Adrienne

T5HO gets through my 60cm deep tank. If you want to grow high light plants you might need to remove a lot of the driftwood as its going to block the light getting down to the substrate. I find with my tank that while the glosso grows just fine with T5HO, things like crypts, java fern etc get an awful lot of algae due to them being higher up in the tank, exposed to a lot of light and being slow growers. BBA grows very well on the wood under higher lighting too. High light as you have realised does need fertilisers, root balls and micro/macro mix ferts will work.

There was a pet expo in Auckland in October, on the North Shore.

Its a planted discus tank

70 - 90% twice weekly on my 450 litre tank 50% weekly on my 215 litre tank 12 - 20% weekly on my marine tank but in the last week its been 25% twice daily.

Not surprised you were confused. Google this - https://www.google.com/search?client=sa ... 8&oe=UTF-8

Go higher! Go lower! Go closer - after all you only need enough roomy to be able to slide yourself between the rows of tanks.

So do I - set up many bigger tanks this way and never an issue.

Found them and no they aren't - now I've answered my own question. Maybe its a loose connection where the light plugs in.

I'm not sure either and I can't find the tank on the net. Are they standard T8 light bulbs?

Have you replaced the starters?

Definitely not.

I used a stainless steel screw to screw my two pieces of hardwood together. It was a challenge to get the screw into the wood due to the hardness I use superglue gel with cyanocrylate in my marine tank to glue corals on.

Small bn? BN are big poo machines Keep an eye on the ammonia levels in your tank and if they rise above 0 do a 30 - 50% water change.

Cloudy could be from the substrate or a possible algae bloom starting where the tank water goes milky (new tank syndrome which is part of the cycling process). If you have no plants or low light plants in there leave your lights off to deter the algae growth for the first week then turn them on for a few hours a day gradually increasing the amount of time. If the driftwood is new then you will see the water gradually turn a tea colour - this is the tannins coming out of the wood - completely harmless to fish, in fact a lot love it however some people do not. Algae is the bane of a fish keepers life. High light (even indirect light from a window) will encourage the growth of green algae on the glass and possibly give you green water. There are other sorts too - all of which you will encounter as the tank settles in. Nice looking set up by the way :thup:

kH kits that are current (not past expiry) are not easy to come by atm. I spent heaps on a salifert one to find out four weeks later it was expired and giving a false reading. I'm currently using an API kit (I ended up picking it up in Australia a few weeks back).

I used to keep rainbows and my water is soft. They grew well, swam well and were healthy. They need a big tank - over 150cm as they get to be big fish. Open swimming spaces are required and a decent fitting lid. As they are very active keep with other fish of a similar nature. I had mine with X-ray tetra, bristle nose, a rainbow shark, SAE and dwarf chain loaches.

I got my first lot from Palmers and the latest from Bunnings. Phone first as it's not always available. Edit. The Carr Road, Mt Roskill branch.

Are you saying empty the whole tank out and restart it from the beginning? If you are going to seriously dose the tank with any product its best to remove the fish. That means you can treat it properly and wait to ensure no snails are still alive before placing the fish back in the tank.

I use Arcadia plant pro - no complaints.

Knowing you are pretty experienced that you have already googled for suggestions I can't offer much in the way of links to read. Do the patches move around or do they disappear and re-appear in the same places. Parasites/being stung? Disagreement with something during the dark hours causing bruising?

Looks fairly normal to me - my 250 litre tank is 13 weeks now (rock cycled prior to adding though) - see pic. Perhaps you have a little more of the brownish stuff than I have had. What are your tank readings? What do you have for CUC?

I used the back of our axe to smash my rocks up to hold the driftwood down - see pic. Theres also a rock on top. You can also float them in the bath if you don't want them in the tank or if you aren't interested in any of the other suggestion.

Answer here? Does your water contain chlorine?* Yes - Do you use a dechlorinator?* Tank 1 yes, Tank 2 no - Do you know where your water comes from, if so do you know the average levels (eg residual chlorine) in your water supply? (EG. Mine comes from Ardmore and Waikato, and according to the 2013 Water Report their averages are, in mg/L, 1.10, 0.95 and 0.97) Waikato (other sources unknown), average levels not known - How old is your tank? Tank 1 - 3 years, Tank 2 - 5 months - Does your use of dechlorinator change based on the "maturity" of the tank? No

Empty the tank 50 - 75% (make it a great water change) and remove everything you can take out. Then use two nets. If the other fish are fine its not worth the expense of treating the whole tank but with other fish in there, you do run the risk of infecting them if it is a bacterial infection.