the-obstacle

I have 5cm daltons, 3cm sand, 2 cm gravel and it works really well. 3-5cm is a long way for the roots to grow before hitting the daltons. You'll find you end up planting everything in the sand anyway as the gravel isn't really any good for holding onto the plants (unless it's finer than mine or course).

When I bought some hairgrass from animates I had heard that the quality was crap and it'd be hard to get it to last for all the reasons mentioned above. I left them in the pot on the substrate for 2-3 weeks for them to get used to the tank and to not run the risk of damaging the roots before they had adjusted. This seemed to work. I was told to separate the hairgrass into tiny little bunches but I couldn't be bothered so i split the 2 pots into 6 bunches and planted them like that. 6 months later and every spare inch of substrate is covered in hairgrass. I'd do that again if I bought potted plants.

guppies! :sick: :happy1: :facepalm:

at the current price at HFF surely you can't go wrong with a CF1200? They're awesome and will overfilter 200L quite happily.

+1 - add the current filter media to the 1200 on the same tank that the media came from. The 1200 will give it a good push around in a 50L tank but it's tunable. I currently have one seeding on a 20L grow out tank and it's doing really well.

hahaha, awesome. Thanks, that'll all work well when I'm setting mine up.

how far off the water have you got the halides? Could they go any closer? I'm trying to figure out my spacings for my setup and figure it'll be about the same as yours.

Sweet. I'm considering a pair or two for the big tank...

It seems I know some poeple who are getting one of these as a gift from some relatives to their young kids. I've offered to keep an eye on it and beef up the filtration / replace with a more suitable tank if it looks like it's having problems. I'm expecting it'll last about 3 weeks before it's time to replace it with something bigger or until I swap them their 3 goldfish for 1 male guppy.

Does this explain the good deals currently going on electric blues at various stores?

yep, i'll put my hand up for a bunch.

Should be fine but test for ammonia before adding fish and keep checking for a couple of days.

So where did the Geo's go?

So I've managed to grow out 4 healthy little pandas. The last one is just getting his tail spot now and then they'll be going in the community tank. The last week or so has seen some amazing growth - it was like they were just a ball with a tail for weeks but now they're fully functioning pandas. Stoked for my first try with saving the eggs. They will replace the 1 panda that died in the community tank a few weeks ago - haven't figured out how/why that happened still and the rest are super healthy so I guess I'll never know. Still - new pandas!

I recommend him too. He's very good with custom sizes too.

that's awesome man. put one of those monster swords in there too. I'm stoked with the amount of light you're getting from the 2 halides - seems mine will be good with the same setup.

Let me know when you're ready for test pilots. I'll happily buy custom ferts based on my setup.

I've read great things about the turtle wax heavy duty rubbing compound as it has the same hardness as glass it won't scratch the glass but will get everything else off. I read it on a US based site and it seems you can't get the heavy duty version here but I've got the normal stuff I intend to use in the next week or so so I'll let you know how that goes.

Woo hoo! Well done. Mine are constantly trying but nothing ever comes of it. I would have thought they'd be ok with the panda's but don't take my word on that one

a pair of apistos won't be a big problem in your tank. they won't destroy plants as mentioned above and they won't be too bad to the other fish when breeding. Mine are in a 75L tank with a ton of other fish and they are constantly breeding and don't cause any problems with the others.

Yes to the cycle period - you're going to have to do it and it'll be sped up with some already live rock but you'll still have to wait it out before it'd be safe to add anything else to the water. Aqua Kneed It from Selleys is the way to go (Bunnings stock it among most others) or you can buy specialist choral epoxy/glue stuff but it's pricey and does the same thing.

That's pure awesome. Well done that man Oh hey! New smileys! :nilly: :dunno: :tears: &c:ry :facepalm: :nilly:

Automation You'll understand when you see his setup. Auckland is very lucky to have Ryan living here. Well, the fish keeping community is...

I'd say either one large group of one species or a couple at most of each. Some just won't be happy without a large group to swim with though.

Wow p44, that's looking awesome. Well done.