Pegasus

There was a system like this in the early '60s that was used mainly for goldfish and consisted of a large flat looking glass bowl with a glass tunnel going about a foot above the surface. The fish could swim through the glass tunnel and be seen throughout the whole trip from one side to the other.

Hi all, If you keep Betta splendens in jars/bowls etc, you might want to try this. File is too big to post here, but see what you think http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/grumpygr/ See the DIY Section. My daughter calls me Grumpy Grandad, hence the title :) Try the Puzzle while you are there, it's good fun. Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Good to see you back Kuhuliloach.... How are the fish doing ??

Good to see you back Lenbok. We are North of Orewa, and are around 200' above sea level Haven't really took much interest in the stuff on our land, but I will certainly check it out if this bloody rain ever stops You can actually dig this stuff, eg, it's not solid to that extent, but if I remember right it was crumbly. First time I saw it it reminded me of the soil around Pukekoe where they grow all the spuds and onions Bill (Pegasus)

How do we actually recognise this ?? If we are talking of a red to orangy brown soil then my upper paddock has literally tons of the stuff. Personally, it never seems to grow anything on it, not even weeds, so perhaps this is not Laterite at all

Hi Pete, Great to see you over here. Hope you find some interesting topics and enjoy your visits. You say, Hope you don't forget to make us a copy if it does happen :) Bill (Pegasus).

Ira just fainted.... Call 911

Hi Daryl, Many fish houses in the UK were underground, many of them being old air raid shelters and such, but the main reason for building below level was so that a permit was not needed as it was not really classed as a structure in the true sense of the word. Plus, if you began erecting a building (even a garage) in your garden you usually had the neigbours down your back. Permits are required here in NZ also for buildings over 10'X10'. I have just ended a long session with them over it Drainage is the only prob if you intend going subterrainian, but as you say, it's a great insulator, and the roof need only be a metre off the ground level, and could be all glass if needed. Basically all that is needed is a walkway about a metre wide and five or six foot deep. The tanks sit at ground level on either side of the trench, with the low roof above. Perfectomundo Regards, Bill (Pegasus)

Hi Daryl, and that was a great first post. Caryl is on holiday at the moment, but if she opens her laptop she might just see you have joined us and will be really pleased. We need a bit more activity in the Cichlid section. Great to have you with us, there could be a few names you reconize so you won't be lonely Bill (Pegasus)

Hi, Goldie said, Goldie is saying that she alternates between types of food each day, which IMO is good. Hi Goldie, Hard to isolate your problem, but doesn't seem to be poor food related, but there is a post somewhere referring to fish gulping their food which has not time to be digested and causes swimming probs, which you mentioned yours had. Just looked up the article. It's in "Freshwater... Newbie with a query" Might help. Bill (Pegasus)

HI Goldie, Inflamation of the gills is usually associated with ammonia levels. Fish pass a percentage of waste via the gills. Pehaps the level was high but has since been corrected. Regular water changes should keep the levels acceptable. How many fish in the tank,... What Size tank,... How often do you do water changes and by how much,... What are you feeding,.. eg, single type or variety/live/frozen etc, plus any other info you have ???? Bill. (Pegasus)

Hi David, Geez... You'r fast with the answers Just found the right importer with the right products that all he he. Wish he could do the same with fish and plants :evil: EDIT: I have no interest in making money here, just trying to offer an alternative to the present methods, and could possibly get a decent price per unit if the interest was sufficient. Still.... I won't be buying one, that's for sure, I'm just enjoying watching my plants grow the natural way eg: Good substrate, frozen fert' lottsa patience ha ha... So how are those fish and plants of yours doing ?? Bill (Pegasus)

Average 4 months.... Replacement around 50 bucks.. :oops: Seems David answered at the same time, but as he has already used it I would take his explanation

Hi David, I think I can better that price if the interest was there. Good to see you back on the forum again Bill

Is this system available in NZ?? Seems a lot simpler than the Dupla sys or the DIY versions, Carbo Plus C02 system. Carbo Plus is a bottle free C02 system that works well and is safe to have in the house. You simply plug it into the mains power and adjustable unit provides your aquarium plants with their vital supply of carbon dioxide. Bill.

Goldie, :oops: Damn... I should have directed you to page 4, then we might have got another story from you :)

Hi everyone, Great piece Rob, bet the old power bill is a bit staggering Hey Goldie, You say, I think we might just have a page or two empty right here where you can tell us a bit more about your tanks and fish http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewto ... sc&start=0 Bill.

Twern't me... mustabeen Warren

Hi Hobbit, IMHO those that that use U/G filters and complain that it robs their plants of nutrients have either too little depth of substrate in their tanks, (eg, min 75mm - 100mm sloping to the rear) or they didn't prepare the area that they wanted to plant strong rooted plants. By this I mean that the simple answer is to place a disc of plastic (cut from an ice cream container) directly over the U/G filter in the area the strong rooted plant will occupy. This will stop any excessive drawing of nutrients from being drawn away from the roots beneath the substrate. I am at the moment running two U/G filters with 15mm uplifts that are probably lifting 100 plus litres an hour, and all my plants are growing by "visual amounts" each day, and I have no discs over the filter plates. I am also running a waterfall system that is homemade and is churning out a similar amount per hour. As far as cleaning is concerned, I can honestly say that I have never had to strip a tank in order to clean the U/G filter. Simply push a small hose down the uptake tube... create a syphon.. eg, suck on it... and any excessive crap will be drawn from beneath the plates without disruption to the bio system. Substrate is the answer to good U/G filtration, eg, the right amount, the right size. Too big and everything gets sucked through too easily, plus food gets trapped between the large particles.... Too small and the filter cannot draw the solid wastes gradually through the substrate. Bill (Pegasus)

HI, All this talk about cooling tanks for Cold Water Marines brought this idea about, mainly inspired by Ira's post when he mentioned "Cooling Trays". Old fridges are dumped every day, but the cooling coils and plates on the back of the fridge are very rarely damaged, and most of the compressors still go as well. The coil/plate assembly could be mounted under a tank and a servicable compressor from an old fridge could be housed and wired up to form a permanent cooling rig, or it could even work placed against the back of the tank if the underneath was not accessable. The "Freezone" (sp) gas would have to be replaced, but the whole thing would cost a fraction of a commercial unit. Bundy tubing as used in refriigerators and freezers is quite cheap, and there is a major supplier in Auckland, so any size of unit could be made up if needed as the tubing can be formed quite easily over a wheel to stop it kinking. Once you have the compressor organised the rest would be easy with a constant temperature control. Bill.

So you were swimming before your fish..... NOw there's the start of a good story

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: Shut up Bill.. You've said enough.

Hi again, You say, Not in full agreement with you here, but it would certainly be a LOT cheaper if you had any fatailities. BTW. I have several large heatsinks in my growing pile of electronic junk if they are use to anyone, plus ancient computers, printers, hard drives, plotters, syzmic (sp) graphs for vibrations, elecrtonic and pulse counters.... errmmm wrong section and topic :oops: emails only he he. Bill.

Hi Caryl, Ira, Now THAT is a good post he he. Just shows, it can be done. As pointed out Ira, it's not the couple of cheap fish that is the prob, it's keeping them alive in the correct enviroment, and Caryl here has explained an alternative that many of us could try if we want to venture into the cold water marine world. Good post Caryl... Great reading. And yes... you did put it in the right place Bill.

You should write a book Campbell... That was a grear into there I love a great story... especially a fishy one. I notice we haven't heard from many of our original members in this section. It's not just for new members you know, so how about it Cees, Derek, Bruce, Caryl.... and many more. We need some post here folks The topic is "How Did You Get Hooked", so come on... How did you ?? Bill.