Naz_Nomad

Harlequin Rasbora's http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile25.html

So should the set-up be:- Inlet l Filter l Pump l Outlet And does this apply even when the filter is outside the water?

Except the idea was to have the filter out the water, after the pump. For ease of maintenance. Is this wrong?

Planning a 3500litre pond this summer and considering a home made filter followed by a UC clarifier. Anyone have any experience, helpful tips etc for making the home made filter? My plan - still in the vague stage - is to find a large plastic sealed container, make an inlet at the bottom and an outlet pipe at the top, fill the bottom with a course filter wool, a good layer of bio balls or similar then filter wool at the top. Through the outlet, through the UVC, back to the pond. So... thoughts/advice? Am I a fool for trying to save a few hundred bucks? Will my wife kill me because the pond will die based on my filter design?

Unless it's "medicated" and contains Malachite Green? Though I have never seen medicated salt before. Malachite Green - isn't that what's used for whitespot anyway? Was the salt sold as a whitespot specific medication?

I have just had a read round a few sites about Severum. They are said to be mild-mannered and docile in one place and eaters of anything moving in others. It seems that Sharks go well with them, as a few folk mentioned keeping them with their severums. Plecs seem to be ok in general, as do clown loach and a few of the other larger bottom dwellers. Have a read yourself and see what other people have experienced. This is a good starting point as the comments are added by people who keep Severum... http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_severumm.php The second comment is interesting - seems that poster lost everything except a small catfish! On the whole. comments are quite positive so long as your tank has fish capable of competing with these large fish.

I find this site quite helpful :- http://badmanstropicalfish.com/2ndpage.html#info Also try:- http://fish.mongabay.com/species_index.htm For a cheap & simple ID book with loads of good pictures, try this one- Tropical Freshwater Aquarium Fish from A to Z (Compass Guides) by Ulrich Schliewen. I got my copy off Amazon. Good luck with your new tank!

These do grow very big, so be careful what you wish for, your tank is only 190 litres after all. Cardinals are more hardy but more expensive. Both need to be kept in groups, so you'll be buying more than just one or two. In my opinion, I'd go for one or the other. Kribs can get aggressive at breeding time. Blue Rams would be better in a community tank. Kribs are fine in community tanks, but breeding time may give you some problems, especially in a crowded tank. Good Luck!

I recommend Pupuke, as mentioned earlier in this thread. Thats where I go!

If you're dismantling the filter and are able, there's no harm in cleaning the casing at all. In fact, you should make sure the impeller housing at least is cleaned and checked each time you dismantle your filter anyway to ensure it's working efficiently and the rod is in one piece. Scum on the inlet pipe to your filter is to be expected - this is where the dirty water comes in. Again, there's no harm in running a tube brush through it to clean it out and make sure the water flows well. Anything that ensures the water flows through the filter in the most efficient way is good. Just take care of your biological media.

Filters will accumulate debris over time regardless of type and this will reduce the water flow. You'll have to clean out the mechanical filtration part of your filter occasionally (Like Carol says, when the water flow is noticably lessened). There's no need to clean your biological filtration media unless it is also clogged to hell with debris, which shouldn't happen if your mechanical filter is working and maintained. If you get too keen in cleaning your biological filter media, you'll be killing off helpful nitrifying bacteria if you're not too careful. Obviously, this will affect the efficiency of your biological filtration and the nitrogen cycle.

Kribs can get aggressive at breeding time, and they are easy to breed in an aquarium. As your angels will generally sit higher in the water, my personal preference would be something that would live closer to the bottom. Rams are good and peaceful, but my personal preference would be for Keyhole Cichlids which are easy to come by in your LFS, peaceful and full of character. Rams for me seem a bit dim-witted, even for fish, whereas Keyholes are full of character and always seem busy. Fish choice is always going to be different for every fish keeper and what makes you happy is the best choice to go for rather than anyone else's preference. Just make sure they won't be constantly fighting is all.

There's five of them - obviously they want to be the Spice Girls. Doesn't matter who gets what name then, just 'Spice' will do.

Like the others said, not too small a tank and less water movement. Compatibility - despite their name, they are a relatively peaceful fish, especially the females. Males will be aggressive towards other fish with big flowing fins and will chase the females around the tank, so hiding places for females and try to keep them separate from fish with similar fins. You shouldn't keep two males together either as they will fight. Possibly to the death, apparently.

That's really good news, best of luck with your project. I'd be interested to know what plastic liner you're getting and where from. The only liner of a reasonable size I have found so far has been almost prohibitively expensive. If you know of a cheap supplier, please pass the info along.

You're right... The conversion of ammonia to nitrates is performed primarily by nitrifying bacteria. The first stage of nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia (NH3) is performed by bacteria such as the Nitrosomonas species, which converts ammonia to nitrites (NO2-). Other bacterial species, such as the Nitrobacter, are responsible for the oxidation of the nitrites into nitrates (NO3-) Plants absorb Nitrates but nitrates also promote algae growth if levels are allowed to drift too high. Keeping the level of nitrogen compounds in the tank low is the key to keeping nitrates under control. Keep waste food to a minimum, change water regularly, don't overstock your tank. Ideal Nitrate levels should be 0, but never any higher than 10 to suppress algae growth. Allowing Nitrate levels to pass approximately 40ppm may harm your fish. I must now leave on my honeymoon and have been told to stop typing, so good luck with your tank!

In Auckland, you're allowed a 400mm depth maximum before you have to fence. Above some randomly decided area you may need a resource permit - I have yet to have a clear answer on this other than "Bring your plans in and arrange an appointment with a resource planning officer" (Plans? I was going to dig a hole and line it. What sort of plan do I need beyond that?) Personally, I reckon you just dig, stick as close to the 400mm depth limit you can and don't sell your house any time soon so no-one with a permit fetish finds out about your project. Anyway, here are the replies I have had from Auckland City Council so far... "A building consent will be required if the depth is more than 400mm as well as a fence. You can come down to council, no appointment necessary, between the hours of 8-3.30pm with your preliminary plans and sit down with a lodgement officer who will go through all the details with you and let you know of any additional information that may be required as well as the cost. Requirements for a building consent: Completed residential building consent application form 2xcopies of CT (cannot be more than 3mths old) 2xcopies of site plan 2xcopies of proposed plan (your project) You may also require a resource consent re area coverage, you can find that out by calling our planning helpdesk on 09 353 9356." "You may or may not require a building consent, best you come in with your plans and sit down with a lodgement officer to determine whether a consent is required or not. Can you also please call our planning helpdesk on 09 353 9356 to ascertain whether you can put a pond there. " Hope this helps.

The bio filter will also have acted as a course filter anyway, so your filtration shouldn't have been the cause of your goldie's problems in the short term. Have you checked the quality of your water recently? It might be that there is an imbalance or pollutant causing your problems. However, it sounds like it could also be a case of advanced finrot if the fins were disappearing in a tank without any other obvious cause. Finrot is often seen alongside other bacterial infections too which can confuse the symptoms. The treatment for finrot is antibacterials and salt.

Putting a UV filter in should clear it pretty well. Either that or black out your tank for a few days might work - I have had green water survive for a three day blackout but other people report quite good success. UV filters are reasonably cheap. I bought mine for about seventy bucks. It's not large and works very well.

The sleeping mats are just dense foam and will give less protection for your tank than the white stuff. They are actually quite good to sleep on though. However, for a three foot tank, you might be able to use two layers from just one sleeping pad. My question would be if their foam would be too springy and therefore cause more stress on the joints of your tank?

I thought this was quite a good article from my Google search on Orandas: http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/ORANDAM.html Hope it helps.

I have used this in the past when all else seemed to fail with algae removal. It works very well. Algae dies off reasonably quickly, the fish die off soon afterwards and no doubt if left for long enough, the plants would die off too. Actually, I only lost about 50% of my fish, managed to save a few but it was still a fairly devastating experience. I still have a mainly full bottle if you want it.

I had a read about this on another forum where exactly this question was asked and the general trend of the advice was not to put Jardinii in with anything as they are so aggressive. Apparently catfish and bichirs are ok as they stick to the floor but anything that comes up into mid or high water is just bait. Barbs would be just another food source from reports.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Typical bloke betta, all flaring and fins, no action. Mine spent a day gathering eggs and keeping them in his bubble nest in a frenzy of activity then just forgot about them and let them all drop to the floor where there they were promptly eaten.

The question is... who stole that fish's tail"? Answer that and you could win a cruise.