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Hi all. I've been accumulating the last few weeks to upgrade my 4 foot tank into what i hope will end up being a beautiful planted tank. I have the pressurized co2 to set up and a couple of bags of aqua basis plus at the ready. Also purchased a eheim 2215 but wished I'd gone bigger so am going to keep my old fluval 200 series going as well for extra flow. At present I just have twin t8 lighting. I was planning on 4x t5 tubes. Any thoughts on the best way to go here as there is a major investment of cash to go into this. At the lfs and trademe I've seen these. http://www.trademe.co.nz/pets-animals/fish/lights-lamps/auction-474100512.htm http://www.trademe.co.nz/pets-animals/fish/lights-lamps/auction-472529465.htm If buying the ballast and adding a reflector for each lamp at almost $50 a pop there isn't a lot of difference in price between the two options. I've been reading how important the reflectors are but wondered if anyone has found/made something equally good at a cheaper price. Can anyone recommend importing the hood I would need? Any comments greatly appreciated.

Good one, thanks.

Can you take a snap of your new lighting hood? I'm thinking about doing the same and keen on ideas for my 4ft tank.

Just adding to this thread, I'm shortly going the whole pressurised co2 way. I put down a base of Aqua Basis 6 years ago and am wanting to do a good replanting of my 4foot tank. Presumably the substrate is well and truly past providing any benefits, but is it still necessary to put down a new substrate layer if using co2? I thought if I did I'd use the Hauraki Gold Peat Moss as mentioned earlier.

The peat moss didn't change the water at all in 12 hours but the oak leave had an immediate effect.

I always used rain water until about a year ago. I'm going to back to it but it hasn't rained here for a week or so. Driest spell for 2 summers but lets not go there...

I've gone a bob each way. The peat moss was put in a stocking and into my filter last night. I boiled some dry oak leaves for about five minutes and put them into the tank this morning. It was a good sized saucepan full. How long before I would expect to see changes and how often would you suggest testing hardness and ph?

Thanks for your comments. I'd thought the idea was going to be to put in a small bag and put into my external fluval. But not a good idea then? To use the oak leaves, just put in a weighted mesh bag I presume. I have a 4 ft tank. A couple of good handfulls do the trick?

Hi everyone.I'm wondering if it's safe to use Yates Hauraki Gold Peat Moss in my filter. I have a high ph and water hardness issue at the moment and peat moss has been recommended to me. Anyone know? Thanks

So...... I'll put the 103 into the new tank with a couple of buckets of the main tanks water, and put the sponge filter into the main tank (has been running for 7 yrs). In 2 or 3 days it would be safe to introduce the 8 rummies. After a couple of weeks swap the filters back over again. Right!!

I have a new 40l tank which I am going to fatten up my rummy nose in for breeding. I am running a new sponge filter in this tank filled with rainwater. I also have in my big tank a fluval 103 & 203. In my 25l tank which has 3 mth old guppies in is a powerhead 201 filter. What would be the quickest way to have this tank up and running to transport 8 rummies into. I have also have some cycle and aquaplus at my disposal. If I put in the some of the filterwool in a stocking from a fluval and sit on the bottom of the tank, is this going to do the trick. With using a sponge filter there isn't much current except at the top where there water exits. Should I hang the wool just under the surface at the outtake perhaps??

This is the tank I'm setting up to put my rummy nose in for breeding. The peat was suggested in the Bryan Jones article that Caryl listed recently

It says Premium NZ Sphagnum on the bag as well. Wrong stuff then eh?

Yates Organic Hauraki Gold Peat Moss. I didn't rince it, just put into a stocking and dropped in the tank. Water hardness 120ppm. It was rainwater.

Thanks, that worked well. What about storing them. A shallow container of salted water in the fridge??

Is there a trick to this? I have to get a finer net than I have at present, but how does everyone else do it? Just pour the water through a net?

I searched on the net and found it say somewhere they were, but after put a stocking full into my tank of 7 ph, 6 days later my ph has gone up to at least 7.6?? There is nothing else in the tank but a heater and a sponge filter.

Yeah, that's what I thought. It was the only Jiffy pellets I saw. I'll keep hunting.

I had a look today and found some Jiffy peat pellets. It says it contains lime and fertiliser with low ammonium content. Is this ok??

Can you buy it from garden centres to put it in a stocking to soften water. I have bought Fluval peat fiber from the lfs before, but is there cheaper stuff which is fine to use?

Brilliant!!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts so far

I'll keep an eye out

Are any of my fish not suitable with Discus? I have Angels, Clown loaches, Rummy nose tetras, Mollies, Guppies, Dwarf Gouramis, Siamese AE, Neons, Harlequins, and wanting Cardinal Tetras.

I've got 10 wk old guppies, about 15mm long. When are they gonna be ok in the big tank that has some good sized Angels in it?