Caryl

I am thinking "Aucklanders have to buy rocks" :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: Sorry, I will stop laughing now. Different rocks are found in different parts of NZ. The flat grey kind are just what we have down here. Perhaps you need a holiday

Did you know there is a fish club in Nelson?

Thank you all for your patience with the delay in the August magazine. At least it is going to be delivered well before the end of the month! We have problems every year with members being very tardy in their club sub payments and then the club officers not getting the information and capitations in by the due date. This year was the worst ever! Anyhoo, what is in this edition? - Planting a Low Tech/Low Light tank - The real Hypostomus - a continuation of Darren's excellent series on plecs - Pics and info on a 100,000L Planted Aquarium (aka a biotop pool) - Read about the lovely Mapua Aquarium and the trip there by Tasman and Marlborough Aquarium Clubs - Learn about the Internal Anatomy of a Fish (complete with a detailed drawing by junior member Juliet Wilkie) - Conference Report and lots of pics from the weekend - How to "Plant" Aquarium Plants - Betta albimarginata - Whiteseam Betta. Hopefully this will one day be imported into NZ! - Read about Adrienne's problems with theft (a warning to us all) - Learn all about the Glowlight Tetra - Discover the ins and out of mass turtle relocations from quake ravaged Christchurch - Meet Willie the Galapagos Tortoise Plus lots more!! :happy2: Hopefully it will be appearing in letterboxes by the end of this week.

Check out the Christchurch Totally Tanked Club. They have a Facebook page too

Standard temp for a tropical tank is 25 - 27C. Discus prefer 28 - 29C. To speed up the white spot cycle I believe it needs to be 28C.

:smot: - what does Devin look so worried about??

Depends on how you set it up. Can we have a few details please? A tank needs to run a few days to check the equipment is all working correctly and the heater has settled to the correct temperature. How you then add the fish depends on whether you plan a fishless or fish in cycle.

View from my letterbox

It is snowing here too but not settling on the ground at all. This is only the 2nd time I have seen it on the hills next to my house in the 40 years I have been here. Will post pics later.

I got one of those 7 day pill compartment things from the $3 Shop. Put the right amount of food in each and ask your parents to feed once a week would be enough. That way the fish will not be overfed, they won't starve, you won't overwork the filter, and the tank should get by without any water changes due to the lower bioload (although if your parents are willing to do a water change or two it would help). Also there should be no need to scrub down the inside of the tank as the fish will have grazed on it, keeping it sparkling clean. I always clean my filter at least 2 days before I go away. This allows time to see that everything has settled back down well and the filter is continuing to work correctly (sometimes they don't after you have restarted them). I do a good substrate clean too. Fish do not need light but plants do. Easiest to get a timer to switch on to give the plants 8 hours daily. Dying plants, or removing the plants, will have a bigger, negative effect on the tank than putting the lights on a timer. Cut back on the feeding before you go, rather than feed them more. This way they will be used to lesser amounts and won't mind the sudden cutback so much. If you feed daily, cut back to every 2nd day then on weekends leave them 3 days without feeding.

I was about to say what Ira did (so figured I would still do so) - I think they come together.

They have to be wobbly rocks, with nowhere the cat can get to the water due to moving ground.

Check the impeller

We went up to the Top House pub (by Lake Rotoiti) for lunch with the MX5 Club. It rained, hailed, then snowed. Lovely. It is now 3.1C here and we have had no power for about half an hour after a car took out a power pole up past our place

If she belongs to a union she should contact it.

Many today do not know how to budget.

OK I am locking this as I can't believe how off topic it has gone. For goodness sake people, think before you post and stop letting others wind you up! It only encourages them and gives them a ready source of amusement and entertainment. :roll:

Well there you go. I think kiwiplymouth might have hit on the right answer there.

They may have honestly believed their information is correct and not deliberately told you wrong.

All my driftwood has come from the beach. I get mine from the river mouths on west coast beaches. It is usually native hardwood (rata or rimu) that has washed down from the rivers. It is already well waterlogged. All I do is wash it off with the hose to get the sand, salt and greeblies off it. You need to check there are no soft, rotting bits on it that will break off and float about the tank looking unsightly and eventually clogging the filter. Other wise it is fine. Some wood will not be so waterlogged so may need a bit of boiling to help it sink. Boil it for about 20 minutes in water which has some baking soda added. I believe this helps release air bubbles which stop it sinking. You must rinse very thoroughly after this to make sure all the soda has gone or it will alter the pH a bit.

I hear you shouldn't use Vaseline but it is all I have ever used and never had a problem :-?

Have you tried putting rocking stones around the pond? Cats do not like a surface that moves so a rock that tips when they stand on it puts them off.

I am going to try and walk into town (my injury actually improves once I manage to get moving). I just got a letter from ACC accepting my injury claim! :happy1: :happy2: Wasn't sure if they would - I went to the osteopath to treat a simple problem. They fixed it, but in the process managed to do way more damage than I had in the first place! I am now receiving acupuncture which I am sure is helping (and the deep tissue massage is wonderful) but it is a very slow process. Now I have been accepted by ACC I think I will go to the Dr and look into getting a cortisone injection if he thinks it appropriate. If I do, it will probably have to be done by a specialist guided by an MRI scan. I have been putting it off as I would rather have lots of little acupuncture needles than one great big cortisone one (especially as it will go into my butt!) and I had to wait for ACC to accept it so it was affordable. The original problem started the week before conference (last week of May) so, as you can imagine, I am heartily sick of the pain and distress it has caused. &c:ry

I would expect any shop that stocks the filters ought to be able to order the parts.

My lotus stays small for ages (also no ferts) then suddenly takes off shooting huge leaves to the surface. It then flowers and dies back again to repeat the process. You can cut off the longer stems. Lighting has an effect on their growth, or size, too. I am not keen on the filter/heater combo mainly because if one dies you have to get a replacement, either another combo (and double up on the bit that didn't die) or another piece of equipment in the tank. I prefer to be able to replace each separately.