SamH

The auction was poorly described and the photo didn't show a painted background :roll:

Don't paint it! I hate scraping paint off second hand tanks :nilly: I used black vinyl fabric stuff from Spotlight for behind my tank, looked just as good as painted IMO.

Superb cake and an excellent meeting, all three of us :lol: Might have to rebrand it as Auckland Fishkeepers and Cake eaters Association.

Yeah post haste delivered them faster than they delivered my fish :nilly: Few kg bags just chillin behind me, isn't KNO3 explosive or something?

No ferts for you then

That means a lot coming from an experienced planted aquarist like you Peet!

Plan A is to run around the house screaming until the power comes on. Failing that, Plan B is to cover the tanks as best as possible with anything I can find, usually thick blankets like CC said.

Yes, that's the fish-street one.

Java fern doesn't require root fertilization, in fact covering it's roots can hinder growth. Instead, attach it to rocks or driftwood for best results.

You never answered the first question in your thread. If you want results, read what's given to you.

The forground just needs some shape too it, it's ridiculously flat at the moment. The sides need to fill in and the algae needs to disappear. My calibration weights just arrived and my scale is dead accurate apparently! Time to order some ferts

Not really, it's a bit flat actually. I might need a stronger slope toward the back and a background plant when the algae settles. Growth is good though!

Cool name! 8) Nice shrimp too

My #1 issue at the moment is algae, the brown algae is gone but still the grey string persists. My scale is busted so waiting on some callibration weights so I can weigh out some ferts, I think it's lack of nitrate but I'm sure 70 fish will make up for that It's a shame more care isn't taken with our fish, I guess people just don't realise how precious and valuable they are. The stress of potentially killing 50 fish was worse than the thought of lost money to me.

Of course I did, I was cc'd into the email so we'll see what happens. And yeah it was meant to be overnight, very surprised all the fish are okay

Last week I purchased 50 longfin WCMM to go with the 20 I have in there at the moment. On Monday afternoon they were dropped at the courier, arrived in Auckland on Tuesday morning and picked up for delivery to me just before 1pm. By 4pm the fish still weren't here so I got worried and called the courier company, the said wait till 5pm. So I waited till 5pm and called back, they talked to the driver and said he'd be there by 6pm. No driver at 6pm, called back and got put onto the after hours team. I had work at 7pm so had to go to that leaving Mum in charge, no worries the fish STILL didn't arrive. I called ASAP the next day and they said they'd be here by 3pm as he didn't have time yesterday. 3pm comes around and you guessed it! Still no fish. I called AGAIN and they said if they weren't here by 4pm then the driver would have to pay for a sprint courier to do the job. Just before 4pm the driver arrived and I hastily cut open the box clearly marked LIVE FISH and checked the poor things. Their bag water was putrid but amazingly no deaths. His excuse was that he only picked up the package today when it clearly shows he scanned it yesterday. Anyways! The fish are all alive and well, a few on the skinny side but that's to be expected with any large group. That brings my total up to a little over 70 fish and the school looks fantastic. So here's a photo and short video of the group, enjoy! 8)

It's really not. The grain size is too fine for the plants roots, they'll probably grow but it'll be much more difficult for them.

I also had one close up but they replaced it quickly with no extra charge. However my other identical regulator has been going strong for ages. I guess you get what you pay for :dunno:

I get my regulators of fish-street but ebay is the same sort of thing too. You want one with a solenoid if you're even half serious about a high tech set up. And as Adrienne and Alan said, get that cylinder certed and tested, you're playing with pressurised gas here.

Very strong hardscape in tank 3, I like it of course Is there any way you could up the hardscape in tank 2 to the same level but in a different style? What are your stocking plans plant and fish wise for these two tanks? As for depth, you need to be thinking about size and placement, putting larger things closer to the front and smaller, finer objects towards the back creates an increased sense of persepective.

I think that would be heaps cooler. Got any full tank shots at the moment?

Discus from the amazon, Kribs from Africa and plants from Asia, not quite a biotope tank. Nice setup nonetheless

Tank looks good, ensuring the only light source is the tank light is key to minimal reflection 8)

Welcome to the forums! Any photos of your tanks to share?

The best lights for bringing out the colours in fish are definitely PowerGlo tubes. Although you won't find them at Redpaths, go for 6500k/cool daylight tubes.