whetu

Oooh hearing stuff like that makes me so mad! :evil: How dare someone kill your pets?! I would be absolutely livid if someone did that to my fish. The really sad thing is that I've heard of this happening before, with the same results. I think if I was going to have a party where people were likely to drink too much and do stuff like that, I would find a way to lock the lid on the tank.

LOL good point Romeo! I will go back and look at that thread and get inspired by the lovely photos

I would use flourite in my giant planted tank if I won $35 Million. But that's justv based on other people's reccommendations as I haven't actually tried it myself.

Thanks Alan. I will look around and see what I can find. :bounce: I picked up the fitting this afternoon and sure enough the perspex cover was all yellow and cracked, so I just removed it and threw it away. The light will just sit straight on the top glass of the tank so I hope it will be ok. One of the tubes doesn't work at all and the other has dark rings around the ends. So later this week I'll be off to Bunnings to get myself some more cool daylight tubes. I presume they're still the best spectrum? (6500K I think.)

Thanks Don. Even with full-power tubes in all my fittings the maximum I could get on this tank would be 170 watts. would that be enough to grow glosso? A lovely planted glosso lawn certainly does take my fancy.

Yes, I suspect I would have had much more luck with germination if I had just put the seeds straight into the tank rather than in the containers. Unfortunately I have some very diggie fish (clown loaches) and some fish that love their fresh vegetables (bristlenoses and pretty much all the barbs) so I don't like the chances of the seedlings surviving on their own in there. Your seedlings obviously haven't succumbed to nibbling fish. Well done! I'm hoping I can keep mine protected in their mini-greenhouse long enough to get their roots established and hopefully their leaves will toughen up a bit before I expose them to hungry fish.

The Nutrafin "Cycle" product worked for me (as above). As far as I can tell it kick-started the good bacteria as promised, and they stayed established in the filter. I set my tank up in May 2008 so that's just over a year ago and the long-term result seems to be a perfectly fine, stable tank. Now that I think about it, I started off by taking the initial dose of "Cycle" and using it to innoculate all my sterile filter media by pouring it straight into the filter just before hooking it up to the tank. Then the later doses I just put them into the tank water as instructed on the package.

By the way, here's my tank: The distance from the lights to the bottom of the tank is 450mm. I currently have Java fern, Amazon swords & ambulia, all of which seem to grow fine in there. I have a vague idea that I might like to grow some kind of ground cover in the front... hairgrass? Something else? But I'm aware my lighting might not be up to it so I'm not especially bothered.

I have just purchased a new (second hand) light fitting. I will pick it up this afternoon. In my experience, I always need new tubes when I buy a second-hand fitting - because even when the seller says the tubes are "nearly new" it never turns out that way! :lol: Anyway, this new fitting gives me an opportunity to rearrange my lighting and maybe achieve a more optimal outcome for my existing plants, or a different effect for my tank, or a chance to grow different plants to what I currently have. I would appreciate your thoughts on what is possible and ideas on what I could do. Existing lights: 1 x 4 foot double tube fitting, containing 2 x 40 watt tubes. Both are Phillips "cool daylight" cheap tubes from Bunnings. 1 x 4 foot single tube fitting, containing 1 x 30 watt "cool daylight" tube. Yes it's true, both fittings are 4 ft long but one holds 40 watt tubes and the other holds 30 watt tubes. Different brands of fittings. I have both lights on a timer to come on at 8:00am and go off at 8:30pm. New (second hand) light: 1 x 4 foot double tube fitting, capable of holding 2 x 30 watt tubes. The obvious thing to do would be to put daylight tubes in all the fittings and keep them all on the existing timer, giving me 170 watts of light for 12.5 hours a day (up from the existing 110 watts). Another possibility is that I could put the two double fittings on my existing timer, giving me 140 watts of light for 12.5 hours a day. Then I could get a bluish/moonlight kind of tube for the single tube fitting, and set it to go off a bit later than the others. This would give me a kind of twilight time in the evening to watch the fish, and a transition from light to dark rather than a sudden change. Any other thoughts?

MY TIGER LOTUS SEEDS HAVE GERMINATED! :bounce: :bounce: Ok, let's say that TWO of the seeds have germinated (out of the whole package that oeminx mailed to me). I put a handful of seeds into three containers: One with just water One with water and gravel One with water, gravel and JBL balls I kept the containers on top of my tank so the temperature would be reasonably stable. I had given up on the seeds ever germinating and was pretty much ready just to chuck them out, but being lazy I left them there. Then yesterday I looked in and saw some tiny, tiny green leaves in the container with the JBL balls in it. Hooray! Obviously they are not in ideal germination conditions (I suspect too cold overnight, not enough light). But I have certainly discovered that the container with the JBL balls is the only successful germination medium so that's an interesting result. I think I will transplant the seedlings into my main tank, with a JBL ball under each one and an upturned glass on top like a cloche, so the fish can't eat the seedlings. Then I will keep all three containers on top of the tank to see if anything else happens. It's possible the seeds might lie dormant until the ambient temperature rises a bit in the spring. Will be interesting to see if anything happens then.

LOL it sounds like you're in an experimental mood! It certainly can't hurt to experiment on plants in a bucket (no fish). The worst that can happen is your bucket of plants will go nasty and rot - then you chuck the whole lot on the garden and call it mulch and start a new experiment! :lol: I think you should get three buckets. 1) Just put water and plants, no additives 2) Water, plants & human vitamin supplements 3) Water, plants & worm castings Make sure all buckets have the same amount of light, heat, etc. Weigh your plants and put exactly the same weight of plants in each bucket. Document everything you do, and make sure you do the same for each bucket. Take photos of each bucket, each day so you can easily observe changes. Once a week, take the plants out of each bucket & weigh them to judge growth rates. Then come back here and tell us exactly what happened. Actaully I would like to see another bucket with either PMDD or a commercially formulated plant food. It would be interesting to compare your ad hoc plant foods with something that was specifically designed to do the job.

Personally, I think your stand looks very sound exactly as it is and I wouldn't worry about its structure at all. You can achieve a good anti-racking effect on a low structure just by using screws offset diagonally on each joint (or by using gang nails etc) especially when you're using nice solid timber like yours. Do keep an eye on its horizontal strength as the wood swells & shrinks, screws loosen, etc. You can always add a diagonal brace if you think it's necessary later, but I don't think you'll ever need to.

Yes, absolutely. In fact you could get away with waaaay less bracing than that (assuming the rest of your framing is strong). I have built wooden structures where the only anti-racking mechanism I have used is a thin strip of plywood (maybe 5cm wide), attached diagonally across the back. I would never use that method for a tank stand (too heavy and the results of a catastrophic failure would be too horrible! ) But I have used it on tall bookcases & tool racks very successfully. You literally just need a thin ribbon of steel or plywood.

Wok, surely what you meant to say is, "I don't even bother monitoring the chemistry in my tank while it is cycling." You are definitely cycling your tank. Just not checking the ammonia or nitrite readings with a test kit. Presumably though, you are still monitoring your fish for signs of stress and would be ready to intervene (major water change, etc) if you saw it?

I agree with those who say you're best not to rely on an off-the-shelf product to do your cycling for you. On the other hand, I have successfully used Nutrafin Cycle to assist me to cycle a tank. In my situation, I had a major problem with beard algae. It was on the plants, driftwood, gravel and all the equipment in my tank. I had to empty the tank to move across town, so I decided to take the opportunity to throw out everything I could, and give the rest a thorough scrub-down. There is no question I removed all the good greeblies from my tank & filter in the process. When I set up the tank at the new place, fully stocked, with all equipment scrubbed, boiled and sterilised, I used the 'Cycle' product as instructed on the package. The tank cycled with a barely detectable ammonia spike, and no sign of fish illness or stress. So My advice would be: Whenever possible, cycle your tank using time, patience and an understanding of the cycling process. In an emergency, use an off-the-shelf product to assist with the cycling process. Even when using a product to assist, continue to monitor the process and prepared to intervene just as you would if you were cycling the tank without added chemicals. I haven't used "Startsmart" myself, but I would assume it is similar to the other cycling products on the market.

Yes, it seems to like my tank! I got it as little baby plants from fish_fingers in May 2008, and now just over a year later it's everywhere! :lol: Now I'm giving away my own little baby plants so it's a nice feeling to be able to pass them on.

Cross-straps would act as an "anti-racking" mechanism. Racking is when a structure deforms diagonally (and it's the reason triangles are so much stronger than squares!) Square-based structures are very strong when the weight is pushing down vertically on them. But then if you can imagine a horizontal rocking movement, you can see how the structure could weaken and collapse. Diagonal braces would prevent the structure from moving horizontally.

*whacks Phoenix & steals his fluval* Here's the same tank in March. If you think the heater is an eyesore now you should have seen it a couple of months ago! This photo shows the driftwood and rocks a lot more, and you can also clearly see the brown tips on the biggest sword and the twisted leaves on the others. :-?

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. In reality, it's just a slightly overgrown and very low-tech setup! :oops: Lights: 1 x 40watt & 2 x 30 watt tubes, all the cheap "daylight" tubes from Bunnings. The tank is near a north-facing window though, and I think the natural light does help. Ferts: I have recently added JBL balls under the swords. I was using Nutrafin Plant Gro liquid ferts but I stopped because I seemed to get a green water bloom every time I used it. In fact the swords are showing signs of nutrient deficiencies so I'm looking for answers for that at the moment. There's no CO2 and the substrate is just a (very thin) layer of dark gravel. I am intending to add more gravel, but at the time I set up the tank I couldn't afford more! As for the filter intake issue, I did try planting ambulia in front of it for a while but it just got sucked in! I also tried covering the intake basket with a black stocking. It looked very good initially (I was quite proud of it as a solution) but then the stocking started to get sucked in too! I didn't realise you could buy different coloured baskets for the intake. I will look into that as a black or dark grey one would certainly look less conspicuous. The filters are both Eheims so I hope I can find something suitable (and cheap!) hmmm... I wonder if I could rig up one of those little mesh pots that plants come in...

Thanks everyone. Hmmm... I will look into the fake wood option. Surprisingly, I already have a LOT of driftwood in the tank - you just can't see it because all the Java fern is growing over it! If I can find a fake hollow log that looks realistic enough, I might use it to hide the intake. I also have a lot of rocks. In the left hand back corner there is a stack of rocks all siliconed together with gaps between and this is where the loaches hang out a lot of the time. But you can't even see the rocks any more. It's surprising there's even room for the fish with all that other stuff. :roll: Phoenix, I have considered wrapping the intake with java moss or something, but surely it would just get sucked into the intake and block it all up? I don't know if you can see from the photo, but I have the hose for the other intake all wrapped up and it does camouflage it nicely. But I only wrapped the hose, not the actual basket over the intake.

Ok this is where I tell you I was lying and my first ever pic on this forum was a hoax! This is what my tank really looks like: The key difference is the darned filter intake on the right. It is the bane of my life! Please help with suggestions on how I can make it "disappear" in real life the way it did in the top photo! I woudl like the intake to stay at this level in the tank rather than drop it down behind the plants & rocks. There is a second intake already lower in the tank, and I like having the two intakes at different heights because they remove different stuff from the tank. So how can I aquascape the tank so I don't see the intake, while also retaining its effctiveness. Any ideas?

Here's my first photo post on this forum - so bear with me if it doesn't work! This is my planted tank - 1200mm x 400mm x 450mm. I have mostly Amazon Swords and Java Fern, and at the moment some Ambilia free-floating on the top of the tank because I haven't quite decided what to do with it! The bubbles are as a result of my spray bar getting out of position. There aren't usually bubbles in the tank but I thought they were fun for a bit of a change. I have since repositioned the spray bar. No more bubbles.

Do you have the manual? I just decided to look it up in the manual and it makes cleaning the impellor look quite easy. Unfortunately I don't have a scanner or I would scan the page and post it here. Here's what it says: Cleaning of pump chamber Open the pump head by pressing the spring-loaded catch and remove. Remove pump cover with impellor. Rinse shaft carefully (risk of breaking), clean all other parts including pump chamber and pump head with a soft brush. For closing tilt back pump head until the spring-loaded catch slots in. There is also a whole section in the manual on trouble-shooting, including a heap of reasons why filter performance might have deteriorated. If cleaning the impellor doesn't help, I now have a list of about 50 other things it could be! :lol: Good luck!

Oooh nice stand. And I love the look of the tank with the sun angled through it like that! And I love the driftwood! And the layout! Can I just move into your tank? :oops:

Yep, all of the above. Start with visual inspection of all the intake and output hoses as that's usually the easiest thing to do. Also remove the basket thing on the intake and make sure it's not clogged up with anything (make sure your little fish don't get sucked up the pipe while the basket is removed! ) And check that the output holes in the spraybar are all clear. Those are all the easy things you can do without taking your filter apart - once you've eliminated those as the source of the problem it's time to take your impellor out and clean it. I have never done this so I'm afraid I can't tell you how!