Warren

How did the Oscar's get to Indonesia. They are an Amazon fish! They grow up to 15in (380mm) in the Amazon. Just an update on Gambusia too: You are allowed to catch them, thats not illegal. You are not allowed to return them to the water alive however and you are not allowed to move them. If you get caught, you can be fined up to $100,000. I believe, if you accidentally catch them while poking round in a waterway, you can throw them on the bank to die. In another thread, someone stated there aren't as many frogs as there used to be. Gambusia is the reason why... Don't spread them as they are a very nasty little fish. Don't take them home and put them with your other fish because they will kill them. Gambusia nip the fins and eyes or other fish they see as a threat to their food supply. This eventually kills the fish...

Keep in mind Bruce, Hummingbird is in Auckland and it's not that cold there. 200W should be ok. As I said earlier, try it to see if it's enough. If there are no fish in the tank it won't matter. 300W is enough for my 1200L tank and thats 2400 x 810 x 640mm with no insulation on any surface... Even in the middle of winter 300W is just enough. One heater is on nearly all the time but it hold the temperature at 27-28'C no probs. The second heater is just a backup (even though heaters often fail on) and never turns on. Every now and then I take it out of the tank and put it in slightly cooler water to test it still goes...

Yip, 380-400mm without the full width bracing sounds about right to me too. 8)

I make the glass safety factor 216.7% if filled right to the top and assuming full length top bracing. If the tank is well supported it should be ok filled to the top. Most aquariums are built to about this safety margin and very few fail. It's only the ones that haven't been siliconed properly that let go. If it is not braced then it only has 172.2% safety factor, - bordering on the low side...

200W would be ok for 250L if it's inside in a well insulated house. I only use 2 x 300W in my 1200L to hold 27-28'C and even then only one heater is enough even in the middle of winter. If it's a fairly cold house then 200W might be a little on the light side. It also depends on what temperature you want. It takes a much smaller heater to hold 24-25'C than 27-28'C. Try it and see...

Cool 8) However, now that I see a better photo of the plant, I don't think it's an osiris. I don't know what it is. Anyone else?...

That's a rediculous price! It will be lab grade, much more pure than you need. I get mine from a local chemical wholesaler and it costs about $16.00 for 4kg. If you get really stuck I can send you some to get you started. Jansens definately stocks the Aquatic Plant Stimulant - I've bought it there before. I don't know if they stock Seachem products however. If you can't find Flourish at Jansens, Hollywoods definately has it...

0.1 is ok. Do you add trace elements? Replace bristlenose and plec with SAE's

Also watch the clown loaches don't bite stem plants off at the roots... Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

You had two plants with brown patches + 3 more and now only one without, is this correct? That means you only have 6 plants in a four footer... The brown patches may be caused by a lack of fertiliser nutrients or maybe too much of certain types. If you have a high nitrate level it will either inhibit or slow down plant growth. In some cases it will make the leaves die. High phosphate levels also inhibit plant growth by attacking the roots, but you'd probably also have lots of algae too. Since you are using only Flourish Excel, you may well have a nutrient deficiency. You could get some Flourish (not excel - Flourish is an iron source) and some Aquarium Pharmaceutical’s Aquatic Plant Stimulant (trace elements). A couple of drops each daily would probably help. Just watch out for and algae outbreak. Next you may need extra Potassium and Magnesium. See if you can find a source for these as Potassium sulphate and Magnesium sulphate (not nitrate). You only add Potassium nitrate if your nitrate level is below 2-5ppm. Dissolve a couple of table spoons of each into a litre of water and add about 5 mls daily. You may also need to add more plants. If the plants can't use up the fish waste products as fast as they are made then the plants will always lose. The conditions for growing plants well means very good water quality. The two go hand in hand actually. Plants require good water quality but they also make it but using up the bad nutrients. You have to start with good water quality however as the plants can't turn bad water quality into good. They will only help keep good water quality good.

Knowing the amps unfortunately doesn't tell you the power. It will be fine if the current drawn has a power factor of 1 and the clamp meter is true RMS, but for any other case you'll need a special power meter that measures the 'Real Power'. A simple case of Power = Amps x Volts isn't usually the case. Any pump will not have a power factor of 1 and most fluro's are only corrected to about 0.95. Using just a clamp meter to measure the current and multiplying but the voltage will only give you the VA (or kVA). kVA and kW are two completely different things. For most domestic power users, you only pay for kW. At least if you measure kVA it will give you the worst case. If you base your power consumption calcs off this you'll get an artificially high value.

Looks like you are low in iron. Echinodorus osiris should have fairly red new leaves which fade to a green/red when fully grown. The veins should be dark but the rest of the leaf quite red to start with. Add iron tablets to the substrate as this plant is predominantly a root feeder. Do you have Bristlenose? If so, this could be causing the damage to the leaves. Osiris has a very delicate membrane that Bristlenose damage easily...

True, but plants purify it better and faster and you don't have to continuously clean it up...

5ppm nitrate will be ok. Any reading on the phosphate kit is bad. It should stay clear...

They are two different plants. Ballistic's is most likely an Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus) and Diver John's is a Rose Amazon Sword (Echinodorus osiris). Ballistic's plant is still a little small to properly identify and at this stage could be one of about 3 sword plants. In a month or so once it grows some more it will be easier to properly identify it.

The bottle connection self seals but yes, thread-seal tape or liquid sealer is used everywhere else or it leaks badly...

I use a BOC 6.8kg commercial CO² bottle with a BOC regulator. The bottle costs $9.00 a month and about $25 a fill (once every now and then). The regulator came with 2 guages, the tank pressure and the regulator pressure. It cost $140.00 inc GST. It's a special regulator as CO² is very abrassive and the normal brass guts of the regulator doesn't last. CO² regulators have stainless steel guts... I run my reg at 1 Bar (about 15psi) and feed it to a needle valve to adjust the flow. Have been using this method for about 8 years now with no trouble.

No, cause it's made from steel. CO² bottles have to be aluminium...

The problem is the Phosphate at 0.5ppm. You need to find out where the phosphate is coming from and remove the source. Next you need to do water changes until phosphate no longer reads on your test kit. Green algae will go away, no need to reduce light, add algae killers or use flourish excel (other than as a carbon source)... Phosphate may be in your waterchange water, one of the fertilisers you use or in the food. If you use solid fertiliser in the substrate it may be leaching into the tank water. Excess waste in the tank or filter will release phosphate as well. What is your nitrate level? If it's over 30ppm this will add to the problem as well...

As far as I know this fish stays quite small (50mm or less) and is harmless to other fish. I've never had an problems with them and they've always stayed small for me. They likely confussed otto's with a Chinese Algae Eater which are well known for sucking fishes sides...

Duh!!

Hi Spooky, The best info I've found is the Sears-Conlin report. The principals in the report are spot-on. If you can find a book called the Optimum Aquarium this is probably the next best book about water in general. It's by the Dupla guys but is currently out of print... It doesn't tell you directly how to grow plants but it lists the water conditions where plants grow from all round the world. It's amazing to find that everywhere plants grow has just about identical conditions. If you go to 'The Krib' and read the article replies about the Sears-Conlin report there is a lot of info there too. There are many replies from some of the best plant keepers in the world. Another good source is the Nature Aquarium World series of books by Takashi Amano. Most of his books are to inspire you only, but book one has some info on how to setup for planted tanks. Aquarium Plant Paradise is also another reasonable book. The Aquarium Plants Manual by Ines Scheurmann, Dennis W. Stevenson is also an excellent source of information. I recently lost this book but will buy it again soon. It has a good section telling you what is wrong with your plants based off their appearance. Not to forget the FNZAS Plant Survey. There is a small section at the start telling you how to setup for a planted tank... Good hunting...

I was going to mention lead too...

Some pool shops have both too as they are hardness adjusting chemicals sometimes used in pools... We're lucky here, there's an industiral chemical supplier. I get 4kg's of either for about $10. I paid about $70 for all the chemicals I use to make my fertiliser about 5 years ago. I'm about half way though using them now. That works out at about $7 per year for fertiliser instead of $12-15 per week ($624-$780 per year). That's about 100 times cheaper to make your own... I'm dosing a 1200L tank so a lot of fertiliser is needed. The average tank wouldn't need as much fertiliser as me so the same chemicals would likely last well over 20 years. It's still a lot cheaper to DIY even for a small tank. I got most of my chemicals in 2-4kg bottles. Hydroponic suppliers may be able to sell much small quantities. 500g would likely be enough to last most people a very long time. It should only cost a few dollars for each chemical too. Keep in mind, as the package size gets smaller the packaging cost dominates the selling price. To buy 1/10th of the chemicals I bought will probably still cost about 1/2 as much. But still, it's only the same price a 3 bottles of store bought fertiliser and that doesn't last long...