matthewY

I have been reading quite some bit on co2 dump and apart from finding information (usually quite old info too) around the fact that it does happen and is to do with tank getting empty, Theres not too much solid information on how to minimise it without keeping a good eye on it (or spending on ph controller) so though i'll bring the topic here and see jif anyone has thoughts on teh following.... Co2 dump is worst with large or small tanks?. If you do small tanks, is the amount of co2 that gets dumped smaller but occur more oftern as you have to replace co2 tank more? Does a needle valve actually help? dont regulators for fish tanks come with needle valves built in? i thought thats the bit you turn to increase or decrease flow.... are we talking about a 2nd needle valve or is the regulator using something different? Do regulators come with presure releif aspects built in these days? the one I have has about 5 or so small holes that look like it could be used for venting.... not sure if this is the case. Fianlly, if a regulator is single gauge, is this the low presure side of the regulator, if so, if you are trying to detect the point of changing thak (before the dump), would you still monitor this or do you need the gauge on thd high presure side (dual gauge).... in which case the only way to determine a low tank is to weigh it? The regulator i use is the A-152 (http://www.up-aqua.com/00-dm-page/00up_ ... 04-big.jpg). Comments welcomed....

As I under stand it, if you aim for 300L or so, teh floor "may" need to be reinforced.... be good to hear what other people say about this as I currently have a 300 - 350L that i'm too scared to full all the way just incase :-)

K, have measured water's ph and getting "funny" results. The electronic ph meter reads about 6.5ish while the chemical one is dark blue (high 7's or low 8's?), no idea what to trust. The chemical one is dated though, expired a few months back. TDS is around 90 ppm, is this high? The discus is active but is always showing stress bars, also, I would have expected it to have grown more then it has over the time Ive had him. If it wasn't for the reading on people having 12cm and greater discus then I woudlnt even had known (or at least fro a few more years). I'll try and take a picture of him tonight to let others decide. At the end of the day, if hes happy and stunted (but not stunted to the point here it becomes health issues) then I would not care but all his friends has passed on and so I became concerned that something fundamental is wrong with the main tank and potentially the current tank he's in (ie: waster). I do enough water changes (20%) of the small tank (50L) such that i would not think waste is the issue, Also have filters which prod doesent build up the bacteria as it should cos of the water changes but it does create current and add air into the water. Food is mix of colour bits, frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimps and usually discus tucker (had not given for 6 months but hes now back on it). Might get water tested at pet shop and see what they say but i think I'm doing things right and have been for some time but he still isnt growing the way I would have expected....

So far its prob ok but I dont think its ideal. I do water changes very oftern prob change 20% a day but a bit concern the guys going to turn out stunted and thought upping temp and giving it more "better" water conditions (lower ph) would be better for growth and health. The discus is about 1 year old, about 8cm and colours are not showing in main part of body.... Currently in a pretty small tank (60L) his friends have had issues in the past and didnt make it, this guy was the only one treated with metro cos of the lack of avaliability (treated in a 5l tub floating in tank). Anway, looking at setting up the main tank again 300L and wanted to kick it off correctly hence if being able to safely maintain a lower (7 is pretty good I would think, somewhere where fish may be more relaxed but doesnt have too much risk of big ph changes) then things may be better off this time around.... this time round i want to make sure gravel is right (last one was just that mixed stuff from petshop which i have heard has a pretty high ph but also sand seems easier to clean as teh waste doesnt get traped as easily), the filter is right (2400L one with UV to help out as opposed to 1200L one) and ofcourse better water changes (plan to have it drip into a container which has overflow into the tank so water is aged abit before going in but also teh container will have some water conditioner added too). Also vet seems happier to help with avaliability of metro (when needed) which is a plus.... Anyway, my wish etc. I'm really trying to maintain a stable ph that is slightly more better for the types of fish I plan to keep.

is there substrate / sand which would lower the ph (i'm not all that align with softness relating to ph but assume that teh softer the water teh lower the ph....)? it sounds like you are saying sand will either increase ph or do nothing to ph but never lower ph, is this correct? I have tried the rain water approach but live in city area. I have found that I cant collectr enough rain water easily without attaching to teh drain pipes or scooping up off the streets.... Also, rain isnt all that dependable here and I cant hold of water changes waiting for rain :-( I have a distiller that would produce 4L over 4 hours which may be a way to go (assuming i dont need much of teh water to mix, maybe 80% tap, 20% distilled?) otherwise I may have to look into prices of cheap RO systems.... As for staining water, I dont mind it too much but still woudl perfer chunks of wood to using peat for maintainance reasons both in teh filter and scattered on the gravel / sand...

I'm after a bit of advice around sand and driftwood. I am looking at replacing the gravel I have at the moment with sand and have done abit of research. Most places suggest using silica sand as it would have no effect on the ph. The tank itslef would hold some discus and the water from the tap has high ph (tests show atleast 7.5 and possibly up to 7.8ish???). Ideally the sand would help softern the water and stabilise / lower the ph, in addition, if possible, I'll like the sand to be dark. Is there any other options outside of silica sand (which I can only find in white)? Also, best place to buy the sand (I live in wellington). Finally, people talk about putting a thin layer of peat as a lower substrate for hellping plants, however, generally they then talk about how they regret doing so. I want to avoid peat as I think it makes too much of a mess to remove and it rots away to easily (possibly???). Instead, I think it might be easier to just grab some driftwood from the petshop, smash it into smaller cubes / chunks and either put these into the filter (to help reduce ph and softern water as an alternative to peat in filter) and scatter amount the gravel/sand. Looking for advice on if this is good/ bad idea, if it would achieve the lower ph and not cause issues with ph spikes etc. Water change is currently done slowly by dripping tap water and applying a bit of prime water conditioner into tank. Tank holds approx 300L, filter is a trademe one similar to the Atman UF2400. I am also using Co2 but only in small quantities and only when lights are on. Idea is it migth just help take the edge off the high ph and help with plants however I dont want the ph to rely to heavely on co2 incase the bottle runs out and doesnt get replaced straight away and ph changes etc.... again, advice / thoughts much appreciated. Matt

if u find them, let me know, I'm keen to grab afew too for my mountain minnow tank. Do you know if they can stand their own against 5cm chinese algea eater?

ha, funny, if I read afew threads down, i would have seen teh question also being asked.... please ignore me :-) viewtopic.php?f=37&t=37495

Few weeks Ago i was in Hong kong. Visited the fish street and saw soem really nice tanks there (aswell as the fish in bags etc....)... anyway, they managed to pull of some good tanks with moss, driftwood, cardinals, and Shrimps.... the shrimps sooled so good cleaning up the moss.... So, made me wonder, are shrimps for tanks avaliable in new zealand (either cold water or warm?). Found the following: FRESHWATER SHRIMP (Atyidae: Paratya curvirostris) from http://www.nzfreshwater.org/original/pg5.html which looks like a candidate but theres no information on temp, ph etc.... also, if these are avaliable, would they be ok to live in 20 degrees with mountain minnows and a golden chinese algea eater? other options for shrimps?

See, with undergravel filters, I was never really sure of this.... do you clean it with gravel vac etc to get the crud out or do you let the filter do its own thing and just do normal water changes.... in which case the stuff accumulates until its broken down by the bacteria, tehrefore water chnage is just to decrease nitrates. I used to think the 2nd one but when was told to go with gravel vac which i thought would create an imbalance of bacteria etc and cause issues....

I keep hearing how bad undergravel filters are, especually when its your only filter system.... When I had gold fish and undergravel filter, I noticed that it would collect all the gunk either in the gravel (good i guess), trap and block teh grill 0part (bad) or live underneath the filter where it stays (also bad but prob cos i used air reather then power head to move water....). Dont know how long it is meant to take for poop to break up but I got rid of it pretty quickly cos of the gunk I coudlnt clean out without taking apart the tank.... Lots of people talk online out adding it in reverse for external canister filters (attacked to the out) and have always wanted to try this as it may stop the gunk staying in teh gravel and make cleaning easier..... If using one, I would suggest one with a power ehad and good grill that wont get blocked easily. My 2 cents, quite keen to see what others think on it too.... currently I just use external canaisters and they have done me well :-)

regarding sinking of the food, I spent a while lookign for some propper way of sinking food so i didnt need a teaspoon.... I ended up using a air bubble tube with a airstone attached. Force the airstone opening through the courgette and loosely attach the air tube. Meant I coudl easily take it back out too for replacement. Didnt connect the other end to anything so no air was going through it but good idea to have some sort of stopper in place so you dont end up draining your tank by mistake :-)

ha, I named him after he was the last neon :-) Yeah furan isnt cheap but I had a pack left over and un opened, i'm sure if I dont use them they will expire. def want to give the guy a fighting chance, hes been fighting by himself for the last month or so and if I can help, I should :-) I'll post as to how it goes in a week. The guy does look really skinny....

Somewhat agree but cant bring myself to kill it just for that reason of it being cheap... I have furan-2 and will attempt treatment with that. It used to school with the cardinals but is looking very skinney and bad eyes. I cant tell if its blind or if its just infection of the eyes. If treatment doesnt work, I'll put it down :-( it cant seem to find the food and cant compete in its current state.

Plants are good, they do grow like crazzy, I've been trimming them quite heavely recently and moving some to different tanks :-) The more fancy ones didnt live :-(

I have a neon tetra with a cloady eye. Hes actually the alst neon in the tank and I'l looking at issolating and treating. Google indicates that you can use an antibiotic and methions Penicillin. ANyoen sued this or similar? what dopase rate would you use? Thanks Matt

1 golden bristlenose 1 normal bristlenose - would suggest just 1 of the above or 2 of the same (golden looks heaps better IMO).... lots of talk in the past about killing off hybrids to keep the line pure....

very nice looking, what size are they and rough age if you know?

Found one of my ones dead today with had a wide open mouth :-( It was chased by the neighbours kid with a net last weekend and wondered if that might have stressed it but I did notice the mounh was like stuck on open when finding the body, does it mean I should get an Air pump for the pond? theres currently a water pump in there for surface movement but maybe not enough with the hot weather? Pond is about 150L

This is actually a 2 part question, the first is... whats the difefrence between the aquaone bio noodles and the aqua one CeramiSub ... Looking on the back of teh containers, they have literally just subsituted the name.... is there a difference other then shape? 2nd, regarding drift wood, if the water from the tap ios buffered, I'm assuming driftwood would have little effect on the ph. If so, then is tehre any otehr benefits of adding driftwood to the water otehr then say cosmetic and for fish to hide in? Mainly talking for discus here.... Can the drift wood soften teh water without decreasing the ph if the water is hevely buffered or does it not work like that?

If the fast temp changes are a concern, I wonder if adding rocks down teh bottom will help maintain a more constant temperture....

Just noticed you are in wellington... any chance you are near broadmeadows?

Long dtory but I believe it started when I picked up some other discus from a pet shop. I kept them in a differnt tank for a week (prob not long enough) then moved them all together.... after that the ones I purchased died over a month or so and then the "better" ones started to die too.... Did as much water changes as i can but couldnt keep up (300L tank, waiting for it to warm up before adding more etc). I did about 10 - 20% water change a day, usually 15L in the morning and 25L at night. I've tried treating one of the more recent sick guys with metro (well trichozole) thinking it fits the symptoms of hex... It had its head down 45 degrees, seemed to struggle swimming and seemed to be out of breath and not interested in food. Its still around but doesnt seem to be any betetr then it was before the treatment (i stoped treatment on friday after 1 week of treating in a small floating container). As soon as I stoped treatemnt, one of the larger discus just droped dead. It had similar symptoms but didnt show them untill near the end. I was thinking if the small guy gets better then this discus will be next in the teratment (but it died before that). All up i've lost 4 discus over the last 2 or so months and trying to save the remaining 3. My sister has done reading and thought its gill flukes so I'm hoping to find somthing for treating that. I have PP at the moment but no means of getting good measurements for treating them (mg scales). Instead, I've moved all my fishies into a smaller tank (60 L tank with the remaining 3 discus, 3 GBA and 6 cardinals).... I plan to blow the main tank away with PP tonight / tomorrow and hoping that if I can treat the guys in teh smaller tank with huge water changes, salt baths then when tehy vare better, move them back to the main tank with stringer filter, uv, no graven and only afew plants... any thoughts on the above aswell as good filters will be great Thanks

Having a really bad run on my discus, planning on re-doing the whole tank and picking up a uv filter. My current filter is 1200lh jebao which I picked up from trademe a while back. Tank is a 300L one. I'm starting to feel my filter is letting the whole tank down and have had quite a few deaths lately. The most resecent one I believe might be gill flukes. So afew questions.... Will UV help? If picking up a uv filter, I see 2 on trademe, 1 has more uv power and one seems to ahev more grunt.... Atman UF2400 Canister Filter (based on aqua one filter) http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =187337073 Sounds like it has good flow rate but lower uv tube... uv helps kill teh bad stuff I dont want in the tank.... is 5 watt enough? Also no push to prime as far as i can tell.... Sunsun - HW-304B External Canister Filter Built-In 9W UV Sterilizer http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =187054925 Has push to prime and a 9W uv tube but looking at the size/ flow rate, maybe I'll find myself in teh same situation as my current filter? any thoughs? anyone owns any of these?

Sorry, forgot to add... The dark discus has died :-( died on saturday night / sunday morning and buried on the hill with a sea view. Now the mission is to make sure that theres nothing else wrong with the tank. The bigger 4 discus are starting to spit food out (take 3 or 4 attempts before they actually eat). They are also rubbing on the plants a bit more and one started hiding but can still be coached to come up to the glass... dont know if i'm over reacting or not....