Dr.Felix

it floats ! no worries for a hydro setup but no good for a substrate! cheers

25-30mm reticulated damsels have laid eggs and are exhibiting full parental behaviour in my unseasoned 2 month old marine tank (only been in there a coupla weeks). may siphon off the larvae and attempt to rear. may post a movie but eggs very small (0.7mm approx)

a lot of what u say depends on what u see in a store here. what is in store is not what is available - its just what the tank in the store will keep alive. any more suggestions gratefully appreciated although i doubt ill post or visit here ever again.

15mm thick sides 20mm base. i had to swim in it to install the coral structure. interesting you say that cerianthus kill fish - ive never seen one fish lost to any and i had a tank once that was about 60L and had 2 cerianthus and about 6 clowns and 6 damsels! Links work now! full reef intention - we'll see how far it goes - all suggestions for fish/inverts etc gratefully received - the public will be viewing it so it should show off the hobby at its max!

Hey everyone - heres some pics of my new tank full - id delayed filling it coz i was scared it would pop! dimensions 1220wide x 1220deep x 1100 high (whoa thats deep! must have been good glue ) lighting - arcadia 2x250W 14k bulbs 2 x t5 actinic - adjustable height off tank - at the moment 600mm above tank - will lower progressively as tank becomes biological. pics at the bottom - big size pics tho! has 4 chromis and 4 damsels in it at moment to provide some ammonia and starting to go brown! but what i really want to know is - your ideas on fish to stock it with ! and inverts! bear in mind that cost not really an object (glass to build tank cost 2400 alone) - the tank standing owes easy over 10k. and i can pretty much get any fish/invert (within legal limits). :-? I will put 4 nemos and 2 purple tip anemones and maybe a couple of cerianthus anem in soon. and a few royal grammas and mandarins/blenny/dragonets. so what to choose - blue tang, powder blue, powder black, sailfin tang, yellow tang, naso, pinnatus bat, zanclus - any favorites/unusuals youd like to see? (its on public display if u didnt realise from the pics!) a couple of pics show it in night mode with the t5s only. the room lights are mostly off. http://www.petworld.co.nz/fish/dscn1628.jpg http://www.petworld.co.nz/fish/dscn1629.jpg http://www.petworld.co.nz/fish/dscn1630.jpg http://www.petworld.co.nz/fish/dscn1631.jpg http://www.petworld.co.nz/fish/dscn1632.jpg http://www.petworld.co.nz/fish/dscn1633.jpg

Denitration of water can be achieved using a carboniferous source that has organically bound carbon and by culturing a suitable bacteria . By choosing a small molecular weight compound all you ensure is that the compound is soluble. I know for a fact that denitration of this type can be achieved by use of xxxxxxxxxxx as a carbon source at significant rates. the choice of sugar is perhaps better than alcohol because of the impact and solubility (and utility) of alcohol and sugar in different types of body tissues. The bacteria will lyse the sugar/alcohol and extract the carbon they require and perform the required denitration. Im am currently building a biological filter comprised of xxxxxxxxx to perform this duty. I am waiting for the tank to install it on to cycle and will begin testing this - but i know from a couple of engineering friends that it works well in fresh water. The flow rate is reasonably fast and doesnt require anoxic conditions or unusual respiration sources. It has not been tested for reduction of orthophosphate but i intend to do this. i wrote this without the x's but then thought that if it works in salt as well as it does in fresh then i may be giving away a big secret. the bacteria sugar alcohol set should work for removal of nitrate!

It is possible to denitrify water without resorting to anaerobic conditions, alternative reduction substrates (sulphur etc) and low molecular weight organics. use of a fluidised bed containing a proportion of high molecular weight organic compounds to use as the carbon source for the bacteria is possible. I am currently investigating this as a denitrifying method as it does not require anaerobic conditions or low flow. a proprietary mix of standard silica type media for the bed and an amount of carbon compound should allow denitrication as well as full conversion of ammonia throught to nitrate without loss of carbon compounds into the water. the "algae filter" is also an interesting device for removal of po4 and no3 with consequent reduction of tank bound unsightly algae etc and although it would require more frequent water changes to top up nutrients (or addition of minerals) it is still an excellent way of undesirable nutrient reduction.

wednesday - after repeated naggings from wife/partner/etc forget mistakenly on purpose to take out rubbish.leave outside for 2 days until it has been slightly ravaged by nextdoors dog and then place inside garage. go to work for rest of week and during weekend drink beer and generally laze around not mowing lawns etc.on monday dash out to garage slightly late for work, open door and nearly keel over with the smell. attend work, only slightly late and then come home, pull apart rubbish bag and find liquid gold - maggots. They may be served immediately to discus with relish or kept and fed as flies ( although u need a tight fitting lid or u have to kill them or pull their wings off - yetchh) . Commence breeding them by repeating this cycle weekly. (it helps if the venue of location of rubbish bag is changed frequently so it doesnt look like its happening on purpose)...

heres my two cents: substrate 7cm deep gravel - with undergravel filter tray(only the tray not the airlifts etc)on the tank base. underneath this tray put 2 pottles of jbl plant fertiser per 4ft long. then cover with the gravel. fill tank and wait a week to clear. BUT WHOA do the plants grow! depth of tank- 800mm minimum if you want to really enjoy vallisneria at twisted val in its full splendour. lighting (for cheapness, longevity and depth punch ) - 1 400W mercury vapor (maybe a powersupply fan on your lid if you enclose it) per 4ft length. drilling the holes - works well, but you need to use pvc threaded nipple and two 90deg threaded elbow fittings and washer setup. over the internal elbow fitting you need to fit a filter insert out of something like a rio internal filter or suchlike. it will require rinsing but stops leaves bunging your filters out and clogging your intakes. co2 - cheapest option - go buy a 70$ mig adaptor to suit soda stream bottles. and buy a good needle valve and build/buy an excellent diffuser - a bell is not really what you want. the jbl ones are good - but are they still available? get the bottles filled at the co2 filler nearest you (bout 2.70$). not your local supermarket swap (-10$!)

Yesterday, Eduard (eddy) Himsel died in his home in christchurch. One of the founding fathers of fish importing and breeding in new zealand, owner of The Goldfish Bowl (riccarton ), The Fish Tank (Hereford street) and the Petworld stores in Christchurch. His knowledge of fresh and salt water aquariums was vast and was shared with anyone who was willing to listen. He pioneered importing of tropical and marine fish into new zealand and was well known in christchurch as the supplier of LIVE tubifex worms for many years. Those who know of him will remember his unusual accent and his gregarious manner. As some of you probably know, the retail face of his business is reflected in his Ferry road store and his two mall stores, barrington and northlands. His wholesale side sold fish to other shops (and supplied his three) and he loved to supply unusual species ( there were always pantodons, elephant noses, rummy nose, pedigree discus, emperor tetras and other hard to find tropical species). He always supplied marine fish, but more recently his passions were corals and the harder to find and keep marines, platax, moorish idols, etc and he loved banggai cardinals. His spare time was spent sourcing and finding new fish, researching filter systems and methods of keeping and searching the internet for new aquarium related paraphernalia. His fishkeeping stemmed from when he was young in berlin during the war; he kept tropical fish in a small tank using whatever he could to supply heat (candles, electric light bulbs etc) - a far cry from today. He had many little secrets on breeding of difficult fish. We can't replace Dr.Fish ( his personalised plate) and hope to continue his lifetime work and joy, the importing and breeding of tropical fish. Anybody that knows him is welcome to contact ferry road Petworld and ask for details of his funeral etc. === a great loss to new zealand fish keeping ===

Yesterday, Eduard (eddy) Himsel died in his home in christchurch. One of the founding fathers of fish importing and breeding in new zealand, owner of The Goldfish Bowl (riccarton ), The Fish Tank (Hereford street) and the Petworld stores in Christchurch. His knowledge of fresh and salt water aquariums was vast and was shared with anyone who was willing to listen. He pioneered importing of tropical and marine fish into new zealand and was well known in christchurch as the supplier of LIVE tubifex worms for many years. Those who know of him will remember his unusual accent and his gregarious manner. As some of you probably know, the retail face of his business is reflected in his Ferry road store and his two mall stores, barrington and northlands. His wholesale side sold fish to other shops (and supplied his three) and he loved to supply unusual species ( there were always pantodons, elephant noses, rummy nose, pedigree discus, emperor tetras and other hard to find tropical species). He always supplied marine fish, but more recently his passions were corals and the harder to find and keep marines, platax, moorish idols, etc and he loved banggai cardinals. His spare time was spent sourcing and finding new fish, researching filter systems and methods of keeping and searching the internet for new aquarium related paraphernalia. His fishkeeping stemmed from when he was young in berlin during the war; he kept tropical fish in a small tank using whatever he could to supply heat (candles, electric light bulbs etc) - a far cry from today. He had many little secrets on breeding of difficult fish. We can't replace Dr.Fish ( his personalised plate) and hope to continue his lifetime work and joy, the importing and breeding of tropical fish. Anybody that knows him is welcome to contact ferry road Petworld and ask for details of his funeral etc. === a great loss to new zealand fish keeping ===

buy a regulator s/h for oxygen etc. buy a CO2gas bottle fitting adaptor from Norgrens or someplace into gas etc and attach it to the regulator. down here i can get sodastream bottles s/h for $10. get a nail or suchlike and put inside the fitting so it will press open the co2 bottle valve when you screw them together. run a airline from the regulator out to the tank. i can get diffusers if you need them.

so anybody got 2 cents on this tank or what?

apparently petworld freight nz wide. a guy in auckland i know bought some and they cost him $80 for a box of 8 fish to aucks. cheap!he reckons it took around 2 hours to get them. they have fish lists on their website too. dunno what the address it is but it would prob be www.petworld.co.nz or something close.

i kept a 3 tank tiered setup for a couple years using cold saltwater. in the summer we used irrigation hose coiled in the fridge (NEATLY sealed around the fridge seal) to keep it real cool on those hot days. nowadays one could easily purchase a plastic radiator from a modern automobile and pump the water through it, fan cools - easy.we didnt even use a protein skimmer (just an airlift in the filter box dumping into a coke bottle - roshambo extreme - 18 year olds budget styles.) the crabs eventually shifted a big rock through the front pane of the 6foot tank and then it was the 4 foot and 2 foot connected. we ran it like that for a while too until someones parent said hed like to shift house and there wasnt any facility to continue it further. easy setup. anemones and shrimp propagate like wildfire! cheap as chips and no deforestation of tropical coral reefs...just the local rockpools and beach.

hey hangon. what about the fact that nitrite peaks dont actually happen once. they continually happen every time you increase the loading on the ecosystem. a soft coral dies - mm nitrite peak. that fish goes undiscovered behind the big log- nitrite peak. the problem is that most tropical systems dont have the surface area to support a bacteriological system that can really handle the kind of peaks that happen. most filter systems are far too small to handle it. the bacterial explosion to handle the ammonia loading = converts it to nitrite = converts it to nitrate. in the gaps there is a time period where there is a lot of ammonia/nitrite in the water - if its enough to blow away your tiger loach - you find it dead. these kind of peaks occur every time you add a fish / add excess food / something dies/ all sorts of variables and your aquarium is really a continual bacterial challenge to hold off the peaks. easy no?

finish the unit INSIDE and out in mirotone 2 pot paint or equivalent. the inside just about matters more than outside. its those 10drips that go down the back of the glass that make the mdf bulge and turn to nice exploded pinex weetbix that supports a nice coating of sugar and not much else!

Hi everybody I find myself coming back here occassionally to sniff out the chat and found a post from pegasus on me so i thought id better say something. I come with 20 years experience in fish(started VERY young), built every tank i owned except my first. last personal tank - 1200 x 600d x 900h with custom built black lacquer stand & lid.sold it empty 10 yrs old for $1400(last year) mercury vapour 400w & 4 4ft aquaglo & - co2 setup, trickle filter discus cardinals rummy nose elephant nose black ghosts rams synodontis upside downcats zebra plecs hatchets and the plants - i was pounding in co2 until the spiral vall, crypts, amazons were out of the tank. At one point i couldnt prune fast enough and the plants would make it around the cover glass and burn themselves on the mh bulb by the next day!I put 2 pottles of jbl fertiliser in the substrate before i set it up!. that was after i pulled it down as the marine tank it was before - way early days 10 years ago - the lighting was 2 x 500w halogen floods and 6 x 3ft grolux!!!!i kept goniopora and some soft corals back then along with powder blues and polkadot groupers etc! i was 16 then!! :-? always built everything myself...in those days 10000K MH werent even born yet! started a few coldwater marine tanks 8 or so years ago too for fun and they were pretty cool.everything kept climbing out of the tanks tho... nowadays pretty content to muck around dont really have much to do with personal fish keeping per say- keep an eye/advisory/developmental role in an importing/wholesale/retail setup.wont say anymore bout that fish stuff still doing currently: make a few filters (fluidised beds yeah wet/dry )and uv sterilisers for people. build big tanks that dont break :lol: . interested in a lot of other things so dont have a lot of time to keep fish at home.plus i see so many that i just dont really feel i need to keep them ...however most of my friends want me to start one up again, coz they used to come round and sit in front of the tank for hours sorting out why that red tail black shark had That personality etc.... training - Ive finished my masters in synthetic organic chemistry so i suppose im a scientist. did a lot of bio, zoo and plant physiology too so i understand most facets of fresh/saltwater chemistry and aquatic plant maintenance. bit of existentialism, french and japanese to top it off!??! experienced mechanic and auto sparky (undergrad pocket money!).build/restore/customise cars 4 people.built/customise buildings/shops/houses. fix anything - but bit of a toolman taylor.like to do electrical & plumbing and spraypainting and design and electronics and weird stuff like that. bit of a perfectionist too. been considering churning out some decent fish tank units - the ones in the shops are soooooooo boring!im going to design something modern looking and not made from mdf :evil: weetbix! im must put that on my to do list. at the moment - shopfitting in northlands mall chch!. 1 big reef tank on the build! feel free to chat bout fish etc- ive bought,bred and lost my fair share over the years. but i cant guarantee when i check back here - usually happens when my brain rolls over and i have to think fishy.

installing a "D" curve circuit breaker will avoid the tripping common in tanks. personally a standard normal fuse ensures your fish keep living and your pumps dont empty the tank over the floor.

FOSROC RTV clear - accept nothing less.

Im building a large octagonal tank. In glass. 1200 x 1200 x 1000mm deep. plan to use 15mm base and 12 mm sides mitred at 22.5degrees. the internal joints will be jointed with glass rods as i have done to most of my previous big tanks - last one 1200x600x800deep 10mm glass and glass rods in the corners. but i cant find anywhere the detail for an octagon in terms of shear stress and breaking strain. each panel will be 1000mm deep and 455mm wide. any comments? pos or neg. have checked everywhere (including the xl sheet) and am paranoid that it will pop! will be a phat display reef.fluidised bed filtration.10000lph.uv.protein skimmer.1000w metal halide 20k bulb (need to punch a metre down) and probably a few T tubes.

I take it that you are a beginner at reef keeping and are still learning how to keep marine fish. wholesale supplier not amateur. I have seen centropyge bispinosa sell for $200 . this fish is normally $80 in most shops. This is only one example of the outrages pricing. the prices will go continue to go up too, due to the factors i have previously discussed. this hobby is an esoteric luxury and supply of marine stock fraught with difficulty - from capture , the livestocks inability to handle transport, quarantine and environmental change to the suppliers and aquarists tanks. It is remarkable that they even make it off the plane alive and that importers even consider to trade in such a commodity- its really not worth the trouble but we persist - so you guys can moan about the prices and then dash home stoked with your new cerianthus anemone or polka dot grouper - imperator angel- whatever. I dont actually know what you are talking about species that cant be kept... we dont sell on until they are eating. I would say that they would loose about 50% of there stock due to neglect and bad buying decisions. unable to comment on customers losses, but we usually hear about any. , Fancy trying to keep acropora in between two 150w watt metal halides, this is no way enough lighting. Also they buy fish that are imposable to keep for the hobbyist. If they knew what they are doing they would not make these mistakes, so I guess the prices are high so that the hobbyist can pay for there incompetence. refer last email.I replied to you to try and infer the costs involved in providing fish to the reef public. recently it has become much more expensive to do so. It is as simple as that. We like to supply the more unusual and rare fish (not some chromis, fiji damsels and a few dwarf angels, a clown and a trigger ) and will continue to do so. We search the world for them.if you dont want to pay for them ....so be it. I have been to the Auckland reef club and have found that most members have the same opinion of Janssen’s. but you still buy...

Has anybody actually checked the price of live (or any) freight to a remote island in the south pacific lately. after certain recent incidents etc routes have changed and prices have skyrocketed. Is the fish a quality specimen. cyanide caught. imported direct or thru 50 stores. is it rare? people that desire to keep a small piece of the ocean in their living room should not complain about the prices of fish. you pays your money and you takes your choice. hopefully the cyanide doesnt bite you! can you really tell if that fish is captive caught (ever thought what good divers cost by the hour? and perhaps quarantine costs and losses and tax. it seems ridiculously cheap to be paying under 100bucks a fish doesnt it? If anybody was asking me........id buy from jansens.....