VinsonMassif

I am picking up a tank this week and want to spray the sides and back black, as well as some poly sheets. Is any spray paint fine on tank silicone? Which paint is fine for poly sheets that will stick and not dissolve it?

Very Nice. I AM jealous much!

I bunch moss around a small stone. The moss stays there and you don't see the stone in the centre.

I totally agree. Seriously - some people need to relax. :roll: Barrie I view your knowledge and experience a real asset in our hobby. I hope you continue to share this with us

Last time I took it the ride was 29 minutes.

There is also a bus from the airport into the skycity bus terminal every 20 minutes.

Those are stunning fishes. Good photo's!!!

If you are feeding your loaches well they won't eat too many snails. As soon as you reduce feeding the snails population will reduce ime.

If you are using a clouding-type product/material for the middle layer IMO it would be more advantageous for you to have a 4cm top layer. This reduces the chance of current, flow, and fish moving the thin top layer and causing clouding. Also if you are going to use Dalton's I would suggest a 1cm middle layer. 15L Dalton's Aq. Mix is about 2cm thick. Sounds like a good plan. I would recommend you to plan your placement of plants, decor and current on paper before you do it. Because once the plants start growing in Dalton's the roots go nuts and it makes such a mess moving anything later on.

This is what I have now and have found it works a treat. For a four foot tank @ 2 watts per gallon lighting @ 6500k: One 15L bag of Dalton's aquatic mix from Bunnings. 2 kg of aragonite sand on top. 4 cm of inert sand like west coast black sand on top of that. Plant the plants. Dose Excel daily along with MgSO4, Flourish, Kno3, KCl, plus 1mL of Iron. This keeps my algae at bay and the plants growing slowly but steadily. PMDD caused too much of a nutrient imbalance for my water chemistry. I use Chucks plant calculator (which you can find online) to work out the dosing.

I found that by insulating the aquarium with 20mm polystyrene on the ends and back, having glass lids, and sitting the lights on top of the lids that it raised the temperature by 3*C alone. Plus the temperature stays more constant on cold nights. Especially the nights where the frost sets on the inside of the windows. A heavy blanket over the tank on frosty nights helps a lot too imo.

I found the easiest way was to put tank water in a container in semi shade in a warm room or sheltered area on the deck. Like under a deck chair. I added a tsp of flourish to the water. Green water abounded. Some people here are pro's at it.

IME I found that my algae blooms developed when I had wood in the tank and did not dose enough nitrogen. Along with too few water changes and not enough carbonate in the tank. The wood broke down and increased the TDS levels. This breakdown depleted the carbonate otherwise utilized by my plants. This meant my plants basically stopped growing. I rectified this by including a decent layer or aragonite sand under my substrate. My pH is stable at 5.8. My plants out compete the algae when I dose Nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, iron and Fl. Excel daily appropriate for my tank. I find that to keep the algae at bay I am required to do 4x 40% pwc EVERY week. Another trick I learned was to keep a number of branches of bogwood and rotate them. When the wood gets coated in algae take it out, scrub it, bleach it with H2O2, sun bake it, soak it. Repeat when needed.

Personally I would get more males. They tend to do more interacting and are so much more prettier. I have 16 in my 4' tank and they fill the whole tank up.

If your clown loaches are not interested in the snails perhaps you are feeding them too well. Leave off feeding for a few days and your snails should be goners.

That photo is totally cool!

They are the female rhinos at Orana Park in Christchurch.

I am so excited right now. Just spotted 4 baby cherry barbs in my qt tank. I worked out they are ~6 weeks old. About 5mm and showing colour. Firstly I am amazed the spawn hatched. Secondly I am amazed the fry survived. This is the story: I got cherry barbs in December and had them in a 20g for a few weeks then a 30g for a few weeks. When I moved them into the 60g I broke the tank down and put sand substrate in. Then I emptied the tank completely 3 more times and refilled it. Each time taking the moss out and putting it in various buckets, not always with water in. So the eggs and fry have been unattended for 6 weeks now. And unfed. I have fed the baby BN's some cucumber a few times. I guess they have been eating infusoria? Today is the first time I have seen them. They came out to the top of the java moss and darted around after the crushed up flake food. So I am very happy. The force is strong in these ones.

When I transferred those three plants from a tropical tank to an unheated tank they all melted on me. I had success with java moss and java fern, as well as anubias and peace lily. You could try some small pond plants.

Wootwootbaby I got mine. Thanks so much Caryl!

Sure it is. The glaciers are all melting so fast because it's getting colder. OP I will admit I used river stuff without drying enough and ended up with a tank of Didymo. Nasty stuff!

Another factor that allows your snail population bloom is too much food available to them. You could try reducing feeding your fish twice a week and your snails won't breed as prolifically. Worked for me.

Your water is too soft for what exactly? Other than old world cichlids, fish will acclimatise to your water type. IMO Changing it "just because" is a lot of effort for naught. The idea is to raise any parameter SLOWLY so as not to shock anything in your system. If you go with the sand start with 1/4c and increase it enough to suit what you WANT it to be. I use 2c per 200L to raise GH 1* and change it every 2 weeks. AND TEST, RETEST, THEN TEST AGAIN until you are certain your system is stable. Stability is the key. But it depends on your setup as to how it will be affected. There is a lot of stuff in water that may change your results. In my experience it is a lot easier to keep fish and plants for your water type, than to engineer water for each water change just to change things a little.

Hi Nav, My tanks are aerated. It isn't beard algae. The pH of the water is <5.5 and ~ 30ppm CO2. Our roof is too dirty to use rain water from that unfortunately. I was talking to a scientist who informed me that erythromycin is the only effective treatment for BGA. Plus it doesn't affect the biofilter. So I will look into that.