Fenriswolf

Yay! We always love positives! 8)

Hehe. Awesome. Kinda approximate, couldn't be bothered re-measuring, but it's +/- 10cm, so pretty close.

Woot. And yeah, depth of water, height of tank. :oops: Well, in about 6 months I might be ready for fish!!

BN? Bristle nosed catfish? I've always, always like plecos though. Tank's ~900mmx800x500 (500 being depth)

Not asking for expert opinions, but are we talking months or years for full size? I mean, I think I'll be OK for a while...

Didn't know that! Gah! Do ya'll think my tank is too small for these beasties? Or will it take years for them to get too big, in which case I can upgrade... Don't want to hurt (deform!) my fishies!

It's pretty big! Just not sure if'll be big enough when my cute lettle fishies grow into big monster fishies. Hehehehehe. At least I thought 200L was pretty big... :lol:

Definitely upgrade if needed! Apparently plecos (yeah, common) only tend to get enormous if given the space. Of course, other fish notwithstanding, my broad tank may count as enough space but not work with other wee monsters! So long as there aren't murders I'll be content. :bounce:

Yay yay yay! Are they likely to eat the hatchets? Maybe in that case I should plant it well to avoid dead fishies! :-? In answer to your question in the other thread ... I don't know! Hense the stalling. I found a good DIY thing for stands, but the page has been closed now and I didn't save it. Considering the tank's a random size that makes it harder. Should probably get a custom hood made too considering sharks and hatchets jump, plus, again, the weird-shaped tank. But I don't know: is it imperative to get a hood where lights can sit nicely and cords be tucked away? There's so much information but I don't really know where to start!

Hola! OK, I've decided what fish I want, and I think they'll be OK. Not going to be getting them any time soon, but thought I'd get opinions. My tank is ~200L, much wider than it is deep. I was thinking: *1 pleco *4 clown loaches *4 bala sharks *8 marbled hatchets Potential problems: everything here bar the hatchets has the potential to grow enormous! So wasn't sure about inital numbers. Also, do we have bala sharks in NZ? Cause I really really really want some! So cute! :oops: How does that sound?

Awesome! That sounds more promising... And thanks. Not sure when I'll be ready for plants: really need a sturdy stand and lid before I can get any further and that's kinda where I'm stuck. :( But when I finally get all my planning down, it'll be easier to get things done!!

Hmmmmm. No, BlueandKim, but thanks anyway! My tank's pretty shallow... Can't remember exact dimensions, but approx 900mmx800mmx500mm (500 being depth). Will research eelgrass! Semi-random question: how hard is growing aquatic plants? I like plants (particularly cacti: not that that's relevant!), but I am completely useless with them. Is my black thumb likely to extend below the water line? :roll:

Ahh! Damn duckweed... Is that particularly fast-growing or are all floating plants weeds? :lol: How about if I got some corkscrew val? Is that here? Insofar as it grows quite tall... Would a plant that grew like that create some shade?

Hey there, OK, I joined ages ago but my tank stalled, so I kinda disappeared. Nonetheless it's still on the books! (Books is right: $$$) Just wondering: are there are floating plants you can propagate without them taking over your whole tank?? If not, how do you keep it under control if you just want partial cover? Not really a plant person but want a planted aquarium... Was looking at Amazon Frogbit. Do we have that here? Thanks! 8)

Hahahahaha. Beautiful. Yeah, I'm about 5-15%, pretty new so can't contribute a lot most of the time.

Haha! Glue, always good. Thanking you

Ooo, will do! My partner will be horrified :roll: Sounds like fun to me :bounce: (I still can't get over how many people there are here from Wainui... ) Dee_jay_01 - good to know. Cheaper than anticipated, actually. Will go check out the free stuff first though methinks!

Ah, sorry. Um, pebbles rather than sand. Just wanted small rounded pebbles, which I figured I probably couldn't find in nature... But maybe...

P.S. The polystyrene idea is great, but how on earth have you kept the gravel from slipping off? Surely even if it's fairly deep the gravel is just going to sliiiide off your shapes? Thanks! 8)

I am impressed by your picture-taking skills! From what I've gathered, fish are not at all co-operative in taking photos, and yours are beeeautiful.

OK, at this point definitely looking at small (smooth edged) stones for my tank (which I pick up on Monday - 4 days later than I'd hoped, but YAY anyway!), which is about 180L. Now, I don't know if this calculation follows, but Alan (I think) said that... someone... (sorry! :oops: ) needed about 500Kg of stones for his 1500L tank (yeah, he decided to go with polystyrene fillers and only used about 100Kg, but that's beside the point) (this is a lot of brackets! :lol: ), so by that logic I need about 50-60Kg? Also, where on earth does one find such mystical stones for cheap? That is, small, smooth, round. I guess maybe I could raid Breaker Bay, but not sure if that'd be the right size. Thanks! One day I'll know enough to contribute myself.

OK, I feel like I've started waaay too many topics already - hope I'm not repeating other's questions! Well, people here have been talking about moonlighting etc... What different kinds of lighting are there? Most people here seem to use fairly bright lights - I've gathered that's good for a lot of plants, but is it generally the best choice? When are "dim" lights a good choice - and what wattage would be defined as "dim"? Also, there are all the different numbers of lights - is this more important than wattage? Is there a point to the blue lights I've seen at pet stores? Would it be a good idea/do-able to have different wattages (or numbers?) of lights in the same tank, either to have it going from bright-dimmer from back to front, or perhaps to have the different lights on in succession to create a night-sunrise-day-sunset routine (although that sounds a little overcomplicated! Unless I rigged the lights up to a timer, but that's definitely getting ahead of myself!) Ach, so complicated! Too much to learn... I just want to get onto the fun part! :roll:

lol I can just see her face. "But I want- stop making sense!" :bounce:

Really? Wow, didn't know they did that! Ach, changed my mind about what fish I want about 3 times now... Maybe I should leave Rams for when I've got one aquarium set up and running, since they're so delicate about water conditions. So many options! 8)

Yup, looks about right. And thanks!