Warren

Yes, well done Paul. I think you won about half the possible trophies!! An outstanding effort to breed and show so many quality fish - reflected by the number of wins. Not many people have this kind of dedication.

It was the Blue Ram that won best in show...

I've heard it works but never tried it - put a lettuce leaf at the bottom of the tank just before you turn the lights out. Give it a few hours, checking regularly with a torch and when the leaf is full of snails, remove it and destroy them. Keep going until all snails are gone (or under control).

Nitrazorb removes the nitrite from the water and stores it in the exchange resin. However, if the tank is too big for the amount of resin it will have a little effect. One Nitrazorb pillow will remove 1ppm nitrite from 75L of water. If the tank is 200L or more it will have little effect. Also, if nitrite is still being produced it may appear the Nitrazorb hasn't done anything. At least it can be recharged and used again. As Hans says, keep up the water changes. You can still use the pillow as it will help until your filter is working well enough to cope with the load. I'd also look into why you have nitrites to start with...

You can get two tubes in series going on the ballast you have. You need to by two new starters. There's a special type of starter for series connected tubes that allows them to start either at the same time or at different times so they don't just sit there flashing at you. Can't remember the type - S20 maybe. The electrical store you got the tubes from should be able to tell you which starter to use and the circuit for wiring them is somewhere on the internet (if they don't know that as well)...

No, from the photo's it looks like you have everything well under way and well in hand. Maybe a few more photo's as things progress, - but maybe not enough to give away everything in advance.

To make just one hole you can use a piece of copper tube and valve grinding paste. It takes a while but works really well with a lot lower risk than using a glass drill. You need to make a mandrill for the copper tube (and find a copper tube the correct size). A battery drill will do the job as long as you can hold it straight and square to the glass surface. You water down the grinding paste so it's quite thin and regularly add more paste. You're effectively sanding your way through the glass... It's a bit of an act to get the hole started but once under way it get very easy. How stable you keep the drill dictates how accurate and straight the hole is.

Hi Guy's, looking good. Just a note, - you need to turn the top bar over otherwise the tanks won't fit under the lights...

I'll be there - but don't let that scare you off....

I used to have a couple almost that big (200mm) and 14 more ranging from 140mm to 200mm. I had them for about 12 years in an eight footer with Surinamensis and Jurupari. Fed them at lunchtime one day and at 5:30 when I got home from work - all loaches were dead. Never found out why but all the other fish were fine. Gutted...

Keep also in mind that NZ is a microscopically small market. To most overseas exporters we are just a nuisance as our volumes are too small. Our entire population is smaller than many overseas cities. Considering our market size and population we actually get very good service from the supplier to NZ... As our market is so small the volume is very very very low. Small market = higher prices. It's completely unfair to compare NZ prices to overseas prices where some shops turn over in a week what it takes a NZ shop to turn over in a year...

Welcome, Check out your local club. See our clubs page: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/clubs/ or http://www.fnzas.org.nz/clubs/western_b ... d_society/

Maybe FX5 or similar and a reverse-flow UGF. I did this in my cichlid tank and the gravel was always very clean and no muck collected under the rocks. You still had to gravel-clean but only the surface of the gravel.

And my 15 year old Eheim is still running as sweet as the day I got it. Never needed parts and the plastic hasn't yet gone brittle. So far it's cost about $10 a year to own it and getting cheaper every year. Check back in 15 years to see how the cheap one is going (or how many replacements you've had to buy).

Need to know a lot more info: 1. Size of tank. 2. Type and watts of lighting. 3. Phosphate and Nitrate level in ppm. 4. What ferts do you use, who often and how much? 5. What temp is the tank? 6. Do you use CO2? 7. Type of substrate. 8. Type and number of fish. 9. Water change schedule. 10. Water source. 11. Type of filter and turnover rate. 12. Surface movement / aeration. All aspects of a planted tank need to be in the correct balance. The plants are probably initially doing fine by using up any stored resources of nutrients and then promptly dying. You probably don't have optimum conditions for the plants to grow. Cabomba can easily grow 50mm a day and even as much as 100mm a day. In 1 week mine grows from 400mm long to over 1m. I then chop off the bottom and replant the top 500mm (100mm into the gravel with 400mm above). Excess phosphate inhibit plant growth and often cause algae problems.

Farewell Alan. I was very saddened to hear of Alan's passing last night when I arrived home from a work trip to Australia. Alan has been an icon in the NZKA for many years and always stood up for any issue he felt strongly for at FNZAS meetings. His strong convictions and unwavering sheer stubbornness have shaped and improved both the NZKA and FNZAS over the years. We've had some pretty heated arguments possibly through being similar in some ways but he's always been a good mate. We've also had some great times and laughed so hard it hurt. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him. My condolences to Rose, family and friends. Rest now in peace.

Hi Alan, Where did you find the info saying it's on the unwanted list please? The latest info I have says only Nuphar lutea is banned.Is there another list?

Yes it works well. However, and it's big HOWEVER, you have to clean it very well before putting it in your filter. Scoria is made when toxic gases turn rock into a cheesle type substance. As such there are all sorts of nasties in it. This is what I did to make it safer (not sure if it's required but I wasn't taking any risks with my fish!) I acid etched it for a week, first with sulphuric and then with hydrochloric. Both are VERY dangerous acids and need to be handled properly and disposed of properly. If you are unsure then don't use it. Once thoroughly rinsed and a pH test shows no change then it's ready to go. Smashed pumice works about the same and is a lot safer to use if collected from the beach where it's already been well rinsed by the river that took it there. Only problem with pumice is silicates...

They're not as good as a modern one but much better than a standard heater. You'll likely get 3:1 efficiency at best compared to 4-6:1 on a modern machine. Considering the $2K+ you'll save though, the difference in power is quite a few years payback. If you get an old one you know if it's any good pretty quickly. The air coming out should almost burn your hand if very close to the outlet (on heating). If it's not that hot then it's stuffed. Likewise with cooling - it should feel like you're touching ice. Of course, you'll need to give it time to get going first...

Look for that little second hand appliance shop nobody really wants to deal with - the one with all the junk lying around. They're usually the best to get cheap second hand parts for your washing machine or really old equipment that still goes but nobody would want. The ones I got had no front covers and were well over 10 years old - looked terrible. They work fine though and at the back of the fishroom, who cares... Palmy must have something.

Try a second hand through the wall style heatpump. I got one from the local second hand appliance shop for $50 and it worked sweet for 2 years before it stopped. Went and got another one for the same price but slightly different size. It more than paid for itself... They also have a fan that runs continuously and an air direction flap to help distribute the heat evenly round the room.

Well, if they're happy...

Hmm, after seeing this my only concern would be how sharp it is. It might hurt the mouth of any fish that munches or move gravel...

Wow that's dark!! The best place I've found for gravel is Southland Sand and gravel in Invercargil. Only problem is 500kg is about their MOQ...

Go look it up, you'll find almost immediate that width doesn't matter at all. Pressure is proportional to height when liquids are involved. The length effects how much support the middle section of the glass receives from the sides hence different alpha and beta constants for the height/length ratio. So width does not factor into the equation at all.