David R

I'll second that, it really is that bad. Need to start fishaholics annon, "Hi my name is David and I'm addicted...

Awesome pics!! Was it part of an organised tour, or just something you planned? How did you get around? Where did you go [aside from the obvious Machu Picchu]? SA is very high on my to-do list, in fact if my wifes family wasn't in the UK we'd probably be going there next year instead of Europe.

:thup: good thing there is no shortage of quality NZ beer around! Luckily I can even get a few (Epic, Tuatara, Emmersons) up here in Whangarei...

Concrete floor or not doesn't matter, he's going to do something like this..... http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... d.php?8952 :digH:

IMO three altifrons ["surinamensis"] OR three oscars would be about it for a 300L tank, never mind the rest. They all have the potential to get to 25-30cm and the oscars can be pretty messy. In a big enough tank (double what you have now, or more) I can't see why it wouldn't work though.

Won't leech tannins, but will still soften the water.

Its a plastic tank, so that won't change the warer. I'm not on rain water now Duncan, water comes from either the wairoa river or poroti springs as part of the local irrigation scheme.

We're moving to our new house in a couple of weeks, and will be on rain water from now on! (will have to look at getting an extra tank installed so I can keep up the water changes to the new tank over summer). I'm just wondering how people get on with the low pH/KH/GH of rain water and what/if you use to buffer it. I'm going to be keeping mostly South American species [surprise surprise] so soft-ish water isn't a bad thing, but I will have a lot of wood in the tank so with the low hardness may need to add something to buffer the water to stop it crashing way too low. I'm also wondering about the lack of trace elements in the water too, wondering if I could use some of the products designed to buffer water for rift lake tanks but in a reduced quantity, or do I just chuck some coral in the sump?

I wondered that too, nearly feel like writing them to get their thoughts on it. Years ago DB tried to get Galbraiths Ale House (look them up, best beers in Auckland!!) to stop calling their summer beers 'Summer Ale' even though it was an ale brewed specifically for summer and they had been using the term far longer than DB had (for their summer beer, which isn't even an ale!), Lion Breweries actually waded into the proceedings (not sure to what extent) and in the end DB dropped the case. Unfortunately they didn't get the message and a few years later managed to trademark the word "Radler" despite the Germans using it to describe a certain style of beer for a few hundred years! So now I don't drink DB products, and I certainly won't be drinking Monster...

Here are the details Adrienne; http://support.monsterfishkeepers.com/

Hope the admin don't mind me posting this to try help out another aquarium forum; Monster Energy Drink don't sue MFK! In short, Monster Energy drink are trying to get MonsterFishKeepers.com to stop using their "M" logo among other things in merchandising and advertising that is the main source of revenue that keeps this great community running as they feel it is too similar to their own "M" logo, despite MFK having used theirs for longer! Because there is a really high chance of people mistaking an aquarium forum for an energy drink and getting their brands muddled up... :facepalm:

Sweet, presume you're talking about the Whangarei one? I was in there the other day looking at plastic containers (about two days before this thread) and didn't see them.

Check out somewhere like RD1 farm supply, they have big plastic water troughs, not that cheap tho.

2mm seems like a small gap but glass won't flex anywhere near that before cracking. I'm not sure I would want to rely on the poly crushing to absorb that sort of unevenness, AFAIK it is more for taking care of small bumps (eg protruding screw heads) rather than gradual changes in height, as when the weight is spread over a large area it won't crush enough under load to absorb it (otherwise it would end up being flat under the weight of the tank).

Do you run a "high-tech planted tank" presumably with CO2 and never check the pH? How do you know you don't have a problem with it if you've never checked it?

LFS should sell small bags of peat, or try a garden centre (just make sure it doesn't have anything added to it). Put it in a stocking and rinse well...

Or take photos at night? I don't bother trying to photograph fish during the day unless necessary, having the tank lights as the only source of light really makes a difference.

LFS should be able to test it for you, take a sample of your tap water in. Otherwise you could try collecting rain water and start using a small amount of that each water change until the pH starts to drop. Too much and it will be unstable though. Is there anything in the tank (substrate, rocks etc) that could be making it high?

The disgruntaled farm hand? Some guy he paid to do it? Some other person Guy had dodgy dealings with? A local p-head botching a robbery? IMO its better a guilty man goes free than an innocent man goes to jail...

What is the hardness (GH/KH)? Without knowing that it is hard to say what you need to do, if it is low a bit of driftwood or peat should do the trick, but if its high you'll be pushing the proverbial uphill unless you go for something like RO or rainwater for water changes.

Put couch in fishroom, problem solved.

This thread gives you a good starting point for doing a proper photo shoot; http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... -to-finish And there is even a whole forum devoted to the subject if you want to explore it further; http://www.aquatic-photography.com/

Crazy cheap eh, good think they've got the climate for keeping them in outdoor ponds...

Couldn't handle having a wife/gf who was anti-fish. I had a 5x2x2' in my bedroom with a noisy sump when I first met my wife, she soon got used to the noise and learned to like the fish (had a black aro and big fire eel, first comment was something like "holy smoke, what the hell is that?!"). I told her I'd been keeping fish long before we met and if she tried to make me choose she would lose out. 12 years later she's nearly as keen as I am on having an 1800L tank as a feature in the lounge of our next house....

Nice looking tanks, but one of the africans in the first tank looks all pointy and out of shape!