Adrienne

At least if you do a water change you know that it is a more natural way to solve any problem. Adding chemicals will not guarantee the issue will not come back.

Thats the proper way to do it. With some of my now older CF1200 the cap does not seat as well and takes a bit more manouvering to stop air getting in.

Is the cap which sits in the middle on the top of the cf pushed down and screwed around tight. IME they can start to leak allowing air in and a small amount of water out.

Agreed, I have spent many hours in the LFS up here and I have heard for myself the advice given out. 99.9% of what I have heard is good, sound, unbiased advice. I have seen many many times people ignoring that advice and insisting on needing this and that. At the end of the day the shop assistant has no choice than to sell them what they ask for. I have also read on this forum people saying that the LFS told them this and that yet I have been in the shop that very time and know very well that that was not what they were told. But this thread is not for debating this but for discussion on cycling should anyone wish to do so.

Yes the sticky is an opinion but it is also a valuable tested guide to cycling aquariums and a good, actually an incredibly good unbiased guide to any beginner or inexperienced fish keeper interested in cycling an aquarium in a way that is safe to aquatic creatures.

there is a perfectly good stickie in the fish room on cycling tanks - created by someone living in New Zealand, tested in New Zealand and using iitems that can be purchased in New Zealand. While you are posting what looks to be a perfectly good link, have you tested what it suggests to see that it valid? fish keeping,cycling in particular is done in many ways, some successful some not. When giving advice it pays to know that what one is is talking about is good advice and good advice is gained by many years of experience,, both good and bad. In all my years of fishkeeping I look to water changes first and foremost as a solution and when ammonia is high this always works.

having refused to trawl the last posts - if your ammonia is 8ppm then your pH needs to be really low or your bristle nose will be in trouble. Keep up water changes about 25% daily and add an airline if you have one to add a bit more oxygen to the water. If you are using ammolock you will still get the reading. TBH you are better to use less additives and water change more often to allow time for the tank to mature naturally. Messing around for quick result may only result in tears

Whats the tank temperature? My bn can not live in my discus tank which runs 28+. They spent a lot of time flying up to the top of the tank for oxygen.

hehe wait until a cat or bird passes by. The temptation to walk on it will be too great!

I have a mickey mouse head, a donald duck head and a rudolph head caketin. I have a Womans weekly Childrens birthday cake book which is where Caryls rabbit came from and it has how to make the Pussycat birthday cake -very easy. If you want I could scan and send it to you. You would need to pm me your email address though as I can not send emails from here. It also has a puss in boots cake.

I also would not buy something that would not have its warranty valid in nz. with the heat packs I purchased I only went overseas because i could only buy them one at a time from the shops and even then there were occasions when I could not source any

if you are going to go with that sort of cross have a look at this link

Its sounding positive - well done! Take your time stocking and remember that if anything goes wrong a water change is always a good idea as the first step.

Darn - I was editing that post but you must have picked it up immediately. I can fully understand it, I imported heat packs from America once because I could not afford to purchase single ones here.

However customs will be keeping a record of all your imports. Unlike my knowledge of the IRD, I do not know what customs regulations are regarding importing and the regularity of it or anything else. The IRD states that if you purchase, even without the intent of reselling, but do sell then you are liable to pay tax on any money made. I would suspect customs has similar. Single purchases would not be an issue but regular ones may turn out to be.

If you use the search function on the top right hand side of this page you might be able to find other accounts of people keeping shrimp. Hope this helps.

You can't sue in NZ - thats what ACC is in place of. The place you have been referred to should be able to advise you on this. Not many dentists do root canals or pull wisdom teeth these days, its normally specialists.

Lyndyloo - what sort of plants are they?

a bit slow here but I would split the media from the established tank filter into half and put half in the new filter and put one of the sponges from the filter that has been running into the new filter as well - 2 if its a 4 basket filter (I can't remember).

I never see my King Tiger either, nor did I when he had other plecs for tank mates. I hope yours is more sociable.

yes please - we just love pictures! :thup:

NZ Bred or an import - do you know? If NZ bred he may have been a ct x - there are quite a large no. of them around atm. You may never know for sure as if his tail was badly tattered when you got him all evidence of a slight ray development may have been absent. I do like his colouring etc.

would any one honour one of those now?

If you lie the 'out' hose (as in the hose that takes the water out of the cannister and back into the tank on either the ground or at a lower level than the cannister itself and turn it on, what happens? If everything is full of water to start with the flow should start when the power comes on. If there is an airlock this should assist it to clear.

I can pop over and help if Wok is not available. I live nearer to you.