jolliolli

Today i was in a local chain store pet/fish shop in chch (let me point out this was NOT ORGANISM OR REDWOOD AQUATICS - they are both great shops) and i was astounded to hear some of the information being given out by shop assistants. A couple was in the store buying two goldfish, i think they were also buying a small tank at the same time. As i was walking out I heard the staff member say to the couple 'If you end up not liking the goldfish you can just release them in to the wild' I was dumbfounded that someone would say this and put our native waterways at risk and that it was acceptable to just throw away fish as though they are some disposable item. has anyone else had a similar experience? Needless to say it just reminded me why i avoid places like these shops and only go to good places like organism and redwoods

hang in there newfish! hope they keep getting better, keep us posted

lol, what about you auckland ppl i was in bed straight after that post. organism had quite a good price on the large buckets of red sea salt when i was there last weekend, 25 litres and get 4 litres free i think, although if its a small tank it would take a long time to get through!

sounds like an in sump model, i haven't seen a rectangular version but probably one of the other guys will know what type it is. Do you know the make/model? PS you can use your freshwater test kits, when you test the water the salt tends to give a cloudy appearance to the result but its still the same. pH you'll need a high range test kit (although you may already have one of these if you've kept african cichlids etc).

test kits you will need, at the start of cycling your rock you'll need a test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. You'll also need to test for pH, alkalinity, phosphates and calcium (also look at testing for magnesium a bit further down the track)

I have an aqua one circ pump similar to the atman, its reliable etc but i'm looking to change over to tunze nanos as the flow is quite directional, whereas the tunzes have a wider area for dispersion and can be angeld inside the tank which is good if you want o aim it at rockwork in the centre of the tank etc. Skimmers are pretty eash to setup, the simple gist of it, is water comes in, bubbles are produced in the main chamber, and as the bubbles are produced organic waste is bubbled up in to a collection cup which you empty. Water exits the skimmer and returns in to the tank via a return pipe (if running a sump)

first thing i did was check the tanks, all good though

anyone feel that in chch just now, shook quite a bit

yeah i agree re: the rams, beautiful fish but the imports are full of internal parasites and slowly waste away, because of that i haven't replaced my pair as i don't want to risk infecting my discus

cheers for that i'll be ordering some stuff soon

Does anyone know if there is a supplier for the lock-line products in Chch, i'd like to use it for my return in to the tank

sorry adodge hadn't been checking the thread so didn't see your question. I've got 5 discus in ,my tank they range from around 10cm to around 17cm long and there would be enough space for another. Also in with them is around 20 tetras (cardinals and neons, many ppl comment that neons die at high temps but i haven't had a problem so far), two dwarf gouramis, 1 golden gourami, 4 SAEs, 2 BNs and 4 sterbai corys. I have the tank temp at around 28 - 29 degrees and waterchange 40%a week straight from the tap (but i use a water change to make sure its the same temp going in as the tank). I would agree with everyone else and say around 40L per discus (esp when you take in to account plants etc). I'd buy 4 or 5 around the same size to spread out the aggression at around 10cm

If you get adult discus you shouldn't need to do daily water changes as long as you keep it lightly stocked, i only do 40% weekly changes on my 300L tank.

sorry to hear you are still having troubles. ONe thing you could consider doing is trying formalin to eradicate whatevers causing problems. I haven't tried it myself but have heard that formalin can be effective at curing fish disease when other meds haven't worked. I'm unsure of the dosage and its pretty harsh stuff so you would want to be very careful with it

no not going to even try it, was just interested to know

all good info thanks. Bought some black foam to put on the plastic bracing as a precaution. Last time the plastic brace snapped on my FW tank it caused some drama so don't want to risk it again. Also bought 4 additional fans to disperse some of the heat from the MHs

ok thanks wasp, i had considered moving the lights to 30cm but if 22 is ok then i'll stick with that for now. The lighting intensity has been tripled and i wondered whether such a sudden increase could send the corals in to shock? one thing i considered doing with the braces is covering them in something to prevent them heating up, maybe wetsuit material or something similar? I may end up moving the clam anyway as its not really showing it off where it is, the position its in at the mo makes it look brown, if i move it lower down the tank it gets it makes the blue highlights visible. Noob question for you, if you have a fixture that takes 250W bulbs can you use lower wattage bulbs in them?

Few more questions on metal halides. Put them up today and i'm wondering what the best height would be. Instructions recommed 6 - 12 inches from the water surface. Tank depth to base of sand bed is 53cm. Currently they are mounted 22cm from the surface, is this the right height? Below is a picture of the tank prior to the lights going up i think i'll need to rearrange the position of the corals so that some of them don't get bleached. Can ppl recommend what height they would put the different corals at? I suspect the clam (and rock its on) may need to go to the sand bed and the bubble coral lower down? Also has anyone had experience running MH lights on the juwel tanks (or any tanks with plastic bracing across the tank?). I have two plastic braces running across the tank, they get quite hot and i'm worried about them snapping due to heat (i've had this happen on my other tank). has anyone else had them snap? I can't move the braces as they're glued in place. Any suggestions appreciated

ahh thats right, was thinking of SBD's

just measured my red sea prism deluxe and its 33cm (h) x 23cm (w). Can't really tell you much about them in terms of quality but the previous owners of my tank (400L) used to run it on there before they upgraded so it mustn' have been doing too bad a job should be fine for an 8L. I do wonder a bit about the quality of the plastic, mine has a slow seeping leak in one of the plastic seams and i think i remember fmxmatt saying he had one that leaked too?

from what i've read its not 'highly' contagious, but still probably best to quarantine regardless. its just one possibility perhaps someone else might have some suggestions as to a possible cause

does his back have an 's' curve to it? Fish TB can cause an 's' shaped curvature of the spine. Its not very common and happens slowly so if its happened all of a sudden its probably not tb

wow didn't know that, might have to invest in some glass bracing around the sides of the tank then

I swear i didn't steal him! mine hides in the rockwork but always comes up when i open the tank lid. Is all your rockwork secure after your move around? Perhaps he is just adjusting to the new surroundings? Hope you find him!

swap you for a blenny :lol: