Dasher

Yeah - or worse still - eating mussels and then feeling the crunch of a crab inside............ errrrrrrr.

Brent??? at Pupuke FS said that the Java Ferns love ammonia. It may be a case of your tanks being too good!!!!!! Try reducing your water changes and see if the Java recovers. The Java F in one of his display tanks was amazing!!!!!!

Also try adding a couple of cm of cucumber weighted down to the tank. If the pleco and clown loaches are peckish they will suck. My Clowns love cucumber!!!!!!!! they will knock out a lump that size overnight. I found it helped most of my plants before I added CO2.

Whats the width of the tank? 600 , 900, 1200? if 600 or 1200 then buy a second hand troffer panel. These are lighting trays that fit into office ceiling tiles. They will take 4 fluoro tubes usually. A second hand tray on Trademe should cost appx $10. I just looked and there are heaps up. Add a power cord and 4 x tubes. Buy commercial 6500K 965 or 865 tubes at appx $9 each by doing that you can add 4 x 38W = 152W - if you suspend it over the tank and leave the old tube you can get 180W all for < $50. Its a pretty good likelyhood that your lil 30W will be causing the problems. Adding a few lights is cheaper than adding CO2 which would probably also help. You could try making a co2 bomb. Yeast, sugar, water, in coke bottle with an airline and non return valve then an airstone in the tank.

Just add a bit of sand to a glass of fresh tap water. Sip it. If it reminds you of eating pipi's then it is salty sand. :roll:

Yeah the new T5's are also coming out in circular formats. Stacking them 3 high with an offset and mylar reflector would be a good way to get more output as long as the 6500ks become available in nz. I noted that Hagen are bringing out their new HO T5 Range around xmas and are expected to be 25% of the curring pricing.

Check the length of the bulbs and the ballasts will support the higher power if trying T5's in T8 fittings. The T5's are generall a few mm Shorter and wont fit. You may also fing that the ballasts are only set for 40W max. The extra 8W (2 x 24W - 2 x 20W) is a 20% increase in loading, so may cause issues.

Thanks for the heads up - after Pepperama closed down in aucks it has been damn hard finding a decently hot hot hot sauce. The "Ring around Uranus" looks perfect. Great spread on Port Roasts in the Kettle BBq and also to clean rust and free up stuck bolts!!!!!

Thanks guys - I stopped in there on the way home and grabbed a few bits n pieces. His Big displays were very nice, shows what CO2 will do. Not a lot of Crypts in, but he will order. just decidig what to try now, then will phone him and order them in. Any suggestions of medium difficulty 30 to 40cm high Crypts that I should try?.

Thanks Alan - I'll drop by on my way home tonight

Any one know what stores around aucks have a good stock of crypts and Swords at the moment? Now I have the CO2 working well I want to fill in the middle water and give more cover. (am also wanting to try things other than the usual hygrophilia etc.

Sunny here in Ak, just looking out office window at the yachts lining up for regatta in harbour. (I am lieing about the sun - but the yachts are there )

Yeah it is odd - but the Spec Sheet for them says 6500K. Just saw this website found it quite informative. http://ezinearticles.com/?Aquarium-Ligh ... &id=292866

965 is also a 6500k tube series

No the 6500 Kelvin is the frequency close to general sun light - so this is the type to go for if growing plants - 14000K is better for Marine etc. The Wattage is an indication of brightness or intensity, however a better indication should the the Lumen count. i.e. a light can consume 36Watts of energy but be inefficient in the conversion to light, so wouldnt be as efficient as another brand that consumes the same wattage of power. Lumens are a measure of light intensity. Generally you need to consume more energy to get a brighter light and longer fluoros use more power...... So for a big deep tropical tank you may want to use OSRAM 865 series (6500K) tubes but you may need a lot of them to increase the (Wattage) Lumens getting into the tank and to ensure you get enough light to the bottom.

I used Silicon (available from you LFS), it is usually softer than normal air hose and slightly opaque. CO2 can (and will) leak through the pour on normal plastic hose, so you cn lose 25% of your gas flow. Silicon is a less porous medium but over time will sill react with the acidity of the CO2 and will break down. Special CO2 proof hose is available from specialty stores, but at the price, you can replace the silicon 4 to 5 times for the same cost. The solenoid is a gas switch. Plant basically reverse cycle at night. i.e. during the day they consume the co2 and convert it to Carbon and Oxygen. The carbon promotes growth and the Oxygen is expelled. At night they reverse and Co2 is produced (As I believe). Thus feeding CO2 into a tank at night is a waste or resource. The electrically driven solenoid shuts off gas as soon as the lighting circuit on your tank turns off. This also has advantage of reducing the co2 acidity to only times when co2 is being consumed (Daylight hours). So the PH doesnt drop as much and tank time to recover over night and the buffering to kick in. There are probably lots of other helpful side effects of the solenoid but these are just from my observations so far. www.valves.co.nz for the solenoid - just mention it is for co2 as the gas is corrosive so different seals are needed. Typically $75 to $100 for a 240V In-line Gas Shutoff solenoid.

DAMN YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now i'll be wanting Black Pudding, Roast Beef + Yorkshire Pudding, Snake and Pygmy Pudding..... for the rest of the week. Who started discussing this, it is all your fault!!!!

I think the vinegar we had years ago was a lot stronger in flavour, malt vinegar these days seems almost as weak as my socks soaked in hot water. But still slightly more pleasurable.

Hows it going Evil? I finally have mine CO2 running sweet, changing to silicon tube did the trick. However PH is low now - sitting at 6.6ish, usually up at 7.0 Plants are bounding along, some you can virtually see growing up to 5cm a day. Using the 885g Sodastream bottle is worth the effort to find, it provides a far larger supply than the 300g bottles. The DIY diffuser is giving me 100% diffusion rates with 3 to 5 bubbles a sec feed rate. I am seeing no co2 bubles heading up, so am getting maximum co2 mixing. Odd thing though is that only plants not responding as fast as expected is the Java Moss that I am trying to grow for cover for fry. It just refuses to grow in my tank. This may be from the lowered PH?

It's my line and I'm sticking to it -

Just another form of food we have in AK, usually served up in the morning with a piece of toast and a cup of coffee.

Auckland must be close behind, we dont lack for Food or Traffic Jams. The sunshine is a fleeting thing at the moment, but today it seems to be making an appearance.

Ahh that explains why one of the guys at work retired to Blenheim - both him and his wife were Ponsonby cafe hoppers , so must have felt at home there - lol. Not to mention the Attraction of the local vineyards and brilliant sunshine hours!!!.

Dont panic Sirkus..... Any decent Chippy Shop will have Vinegar and an optional lemon - just ask for it. Pakeha = White person - generally under paid and over worked Kumara = Sweet potato = can be roasted, baked, or fried, but high sugar content makes them burn quickly when fried. Kumara is usually associated with Maori cooking. On saying that I'm a "Pakeha" from Australia and our kids love Kumara. Olives are a biggie here too, my fav "Queen Kalamatea" Your biggest issue will be the variet of food available rather than the lack of it. We are a very multicultural society, especially in the Cities. There are Asian, European, British, Maori, Pacific, French influences in most of our recipies. Ohh and also McD's, Subway, Zeros, B'K's, Red Rooter, KFC.... and teh rest of the fast food groups.

Yeah - I "HAD!!!!!!!" a ViaAqua with external controller and Stainless Heater Element very successfully cook my tank last summer. Now I go to having two lesser powered heaters. If one goes AWOL it will only heat the tank to the maximum of its ability - I tested the Wattage needed by having one of the pair set to maximum and found that it only got the tank to a bit over the required temp. It is unlikely both would fail at the same time. Way I see it is that if one goes on full, the other will just turn off, and if one fails and wont turn on then the other kicks in and takes over the load.