nz_mitch

I'll sure to be careful with that... I didn't have to eat all the ice-cream either; although I would've obligingly done so if needed.. Thanks for your advice Caryl, but I'm still a little bit confused as to how to do this. The setup (if you stretch your imagination) looks like this: Wow, take another look - that's an amazing illustration! So where can I put the airstone to stop the big bubbles making such a racket? Also, that probably accurately depicts the amount of the tank the UG filter covers, is this enough? If it's not enough and there's no way of significantly reducing the noise (it's in a bedroom...)/it's not big enough, then I'm guessing a small hang on the side filter would be the best option... that'd make a fair splashing noise too wouldn't it?

Hi everyone, Tanks looking great and it went down very well. Betta's settled in and asides from a bit of agression on his part when he first moved in, they all get along very nicely now. Thanks so much for the help! Just one last question, the bubbles from the UG filter are VERY noisy, especially at night time, can I run a pipe from the uplift tube to an airstone to reduce the noise? If so, what's the best way to do this - the airstone end is a lot smaller than the uplift tube (that is, the piping I have fits the airstone, but is too small for the uplift tube). Thanks again!

Woohoo, three posts in a row! Just wanted to ask about the UG filter again; it only covers half the tank and I don't have any other filter, is this going to cause a problem down the track? A lot of what I read about UG filters isn't particularly comforting. Perhaps it'd be worth buying a cheap hang-on filter, but would this clash with the UG filter (one sucking up, the other down)? Thanks

Here's my guess (as a beginner myself, may I caveat): The ammonia is likely due to the added bio-load of the two discus' excretion. I'd assume you should just increase the frequency of water changes to compensate while the bacteria which convert ammonia to nitrite increase in number. ...perhaps wait for someone's confirmation or condemnation of my suggestion!

Water's cleared now that everything's settled - I'm very pleased with my ice-cream container handiwork. Now I've got another pressing question! How many snails is too many snails? I can quickly count 10-15 just looking around the tank and I'm guessing there'd be a lot more if I look hard. Do I need to engage in some intervening population control? They don't really bother me too much and I figure they'yre good - turning waste into harmless shell, but seeing as there's a lot of them on the glass would it be worth just plucking some out? (forgive my inhumanity, I'll put them in the 'spare' tank!)

I cut out the bottom of the ice-cream container (I figured that was safer than the chemically emblazened "Cadbury Crunchie" lid) and screwed it to the bottom of the driftwood and buried it; worked a treat.. although my water's now gone all cloudy from the substrate disturbance... other than that though it's looking good.

Yea I think that'll be particularly good, as the UG filter only covers about half the tank - so I'll put the plants in the area the filter doesn't cover, that should help prevent any (if there were any in such a small tank!) deadspots, right? Thanks for the advice, I'll see if I can find one perfectly shaped arched rock to hold the driftwood down, otherwise the slate trick sounds quite clever.. would an ice-cream container lid be alright for the slate?

I think it's Hygrophila polysperma, which appears to be about the hardiest aquarium plant out there. I've left most of it in there and while it doesn't seem to be growing before me eyes; it's doing alright. Fish are very happy too - darting around, eating well and seemed to have settled in, I added some more gravel (I removed a whole lot of marbles that I didn't like so much) a few days ago. I mixed it around a bit with the new gravel and everything seems to be doing well. Today my driftwood arrive and I should've known that "soaked and ready to drop into your tank" didn't mean I could just drop it into the tank - what's the best way to keep it on the bottom? I looked around for the fishing tackle box to see if I could find any lead weights but goodness knows where that's gone, is there any clever way to do it (I don't imagine burying it in gravel would work...) or will this follow the splendid trend I've noticed in everything aquarium related, where I'll have to guy and buy something else? As far as oxygenation goes issues a few days ago I have realised in hindsight that I wasn't simply running the tank to hot (in my excitement to breed as much bacteria as possible); the fish are very happy now that I've got it around 27-28 (which should suit the Betta too?). I'm picking the Betta up on Saturday and if I can get this driftwood fixed tomorrow I'll hopefully get some Java moss to attach to it to make a bit of a hiding spot for the Betta so everything seems to be going well. Thanks again everyone for your help!

Thanks Keri Anne, I'll sort that out tomorrow - they seem to be very happy at the moment though, I'll still be keeping a close eye on them. Also, for those who paid attention in biology, I'm not sure if the plants survived the move (I think it may have initially been one or two big plants, it's now 4 or 5 smaller plants ). I figured if they were alive they'd be pointing towards the light, but they don't seem to move? If they're dead I'd like to take them out (I imagine rotting plants is a rather unneccessary bio-load); but I don't want to waste them if they're still alive (they're still green and I'm not finding all that many loose leaves floating about..)

All seems to be going quite well - I've set up an UG filter and using water condition has sped up the process of getting everything going. This morning though a couple of the larger guppies were hiding in the corner and most of the rest were hanging round the surface - this lead me to believe there was an oxygen shortage/perhaps nitrate poisoning, although after a water change and a feed they were happy as larry again. What I'm guessing from this is that there's a reasonable colony of stage 1 bacteria that survived the transfer, just need to build up a bit more stage 2.. I think the way the UG filter is set up means it's not oxygenating the tank enough; there's only about 2cm of water before the bubbles reach the surface - I bought some more hosing but it's too small to connect to the end of the pipe so I'll get some more on Monday. What would give the best oxygenation, an air stone or just a better placed, free-flowing outlet (I'd assume an air-stone, with the higher surface area..), also is alright to put an airtsone on the end of a UG filter? I've also read that it can be good to add a bit of sea-salt to the water - any thoughts on this? Driftwood should arrive tomorrow/Tuesday then I'll buy some new plants and get the figher on Friday/Saturday (figure I should leave it as long as possible 'til I add another fish). Thanks

If I run the Rio 200 all the Guppies end up in one corner

Hi everyone, Thanks for the advice. The tank I've got has a Rio 200 filter - it's pretty fast; I don't think I'm going to leave it on all night I think it'll exhaust the poor guppies! Also, I don't think it'd be that suited for Bettas either would it? Is there anyway to slow it down or should I replace it? Thanks again

Hello everyone, I'm just about to head off to get my teeth drilled but I picked up the tank today; there's only about 40% water in the tank so I've just got the air going (the filter is too big to fit in with so little water) and I'm using the heater to heat up water in the spare tank to add later this afternoon (I left that water to sit overnight too). There's quite a lot of green, hairy algae in the tank - it was very green after the drive but it settle so now there's just a green hue in the water and some of the stones have green hairs on them. What's the best way to deal with this? There's about 10 guppies in the tank already and the guy had a much bigger tank with Angels etc. in it and it was it looked in very good condition so I figure the tank is 'cycled,' but I guess I should do some tests? I've had a look at petplanet.co.nz and on Trademe and test kits seem to be around the $40 mark; is this really neccessary for me? I was hoping I could just buy 75c worth of litmus paper Anyway, I'll hopefully get the water topped up later today and we'll see how we go from there. Thanks Mitch

After much assistance from the very hospital people in the #aquaria IRC channel I bought the above tank. I'm picking it up tomorrow; so I'll let you all know how it goes Thanks again for your help

I'm leaning towards whetu's recommendation: I've even bought the driftwood! I very stealthily stole the tank this evening and I'd quite like to start getting things going tomorrow. The filter/pump is crappy and needs replacing so any recommendations for what's the best option there? Actually, I wonder - seeing as all I've now got is an empty tank; would it be worth buying something like this? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 651721.htm Would that setup handle a Siamese Fighting Fish (and if possible anything else?) The tank is pretty much exactly the same size; it just seems like better value with heater/light/filter all included.

I'm guessing this would be a suitable light? Jebo - Small aquarium light, 9 watt - $25 (guessing..) http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 807199.htm ...Not that I didn't like the light you suggested, whetu...

Alright I might as well ask now - seeing as I will be soon anyway. Could anyone point me in the right direction for a guide on setting up the plants? I'd like to get the plants/cycle going tomorrow or Friday. If I could the tank setup in the next couple of days - that'd give me about 10 days until I'd want to add the fish. Is that too short? I'd rather wait and have things properly setup and it appears there's plenty of fish on trademe (and I'm sure in the shops) so I'm guessing I wouldn't be missing out. Thanks

Fortunately I've already got one for the mean time - perhaps he should add a tank in the vicinit of $800 though because I don't know if I can fend off purchasing one for myself...

Hi everyone, Thanks for all the advice - especially your thread whetu. I'm liking the look of a male Siamese fighting fish; would it be possible to put anything else in their with it? Just for some variety... As for those fish on trademe, is that the best way to buy them - or should I get them from a shop? Also, as far as plants/gravel go - I guess they're best to buy from a shop? Many thanks - I'll certainly keep you posted!

Hi everyone, Thanks for all the advice - I'll pop up to the Pupuke Aquarium and have a look there. I've got a couple of weeks until birthday so I'm planning on stealing the tank and gettings things going asap.. Using the largely unreliable species-identifier, Google Image Search, I think I quite like the look of Siamese Fighting Fish (although, based on the name, are they too not too agressive for the smaller tank?). Many thanks for your advice and anymore is appreciated - I'll let you know (as I'm sure you're all terribly interested in the goings on of a 30L tank!) how it goes. Thanks

Hi everyone, My girlfriend's birthday is coming up and she's always kept goldfish (stopped a couple of years ago) so I thought I'd get everything going for her again. Problem is, I've never found goldfish that entertaining - so I wondered if anyone had any ideas about something reasonably straightforward that would be little bit more than (sorry don't meant to offend any goldfish enthusiasts!) you're everage goldfish bowl. The dimensions are 460mm w x 250 d x 260 h; there's a decent pump/filter etc although it'd need a heater. I'd really like to do a marine setup, but I've gathered that's not really feasible in such a small tank (I think I'm catching MTS just from browsing these forums... and I can foresee an imminent purchase of a larger tank for myself ...). If it were possible to do one (especially with clowns, we all loved Finding Nemo!) I'd really appreciate some advice on how to go about that. Otherwise, and I think this would be the most feasbile (and cost-effective) option, could anyone suggest a good tropical setup to suit the tank? I've been down to the LFS in Takapuna and the selection of fish there was very limited. I quite like the look of Cichlids, would this be a good option? I'd like to keep things around the $100 mark too... Any help would be much appreciated. Many thanks Mitch