Warren

What sized tanks are you guys using these kits on?

I think this kit is really intended for small (nano) planted tanks of 20L or less. In fact it's probably only approaching economic for tanks 10L or less. If 88g means there's 88g of gas per cylinder then a 5-6.8kg setup is far more economic. 6800g / 88g = 77.27 refills. 1 refill on a 6.8kg bottle costs about $30 vs $35.60 for an 88g cylinder - approx 91.7 x the price... So, only good for a nano tank where one of these 88g cylinders will last a long time. Based off the usage from my planted tank of approx 6.8kg gas per 12 months for 1200L 6800 / 1200 / 365 = 15.52mg / L / Day so for a 100L tank 100L * 15.52mg / L = 1.552g / day 88g / 1.552 = 56.68 days Given approx 365 days per year 365 / 56.68 = 6.43 refils per year = $35.60 * 6.43 = approx $230 per year for CO2 refills (ouch)!!! Results may vary depending on the actual usage of CO2 for the given tank but this gives you a rough guide. I hope my maths is right... Of course, for a 10L tank this is only $23 per year on average and nice and small compared to a big CO2 setup...

Hi Zev, need a nice new knife to keep that stick sharp or is it perpetually sharp?

Or I could do it... The new front end of the site could be a we while yet (2-3 months with testing etc). I could add the photo's to the current site in the interum if someone sends them to me...

Exactly, but making a base that takes virtually all the weight and is flat is quite difficult. Basically the base is not allowed to deflect at all along its length, width or diagonal if it's to take all the load. Then the glass only works to seal the bottom of the tank and it will support almost any height of water if the front, back and side glass is strong enough and the glue holds... A well braced steel frame will provide enough strength if designed properly - but we're talking about pretty big steel here. It will need 2 x 150mm x 50mm RHS one placed above the other with about 300mm gap between them for each supporting block. These will need 50mm x 50mm uprights on approx 400mm centres and 50mm x 50mm diagonal bracing between each upright. The same will need to be done with the front to back bracing as well with at least 4 of these supporting blocks front to back. On top of the RHS frame you'll likely need 2 x 40mm triboard laminated with no-more-nails glue and glued to the steel frame. The tank should sit on top of the wood with approx 12mm poly while the glue sets. Then the wood will form to the bottom of the tank and the glue will fill the gaps between the wood and frame. Then you'll have a frame rigid enough to support the bottom of the tank. No deflection (or minimal deflection) means no force effecting the tensile strength of the glass. When installed, packers may need to be installed under some of the corners of the frame so it stays flat. Good luck - it would be an excellent tank!

Could have been - except that if the calcium is etched into the surface of the glass then treating it with acid only creates another calcium salt - which may still be white. I tried Hydrochloric which should have made calcium chloride - normally reasonably water slouable. I also tried sulphuric but no result either. If you're going to try strong acids like the 2 mentioned, make sure you know what you're doing as they can be very dangerous. Whether it was etching or deposits or a combination of both, polishing ended up being my only option...

I had serious calcium deposits on the surface of a 20+ year old tank I got at a good price. It was a resonable size tank so worth the effect to remove the buildup. Acid did not work and for me, neither did a scrapper (although it might work for you). In the end I polished the calcium out. Using a metal cutting polish for stainless steel and an electric buffer I spent a whole day polishing the front glass. The front glass was 2.4m x 0.65m so quite a big area to polish. It took about 3-4 minutes to polish up a section of the glass about the same size as the buffing wheel. The polish I used was very fine as I was worried about leaving visible marks in the glass. You also have to be carefull not to get the glass too hot. Every 30 seconds or so I would stop to check the glass temperature. As soon as it started to get a little warm I'd move to another spot and wait for it to cool back down. If the glass gets too hot it will crack. The result was almost perfect. It even managed to polish some of the visible scratches out. The scratch was still there but due to it's edges being rounded off they weren't nearly as visible as they were. If all else fails maybe you can try polishing the glass...

I've found Jager the best too - never had one fail.

If you can afford it you could try using 2 or 3 smaller heaters set as closely as possible in temperature to each other. The idea behind this is that no one heater is enough to keep the tank at temperature on it's own. Then if it fails to the on state it's not going to cook the fish. I've always used 3 heaters minimum even if it means buying very low wattage heater for smaller tanks. My big tank had 4 x 200W in it. When one of the heaters did eventually fail to the on state the tank only went up 3'C and everything survived.

Yes, plants do grow from the stalk. As soon as the plantlets start to get roots they can be removed. You can cut the stalk off at the base as soon as it starts to grow and then you won't have a problem.

This happened about 3 years ago. I don't think much actually eventuated from it. I can't recall if the sample plants were sent out or not. I know we did have several of the well know FNZAS plant people lined up to assess the plants but I don't think the testing went ahead. I know I was one of the people going to do the testing and I never got any plants to test... I don't know why it did happen. Maybe someone else can help a bit more.

I had really good success with the Philips or Sylvania brand TLD965 lamps (T8). If you have access to electrical wholesalers they are about $16ea for a 5 footer. You can pay $60+ at a pet shop but don't need to for good quality plant growing lamps. I used 8 x 58W 5 foot and 8 x 18W 2 foot lamps on my planted tank + CO2 + constant nutrient injection - looked almost like an Amano tank but not quite. You can also get the fittings cheap from a wholesaler but you'll need to know how to wire them up (safety first...) The best colour temp for plants is 6500K. Colour 96 (vs colour 86) are the best compromise for colour rendering of the fish and spectrum for the plants. Depending on the type of plants you want to grow, the depth of your tank and efficiency of the lamps (some put out twice the lumens of others) you'll need between 0.25 - 1 Watt of light per litre. I was using about 0.5W of light per litre but none of the plants I used needed really strong light. I also had really good success with metal halides but you'll need an open top on the tank to use these. With the amount of UV light that comes out of them you have to be careful what the light falls on. I managed to fade the side of my speaker and couch... And, you have to be very careful for sunburn (well lamp-burn in this case). The UV is so strong about 20 minutes give you a really red arm! I wouldn't recommend metal halides if you are just starting out.

I used Purigen for many years. It's expensive to buy initially but it pays for itself very quickly. The write-up about it is accurate. It's amazing stuff. I had about 500g in a trickle filter on my 1200L tank. Without the Purigen the water had quite a yellow tinge after about 2 weeks. With the Purigen it was crystal clear. Looking through the length of the tank (2.4m) it was still perfectly clear. It lasted about 1 month then needed to be regenerated. I think I had the same Purigen for about 12 years before it started to disolve when being regenerated. If you divide the purchase cost + 12 years of regeneration chemicals by 12 years, Purigen works out at about 5% of the price of activated carbon. At that price there's no reason not to use it + you'll have a sparkling tank all the time.

Scoria can be toxic to the fish. It's made by volcanic activity where molten rock, minerals, heavy metals and gas all spurt out in a rush. The small holes in the scoria are formed by the gas. The toxic minerals and metals get trapped inside the rock. In saying that, I did try scoria as a bacteria filter media once but it didn't work too well because it blocked up all the time. Before using it I soaked it in a 10% hydrochloric acid solution to try to strip any of the toxic material out in case it was going to cause a problem. I don't know for sure if scoria can cause a problem, I just did a lot of reading about it before using it - I found several articles all saying it can be toxic. Scoria is also very sharp and can be a problem for fish that dig in the gravel. I personally wouldn't use it as a substrate as it's too sharp and will block up in time.

Membership on the website is free. If you want to become a FNZAS member you need only join an affiliated club in your area and you get automatic membership. That does cost but it's a tiny amount for a years membership. You can find club details here http://www.fnzas.org.nz/index.php?PG=clubs You have a good club in your area.

CO2 perishes some types of rubber very quickly (but seems ok with other type of rubber - trial and error). It breaks it down until it goes white and brittle and falls apart. The metal/ball/spring type are the best for CO2 but you have to be sure no moisture can get into it. The non-return valves used on airpumps don't last long - maybe a month...

Sorry, was only counting active tanks. Besides, those small tanks were my quarantine only tanks so don't count...

0 x any tanks Temporary illness, soon to be cured...

4:00am If I had kid's they would have both in by midnight at that age - same treatment I got when their age...

Yes, excellent product. Mine lasted over 8 years before it finally began to dissolve when regenerated. It works a lot like activated carbon but you only need about 1/5th the amount to do the same job and it is easily and cheaply regenerated. Over 8 years I worked out the initial purchase price + the cost of the regeneration chemicals to be less than 2% of the cost of using activated carbon. It also works better than activated carbon. It claims to leave the micro-nutrients alone as well. I used it very successfully in a planted discus tank and anyone who saw that tank will tell you the plants looked great. You could also look across the 2.4m length of the tank and it was crystal clear. This stuff super-polishes the water so it sparkles - no aged yellow tinge... I don't know how well it removes nitrate but expect any impact it has will be quite small and not worth the expense for the return. I always had a problem with not enough nitrate due to the plants. Water changes are by far the best way to control excess nitrate if your tank is not heavily planted. If your tap-water is nitrate rich then the cheapest long-term option for nitrate free water is reverse osmosis.

I'm not sure if the system for goldfish is still the same as it used to - but if it is then goldfish can still be legally imported. Once imported they must remain permanently in quarantine. While in quarantine they may be bred and the young fish can be removed and sold. After some time period (not sure how long) the original imported fish must be destroyed. As I said, I'm not sure if this is still current or if all the detail is correct but it goes something along these lines.

From Brookland's: Apparently the issue is only with this one type of food and only one batch. Please do as requested in Brookland's response.

I have received the following email from Lesley Patston (MAF) to clear up the issue.

That's the way to do it!! 8)

Just looking at the size of the wood and the end bracing - I don't think it's going to be strong enough and think you need to use more wood!! 8)