peet

Hi jordy My daughter (9 years) is very keen on a gecko or lizard,and is keen to make an offer. We are based in the mount, but could meet halfway maybe. I will see what she has in savings tomorrow and pm you. Regards Peet

I went to my local co2 refiller and purchased a second hand fire extinguisher which he certifies and refills, paid around $120, bought a solenoid regulator online, been going more than 7 years no problems

Yup, the pps pro fert system. The pump system is just a couple of plastic pump bottles from a plastic shop that give a measured dose when depressed. $10?

I make my own micro and macro liquids and follow the pps system, so simple as have 2 pump top bottles which give me a measured dose each morning, I think tank is so much more stable than ei method. Weekly 25% water changes.

Update April 2015 Still waiting for the lotus on the lhs to grow in to fill out the space. Looking for some specialist t5 bulbs for red plants to give extra boost.

Update of the tank 27 /01/2015. After years of bba issues I finally bought a family of 5 Siamese algae eaters and my tank has never looked better! Highly recommend these critters. Just planted a lotus on the left side and glosso on the right. Can't wait for it to grow in.

Hi alexyay You should come round and grab some of the Pps pro mix I make up and try this method. I just switched from ei and loving the change. If you bring along a couple of 250mm plastic bottles we can make up a mix of macros and micros and try before you buy. Pm me to set up a time. Cheers peet

Ok, flame test no good.... possibly because both have potassium in them. But I took equal quantities of my Kh2PO4 fert and new bag of "KNO3" in equal volume of water and tested both with the PO4 test kit. Here are my results: "KNO3" Turned royal blue indicating > 5mg/L PO4 content pH = 6.4 KH2PO4 No real colour change indicating 0 to 0.25 mg/L PO4 pH = 4.6. This is correct as H ions create acidity See image above for tests... "KNO3" on the left, KH2PO4 on right. So now I am stumped. The pH of the "KNO3" is correct but the test result is not. I guess for the minimal cost of the fertiliser I will just replace it. Only issue is the supplier wont post. Anyone else have a 1kg of KNO3 they want to sell???

Hi Alan thanks for your response, I'm not sure I'm understanding you though. At the moment I don't think I'm adding any no3 as I think its all po4... Hence there is an excess of po4 over no3. I have run out of nitrate test unfortunately so can't verify

I recently purchased a new bag of KNO3 from a supplier and over the course of 3 weeks my tank has turned green!!!!!! Nothing else has has changed as far as I am aware except the KNO3. I have purchased from this supplier before without any issues. So tested a teaspoon of the powder in 1/2 cup of water with my phosphate kit and got a reading close to 5 ppm. My test kit is pretty old (around 6-8 years) so possibly is a false positive, but I wouldn't have thought there was any PO4 in KNO3.... The supplier is positive the powder supplied is KNO3 so I am at a loss as to what to do now... keep dosing with it or get some more from somewhere else Cheers - Peet

DAY 1 Rescape of my tank - I've spent a fair bit of time looking through Amanos books and Youtube gallery over the last few weeks and couldn't bear to look at my old scape anymore. It was too symmetrical.... although no Amano masterpiece hopefully this one has better alignment to the golden ratio, also more open space vertically which I think is one of the key components of a good scape that is easy to lose.. sometimes less is more...this is hard when you want as many plants as possible in your tank. I'm looking forward to the glosso growing in the far-right, replacing some of the whiteness of the gravel which is currently giving it a washed out feel

I have 7 angels who are all siblings and who regularly lay eggs. Till now I have never worried about the offspring as they get eaten in my community tank, but the current batch are being well looked after and may actually survive.... whats the rules about allowing siblings to breed... should I euthanase the wrigglers to ensure the genetics don't become weak (e.g. like the rubbish neons you see in your LFS which have crooked spines and thin bodies). Cheers - Peet

Great radio interview last week!

Update 02/11/13. Just did a trim so probably not the best time to take photos. Glosso is filling in slowly, all the rest are growing very quickly, hard to find the balance..... still haven't quite got the scaperight, I think theres too much drift wood and its too symmetrical but will leave it like this for the summer and think about re-scaping come next winter.

Just been looking at youtube and websites for Tung Choi St fish market.... oh my goodness I am going to have fun..... Its going to be gutting not being able to bring fish and plants home, but I plan to bring back some CO2 regulators, curved and straight scissors, maybe some lilly pipes, CO2 diffusers, overflow boxes???? Any other suggestions for small/light aquarium gear that costs a fortune here but will be cheap there??

Hi All you Plant Nerds, I am going to Hong Kong in 2 weeks for business and am hoping to visit some really good aquarium stores. Can anyone reccomend places I should go, especially places that specialise in plants and aquascaping. Regards Peet

I double dosed excel. Worked a charm and had no visible effect on fish

By the way i cured the BGA with a 3 day blackout and the BBA with a double dose of excel.

Ditto... from where Use it for BGA control

I have found 3% hydrogen peroxide on trademe, but has anyone purchased it elsewhere for cheap?

I have been thinking about rescaping lately as I have battled BBA for months and it appears that the lilaeopsis brasiliensis is most affected + the xmas moss is soooo difficult to maintain as it sheds off everywhere around the tank and festers. So I spent something like 5 - 7 hrs yesterday tearing the old scape down and starting from new daltons mix, gravel washing daltons propagating sand, drilling sand and replanting. I've never strayed much from the dense jungle look so this is quite different for me... its not perfect but once its grown in and the glosso takes off it shouldn't be so white! It should hopefully be a lot easier to maintain, gives the macandra and wallichii more space to colour up and most important of all it keeps stem plants out of the overflow which was a constant annoyance with the old setup (blocking overflow causing loud noise). Next on the list is a background to hide the overflow and pipes.

My EC meter generally indicates that my planted tank sits around 180us after a water change and goes up to 230us by the end of the week. I have tried to get it down but even large 50% water changes don't seem to make much difference. My tap water is 50 - 60us so to get it down I was thinking of using rainwater which one would think has no salt content. I got hold of a cheap 200L drum and hooked it up to my roof. I tested the water this morning and it is reading 130us????? The only thing I can think might have done this is salty air from the beach has tainted the roof tiles? I might have to wait until we have had a decent rain to flush the roof first. Here are the parameters of the rainwater ph = 7.5 kH = 30ppm GH = 40ppm PO4 = < 0.25 ppm EC = 130us Anyone else had a similar problem? How did you manage to soften the water, reduce EC etc without tainting it brown with peat/tannin

update sam, update!!!!

What about very thin willow branches stripped of their leaves. They will start to grow but you can probably strip them or replace the branch. I read somewhere that they are really good at removing algae??. btw, you can have all the algae you want from my tank :-)

Unfortunately the angels decided that it was easier to eat their babies than defend them. I rescued some and put them in the sump but suspect the kuli loach that lives in there will make short work of them! Heres another video but in HD