Ira

Might be a good idea to go to a place that sells water pumps for people that are on tank water, farm pumps, that kinda thing and have a look. I think 4000 liters/hour is getting more than the average pond pump or power head unless you want to run a couple of them...Which, actually, wouldn't be a bad idea. Two 2000l/hr would give you some redundancy.

Plastic pipe is also cheaper, doesn't corrode, lasts longer, etc. I'd say THOSE are the biggest reasons, instead of heat loss. If heat loss was a big concern the pipes would be wrapped with insulation whether they're plastic or copper.

A late night rescue attempt by a group known as the Fishroom failed last night when guards discovered a small team consisting of 3 oscars and 2 pacu whose intent was to rescue a captured terrorist. Guards found the small team flopping around near the compound fence, not far from where they were dropped off to begin their mission.

Actually, it's a rule of thermodynamics? But, basically, any object that absorbs infrared radiation easily will also emit it easily. Black body radiation? I'm not sure of the exact terminology. But, for example, the planes the SR-71 and X-15 are both painted black. Not for camoflague purposes, but because black gives off heat easier. Enclosed fireplaces too, they're black because that gives off radiation better. White does the opposite, it absorbs less and gives off less.

That's what I've been saying!

That's actually an EXTREMELY high dosage for salt. I usually use about 1 tablespoon per 10 GALLONS. Doubling that to 1 per 5 gallons would be ok for a heavier dose, and 1/10 liters would be about double that again. I don't think I'd use that much and only in a hospital tank, wouldn't dose my tanks with the other fish in it like that.

Doesn't sound like there's really anything unexpected happening, they're just filtering out most of the larger garbage. You'd probably get similar results pouring the water through a couple layers of socks. Well, maybe not quite, I'd guess their silk dresses would probably be a pretty fine weave. Not a bad idea though, to use their clothes to filter it...Better than drinking totally unfiltered water, obviously.

They wouldn't be getting any kind of biological filtration of any type with the silk. Just mechanical, which the filter wool would also do immediately.

Doesn't really sound any different than a standard filter. Maybe a bit finer, probably pretty similar filtration wise to using filter wool, I'd guesstimate.

Oooh, like one of those puffs. We've got one of those in the bathroom we never use. Could give it a good clean and use that!

I can't seem to find any mesh like you suggest at any garden centers. All I've found is far too big, like 1"+ squares. I might have a look at a craft shop, There's smaller plastic mesh stuff that's used for needlepoint they might have.

Haven't done anything with them yet. I'm waiting until I get back from christchurch around feb 11th, leaving this wednesday. Can't really ask the housesitter to take care of ANOTHER tank in addition to the 3 tanks, 2 cats and 2 birds. Would feeding the females in the breeding tank then adding the males work? Hmmm,I had forgot you need to have the water level low.

You could go to a local petstore and get bird grit for a few bucks. It's finely crushe shells. A small handful is enough for my 400 liter tank which drops like yours. Just put it in your cannister filter in a bag.

Yup, I got that too. Not too sure about it, though. But, I guess it IS cheap anyway for a PH meter, so I can forgive the damn thing turning itself back on whenever I put the cover back over the electrode.

I think my guppies, before I lost them all it took about a month or two before I could tell which is which. Might be less for someone with more practice and if you feed them better so they grow fast. Easiest way to tell is that males have a longer anal fin and females just have a little triangle one.

You have to keep them isolated pretty much from the time they're born until you want to put the male with them and then from then on. There really isn't any way to guarantee they aren't storing sperm. At the minimum it's about 6 months, which is a good chunk of the lifespan of a guppy.

Yup. Got a setting for tropical where it goes off outside of 24°-28° and a setting for discus where it goes off outside of 28°-32° Or somewhere similar, anyway.

Interfecus, try a place in Petone called Lamp Specialists(Or similar to that) They should have just about everything you need. They seem better than the general lighting places because they're more tradesman oriented, I think. You'll have to find it in the phonebook, I can't remember the address.

*ghostly whispery voice in Goldie's head* Geophagus Surinamensis...Buy a Surinamensis...Two is even better....

Try www.fishprofiles.com's messageboard, John. I'm sure you'll only need a few minutes searching to find several people suggesting 15%/month or somewhere in that range. And the 15%/2 weeks bit was some american TV pet show when the guy was showing and setting up about a 5 gallon tank. I'm actually going to twice weekly 50% changes in my 400L tank for a little while. Not happy with the nitrate levels with a weekly 50% change.

They're one of my favorite fish. I've got 2. Not much that's really important to say about them, they'll eat anything, pretty adaptable and tough, like finer gravel.

Someone remind me what an inanga is?

Yeah, Pacus get big and the ones I've seemed pretty nasty. Not surprising, they seem to be closely related to pirhanas.

I've got 3 of them, they're great...Well...Except for one of them, it's all messed up because it got in the way of a spill.

Hmmm, I don't know if it'll do any good drowning it and starting over. I bought it at the UHAS auction in November. It's in a big styrofoam chillibin type thing full of dirt. There were 3 of them there, I only got a look at one and it looked pretty full of worms so I assumed it and the rest were pretty mature cultures...The one I got I could have gone down to Animates and grabbed a small whiteworm culture and had more worms. Looked to me like it had actually been ignored and left outside for ages, there was an old dried up banana peel, a pile of some mush, a big spider web and 3-4 spiders in it.