Warren

It's negative attitudes like these that will stuff your hobby. If you don't act there will be no more imports. I suppose you'll want to complain about that too! Stop whining about it and get on with it... If it's a fish you're already not allowed to keep then don't list it. If you don't care enough about you hobby to support it then you'd better be quiet when it's gone.

MAF and ERMA are only interested in scientific names.

Please use scientific names...

Ok, the pages set up for the review are online again: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fish_study/ I suggest you download the documentation and read it thoroughly. Use the form supplied. We will be adding the MS Word, Works and OpenOffice versions of the documents shortly. Please make sure all submissions are on the form.

Banned means not allowed to exist in the country. Not allowed means not allowed into the country, - so if its already here it's ok, we're just not allowed any new imports... Basically the allowed list is just for importers. The current review is only for the importation list, not for what we are and aren't allowed to keep in our tanks at home.

That's not at all what has been said at all: Anything that's not submitted won't be on the importation allowed list so will no longer be allowed into the country. Anything already here is ok unless it's on the current banned list. Very little if anything will be added to the banned list...

It's a good question. Since I know nothing about corals being a freshie I'll feed your concern through to ERMA (who have set the requirements). Will post a response here and update the specific pages and documents as needed when I get a response.

The information is available at: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fish_study/ Although just now there seems to be a problem with the page... So far we haven't listed any marine species but they'll be added shortly. The requirements for photographs are quite strict and must be on the downloadable form (Work, Works, PDF and OpenOffice). The photo must be added to the form and appropriate fields filled in and signed. If the photo is not printed in hi-res colour the e-file is also required on disk (no email please). Digital camera photo's are fine or original photo's glued to the page. You also need to include a reference to a book where you identified the species. Regardless of what you think of the study it must be done. Failure to do it means no species will be allowed into NZ. It's our responsibility to look after our hobby. We hope we get a huge amount of support for this and have photo's come pouring in. To make life a little easier, the web-pages set up for the study list every species we want. If you can supply a photo of a species, let us know so we can mark it as 'Promised' or 'Done'. If you check the website before taking your photo's you'll see if it's already been covered. We don't expect marine keepers to pull their tanks apart. This was something of concern early on. As long as the photo shows mostly one organism it is fine to take photo's of corals or fish in the tank. There is no need for concern about MAF coming to your place to kill your fish. The purpose is only to identify what is here. If you have an illegal fish this is a different story. Anything that is illegal now will remain that way so don’t list it. Any fish that is deemed unsuitable at the conclusion of the study will be removed from the import list. The species will be allowed to remain in New Zealand however. It is expected it will die off over a number of years… Please do all you can to help the hobby.

No problem, I expect everything will stay much the same as it is. By all means, start taking photo's of your fish but hold on to them until after the weekend.

Please hold fire people. I'll be taking Rob's suggestions to our committee meeting tomorrow. I'll update the appropriate forms etc and probably convert into MS Word and/or Works to make it easier for people to add photo's. The big list on the site is what we actually need to get pictures of. It's our responsibility to find actual evidence of these species existing in NZ. If we can't then they won't be allowed into NZ... There will be a proper site announcement after tomorrow's committee meeting - most likely on Sunday.

My tank is about the same size and I've got 500kg's of gravel in it. It displaces approx 150L of water. I know it's 500kg's cause I bought 1000kg's and used exactly 1/2 the bags... The tank is 300kg's, 1100kg's of water, 500kg's of gravel, 50kg's of filter, 75kg's of hood + lighting. The base must support 2025kg's!! The stand weighs 400kg so all up the floor must support about 2425kg.

8)

Up to $200,000 and/or 7 years in prison.... 8)

Name: Warren Age: 37 Occupation: Electronics Engineer (FNZAS President) Sex: Male Marital Status: Um, attached... Books: Sci-Fi Hobbys: Fishkeeping, Extreme HiFi, Motor Racing Family: 0.000 Location: Napier, - where else?? Favourite food: Hot'n Spicy Car: BMW

That's incorrect Alan. It's because young (small) Val of any type (except corkscrew) looks the same. If it's not possible to tell the difference then they all have to go. The people who perform the studies on these plants really know their stuff and have much more knowledge than you do (PhD's etc). Since most of what turns up in the aquarium trade is small plants they have to be removed to make sure they don't accidentally spread the wrong one. As it happens, the small val is invasive in some areas as well. Plants are only made 'Pest Plants' if they are invasive and displace NZ Natives... When you figure out a way to identify Val when it's small let me know. I'm on pretty good terms with the people who make these decisions. As they are reasonable guys, if we present a good case they will listen. I can see the reasoning behind the Val situation and since it's reasonable, support the decision the remove it even though it's a great looking plant...

Check your phosphate level. If you get a reading on the test kit it's too high... Siamese Flying Fox's or Siamese Algae Eaters (not to be confused with Chinese Algae Eaters) are excellent on both those algae. I only use SAE's and have no visible algae at all in my planted tank. You don't have too much light, just too many or unbalanced nutrients.

This is what I got and what I paid for it... 2 x OGS250100 Acto Choke HPS 250W $49.00ea 2 x AZRM6ES Atco Ignitor M/H & HPS 150-400W $21.70ea 2 x CP30.0-06 Atco Capacitor 30MFD 250V $7.98ea 4 x Fr2 Ceramic Holders $11.25ea 2 x OSRHQITS 250D Metal Halide 250W 5200K $87.50ea All that remains is to fabricate a reflector and good looking pendant fitting. Here lies the problem as NZ has the worst range of aluminium extrusions possible. I've spent my lunchtimes and after work for the last 4 days looking for nice curved extrusions to make a really good looking pendant along similar lines to the Arcadia 3 series... What a dissapointment it's turned out to be. If anyone knows where you can source good looking curved extrusions let me know. All up so far, $377.36 + GST. No too bad for 2 x 250W. The possible extrusions to make a 2.4m double pendant will add about another $200 once powder coated so under $600 all up.

So you removed the undergravel filter and the water was black. To me, that says everything... If the water went black it's because all the muck stuck under the undergravel filter got stirred up when removed. All the muck will be causing a bacterial bloom. A flocculant will help clear the tank by binding up all the rubbish so the filter can clean it out. As soon as the water goes clear you'll need to clean the filter, - not too much, just remove the bulk of the rubbish. Not quite up to speed with what floc’s are available for tanks today. Isn’t Accu-Clear one? Best to get opinions about different floc’s before using one as some can be hard on the fish. I’ve uses Acc-Clear before and it’s always worked ok. Another good one if you can still find it is Geo-Liquid (but it’s expensive). Haven’t had to use a floc for over 8 years… Water changes will help too. It will go away all by itself given time and weekly water changes of 20%+.

I'm adding MH to my planted FW tank but thought I'd ask about the cost of control gear here since Marines are much bigger users of this type of lighting. I've already bought the control gear but am interested in the price people expect to pay. I have 2 x 250W control gear designed for a tube with a running voltage of approx 100V. The lamps aren't useful for marine but will be fine for plants. What's the best price / source you've found?

I wouldn't count on it. There have been instances of shops in NZ selling plants they shouldn't have. In most cases it was due to not checking what was and wasn't allowed. It would still pay to check your local regs. Do you have regional councils in Australia? If so, they should have the information you need.

Both Hornwort and Val. gigantea are on the Pest Plant list in NZ. Bacopa caroliniana is commonly known Giant Baby Tears. If you are allowed them in Aus then lucky you, both are nice looking plants that are fairly easy to grow in either coldwater or tropical.

Oops, didn't notice GeeTee was from Australia... I expect they have pest plants too although they may go by a different name there. Madcookie, it's not good responsible advice, it's the law... Someone has to be a bubble burster and today it's me.

I have no idea.

I second that.

You'll be able to make a great African Cichlid setup with those rocks!!