the-obstacle

It's pretty much spot on for 95% of the species it lists.

Dig a pond, build a glass walled house below the water level in said pond, build worlds biggest outdoor pond heater, plant and fill pond with fish, enjoy. No point doing things by halves

You're right, and I'm basing my comments on the line "If adding directly to the aquarium, base dose on aquarium volume." from the side of the bottle. Someone else commented above regarding why you have to do it that way. Personally I just put a bit in the tank after the water change (I use a hose too) and have never had an issue.

The problem is the tank is filled from the hose, not into a WC container before being added. Otherwise I would agree - treat the water that is being prepped but when you're running the hose into the tank it's different.

Ahh ok. You do need to know a bit about circuits and so on for a DIY build so best to buy ready made. Are you wanting to grow plants or just light the tank? Fish-street.com have some ready made units for a good price. There's also a NZ based site importing and selling the Aqua Illuminations range which look really nice. Do a search in the commercial sales section for them. also - it looks like Henward has just added some to his big tank, he might be able to point you in the right direction.

Based on the instructions on the bottle you should be dosing based on the tanks volume, not the amount of water changed, each time you dose. This way it covers the existing water for ammonia etc. as well as treating the incoming water for chlorine/chloramines. It doesn't matter whether you pre-mix it or add it to the tank after/during the water top up though.

Are you wanting to buy ready made units or try making one yourself with a little bit of DIY skill?

It was about 700L. I could have had 3 times the amount of lemons in there but as it was there was heaps of room for them to shoal around the tank. I'll definitely be getting more lemons the next time I set that tank up.

Do you have a pic of them in your tank? I don't have any pictures left sorry. It's been a few years since I last had them.

I really liked my 50+ lemon tetra school. It was nice that they are bigger and also the cheapest tetra around.

All that being said, I'm in Massey and use tap water without treatment. With the money you have in your stock I'd always use prime though.

You can chuck something hardy in. I'd keep a bottle of prime on hand in case you get an ammonia spike but with that much water you'll need quite a few fish to create enough for that.

Just take buckets out to Muriwai and get as much as you need.

wow! Greg's work still amazes me.

I don't subscribe but do check their website fairly regularly - http://skiandsnow.co.nz/ - maybe the info you need is there? If not sorry I couldn't help.

Personally I wouldn't worry about the snail at this point. They're going to be a pain to get rid of any time you try so just squash what you see and maybe make a trap a bit later on.

The brown stringy stuff is just your tank settling in. A few weeks and a few water changes should sort it out. Flourish excel would do the trick on the BBA as long as you don't have any plants sensitive to it (twisted val mostly). I squirt it straight onto the bba every day for a few days and it'll soon die off.

If you're going to use anything I'd suggest Seachem Prime. It works well and you use so little per dose that a 750ml bottle should last at lease a year.

I'd be interested in your review. I'm an avid fast food fan but I didn't enjoy C.Jr. at all.

I had to delete all the highlighting and someone else's answers to be able to fill it in myself. anyway, done now.

The problem is they already seem to be highlighted. Here is what I see when I open it which is quite confusing. maybe turn off the markup and delete the highlights before sending it out?

yeah, but you live life on the edge :sml2:

Were they still in a tank?

I've had great success with sand on daltons. I started with a scaped daltons bed and 2-3cm of sand covering the whole lot. Once it settled I planted the whole lot (well, as much as I could at the time) and then just let it be. Every now and then I'd move a plant and just brush some sand over the mud that came out. I did have algae but I was able to combat that with lighting and co2.

I can't believe anything these days.