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Warren

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Everything posted by Warren

  1. I've updated this article recently. Anyone who has used it and found it a little confusing should now find the formulas work. I had accidentally stuffed up the ^2 and ^3 and ^4's in a few places. The excel version has always been ok. Download the calculator and use it to check your tanks for safety. You might be surprised at how good some tanks are, - you also might not.
  2. Yes salt will help with nearly any external bump or scrape. I don't use water ager, just personal really. Adding chemicals to cancel another chemicals effect doesn't seem like a good way to reduce stress to me. The water in a bucket method allows most of the disolved gasses (and all the chlorine) to escape prior to use. An airstone in the bucket helps speed the process somewhat.
  3. Oops, the > should have been <, so less than 0.05ppm phosphates. The reason Cyno grows well with 0 or near 0 Nitrates is because it can lock onto the disolved nitrogen in the water as its source. Many newly setup aquariums get cyno within a few days of startup. This is due to too many nutrients in the water and no Nitrates.
  4. Thanks. Been full now for 34 minutes, - no leaks, no cracks - yet.
  5. I'm glad you moved the plants before using Erythromycin as it would have killed your filter. It doesn't just knock-back your filter unfortunately. The dosage required to kill Cyno will also completely wipe out your bio filter. Use Erythro as an absolute last resort. There are usually other reasons for Cyno. In this case, the extra UV content from the new lights has shown a problem up, but they are not the cause of it. The Nitrate level is either too high or too low, and there is probably a small excess of phosphates as well. Cyno thrives with 0 nitrate, or >30ppm. Anywhere in between and it seems to pretty much vanish overnight (as long as phosphates are >0.05ppm. It will probably burn itself out in a few weeks if just left alone.
  6. Hi Jadie, You can also do small water changes (5-10%) every 3-4 days until the tank is cycled. This will help reduce stress a bit. If you are in an area that has chlorine in the water, fill a 20L bucket and leave it for a couple of days. Use the water in the bucket for the water change, then fill it back up. By the next water change, the water in the bucket will be ready. For the first water change you could probably use water straight from the tap if NH4 is a bit high. If the white spot you are talking about is bigger than a grain of salt and if there is only 1 spot, it is unlikely to be ich. It is more likely to be dead or decaying fin (fin-rot). This often happens when coldwater fish are moved from one water type to another, and usually to where the water is cleaner (like a new tank). Adding tonic salt usually fixes them up in a week or two. Salt is also really cheap as a fix. Follow the directions on the salt pack for the dosage.
  7. Warren

    New Kid in town

    I'm looking at my tank full of water too. In the same situation, - testing for leaks / tank breakage. Tank is in the drive (outside) just in case it breaks. Who wants 3000L in their house to suddenly let go!
  8. Well, its full. It took 2.5 hours! I probably won't sleep tonight, - listening for that big 'CRACK'. Its still sitting out in the drive. I'll leave it there all week (full) just to prove its ok. Hopefully next weekend it will come inside.
  9. Be very wary of using formalin on loaches. Since loaches have no scales, just skin, they often absorb the medication you put in the water directly through their skin. Formalin is one of the things that are usually a mojor no-no with loaches as it is directly absorbed. Salt is ok, + raise the temperature 1-2'C. Increase airation to offset the lower oxygen level at a higher temp. Increasing the temp speeds up the ich cycle, causing it to go away faster. Go with the salt... The usual main cause for ich in loaches is a sudden temperature drop. They seem to be one of the few fish who must be treated with care during water changes. I had 15 loaches for about 8 years and only had ich once. Most of the loaches were over 150mm long, with the largest 250mm. It was early on when the ich struck and a water change with cold water caused it. I don't keep them any more.
  10. I Hope it wasn't a pet shop that told you to change the biomax every four weeks! It takes 2-3 months for biomax to reach its full biological potential. Changing it every 4 weeks means it wouldn't have been doing anything at all, - well maybe a little bit during the last week. You should start to see a cleaner more health tank once the biomax starts doing its job properly. This is regardless of how clean and healthy your tanks is now. Also, when rinsing the biomax (or any bio media) make sure you use aquarium water. Washing it in cold tap-water can and probably will destroy a large amount of the bacteria build up you want to keep.
  11. Warren

    one-eyed pleco

    I saw a Pleco with no eyes at one of the fish shops that used to be here. It was like it from the day it was hatched. They nicknamed it 'Sockets'.
  12. I have Eheim feeders and fertiliser dosing systems. Both are very good and don't munch batteries too fast. Have never had trouble with them. In fact, I've never have trouble with anything with the Eheim label. Both are programmable for 4 x single or double dose per day. One unit holds enough food for a well stocked 4' tank for about 2 weeks. The fertiliser tank holds enough for about 2 weeks on my 8' tank with 8 doses a day.
  13. Hello Janet, Polystyrene does not level the base of the tank stand at all. This is VERY important. The base must be level on its own. The easiesy way to level a tank base is the get another piece of wood the same size as the original unlevel one. Get some 'no more nails'. Using a glue gun, apply the glue in a regular patern over the entire base. Fit the new piece of wood. Fit 10-15mm polystyrene and then place the tank on top. The weight of the tank will squish the glue out and level the base. Any gaps will be filled by the glue. Let the glue fully set (about 1 week) and then you can fill the tank. Don't take shortcuts with big tanks, or you will get a big mess on your floor. The reason the polystyrene does not level the base of a tank is because there is virtually no force on it. The total weight of the tank divided by the surface area is not much. Eg; My 8 foot tank weighs in at about 2000kg. It is 2400 long and 820mm wide. Lets work it out in cm. So thats 240cm x 82cm = 19680cm². If the total weight is 2000kg, then on the polystyrene we have 2000kg/19680 kg/cm² = 0.101626kg per square centimeter, or 101.626 grams per square centimeter. Go get something that weighs this much and has a surface on it 1cm x 1cm. Put the full weight on the 1x1cm surface onto the polystyrene. There will be no change in the thickness of the poly and it will not deform at all (not that you can see anyway). The actual deformation will be approx 0.1-0.2mm, - not nearly enough to correct unlevel tank bases. This represents a force of approximatley 1N per square cm which is nothing. All the poly does is stop small bits of grit or very small bumps in the base from breaking the tank bottom due to point loading. Hope this helps.
  14. Unless you are trying to make a Takashi Amano style aquarium, leave your undergravel alone. You actually have no choice anyway. If the filter you have does not have biological filtration, then you need the UGF. If you change to, or add a filter that has biological media, you would then be able to turn off the UGF. It will need 2-3 months of running to be 100% mature. The filter should also turn over the entire aquarium volume 2-6 times an hour. If you ever do turn it off, the simplest way is just to pull the tubes out and leave the UGF plates as-is. You'll also need to do an immediate and very thorough gravel clean. All the muck thats accumulated will need to be removed to stop a bacterial outbreak. This could easily amount to a 75%+ water change. I'd leave it as it is. Discus don't care about UGF / Canister filters. All they care about is water quality. As long as the filter method you use keeps the water really clean they will be happy. UGF's work ok with plants too. You won't get spectacular growth rates, but a nicely maintained planted tank is very possible with them. Some plants do not like UGF's but the list is small and there are plenty of other types of plants that work very well.
  15. Good to see everyone home safe. Did anyone get their photo taken in their travels? A couple of people from my work (one went to Wellington and the other to Auckland) both got tickets from patrol cars. So did my dad. Good weekend for the police wot!!
  16. I've been using Effisubstrate and Siporax in my filter for seven years. Its never been changed and still seems to be working ok. Both these media have a similar pore structure and perform similar tasks. The reason it may still be working ok is because I have way too much media for the tank size. There is 7kg of Effisubstrate and 13 Litres of Siporax in a trickle filter for a 1200L tank. There is a 15 micron prefilter prior to the bio-tower. I have no idea what the pore size of the media is and whether or not debris smaller than 15 microns would cause a clogging problem. I'd expect that you could effectively clean old media anyway. I clean my pre-filter cartridges with concentrated chlorine. It seems to break down everything organic and it washes away with the hose. Maybe the same thing could be done to old media. If it does indeed need to be changed, why not recycle it. It may not be as effective as new, but it may prolong the time between having to replace the media. Also, a suitable prefilter (one better than filter wool or a filter sponge) should extend the life of media. Who knows what micron rating the filter should have is anyones guess. I'm using 15 microns and it seems ok.
  17. No worries. Tank is not in the lounge yet but sitting outside. Maybe next week. Anyone who wishes to view tanks (and other tanks) is welcome.
  18. Big tank not going to be at the show!! The supplier of the silicone I used promised it would go off in 24 hours. Well, its been 4 days and its still liquid in the middle. After talking to their technical department in Sydney today (where its made), I've discovered it will take approximately 2 weeks to fully cure. Bummer!!!!!!!!!!! :evil: :evil: I'm not happy. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: The only reason I used this silicone was because the supplier promised it would cure fast. Can't trust the Ausi's wot! Never mind, it will look good sitting outside my lounge empty instead anxiously waiting for the day it will be let inside. Have arranged some alternative tanks for the show instead.
  19. Hi Caryl, Its being moved by a crane. Transported to the school hall on a truck and taken off again with the crane. If you want to visualise the final setup, go to page 138/139 of Takashi Amano's book 1, Nature Aquarium World. It is a similarly sized tank (height and depth) but mine is just a little longer. At the show however, it will just be bare (no time to setup) but will have something a little different in it (assuming all goes well with the fill test). Floor support, - yip, 8 new piles under the house set into a concrete pad. Total weight once setup will be approx 4500kg (lots). I'm not so worried about the fill-up Bill, its the time to empty it. I only have 1 spare pump at the moment and its 1000L/hour. Its going to take 3 hours just to empty! I'll see if I can borrow a bigger one just for Wednesday night.
  20. Silaflex RTV is manufactured by Fosroc. I'm trying a new product on my big tank (well one I haven't used before). Its made by Ramset. Its a glass sealant that has a permanent underwater rating. Yet to see if it is any good cause its still curing. Check out my Big Tank thread on Thursday 25/10/2002 to see if it was any good! Even the Silaflex does not have a permanent underwater rating. However, I've got an 8' tank thats 20 years old and still holding together using this product!
  21. Warren

    Fluval 3 Plus

    Thats rubbish. Under the fair trading act you are entitled to a full refund if you want it. The retailer is breaking the law! Take this one back if it is no good and demand your money back. They have to! If they say they can only replace it, wave your arms around spouting the fair trading act. Thats usually enough to get them to pull their head in. You can then get an Ehiem or one of the other cheaper canister filters. The x04 Fluval series is rubbish and shouldn't be touched. The older type, even though more hastle to clean, was miles better. The new ones are almost impossible to prime and keep running without air stopping them. I use a powerhead on the inlet to mine otherwise every couple of days it's just sitting there chattering and no water circulation.
  22. Thanks for the comments. Haven't filled it up yet. Will fill it for the first time on Wednesday night. If you don't see a post from me then, its because I'll be sulking (and wet).
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