David R

I saw that first pic and thought it looked like the start of an epic indoor pond build, you had three concrete sides you just needed a big window in the front!!

That's my plan, I've put all five heaters back on the one board now I'm home from work, but seems how the controller has two outputs I'm going to spread the heaters over two multi-boards, and might chuck a sixth one in there just to speed things up a bit after a water change as it takes a long time to warm up. Shame they don't make three-point multi-boards, this could seriously mess with my OCD!

Still hadn't popped by 0410 this morning when I left for work, maybe the reduced load was what it needed...

Didn't feel warm when I moved the plugs. And I heard the circuit breaker trip when I was in the garage, I'd reset it about two hours earlier, and it definitely didn't trip when the heaters turned on. I'll check all the plugs for any signs of corrosion tomorrow.

On my tank I'm running five 300W heaters connected to a single thermostat/controller (industrial-spec, rated higher than the wall socket) via a single six-point multi-board. The board is rated for 2400W, so should be well within it's comfort zone yeah? Twice today it has popped it's circuit breaker thingy (pardon my technical terminology). Any idea why this might be happening after ~18 months of otherwise flawless operation? It's a good HPM one with individual switches, not the cheapest/nastiest one money can buy. Fortunately the controller has two plugs on it, so I've plugged two of the heaters into there on a double adapter, so if it trips again over night the tank won't go cold, plus the room with the tank is insulated and heated to 22C anyway.

Nope, is it something you need to get from a vet? And can you dose an entire tank with it?

the fish are eating, but perhaps not as much as they could be. The festivum especially is incredibly thin though.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/pets-animals/f ... 600350.htm A couple of my new fish (festivum and angels) are really thin and barey growing compared to their siblings, and I noticed stringy white poo from the festivum. I'm not going to catch the individual fish to treat separately, so was thinking something like this to dose the whole tank could be a good idea?

Looking good, I'd love a room divider tank some day.

Yep, the more wood the better!

Water changes and water tests...

The two big ones are Pterophyllum scalare 'Peru Altum' (F2-3 from wild caught stock imported by Phil Collis), and the smaller ones are just "regular" striped angels from Ron at Pupuke. I really hope there is someone out there breeding the Peru Altums, they're as nice a wild type angels as I've ever seen here. My two have laid eggs that look fertile, so maybe some day I'll pull them out of the tank and have a crack at breeding them...

I LOVE LAMP.

None of those species are really blackwater fish, most come from Central American cenotes, which are clear lakes with fairly hard water. You could probably keep them in tea-coloured water with no ill effects but it certainly isn't their natural environment. I found the oak leaves worked quite well if dry. I boiled them to help them sink, and used the boiled water (which was pretty dark) to add to the tank to give it colour. I've also boiled alder cones to make my own "blackwater concentrate" that I added to the tank gradually until I achieved the desired colour, and did the same to new water coming in after water changes. The rooibos tea method would certainly be easier, but I've never tried it. From my experiences with Auckland tap water, despite the pH it is usually pretty soft, so you'll have to keep an eye on it to make sure all the tanins etc don't crash the pH too low.

What were you thinking for the cichlids? IMO that size tank would be perfect for angels (or wild discus.....) instead of the 4-5 large cichlids plus the others you mentioned. You could probably do a group of Satanoperca leucosticta (aka "jurupari") plus the tetras, cories etc, or perhaps Geophagus altifrons, but the tank may be a little on the small size for a good group of them. Could also consider festivum, but for my money angels + dwarf cichlids, corydoras, tetras, pencilfish, hatchets possibly, and smaller plecs would be great in a tank of that size and shape. What are you going to use to put tannins in the water? I recently stumbled across something that suggested rooibos tea (not regular black tea!) for all sorts of health benefits and also because it doesn't acidify the water like other blackwater sources (which may or may not be of benefit, depending on your tap water). I agree with what Hovmoller said, I use Cemix Builders Sand from Bunnings for a fine and natural looking substrate. You should also consider adding oak leaves if you really want a nice natural look, though I found they were a right hassle with digging Geophagus. Here's a couple of pics of an old experimental set up of mine, IIRC I used Alder cones to provide the colour.

Yes Mats sent me a copy of the paper when I posted about the ID of the Fish #1 of the "other" look about a year ago, I must admit I still haven't got around to reading it completely yet. Better print it off at work some time! The form you mention with "irregularly shaped light brown to gray spots on dark brown to black base color as adults" nearly sounds more like L330? Guess I need to read the paper in full... I agree completely that while we have some L190s that are nicer than others, I haven't seen any confirmed specimens of L27 here in NZ. As I said to Cam the other day while discussing a wholesaler who is currently offering L191 as L27, L27 turning up in a shipment of L190 would be like finding a genuine Rolex at a fake watch stall... fishybuisness; 600L would be fine for a L190 or L191 royal, but bear in mind they are slow growing and messy, and won't do well if you're feeding a high protein diet to the other fish in the tank. I took these pics nearly a year ago to show how much mess four ~20cm royals can make in a week. This is about 2/3 of the sawdust siphoned out of the settling chamber of my sump. I lost about 1/3 over the side of the wool while it was siphoning, then there's the stuff that went thru the settling chamber and into the foam, and the stuff that didn't make it over the overflow! I can't imagine the mess a 2' monster like I posted in the other thread would make...

:thup: would be cool to see some pics some time!

Ha, I wish I'd bought more of the striped ones now! Flick me a PM if ever you're coming up this way, I'm always happy to show people the tank and talk fish. I like the simplicity of the open space too, though I do intend on making the "snag" on the left bigger when I get around to going for a driftwood collecting mission down the west coast or Ohope. The few rocks on the left are trials, a couple from an old unused quarry beside the railway line in the middle of nowhere south of Wellsford, and the others out of the local creek. I quite like the creek ones and will go hunting for more once the weather warms up a little. I'd like to end up with a Rio Xingu ish looking environment [pics below] which will be well suited to the Gold Nuggets, and will help me pretend that my L190 are actually Xingu L27s.. :lol: http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... ge_id=9459 http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... e_id=16465 http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... e_id=16374 http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/ima ... ge_id=5820

+1 to that, I wish the Chinese would hurry up with a cheap knock off of them, maybe without so many features, for those of us that just want some water movement without the wires in the tank...

I wouldn't bother with wavemakers for CA cichlids, many of them come from lakes/cenotes so the current isn't needed. As for the substrate, they'll probably dig a lot and stir it up so gravel vacuuming may not work anyway. Based on my experiences with the sand you'll just be able to siphon off any accumulated waste, stir it up and level it out, then siphon off anything else you've disturbed. And of course because of the digging make sure the canister intakes are well off the substrate! Try Stone and Water World on Marua Rd, they used to sell a couple of different grades of fairly fine grey grit like this;

Yeah I'm just not sold on their colour, they kinda blend in with everything else a bit much. Would love cardinals, but the geos will almost certainly snack on them, so I think the colour of the columbians will be the next best thing. I'll get 20 or so of them and see how they look before committing to a massive school of anything.

Blue; happy to offer advice any time. Hovmoller; no regrets about the stocking, so much more activity now! Really want to add more tetras, love the way the lemons school, but thinking about Columbians to add a bit more colour. Trelize; cheers!

Had a crack at making a video with my new phone (Nexus 5) while feeding the fish today, turned out ok, I think. http://youtu.be/ATNo-SHaR3Q

I gather finding a rental in Auckland is some what difficult at the moment, finding one that allowed dogs must have been a miracle!

That first pic is an oldie but a goodie. Good spotting Detective Geoff!