newbees

the hood is about 10years old (at a guess!) but has only had two or so years of use. i got the bulbs wholesale from kongs as my work is a supplier of their stuff so i doubt thhey can really help apart from selling me a spankn new 1. what is the ballast?

hi, not really a DIY issue but we have a tank light that a few months ago just didnt turn on. i recently got new bulbs but to no glory. any one know what may have happened and do you think its fixable? its a resun DL-20 thanks!

ok, this may not be pc, but after a bit of convincing i have decided that marine is defs for me. i have a 80ish l tank that i currently have a small colony of brichardi cichlids in. i was thinking, if i did a 50% water change and changed a bit to make the parameters more suitable then added the salt. would having already cycled fresh water speed up the cycle of the marine? may sound stupid but it was just a idea. anyone out there have a yay or nah answer? thanks!!

I will put picks up of the creation being made. its very much DIY-but in a good kiwi way! haha. going to build the background and have filter etc behind it-simple idea, bucket thats been cut to fit the back corner, then somehow attach the coral.- will start with dead coral. but will try to get picks up tomorow. any suggestions will be excellent! we have a 800l tank that used to be a marine. we had a cichlid setup in it but they all eventually killed eachother as they do! and now have this beast in our lounge. SO will see how the little tank goes and if we are successful, maybe in a few years, she will be restored to her former glory

cool thanks! i will be constanly checking levels as we goo too! the tank is a corner style so the idea is to have the landscape at the back and have free swimming space at front. it is 50cm H, 73cm L, and 55cm W CHEERS

Hey guys! im thinking of setting up our 85l tank as a fish only tank (for now) I have read up on setup and have a fair idea, BUT with my readings, i can not find the fish to litre ratio. so i dont over stock. please any info would be appreciated. CHEERS

hi, so with the earth shaking at the moment and the fact we only have a second storey house, it is with great sadness that we have decided to sell our tank. BUT not too sure what she would be worth...please help? its a 800l acrylic tank with a beautiful curved front, 12mm. has shelves at back to place rock and/or coral (previously a marine tank) partner made a stand which is very strong and has a perfect finish. comes with an assortment of extras... 2 300w heaters ALOT of ornaments/plants..also a poly background which we made. coral sand. filtration is a sump.. made with a plastic storage bin and an assortment of different media, has 1kg activated carbon and 500ml of A1 water conditioner.. just wanting to know what people think she would be worth, please and thank you

hi people, just wondering if anyone knows the extent you have to go to to import fishies from the US? i went on ebay and my goodness they have some incredible fish...and CHEAP TOO!! anyone with a import reg or cert know how much etc?

:bounce: HI PEPS!! so we have a 1.8m x .6m x .7m fishtank, we were initially wanting to set up a huge cichlid tank.. BUT being 800l on our 2nd storey house, we feel its not the best time to fill her up! (esp with the earth shaking atm!) soooo now me have this amazing tank on a awsome stand, that we want to make beautiful :happy2: 1) would this tank be big enough for a water dragon? 2) what sort of costs are we looking at to get set up/ongoings 3) are they better alone or paired? 4) beardie or water... who is best?! THANKS GUYS!

well done! we have done the same thing for our 800l, however, we had to cut it into sections to fit it in the tank, but when we put the water into the tank it all died and one of the sections broke because of the pressure! is yours made of poly? also how do u manage to hold it in the water without it popping up? cheeeerz

hellooo, soo we have made a background with poly and plaster, but want to know if there are any decent non toxic products out there that we can use to waterproof the plaster? we have had the tank progressing for a year and its finally time for the finishing touches, and want to do it properly! THANKS!!!!

hi there, is there any one out there that can help us? we have a 800l tank with african cichlids, and all of a sudden we have had alot of deaths in the tank. the fish generally lose balance and co-ordination and start to swim in rather spaz circles. i tested ph, amonia, nitrite and general hardiness, all in normal parameters, we havent changed anything in the tank and it has been humming away quite nicely. almost thinking a swim bladder disease??? thanks!

hopefully this link will work didnt know how to load photos but heres a link for photobucket http://s1009.photobucket.com/albums/af2 ... CF0382.jpg soooo i dont know if it will show?? its just the tank next to me a work in progress the stand has ALOT more support and 50billion coats of paint and sealers so hopefully it wont swell!

yea i thought that it was quite extreme circling, one of them as gone quite dark around the face, possibly the dominant one?? we got them off a guy who was clearing out his fish and sold them real cheap, got peaches and dems from him too so we got what he didnt want, we are planning to get more e yellows when we have the tank set up properly just going slow so we dont overstock too fast. last time i checked th ph was at 7.8 and the tank is 800l with a length of 1.8m so there is plenty of room to get away, im going to do a water change today and re arrange the rocks and stuff to make different territories, thankyou i love it how helpful everyone on here is! :) :)

hi a question on breeding e yellows, sooo since the time i woke up yesterday and looked at our tank till thismorning alll day yesterday and im assuming all night our e yellows have been circling each other litterally nonstop and usually in the same place, i looked on youtube for spawning cichlids and it looks like this but not for any where near as long as these guys have been going im getting rather dizzy watching them, and wondering if they are breeding or fighting i only have two tho, and hard to tell if they are males or females? thanks

thanks yea lots of flow would help our tank is 800l and we have a sump flowing 2000l an hr its just hard to get the flow comming into the tank to create enough flow down to the bottom of the tank where all the crud builds up. unless we tried to get a pump or internal filter at the bottom of the tank to work just that area of the tank?

hi, we are curious to know how everyone keeps their gravel clean in cichlid tanks? we have coral sand in the tank to raise th ph but because of all the rocks etc for the lil suckers to hide in we get really big piles of food and poo, i was thinking that maybe a under gravel filter under the rocks could do but not too sure how well that would work?? please any secrets to the art of cichlid keeping would be muchly appreciated!!!!!

thankyou everyone for all the help! being newbees at this cichlid thing its great to know there are people out there to help!!!! i think we will stick to the mbuna as having a specific tank will be chooooiiice, theres just sooo many out there its hard to know which ones will be good with ours, we only have about 23 at the moment but they are all adults, and big, especially the ices! nah we wont be planning on catching and growing on fry one tank on the go is plenty for us! we are definately keen to get some haps and eye biters because theres just too much room to fill it up with the smaller guys!! even tho i said we wont be catching and growing frytoday we got given a pair of jewels and their week old fry, whats the best way to keep them alive and how long should we keep mummy with her children?? cheers all Ella

cool thanks! um our tanks is 800l its 1.8m long so they have a decent amount of swimming space, and ALOT of hidey holes, its been quite a venture trying to get enough fish to make it not look so bare!

hi, just wanting some ideas on what to add to our cichlid tank, we have ice blues, e yellows, p.demasonis, peach zebras, and auratus, we are wanting redish fish but not too sure what there is appart from jewels? cheers

yea thats true, they have been pretty agro too, some of the fights get quite intense. i just thought it could be a seasonal thing as they have only just started and nothing has changed? thanks for the help

hey all, just wanted to know if anyone could enlighten us on the behaviour of ur ice blues? we are new to cichlids and recently our ice blue colony has been behaving odddd, the males do this display and shake their bodies in a vibrating sorta way, thought they could be breeding??? thanks!

hey! if you do manage to find some frontosa at a reasonable price we would be happy to help convert your tank as we have been looking for e yellows and dems, we have a 6 footer we are trying to fill up! good luck with finding the fronts, they are stunning fish

hey there! your tank looks AMAZING the LED's really bring out the colour! just wondering on a few pointers, me and my partner are setting up a 800l tank and making the hood stand etc, where did you get the lights from?? thanks alot