Pegasus

Hi there Bob, Great to see you here and hope this becomes your second home. Was reading on CT how you got your name Perhaps we should run a similar thread here. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Richard, Put a couple of buckets of old tank water out in your garden. Add a quarter teaspoon of yeast and some green water if you can get it. You'll have heaps of Mozzie Larva in no time. Hang a small mesh bag over the tank side with a few small worms in it. The worms will work their way through the mesh and drop slowly into the tank. Your Arrowana will soon get the idea where the food is coming from Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Gotta admit... There's no place like home. I hate these forums where you go back after perhaps only a day and find almost a hundred new posts.... Just can't seem to keep track. I visit most of the above, and as I've said before, I carry the NZ Fishroom link everywhere and am proud to do so, as this is a great forum. I find Boronia in Aust is another great board with a wide range of interests.

Hi there Danny, Real glad you found us (thanks Luv) and hope you visit us often. Would be great to hear about your fish and setup if you get time. We cater for all tastes in fish he he... so you're bound to find a lot of interest here. All the best, Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hey... Thanks for the offer Goldie, ha ha. I'm a very private person, and even more so now after reading the posts on someone having their fish taken. As the ad says... "These things take time" and my progress is pretty slow for several reasons, but I will certainly take some pics when I have some results. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Been reading a good book that was lent to me called "Radiant Floor Heating With Hot Water" by John A Wills. Real technical stuff that goes into great detail about radiant heating using copper pipes laid in concrete. After reading the book twice, I re-read much of it and decided I was going a bit overboard using a domestic hot water system for my tank heating, although I have a ten gallon one that I intend using . Looking at the setup I envisage, each run of ten tanks in a line will require less than a single gallon of water to be circulating at any given time. The book refers to using Butyl piping, which I have a great deal of, so as a trial during the next week or so I am going to set up a row of ten tanks at ground level (the coldest area) and use the following method. I intend to rest the tanks in a shallow trough of around four inches deep. This trough will be filled with fine sand, and the feed and return pipes will be buried in this. The pipes will be 25mm diam. The thermal properties of the sand will retain the heat for an extended period which will reduce the time between the pump cycles when the hot water is actually being pumped through the pipes. The heating source will be on a much smaller scale, being a maximum of ten gallons. The bach (cum fishroom) gets really hot in the summer, and I can see that my problems will not be "heating" the tanks, but "cooling" them. Using this method I can pump cold water through the same system which would prevent the tanks from overheating. The sand trough will solve one of my temporary problems, which is an uneven floor, and if the trials prove successful I intend to lift the whole floor and set the stands in concrete footings directly into the ground. These will be made in such a way that the floor can be relaid without too much hassle. I have also built an automatic water changing system that I am now testing on a stand alone unit. It detects low water levels due to evaporation and automatically tops up the tanks from a reserve of preaged heated water. This reserve will be eliminated in the near future, as other methods are being tested. After a predetermined number of days it removes a given preset percentage of water and tops the tank up to a fixed level, all unaided. Several safety factors are built into the circuitry to prevent the removal of too much water and also overfilling. With plans for 100 tanks by early next year (I now have 47) I felt this was something that needed solving as one of my pet hates is doing water changes Once the tanks are installed I will try to take some pics. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Good idea Ira, but remember THIS is home won't you

These links work... I've just checked them. http://boards.aaquaria.com/ http://communitytank.aaquaria.com/boards/index.php Check your password, you might have entered it incorrectly.

Don't know if it helps Luv... but CT works for me No probs.

I was the same. Saw a bare block of land we wanted, sold everything we had to get it... lived without power or phone for around three years.. now have everything we want, plus two houses and a bach. My other mate is a registered electrician, but refuses to get mains power and has been like that for over ten years, but he uses solar power and wind generators for his elecrical goods, plus he's on the net. Depends what you want Ira, and how bad you want it. I'm happy to see my days out here

Excellent stuff Cat, and the Kribs are another great fish to watch growing on. Good luck with your new setup Thanks Andrew, My interest was mainly for a friend who lives on a lifestyle block with no power or internet connection, but he breeds some wonderful WCMM's and Paradise Fish, but I too wouldn't mind beeding some of the LF variety. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

I suppose any Cat would do the job, and I don't suppose many worms will get past the B.N. Trouble is, all the others will be jealous when you put him/her back with a big fat belly As Andrew says, in your situation small hatchings would be the answer until they put some size on. I too have a fair few snails of unknown origin in with all my fry. Wanted some Mystery Snails and some LFWCMM's, but nobody seems to have any How big are your fry, and how old are they now ?

Hi Cat, I have quite a lot of Angel fry on the go just now, and I hatch a fresh lot of Brine Shrimp every three days. My present hatchers are just like yours, just 2ltr bottles as my needs at the moment are not big enough to warrant setting up the larger one I designed that grows the shrimp on. I sieve the shrimp through a mesh that allows the smallest ones to enter a container where they are sieved again for the new fry that have reached the free swimming stage. The ones in the first sieve are fed to the older fry, and the "consume in five minutes" rule has no bearing here, as the shrimp will stay alive in the fresh water for quite some time, and are hardly likely to polute the water, especially if you have a Cory to clean the shrimp up. Mine are all in bare bottom tanks, and a bath, as I am monitoring growth rates. I watch their pink bellies, and if they ain't bulging, then they get more shrimp Better to give three or four small feeds per day than two huge ones. The shrimp can "go off" in your hatcher after a while, and if you keep them over three days you may have to change the water and feed them to keep them alive. Natural Sea Water is good if you can get it. If you aren't growing them on (the shrimp) then a few drops of liquid fry food will keep them from starving, and the air should be on all the time or they will suffocate. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Good links Andrew, Many thanks.

A warm welcome Luv.... the fun has just begun Great you could join us and hope you like it here. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

According to my readings on the various forums some of the Hemichromis species are in danger of being wiped out due to there being no original TRUE species left. The reference was to the Jewel Cichlids, which I have bred many times, but apparently it is almost impossible to find a fish that has not been crossbred in some way. Is this the case in NZ ?

Time you changed that little angel avatar of yours to "Little Devil"

Hi there Peet, Great to have you here... and a Discus lover Yeee haaa Sounds like your into it in a big way. Clubs should be no prob (see links in Useful Links.. Technical section) Glad you like the site, and hope to see lots more posts on those fish of yours Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Cat... Everyone. OK... Here's what I have done. To avoid pipes and such everywhere I made up a length of 60mm downpipe (Marley) and blocked both ends. Along the pipe I drilled several small holes and screwed in adapters like you use for gardening watering systems. (Plassay watering systems) They are like a tiny fitting with a threaded end and a barbed end for the tube.... cost about three fifty for ten at the garden centre. Screw all these adapters into the pipe along it's length and in the first one or two connect the outlets from your pump. Test for leaks with liquid soap. The length of pipe can be hidden behind the tank. What you virtually have now is a distribution unit that has multiple outlets. You can even feed several pumps into this if needed, without crosses and tees and such. Each outlet has its own control, and regulating each outlet is a breeze, as each outlet is marked with its own valve. While in the garden centre, the pipe (approx 10mm) that is used for risers and such is available in 10mtr coils. It's black, and pretty rigid, but is great as main feeder pipes for the air and can be installed neatly without great cost (Around six bucks I think it was) and cheaper than airline. All in al, this system has given me no probs, is neat, with a central control where I can adjust each outlet at one point (The pipe). My Fishroom will have the above, but in this case the pipe will be much larger and longer as it will surround the fishroom, with perhaps several hundred outlets. Happy days you guys Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

HiYa Hobbit, Good to see you back on the forum... Where you been lately Hi Cat, Can't really understand this, Why "six" air pumps ? I'm running ten outlets (five U/G filters, plus three internal filters plus air stones) from a 7000 Silent Flow Double Diaphram pump. Cost was $39:95, and it's quiet and powerful, but is by no means the most powerful as pumps go, so a single pump should do the job easily if you regulate your valves carefully. Gonna hook into my BIG pump shortly, that'll feed a hundred tanks no sweat Now if I had a pipe long enough I could.....

It's very possible that the gas buildup that is causing the pop eye is also affecting the sensory organ that controls the balance of the fish. As you say there is an improvement, and if this is so then I would delay culling unless it is obvious that there is no hope for the fish.

Hey there Alan, Welcome to the NZ Fishroom. Great place to spend a bit of time. What fish do you keep ?

If he does, let me know... I have a few large tubs and pools I want to heat Visitherms.... Great heater, robust, reliable, easy to adjust, and very accurate. For 40 bucks grab it

Running water through a central filtering system and feeding several tanks is always a dodgy exesize, for if one tank becomes infected with a diesease, then your whole system suffers, with disasterous results usually. Question: Are you just wanting to filter, or heat the water and filter, as you mentioned power bills Avatar looks sweet.... Why change it Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Cat, Love your new avatar Have a look here. Might not have your answer, but you might get some ideas http://www.sydneycichlid.com/diy.html Regards, Bill (Pegasus)