Warren

Ok, if no one else can help I'll PM you instructions. Caryl, do you have instructions somewhere, someone has t have written a good article on DIY heatpads at some stage??

I don't know of anyone making them to sell (anyone else know??). Would you give DIY a go if someone gave you the instructions. It is important you are confident with making mains connections though. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who doesn't know too much about mains and electrical.

The heatpad idea is still good though. It's often more practical for what you want to do. The same power requirements still apply as above though.

As a general rule, the more litres the more electricity to heat it. Likewise the less litres the less electricity. It doesn't matter if you have more heaters. If the total litres is less you will use less power. You'd be better off insulating the tanks as the only power required is to top-up the loss of heat. By insulating you'll lose less heat therefore use less power. My old fishroom had over 3000L in it but only used $60.00 a month in power. The 100mm polystyrene walls kept all the heat in. Most of the heat was supplied by the pump and lights. The heaters very seldom tuned on and the main cost of power was the pump followed by the lights.

That's not always true. There are many very responsible retailers with a great wealth of knowledge. There's only a few who let everyone else down.

Glossostigma elatinoides, Riccia fluitans, Echinodorus horemanii, Echinodorus tenelus You may have ask them to order in some of these but they are available.

15mm Glass would probably be ok. It will give you a safety factor of 2.7 (270%) which is not bad. Most tanks available at shops aren't built to this safety factor... Because it is so tall and the pressure and forces on the bottom edge and lower parts of the sides will be very high compared to lower tanks you'll need to double-butt the joins at the bottom and sides. You'll need to use a piece of 15mm glass full width at the bottom and full height up the side. You'll then get a 30mm wide silicone join. The strips only need to be 50m wide but will probably end up about 75mm wide so it's easier to cut. I'd also recommend getting all the edges of all the glass ground square and flat. It will double the strength of the glue joins and make it a lot easier to put together. It will add about 20% to the glass cost however (still well worth it). It also look much better. You can use much thinner glue joins, 0.25mm instead of 1-2mm. Would be a great tank for discus!! (or a reef tank).

Also, when the Jewel's get big enough they'll probably eat the neons!!

Yikes, why do mnufacturers make phosphate based products when they don't need too!!!

Use these links to learn a bit about water chemistry and water conditions: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/aquarium-conditions.0.html http://www.fnzas.org.nz/filtration.0.html http://www.fnzas.org.nz/filtration-2.0.html http://www.fnzas.org.nz/filtration-3.0.html

pH down is usually sulphuric acid and contains no phosphates. It's pH up that's phosphate based... I'm assuming we're talking about the some pH down product (aquarium pharaceuticals - in a small plastic bottle with a yellow label).

Yip, it has to have good WAF!!! (Wife Acceptance Factor)

Wouldn't recommend discus in a community tank...

The same tube will be available at the wholesaler and they should be able to order one in specially if they have stock somewhere in the country. The old growlux is pretty much a blue/red tube too and still readily available. It is more pink than the TLD84. Tubes that concentrate on the red and blue appear pink in colour. Growlux is really good at bringing out the red's and blue's in the fish too. It is a less intense light but makes the plants grow quite well. It was designed for terestrial plants, not aquatic plants, but it still works very well though. It can sometimes cause a lot of algae.

Try going to Mastertrade or any other Electrical Wholesaler. They will charge you retail unless you can prove to them you are in the electrical / electronics industry. If you have a mate who's a sparky, you're in! There are a range of bulbs available: TLD84: Slightly Pink in colour (4800K I think) TLD86: White daylight - like the sun (6500K) TLD96: White daylight - high colour rendering (6500K) If you can get a good trade price with a discount you should pay about $7-8 for the TLD84 and TLD86 and 9-10 for the TLD96 (for a 5' (1500mm) 58W tube). Full retail is about $20 and $23 respectively. Other fancy tubes are available but not usually stocked. I use TLD96, - they're brilliant for growing plants and don't wash out the fish colours.

Sorry, not that easy... Sub weighs 250kg and it's on the other side of the room!!! It takes 4 big guys to move it.

Main macro nutrients are Magnesium and Potassium. I use RO water and have to buffer it to get and hardness at all and to get pH stability. I use 500L on a waterchange and put 6 Tablespoons of Magnesium sulphate and 4 tablespoon of Potassium sulphate into the waterchange water. I also add 3 tablespoons of Sodium bicarbonate, 3 tablespoons of Calcium chloride and 1/8 teaspoon of iron chelates. This is enough to buffer my heavily planted 8' 1200L tank for 1 week and keep the iron level normal. The fertiliser also has these same macro nutrients in it in about the same proportions (but no Sodium bicarbonate). It's about 1000x more concentrated though. When the lights and CO² are on, I add about 30mls of concentrate a day using a dosing pump to keep pH and nutrient levels constant. The fertiliser also has iron and other micro nutrients too. I have 6 x 58W 6500K lamps and 6 x 18W 6500K lamps on 14 hours a day. Most stem plants grow between 25 and 100mm a day. Most sword plants grow a complete new leaf every two days. All the new growth is bright red. Every week I get a 20L bucket of prunings to take to the LFS. It initially cost $400 to setup the tank with all the plants but I've made that back and some with selling off the excess...

Also, if there was ammonia present and the pH was below 7 before the waterchange it would have been ammonium which is much less toxic. If the pH went over 7 after the waterchange the ammonium will change to ammonia. The toxicity of the ammonia gets 10x worse for every pH point above 7 (10x at pH=8, 100x at pH=9, 1000x at pH=10 etc). Maybe the Neon’s aren't ammonia tolerant and the other tetra's are. Many fish never develop a tolerance to ammonia as their natural environment never has it present. These are usually the first fish to die when an ammonia spike occurs. Tetra's natural environment is acidic therefore no ammonia... Maybe these Neon’s were wild-caught and the other tetra's were captive-bred. Wild-caught fish are usually more sensitive.

So far, haven't had that problem. I supose there is a first time for everything though...

Yes, daily waterchanges of at least 10% until the biological filter is all-go again (at least 4-6 weeks). He'll be totally sick of water changes by then...

Ah, just a nipper. Should have been no worries... Never kept arrowana's so I don't know if they can bit hard.

Hi Kim, shouldn't this be in the private for sale area?

Worst luck How big was the arrowana?

Animates get this in now and then. Try asking them to order some in for you.

Did you try to persuade them to sell you a small bit? I've sometimes had a bit of luck but you won't know unless you try...