amtiskaw

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11116943 "The fish have been identified as cichlids, although the exact species is unknown at this stage"

The biggest fish are red lined torpedo barbs and SAGs. There's some ottos hiding in there somewhere, and a few dwarf chain loaches The smaller fish are emerald eye rasbora and penguin barbs, and a couple of hundred neons, lol Just twisted val mostly. There's a narrow leaf sword of some type, plus a more typical sword to the right of that. I don't know the specific names, sorry. Probably gonna move the narrow sword, as the val's taking over down that end. I'm trying out some grass on the left front but not sure if I'll carpet with that - will it go with the crypts on the right? The biomass has only recently got to the point where the phosphate out of the tap is at the right levels for no algae. So now it's just potassium nitrate 3-4 times a week, Flourish Comprehensive and magnesium sulphate 1-2 a week, and 50% water changes once a week. I struggled with BGA and green dust algae for a while, but adding some lime chips to the filter sussed that out. Hamilton has low kh, and my pH wasn't stable. kH is around 5 now.

Lime chips are almost pure calcium carbonate. But that's good if you want to get KH up Plus they're cheap as...chips :dnc1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIxEVDXZMOk. I started out with heaps more fwd-back slope, but the turface is quite light and has shifted about a bit :digH: It didn't come out very iwagumi-ish - I'd say my tastes have matured into more of an appreciation for jungle and the random chaos of nature :roll:

Bicarb increases KH

Yup

Wishful thinking...

From where?

If you're using API, check the date is less than 3 years old Each reagent bottle has a Lot # printed on the bottle. The last four digits are the month and year of manufacture. For example: Lot # 28A0102. = Jan 2002 http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/test- ... users.html

I've had API GH and KH kits go off. Last time I bought some I noticed they now have a use by date stamped on them. It used to be some obscure code printed on the bottle that let you figure out the manufacture date so you could look up the shelf life of the kits and figure out if yours had expired :facepalm:

Even felt it in Hamilton :nilly:

What did you pay for that bit of shiny? :spop:

Video, or it didn't happen :bggrn:

If you're worried about the snail then now is the time to remove any you see, plus any egg clusters you can spot - before your plants grow and you'll be fighting a losing battle. Eggs are really hard to spot, they just look like little patches of translucent jelly. I wouldn't bother though - just try not to over-feed and the snails will keep in check and be beneficial. By the way, nice tank That driftwood is crying out for some Java fern I reckon :dnc1:

Bingo. It's frustrating seeing all the stuff on Amazon and Ebay that you can't get shipped to NZ :env:

Yep. That's if you find one that ships to NZ in the first place.

I struck out finding pure aqueous glutaraldehyde solution in NZ. All the suppliers I tried had other chemicals, surfactants, etc, in the mix

I reckon! I'll be keeping an eye out on Kensfish for these :dnc1: Good news that you don't have to replace the lights.

I've got an Eheim Pro 3E. It's quiet and certainly pumps like a champ. The only thing I don't like about it is, the pump controller must be load sensing, as putting my CO2 diffuser on the Eheim's output caused it to reduce max output by 50%. I moved the diffuser to my Unimax 500, which is cheap, quiet and too dumb to notice the change in flow. I'd probably try an Aqua One if I was buying right now.

Yes :dunno:

"Dear Simon, We actually just unveiled our ramp timer pro last week and we should start shipping early October. Please let your club members know. Best, Current"

I've asked Current USA if they have a programmable timer in development. I'll post back here when I get a reply. I reckon they'd have trouble keeping up with orders if they could come up with something :bounce: Jeez those plecs sure do poop a lot

Another option is one of the cheap-ish CO2 meters off TM, a KH test kit, and this chart

:iag: I had that until recently - a spray bar at each end. It ended up with dead spots in the weirdest places. I turned the less powerful bar so it faces the glass (couldn't be bothered moving it to the other end with the other one) pointing down a little, and now the circulation in the tank is way better. It goes along the top, down one end, back along the bottom and back up at the starting end. Much better :bounce:

My Ottos like green algae :spop: