Squirt

:facepalm: you unicycle? I was pondering getting a bonsai tree today and liked the dwarf juniper Pic http://www.bonsai.co.nz/new_images/bonsai_nz_-5791.jpg Thoughts? :smln:

I thought sowing was for old people? :lol: :digH: :rotf:

You can't use toughened because you can't cut it! I can't recall a tank being made out of toughened so can't give you thicknesses. There is a calculator on this site, I think 4+ is safe. Give us the dimensions of the tank, different size different glass thicknesses. Edit link http://www.fnzas.org.nz/?page_id=1635

Yeah, the LFS here didn't let me at first, so I had to get my mum to come in with me. But then I just got her to tell the shop manager to sell me fish. I was about your age, if you show the manager you know your stuff they'll let you buy fish

Being "only" a teenager, I managed to build a small tank. Make sure you get correct thickness of glass, and compensate for the thickness of the glass. Just use aquarium safe glass sealant and use some braces. A local should be able to help you And welcome

:bounce: any updates? Keen to see how it's turned out

Hi, I'm sad to say, but your tank is too small. If your not keeping the tank cool enought there won't be enough oxygen in the water for them to survive. Cooler water holds more oxygen than warm water. HTH And I hope you enjoy your time here

:slfg: it all depends on the cost of everything. If I do decide to go high tech, I'd have a DIY CO2 with diffuser ect and "high" estimate of light the best I can do with out a PAR meter and Ferts. I'm torn to go high tech so the riccia can grow on rocks. I still have to finalize plants. Probably hairgrass or twisted Val and riccia.

Ok after a leak test (I just filled it to the rim because I'm too lazy to do the add 25% each day for 24hrs) and it's leak proof, I marked the water level with a marker and it's still sitting on that line. No pics as its pretty boring :slfg: Time to start looking at substrat and rocks, and a big thanks to BURN for offering to send me some riccia I have decided to go with a white background, so I'll just use some A4 sheets of paper, or art paper (because it's thicker). Will update in one week from tomorrow! Edit: after rummaging through some of the garden fertilizers we have, I have found one that seems to be promising. It contains N.P.K Trace elements These are all 0% Nitrogen(N) as ammonium Phosphorus(P) as phosphates Potassium(K) as potassium chloride Sulphur(S) and sulphates Copper(Cu) as copper chelate Iron(Fe) as ferrous chelate Manganese(Mn) as manganese chelate Zinc(Zn) as zinc chelate Boron(B) as borax Magnesium(Mg) as magnesium oxide Molybdenum(Mo) as molybdate And Calcium(Ca) as calcium carbonate 32% Picture Is this any good? I've heard the NPK in aquarium fertilizers before.

Gill sulked maybe? They rub when something agitates them. Maybe some sort of parasite.

I was running a 50W heater on a tank that size worked fine

I think it's the inch per gallon rule. Really depends on how many water changes you want to do. High stock levels=lots of water changes, low stock levels=not so many stock levels. If you don't overstock you'll be looking at doing 20% water change per week. Again some fish aren't suitable for a 20L aquarium, going on your rule you can keep some fish but probably only of one kind because most small fish are schooling fish and prefer groups of 6+

Yeah, or a mini feature fish like a nice fighter. You could do a little planting if you wanted. Is it the triangular version? Or rectangular? A red fighter+fully planted=a mini version of henwards red arowana+full planted :slfg:

Okay Before you add any fish, you will need to cycle the aquarium. Once a tank is cycled a culture of beneficial bacteria will convert fish waste which is ammonia the bacteria will consume this ammonia (which is highly poisonous) and excrete it as nitrite, a less toxic type of ammonia. A new bacteria colony will form and it will convert nitrites into nitrates, the least toxic form of fish waste. How to cycle an aquarium? First add your heater and filter into the tank. Then add dechlorinated water. Switch on your gear. Now there are various ways of cycling. Fish less, getting seeded material and with fish. I do not recommend cycling with fish. The ammonia eats at their gills and they will die a painful unecessary death. Fish less cycling. The idea here is to use bottled ammonia to feed the bacteria with. A quick google search will give you plenty of idea, takes about 6 weeks. Using seeded material. Using seeded material from another tropical cycled healthy tank will help to kick start your aquarium. Again quick google search. Takes under 1 week. When cycling you will want to test your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates on a regular basis. After your tank is cycled then you can talk about live stock. HTH

Hi Brown algae is actually diatoms, normally due to excess nutrient. This could be meaning your tank is experience a mini cycle. Small daily water changes and manual removal of the algae will help. Everybody experiences them, at one point. Could you test your ammonia, nitrites an nitrates? HTH

Looks pretty neat, I'd be keen on some plans too, is it hard to build? And every think of putting a small like semi auto BB gun on there? :slfg: one on each wing to balance it out :lol:

There's one on trademe

Legend I liked the grass look of the last one on the rocks im looking at getting some riccia of trademe in a few weeks, a lady said she has some. Thank joe

Wow long hours what's that like 13 hours a day? What does he do?

I got a pretty neat RC helicopter off trademe, cost me like $60 called and iHelicopter. You can control it with your iDevice, pretty neat :thup:

I envy you josh >.> at first I was stressed about exams, but through study their not that bad

Not much you can do without a PAR meter, so the idea, more light allows the plants to absorb more nutrients, garden soil as a substrate though? What kind, topsoil or just a spade in the garden? I didn't see much about CO2 in the first 5 pages that I read. He says he doesn't use CO2 and his tanks look stunning. and he says riccia sucks the nutrients out of the water column(I'm guessing this is because it doesn't have roots) and if this is so, would the substrate fertilizer Supply Ferts to root plants? It's all really confusing probably because I don't know half the stuff he's saying. So riccia, needs high lights (to an estimation on PAR) and lots of Ferts in the water? I'm thinking riccia and hairgrass. Riccia for carpet an nice rock feature and hairgrass as a backdrop. With some kind of grassy look in the rocks. Edit I'm thinking of using twisted Val as a side like in his pic http://www.jeremysquires.com/img/aquarium/aquarium_AGA_DJS0069.jpg

When do the results go online? I was told end of December, and papers are sent out mid January.

I thought it was just a cheap option to feed fish with (the ox heart that is) :dunno: you cut off the fat for turtles, something to do with them not being able to process it or something.

Wow, long read, I'll read it after a shower. A lot of info to absorb here, thanks for the help li@m and Sophia. Will get back to you after a read.