Warren

It's here: http://paul.aaquaria.com/Enter.html

Chch has some of the best shops in NZ. Maybe you were spoiled in SA.

Pies beat me to it!! If you can get the bulbs for trade (find an electrician mate) you can get the tubes Pies talks about even cheaper. Last time I got them they were $4.50ea +GST ($5.06ea).

I wouldn't be worrying at all. I've run 2 conferences and all the registrations nearly all arrive in the last 2-3 days.

No, no issues. The regen process requires the use of a dechlorinator. I use Sodium Thiosulphate for 24 hours, works great.

I make my own. I get the macro's from a place called Clake Products who is a wholesale chemical supplier. I get the trace from Aquarium Pharmaceutical Aquatic Plant Stimulant. It doesn't quite have the right balance but it's close enough. I get iron chelates and HCl from Clarke Products as well. I find it works great. With CO2 I get 100-125mm/day growth on Cabomba and 50-80mm a day on most stem plants. Swords throw a complete new leaf every 2 days. Java Fern doubles in size every month and Anubias in 2 months. Apart from the trace elements, my mix is fairly close to the PMDD recepie. I've changed it a little from time to time to suit the type of plants I'm growing. A planted tank gets a bit boring after it's the same for 4-5 years. I now change the type, quantities and layout of the plants every year or so and have to change the mix slightly to suit. The main ingredients to adjust are Mg, K and Fe depending on the quantity of fast growers and iron lovers...

Last time I purchased it I paid about $50 for 250grams... (equivalent to about 1kg of carbon), so is about 4x the price. When you consider a minimum of 50+ regens it is much cheaper than carbon... It is likely to cost a bit more now as it was at least 4 years ago when I got the last lot.

If you have a credit card, Hollywood's will courier it to you. They used to stock it but I'm not sure if they still do. It's not cheap but when you consider it does a better job than carbon (and doesn't seem to remove the same nutrients carbon does) and can be regenerated many times, it is much cheaper than carbon in the long term.

Don't have marines but I use purigen in my planted freshwater discus tank. It doesn't seem to have any negative effects but lots of positives. It also doesn't seem to have any long term negative effects. I've been using it for over 8 years, great stuff. Works better than activated carbon and it can be regened. I've regened mine over 100 times already and it's still going strong. Keep us posted on the progress...

6.8kg, try BOC. This price was quoted quite some time ago...

I use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals 'Phosphate Remover'. It works very well. If you want to use this one get the 1105gram carton as it works out 1/3 the cost of buying it in the small packet. It says it's for ponds but its the same stuff in larger cheaper packaging...

Check your phosphate level. I bet your new water supply has it in it.

It might be as you say but it works great. Moly and copper are needed as trace elements for plants anyway. As long as anything leaching out is in very low concentrations it should be fine. I've never had an issue with it. Anyone who's seen the way the plants grow in my tank will vouch for that... There are many others in town using the same stuff with no problems and excelent plant growth.

I suppose you could try a bit without treating it. See if it works while keeping an eye on the fish... Would certainly save a lot of hastle. The only reason I went to so much trouble is the filter was on 39 tanks with around 1000 fish. Didn't want anything going wrong. I know lots of people, Fishbait included, who have no trouble using it straight. Just test it first by adding only a little bit.

Yes, scoria works well. Make sure you get the bigger stuff, not the small type used on driveways etc. It need to be 10mm or bigger so it doesn't clog up and block the flow through the sump. You'll need to wash it well. It's best to acid wash it with Hydrochloric (available from pool chemical suppliers). Use rubber gloves and lots of caution, as it's pretty dangerous stuff. You can buy HCl 1L. Put the scoria in a 20L bucket. Pour the HCl over it and top up with enough water to just cover it. Leave it for a couple of days. Tip a small amount of the HCl into another bucket and dilute 20:1 at least. Pour down the drain. Repeat until all the HCl is gone. HCl is not good from drains and need to be diluted very well when dumping it. Rinse the scoria well 3-4 times. After you're finished, put the hose down the drain and run for 30 minutes to flush. Add one bottle of budget bleach to the bucket of scoria and top up with water. Leave for another 2 days. Tip down the drain and rinse very well. Pour the scoria out onto the path and leave to dry completely for a week. This will expell any remaining chlorine. Rinse again 4-5 times to remove any last traces of acid or chlorine. Get a glass of tapwater and check the PH. Add a handful of scoria to the water and leave overnight. Check the PH again for no change. If it's ok then the scoria is ready. If not, keep rinsing and repeat the PH test. Scoria is created by volcanic eruptions. During it's creation it can have all sorts of heavy metals and other toxic material combined into it's structure. The HCl wash is to help remove most of what will leach out. After the scoria is created it may get organic matter trapped in it's pores. The chlorine soak (and the HCl soak) will break down and dissolve most of the organics. It's still a good idea to keep a close watch on the fish after adding the scoria to make sure the are no toxic chemicals leaching out. I've used scoria many time in the past with no negative effects. It a very good cheap high surface area media.

It won't need cross-bracing if the back and sides are skinned with ply. As long as the ply has plent of screws holding it on and maybe even some glue it will be plenty strong enough. I'd also glue the frame together. It may also pay to but a ring round the top of the stand or extend the sides up past the thickness of the polystyrene to stop the tank sliding off in an earthquake...

My tank is 8 x 3 and has 500kg of gravel in it. If yours is 5 x 2 then you'll need about 200kg of gravel (about 41.6%). There is 25 kg's in a bag. My tank used 20 bags so you'll need about 8 bags. This will give a depth of 75-120mm if sloped from back to front.

CO2 pressure doesn't drop until the bottle is almost completely empty. Mine sits at 1000psi until about the last week and then it drops. It happily sits at 1000psi for just over 2 years before that though. It just keeps getting lighter... I put the same system together for my tank about 8-10 years ago. At the time it cost about $120 for the regulator, $60 for the solenoid and I made the needle valve. I rent the bottle as it works out only slightly cheaper to own one. It costs about $350 to buy on + about $100 every 5 years to have it tested, so $450 over 5 years. It costs $600 to rent one for 5 years and you don't have to pay for it up front...

Yeah freight is the killer. Seachem is from the States so almost all the price will be freight. I think Stone and Water World does the gravel I mentioned or can get it. The 1T requirement can be all different types of stone. I have a local supplier here in Napier who is bringing about 200kg of the stuff up in his next shipment. The total has to be 1T but it can be made up from all sorts of other types of gravel/sand too. Have a talk to Stone and Water World to see if they deal with Southland Sand and Gravel and see if they are willing to get you just what you need with their next shipment.

I didn't assume anything. Don't see how my post even remotely suggests he does... Remember the saying "To assume, you make an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'. Stopped assuming years ago cause I didn't want to look like an ass...

Southland Sand and Gravel do a very nice 2-4mm sand that's perfect for planted tanks. It's a fairly dark colour using a blend of different coloured stones. They only sell it in 1000kg lots but they might be able to tell you who they deal with in your area. They are in Invercargil. The sand is pretty cheap. Last time I got some it cost about $160 for 1000kg. The freight to get it to Napier was $500 though... It goes by the name 'Oreti Rock'.

I don't think you've got enough pipes!! 8)

See if you have a Mastertrade or Ideal Electrical wholesaler. They will be able to order them in. Don't know the current price...

28-30'C is a common misconception with discus. Their native environment only reaches this temperature for a couple of months each year during the dry season. They are happy at normal tropical temperatures 25-27'C as well as up to 32'C. Mine usually spawn like mad after doing a water change, which drops the temperature from 28 to 24 over about 30 minutes. It simulates a big rain in nature. I've spoken with a lot of people about the discus imports over the last couple of years. I've been keeping them for 10+ years and until recently have never had any trouble raising them. Any import I've bought in the last 2 years has had about a 50/50 live die ratio long term. Some die within weeks and others after 18 months, - for no apparent reason. I recently bought 12 discus from a local breeder. All are doing very well and growing fast. This is what I'm used to with them, no hassles, hardy fish. I'm not alone either, there's at least 4 other people I've spoken to recently with very similar problems. Discus like to be kept in big numbers. I have 18 in my tank and plan to put in another 6. They school in the wild in groups of 100+. They are happiest in a species tank, ie discus as the main feature with a few other fish like neons, cardinals, rummy nose etc. They do not usually go well in community tanks. They may grow ok but their colours are often quite dull or grey.

Neither do I. I filter all my water but not because of chlorine. It's only to remove the 6-8ppm phosphate. You say it's not practical to do water changes using method 2... I do 500-600L water changes every week. I have 2400L of water storage. This allows me to fill the whole tank twice or do 4 water changes if the filter stops going. I've got at least a month of water on hand. It doesn't take much to setup a container to degas the chlorine out of the water. It's the cheapest option too.