wayneh

I have been feeding my GBA's boiled carrots.. As well as courgettes. They seem to love them.. takes them a couple of days to eat it, but it disappears... Wayne

I just got a Jebo 819 (1200LPH) for my new tank, very nicely made and a very good price, got it locally (PM me for suppliers details) $155 new. Easy to set-up (comes with all media) 5 separate filter media trays and a nice easy start once filled via separate fill plug, even with empty hoses (something my old fluval will not do.) Taps fit well and are sealed with 'O' rings for no leaks and very easy removal, no silly spring loaded auto close valves that just clog and stay open like my old 304. So far I like it very much...

I have just set up an 90cm (3ft) tank that I have had from new but in storage for the past 7 years (First time it has ever had water in it). No problems.....

Black mollies do a great job on hair algae, always have some in my tanks for this, never had any SAE's, never needed them... Cheers Wayne

Hi Loopy, Sorry to hear about your losses, anything I can help you replace, just ask. On a preventative note, this does bring to mind "what could be done to prevent something so simple from happening again, or to anyone else..." Got me thinking and a little looking through some old notes and books I haven't read in a long while to find a solution... (Was a computer tech years ago when things were actually expensive enough to warrant fixing them rather than throwing them away). I found two... 1. A simple inductive load monitor that clips onto a power cord, if no current flows in the cord for a pre-set time (say 5 mins) an alarm will sound... powered by a 3v lithium cell this thing would run for 5-7 years without battery replacement. Simple but potentially disaster saving. 2. A slightly less simple High Low temperature monitor on each tank. Would have a pre-set range that if exceeded either high or low temp would sound an alarm.. Could also incorporate a high temp cut-off that would fit between the power and the heater so a stuck on heater would be switched off if it went over temp... (and back on once the tank had returned below the max temp set). Effectively eliminating finding boiled fish on your return home from work. I would expect option one to cost about $10-15 to make, and option 2 a bit more, about $20-25. Would anyone be interested in such devices if I was to make some, I know I will be making these for myself and installing them in my fish room. Cheers Wayne

Wow, nicely done. What is the background/rockwork made from...?? Is it actually rocks, or some home made / man made trickery that looks real.. Whatever it is it looks great. I am in the process of setting up a cichlid tank but have not yet decided on how I am going to d the rock work, any suggestions...? Cheers Wayne

Rather than using nasty chemicals in your tank (I hate using chemicals if I can at all help it) you can use crushed shells to increase the KH of your water. Most LFS's should have some available, and it's much more natural. Cheers Wayne

Yes they are, I have 2 males and one plain female. Only have a single pair in a small tank at the moment, the spare male is in my community tank...

Wow, did not see your question until today, sorry. Mine was a male, unfortunately he did not make it and I now have none left, I am still keeping an eye out for them and plan to try again if I see them in the LFS again. Trying something different for the interim, I now have 2 Flame red dwarf gaurami's and several dwarf honey gourami's which I am trying to get to breed. Cheers Wayne

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought tanks with sumps had an overflow system where only the water pumped into them overflowed into the sump, never allowing a sump to overflow... No water into the tank, none out sort of thing, so if the pump failed you did not get an empty tank, and a flooded lounge...??? Wayne

Bought 6, Have only one left now.. they are hard to keep. but I now know why. I will be doing it this way the next time I can get some of these... http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/blog.php?blogid=151 I got mine from Jansens in Henderson the last time (sadly they have non at the moment) and I have also had some from Hollywood Fish Farm. So they are around, they just very rarely get them in, maybe once or twice a year.. Cheers Wayne

Currently breeding solid black short fin molly's. I have about 20 males for sale at the moment, have a second batch about 3 weeks old so unsexable at the moment. Also managed to get some Lyretail variants, but have only had 1 baby so far (there still quite small, I don't know which one had it..) But looking for some of these, not a Molly, but a Swordtail...

I would be interested in a copy as well, let me know what you need... (blank DVD, envelope, etc...) Wayne

I have these books also, not much information, lots of pictures though.. If you want the information about how he set's up the tanks in the book, then the ADA website has a downloadable copy of his set-up instructions, it uses only ADA products of course, which are not available here as far as I know. But it does give you some good ideas, albeit expensive ones... Cheers Wayne

Hi, I have not used one of these myself, but i did find this really good DIY article which may answer some of your questions. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_fbf.php Cheers Wayne

Or if it is really important, Dick Smith no sell a plug in power meter, so you can plug in inline with any device to see what the actual power consumption is. I believe it works much the same way as your house power meter giving you an actual consumption over a period of time.

Check out TM for a regulator and solenoid set-up, they appear regularly, one for $200 single tank with solenoid and one with 6 separate taps and solenoid for about $395 for 6 separate tanks, damn good value if you ask me. I agree with the "get an old fire extinguisher" idea. Hiring a bottle from BOC will cost about $40 a month, or about $28 from Air Liquide. So try and get one of your own. I have a co2 set-up on my tank, (with my own bottle ) expect about 1" plant growth on stem plants per day with the right lighting and fertilisers. It looks great.

How well do the internal media baskets fit in the casing, is there a good flow through the media, or does the majority of the water flow around the baskets? Just asking as someone suggested these cheaper filters were not well built... I like them because of the price as you say, $100 you can throw it away if it breaks down after a reasonable time, new impellor for my friends fluval cost him $54 recently... I want to put 2 of the 1000/1200 units on my new 1200x610x560 (400L) tank, overkill probably, but with 2 there is always a backup, and I can clean them alternately. Cheers.

Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with either of these filters. I have a new 400L tank and want to put 2 filters on it, but I don't want to spend too much if I can help it. The first is listed as "FAUNTY External Filters are one of the best sold on the European market." http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =145780363 the other option is listed as "ALEAS External Filters are one of the best sold on the European market." http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =145710393 Is one better than the other (excluding the difference in flow rates of course) or are they both as bad as each other... The price is right, but is the performance worth it. These will go on a planted aquarium eventually housing about 6 discus. Your thoughts much appreciated. Cheers Wayne