Beets82

Found this - Fluval Lab Series Nitrate Remover http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/product ... 5020030101 has anybody tried it? Can you even get it in NZ? I will see at lunchtime tomorrow if the animal shack in Pukekohe has some prime, they are usually way to expensive but have a good range.

I have some stresscoat, is it the same as prime, i'm not sure if it will deal with nitrates? Are there any substrates that absorb nitrate. I think this weekend I will try and rig up a rain water tank, I can get a 200L drum for free.

Replaced it in December, usually change it 3 times a year even though the filter pack recommends 12 months

The test kit is API nitrate - 10 drops of bottle 1, shake vial, shake bottle 2 for 30 seconds, 10 drops from bottle 2, shake vial for 1 min, wait 5 min then read it. Do the reagents in these kits breakdown or go off overtime? I have had it for a couple of years. I prefer the titration tests i think they are easier than trying to figure out which colour it is. Maybe i should go but a new/different branded test. I don't have any - also I have I think that you can put plants with Africans? I think that the high nitrates and chlorine stink has started since we got vacuumed into the supercity last year when watercare took over the water ops. So I will defiantly give them a call about this the colour has been a problem around pukekohe for a while and the old council had admitted that the infrastructure is old, they are doing a lot of up grading. Its not the colour that is the worry I think its mostly when they do repairs and maintenance only happens every few months and we just run the taps for a few mins then it comes clean. The high nitrates and the strong chlorine smell is the worry, but I might go buy a new nitrate test kit before to cross check this all first.

I thought that I have been having trouble keeping nitrate levels down in my tanks for the last few weeks and have been doing water changes every 5 days or so with no change then today I tested my tap water and got the result below, this explains why...... What the flip can I do :dunno: ? I think this level is already to high to fill up my aquarium. I have been filling my tanks from my drinking water carbon filter for about a year now as the water here in Pukekohe always stinks so much of chlorine. And also because from time to time the water comes out of the tap like this Looks like its straight from the Waikato river - effluent and fertilizer runoff soup. Other parameters of my tap water pH 7 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 GH 5 KH 6 Nitrate as photo above round 30 I reckon. Should I try and collect rain water somehow? Or are these levels safe anyway. Maybe I could build an algae scrubber in my sump like some marine keepers do, but that would only deal with my big tank and I don't want to increase my power bill by having to run more lights... I don't want to really want invest in an RODI filter system they look expensive... I could fill up drums of water from the bore at my work, but that is heaps of hassle to load them into my hatchback. Ever watch the LA fishguy on youtube kind of how he does it, kind of a pain by the looks. Is there any filter media that can deal with it? Ha ha I could just post in the private trade and exchange - SWAP house in Pukekohe for a house with good tap water :lol:

Here's a couple of pics of my 300w :evil: sunsun :evil: heater that i had running for 2 weeks. - A picture paints 1000 words. yep all that carbonated gunk is on the inside...... The thermostat was so bad, I set it to 24 and it would heat up to 28 then turnoff at 25. :nilly: I am still going to hang onto and will probably just use it heat up water for water changes in winter I went in to HFF to buy a 300w Jager but they are like 50cm, my sump is only 39cm wide, I cant even get one in on a angle so I will have to buy 2 x smaller ones. I also noticed that the 300w Jager is $10 cheaper in the HFF website than in Mt Roskill store. Which HFF store dispatches the orders from their website? Is one store cheaper? I have a Juwel and a Aquaone heater that have been running fine for a couple of years now but think now i will go for a Jager for my African tank they are a bit more valued than the Neons, Danios et al in my community tank

Ha ha, real funny 8) . Our 8month old daughter sits like that for hours on end in the high chair. I get sore legs from 30 seconds of it.

I don't think that you can actually get pure ammonium it is always in a gas form, salt form or as ammonium hydroxide. The home brand cloudy ammonia from countdown just says ammonium hydroxide 18g/L. I'm not sure if it contains any soaps but I don't think so as its home brand and progressive enterprises (owner of home brand) don't like to throw in extra stuff for free. From Wikipedia - Ammonium hydroxide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_hydroxide "Ammonium hydroxide, also known as ammonia water or simply ammonia, is a solution of ammonia in water. It can be denoted by the symbols NH3(aq). Although its name suggests a base with composition [NH4+][OH−], it is not actually possible to isolate samples of NH4OH — it exists only in dilute aqueous solutions, and even then only comprises a tiny fraction of the total ammonia" LOL, I didn't remember school chemistry as simple as A + B = AB, but in the case of ammonium nitrate it seems so. I sucked at chem anyway and usually fell a sleep (failed as well, shhhhh) From Wikipedia - Ammonium nitrate - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate "The processes involved in the production of ammonium nitrate in industry, although chemically simple, are technologically challenging. The acid-base reaction of ammonia with nitric acid gives a solution of ammonium nitrate" Also from same page: "The AN melt is then made into "prills" or small beads in a spray tower, or into granules by spraying and tumbling in a rotating drum. The prills or granules may be further dried, cooled, and then coated to prevent caking. These prills or granules are the typical AN products in commerce." Im pretty sure it also has free flow agents added to it, so ammonium nitrate is not pure either. But maybe laboratory grade is??? This is the ammonium nitrate I use at work as a hydroponic fertizer, its a easily avalable form of nitrate for the plants to take up and also good for bringing the pH down. Im suprised that it is allowed to be sold on Trademe considering what else it can be used for. I need an approve handlers certificate to buy it and it needs DG papers to be transported. This is probably the stuff on trademe - and as said above it will contain additives From Wikipedia - Ammonium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium "Ammonium ions are a waste product of the metabolism of animals. In fish and aquatic invertebrates, it is excreted directly into the water. In mammals, sharks, and amphibians, it is converted in the urea cycle to urea, because urea is less toxic and can be stored more efficiently. In birds, reptiles, and terrestrial snails, metabolic ammonium is converted into uric acid, which is solid and can therefore be excreted with minimal water loss" True - especially if you are dehydrated or have a shoddy liver, therefor can't complete the urea cycle. Either way if you use Clody ammonia or ammonium nitrate I would recommend to do a 100% water change once the filter is cycled and not add any substrate, rocks, ornaments etc until after the water change. Good luck kinbote. You can always do old fashoned cycling but that = lots and lots of water changes. Otherwise if you think your filter media has diseases lurking around you could try and get some active media from someone with a disease free tank. If you want you can come and get either cloudy ammonia or fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate from me. I would offer you some filter media but i have some munted diseased Neons in my hospital tank (for months now without them getting better or worse) and i don't always sterilize my siphon or nets between tanks (I probably should)

I used cloudy ammonia from countdown, cost $3. Only needed bout 1/2tsp for my 600l to bring to .5ppm then i used some stresszyme and a few mls of instant cycle(cos its expensive, i think the packet directions are way too much). I used this cocktail for about a week then did a 100% water change before i added a few fish. I havent had any ammonia in my tests since i have added fish. You could do it without the stresszyme and stuff but would take longer i guess http://shop.countdown.co.nz/Shop/Search ... %2Bammonia p.s. keep your nose away from the bottle when you open it, cough cough. I think its the same stuff as "sniffing salts" like in the old school boxing movies, gives you a real wake up.

Are these lump heads? http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1353 If so I'm trying to stick with Malawi's for now. Thanks Ryan - I was also thinking sticking with what i have, so boosting the numbers will be the way to go. I'll probably get some more baenschi and albino socolofi. I don't really want any more e yellows as the seem to draw the attention off the others.

I think i will flag the zebras then. Now i am at a bit of a loss , i want to get 1 or 2 species more, could i get some other type of peacock or will they just cause problems with the baenschi? Also I like the look of the male electric blue hap but I'm not sure about them.

Thanks Smidy, how long does it take for the giraffes to grow to say 5" in size? I don't mind if i have to sell or move the giraffes later and focus the tank on mbuna species.

Stocking up my Malawi tank What I have at the moment, they are all around 2.5 to 3.5 cm and growing fast... 13 demasoni 2.5" 6 electric yellow Lab 5" 4 pseudotropheus socolofi (albino) 6" 5 nimbochromis venustus (giraffe) 10.5", will probably get rid of these before fully grown 3 auloncara baenschi (yellow peacock) 5", not sure if they will be ok with all the Mumba when the get bigger so may have have to loose these as well??? =154" Total fish when fully grown, Can I add any more or is the list above enough for my tank? I want to get stocked up now, then I don't want to really make any changes or start selling off fish (or adding more tanks, don't tell my wife I said that) for about 12months. I read that it is best to introduce all your Malawi when they are young so they tolerate each other later on, so i want to try and get a nice mix now. I would to add a few metriaclima greshakei ice blue zebras - Heaps of these on trademe at moment Also i want some OB Zebras if i can find some around 3cm Is there anything else that will mix well with this lot? Tank is 1.8 x .6 x .6 120L sump 2500L water flows through it per hour Actual amount of water is around 600L

Good luck with your African tank, I just finished setting mine up. Heaps of help in here i just used the search function, it works quite well i usually did a general search and then you can search again within the results to narrow it down

Gaga - stoked to see a 238r. Adrienne - I'm not a cabinet maker, just fussy. I basically ripped my design off from this. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... first.html Except I did mine without any exposed nails or screws. I found the most frustrating part the doors, putting them on taking them off planing them and repeat a few times...... till perfect. My favorite part was doing the plumbing, I am a hydroponics grower manager by trade so have had a fair bit of experience being creative with pvc (my work http://www.houseoftaste.co.nz I'm the guy in the dirty blue shirt, boss didn't tell me they were doing photos that day). si_sphinx - Yep defiantly gonna keep an eye on the rocks, my better half was worried :-? about them from day 1. I might silicone them together, but that limits my rearranging ability. I enjoy rearranging my small aquarium from time to time, kind of like a zen garden, also the fish seem to like it when i rearrange and they start exploring their new world (or they could just be looking for food).

Wow - Thanks everyone - nice to see some of my main "consultants" posting in this thread. Cheers Rob

Hi from Pukekohe I have been slinking and snooping around this forum for a couple months while I was researching and setting up my Malawi tank. I have never needed to post a question so far, as nearly every time I searched the forums I found a answer to what I was seeking. So heaps of thanks to you guys and gals for all your time asking and answering questions. I have made a video slide show from the pics of building and setting up my tank if anyone is interested take a look. Cheers Rob