matildanz

Have to agree with Caryl, David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean are brilliant! I've read these over and over. Who else can make disembowelling hillarious?! If they're ever made into movies I WON'T be watching them. They'll never do the books justice! Diana Gabaldons' Outlander/Crosstitch series ........mmmmmmmmmmm.......... Jamie Fraser........... Rugged scotsman and a kilt - what more could you want? Good gust of wind maybe

I'll see how my photographic skills go! and whether I have the courage to send it in!!

That'll teach me for not reading the fine print!!

That would be typical Timaru!! Thought as much when I couldn't see it on the map.

WHAT!?? You want a log AND photos?! There's a mag?? No one tells me anything!! :lol:

Thankyou

What does everyone suggest I paint the inside of my fibreglass tank with? I've searched through old threads and it seems 'Gelcoat' is the way to go. These threads were from a few years ago so I'm wondering if this is still the case.

You know you're 'becoming' addicted to fish when you give the piano away because it's in the perfect place for the new tank!!

Stocking First and foremost....... clowns, they are my alltime favourite and the reason I've gone and thrown myself in the deepend with this tank! The 120 litre was supposed to be my 'step up' tank! :roll: Other than that, I have no idea so I'm open to suggestions! I currently have 5 Kuhlis, 7 Neons and 'Spike' my Golden Bristlenose. Ideally I'd like any additions to be fairly peaceful, non aggressive fish and probably mid to upper level inhabitants. 120 litre tank Unfortunately the tank is sitting in the garage with a protective coating of dust, so no joy with using the filter from it and the filter in my established tank is only a wee Fluval U3 and the noodle content in it is pretty minimal! Awesome to know! Any suggestions as to the best shops to head for first? I know the place up Ferry road and I've found the address of Organism (that I never knew existed) which I'll go visit and of course Redwoods - that place is dangerous!! :lol: Oh and other than Animates that's all I know of.

Now that I've managed to give away the piano, work can begin in earnest on my new tank. I still need to locate some Gel Coat to paint over the 'swimming pool' blue fibreglass and have some glass cut for lids. I'm heading to Christchurch on Sunday and will hunt out a grunty filter - probably an FX5 for my tank :bounce: or at least I hope to after the MOTH has given the plastics the once over and grilled the salesperson to within an inch of their lives! I understand the process of cycling but I'm wondering about a couple of things.... (and please go easy on the crazy fish/chicken lady!) Is it possible to get a head start on building up the good bacteria in the filter? I don't know anyone with a tank that I can beg, steal of borrow any filter material from so that avenue is out, and I know once I get the tank full, it's going to be hard not to head down to the 'local' for some new fish!! :roll: but I will try.... honest!! Last thing I want is a group of belly-up clowns! I do have another tank that is only 120ish litres so is it possible to put the water from the established tank into this one when I do the water changes - possibly topped up with clean freshwater - and use the new filter (a massive overkill I know!) until I have the new tank ready, then use this water in the new tank along with every water change I take from the established tank until all the parameters are correct for fish? Seems like a long winded way of going about it but I've no experience in cycling a big tank. or should I use some of those newfandangled products from the fish store to kickstart the cycling process? I shall be most humbled by any assistance/suggestions

I've just found this on the following site http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/forum/index.php?topic=1279.0 thought it was quite interesting....it appears that if I can keep on top of the littlies eventually 'Gary' will run out of eggs....... unless of course he's got his 'girlfriend' stashed away inside the U-boat!! Typically, there was maybe a dozen wee snails on the glass this morning so perhaps I've made a significant dent in the population or 'Gary's egg supply is coming to an end. :bounce:

My poor tank is literally crawling with these little blighters. A few weeks back I found the odd little flat round snail around 3-4mm diameter crawling on the glass and figured what harm can a couple of wee snails do (stupid stupid stupid!). Then this whopper snail appeared, garden variety brown ramshorn from what I've gleaned off the interweb around 15-20mm! Still scratching my head to work out where the heck he/she/it was hiding!! Now I've become quite attached to young 'Gary' but I have a sneaking suspicion that 'he's' the cause of the outbreak. BUT can one large snail mate with small ones because I've not clapped eyes on anything else that's even 1/4 the size of Gary! Obviously they've been introduced on plants bought from our local petshop but I'm at a loss as to where this monster appeared from all of a sudden, and if they are even of the same species....... I've quite often picked off two of the larger 5-6mm snails off leaves that look like they could be doing 'the business'!! I've been hand picking these guys off the glass every morning to the tune of at least 50-60 each day, I seem to constantly have a wet arm up to my elbow and I have fingertips like raisins!! What would cause such a major infestation and so quickly? Overfeeding my fish perhaps?? It seems to coincide with my algal bloom disappearing........... so now I have a crystal clear tank overrun with snails :roll: If anyone has any hints on how to get rid of these guys I'd be much appreciative!

Ok, I'm back on the canister bandwagon again!! The ongoing debate on Fluval FX5 v Ehiem seems to be quite common and it appears that the FX5 is better value for money than the Eheim Pro 3 2075 due to the vast difference in prices but whilst trawling through TradeMe I've found these two auctions. Both brand new and from the same retailer.... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pets-animals/Fish/Pumps-filters/auction-310115569.htm and http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pets-animals/Fish/Pumps-filters/auction-309632844.htm Now commonsense would dictate that for the extra $20 then the Eheim is the way to go BUT I've read somewhere that I need to consider what fish will be in the tank. At this point, it's going to be clowns :bounce: so would I be safe in assuming that the more powerful flow from the Fluval would suit the clowns better?

Okey dokey, pics......... Now theres to be NO laughing!! I'm rather fond of my quirky tank :lol: the tank - thickness of the glass was a little hard to measure but it's more than 10mm (more like 12 or 13?) and measures 65/66 cm tall in the front - didn't think to measure the opening but I almost had to climb into the thing to get the tape low enough!! If it was a tad wider I could just about lie down in it!! :lol: Not sure what the pipe is in the corner but it appears there was originally one in each corner. The ply/fibreglass goes all the way to the top with no cut out areas which I think it would have if it was designed to use a sump (please correct me if I'm wrong) bits - 4 powerheads with attached pipes, an air thingamy and a miniscule filter (what it was doing in the tank is beyond me!!) And lastly powerhead with pipe attached to show cut outs at bottom. I've had no experience whatsoever with powerheads so I'm really not sure what to do with them :-? I'd have thought 4 of them all going together would give any fish quite a ride :lol: David R - thank you so much for your post. I don't think I could fit a sump to this and I'm not 100% sure what a trickle filter is but I'll do a bit of Googling. As for tank mates.... I have a GBA (think I got that right!) that I'd like to find a girlfriend for, my little gang of 7 neons and 5 kuhlis in my current tank. I don't want to go and overload the tank but I wouldn't mind adding something that swims mid/upper tank so suggestions would be most appreciated. Edited to say that my dear husband now tells me that it wouldn't be impossible to drill a hole to hook up a sump and seal it up with fibreglass resin...... learn something new every day.... had no idea he'd ever worked with fibreglass, better start Googling sumps too!

Apologies in advance for all the questions........... I have sitting in the garage a new (well to me anyway) tank. It's 1.5m wide/long, 45cm deep and 80cm high which appears to work out about 520ish litres. It's made from fibreglass with big glass panels in the front and sides, it's going to be a bit of a project as I want to paint the fibreglass from swimming pool blue to black. It also has some strange set up of pumps (which I'm guessing is for water movement rather than filtration but I'll leave that to the husband who seems to like figuring out how things work! It's an odd looking tank but I've never been one to conform to the norm and it does have a charm all of it's own! clowns - What I'd love to get is clown loaches. I've read that many articles on the net that my head is spinning, so I know they get fairly big ( although how big in a home aquarium is quite a contentious topic ) and I'm also aware they like to be in schools and that they grow relatively slow once they get to about 10 - 15cm in length or thereabouts. tank - Now I dare say a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft would be a more acceptable size due to surface area and length but would my tank be suitable for a group of small clowns - I'm sure by the time they get to the 10 - 15cm length I'd have convinced the other half that we need to fork out for a bigger tank and they are one of his favourite fish too! The tank stocking tool says it would be stocked to 125% with 5 clowns although any loaches I've seen in the shops are tiddlers so would I be safe in assuming the fish are at their full grown size on that website :-? filtration - Regardless of what ends up in my tank, I want to get the filtration right. I've dug into the depths of the forum on the different brands available and the opinion of other forum members and I'm still mystified!! I'm not sure whether the depth of my tank is going to be a problem and if it is going to effect my choices of filters. Hubby just about choked when he saw the cost of the bigger canister filters but once I pointed out the thread comparing Daewoos to BMW's he's come around! He has to really since we've got two in the driveway!! :lol: I asked in the 'technical' section about multiple filters and I like the idea of it having two although I doubt even my extremely understanding husband would be overly happy if I came home with 2 FX5's ! I would prefer a quality filter that I can get replacement impellers, media baskets etc for it and if the more expensive ones is the recommended way to go, I'd rather not have to buy them both at the same time!! Perhaps one of the more 'top end' filters for a start and add a second not so expensive model at a later stage.......? cycling - what would be the best way to cycle a tank of this size? My wee 60l Hailea was a breeze to cycle with a small school of neons but I expect it'd take a month of Sundays cycle the new tank with a dozen neons. Although I'm probably getting ahead of myself - it can wait until I get the filtration sorted Ok, thanks for taking the time to read my novel and please if you have any advice, I'm all ears

Thanks guys, I now have one happier husband!! The 2 canister system makes lots of sense as spoon points out so I think I'll be using up all my birthday and chrissy present credits on filtration!! Suphew - Thanks for your reply, not only is the other half happy, but I actually understood!! :lol: Yes I have a Fluval U3 and the noodles are pretty pitiful.

I know there are about 4 billion articles on this subject regarding makes and models, flow rates, media etc etc but I'm wondering (well actually my dear 'need to know' husband is) why you can't use multiple smaller filters in a large tank if the combined lph (?) is sufficient. This has come about because I've got a tank sitting in the garage that I need to organise filtration for and we've been looking at external canister filters. I must stress that he's not a cheapskate (he is infact the biggest gadget freak I know!) but he's one of 'those' people that come up with the strangest questions that I'm in no position to answer!! :lol:

Thanks everyone on the info about the loaches - yes they were the flattened 'ray' shape as opposed to the 'fish' shape. I had read they required a strong water flow and high oxygen. Funnily enough the tank they were in was sitting at 28 degrees going by the stick on thermometer I don't think so, when I tested the nitrate levels on Thursday they were at 0ppm as was nitrites and ammonia levels. Doesn't mean they aren't on the rise though! I'll keep an eye on it. You're right...... that's what happens when you skip over a paragraph when you're reading :roll: !! Common old garden variety bristle noses they are then

Our LPS/LFS won't test aquarium water so I've bought a kit off TM. Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates are all good but the pH is around 7.4/7.5 (it was the highest on the standard pH chart and the lowest on the high range pH chart). I tested the tap water and it has the same results. I don't want to go chucking all sorts of chemicals in the tank willy nilly so would rather try a more natural approach - oak leaves, wood and the like. THe local LPS doesn't sell wood for aquariums either. Went down to our 'lake' this morning to see what we could find and came home with some fallen oak leaves and a small chunk of wood we dug out of the water. I don't know what sort of wood it is, but it doesn't look like willow and I couldn't see any willows where we were. It's been there for a fair old while as it weighs as much as a stone the same size. Any floating ability has long since gone! Preparing wood for the tank I found this posting from a while ago... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6264 and it leads me to believe since it's spent so much time in the water already that I 'should' just be able to put it straight in the tank?? :-? I was under the impression that it would need to be boiled for ages. It's sitting in a bucket of water at the moment. At the very least, I'll have to give it a good scrubbing to get rid of all the snails! It's now been sitting in the bucket for almost 5 hours and the water is still crystal clear. oak leaves These are soaking in the bucket as well...... what do I do with them now? Obviously they go in the tank but do they need to be anchored down or is floating on the surface ok? and how many for a 60l tank?? Cursed algae I've also got a nice crop of brown algae growing and was told at the pet shop that I didn't have enough light...... I thought it was because I had too much light!! (too much information rattling around in my brain, it's all so confusing!! ) The glass I can clean easily but it's all over the plants too and I'm a bit hesitant to go in and try rubbing it off my little tiger lotus and the ferny type plants. So...... Plecos, otos and loaches I've been researching the algae eating fish available and from what I've read, plecos and otos are apparently the best. I like the look of the plecos but it appears they can grow very big. Bearing in mind that I only have a 60l Hailea tank I obviously can't get anything that will grow too big for it. Our LPS has some BN but they can't say what type! One (about 4-5cm) was starting to grow the little bristles so can I assume he's reaching maturity and won't grow a lot more?? They also had this adorable little fish - it was labled as a Myers Hillstream Loach - about 3cm long (4 if you count his tail) that was hoovering up all sorts of things off the glass but they also couldn't tell me how big he would grow and what sort of environment I'd need to keep 1 or 2 happy (and preferably alive!). THANKYOU GOOGLE!! Cycling How do you know if your tank is cycled? There are as many opinions on this subject as articles! I'm two weeks into my cycling and have so far lost 2 of my original 10 Neons (both around day 7 or 8 ). One was quite obviously dead when I retrieved him off the side of the filter and the other one is quite literally lost! No sign of the little blighter anywhere. The rest are all swimming around like idiots and the two biggest ones have found their favourite spots and woe betide any fish that come too close! They've also gotten quite used to their routine and will snatch the food from my fingers! I've no intention of going out and buying a whole heap of fish all at once but I'm looking forward to adding a couple of beneficial fish as soon as it's safe to. I'm sure that little loach had my name written on him somewhere!! Sorry for all the questions I'm sure there will be lots more!! Thanks for the info so far, I'm loving this hobby! :bounce:

Right, I'm currently cycling my tank with 10 neons (as per suggestion from petshop - now I'm thinking that may be too many!), Day 4 and all are still alive. I asked about testing the water and was told that unless they all go belly up within a week then it really wasn't necessary - sounded good at the time but the more I dig around in this forum I'm thinking a test is probably in order! From recollection, there was a multitude of different test kits so....... Q1 - what sort of kit do I really need (I'm sure shops try to sell all sorts of things that aren't altogether necessary!) Q2 - Should I be doing a partial water change and if so what percentage? and how often? Q3 - How do you clean a planted tank? I'm assuming those tube things for syphoning crud from the stones would wreak havoc on any plant! :-? Will regular partial water changes and a couple of bottom dwellers cope? She - as in the petshop owner where I bought my tank in CHCH - suggested having the lights on for 8 hours for a start, but is this enough to encourage the plants to grow properly? I'd like to have quite a good coverage of plants even if it means less fish. Called past our local petshop on my way home from work but they close at 5pm so I won't be able to get there until Saturday. Blimey.... I don't remember all this palaver last time but I want to get this right. No doubt I was a bit gungho last time..... with fingers crossed, whistle in the dark and hope for the best :roll: this time however, I'm a whole lot older and hopefully a little bit wiser!! TIA

Poop!! :-? Oh well, I hope you guys can put up with a whole lot of questions!

I'm not too concerned either way - I had guppies and neons last time - can't for the life of me figure out why I had those two together (probably the salesperson at the petshop and my gullibility!!) and of course the Neons followed behind the Guppies picking off the newborns! Basically the hardier the better - I have a very poor track record with house plants so I'm hoping I don't have brown fingers when it comes to fish! The otherhalf was drooling over the whopping huge tanks (probably more for the huge sunken plane!) but lets learn to walk properly before we run a marathon

Thanks everyone for the kind welcome I'm looking at having a community tank so any suggestions on breeds and quantities would be greatly received!!

That's the one! Thanks

Hi everyone, stumbled on this forum while trawling through the gazillion websites available to novice fish fanatics! I'm returning to fish keeping after more years than I'm willing to admit!! So far I have sitting on the sideboard a 60l tank complete with long grassy stuff, feathery plants, some tiger somethingorather and crypts (the one name I did manage to remember!!) The tank is a Hailea and came with an internal filter, 100w Elite heater, gravel, food blah blah blah........ brilliant as my brain has turned to mush after raising two kids to teenagerhood! Oh and for some reason know only to himself (himself being my dear long suffering husband) ..... a wreck of an airplane carrier :roll: Now the waiting game for everything to settle down before introducing some livestock!