lduncan

I've been doing some reading on Echinodorus sp. and some people induce flowering by altering the photoperiod. I guess you've tried that?

You don't, unless you're a shop.

A wholesaler.

Yeah, similar reasons here too. Something a bit different, hopefully low maintenance... having said that, i'm still keeping my reef tank. I don't mind opinionated people, it's when they start causing trouble for the sake of it, I get annoyed

Alan, I'd love to checkout you plant setups sometime.

That would be great thanks.

So what are the most common amazon genera? I've come up with these Echinodorus Hydrocotyle Myriophyllum Heteranthera Mayaca

I don't know. I've had planted tanks many moons ago, but never really got into it like I have the marines side. I'm surprised there aren't many opinionated freshwater keepers chiming in. Must be more mellow than the reefers.

This is going to be an Amazon biotope tank (that's the plan anyway), i'm only looking at two species of fish, cardinal tetras, and rummy nose tetras. I'm planning on large schools of both, and nothing else. So, what amazon plants are available in NZ? I like the swords and crypts mainly. Are there any good plant sites where you can search by origin? Layton

Well I ventured around almost all the shops today to see what substrates are available, and the answer seems to be disappointing. Almost none. Organism was closed (being Tuesday) but I'm hoping John's got some there. (I know Redwoods does have a little) Also, I haven't really payed too much attention to the freshwater / plant sections at the various shops for a while, but I was really disappointed with the low standard in virtually all the shops! John at Organism would be the exception, he really has got things looking good there, a really high standard, in a league of it's own. It would be great to see other shops around town raise their standards to match.

Got any updated pics?

Thanks. Is there any real difference between the different substrates? They are all clay based, and other than superficial grain size, shape, and colour they all seem much the same. I've seen a lot of hype about ADA products, is it just that - hype? Or are there some real distinguishing features?

If you want some good ideas for a really high quality method for constructing composite aquariums, check out my website here: http://www.nzreefs.com/Royal%20Exclusiv ... ction.html (for some reason the photo previews aren't showing on that page) If you click on "Start Slide Show" you can see them. Basically is steps through the construction of a ply / concrete / PVC sheet composite tank build, by a German company called Royal Exclusiv. It might give you a good idea of how the front glass is mounted, and various alternatives to messing with fibreglass etc. Layton

I've been toying with the idea of setting up a planted tank for a few months now, and I've taken the plunge and committed to a tank. I've been out of the freshwater game for several years now, so my first question is about substrates. I think they can make or break a planted tank so, who has some opinions, recommendations, or thoughts on the various clay based substrate products like JBL's Aqua Basis Plus, and Red Sea's Flora Base?

Over in the States around 1974, there was the beginnings of some commercial marine fish hatcheries. Aqualife Research, a small company run by Martin Moe. He writes: The other player was a company called Neptune's Nurseries, which was backed by much larger Aquarium Systems (manufacturer of IO salt mix). I believe that neon gobies were one of the first fish to be bred. Some of the first Magazines dedicated to reefkeeping started appearing in the States, one of the most prestigious was called "The Marine Aquarist" which was published by a physisist by the name of Dr. John Miklosz (who incedentally was involved in some very interesting semiconductor research at GTE Labs): I've recently mangaged to aquire about 12 issues of this magazine from the mid 70's (yet to arrive) but based on the article titles, it looks like this magazine may have been much more advanced than much of the hobby writings that came out of the states even in the 90's through to now. Hopefully it will make for some interesting reading when they arrive. Incidentally, the co-editor of the magazine was Terry Seigel, who is probably better known now as the editor of the online magazine "Advanced Aquarist".

Yip, but once it enters the sump, instead of having it point straight down into the bottom of the sump, use either a 90 degree bend so it directs water parallel with the surface of the water, or alternatively a U (180 bend) so that the water is directed back towards the surface in the sump (like a spring). It minimises the time it takes for any stray bubbles to vent to the atmosphere so they don't get sucked into the return pump and into the tank. Layton

I was going to say exactly the same thing about the sump. You only need one under baffle, especially if you're using a full siphon overflow, and you have the overflow pipe entering the sump at the right angle. Other than that, it's pretty much how I would setup a tank.

A little more happenings around the world, now in the 70's Again Germany takes center stage. A member of the berlin marine aquarium club introduced a new method for running tanks. His name was Peter Wilkens, and his method later coined the Berlin Method. Below is a picture of him on the right, along with Dietrich Stuber on the left, another member of the Berlin Aquarium Society at the time. The berlin method introduced strong skimming, strong lighting, live rock, and for the first time calcium additions, using a mixture of calcium hydroxide and water (Kalkwasser). The also used a thin layer of sand for aesthetics. Wilkens published a book in German called "The Saltwater Aquarium for Tropical Marine Invertebrates", which outlines his methods, but it wasn't until the 80's that it was translated into English, that was probably one of the reasons why the method wasn't widely used in the States until later. Stuber is one of the earliest hobbyiest who pioneered the keeping of live acropora, possibly the first. He also went on to invented the calcium reactor with another hobbiest J. Gottschlich. Of course this was in the time of the Berlin wall, with east and west Germany being separate. These advancements were all coming out of the west. The east was a different story. Access to livestock was very limited, this drove them to develop propagation techniques for mushrooms, and anemones, as well a breeding shrimps, and some species of fish (Clownfish, Pipefish, and blenny's) Layton

Great stuff Alan, keep them coming if you can. Sound's like there was plenty going on down here in ChCh. Anyone know what was going on in the North Island. I think Brooklands started in the 70's? When did they get into the marine scene? There must be some old timers up North that have some interesting stories to share? What about govt regs on importing, what were they like in the beginning? Did they even exist?

Interesting. Eddy was a real business man (you could tell from the family cars parked up at his Ferry road store ;-) ) So who was this Malcolm Davies guy? And what's the story behind the "reef smashing"?

Yip, that'll crop up later. Sort of started with the "natural method" and Lee Chin Eng, who were not only interested in the hobby side of things, they were also wanting to make money out of it. That mix of hobby/psedo-science/money soon found it's way to the States years later in '91, with a guy by the name of Walter Adey, and his book "Dynamic Aquaria"

Over the other side of the world in Indonesia, a hobbist by the name of Lee Chin Eng was tinkering with what he called the "natural system". His systems used air for moving water around. He cured rock, as he found that is was less likely to foul the tank water, his tanks had a thin layer of sand, and relied heavily on natural sunlight. Merrill Cohen introduced Eng's methods to the states a American Pet Product Manufacturer Association shows in the early 60's: I find it interesting, and a little surprising that the 60's and earlier saw the development of virtually all of the technology we rely on today to support the animals we do today, including some of the animals hobbists struggled with keeping for the 30 years up until the 90's.

So what was happening around the world a little before things were getting started here? Most would agree that Germany would be one of the countries which springs to mind, when you think of significant advances in not only the reefkeeping hobby, but aquarium in general. In 1960 an electronics repairman by the name of Norbert Tunze, invented the powerhead. The idea came when an model train pump was brought to him for repair. The pump was made by a company called Eheim, which was started in 1949 as a model train manufacturer, nothing to do with the aquarium business. He tested his repair job on a freshwater aquarium, and saw that the fish loved it. He wrote to Eheim suggesting that they develop an aquarium pump. His idea was dismissed as non-viable (how many great inventions have had that treatment!) So he went about creating his own in his garage. He named it the Turbelle, it used 8 watt's and put out 430 L/hr He patented the forward direction of flow from a centrifugal pump. Another German invention of around '63 was the protein skimmer. With under-gravel filters being one of the standard filtration methods used even into the 80's, it took years for the merits of this device to become accepted as one of the most efficient ways of removing waste from aquaria. Interestingly this device came from the observations of the air riser tube on his UG filter. He noticed that waste appeared to accumulate at the top of the riser, and devised a method of tubes to collect and remove this foam. His observations were submitted to the Max Planck Institute for Ethology. It was soon after this that the first two commercial skimmers were developed. Again Norbert Tunze was in the scene, as well a guy, Erwin Sander. By the late 60's Sander had developed early ozonators. Eugen Jäger, along with his son Wolfgang had developed the first controlled heater years earlier. It was patented in Germany 10 years later. His company was acquired by Eheim around 4 years ago. UV sterilizers (as we know them today) were commercially developed in the late 60's. And perhaps one of the most important developments of the 60's which made the hobby significantly more accessible, was the development of artificial salts. Hans Weigandt's, Tropic Marin, Aquarium Systems Instant Ocean. The 60's also saw the introduction of the all glass silicon seamed tanks. ...

Sounds like and interesting story, any more details on that?