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How much are you feeding? Overfeeding will encourage algae too.

Have you read about cycling? If you've lost alot of fish and you've only had your tank 4 months that could be your problem there. Lights should be on for 8-12 hours for plants. If you have no plants then keep the lights on for a shorter time. Fish don't really need the lights at all (algae does!) I'd be doing frequent water changes in the interim. If you didn't have plants, then your problem should get better now that you have plants. Fish produce wastes. If you don't do frequent water changes, the algae will feed on these wastes. If you have plants, they will use some of these wastes (like fertilizer). If you have a heated tank, an algae eater will go a long way towards helping too.

I have an AR3880. This tank is virtually the same as the Jebo model. The instructions indicate the following installation: Put the plastic tray at the bottom (keeps the outlets that trickle back into the tank clear). The noodles go on that they don't really need cleaning and if you ever think they do they should only be rinsed gently in tank water) Then the black (coarse) filter sponge. Also rarely needs cleaning, use tank water if you do. The top ;ayer is the white filter wool (or mine came with a cartridge with carbon initially) This goes on top. The filter wool should be rinsed in tap water when it's dirty and replaced when it starts getting hard to clean or losing effectiveness (getting thin). Mine occasionally overflows when I put in a brand new piece of filter wool. Soaking if first to try to squeeze out the air helps. Also try lifting or shifting a corner of the wool while its running to let the water through a little more easily until more of the air is gone and the flow through it is better.

Does anyone ever use fluketabs? When I bought furan I noticed they were also selling fluke-tabs in bulk as well?

fishy_t: I think they now recommend melting a patch of ice with the bottom of a hot sauce pan if you can't break it by hand (rather than smashing it).

But it might kill you bacteria in the filter so maybe you should be mindful of ammonia?

This is slightly off topic but since we're talking about Excel I thought it provided an artificial source of carbon? I have some JBL Ferropol which is provides trace elements and does claim to help keep iron in a form more 'freely available' state but I also have some Excel. Does that mean I shouldn't need the Excel if I'm using Ferropol. (I know excel won't have the other trace elements)

I'm not up to commenting on the chemistry but just to get back to the water conditioner I just thought I'd pass on the experience of a someone known to me back in Canada. This person had a tank full of very expensive fish and did his normal water changes with water straight from the tap. One unfortunate day his fish all died within 10 mins of his water change. He ran off some more water and realised it smelled very stongly of chlorine. Contacted the local water authorities who confirmed there had been some trouble at a nearby pumping station and yes they had been required to dose it with chlorine. I think is was like $500 worth of fish. So as someone else said.. it depends on whether someone wants to take the risk that what's coming out of the tap is good enough on any particular day. (Does aeration of the water have any effect on Chloramines or do they need to be 'bound out' by other chemicals explicitly? I'm on bore water.. so just curious?)

Hey Wok. You've got the Borneo suckers in the tank by a window or the WCMM? Have you got a thermometer in there? Any idea of the minimum temp?

I used furan once one some pond fish who looked like they had bacterial infections (this was my immersion in the art of fish care and was only partially successful!!) I knew nothing about cycling so lost some fish due to poor water conditions (were being treated in plastic bins) but one had an ulcer and another had red streak and this did clear up. My only reservation was that on the pacakge it says its carginogenic! So I didn't like handling it and wore gloves etc. Anyway.. if you decide to go with Furan-2, Critter Kingdom on Blenheim rd. was selling them in 'bulk' not that long ago (ie: they'll sell you individual pills, so if you need more or less than a packet check them out. I think it works out cheaper too!!)

Hey there I just finished a treatment of 'Wunder Tonic" on my tank. I think my fish had gill flukes BUT it has other ingredients which may be anti-bacterial. It says it's good for fin rot, tail rot, white spot and other fungal diseases but if you look up the ingrediants individually you can see they're used for a very broad range of things. It has methylene blue, malachite green, acriflavin and quinine. Cost me $6 from animates. I didn't use the full strength dose, added it until they just started to look stressed about 1 drop per 4L I think. Anyway... my fish now seem fine and my plants all pulled though as well. It also didn't kill my filter bacteria.

That would be great Wilson I saw his post about them having some in and I'm hoping to get my tank new tank this week so was kind of hoping to get some. Do let me know what you find out.

Hey Wilson Yup.. as I said, my WCMM's and the flag fish I bought are perfectly happy in 12 degs. and I'm sure they'll also be fine if the temp drops a bit more as we get to the coldest part of the year! I actually asked Janelle before I posted this topic how her Borneo Suckers were getting on with the colder temps. She said they were going pale and didn't seem to be appreciating it. Her tank is also getting down to 12'ish, hence my concern. She thought she might be needing a heater. I'm sure they wouldn't mind mind 15'ish which in a more modern house wouldn't be a problem without a heater :oops: :roll: If there's no practical way to just 'slightly' warm my tank I think I'll just have to give the Borneo suckers a miss.

I've just got WCMM and some Jordanella floridae (for whom I would not buy a heater..they're sweet as in these temps) but I wanted some Borneo suckers who can handle cool but maybe not quite as cold as my tank is getting without getting stressed. Maybe a 25w would just keep the chill off But nobody's mentioned if its bad for a heater to be forever heating due to the tank never reaching the minimum thermostat setting?

I'm getting a new tank soon which will either be an AR510 or AR620 as I mentioned...perhaps wrongly assumed that these were well known tank sizes. They're 70-90L I guess. (Hence the assumption that typically 100w is what tropical keepers would use?) The room is cold. Probably not too draughty but gets bugger all sun and is typically closed off from the rest of the house. My current tank is about 30L and that's the one that's getting cold. I can only assume a bigger tank would tend to sit around the same temp without a heater, if not colder. The small tank does warm up to about 16 sometimes, usually in the evening after the logburner has been going in the other room, but only on some nights. I assume a bigger tank would not warm as much in the same period of time, and hence would possibly be colder in the mornings having started from a cooler temp at night? Tanks current location means it gets viewed from 3 sides so polystyrene probably isn't a good choice for me. What else would you need to know? It is hard on a heater to have it working constantly? (like if I had a 55w, and it always tried to keep the temp at 18 it would never turn off) I know I could just buy the 100w and settle for a warmer tank but I don't like wasting electricity and really don't need the water to be warm. I know the fish would be ok but I'm a terrible cheapskate by nature and was just wondering what the most miserly of keeping the tank a wee bit warmer was I suspect most of you will just assume I'm being wierd (which would probably be true!)

I'm might be considering buying a heater to keep my tank in the 'cool' rather than 'cold' range over winter . Tank is getting down to about 12 degrees and we're not at the coldest part of winter yet! My current fish don't mind one bit BUT.. I'm so tempted to buy some Borneo suckers and am wondering how to keep the tank around 15 degs. minimum? ( I could move to a warmer house.. that would solve lots of problems but might be a bit drastic!!) From what I can tell alot of the heaters start at 17-18 degrees? I don't want the tank to be 'warm'. Should I just buy a smaller heater? OR would that just make it work too hard? (tank would be an ar510 or 620 so normally would call for about 100W I guess?) Another option might be to run the heater on a timer so it only ran part of the time (ie: programmed to turn off before it reaches 17-18?) Are there heaters that work in the lower range of temps?

So maybe it's your gravel? Have you got a picture? If your nitrates are zero, you must have a fair number of plants? Plants can cause a swing in pH from nighttime to daytime if your water is fairly soft. Do you use CO2? That can also lower the pH as can some driftwood. What time of day did you take the sample from the tank?

A pond won't cycle until there are fish in it. It's the fish wastes that start the process. Personally, I wouldn't bother filling a new pond until spring. Why have all that winter temp. water to warm up. Plus.. it'll just collect muck over the winter for nothing. When you add fish just add them slowly, say start with 2 and leave them a couple of weeks. Also by setting the pond up in spring you can add plants and stuff as you fill the pond (you will definitely need plants to help slow any algae growth) and it will be easier than having your arms stuck in freezing cold water. Then you can rearrange them so they look right before you finish filling. You need consider where plants will go. Do you want some areas that act as shelves to sit plants on? (you don't have to, you can stack bricks on the bottom to sit pots on but this can be a bad idea if you're using a plastic liner.) You pond will need to have 2/3rds of it shade by plant (liek water lilies) or other means if you want to have any hope of having clear water (or I suppose you could use a UV filter) Where will you filter go? Where will it get power from? How will you clean/hide it? Do you want a fountain spray? The most important thing (IMHO) is to consider how you will empty or clean the pond when you need to as this is by far the biggest job you have as a pondkeeper and can be a real chore :roll: Personally.. if you can reach the bottom, everywhere with your hand or a short net then you've made your life easier. I think 40cm is probably decent while stil being practical to maintain. Check with your council about pool fencing It also needs to be big enough so fish can escape from cats and stuff (like if they can swim to a deeper part or to the middle and be far enough away from the edge. I'm sure Caryl will be posting soon. She's just built the pond of all ponds at her place and it looks awesome

How many fish you got in there? How big are they? I have an AR380. I've read that because of the trickle system they're actually quite good at oxygenating the water. If you think about it.. all the water ig going up and out of the tank, then falling back in after going through a couple of layers, each exposed to air. I would rather suspect the ammonia is new to them and they're just a little irritated and will adjust. Did you use any of the water from the old tank in your new one?

What's your typical mantenance routine? I've read that pH does drop over time due to accumulation of waste products which is part of the reason you need regular water changes. So you have to expect to do some regular changes to keep your ph where you want it. If it were my tank (and I'm a newbie so maybe soneoen else can comment) I would do a good water change and then buy a ph test kit. Monitor your ph for a while and see at what point the ph starts to drop again and use that to help determine the frequency of these water changes (or just do them every 2 weeks as most people recommend) What sort of gravel do you have? Some gravel (especially the lighter types or those with shell in them) Will cause your pH to drop. I've also read that you can test this by taking some gravel out of the tank, and putting some vinegar on it. If it reacts (fizzes), then it will be affecting your pH.

I have that test kit and have gotten alot of use out of it. Like most recently I added medication to my tank and didn't know if the biological filter was going to be affected. Having the ammonia/nitrite tests helped me know if my tank was cycling again so I could know how to manage water changes. Also handy for when you add new fish, switch to a new tank, or setup an emergency hospital tank. You can retest to reassure yourself that everything is still good. I check the pH when I notice any significant changes in my plants or the type or amount of algae (some thrive at different pH levels from what I've read) That's a very good trader selling the kit and their prices on those test kits are the best you'll find (mine also came from her just over a year ago and the price is still about the same) I suppose with experience and bigger and bigger tanks you stop needing them (I'm still a newbie too)

Let me know how you get on Pictures are welcome too! For scientific reasons of course.

I heard that if it's really cold outside and you stand on your head in your dressing gown and stick your tongue out and one arm in the air the worms will come out :lol: :lol:

I'd be more concerned about the temp your tank will get to in the summer. Maybe your cat will be trained by then ! (My poor fish have been sitting at about 14 degrees this week!! Yes.. that's indoors!)

Was it elastomeric paint?