MGilchrist

Welcome DubbieBoy I'm sure you will enjoy the forum. for plants, if you have an idea what you want or even if not, talk to Donna at Pet Planet, she will order in direct anything you want, at a reasonable price. or talk to Marty here, he is a local. I am not anymore having moved to Timaru over christmas Mark

Welcome Dude hope you enjoy the forum Mark

Welcome Doc, good to see newcomers to the hobby, be warned though it tends to grow with the fish.

Hi FT welcome to the forum

well done Goldie, you must be so proud.

I know its expensive, but i would suggest getting some test kits for home, it means you can easily keep track of whats happening day to day. Also means you can test water on its way into the tank and demonstrate to yourself that something in the tank is changing the water, then experiment by taking things out, do a partial water change, test after a day and see if the changes are reduced. If you are beginning, you need to keep the water as close to tap water as possible and buy fish that suit your water. This means there is one less thing to go wrong. and when starting out that is very important, also means no fluctuation in water quality when adding tap water to tank. take the time and get rid of what is causing it - sorry. It sound as though you have added cycle to the tank, this is useless until you have fish or a source of ammonia in there, this is because cycle supplies concentrated "good bacteria" if there is no ammonia for a food source then the bacteria dies. Lastly starting a cycle, fishless versus fish. This is up to you, can you stand only adding a couple of fish at a time over the course of many weeks to slowly and safely cycle the tank, because this is most important, every time you add fish after the first cycle (I usually use a couple of small bottom feeders for this) there is a mini cycle, add to many fish at any time in a new tank (less than 6 months) and the new inhabitants will die first followed by the old. For a fishless cycle you need to test the water daily and add more ammonia as needed, also when you finally add fish the bacteria may die back a bit so you will still need to add more fish slowly. I prefer to use fish and do not experience deaths because I go slowly eg 3-4 peppered corys in a 4 foot tank with cycle, doing this on my last tank I never detected ammonia in the tank, fish were always happy and plants grew well. rambled on a bit and hope it makes sense Mark

Stunning, all I can say

Very impressive both of you, beautiful corals, makes me wish I could afford such a setup. Mark

pies i did not mean to put metal in tank, would suggest using something like a magnetic proximity switch, one side plastic coated in tank with float, other side outside tank, attached to wiring these switches are frequently used as limit switch and should suit. Mark

normally closed float switches, one in sump and one in tank, run wiring in series to a lv relay that will drop off power to pumps if either tank is low.

Heres my two cents. 1 empty a medium size tank, keep as much water as possible (saves time reheating) and keep filters going as long as possible, set up at new house. 2 fit a couple of tanks worth of fish in there, I know this will be very crowded, but is only for short term. can use something like shade cloth to make divisions in the tank and help prevent fights 3 continue with process untill done, take care lifting larger tanks, easy to chip a corner or break a lid/bracing, this will totally bugger your day (done it recently lifting a tank ) 4 get a large water container from a local fishie person and a pump, much easier to pump than syphon. good luck Mark

I think Alan and Robbo are both right a drift in temp settings could be either bimetal warped or contact wear, I would think from what you said that the bimetal is most likely, contact wear is more likely to cause sticking and overheating. but if contacts are pitted and worn then by all means clean them up, use very fine emery or a needle file. as for pulling them apart, most are just pressed together and pull apart again, slowly and carefully, glass is easily broken, use gloves if holding onto glass tube.

Good Luck Mouse

Bikie Girl Sounds like you just did a water change same as always, with I assume no problems before. if so, unless you changed a lot more water than usual it is probably not a chlorine problem. Still I would take Alans advise and let the water sit for 24hrs next time. when doing water change is there a chance anything else got into the water? sounds like the fish cannot get enough oxygen out of the water. Could someone else have used your water change bucket to mop the floor or something?

You have already isolated the sick fish - Good, medicate the sick fish only. As for the main tank, i believe that most bugs and nasties are present in the water most of the time, same as there are pathogens in the air around us all the time, best way to deal with this is keep the fish as strong as possible and better able to fight off infection themselves. This means regular water changes, good food in moderation, good enviroment, not overstocked etc, so they do not feel stressed. This is not meant to suggest your care is lacking, as infections still happen in the best of tanks, just that keeping a healthy community tank and isolating any sick individuals for care is better than dosing the whole tank. (cheaper too)

Welcome to the forum and the hobby Wokey. Lots of good information and people here, well done on the fish spawning already, what type and how many? Mark

Thanks Warren, much good info. It will be something to look at when, one day, I get a marine tank. But from what you have told me it will be low on the list. Thanks again, Ira too Mark

Ta Ira, so not much point in freshwater. How about marine (still dreaming ) does it help keep water good to point of reducing water changes when coupled with a skimmer, as I imagine water changes are a pain with marine tanks.

Been looking at plans for a DIY denitrator and while it seems like a good idea all the info I have seen seems to refer to marine/reef tanks, so I have 2 questions. 1. can they be used on a freshwater tank and is it worthwhile (reducing requirement for water changes, improving water quality, etc)? 2. Has anyone made one and how did it go (fresh or marine)?

Welcome to the forum Dreamchaser, hope you can find a replacement.

Have a look at this thread. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=1408

Welcome to the site Mouse, good to have another guest make themselves known. I am sure you will enjoy yourself here and learn lots.

Hey Boxa Girl I have just accepted a job in Timaru so will be selling up and leaving Dunedin. I know you are looking for fish so do you want to buy some of my fish, as I recently changed to Discus, there is nothing over about six months old. They are bigger than in the fish shop (except discus which are still growing) and will sell for about half the purchase price. 5 Discus 4 Cardinal Tetras 2 Harlequin Rasboras 1 Bristlenose Cat 3 Siamese flying fox's Also availible tank 1.2m *.45m *.45m Couple of heaters, couple of filters and some plants and driftwood. Also about 18 trays of Bloodworms. Mark

most floors can handle a fair load if well spread out, as Ira says.

Ira, as i understand it the phosphor coating reacts to the atmosphere, hence the implosion when you break one. also the phosphor degrades over time as do the elements in the ends of the tubes, so even if it could be seperated both parts start to degrade about the same time. Have you seen an uncoated tube, they look cool.