paekakboyz

base isolation or similar? Wellington hospital and police station have it as well. The plugs at the hospital are massive, you can see some of them in the underground carpark.

to catch the loaches lower the water level then use your glass lids as partitions to reduce the space they can be sneaky in! better yet leave a small opening covered by your net and cattle drive them into it. That's how I caught my 4 chain loaches in my 4ft. Would have been chasing them for days if I tried to corner them with two nets.

has anyone spotted these yet? http://www.genesisenergy.co.nz/genesis/ ... EE59C3D38B allows you to plug T5 bulbs into T8 fittings... hmm has possibilities. The new fitting wouldn't be spec'd for aquarium use but it would be one way of upgrading existing T8 fittings to take brighter bulbs. And as the sockets just plug onto the tubes so they can be reused. thoughts?

buuuuump

Hi All, I'm close to upgrading to a 6*2*2 tank and I'm keen to have it planted. Currently run a 4*2*2 planted tank with a 4-foot dual T8 (40W) and a 3-foot dual T8 (30W) - both Aqua One brand. I def notice a difference between the areas of the tank getting 40W compared to 30W, not to mention the overall coverage (4ft compared to 3ft). What approach would folks recommend for lighting the 6*2*2? would two 3-foot T5's do the trick perhaps? particularly if they were the 4 bulb versions. I don't intend to use CO2 and will largely stick to JBL balls etc in terms of extra ferts. I've seen a number of threads on plantedtank.net where people run MH but I'm not sure if that means I'd need to consider CO2 or end up with runaway algae issues. I have a couple of mates who are sparkies so I could consider getting parts (ballast etc) and putting them together with assistance but I'm also thinking about the aesthetics of it all as well. thanks!

I don't think anyone is trying to be mean about your situation or possible solutions - responses were made about the initial info provided. Your partner getting fired was obviously unplanned as are a lot of the family things you are dealing with. Advice here seems to be about going line by line (to borrow from the National Govt!) through your spending and being really tough about what you can and can't cut. As Caryl noted there are a number of things people (not lumping you in here by the way) consider essential that actually aren't. Student loan living costs aren't overly generous. $160 a week, it's barely changed from $150 a week when I finished uni in 1999!

fair call P44, I'm still a newish user on the site and often read pretty curt responses to posts etc. Noted it was kinda unfair to pick on that particular post but if we aren't positive (says the person that just threw the first stone!!) and/or helpful with new people/questions then people might not come back. I know that when you join a longstanding forum where there are all sorts of relationships and injokes flying around things can get misunderstood etc. In this case I just thought it was a bit off (imo)

Man, how about giving people a break. Not to pick on this post in particular but there have been a few replies recently to newish folk that are just a bit mean. This was an genuine question that didn't deserve an eye roll. Esp as they were correct and it wasn't babytears.

ok so the conscious decision to pay more for the rental was made when one of you was working fulltime and now that you are both studying (or about to go back to study) the overall cost is too high? Did you guys factor in how your income would change once your partner left full time employment to start study? If staying at the current flat means you are going to continue going into debt or struggle to get by you might want to find a cheaper place - sure it will mean more costs short term but it'll cost you less than trying to stay in your current place. You may not have been living beyond your means initially but unfortunately that seems to be the case now - I don't know too many student couples who have a pool at their flat!!

and maybe some diagonal bracing across the back? you wouldn't see it but it'd make it a lot stronger. Agree with mystic - another layer of board on top then poly and it should be sweet as.

sorry I didn't catch any of the prices for that stuff. Most of the rock there was well priced tho (all by weight as you'd imagine). If you did head out you'd want to have an idea of how much you'd need for the tank...

I was out at Palmers Garden centre in Plimmerton the other week. Right beside them is a landscaping outfit. I got some river stones and they have a wide selection of gravels/pebbles etc of all sorts of colours. There is a little pre-fab office that has shelves with display boxes of all the choices - some really cool looking options I reckon. Worth checking out. Remember to wet them (guy there has a spray bottle) to get an idea of what they'll look like in the tank too! some of the stones change colour markedly when wet.

Warning: Chinese Algae Eater is too aggressive to co-exist with Cardinal Tetra. Warning: Common Pleco is too aggressive to co-exist with Cardinal Tetra. Note: Chinese Algae Eater will become incredibly aggressive and destructive when they become adults. Warning: Chinese Algae Eater is too big to co-exist with Cardinal Tetra. Warning: Chinese Algae Eater is too big to co-exist with Dwarf Rainbowfish. Wasn't the name of the dwarf neon tho) Warning: Chinese Algae Eater is too big to co-exist with Bronze Cory. Warning: Chinese Algae Eater is too big to co-exist with Peppered Cory. Warning: Chinese Algae Eater is too big to co-exist with Dwarf Loach. Note: Common Pleco needs driftwood. Warning: Common Pleco is not recommended for your tank - it may eventually outgrow your tank space, potentially reaching up to 18 inches. Warning: At least 4 x Peppered Cory are recommended in a group. Warning: At least any combination of 4 are recommened from (Dwarf Rainbowfish, Bronze Cory) as they will shoal together. Recommended temperature range: 24 - 25 C. [Display in Farenheit] Recommended pH range: 6 - 7.5. Recommended hardness range: 5 - 15 dH. You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity. Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 278%. [What's this?] Recommended water change schedule: 42% per week. Your aquarium stocking level is 100%. [Generate Image] [What's this?] Sweet bang on 100% occupancy!! always thought I understocked if anything.

I had 3 skunk loaches in a community tank of cory's, cardinals and rams for around a year - they were really active and fought amongst themselves. But when one died and I was down to 2 they def hassled other fish. I now have 4 chain loaches and they are way better.

Hey milkchops! welcome. Awesome to have a Vet aboard

Man if I'd seen that remake of the Japanese horror film "The Ring" and then my tv went all weird and stuff I would def need a change of underwear!! Maybe the power switch for the tv was right beside the light switch ; ) poor ghost might have been flicking the wrong one!

sitting at my pc watching my school of 13 dwarf rainbows rip around my 4ft tank at the moment. awesome fish and really lively. Colour when they get right under the lights is magic. Agree with previous posters that they'd be primo in your tank.

maybe stuck behind the tank? if they were 'getting it on' near the surface could she have jumped or something? or perhaps it was the mothership!!

Hi All, Currently have a lightly planted tank 360L 120*60*50. It's stocked with dwarf rainbows, cardinals, several mixed corys, and a golden algae eater. I've got a mix of crypts and amazon swords (inc two melon swords) with a bit of dwarf sag. Substrate is river sand and filter is a FX5 full of noodles plus the standard foam pads. I'm finding I have less and less time for my fishkeeping and I'm thinking a change to a different type of tank might spark my interest again. Looking at either a mix of african cichlids or maybe some 'character' fish.... what would people suggest? have you got pics of what you've done with a similar sized tank? thanks!

have just got 6 dwarf rainbows - 4 girls and 2 boys, about an hour after hitting the tank they were already showing off to the girls and flaring their fins at each other. Really active and pretty fish. Will have to try adding a breeding mop to my community tank I think! would be awesome to breed some

Hi All, Have added a 4cm or so GAE to my community tank in the last couple of days. Had been recommended as another option to bristlenose or similar for algae eating. Was wondering how people have found these in their community tanks etc? Plan was to re-home him once he gets to around 10cm+ or starts displaying bad behaviour! please share! ahem except for some of the real horror stories!

Hi All, Have had my planted 4ft (350L) setup for nearly 3 years now and I've decided its time to change things up. Moving the tank to a new position and swapping brightwater gravel for sand - was really keen to get hold of black sand but no joy (esp at some of the prices I found!!) instead I have some nice dark grey/shimmery sand which will look pretty cool. Will be adding more driftwood (only have one med size piece at the moment) and sticking mainly to crypts, anuibis, apongenten and a couple of patches of dwarf sag (shocking spelling!!). Going to totally clean out tank when I strip it etc. And have some additional bracing put on the steel stand. Any tips for using sand as the substrate? I've read I need to let it settle so it doesn't munch my filter etc... due to time pressures I'll be doing it all in one day (a looooong day!). will take some pics of current state (inc the cyno!) and the new look.

are you talking about a saltwater tank type skimmer or the attachment you can add to your freshwater canister intake? I had an issue with an oily film building up on the surface of one of my freshwater tanks. Got a 'skimmer' that replaced the intake for my canister filter. It takes some water from below the surface (like the usual intake) and has a floating, grilled intake to collect from the surface as well. It did the trick but I broke down the tank and when I set it back up the problem had gone. I don't think a saltwater tank skimmer would be of any additional benefit in a freshwater tank?

that's the most testing school of all!! You'd be off the charts for resilence and creative thinking given the challenges that have come your way this year!!

looks like Paul Henry has done his job judging by this thread! As alan pointed out no one who cannot meet the entry requirements is going to be accepted to Uni. They do have a range of methods to bring people into the system that didn't experience academic success at school (CUP course plus changing eligibility standards once you reach 20 years of age). But in the end if you can't complete the course material you aren't going to get a qual. You can't point a finger at lower achievement of certain groups without looking at the reasons behind it (economic/social etc). It's not a competition and we'd do far better as country if all (or as many people as possible) gained some form of relevant (you could be looking at uni/tech/apprenticeships/certificates/etc) tertiary quals... Lots of super successful people left school without formal quals (School C etc before NCEA came in) and I'd imagine you wouldn't look down on them for a lack of quals...