the-obstacle

Hmmm, are they readily available in NZ? can order them through the LFS? the L046 looks like a bit of me. edit: and if ordering would you order a 'dwarf L046' or is the L046 the dwarf model?

I think what the others are eluding to is that most pet stores will have different types/colours/sizes of gravel. You're in CHCH so I'd try animates and if they don't have exactly what you're after you can look around garden centres. then again, maybe I'm the fool for replying to this thread. DOH! :oops: :roll: :oops:

yeah,that's the absolute max for the tank - well, 90% stock levels apparently. I'll build the levels very very slowly but just really wanted to set a goal in place from day 1.

Yeah, I liked the look of some of those too. The 5 neons seem to be doing a slooooow job of cycling my tank - hardly any amonia and no nitrites or nitrate yet even with the seeded filter, gravel and water from the previous tank. It turned out the gravel from teh old tank had A LOT of dead or dying stuff in it that has lowered the PH in the new tank even with the crushed shell in it so I've got to work on getting that back up from ~6.4 to nearer to 7.0 over the next few days.

5 x Black Neon Tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) 20 x Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) 3 x Oto (Otocinclus vittatus) 3 x Panda Cory (Corydoras panda) 1 x Flying Fox (Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus) ? or 5 x Black Neon Tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) 3 x Oto (Otocinclus vittatus) 20 x Featherfin Rainbowfish (Iriatherina werneri) 3 x Panda Cory (Corydoras panda) 1 x Flying Fox (Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus) or 5 x Black Neon Tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) 3 x Oto (Otocinclus vittatus) 15-20 x {insert schooling fish here} 3 x Panda Cory (Corydoras panda) 1 x Flying Fox (Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus) I'm keen on the otos and cories for their sand stiring and algae eating expertise and I already have the flying fox and black neons in the tank so would prefer not to move them out. Maybe 25 black neons? They're cool but not quite flashy enough and I'd prefer the hardiness of the cardinals over the neons (just in case).

So which bit in particular is the quick release?

if you happen to be selling any once they've grown up a bit let me know

I suspect you'll be surprised how quickly it fills out.

...awesome?

Guess we have a bit of a consensus then

Yeah, all males thankfully. we wanted the colours not the babies

at the moment it looks a little like this: 5 x Black Neon Tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) 5 x Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) 3 x Oto (Otocinclus vittatus) 5 x Featherfin Rainbowfish (Iriatherina werneri) 3 x Guppy (Poecilia reticulata) 5 x Panda Cory (Corydoras panda) 1 x Flying Fox (Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus) 5 x Neon Tetra (Paracheirodon innesi) but that would be maxed out so I'll build it up slowly until I think I've got the right balance.

I wouldn't have thought there'd be too much of an issue with overfiltration. I'm running a 2224 on a 75L tank and it's fine. Good current if you open it all the way up but I have it on about half flow and it's enough to ripple the surface but not blow the plants down. Is there such a thing as water that's too clear? I guess the problems would come if you stripped the water with chem filtration and/or UV but I would have thought the bigger the better for basic mechanical and biological. At the end of the day the bacteria only grow to fit the amount of food they're being given so it'd be down to your stock levels that'd matter.

Thanks, the rest of the black is what I'd like to fill out with some low growing grass of some sort so the ambulia makes the 2 forest sections with some low lying green in the rest. I'll start hunting in a little while, for now I'll just enjoy what's there. Stoked! :bounce:

It's done. Well, enough to get some fish in to get it cycled. JoshLikesFish had some black neons going so I put them in with the flying fox (which I thought was a SAE up until yesterday) to get the amonia going. I've also got a stocking full of some gravel from the other cycled tank and some of the filter media in the filter. The stocking adds to the look of the tank in a great way, I don't know why more tanks don't have these as permanent features :lol: :lol: Some pics: http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/958/img6076.jpg http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/3563/img6075o.jpg http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/3458/img6074.jpg http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/2751/img6073m.jpg http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/8370/img6072d.jpg

Spoke too soon. Seems he got too cold last night when a heater failed and he died while I was trying to net him to move into a warm tank. Clearly just got too stressed. Damn it, he was looking so much better and was completely back to his old self.

It's a fairly specialised piece if it's the bit that has the 2 input/output hoses on it. i'd doubt you'd be able to get a different piece for it. It's the larger size hoses too so the 2222 or 2224 series probably wouldn't be the same piece. I'd give the guys at hollywoodfishfarm a call and see what they can do for you.

I ended up going black grit / silica with a perspex divider in the tank. I'm in for a whole world of pain keeping this clean but it looks good - not necessarily the natural look but it looks nice.

Not true. Aquapoxy is a 2 pot brush on paint. All 2 pot paint can be brushed on it just doesn't look as good as a spray job.

Good call. Thanks heaps.

That was going to be my next choice. I may have made a mistake with my substrate choice - I got black grit to offset the silica sand - will oto's be ok with that or should I have gotten something a bit more course? I plan to leave them until the tank is fully matured and I'll be able to seed some algae on some smaller rocks for them.

I went in this afternoon and they didn't have either unfortunately. Ahh, that'd explain it. I think that's what I spotted there. Can you/anybody recommend a cory that would play nice with the others on the list that I could replace it with and that isn't too big?

Sorry for contuing this thread to death but could anybody confirm if this stock list would be available in NZ? I know most are but not sure on the dwarf corys or the feather fins. Should I replace anything with any other species? I've tried to plan a good community tank with fish that like rocks, plants and sand as well as a bit of swimming space.

I'm about to setup a silica sand / black substrate tank with an acrylic strip to seperate them. I figure this way I get to have the nice white but have some black for planting in. I'll let you know how it goes as I'm filling the tank tonight if I can get to HFF in time...

Would this stuff http://www.tygon.com/tygon-antimicrobial-tubing.aspx add any benefit to the standard aquarium setup? Maybe used as intake/outlet piping for canister filters? I got linked to it via an american custom aquaria site and was just wondering as I have contacts to be able to get hold of it here.