Warren

I used to get the same bubbles forming on my rocks and logs when doing water changes. Didn't have any plants or Co2 back then. Looks like my rocks and logs used to pearl a lot just after a water change...

I use 2 x 300W in my 1200L tank... Never had any problems with it being too cold. I'd be very worried about cooked fish if either one of your heaters gets stuck on. If one of my heaters gets stuck on it will only raise the tank temp by about 2'C a day so I'll have time to catch it. In a tank the size of yours, it will likely be all over before you notice... You would likely be much better off with 2 x 100W or maybe 2 x 150W.

Hello Everyone, Conference 2007 is being held this year and hosted by the Hawkes Bay Aquarium Society. The registration forms are running a quite late but should be out by the end of this week. Details will be posted on the FNZAS site under the homepage. The registration form will be downloadable as a pdf. All I can tell you for certain at this time is it starts Friday evening 1.6.2007 and finishes Monday morning 4.6.2007 (Queens Birthday weekend). There are several new and unique activities planned for the weekend so it's one not to be missed. Anyone who's ever been to a FNZAS conference will tell you how good they are. Check back soon for updates.

Thanks Pegasus, It seems a select few on this site are incapable of keeping their toys in the cot. The bitchy remarks have been removed and the topic permanently locked. Why do you guys always have to do this - it's childish? Oh well, you'll learn one way or another...

It's usually high phosphate levels and either high nitrate (over 30ppm) or no nitrate. Cyno can get it's nitrogen from the dissolved N2 gas in the water or from nitrate. If phosphates are under 0.1ppm (hardly detectable on a test kit) and nitrate is 5-20ppm then Cyno has a hard time starting. Excees UV from sources like the sun or metal halide also amplify the problem. Keep direct sunlight off the tank. Cyno is very common in new tanks that have high phosphate for the gravel of other objects in the tank and no nitrate as the cycle has not even started. These are ideal conditions for Cyno start. Find the source of the phosphate and remove it. It may be a buildup of muck in the gravel, over feeding or feeding with phosphate rich food. Check your water source for phosphate. My tap water has 5-6ppm phosphate so is useless for water changes. I have to use RO just to get rid of the phosphate... Another method of removing Cyno is to up the light and make it and the plants grow faster. Use a gravel cleaner to suck the Cyno off everything. As long as the replacement water has no phosphate in it, the Cyno and plants will eventually burn up all the phosphate and the problem will go away by itself. It all hinges on finding the source of the phosphate and controlling it.

If under $400NZ then no GST on personal imports. However, consider replacement membranes and filter elements. You'd need to be sure these were available locally or you'll need to stock spares. Also, importing spare parts is likely to cost the same again in freight every time you need them, not to mention the shipping delay - when you need water it has to be available. Long term, it's likely to cost a crap-load more to run than buying one at twice the price that's locally supported... I purchased my 4 stage RO locally for $250 and it costs me $80 a year (approx) to run in spare parts. Work out what this unit is likely to cost to run each year (including freight) and see if it's worth it over 2-5 years or longer. I've been using RO for 10+ years now so replacement membranes and filters are the largest part of the cost. The initial purchase is nothing...

Welcome, enjoy the site.

Welcome

Welcome

Not too sure but I think CO2 needs an Aluminum bottle as it reacts with steel when under pressure. CO2 is very corrosive which is also why CO2 regulators have stainless steel guts and not brass.

The glass thickness part of the calculator works out the required thickness for the safety factor you want. The safety factor part is useful to work out how safe existing tanks are. So for a safety factor of 3.8, you need 27mm glass... You choose the safety factor you want and change that value. The thickness result will be calculated for you...

This topic has now been cleaned. Keep it on-topic and no more arguements please.

Welcome back!!

Welcome!!

Welcome!!

And I'll be visiting in May!! Looking forward to the trip.

Read the glass thickness article - the link is above...

Mmm, nice!!

Best to fill it up first though... 8)

Welcome 8)

I've read it's between 45 minutes and an hour. However, the die-off is quite slow. Depending on the filter type and surface area of the media vs quantity of water and initial oxygen level, I'd suggest anything between 1 hour and 6 hours. If you're worried about it, give it a quick flush with some tank water before turning it back on.

Yes, but it's a very big tank, approx 9000L. The bottom glass will need to be approx 38mm and the base will need to be solid concrete with a surface prep to make it level withing ±0.1mm. Alternatively, a concrete bottom with no glass and use glass only for the sides. You may also want to look a acrylic side panels at this size as they flex a lot more than glass and will help take up any errors in construction. The thicker glass gets, the less forgiving it is to assembly errors.

My old-style filters have always gone: 1. Coarse Sponge 2. Fine Sponge or filter wool 3. Coarse Bio Media 4. Fine Bio Media The rationale behind this is clogging order. The coarse Sponge catches the worse of the big stuff then the fine sponge or filter wool catches the fine stuff leaving nice clean water to enter the bio media. This extends the life of the bio media as it does not clog up as quickly. However, I now use a 15 micro pleated cartridge pre-filter on the inlet to the bio filer so there's no need for sponges or filter wool. The media is ordered to optimise for breaking down ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Small coarse media is used at the inlet while large chunky media is used at the end (better for nitrate reduction).

I think book1 is the best followed by Aquarium Plant Paradise which may be book 4 but I expect it's a follow-on from the Nature Aquarium World series. It's the smallest book but has about the best information out of all of them. Another great book for learning about fish disease is Discus Health by Dieter Untergasser (ISBN 0-86622-170-0). It's primarily about discus but details diseases most fish get. The most important part of the book however is how to diagnose and treat both common and uncommon diseases, - what to use and what dose rates etc + pictures of parasites etc. It's been invaluable for all the fish I keep, not just the discus... Also check out the 'Articles' section of this website http://www.fnzas.org.nz/articles/ as there are many good articles, so even written by me!! 8)