Adrienne

Thought I had better start another thread rather than hijack the othe T8 one. I am wanting to get 3 X 120cm lights for my three barebottomed tanks, they are 120cm long X 30cm X 30cm. The lfs told me that T8 is way better than T5. What do you all think. I just get confused when I go in to buy bulbs as there are so many brands etc. Thanks in advance.

Great pics - I always like to see what different types of fish that are mentioned here look like.

Its the indicator that tells you when your filter is clogged and needs cleaning. When your filter is clean and the flow is full speed the yellow is up and as it clogs up and your flow is reduced or stops the indicator goes down into the filter. I have one on mine but just by looking at the ripples on the water it tells me if it needs cleaning so its not really that essential.

Thats certainly what my tank looked like through the glass but did have a film, sort of plasticy looking on top and if you stirred it up went into bubbles that sat there, sort of like pvc bubbles on a glue pot. Where the water had evaporated left a white patch. Is it the same for you. I just went and checked, mine has improved more so yours may clear soon.

Should be easy enough to do as Spidersweb says, get the person who tells you off to hold the hose up high while you do it and then you won't be the one to make the mess

Mine wasn't a missing o ring - it did it from the moment I assembled it for about 3 days until someone else told me that there must have been air getting in.

I currently have it still in two of my 4ft tanks and the other 2 are showing signs of it. I am fortunate that they are bare bottom tanks and this a.m. I wiped out the tank - you should have seen the chalk like silt it stirred up, however my tanks are starting to look better so will clean the filter sponges tomorrow morning. I haven't added anything to make it go away and I think its possibly from the new filter materials that I had in each cannister.

Hi I have one as well - it appears a batch came in with a leaky tap (small hole/crack), seems particularly to be on the intake. Only slightly obvious when the filter is up and running and you turn the intake off when the motor is still on, a very slight leak. Apart from this I find it great and have since purchased a cf1000 and cf700 with no problems at all. It seems the shops that the filters are purchased from are happy to come to the party and replace the taps with no problems. The problems not the filter system, its a manufacturers fault - if you get what I mean.

Its really up to you. Depends what you're adding to your water. I have kept fighters for up to four weeks (new fish in quarrantine) without airlines as they are air breathers but its a good idea to change the water regularly to keep it clean. All the bottles really doing is just keeping the fish out of the main tank and they don't seem to stress nearly as much as removing completely.

Are they the ones you have for sale? How on earth do you get photos like those - they're amazing, obviously your glass is really really clean.

He's awesome. Have you still got him or any progeny? Theres some up here who would give an arm and both legs for a male dt like him!

This part of the forum is mostly very quiet - I'm really nosey and would love to see the different fighters people have in their tanks. Please add on some of your photos. Here are some of mine to start with: My newest male - 2 spawns so far His ladies Links Fixed. Mod Bill

The bubblenest could have been made by either the fighter or gouramies. I've never had them together in a tank as I have heard that the males don't get on very well together being from the same family. Female fighters go a whitish colour underneath when they are full of eggs, maybe your gouramies are colouring up for breeding. Sorry I can't be much help. You could try posting this under freshwater instead.

I don't know what it is but I've a suggestion if you don't have any spare tanks - get a 1 1/2 or 2 litre coke or lemonade bottle, cut the top off and peg it to the inside of your tank if you can, pop the fish and water inside. It works like a quarantine area, but is a bit hard to do if the tanks have those ledge things on the inside at the top. Otherwise see if you can float something else in your tank for a bit. Theres bound to be someone here who knows whats likely to be up with it anyway.

Thanks Lady Lene, I'll try that one - might stop the suck and spit into a bucket that sometimes goes on, no not really, I've only had to do my cannisters once since I got them.

I really like the pics of your tank, the driftwood looks great. I think most people tie the ferns etc onto driftwood with cotton until they attach themselves. The outside of the tank should only get dirty if water spills or has hands on it. I just wipe mine down with a slightly damp paper towel and polish it.

Just wondering if your cloudy water has cleared up. Two of my tanks seem to have developed something - the waters cloudy and the tops of the tanks look like they have a white layer of film of them. Is this what you also had.

I haven't had green water algae in the tank. It cost about $70 (puts through 800lph) and it runs in my 4ft along with a cf1200 and a powerhead 200lph. Am seriously thinking of loaning it to another 4ft tank I have where there seems to be some sort of white? algae bloom.

I have to say I don't know about that but are they in the same tank as the male and female fighter because there may have been a fight.

This is how I do mine - turn off the outlet tap, turn off the inlet tap and quickly turn off the power. Leave your hoses in the water. Open up the little airhole thing at the top, undo the clips on the side and lift the lid off. If you don't open up the airhole its still airtight and you can't get the lid off. Take the baskets out and rinse them out in a bucket of water that you have already removed from the tank. Rinse out your sponges and filter wool in the same water and if you have to replace don't replace too many at once. If theres a lot of crap in the main part of the filter you might want to chuck it. Put baskets back in and refill with more water from your tank. Put lid back on and top up with water. Close airhole. Switch on, quickly turn on your inlet hose and then your outlet hose and it should run as sweet as, otherwise you can always give your outlet hose a good suck on to pull the water through. Others might disagree with the fact that I turn the power on and off when I do, and the order I turn off the taps but this makes sure that there is water in the hoses at all times. However if you have to clean your hoses you will have to dismantle and refill them before you turn everything back on like when you first started it up. Good luck

Forgot to add, if you are running a filter with carbon in to get any meds to work you will probably need to remove that.

I use a uv internal filter/sterilizer in my 4ft tank full time. Keeps the water clear and has slowed down algae growth but it still occurs on the glass etc. I use it more for an antibacterial aid than anything else.

Nice

Thanks for this info. I really do need to join.

Hi, the title says it all. When you talk about this what do you mean? Thanks