jolliolli

I might be wrong but i thought as long as they were legal size you can keep them (just like the restaurants do?)

If they are fluffy it is most likely a fungus and you will need to treat with an anti-fungal eg methylene blue. Give the tank a water change as well

metronidazole is the treatment for hex, it is an antibiotic so is usually a vet only medicine (or is also prescribed for human use as well).

I've just bought one of these units, which clip on nicely to the top of the tank. They come with 1 to 6 fans http://cgi.ebay.com/Metal-Halide-Aquari ... dZViewItem

Congrats , are you going to try and raise the eggs? I suspect the pair will have a hard time guarding the eggs at night with the other fish in the tank. Would be great to see some pics

Take a look at this pictures in this post vavoli http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/the-hu ... 22341.html This was a sick ram i had, prior to that i had several fish die off slowly over several weeks. Does the redness in the fins look similar, do any of the symptoms sound similar to what i experienced?

Already had it from when i bought my existing setup. Eheims tend to be pretty expensive compared to other brands but from what i've read they tend to be reliable and quiet compared to some of the cheaper brands. i've heard good things about the lagunas too

mine a eheim 1260. does 2400Lph.. so not as much as you want..

I run an eheim pump much smaller capacity than what you're after but i have been pretty happy with it, the noise is pretty quiet, i think thats something you want to consider if you're going to have such a large volume of water running through one pump.

Melafix is lethal to pencil fish so make sure you don't have any in the tank when you add it. I've found melafix fairly useles when i've tried usig it in the past. The redness you mention is it an actual bleeding area or a red streaking at the base of the fins?

Thanks for explaning it wasp. I had initially thought about epsom salts after camnbron's suggestion but read that if you are increasing by more than 100ppm of magnesium that the sulphate increase may be too high. Luckily I have been offered some magnesium so that will sort me out

yip no worries, will send you a pm

We get our hansen fittings from a placed called the irrigation warehouse on annex road. Theres also a place called Plumbing & Irrigation Supplies 1988 Ltd on sandyford st in sydenham which sells all the hansen fittings. For piping eg the return pipe etc i go to para on moorhouse ave. This weekend my other half has just replumbed our tank with 32mm pipe for the return and flexible hose in to the sump etc so we have been at the irrigation places several times this week

thanks tm

yeah that seemed about the price at the lfs. Am thinking of either seeing if i can source some mag through some contacts or might look in to using epsom salts as camnbron, is there any risk to using this, is it likely to contain unwanted contaminants? Are there different grades of epsom salts available?

20Kg lots was just on the seachem site, had a look at the lfs and they only sell the smaller volumes, obviously 20kg isn't in demand over here.

Its really up to you. There's decent space for a sump and having one will increase your water volume, which will mean it will be easier to keep your water parameters stable with a larger volume of water. Also it will allow you to keep all your gear (heater, pumps) out of the tank which will free up more room in the tank. Were you thinking of drilling the tank and putting an overflow in?

I know his tank is 350L not sure on the other stuff though

great cheers, had a look at the calculators and they're very helpful, need around 700gms to get it up to 1350, had a look and saw that the seachem products come in in 1, 2, 4 and 20kg ranges so will head off to the shops tomorrow .

cheers guys, will take a look at the calculators

How large are the seachem jars of magnesium and how much did you use to get your mag level up?

Just after some advice re: Magnesium. I tested my magnesium today using salifert kit for the first time and mag was 1170ppm, Kh = 7, Ca - 400ppm, salinity 1.025, phosphate - zero (reads as this but i know its probably higher). anyway so i should probably look at raising the magnesium to around 1250ppm? So i'm not too familar about how to raise mag, but from what i've read i should look at getting some mag flake. How do you dose this in to the aquarium and where can i get smaller quantities of mag. I've read you can buy 25kg bags but this would probably take a long time to get through.

wow i find that disturbing eating a pet (not that i'm criticizing you coelacanth, just something i find strange)

you're probably right gannet, i should have said something at the time.

yeah bad advice is one thing but i wondered even about the legality of this advice, releasing unwanted organisms in to waterways