GrahamC

What about fine pumice instead of fine gravel?

The API test kits measure total ammonia. The seachem ammonia alert measures free toxic ammonia.

solved then! Sell those two tanks and replace it with the 2400mm one I could accommodate this tank on my office deck .. but the transport costs to Napier would be killer.

Ammonia as used in an aquarium setting normally refers to total ammonia ie. both free ammonia and ammonium ion, the respective levels of which depend on pH and temperature. Free ammonia freely diffuses across cell membranes into aquatic plant leaves where it is converted to ammonium, and either stored, or, used in amino acid synthesis. The uptake of ammonium requires membrane transporters and is something that requires energy as opposed to the free diffusion of free ammonia. In an acidic environment ( presumably the case here because of the peat substrate ), then the plant presumably will need to actively transport ammonium as it should be the major form of ammonia. Anaerobic bacteria can co-exist with aerobic bacteria in biofilms, and do not require a deep sand bed as blueether reports..

A couple of thoughts. Aquatic plants preferentially take up ammonia before they use nitrate. So, you might get a larger population of nitrifying bacteria in your filter if you remove the plants, and put them in later on when the filter is cycled. But since your nitrite levels are high, perhaps you don't need to. Disturbing the substrate with oxygenated water could have killed off the anaerobic denitrifying bacteria which had been converting nitrate to N2 gas.

Yes indeed. Fortran I think. And then I got special access to the school's PDP-11 where I used Basic plus

Sadly I have been in IT somewhat longer writing my first programs in 1972, and getting my first virus in 1987 ( Amiga disk boot sector virus from the club ). I've seen lots of PCs that have been trashed by viruses while running AVG and never found it to be much good. I used to install Prevx ( free version ), and if it picked up a virus, then removed them manually rather then buying the registered version which does that for you. But in recent years it seems to have too many false positives. Still keep it running though.

A leak test??

Haven't had a computer virus for years, and I just use MS security essentials with Prevx. Trouble used to be with Norton and the other commercial AV software was that it just took too much of your resources. If you need to visit dodgy sites, you can setup a virtual machine, and browse from there .. ie. use linux

what are your substrates?

Chimney, fireplace and gas heater all gone. Big hole in roof. Sola tube guy came to provide a quote. Considering doing at least some Walstad NPTs using the sola tube to provide the sunlight. And that would hopefully reduce the need to do much in the way of water changes. Still going to put in some plumbing in case I can't get it to work, and now's the best time to do the plumbing. Going to buy some potting mix to try this out on a spare tank ... anyone have a suggestion on a fertilizer free potting mix?

Chimney and fireplace being removed right now! Most painful thing for any tank I think is the PWC so I want to automate this. I was thinking of each tank having an overflow hole near the top, and a pipe that drops down to the middle or near base. On the exterior this dumps to a vertical drain like they use in dishwashers. Don't want a siphon to form. I would then have a reservoir of dechlorinated water in the basement, and a pump that sequentially fills each tank with 25% new water at the top. So I'd lose some of the new water as it goes in but not much. For filtration, depending on the fish. A cannister for gold fish, and perhaps sponge filters for the tropicals. I can use a fluidised K1 chamber sitting above the sponge filter. Like this one

I'm guessing that for any significant quake no amount of lip at the base is going to stop the water reaching the floor. So, this design would not be suitable for quake prone areas. If you just wanted the extra aeration, you could drill lots of tiny holes at the water line below the top of a lipped tank and let it all flow down the sides. But you would destroy the desired effect at the top. The glass at the water line presumably is not under high load, and this is a braceless design. Or, just have a polished floor, or vinyl, knowing that you might have to mop occasionally.

Yes, but never had anything break. If quakes are a problem, then just build base isolation in

This is the other side of the wall. From left to right the wall is about 60 cm deep, and then changes to 30 cm at about 1.9 m. So, I can't have a Kim Dotcom style aquarium right across unless I fake it. I was thinking of putting a 1.9m x 0.6m x 0.5m (h), and then continuing with xm x 0.3m x 0.5m to the other end. They would be adjacent so first look one would think it's a continuous aquarium but they would be 2-3 tanks placed end to end. I would have cupboard doors ( upwards opening) above provide acccess for cleaning, and lighting, power sockets etc. The plan is to remove the fireplace, gas heater, and mantel piece, and replace the fire place with cupboards for china etc. Other sites I looked at say keep the fireplace as it adds value. Others have put tanks into the fireplace. I'm thinking I should go for a cleaner modern look. I could possibly put more shelving for books etc above the cupboards, but this is the new world ... how many ebooks can one stack? Or just create spaces for vases etc ... Undecided whether to bring a solar tube down where the chimney is being removed so I could possibly run a marine tank in the future, but I'm thinking it might be too labour intensive, and costly for spouse to approve!

the picture shows a marine tank .. are marine fish less likely to jump out of a tank? I'd also have to pre-soak flake for my fresh water fish so that it didn't overflow down the sides, or use sinking pellets.

Borrow a goldfish?

Come to think of it, I did have this tall glass vase running as an overflow last year, and the water just flowed over the edges without any splashing. Algae was a problem though. Never thought of putting a fish into it ..

Do you mean a concave lip? So, if heat loss is an advantage, perhaps a native tank?

A waterfall in my lounge is probably a bit over the top for me ... I was just looking at different designs Heat loss for a cold water aquarium should not be an issue, but yes, I imagine it might be for a marine tank because you also lack any insulation on the sides. One of the limitations to stock levels is said to be the surface area of the tank. This design cleverly overcomes that by massively increasing the surface area down the sides.

http://zeroedgeaquarium.com/classic-overview/ This is a marine tank, but I guess it could be anything. Water overflows all 4 sides and down the sides being oxygenated in the process. It falls into the perimeter drain, then to the sump, and then pumped back again into the tank via the bottom. I'd imagine it would be quite good at clearing dust from the room! And perhaps growing algae. No finger prints on the glass walls. Disadvantages? fish jumping out of the tank is one ..

Was driving past the pet shop in Levin yesterday and picked up a sponge filter there. $25. Online price with free shipping is about $5 from Australia. At least the ladies working there are nice

Good outcome then. Hope there's no mini ammonia spike from hidden food rotting!

Good to hear, and keep up those frequent water changes until you can afford a larger tank.

There are two types of laminators I've come across. The cheaper ones are pouch laminators so you get a pouch for the size you want done. I have a brother (A4) laminator that is okay, and it uses two continuous sheets of plastic which meant you can laminate almost continuously. But sometimes the automatic cutter gets triggered by a gap in the material And the plastic cartridges are relatively expensive. From memory it was a cost of $2-3 per A4 sheet if you used a whole cartridge. For the amount of A3 laminating we did, it was easier and cheaper for us to just get it done downtown.