Pegasus

Hi Jean, Hope you find lots of interest here. Tell you what though... hang still on the Discus for a while till you get the tank estabished. They are not considered easy fish to care for Welcome to the NZ Fishroom.

Came across this very useful site that covers just about everything from lighting, filtration, reactors, CO2, skimmers and the rest. http://www.kingvinnie.com/aquaria/diy/ Bill.

Welcome to the NZ Fishroom MorknMindy, Lots of advise on the site on starting out, so take your time and do a bit of reading first as these first stages are very important.

Use an old fridge with the door removed. My son converted a couple and they are ideal for fish, so might suit your job. He removed the light and sealed the odd holes with silicone. Bill.

Inter said: You will find that the ads change... depending on the most active topic of the moment (in most cases) I suppose the bots search the site every so often and change the ads to suit the topic

They never seem to do any harm Luke

Normally the 50/50 mix of straight potting mix without ferts and garden soil works good. You have to ensure that it is kept moist... but not too wet. The small white things you see Luke are mites.. but they are harmless. Bill.

The 80F (23C)... NOT 32C is fine for white spot to speed up the cycle, but will have no effect on the fungus. May have made a typo in the PM Shiuh (32 should be 23) but I pasted your message.

Hi Shiuh, Luke has basically answered your question at the end of your "Brine Shrimp" thread. As a beginner... and "if" you want to do this right... then first off you need to get the basic test kits for the things above, as without the knowledge, you can't guess these things. There is so much printed here, and on other sites about water changes and the effects of ammonia, which a simple search using the "Google" above will show you. The test kits are important, because you will be banging your head against the side of the tank unless you "first know the condition of the water from your tap" Knowing this gives you a "firm base" from which to start, but the funny thing is... that if you are on town supply... these readings could change several times over a given week, as it all depends on what the local council decides to stick in your water as the "flavour of the week".. so to speak The quick way to reduce the ammonia levels (which should be zero).. is by water changes, which will also reduce the other toxins... but these water changes must be done with care, to ensure that the water you are adding is around the same temp, and that it is chlorine free and will not alter your existing water so drastically that it will stress your fish.... which only the test kits will verify. Ammonia.. (as mentioned many times on this site).. is caused by the excess accumulation of fish wastes, or by overfeeding, or overstocking with fish. Good filtration will in many cases handle this waste, but if the filtration (whatever type you have).. is relativly new... then it is unable to cope with the rise in the bad bacteria because there is not enough benificial "good" bacteria to consume the things that can harm your fish. I could fill several pages on this, but it is all here if you do a search as above, or a quick rundown is here under "Water Conditions"... http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/grumpy ... tions.html Regards.

Hi there bamweevil, Great to have you join us... (real friendly crowd here) Sounds like you got the bug from your daughter... but no probs, you'll get more infected after a few weeks here

Hi Finn, Why Perspex...? Perspex will scratch... is hard to clean and sterilize.. and a piece this size (1200mm x 700mm) in a reasonable thickness would probably cost twice what a sheet of glass would cost, and the glass will give you better clarity over the life of the terrainium. Caddilac Plastics are online and are a major suppliers of Acrylics and Perspex. Bill.

To clarify the above... The "bump" was frowned upon because it was JUST that... a BUMP.. with no useful information in the form of a question or answer to the previous post.. but just the word "BUMP".. which took the topic to the head of the list without a good reason. Bumping a post is ok if you have something productive to say, but emotions or single words or remarks will always be viewed as a suspect way of bumping a thread. Often newcomers view old posts and reply, which causes the thread to go to the top, and there is no problem with this. Bill.

Bit of an understatement there Pies... Of "course" you don't mind paying wholesale... but something that is available to only a selected few Just wonder what the Fresh Water trade would be like if we all had access to WS prices... possibly non-existent. Bill.

Mmmm .. They "may" have moved them to somewhere more secure Meg... not sure, but there is always hope Are they in a tank on their own.. or are there other fish in there...? Bill.

Hi Philz, Glad you found us, and hope you find the site interesting. Quite a few topics on Goldies in the Coldwater Sections, and heaps of members here that keep them, and the WCMM's and Turtles. If you are in for a chat... the gang gathers in the chat room around 9pm each night Bill (Pegasus)

Great pics Meg... they should just about be hatching now... so it's time for some more pics Is this their first spawning...? Bill.

Quote from LB... True... they don't mind a "little" salt in the water, but "brackish" is a bit of a wide spectrum to be classified as "ideal". You must also consider any other fish you might have living with the Guppies... as many (especially catfish) will suffer quite badly in water containing too much salt. Bill.

Some years back I was out night fishing with my son in our (then) 18.6' cabin boat. Our lines in the water were causing this effect, and we were quite amused... until we saw the huge long phosphoresence streak breaking the surface about twenty feet from the boat. We were even more shocked to see another streak not far from this one, and almost packed our pants when we saw the huge fins break the surface that belonged to a couple of basking Orca's. Needless to say.. it was anchors up and back to the safety of the shore. I too have done a few night dives, and to be honest, they never concerned me ...... until I saw this :) Bill.

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=2406

Just reading your other post RnB... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewto ... 0835#40835 Where you say... But then say... Which is one of the reasons that action was taken by the Admin against the other thread. Your comments about this company are really unjustified. Bill

Hey Chim... You don't buy a Roller or a Jaguar if you can't afford the price of the gas to run it People setting up in Marines KNOW that the prices will be high, but the equation is simple... More hobbiest taking up Marines, means... More Shops selling them, which means... Lower prices. Sure you can buy "equipment" from OS Suppliers, and possibly save a few bucks, but your tanks would look pretty naked without Corals and fish and the likes, and "perhaps" you can get these from the persons mentioned... but what about the rest of NZ, and how would you feel when your local no longer stocks "anything" marine related..?. BTW: There were 170 odd online today folks he he. Hopefully the 160 odd extras were all keen on Marines Bill. Bill.

And how often do we see the cut price merchants move in with stores that sell things way below the normal price, which causes the normal store to close it doors.... but then we find that a short time late the cut price store has increased their prices due to the market increase, but quite often their service is far below that of the original store. Of course there will be those that can sell at much lower prices, mainly because they have no overheads, or staff to pay, and so forth. Sit and do some figures to REALLY see what your retail outlet has to face, and how much the displays and stock that many take for granted really cost to upkeep. Your local Marine LFS has gone to great lengths to provide a service for the hobby, and competition is always a great way to reduce prices, but not at the cost of the few outlets that we already have. Bill.

Why would you require "vertical" braces on a tank of this size. In 10mm glass you would only need front and rear "anti bow" strips running along the top edges, plus end strips running front to rear, and you "might" possibly get away without a centre strip.. but you could fit at least one for peace of mind The "vertical" bit is confusing. Bill.

I'm inclined to agree with the clearer pics There is a "bit" of colour showing in one of them. (must get some better glasses than these monochrome ones I am wearing he he)

Here are a bit clearer pictures from Killifan