Caryl

Turning a heater down does nothing in this case. The water will heat up to the room temperature. If your room sits at 27C then you could turn the heater down or off, the water will still rise to 27C - same as the room.

I have an article on how to build your own and the maths required to work out length of wire, ohms etc. Will hunt it out but be aware, if you do not have good electrical knowledge this is not something you want to attempt as it would be easy to miscalculate and burn down your house! Insurance wouldn't pay out either.

We had a cold rock pool marine set up but the heat was the killer. Since the room got to 28 - 32 during the day and dropped to low 20's only overnight, it wasn't cool enough. We have since bought a chiller but haven't got around to setting it back up again. We found the inhabitants didn't cope with constant temps over 10 - 15C. This may have been because we got them from the Kaikoura Coast where, although the pools got hot during the day, they were totally flooded with cold water every high tide. Those way down south might get away with it but in sunny Marlborough you definitely need a chiller!

Yes we have home built undertank heat pads.

If your plants can't cope with a couple of weeks without supplements I would think there was something seriously wrong with your tank.

Once you have some in the tube, slip a net over the bottom of it then lift all out of the water.

Congratulations. Use a torch - their eyes will reflect in the light.

Bristlenoses are herbivores.

We are thinking of doing this as our tank will be ply (apart from the front glass of course) coated in fibreglass and have thought about doing the sump in fibreglass as well. Not got around to it yet though.

Slash the sump would work like a big canister filter if you filled it with bioballs and other media for the bacteria to grow in. The tank I was referring to is not planted so CO2 is not a problem.

An interesting observation HelifaxNZ. I knew mine would breed lots then stop for no apparent reason. Since my tank sits at 22 - 23C I wonder if the breeding coincided with the summer months when the tank temperature rose to over 27C with the room temperature. It sounds like this is to be another summer where we have to lift the lid, turn the lights off, and drop slikka pads into the tank when the room sits at 32+C during the day :roll:

It might help if we knew what sort of fish it is you are trying to breed!

I can't comment on the lighting as I don't know enough about it but I would use the sump as it will give more area. When we upgrade our 4ft to a 6ft we plan to use the 4ft as a sump.

Curt's plantgeek site is an amazing resource. I often recommend it.

Are you able to do a post mortem? Having a look at the internal bits under a microscope may give some clues. If swim bladder, it is possible the food may have caused a problem.

Of course you would be sent a copy! Looking forward to the finished article.

Still sounds like classic algae bloom to me

Not only could you put the whole process in here as a topic but if you wrote an article (with pics) I would be happy to print it in our magazine The NZ Aquarium World

Check the date on the original query Luke :lol: Hard to tell what you have without a pic.

Depends on what sort of plecostomus it is. If it is actually a bristlenose catfish then it is Ancistrus sp. A large plecostomus is usually Hypostomus plecostomus and a reddish spotted one with a large dorsal fin (aka red sailfin plec) is Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps

Angels can be very quiet or very aggressive depending on the individual fish. A group of angels is less likely to have an aggressive one than 1 or 2 on their own. Generally speaking tetras can hold their own with angels

Betta splendens is the scientific name for the Siamese fighting fish you were talking about in another thread casey05 (or I think it was you )

The flowing fins on a Siamese fighter are very inviting to other short finned fish and they will nibble away at them constantly. They are also kept separately to stop the males fighting with other males. Personally I think Siamese Fighters should be kept in a species only tank and not mixed with other fish but others would disagree.

Looking great! Interesting rock in the 2nd pic.

Sorry to hear about Dude. If you believe in a Heaven then it will be there