smidey

sure, my bad! one of those cases where you can't see the wood for the trees. Rot not root, haha egg on my face :oops:

thanks all, i haven't changed anything for months, i do the same cleaning weekly, same water changes etc. thats why im so confused about the PH increasing, it has levelled off around 7.6 today.

The PH is higher again today, didnt get a chance to take sample to LFS but will do tomorrow. The cf1000 has the standard filter wool pad, two gauzes along with ceramic biorings & bioballs. The hood filter has filter wool & ceramic biorings. The problem I have with the rocks is I cant vacume between them but if i don't need to vacume very often all the better.

Not sure what exactely you mean skippy, marine ply will rot as it is NOT treated. treated ply will not rot. the glue laminating process for marine ply is different, its designed to be fibreglassed over not be submerged. As i said it is now called "Premium A".

also i dont have a test kit for nitrates & nitrites so will take sample to LFS tomorrow for testing.

I started with a 1 foot tank, when I upgraded to a 200L tank my eyes popped out of my head when i took it out of the box. 6 months on & I'm not that impressed with it any more just cause i'm used to it now.

Hi all, I have a 200L tank, 2 xAngels, 2xPearl Gourami, 2xClown & 2x Skunk Loaches, 1xBN catfish, 4xSerpae Neons, 10xNeons & 5 glowlights. My tank has been running with stable water approx 6 months now. In the last two weeks the PH has been rising. Co-incidenitily I added a CF1000 filter two weeks ago also. It has always been 7.2. It has been getting to 7.6 which is the peramiter of my test kit. How often do you vacume the gravel in your tanks for the fish faeces? I usually do it every week or fortnight. I do have an area that has a few tall rocks & plants which I basically have to remove the lot from the tank to be able to vacume so I think this may be the cause, do you agree? All thoughts welcome. Smidey

& as you use acid cure silicone, you cant use laminated glass as the acid cure eats away the laminating silicon.

Marine Ply won't swell but it will root. The term marine ply actually refers to a different type of glue used for the laminating & it is not treated. I believe the manufacturers have just renamed it "Premium A" so it isn't incorrectly thought of as treated.

Hi all, (I work in the joinery industry)the green stuff is HMR (High Moisture Resistant) which is better butter not that great. MDF will be fine as a cabinet but I would not recommend making a hood out of it. It even obsorbes moisture out of the air but if it is well sealed it should be fine. I have a sunsun tank & stand, its 200L so weighs over 200kg with the rocks etc. The cabinet has been well designed & only has 6 verticle panels holding all the weight & it is very stable. Its how the weight is transfered to the floor thats important. It has a horizontal panel that the tank sits on, that panels sits on 6 verticles (2xBach,2xends & 2 central divs) which sit on one base panel which has six feet to the floor. Very basic but very strong. Hey david, scooters should have offcuts that you need even if it is plywood.

I have a 200L tank. In there I have a BN catfish which does alot of cleaning of the glass, especially the back which is excellent as I struggle to get my arm down there to manually scrub it. I have also had good success with two clown & two skunk loaches, they eat all the left ova food off the bottom which stops it turning to nitrates as it decaes.

the punk rocker breed?

as the turtles get bigger tha can be quite rough in their tank so you need to put less fragile items in there, a stainless steel heater is a better option than a glass one.

Hi all, I have just added a Aqua One CF1000 canister filter to my setup & still using my factory hood unit as well. The canister filter has been running for 3 days & i am stoked with the clarity difference of the water. The only instructions that came with it were the warranty & setup instructions. It has two baskets, top one with filter wool & a gauze pad & the second with gauze pad & ceramic bio rings. I assume that the only filter pad I change is the filter wool pad & just rinse the gauze pads. If this is correct how often should I change the wool 4-6 weeks? Also what do the hollow plastic balls do that are in the very bottom? Smidey

hi, my cory was extremely active. It never stopped moving as fast as it could. It was never aggresive at all. Smidey

What you have on the second plan is very good. As a cabinet maker the only thing I suggest is that timber has a grain, which means it can have movement along that grain. I'm not sure if you are familiar with a bulding product called hyspan or hybeam, this can be used instead of a floor joist or beam & it is made with 17mm plywood on its edge & 50x25 timber top & bottom for fixing to. Plywood on its edge is as strong as a much larger sized timber with out the potential to movement along the grain as the grains are laid at 90 degrees of each other. The only thing to be careful of is stopping the vertical plywood curving. Let me know if you want more info. Smidey

I realise what they have to run is enormous, what I was curiuos about was how little power we actually use. I now have two filters, a canister 1000l/hr & the 900L/hr factory hood model, twin 3 foot lights & twin 150w heaters.

I liked the bra clam shell & the pullover turtle.

Heres a positive look at a popular topic from the saltwater area, does anyone know how little money it costs for power to run a 150-200L freshwater tropical tank? the marine guys are talking around $600 a month! I only noticed around $20 a month for mine, any one agree or disagree? Smidey

Brilliant! There are some really creative people out there.

I take my hat off to all you guys & girls that have marine tanks, the time etc to set them up then the endless $$$ that your spending to maintain & run them. I have a freshwater tropical setup that clearly does not have the same running costs. I guess its like anything in this world, if it brings alot of pleasure it generally will cost alot. You also do have the ultimate in fish keeping setups though so keep that in mind. i'm a petrol head so I liken it to me having a Holden & you having a Ferrari. Smidey

Thanks Fishy t & Caryl, i have mainly caboomba plants which are flimsey so I did have to reduce the current so they could stand up right.

Hi all, is it possible to over filtrate the water? I have added a Aqua One canister CF1000 which is rated at 1000L/Hr & am still running the factory hood filter which is rated at 900L/Hr. So a total of 1900L/Hr in a 200L tank, almost 10 times an hour! I guess this is good, anyone had bad experiences with this? Smidey

I put a dark blue backing on my 200L tank & because of the dark backing almost every fish I have really stand out. I have angels, neons, serpae neons, glowlights, silver gourami's, clown & shunk loaches. it also makes the tank look deeper (front to Back) than it really is.

every thing I have read about sexing angels says it is almost impossible, the only exact method is to see their "bits" when laying eggs, when my angels lay the female has a larger tube for the eggs & male has smaller pointier tube. Smidey