~Shaun~

I've run canisters in series several times, in fact I have two in series now on my axolotl tank (the first, an Eheim 2213, being empty of media and media containers, solely there as a sand-trap). I find that it's best not to have them both/all plugged in (unless you *really* need max flow). Just have the most powerful one plugged in and let the other/s be essentially a passive filter. However, the advice you've got here is good. Just run them on the new tank when you establish it. As long as the existing canister isn't left without flow for more than about an hour* it'll continue to do the job on the new tank. As you add more bioload the bacteria will grow to cope with it, in whatever filters you have running. (* If it's going to be more than an hour before having it running in the new tank just run it on a bucket of old tank water. Otherwise the bacteria can die from lack of oxygen.) Good luck with the new tank.

Hi. I realise this is quite an old thread (and the point is likely moot by now) but I've done something similar to this by running a large-bore siphon between the tanks and then have the canister sucking out of one end and pumping back to the other end. There will be a slight difference in water level between the tanks, stepping down as you go from canister outlet to inlet and it pays to have clear siphons so you can check for air bubbles in them but it can be done. I've used PVC tubing from hardware stores for the siphons and it will work fine if set up properly. It won't be high-flow though and basically biological filtration only as the flow will be too low to remove detritus. Obviously if the critters in each tank are small enough to fit through the siphon then a 'strainer' will need to be fitted. Also it pays to have the suck-end of the siphon cut in a 'V' so that it's less likely to have something suck onto it and block it. Just my 2c. [edit] I've also used Marley white PVC rigid pipe and two 90º elbows to make siphons. It looks a lot better but you can't see if any air is trapped in the top of the siphon so you need to mark each tank's running-level (with a newly-cleaned canister) on the tank and, if the levels change much then re-start the siphon. The siphon is started by submerging it completely in a tank, filling it up, then blocking both ends while it's positioned in place, either using your thumbs or corks / sparkling wine bungs or similar. Good luck.

I have never known a kuhli loach to hurt anything and I've had them in tanks with very small fry.

Heh! I'm quite prepared to help anyone in anyway that I can although please don't ask me to come look at your fish, I've a sore back and don't think I'm able to walk/swim halfway around the planet.

Hi Caper and Caryl, Thanks for the welcome, I appreciate it. Caper, I specialised in just a few species and filtration (I was a consultant as part of my business) so my knowledge first-hand is limited to those areas. This site is certainly great. :-)

I know this is an old thread but I'm new here. :-) I had two pumps that may well have been A 100A'a. I'm not sure, I got them from Brooklands as I was a wholesale customer of theirs. They were silver in colour and would run about 25 tanks each. I also had a different brand, gold coloured one that Rolf Jansen gave to me at cost. Believe it or not, it was around a grand! (I saw the paperwork, it was brand new, his back-up pump). One of these pumps used to run the whole of his first shop and still have air bled off. I'd conservatively estimate that it was capable of 80 fast-running outlets. I believe that the gold one was a "The Pump", the biggest model made, the other two silver ones were copies. Man did those things move some air! I had them all hooked up to a "ring main" made out of 40mm PVC piping that ran around my fishroom, the idea being built-in redundancy, the big one on it's own would probably have done the job. They used about 60-80 watts of electricity each, hardly got warm and you had to listen to hear them. They had big rubber feet and as long as they were on a firm surface were almost silent. They worked on the "electomagnetic linear motor" principal with a reciprocating armature attached at each end to polypropolene laminate diaphrams. Very quiet and very efficient. As a release valve for all the excess air I had I made up a 2m length of 110mm drain pipe, with an end-cap glued on, with a 10mm PVC pipe running into the bottom of it. I kept it almost full of water to supply enough back-pressure (Had a clear bit of pipe on the outside coming from the bottom as a gauge). It bubbled away merrily, I had to keep topping it up every few days. It served to bleed off the excess airflow without putting too much back-pressure on the pumps. The enemy of diaphram pumps is too much back-pressure. Alas, I "lost" the big one and sold the two smaller ones very cheaply to a local fishkeeper cheaply after my business went down and I was desperate for money. I don't know if Brooklands still carry the model they had, I don't think they sold a lot of them. He he. Bit late bit still......

Thank you MCT, I look forward to spending time here. :-) Cheers,

I've just realised something very ironic about my back injury and joining this site. I injured my back while "in the field" in my capacity as an FNZAS breeding scheme co-ordinator for the Manurewa club. I was spending a day verifying breeding efforts for certification and was trying to fit as many visits in as possible in one afternoon. I was in.. Onehunga?.. and I had just viewed one lot of fish and said "I have to go as I said I'd be at XXXX's place at 3pm". Someone said "That's me, I live one street over but my section backs onto this one, we just go over the fence". So we did. However, when I jumped the fence I landed unevenly on one foot in an un-seen dip in the lawn and jarred my back. It was sore but I kept up a brave face and carried on. Next day it took me nearly an hour to climb out of bed. Turned out I have compression fractures of the two vertebrae immediately above my pelvis, with pinched nerves and associated radiculopathy. It got worse over the next few years and it isn't getting better as I get older. It's a funny old world huh? When the most harmless-seeming of actions can radically change your life. Great to be associated with the FNZAS again, hopefully this time I don't get hurt. ;-)

Thanks for the welcome Bill. Yes, I've been fishkeeping for many a year. :-) Hey Alan!! Long time no see indeed. It sure has been a while. Heh! Yeah, I did forget to mention that didn't I. :-) Great to see you too. The back? You take the good with the bad huh? Life is good. I'm really pleased I found this place. FNZAS is certainly keeping up with the times, good to see. I hope you're well.

Hi Lynda, Thanks for the welcome, I appreciate it. Hehe, 250 tanks was a lot of work. However, about half of them were on a "central system", sharing a massive filtration system and heating, all being recirculated through a 400 liter sump. I used this system for growing the fish to saleable size, due to having a massive filter and waterchanging constantly just by adjusting a tap I could dump a lot of food in there. :-) It was the breeding and conditioning tanks that were hard work. Individual fish with individual requirements require attention to detail and lots of bucket-carrying. Also, the live food was a lot of work, keeping up the daily brine-shrimp hatch and all the whiteworm/microworm cultures healthy was a big task. Add to that I used to make my own "gel" food for adults and growing-on fish and as much time was spent in support roles as was spent on the fish. Great to be here, cheers.

Hi Jude, I'm glad that Riff was aware of this site through you. I've already thanked Riff in nz.wanted, thank you too. I hope I can find a couple of boy peppered corys. FNZAS has come a long way. I was a card-carrying member for quite a few years but didn't know this site existed until you and Riff told me. Cheers,

Hi, thanks for the welcome. Yeah, at least 250. Varying from 18" (450mm) to 2m x 1.5m x 1.5m. Mostly 450 x 300 x 300 though. I used to have a business breeding tropical fish, Aquarium Fish Supplies (funnilly enough) based first at Glen Murray, then here in Pukekohe. I bred fish and sold them to petshops and other wholesalers. Then I injured my back, my "sleeping" partner decided he wanted to be employed in the business and basically it fell to pieces. Differences of opinion. :-( I haven't kept fish much since, that was back in the early 90's. I won best chiclid, best angelfish, best characin, best corydoras and best fish in show at the 1993 Aquarium Expo in Auckland. I was a member of the Manurewa Aquarium Society (Now called South Auckland I see) for several years. I'm 44 years old now, basically medically retired (hard to carry buckets with fractured vertebrae). I just have a couple of tanks with Corys, Ancistrus and a few Guppies at the moment.

Hi Folks, I've just joined, this site was pointed out to me when I posted in the newsgroup nz.wanted for some tank-bred male peppered corydoras in the south Auckland area. I'll probably get to that in another post though. :-) My name is Shaun Stephens, past member of NZFFSG and MAS. Past VP and breeding scheme co-ordinator of MAS actually. I dare say there are people here who know me. I haven't been fishkeeping much of late, just have a couple of tanks at the moment. Big change from when I had 250+. Anyway, hello folks, I hope to get to know some of you better and talk about fish a bit. :-) Cheers,