karlos

Name: Karl Age: 41 and counting Favourite Colours: Blue/green and all combinations of the two Occupation: Engineer in the petrochem industry ( and no I don't have anything to do with the high price of petrol ) Music: Paul kelly, Smashing Pumpkins, dixie chicks, starting to like radio hauraki which i guess shows my age :oops: Interests: Fishing, kayaking, running, Spanish language and culture, Burmese cats :bounce:, travel to 3rd world countries... resulting digestive tract illnesses (just kidding :roll: ) Other pets: psycopathic red burmese called Angus and a chocolate burmese called Vincent Vega

How do the little guys flush the toilet?!! :lol: Nice setup! :bounce: where did you get the tank from?

Hey there I have read that if you let algae grow on the parts of your tank that you don't look through that they absorb any excess nutrients and make it harder for other algae to grow on the front of your tank. Thats the theory .... plus I can't be buggered doing it . Seems to be working OK but I still struggle wih algae. Florish excel is my best friend!!

Yep I have a zebra danio I call swayback sam who is bent up like a banana . He was like that when I bought him. I hadn't realised at first and I was a bit dissapointed but now I like him more than all the rest... It doesn't slow him down at all either.

Me too but I live up north. BTW did you see the posts about them falling over after a few weeks??

Well I was really keen on gettting some cockatoos but I have second thoughts about getting any at the moment. Reds or wilds... I have to say I agree with Jury. we aren't talking about how to breed them, its about keeping them alive. Thats my two cents Karlos.

Thanks I'd really appreciate it Karlos

Hi all I'm looking to buy a pair of red or orange cockatoo dwarf chiclids. There's a pair of cockatoos on trade me that are descended from wild parents and don't seem to have the colouring that I was hoping for. I asked the seller whether he ever gets reds and he has replied stating that he has had bad experiences with the imported Reds. They seem to die on him after about a month. He was saying that it appears they are carrying a virus that does them in... :-? Has anyone else had this exprience? I had my heart set on a double red but I don't want to buy fish that expire after only one month! I'd appreciate your feedback Karlos

Oh my! I am so sad to hear this... I am only new to the board but I have seen lots of posts from Alan here. I only knew him from pixels on a screen but even I could see that he was passionate about fish keeping and ready to help anyone. My deepest condolences to Rose. This such a terrible disease that takes so many of our loved ones far to soon. I lost my sister in law last year this way also. We can only celebrate the life of our loved ones and remeber the good times with them. They live on through us And from what I can see here I know that Alan is still going strong... All the best Karlos

It looks like just a sort of flexible plastic. I would be interested to know myself because they are extremely expensive to buy! I want to put an custom extra set of lights in my Juwel 260 and I bulk at spending so much just to cut it up! It should be quite easy to substitute. I though somewhere like para or Mitre 10 might have something similar. Let me know if you find something suitable. karlos

Oops! I just realised that this was a very lame question! :oops: If the out put of the lights is 108W then no matter what I do with reflectors, the maximum amount of light that will get into the tank is 108W! I would have to turbo charge the bulbs to get more! (hmmm now theres an idea). Well maybe the 2W per liter rule assumes some losses... Or maybe I need to look at another solution.... Karlos

Thanks Hans I may go that route if I can't use the standard solution. The standard T5s fit really well in the tank so I would like to use them if I can. Karlos

Hi all Still planning my new tank... The Juwel 260 I am looking at comes standard with two T5 54W Hilite Flourescents giving me 108W. I am really interested in having a healthy planted tank so I am concerned that this will not be enough for the job. According to the rule I should have at least 2W per US gallon which would give me a requirequirement of about 140W. So I am a bit short on light... I checked with Juwel and they said that because of the size of the tank I can't add another light set so I would have to go with a totally different solution However Juwel also sell reflectors that they claim will increase the effective wattage by 100%. Theoretically This should easily make the light requirement but I can't see how just the reflectors would give this much extra light. Can anyone comment if this would be an acceptable solution or suggest some alternatives? Thanks Karlos

Good grief! I'm not sure how I will slip any more tanks into the house! Actually I've been showing my wife some to the fantastic tanks on the aquatic gardeners site and I've managed to get the tank moved from a bedroom into the lounge so theres hope yet! Karlos

Thanks for the welcome Wilson. Bluetom your fish list looks alot like my ideal! just a MUCH bigger tank I guess you take your chances with angels and neons plus more timid fish. I still really like the Angels... but maybe not at the start. On the weekend I spent some time being a fish tourist in a great shop in the Hague! and I have a whole new list of fish. Oh boy... Lemon tetras, black phanthoms, Hasmania Maginata (nana), Gold spot Gouramis... Great fun. Not to mention all the Chiclids! My problem is I want it all at once. Must restrain myself to just a few species :roll: Hehe Have a good day Karlos

Thanks for the welcome! Afrikan You are right I really can't wait to start the tank. Reading and planning this is becoming quite an obsession (although an enjoyable one!). Jim I really am thinking of dropping the angels because of their culinary tendencies for fish and plants. Also I heard that the rams and Pearl Gouramis are a little timid so I think that the angels may not be a good move. Peanut good point. Actually I have looked at the prices for a Juwel Vision 260 and I think that it is about 2/3 of the price compared to back home! The only issue I have is getting a glass aquarium half way round the world in one piece!! Also I guess if I emptied a CO2 system it would be OK to bring back home. Hope the global warming activists don't find out where I live!! :lol: Karlos

Hi all After several months lurking in the background and cruising for information on the forum I have finally registered, so I thought I would introduce myself. I am a kiwi living in the Netherlands and I've been interested in starting an aquarium for several years. Unfortunately because I travel a lot for work and my wife has absolutely NO interest in aquariums it would not have been fair to rely on her to look after the fish while I was away. So I have had to put my plans on the back burner for a while. Luckily we will be heading home again at the end of the year so I can finally have a go! :bounce: In the mean time I have lots of time to plan but can't actually do anything until we get back. :-? So Karlos' imaginary aquarium has been born! The good thing about this is its totally free, I can change anything in an instant and I have no problems with water quality, disease, algae etc. Of course its ultimately unsatisfying and I can’t wait to start a real tank. OK here goes… Tank: Heavily planted 260L Juwel vision (L121, W46, H61 Bow front) community tank. Using Denerle Pressurized CO2 system and tank run at 25-26 DegC, 6-7 ph and KH 10 approx Substrate: Daltons aquatic mix or fluorite with a dark sand top layer. Lighting: Not sure on this. Vision standard is 2* 54W T5s. With reflectors to increase light but I think I need more for the plants. Filtration: Vision standard is an in tank filter but considering external canister Fish change daily! but are usually: 2*Kribs 2* Blue Rams 2*Angels (Eats Tetras?) or 2*Gouramis (Pearl or Dwarf) 6*Zebra Danios (Cyclers) 6* Rasbora Espei and 6* Rummy Nosed Tetras or 10* Cardinal Tetras 4* Bristle Nose 4* Corys or 6* Ottos possibly 6* Khuli Loaches I realize that this is ambitious for a first tank but I figure if you don’t try you never can achieve it so why muck around. Any comments/suggestions/corrections will be very gratefully received. Sorry for the long post. Karlos