Sophia

here's an old thread I found.... :sage: I have some of this weed in my outdoors bug pond. It grows slowly and stays on the bottom like a sunken green cloud. The pond is made of plastic and while it started with tap water it has had a lot of rain lately. I think it started in one of my original buckets but I kept it as I thought it might be Nitella (obviously it isn't) or was a signal that the pond was healthy. Should I get rid of it or is it food for the micro-bugs?

A.L.F.

yes the silica content as they call it in the breakdown is low in the concentrated version.

Charles, what is the pH (and hardness if you have that kit) of the water in this tank? have found a place to get this black sand or something very much like it.

This is the place http://www.industrialsands.co.nz/products.html Not open on the weekend. The sand they call 'black silica sand' is the one called Iron Sand Concentrate and it is apparently black sand like west coast beach sand, as compared to the dark brown Woodhill sand which they also have. You can check the analysis of each one also. The Iron Sand concentrate has nearly 80% ferric oxide which I think is the black stuff, Woodhill has only 22%. from Wikipedia on ferric oxide "Aquariums Ferric oxide in a granular form (GFO, granular-ferric-oxide) is readily available for purchase in the saltwater aquarium and reef community. Its primary function as a filtration media is to pull phosphates out of the water column to aid in the control of nuisance algae. Branded products such as PhosBan, ROWAphos, and PhosLock contain proprietary blends of granular-ferric-oxide and granular-ferric-oxide-hydroxide (GFH)." From what I can read it looks like ferric oxide also binds other minerals etc. Does that mean it would stop the absorption of nutrients present in Flourish Excel for example?

thinking of selling any perchance? :spop:

I found it - this is the fish you need. I would name her Zev :sml1:

she would if you were doing the ironing or something 'useful' while you waited......

I saw those fish for the first time a few weeks ago :nfs: are you still breeding your CPDs?

:spop: waiting for Dan to come back from Swanson...

tell me if it's any good eh Dan :rotf:

The black satin 'sand' is extremely fine black grit gravel, grains the size of sand, but I believe it should be treated as gravel not sand. Still a great shade of dark though.

Sounds like you need a natives tank then, a big shoal of inanga or bullies and/or some bugs in crevices that you can see with torches provided like at SeaFriends at Goat Island. Have you been there?

microwave!

Why not just start the 30 days 30 days from today? It can only be a matter of days to a week surely - is it that critical?

what set ups do you already have or are going to have?

you mean this <<<<<

those are hi tech plans for a hi tech fish-head :bounce:

Well, this update you are going to have to imagine. I had enough camera batteries to last for 2 photos but they are now so dead I can't even get them to download on the usb cable. So it's now got a darker brown sand base (actually black sand but you wouldn't know to look at it). I cut the wood into 2 pieces and put one on each side. Cory corner under the filter has been reduced but is still available. Got more plants around the sides and edges making a sort of mini dance hall in the middle so the fish can hide in the plants around the edges and yet see all the way across. It seems to be working a little better as far as seeing more fish but the corys are still quite shy, though they certainly come out at dinner time if I sit still. The darker substrate was to try and get more colour out of the rasbora, this has also worked somewhat, the fish are more peach colour than the semi transparent they were. Don't know HFF got them to be so damn red in the shop! The loaches are their usual silly selves. Lost a few snails in the substrate rearranging so 'we' are now waiting for more to grow.

blue sky in Auckland :happy1:

spending

cold water riffle tanks!

you could rent them out as bunk beds

I am discovering there are lots of choices if you like small fish, which I do. Here is a thread where we discussed a few for a smaller tank I have. In my 22L I now have dwarf chain loaches, pygmy cories and dwarf rasbora. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=50634&hilit=pearl

I think gourami will have to be on my list of things for another life/tank/house - sounds like too many things to juggle for a peaceful situation in a little tank. thanks to everyone for adding comments.