Stu :)

Not to bad here... mind you I live in a valley. The bedroom with the three fish tanks and three computers sharing 12 hard drives is a nice 26°c with the humidity at 58%. Don't recall seeing the fish tank heaters thermostat lights on so far today. Stu

Hey I don't mind Americans nor their accents Plus the female of the species is much friendly then the local variety Yeah the hatchet fish are so much cheaper... makes me cry into my coffee every time I see liveaquaria.com's website. A decent sized school would be the same as buying three or four down here. Stu

Man the yanks get it good sometimes, I was reading an online article and saw this link- http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+2241+1028&pcatid=1028 That's $14.65 in Kiwi pesos Stu

Or you could try Waiake... between Browns Bay and Long Bay. It's a small beach but it's fairly quiet and empty, the sort of place only the locals goto; and because it's a "local" plenty of car parking. Stu

Olias of Sunhillow, got a copy for a friend for christmas. Stu

So 2000lph on the Jager and 1000lph on the Jebo would be fine :lol: Stu

I'm building a background for my new tank and I want to hide all the plumbing and electrical eye-sore stuff behind/inside the background. I was wondering how much space would I need to give my heaters (Jager 300watt and Jebo 300watt). Both heaters will be sitting in the path of filter return current. Stu

Ditto... I'm still at a loss after my Tanganyikian ELE Stu

Well done mark. Ten Points. Personally I didn't see a problem with HMS Cat, but I can understand the Admiralty's of the time dislike for the name HMS Dog, especially when they where busy giving their ships names like Dreadnought, Colossus, Audacious etc etc. Stu

Thanks for your condolences... almost gave up with Tanganyikians... but being a die hard WWI naval fan I'm sticking with it. Ryan I'll send you a PM. Stu P.S. Ten points to person who knows the relationship between World War One and a Tanganyika fish tank 8)

Want a tip from a pro? Buy a polarized filter to cut out the reflection and/or glare. http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/filter/polarizer.html http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/tutorials/polarizers.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_filter#Polarizer I shoot wide open but within a good hyperfocal range, use a single diffused flash shooting down through the water with enough output to wipe out any ill colours given off by the fluoros/MH tank light... and of course with a polarized filter to kill the reflections. Stu

:evil: CRAP! :evil: Something went wrong... everyone died except one leilupi. Water looks fine (pH 8.4 - Ammonia and Nirites 0 - Nitrates 10'ish, GH/KH bang on). I can only guess it was either the stress of the move or something nasty in the filter media from my South American aquarium. Anybody know where I can get a pair each of leleupis and julidochromis's cheap? Or should I just cut my loses and go ultra odd-ball or find some archers. Stu

You could try one of those places that sell bark and stones for gardening. There's a place up this way in Albany that I found last week that has all kinds of cool pebbles and rocks, including some monster sized alpine schist. They also had these dark grey/brown pebbles for $104 per cubic meter... but also in smaller sacks for fishy convenience. If I found this place sooner David would still have a sack of brightwater in his garage Stu BTW They also had graded pumice...

SOLD... I guess

Sorry... trying to drag the pH down from 8.2 to 6.5/6.8. I'm using tank water and the pH is 8.2. Should I have adjusted the pH before the hardness :oops: Stu

I'm trying to drag the pH in my plant tank down to 6.5/6.8'ish so I can grow out some baby fish. Everything else is in order: Ammonia = 0 Nitrite = 0.125 Nitrate = 7'ish KH = 70mg/L Substrate is well washed sand, heater, internal filter, lots of plants, water... Any ideas on bringing up the pH? Stu

Cool! Thanks for that. Would be good idea to take a slab of filter wool out of my New World tank's filter and use that as well? Or is the pH/KH difference going knock it around? Stu

I'm picking up a full Lake Tanganyika setup tonight (gotta love trademe) including fish. But the big water barrels/kegs/etc I was going to use to move half of the of the current water have used store waste chemicals... and yes I'm going to murder that person :evil: Any help crash starting with tap water? My only thoughts are are new tank does or Stabillity and/or TLC and the correct dose of 'Proper 8.2' Stu

Cripes! My South Americans are eating like kings living it up with me! They get feed three times a day and the food selection... TetraColor granules Tubifex Worms (freeze dried) Algae Chips Shrimp Pellets Freeze dried shrimp flake Spirulina Sticks Sushi wrap Spinach/Lettuce Duckweed Discus Tucker (frozen) Frozen Blood Worms Live mosquito larvae/Water Flea and there's the aquatic plants that I vainly try to keep as well. I guess I need to revise my feeding habits. Oh well I can start with Tanganyikians that are moving this week. Stu

I just tested my rain water again, which comes from an under ground tank under the house. But here's the curve ball... wait for it... African cichlid owners cry out in jealously (or not )... pH 8.2 Lucky me gets my new Lake Tanganyika setup this week... lucky fish. Stu

Will a 1500mm Long x 500mm Wide x 1100mm High stand made out of 12mm MDF be strong enough? I'm guessing with water, gravel, etc she'll be 500kg+ area. Many thanks, Stu

...also... I forgot DOAH! Paint ball bottles and regulators! Stu who obviously needs more caffeine

Good luck finding a regulator for a soda stream bottle, I thought about using one of their gas bottles to drive the CO2 cannons on my USS Oregon, but gave up just short of ordering raw brass and turning one myself. One source of CO2 bottles for us fish keepers is maybe using CO2 bottle for RC boats- google "RC Naval Combat" or "RC Ship Combat". There's companies like Skunkworks, BDE, Battlers Connection, etc that sell these. For my smaller CO2 cannon ship I modded a 'Nitrous Cracker' with a cheap off-the-shelf regulator to take air pistol CO2 cartridges; which cost basically cost a dime a dozen, is good way to go But... in saying all of that, I have to agree that using the soda stream machine to make soda water is the cheapest and easiest way to add CO2. Stu

Darn it! Must be a Wellington special only or something. I rung Joe (?) at Silverdale he's didn't know of any two-for-one deal Oh and BTW how does one sex blue rams? Stu

I'd vote for a big school of tetras and maybe a pair of dwarf cichlids. I saw some great looking schooling tetras at HFF Albany today; accidentally I startled one mob in a tank and the whole lot shot off behind the rock in formation and standing still the school slowly returned to the front, until moved to the next tank- whoosh... gone. Stu