sharn

i dont think i will be able to get anyone to do that for me and i dont have the funds to pay for a pro to do it as im only a student. if i have to put piles in then i will just set up the 360L again as its more hassle than its worth for me (the fish dont need a bigger tank and would only be getting upgraded because its a larger spare). apparently our floor is made of particle board. is that a problem? im not sure how thick it is but i dont have any squishy parts where the 360L was if i chuck a big slab of wood (any particular sort?) under the stand so that its not just a rectangle of support around the outside but a whole platform as alan suggests will i still need to pack under the floor? im all for peace of mind :lol:

well i think an outside wall across at least two beams is about the most sensible place i could put it in our house so thats encouraging ill get her to give the insurance guys a bell and i will attempt to find someone to pack a few bits of timber under the house for abit more peace of mind.

:lol: its not so much me worrying (id be worrying if it did something to the floor) but my mothers peace of mind. its her house and houses cost alot and itd suck for me to half ruin a bit of it. what type of house/foor do you have SW? is it concrete or on piles? our house is around 25 years old (the older part, which is what my room is in) and im not sure what the floor is made out of. if i can talk the bf/grandfather/neighbour into going under and packing the floor a bit will that basically rule out any risks? it seems like that would be the easiest option...

i havent got under the house and my mother and sister refuse to also but we had a look with a torch and it looks like i would have two big beams under the tank. the tank is on an outside wall and the house is on piles. if the house ends up sinking on that side in winter cause the foundations are wet i have to fork out for it or any other damage that occurs from that tank being there so i need to be 100% sure that it will not cause the house to die :lol: is it best that i get a builder or whatever around to give it a once over? also will it be a problem with the four tanks in my room. i have my bed and the largest tank (360L/460L) on the outside wall, a 140L on my dressing table on the very inside wall, a 220L on the inside wall, and my 170L (not full, got axies in it) runs along one end wall. thats alot of weight in one area of the house :-?

did you get any bubbles that smelt like rotten eggs when you were disturbing the substrate? if so that could have been the cause- anerobic bacteria.

thanks david i shall enlist the help of my little sister (ok, so ill pay her and bribe her with lollies or something) to check the beams out tomorrow :lol: the 360L is (this is from memory) 142 long, 48 wide and roughly 52 high. the 460L is 130cm long, 60 wide and 60 tall so thats 984 sqr cm diff approx if thats any help

thats interesting to know mincie! i was just gonna ask what an overweight turtle looked like :lol:

hey all, sadly the day came where i experienced my first tank leak. went to clean the discus tank this morning and found the front middle leg on my 360L oscar tank was wet. i ripped off the front cover bit (its not a fancy stand) and found 3 small leaks that were putting out a drip or two a minute each. i put some silicon on the inside (read on here to do that for small leaks) but that didnt help. i have moved the 360L out into the garage and it will get a reseal and i will water test it. SOOOO... now i have my spare 460L inside (which mother said was just taking up space in the garage and id never use it) and have all occupants of the 360L in it along with gravel, filters etc. its only half full at present. mum reckons the 460L looks way better than my 360L and sort of hinted shed like that better she doesnt want too much extra weight on the floor. no extra weight has been added to the 460L (no extra gravel, the stand weighs less) but the tank itself is heavier and it holds more water. my question is: will my 460L put more pressure (in a bad way) per square foot than my 360L? the 360L stand has six legs, each corner and one at the middle back/front. they are rougly 2"x2". my stand for the 460L is basically a big rectangle (no legs) with a middle piece. to me this would mean that the 460L tank weight is spread more evenly than the 360L therefore making it less harsh on the floor? the tank sits across the beams. does it matter that i have other tanks in my room (none on the same wall as this one though)? my mum is super paranoid about me ruining the house with the floor sagging from the weight so i thought i should consult experts on the topic :lol:

perhaps an epsom salt bath? i have no idea when it comes to turtles but epsom salt is used on humans and fish to releive constipation

the most common dosage i have seen for salt in tanks is 1Tbsp per 20L. BUT if you have scaleless/sensitive fish like clown loaches, BGK, plecos etc then you want to half that dosage so 1Tbsp per 40L. plants wont like the salt either also make sure to only replace what you take out with water changes, salt doesnt evaporate. ie take out 20L add 1Tbsp back.

is it fluffy whiteness? is it possible the substrate has hurt/removed the barbells?

if you cant handle the more brutal methods of putting a fish out of its misery clove oil is used to put them to sleep painlessly (OD it enough and it will do the whole job) then you can either freeze them or dispose of them another way. many people use clove oil to put puffers to sleep so they can trim their teeth

i quarentine every single new fish i get. if i cant quarentine the fish for at least a month i wont get it. you may whole heartedly trust the person you are getting them from but their fish may still have something that is very hard to pick up on and may have been missed. i had a battle for months with camallanus, it takes around two weeks for a mature nematode to show so if you dont quarentine you can bet all your fish in that tank will now have it and it can have devestating effects. many illnesses will take over two weeks to show, especially things like flukes etc. the way i see it is can you warrent risking every single fish in your tank for the new addition? because thats what you are effectivly doing by adding a new fish from a different source, if you think you can risk it then dont quarentine.

yes it is normal, they can show/hide that when they are in a certain mood. they are awesome fish, big personalities!

i wouldnt drop the w/c's just because there is no nitrate reading. discus like clean water and plants arent going to be absorbing everything. their poop is still on the bottom rotting away (ew lol) and that is still going to be polluting the water the way i see it is you only have one shot at growing those specific discus out and they are animals, plants can be replaced. my amazon sword is only in my tank for a bit of naturalness and security. the tank has 48W of lighting (for veiwing) and the one potted plant. it still puts out leaves regularly but it certanly isnt growing like it was in my planted tank

they are two different fish as said but they have been cross bred with each other and now 99% of the ones you are buying in stores are exactly that, cross breeds. here are two pics- barred male midas wild male red devil devils are more lippy and have longer faces while midas have the stubbier lips and blunter faces

yes

alan- 53.7ppm if you use 17.9ppm=1 degree. southerngirl, 1-2 is fairly soft, i have been told 3 is considered 'safe'. most people will never experience a ph crash/big swing (or perhaps they just dont notice it depending on what fish you keep) so its nothing major to worry about but im a paranoid fish keeper (i have no buffering at all in my water). i have read accounts of the ph crashing from 6 down to 3 in a matter of minutes and the fish werent too happy about it but they did live i think (discus). because you have a low kh those ph altering products will not work for very long because the water lacks the buffering to keep it there. to lower it ('it' being kh and in turn ph) you can use peat and to up it you can use shell grit, coral pieces etc (what african keepers use)

my kit measures in degrees alan and you just times it to get it into ppm. thats why i say 3Dkh (D=degrees). southerngirl, how many drops before the solution turns the to whatever colour it is supposed to? each drop means one degree (ie 3 drops to change colour means 3 degrees)

Pm'd

KH is carbonate hardness and thats what keeps your ph stable, generally (but not always, there is exceptions) a low KH will go hand in hand with a low Ph and vice versa. with a low KH you may experience Ph crashes or swings as there is very little to keep your Ph stable. General hardness (GH) is well.. just your general hardness of the water, i dont think that it has any effect on the stability of parameters though but im not 100% on that. our water is soft, we have 0 Dkh and a ph of 6.6-6.8 so i keep shell grit in most of my filters to get the Kh up above 3.

i think excel is a carbon supplement (or something like that) and normal flourish is just your average fertiliser for all round usage?

peas are also often accepted, i just chuck em in a glass of warm water to thaw then pop them out of their shells (the shells are hard to digest) and in they go

normally someone from your local club/another friendly fish keeper will be willing to give you a starter for free if you dont have any luck send me a PM, ill chuck one into the post for ya (i have mine running all the time and just make new ones up locals if they ever need them)

SL (standard length) is when you measure the fish without the tail. TL (total length) is when you measure the fish with tail. TL can be deceiving and in quite a few species cases because their tail can make up a considerable amount of their total length therefor it is hard to determine the actual body length of the fish. you can choose either way to measure your fish but IMO SL is easier as you dont have to guess whether the fish has an unusually long tail :lol: it depends what type of fish you would be quarentining as to whether the bowl would be suitable but in most cases it would probably be too small (depending on the species), i have one of the ones you have from when i first started too and i beleive they hold around 4-5L. that would only be fine for neons, siamese fighters, white cloud mountain minnows and other small fish. you would also need to keep that bowl running or have a filter running in the main tank to hold good bacteria that you could switch over. i have used my bowl to hold fish in if they have been fighting and have wounds etc, i just float it in the main tank with its own airstone to keep the temp about right but it isnt for long periods of time. i personally use a 2 footer for quarentine for fish under 15-20cm.