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Her bath didn't cause any harm, and hopefully it'll help kill off the slime. I've got two types of sunset. One makes me think of sunsets, the other looks more like a flame. I'll take photos soon. I'm going to lower the tank temperature, do a water change, and reduce feeding. Should make the tank an easier place to live. There has been a lot of Indian Fern that had started rotting underneath itself, perhaps that fueled a bit of bacterial fire?? Water is clear and cycles 5 times an hour. Other platy's have been in there for 2 months now, and I have about 70 babies in the two fry tanks (hoping for some good looking virgins *fingers crossed*). No problems with any platy except these new hi-fins :-? so was just a little worried. Glad to hear yours are good Keri On a side note, Brine Shrimp are a pain in the bum.

hah and how is this for luck Something has taken a big chunk of the lucky hi-fin's right plectoral fin, he doesn't seem to mind but eck. I know who too, got a baby angel who thinks its funny to bite everything, he likes to wake up the neons in the morning too And the female with the film is trying to get it off, swiping against wood/glass etc. Since I have a warm bucket here I might as well give her a salt bath then put her back, hopefully I dont stuff that up

I got four of these guys last week. One died from the stress of being added to a new tank. (Sunset Orange/Red female, gorgeous) One was sick but came right and is just fine now chasing all the ladies (Sunset Orange/Red male, same as above) Another was sick, but came right, then got sick again, and I put him in a hospital tank two days ago, he was covered in a white film, so I gave him strong aeration, plants, melafix + rock salt and temp at 28C. The white film disappeared but he died of what I would say was a bacterial infection (I knew what he needed but didnt have the money, so just crossed fingers). This was a female red with black tail and hi-fin. The only one that didn't get sick, is doing fine, and is a duplicate of the one that died this morning in the hospital tank. Except now she has a white film build up :evil: :evil: :evil: I also purchased a fifth blue paltty, with a normal fin, at the same time, and just like every other fish in the tank its just dandy, no problems at all. So I'm guessing that the hi-fin gene weakens the fish? or did I just get a bad batch? I want to know because I dont want to breed a needlessly weakend gene. I've got a bag of rock salt here, will a half dose of this stop the hi-fin platty from developing this white film? I say half dose because I have scaleless fish in the tank as well, and previously had never put any salt in because of this. I'm not going to put her in a hospital tank because she looks fine, eating, swimming fast etc, I can just see that film and I dont like it. Ph 7.0-7.2 kH 5 Am 0 Nitrate 0 (heavily planted plus regular water changes) Temp is around 27-28, I plan to turn this down to 25 soon though. Substrate isn't vacuumed due to plants. Only other fish loss was an angel with a huge bite that got infected, was hoping he'd deal with it on his own but he didn't. Curious about other peoples experiences too.

Those are Tubifex worms. Only fish I have that bothers eating those cubes is the oscar and thats only because I trick him. Dried Bloodworms were popular but didnt create a stir. All my fish love the frozen bloodworms, one of my firemouths jumped out of the water to grab it off me yesterday.

What species?

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile97.html Red-Striped Eartheater (Geo) I've seen some juvenilles in real life before, funky fish alright, and you'd have clean substrate 8) Only thing that would concern me is the size they get to (30cm).

1500x600x600 5ft x 2ft x 2ft 540L and in any house situation, you can normally find a 5ft wall. 2ft wide/tall tanks have no problems with doorways. Its a standard size, so no room for confusion when its being made, "5 by 2 by 2 plz k thx cu" If they can't get that right you may want to have them admitted. 600 is ideal for doorways. Anything much over 600 high is wasted by most fish. Depends where you're going to live down here, if you're looking at inner city apartments then a taller tank is better than a longer one, however most of the time extra height in a tank is wasted, and its really base area you want rather than literage. If you're looking at a house, then a 5ft tank wont be a problem. When I was about 15, my parents owned this tiny house, and by doing some 3 point turns in to the bathroom, we got a 5 footer in their 8) Train system is good here, so working in the CBD doesn't mean you *have* to pay heaps for a house or live in an apartment. My fiance trains in from Upper Hutt. ooo and dont forget, 3 clubs, Kapi-Mana (big club, friendly people) Upper Hutt (smaller club, friendly people, Im a comittee member woo!) Wellington (dont know much about this club, but I only hear good things too )

Neons only school when they're nervous/scared. Once they settle in they just seperate out. My male neons tend to fight a lot, although no damage is done. I love Clown Loaches, might be worth looking in to, similar type of fish to the shark but much more friendly and playful and they hang out in groups. Although the sleeping thing freaks me out. I just got Kribensis, they're awesome. I would LOVE some blue rams, and some cockatoo apisto etc Month or so away yet as the oscar is growing big very quick, and need a 300L+ tank for him, leaving a spare 200L tank 8) altho Helen will probably thief it for baby oscars

Good lighting is the key IMHO Our planted tank has 7 CAEs, so we wanted to grow a bit of algae, so I opened the curtain. The Java Fern gets 4 hours of sunlight a day, and since then growth is substantial, and all the leaves are bright bright green, before this (even with ferts) half of the plant always looked dead and only the new growth was green. It seems to strongly benefit from good full spectrum lighting. My tank has alot of plants, and I've stopped using ferts. Ph 7.0 - 7.2 temp is high at 28-29C, and its got around 2000L/hr filtration and DIY CO2. Friend of mine also suggested that it prefers clean water. If you are shopping for fluoro bulbs, get Phillips Colour 86 '6500K' Cool Daylight. If you're using those eco-saver bulbs, Budget make a 6500K bulb, and Switched On Gardner will have something for you too. If your light is yellow (even just a tint of yellow) its the wrong temperature. Bulbs should be bright white. It must say 6500K on the box, eco bulbs are normally 2700K. Edit: just realised what I posted is the exact opposite of the advice above sorry! but this is what I have found it could be a fluke maybe? perhaps my tank matured around the same time I opened the curtain *shrug*

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Tools/Other/auction-71582614.htm much better option IMO can get them at the warehouse etc as well. A single will light up a 50L tank just fine.

The Warehouse $5 for a standard one $10 for digital I prefer the standard one.

I've got two Jebo 819 filters and a Jebo 810. The 819 holds eight trays of media, and pumps 1200L/hr (317 gallons/hr), costs $150NZ (~$100CND) and comes with all the media (foam/cermic noodles/carbon). Can't say enough about these filters, I know they're el cheapo but honestly think they're fantastic value. They're huge, silent, and pump a lot of water through the media. I've had a Fluval 404 in the past, wasn't anything special. Never had any problems, but didn't encourage me to spend the extra. Never tried an Eheim, or the newer 05 series Fluvals. Also recommended are the Aqua One CF1200s, I haven't owned one, but AFAIK its basically the same spec/price as the Jebo. Jebo and Jebao aren't the same company, but Jebao does have a line of cannister filters as well :roll:

heh turned out these ballasts have an online manual http://www.tridonicatco.co.nz/MEDIEN/CAT0304_AU/MagBal.pdf The size needed for this model of ballast is 4uF. The reason why its recommended (not needed) is on the third page of this http://www.tridonicatco.co.nz/Medien/cat0304_au/Capacito.pdf. Basically stabilises power consumption by 'cancelling the lag effect of inductance, increasing the power factor closer to unity' So the P numbers above were saying basically use 3.2uF for a 0.8 power factor, or 3.9 for a 0.9 power factor, the closer to 1 the power factor is the more efficent? *shrug* ok it's a bit beyond me, but at least I semi-understand what its for and what I need. Its the Power Factor Correction Capacitor :roll:

hmm that does make sense Also found an old ballast (same purpose and brand, just older) and it mentions the capacitor on it, it says: P1 0.8 use 3.2uF P1 0.9 use 3.9uF but I dont know what the 0.8 or 0.9 is. Also here is the caps on an existing setup, it works, but I didnt put it together, I found it unusual how the caps were connected to the earth like that, but I never quite got that far in to electronics unfortunately and the new ballast is:

haha ok, a permanent outdoor extension cord probably isnt the safest option, I'd at least silicon it up, but seriously the way it should be done (besides an electrician) is with bright orange thin PVC pipe underground with 10A mains rated cable inside it. Keeps it protected from the weather, and makes it safe (in regards to spades, or diggers, etc). But anywho, my point was getting the standard cord extended wont be too expensive and you should be able to find someone nearby who is willing to do it for you. I can't really give any more advice on filters though, because I've only ever used my parents, and that was basically a pump'n pot. I do beleive water movement and the UV-C would clear up the water a lot though. A terracotta pot and some filter wool does make a cheap pre-filter though

Hey guys and girls, Got everything I need to finish up my hood wiring (5 x T8 36W), but was just interested in one point. The diagram below is drawn on the ballast itself, all makes sense to me, except the finer points of the capacitor marked '??'. Is this to filter the incoming current, or for noise suppression? How do I work out the correct capacitance for this? I know this capacitor is optional, but would like to wire everything up properly if possible. Thanks

You can buy mains rated power cord for about $2 a meter, and a new plug for about $5 from Dick Smith, or just buy an extension lead Honestly I wouldn't worry about plug length, as the biggest danger to the cord will be rodents or a spade (an RCD is recommended in case of the latter happening). Either pump will be fine, if the pipes don't match you can get adaptors, its just rubber hose. What you want to look for is the litres per hour, and also for ponds UV-C filters are recommended a lot to keep algae out. Filtering out dirt that may fall in may well be an impossible task unfortunately. Not sure what is actually making your pond unclear? My parents used to overflow theirs, basically a water change for a pond, but I don't think thats the eco-friendly way of doing business. They had a pump and basically put it in a terracota pot with heaps of filter wool around it, then a slate on top. This worked great and the filter wool clogged VERY quickly with muck, but in the end we gave up with the filter wool as there was just too much getting in there Its a great excuse to install a waterfall too btw. Making little rivers is neato.

I found those cheap BioClear air powered sponge filters can be pulled apart and the sponge used on the intake for most HOB (it stretches a bit).

You MUST turn them off at night.

The product mentioned above (thanks Ryan) is what is back on the shelves at LFSs. I went back in and read the packaging. Its an 'Aquarium Products' product apparently, its in a red cardboard box, is distributed by Brooklands, and the main active ingredient is mebendazole. It is on the shelf right next to Furan2. I did some reading and apparently imports stopped because the company who actually produces the tabs only makes limited runs.

What I ended up using in one of my fry tanks was a Jebo 502 HOB, the filter itself isnt anything fantastic, but its cheap (~$40) and has a good flow rate, then got one of those 'BioClear' air powered sponge filters, pull out the grey plastic air power shinnanigans, and slide the sponge over the HOB intake. Basically a sponge filter that cranks 400LPH and its easily adjustable at the top, so you can adjust the current depending on whats going on. I needed it because I was intentially overfeeding corgettes/cucumber, and the water was getting less desirable too quickly, after the sponge filter upgrade the water was crystal clear. Also to seed the tank, you can simply just put a few stones from a setup tank in the filter itself. Being cavebreeders in theory they should prefer higher current and high aeration. I cant confirm that myself but I do know that my baby GBAs absolutely love it (i bought them, dont have a breeding pair). Just my thoughts anywho, good luck

hah no way I wanted to hear that too! Off to the warehouse it is this weekend is 'tank lighting'. I've got 5 4ft T8's to install and wire up but gotta get decent lighting for my baby tanks too (which are also handy for growing young plants).

When angels get to a certain age they get territorial/grumpy, paticularly the males, I have one angel who is outright vicious, and he's not very old (6-9 months maybe?), I put my kois (same size) in with him and within 2-3 seconds a brutual attack began, I had to remove them straight away before they got killed. I have other female angels, same size, that don't hurt a fly. They're so cute and friendly, then they hit the teen years :-? I'd say the betta sparked the fire though. I've found adding another fish can fire things up with cichlids, similar to redecorating the tank, or cold water changes.

T8's are 26mm thick T5's are 16mm thick 250V is correct, our voltage varies from 190 to 220 RMS but 250V devices are fine on it. It's when they say '110/130V' you gotta watch out poof bang whoops. As for lights, I've got a twin setup here with 1x10,000K white, and 1 marine blue on a freshwater tank and it does look nice with rocks etc, I love the look of 6500K lighting on my planted tank though. I got 5 6500K (Cool Daylight, Phillips Colour 83) 48" tubes for $9ea today, you'll tend to find the higher kelvin rating aquarium purpose lamps to be more costly (I've seen them in pet stores for $50++ea).