Ianab

The formation of Chloramines would depend on the quality of the original water right? If it was pretty clean (very low Amino acids) then there would only be small amounts of chloramine forming? The free chlorine will evaporate quickly, the chloride is a component of common salt - so trace levels of that is harmless, and there shouldn't be high amounts of chloramine there anyway. I think thats why we can generally get away without 'ageing' water here in NZ. Tap water in other parts of the world may not be as good, and they NEED to add chemicals to break down the chloramines. Cheers Ian

No... small clown loaches will be OK in a smallish tank... for a while. They dont grow very quickly, but eventually they will outgrow it. As long as you have a plan to re-house them a couple of years down the track it's not a problem. Cheers Ian

A school of tiger barbs is a good thing - they chase each other round the tank and leave the other fish alone. One by itself will chase whatever else it can find to chase. Ian

Tiger barbs are probably OK, but you will want at least 6 (or more) otherwise they usually start hassling the other fish. A school of them are usually pretty active and look good. What about some adult kribensis or golden barbs? I would also drop in a little bristlenose pleco, you will probably never see it, but it will do a great job cleaning algae off the glass. Good for a display tank, clean glass with less work for you Cheers Ian

I suspect they may eat them, and control the population. But like most biological controls they probably wont eliminate every last one. Its like having a pleco to control algae.. it only works when the pleco is there Cheers Ian

Biggers is better, but I think there is some law about how deep you can have them before they come into the swimming pool fence law. From memory it's 18" deep? Maybe someone can confirm this. Anyway, go as deep as is legal Cheers Ian

Thats the idea of putting some aragonite in the tank or the filter. It's mostly calcium carbonate, and will slowly dissolve over time and raise the PH (or at least prevent it falling too fast) That and regular water changes should keep your pH under control. Most fish will happily adjust to a pH of 6 to 8, but major swings in pH will stress them. Partial water changes and the aragonite will bring the pH back toward 7 gradually and hopefully keep it there. Cheers Ian

Yes, thats the easy way. Just make sure the ammonia reading (false or otherwise) goes down over time, not up any more. Cheers Ian

Although the ammonia is slightly up it's not at a dangerous level. 0 Nitrite is good and 10 Nitrate is probably 'normal'. Test your tap water for Nitrate as well. Depending where you live it could be 5 or 10ppm out of the tap. I would suggest you just go easy on the feeding to let the ammonia settle down and start doing your normal water changes to keep the nitrate around it's current level. Bringing the filter and gravel from your old established tank seems to have worked like it should. Just do some water tests every couple of days and make sure the ammonia goes down. I assume your fish are still happy? Thats the main test Cheers Ian

It shouldn't break the tank, but you have no control over the temp. Hate to wake up in the morning and find the tank over 30 deg By putting a hot water bottle in it/beside it it will only raise the temp a couple of degrees. Much safer. Cheers Ian

Float a plastic drink bottle of hot water in the tank, leave the room heater on overnight, and put a blanket over it to keep the warmth in. You might need to change it a couple of times over the night. 20C isn't a crisis yet, but you dont want it going much lower, especially this weather Cheers Ian

Dont panic too much about the the small filter, it will be OK untill you get a full stock of fish in the tank. With just a few fish in there it will provide enough filtration. You can get a better one later as you get more fish. Just run both filters for a couple of weeks after you get the new one. Cheers Ian

I would run the heater, things will work faster with the tank up to temp. How are you cycling, fish, fishless? Cheers Ian

Fair enough, but it will get your tank up and running while you save up the $300 for a nice Eheim canister Cheers Ian

Breaking it down a bit more... Prices are buy now on Trademe tonight $30 - 200w Aqua One heater $38 - 1200l/h Aqua One internal filter $12 - Basic Air pump $20 left for postage / air hose / bubble wall. The tank is the biggest cost, so if you can get it 2nd hand you can save big there Cheers Ian

The $100 should get you a heater, basic filter and some extra aeration. You may want to upgrade stuff later, but the basic kit will get you up and running I make it $350 if you want decent lighting / $250 for bare bones setup Cheers Ian

Lets see... 1200x450x450 bare tank.. about $150. You may have to shop around to get that price, but they can be had cheaper, especially 2nd hand. Bigger tanks than this need heavier glass and the price goes up fast. Heater, big AquaOne internal filter (1000l hr), small air pump, couple of aircurtains. Another $100. Stand.. home made. Depends on your woodworking skills and what you have in the shed. Plywood, MDF, 4x2s, concrete blocks. Get your Mum to sew up a nice curtain to hide it if it's too ugly Lights. Depends if you are growing live plants or not. If not, a couple of compact flouros in a home built fitting. cost $10. Otherwise $100 for a decent light. Rocks/gravel/driftwood. Go and fossick around the local river/beach/landscape centre, wash everything well and it will be OK. Now that wont be a flash setup, better filtering would let you keep more fish, better lights will grow plants better, a flash rimu stand will look flasher, a 1200x600x600 will hold more fish. But it's a much better home for your fish than a 50L fancy all-in-one that you spent the same $$ on. Cheers Ian

yup.. just do water changes like you do in any other tank. Wont hurt to skip them for a couple of weeks untill the fry grow a bit, then syphon from inside a net to avoid giving them a ride up the pipe :lol: Check the bucket before you empty.. just in case Ian

For a 70l tank the Aqua One 700 would be plenty ( assuming sensible stocking etc) The Ehiem filters do seem to be better, even the plastic mouldings seem to fit together better and I believe they have more media volume for the same rated flow. But if you are on a budget, a cheaper Aqua One will do the job fine. Even if you plan to get a bigger tank later, there is no problem with running two smaller filters to make up the needed volume. It can even be an advantage when it comes to cycling new tanks and having a backup filter in case one fails. Cheers Ian

NZ tap water is generally a lot better than some of the overseas cities. Even when it's chlorinted it's usually at a minimal level. If you can smell / taste chlorine at the tap, sometimes you can if there is a filtering problem and they up the chlorine dose, then agitate it and let it sit for a while. It evaporates from the water fairly quick. Otherwise it's fine for a tank, I just use Stratford water straigth from the tap and haven't had problems. I do approx match temperature, especially this time of year. Cheers Ian

If they are still young they will continue to grow when they have more space. Stunting occurs when they reach adult age, but are still small, because of their adult age they dont grow much more no matter how good the conditions. Cheers Ian

Using the established filter from the small tank is the way to go. You can set up the new tank, run it's filter, let the water clear etc. But of course it wont cycle untill there are some fish in it. You should be OK moving your Discus in there as long as you take the existing filter with them. ( some water and gravel wont hurt either, but the filter is the main thing ) That filter is cycled and will keep the water conditions under control untill the new bigger filter gets established. I keep a small spare filter in one of my tanks, so it's ready to go when I set up a tank. Even if it's not big enough for the new tank it will support a small number of fish in a large tank while it cycles. Cheers Ian

Shortened version... you can go down to the stream at the back of your section and catch a few bullies / inanga / koura and put them in your fish tank. Cheers Ian

When you include a matching stand and all it's probably not a BAD deal. But I'm with GZ, thats about my budget for setting up my 4ft 240l tank. Of course I have to build my own stand and hood and will have to wire in my own lights :-? Keep an eye on Trademe, you might pick up a setup like that for $100. At least you know what they are worth new, so you can avoid getting ripped off Cheers Ian

No problem with doubling up multiboards as long as you keep it tidy and watch the TOTAL combined load. Dont plug more than 2300watts into one wall socket. But fish tank equipment, computers, stereos etc are all low power devices... probably a 300watt heater is the biggest load. I think there is 15 devices on one of my lounge outlets, but total load is ~1,000 watts max - no problemo. Of course a big electric heater is 2300w by itself, so dont go doubling those up :-? Cheers Ian