are extremely stressed or injured. If the brown stuff from the wood is powdery when you scrap it off in the water then its just Diatoms (a form of algae). Diatoms have a shell made of the silica that is dissolving from the sand and rocks in the tank. They hit all new tanks and will last until all the dissolved silica is used up, water changes help but will still take a few months before the population is small enough to not matter. You should see my tank at the moment! Have to scrub the rocks and wood every week followed by a major water change to keep it under control. But its only temporary. White stuff on the wood is also normal in a new tank. It too will disappear soon.

Substrate = Breeders Choice Cat Litter. One $17 bag lasts a year. Easy to obtain, soaks things up fast so enclosure doesn't smell and almost dustless. Basking - a spot light. Leopards still need heat don't they? Lighting - 2 x UVB tubes probably the only extra running cost & alternate a new one every 6 months. Food - Stable is Fancy Feast Chicken Medley or soufflé, (contains veges), 1/2 a $1.70 can a week less in the winter. Also give him bits of veges & fruit from my own meal and the odd snail as a treat. BT's don't eat much when they're adult size, in the winter Moko (my BT) may not want food for a month at a time.

Out of interest, in what way are they cheaper? Moko my BT costs $3 in food a month at most (less in the winter), the only difference I can think off is a BT needs a UVB light. Boppoly, if you have trouble finding one contact ReptileZ in Te Awamutu. When I was in there a couple of weeks ago they had a couple of BT's that were adult size & some Bearded babies.

Looking great mate! Glad to see you have it up and running.

Plus 1! Xmas preparation? For me that's means pruning trees, mowing & spraying the grass, buying heaps of cleaning supplies (over $500 of toilet paper = 1 month supply), last minute painting and repairs, spring cleaning cabins, kitchen, shower & toilet block, plus 1000 other chores. And taking as much time off to go kayaking or fishing before the most chaotic couple of months of the year hits. If Xmas day is like last year, I will either have to do the rounds of the campers stealing sausages of their BBQ's or else I might just have time to open a can of baked beans for dinner.... The joys of running a camping ground.

You might be surprised how fast the bullies can get out of the way from a GK, they are cheeky, curious and will push the limits but know when to scram (they remind me of hyperactive kids up to no good!). Still reckon with enough hides for them the GK will learn not to waste its time - at least mines lazy enough not to, it even waits to take food from my fingers instead of chasing drifting food in the tank (I think he's trained me instead of the other way around!). Currently feeding my natives a small amount of either Repashy grub pie, tubifex, earthworms or whiteworms twice a day. The GK much prefers the live foods & tubifex (not the best for him) but will scoff the grub pie if nothing else is on offer. I have seen some commercial "cages" like http://www.fish-street.com/boyu_baby_fish_isolation_hatchery but I doubt they will be big enough and will soon gunk up. I think a better idea would be to get some glass cut the inside width of your tank to partition off 1/4 of it. If its sized to an inch below the water level then the top of it can have an overflow (weir) comb or mesh siliconed to it to allow water to flow over the partition but keep the fish to their part of the tank. Kind of like those Beta breeding tanks. Perpex could be used instead of glass and if plastic then rocks could be used hold it up right to avoid draining the tank and siliconing in a glass partition. Just an idea.

Can't see from the above pics but does the GK have a hiding place large enough for it to get out of sight and feel comfortable in? Such a hidey hole will make him feel more comfortable, less stressed and less likely to be territorial against the bullies. Heaps of hidey holes for the bullies will also help - somewhere they can dash to if the GK is in a bad / hungry mood. I would put in a lot more rocks piled up in at least 3 places for bully hidey holes and a hollow log or similar for the GK. Then feed the GK well and when he's settled and resting in his hide quietly reintroduce the bullies. His behaviour may be more territorial then food, if the bullies can escape from him with ease into their hides he should give up on chasing them. But because the Dwarf galaxias are top water fish they may be a different proposition and in danger from the GK. I have a few Inanga that were whitebait size when I got them last month and the GK generally leaves them alone. But the tank has some Puha growing on the surface and if the GK gets too frisky the Inanga just head into the Puha's roots until he calms down. If you think of their natural habitat, yes a big fish like a GK will try to eat a small fish like a bully or DG but they can still co-inhabit and the main difference from a bush pool and an aquarium is that the pool has heaps of hiding places. It is also why there are still native fish in streams that have a large stock of trout. Worst case is to move the 2 tanks beside each other and use an overflow to drain water from the chilled GK tank into a Bully / Dwarf Galaxias tank. If you have canister filters it will mean having the returns in the GK tank and the outlets in the bully tank.

Most will mention that they are aquarium safe on the front, normally acetic and smell of vinegar. Don't use ones that contain fungicide. I used Selleys Glass silicone.

What about just using clear plastic storage bins?. The Warehouse has 2x 60ltr for $22 advertised at the moment.

I think the long time to chill is because the 500A is at its upper limit with a 500ltr tank and amount of flow from my pump (rated 7000 lph less head) is higher then its recommended 1500-3000lph. The higher the flow the less water contact time and the lower the hp the harder it has to work and thus the longer time it would take to chill. The good thing about it is that even with the ambient temps being 25+C it only comes on a few times a day because the larger water volume means the tank takes longer to rise in temperature. The chiller is in a separate room to the tank with 2 windows (security stayed) open above it and the door permanently open, which helps to avoid heating up the sump water (next to the chiller) as well as venting the hot air. Also fitted security stays on the office window beside the tank so I can leave that open as well to reduce the ambient temperature. Anything to keep those temps down! Haven't noticed a change in the electricity bill since the chillers been running but the camps bill is so large and fluctuates so much that I doubt I will ever notice a difference.

Mines a 500A andi it takes about 20 minutes to drop the temps in a 500ltr tank down 1C. One thing to remember with the chiller is to allow a lot of air movement around it and it will be pumping out heat which will unfortunately heat the room and thus your tank if it is in the same room. If you can leave a window open it will help a lot to keep the room temps down. I think most natives (inc Koura) are happy at 15C, they will be Ok up to 18C but will start to stress once it goes above 20C. I have my chiller set to 15C and the tank temps will rise to 16C then the chiller clicks on and brings it back down to 15C. Your crays are a great clean up crew and will find all sorts of yummy morsels amongst the gravel. Left over fish food, algae, dead plant material, the odd fish if they can catch them - anything they can put in their mouths. If you want to feed them specific foods then choose something with a blend of protein and veges or let them clean up what your fish miss and just throw in a Spirulina wafer now and again.

Looks great! Would love to do a pond in my back yard - hmm, maybe another winter project. Wouldn't the Hebe's be giving a lot of shade over summer and keeping temps down or is the pond cool enough anyway? Have put Puha in my tank & its flourishing, another plant to compliment the mint and cress?

The rods are a bit heavy tackle for practising in the fish tank aren't they? For the pump you will need to work out the head height from the top of the water level of the sump (see below) to the height of the water in the tank. Using this head height look at the graphs from the pump manufacturers to work out how many litres per hour certain sized pumps will put out. Because you are pumping through a chiller I would go up a size, Also the diameter of the return pipe and the number of elbows or right angle bends produce friction which can also mean going up a size. If your "whitebait" are Inanga, banded or giant kokopu & your bullies are common or redfin's you won't need a strong flow and 400-500 litres per hour from your return in the tank will be good enough for a 90ltr tank. Because of head height and friction this may mean a 1000lph is needed. Some natives like Korao (a whitebait species), torrent fish, and some of the bullies will need more current. A flexible option is to get a DC pump which you can adjust via its control pad to what you want and get at least double the size that you think you will need. These are also more power efficient then the normal AC powered pumps. I'm using a Jabeo DCS which so far has been great but there are other makes of DC pumps out there. I am assuming here that you are using a sump. If you have a canister filter then just attach the canister outlet to the chillers inlet then have the chillers outlet going into the tank. Because of the extra friction from pumping through the chiller you may find you will need to get a larger / stronger canister filter. You want a minimum of 3x but preferably 5x or more your tanks capacity for lph flow in your tank.

By the way Anaerobic bacteria is also wanted in the tank because they remove Nitrates. Once the tank is cycled your gravel and soil base will hold a healthy population anyway so I wouldn't remove and clean the soil now its in there.

I would just fill the tank and leave things as is apart from doing a 50% water changes every couple of days until the smell disappears - which will only be a couple of days. If it smells like Rottenrua then it means you have a large amount of anaerobic bacteria in the tank. These bacteria would have spread to the soil & gravel from the media kept wet in the plastic bag. Anaerobic bacteria don't like oxygen so will quickly die off now they in a normal tank environment. Their die off will lead to a rise in the amount of ammonia in the water which will eventually be taken care off by aerobic bacteria, plants and the water changes. Your filter will need to be cycled (grow an aerobic bacteria population) before adding any fish so the ammonia caused by the Anaerobic bacteria die off is actually helpful. If the smell is really ponging out the house then you could do a 90% water change (from a full tank) every day for a couple of days (leave the gravel & soil undisturbed and covered with water) but I don't think it will be necessary as the smell should soon disappear.

Yup, got me there

Sorry Boban but Malachite is a mineral of copper (copper being the element), it is one of the main indicators of a copper source when prospecting and one of the main minerals that is mined to extract the copper from (like all metals, natural pure copper is rare). It is also why corroded copper pipes etc turn green - Malachite is forming from the oxidation. Rainwater could be simply buffed with crushed shell if needed to stablise PH.

Have just ordered a very small 1000lph "wave maker" (really a power head because it doesn't pulse) myself. The tank has heaps of current along the bottom where I want it but plan on using the wave maker to move the surface of the water more. Because of the eddies from the pump return, the water circulates around the tank nicely but the surface is fairly stationary and doesn't skim off into the overflow as much as I would like. The wave maker will be set at the top of the tank and should push the surface water towards the overflow. Its not needed but I figure why not give it a try. Also to be honest my main reason for trying one is that hopefully it will create some ripples and give a nice shimmer effect from the LED's.

Is your cold water piping copper or just hot water? Most houses only have the hot water system on copper because its more expensive then pvc alternatives. If your cold water is copper I still wouldn't worry about it unless you want to keep invertebrates like Ira said. Some fish medication (Malachite Green) consist solely of copper and are used in much higher doses then you would get from water running through the pipes. If you are worried then just run the tap for a while to flush out any sitting water in the pipes before using in the tank. The longer the water sits in contact with the copper the more will be dissolved so by running the tap you will be bringing in fresh uncontaminated water. If you are using rain water it won't need filtration before putting in the aquarium, it will be a lot more pure then most city water supplies and you won't need to deal with chlorine.

My one from WillyP leave the redfins alone (bullies are still small <5cm). At feeding time its great fun with the bullies being more on to it then the GK and they don't hesitate swimming up to mid water to try to beat him to a nice chunky bit of food. If its a worm then its a mad grab and dash with the GK after them Your mileage may vary though and a fully grown GK may be another matter. As a side note, I introduced 5 Inanga's (most just above whitebait size) and heaps of shrimp last week. Made the mistake of forgetting about the GK lurking under the log and he went into a feeding frenzy. By morning I only had 3 new Inanga's, a lot less shrimp and a very fat GK. He has left the 3 small ones alone since and they aren't hassled by him. I think if you introduce the GK into the tank after the small fish have settled and are not swimming around panicking they will have a better chance of survival.

You said you were in an apartment? If it's not a ground floor one can the flooring take over 1500kg of weight on only 3.5m? For shelving I would approach a warehouse shelving manufacturer. Steel frame with adjustable shelves (like garage shelving on steroids), if the shelves length are split into 4 you should be able to stagger them to fit various sized tanks.

http://sabato.co.nz/snails/snail-shells-no-8 Deli in Mt Eden.

Yes. But there is more to it then just throwing in soil and covering with gravel. What you would have seen is Walstrad type of aquarium, a low tech method of getting reasonably good plant growth without fertilising, high wattage lights and pumping in CO2. I tried it once and found it works well if everything is done right but can be a real mess if done wrong. What ever you do, do not disturb the soil once the tanks established. The nutrients in the soil need to stay under that gravel, if disturbed then algae will have a field day. Here's the first link that popped up with google for it: http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Walstad_method

If you can get a GK from the Mahurangi Technical Institute breeding program then it will most likely be male (heard they keep the females for breeding & wild releases) and it will save the problems of both egg binding (which I hadn't heard off) and removing one from the wild. You will need a larger tank then you would expect though, mines still a juvenile but still uses the whole 500ltr. Short Jaws I wouldn't touch as they are just too endangered, Banded's are not listed as threatened and should be ethically OK for the home aquarium so long as they are taken from an area that they are common in since they can be regionally endangered.

With the tank in the office I've had a problem of grubby finger and hand prints on the viewing glass from kids & adults pointing out fish etc. Unfortunately the law prevents me from hitting them over the head with a baseball bat every time they do it so I had to find another answer. After trying various glass cleaning products, 2 weeks ago I settled on C-Thru Shower Sheild and it works wonders. Fingerprints still show but a quick wipe with a dry cloth is all that it takes to remove them. Another advantage is that it cuts down on the amount of condensation from having a tank which can be 10C below room temperature. Expensive but a little goes a very long way and instructions says a application will last up to a month in a shower so should be longer on the outside of a tank. It is sold to prevent water spots so it could also be used to keep a tank looking like new although I haven't used it long enough to confirm this. Just to clarify: I apply it to only the outside of the tank with a cloth, since there is no spray and no water comes in contact with it then there should be no potential harm to the fish. The downside is that it is a glass polish and thus can increase reflections. There will be other products that work just as well but this is one that worked for me. Rain-X was another but wasn't anywhere near as good. So if you have family or guests who just can't help touching the glass then I recommend giving it a try.