pink_fish

Hi guys - thanks so much for the advice and info - and thanks, supasi - that US website was really interesting thanks! My partner is this minute under the house (in the rain - bless!) checking out the joists And he's going to read the article shortly. alanmin4304 - The tank water level will be at a height of 45cm (the whole thing is quite a bit taller though if you count the 15cm or so of lighthood & filter, etc.) & I've just checked - its 100cm long and about 50cm deep - ok yah/no? Re the fact that people can weigh more - this is true, but they don't stand still in one spot for several years, lol (imagine _that_ party!), so I'm gathering that its still important to check out what goes on underneath the house. Thanks all again - will report back the underfloor situation of the pink_fish in due course

Hi all, Not sure if this is a correct section for this to go in, but seemed the most fitting, I hope! I recently bought an AquaOne AR980 (yay!) & finally got to set it up this past weekend. (Its roughly 3ft long - about 100cm I think.) 'Course, I didn't (stupidly, I know) give a heap of thought to what would be holding this big 215lt (I know it's small compared to what some of you must have, but it's big to me, lol!) above ground. Now, the stand its on is perfectly fine - a big, heavy sideboard that's about 7ft long and very solid. However, as I was heaving into the tank the 35kg of substrate, large lump of wood, a few rocks & the 200lt of water, I started to worry - that's a huge amount of weight for the floor to be holding up! I've set it up against a wall, which I believe should help, but my partner (who is a builder and assures me I'm just being a bit neurotic about it all) is not sure if its a load-bearing wall or not. However, he thinks that the flooring should be strong enough (should - argh!) to support it all, especially given that the weight is being spread a little by the fact its on a 7ft long stand. Anyway, I guess what I'm asking, is has anybody ever had problems with their floors giving way, or am I just being paranoid? Given that my partner, as I've already said, is a builder who knows what he's doing, I guess I can trust him (!) but he's not yet an expert tank-owner, so any info/advice/good stories (to allay my fears)/horror-stories (gulp) would be really great.

Hi Jaide, It can be done with less than 8 hours of light (although I think it works better with more!) - my plants get about 5 hours of artificial light Mon-Fri & up to 10 hours Sat-Sun, and they all seem to be doing well. I found that they grew better when the substrate is quite fine (I now use grit) and relatively deep (no less than about 1 1/2 inches). Liquid fertiliser weekly has also helped heaps. I think the more light you can give them the better and changing your bulbs might help too.

Hi Southerrngirl, I have the same problem! Plants that I've found my BNs are not interested in are anubias, crypts, dwarf sag and java fern. Make sure you feed your pleco & BN lots of cucumber and/or courgette which will help to dissuade them from eating your plants. )

Hey folks - thanks for the welcomes! Aaron-Betta - hi! We're keeping golden australe killies (2 males, 2 females) and a wee notho (can't remember his full title, but he's one of the plainer-coloured ones - a great character! He's blue with an orangey-red tail). We had a lonely male australe in our big community tank for awhile, but he started to try and mate with our female bettas! They didn't mind much, but we felt sorry for the killi so got him some mates (lol, in both senses of the word). We kinda hoped for some babies, but haven't really done anything about encouraging them to breed (other than putting in some java moss). But the little guy is much happier now. Prior to this bunch, we had a few assorted males - a gardarneri (scuse spelling!) blue, a striatum and a couple I can't remember the names of. What do you keep? Wouldn't mind some advice on how to get our australes breeding, if you know? Mr Pleco - hey there - we meet you on Tues evg - we were the newbies at the meeting - finally got an email address that the forums would accept! Caper - hi! Yup - he's nearly all better now, so will try and take a pick over the next couple of days. He was a _very_ lucky find at a petshop (was spot-less the day we bought him, but spotty the next day - grrr!) & was sold as a CT (not that I can see, though!) but he is a bit different with a kinda wedge-shaped tail, although might still have a bit of growing to do. What sort of bettas are you into?

Hi all! Nice to make your acquaintance! My partner & I have three tanks on the go at the moment - a 22l with 5 killies & a wee BN, a 25-ish litre with a recovering-from-ich male yellow betta and a 155l with assorted female bettas, rosy tetras, a larger BN, corys and a banjo catfish. My knowledge is medium-limited, and I'm keen to make new fishy-friends, so that's why I've signed up! Oh - and we have a new 215l tank that's about to be set-up, so will be surfing the marketplace in here, I expect! Look forward to chatting with you all, pink_fish