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Warren

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Everything posted by Warren

  1. I wouldn't use phosphoric. It's mostly phosphorous based. If you use it you're likely to end up with algae and lots of it. If you must use acids to lower pH, use sulphuric as it has no negative effects. You'd be much better to use peat...
  2. It's that time again. I'm heading to the mainland, hope to see you at the meetings... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/events/
  3. Have managed to reschedule my work appointment so I can make it to the meeting. Go here for the details: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/events/ See you all there...
  4. Hmm, my philosophy exactly. Now if only I had lots of money not to take with me...
  5. Not too sure what's happening now. The FNZAS added it's support for the project although we are generally concerned about the name they've chosen. Aquarium of New Zealand is just too much like The National Aquarium of New Zealand. Sounds like they've trying to piggyback off the National Aquarium in Napier... Appart from the name issue it's a great project. I'm sure they will keep us posted as new events come to light.
  6. Then there's always my place...
  7. This is true, but it's not what I'm meaning. It simply shows what is required to maintain a planted aquarium and describes very clearly what nutrients are important. It's a very good education for anyone wanting to keep plants and have the knowledge of how to acheive the correct balance. I see the issue of phosphates as secondary and the need for the correct balance as the major focus of the article. Phosphate is a problem element for many tanks as they're either overfed, too dirty (filled with phosphate producing organics) or have too much phosphate in the water supply. What's most important is getting everything else correctly balanced to effectively use what phosphate is present and in many tanks in excess...
  8. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, black beard algae does not like CO2... That's why Flourish Excel works so well... Simply adding a CO2 system means you have a constant source of CO2 available.
  9. Getting the balance right is pretty easy. It all comes down to measurement. Read this very carefully: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilize ... onlin.html The principals these guys have come up with work very well. I've set up many planted tanks and used these guy's work as guidelines every time. I've found it to be a guaranteed way of making an almost algae free tank. What I mean by almost is - non-visible... It's also very easy to make your own fertiliser at a very low price. 10 years ago I spent approx $70 on fertiliser chemicals and I've still got some left. I have had to spend another $40 over these years to get more trace-mix making a total of $110 to fertilise a 1200L heavily planted tank for 10 years. Works out at $11 a year compared to $20 a week to use LFS fertiliser (which didn't work as well). Making your own also allows you to mix what best suits your plants. A little reseach into what each type of plant likes makes it easy to make the fine adjustments to the mix to maximise their growth. Get an iron test kit. When the iron is sitting constant at 0.1ppm you've got it right (you'll need small daily or twice daily doses to acheive this). CO2 is required if you want to give the plants the edge over the algae. You keep adding more CO2 until you have 20-25ppm of CO2 at the end of the day (another test kit). It's certainly not rocket science and I guarantee if you follow the guidelines set down by Sears and Conlin you will have success.
  10. It might be funny but remember the trouble this topic has always caused. Do not let this thread degrade into the normal zeovit slagging match it has in the past. I will be watching this one very closely... Maybe before you post, read the guidelines and be very sure you have not breached them.
  11. Warren

    Blue Rams

    Often the tank size does not matter. When the male wants to breed he will kill the female if she doesn't want to play... Have never tried multiple males with no female but could be an option if you don't want to try breeding them. Who knows you might have complete success though, you'll never know unless you try. Good luck.
  12. Yeah, what Suphew experienced is exactly what you'll get with what you plan to do. The 200mm wide section is nowhere near as stiff as the front glass section of the tank. The weight near the edges of the stand will deflect the centre of the stand downwards so very little or no force will be taken by the stand and most all or all will be on the front glass. This does weaken the glass a little but should be fine. There are many tanks that are only effectively supported on each corner of the tank due to very flimsy stands. Removing the centre support seriously weakens the support relative to the original design. You could consider adding removable front supports so you can fit a big sump but still maintain excellent centre support by using the floor to take the centre weight... Then you won't need the 200mm wide section that does very little or nothing anyway...
  13. Hello Children, You'll notice a couple of threads have been sanitised, this one specifically. Some of you are verging on yet another warning and/or another one month ban. The personal attacks and petty insults will stop now and stay stopped. Your stupid childish attempts to irritate each other are pathetic. Next one who does it look out...
  14. Hi Alanmin, I'd suspect the element is not coming on. If in two days the water temp has only come up to the ambient and won't go any higher it means the heater is not working or the thermostat is incorrect. 300W should easily pull the tank up to 25'C in two days: 300W x 60sec x 60min x 48 hours = 51MJ 204L x 4200J/'C x 15'C = 12.85MJ So, it should have been up to temp even with 75% energy loss... Must be the thermostat if the heater is showing as ok. Did you plug the light bulb into the thermostat output and turn the dial to see if the setpoint is correct?
  15. Yeah, good offer. You can sometimes get it brand new from hardware stores but you'll probably need to buy a roll. Considering the amount required I'd take Alanmin up on the offer, freight won't cost much even if you get 0.5kg of the stuff...
  16. Or you can buy some lead flashing from a scrap metal yard. They usually charge about $4.00 for a kilo but you won't need that much. It comes as flat sheet 1.5-2mm thick. All you need to do is clean it a bit and cut it into strips with scissors...
  17. Actually, some activated carbons do and it is well documented. A good rule of thumb in a clean aquarium is one month max. If the aquarium is dirty, the AC will reach the saturation point much more quickly and need to be changed more often.
  18. Dosing daily should help. You can use Magnesium sulphate (Epsom Salts) for Mg and Potassium sulphate for the K. Both are readily available from hydroponics outlets. You can sometimes get them from plant shops. Also look for industrial chemical supplies or pool shops. Make your own Mg and K mix, about $20 of ingredients will last you years. Check out this too: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilize ... onlin.html Invariably, once the correct balance is found to make the plants grow well, the algae almost completely disappears...
  19. You'll be low in something else. If all conditions are good for the plants they will out compete the algae. You're probably low in Potassium(K) or Magnesium(Mg). Maybe even Manganese(Mn). Check the % of each of these in your fert. You need heaps of Mg and K compared to Iron and most ferts rely on the Mg and K in the tap water. Trouble is, if your tap water is low in these, you'll use them up faster than the fert replaces them. Also check your Phosphate level, this often leads to algae if it's above 0.1ppm. Basically any reading of Phosphate on a test kit is too high...
  20. Oh yeah, looks like part of the log... Too small!!!
  21. I second that. Discus are best with a minimum of 50L each and prefer at least 100L each. Many people keep them in less but they're never at their best. If all 4 discus were in the top tank, looks like they had only about 20L each at best. They're also good sized fish producing a lot of waste... I normally only stock 12-15 in my 1200L tank that's got a massive DIY filter (using 14L of Siporax and 15L of Effisubstrat) turning 6000L/hour + it's very heavily planted with MH & CO2... On top of that I do at least 50% water changes every week. I consider this the minimum for happy discus. They always look a lot better after a water change. I'd do water changes more often but it already costs enough to heat 600L a week up to tank temperature. Discus will survive with less but if you want them totally happy and breeding all the time, big tanks and lots of waterchanges is the answer. What filter is on the top tank - can't see one?
  22. Remember, you can always PM the phone number... Its just not allowed to be public.
  23. I've been in touch with Biosecurity NZ. The reason the Pest Plant Manual is not available on their website is because it's being updated. They will email me when it's ready and I'll add a sticky at the top of the Aquatic Plants thread with a link to the information. The biosecurity website is difficult to navigate at the best of times so an easy link should help.
  24. I have one but it would be a very big job to load on here. The book is called the 'Pest Plant Manual' and is available for about $10.00 from most regional councils. This webpage: http://www.ew.govt.nz/enviroinfo/pests/plants/index.htm shows what the front cover of the book looks like but the link does not work any more. There used to be an online version of this manual. Maybe it's been removed to be updated. I'll ask biosecurity what's up and post a new link if it exists...
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