chris_irl

top class!!

15 * 6.5 plus 20 postage :mbh: peppered cory, not bad at all

20% change today and retest amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate <5 ph 6.8-7 Tank ready for fishies :happy2:

it's one of these I assume: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp Don't they have the fastest movement in the animal kingdom with their claws?

hmm... I was not with it yesterday obviously. tested today again: Amm: 0ppm Nitrite: .5ppm (same as previous times, not 20ppm) :oops: Nitrate: 10ppm today I reckon I must have messed up the test, too many or too few drops

Beer: check Sun: check Food: check Have an awesome day everyone! Top o the mornin and so forth

Amm was 18mg per litre., added 20ml.about 2ppm overall Back to zero overnight. I'll check it all tmro anyway, off to womad today. No fish so no real danger, I'll change asuch as needed tmro to sort it and re test too in case I messed it up slightly. Thanks for the replies though, interesting stuff...

My last test done was last night Amm: 0 Nitirite: 20ppm Nitrate: 5ppm Changed 40% to remove snail rid dose and did some work on the tank, adding weights to the driftwood to hold it down and moved a plant or two. Added a little ammonia solution (20ml or so) just to keep bacteria turning over Test it this morning again Amm:0 Nitrite: 20ppm Nitrate: 160ppm+ (as dark a colour as the scale goes) Changed another 20% this morning, no fish in tank yet it's still cycling. Any reason the nitrates would skyrocket like that? The substrate is peat under sand, would disturbing it to bury the weights released that much nitrate? I'm confused.

thanks. I've asked if they've got more than one I've expanded my list to the any of following types too: Leopard Sterbai Jewlii Trilentus Pepperd Schwartzi

ahh, that's what you meant, I though T me was a user here and I was searching for them :oops:

fair enough so, if that's the rate not much I can do....

True, but that's not always a good thing... most of the world drives on the wrong side of the road after all :slfg:

I thinkit'll be carnage in the first week. Having recently moved here and gotten used to your current system I think it's far better than what's being reverted too, it's a ptiy it being gotten rid of IMO

being from Ireland most things over here are actually cheaper, lol... even the beer!

I will be looking for a group of cory (15); ideally sterbai, trilentus or leopard in the near future. The LFS quoted $14.90 per sterbai :an!gry that just seems insanity to me, or is that the going rate in NZ? That's about 10 EUR each, I could get them for half that at home, plus a little off for a bigger buy.

so would I but obviously not...

I need to try and get rid of a few snails before the become an infestation, the tank is nearly cycled but no fish yet. There are plants in it though, obviously where the snails came from. Just been down to the LFS and but they've no nasty chemicals that'll kill them.... What's my best bet to get them dead before I add fish, they're a mix of common pond snails and ramshorns. I don't really want to go down the road of loaches as I'd like to add some apple snails at a later date and they'll just get chomped too

yep. It's up and running, ammonia in and just sitting back and waiting now...

Anyone in New PLymouth locality that would be able to help me out with a squeezing from their filter material? I'm in Motorua or can come to you with a bag...

ok, no need to be so over catious so :slfg: Sounds like the best plan then, a layer of peat / clay and cover it in sand.

thanks stephanie, I'll add it to my itenery too

That's the plan, thoroughly wash and dry it a couple of times to remove all the nasty stuff, or try and source elsewhere if easier and cheap, maybe mitre10 may have something suitable for example can you just use garden centre sourced peat moss for example, again once washed (or mircowaved to zap any beasties???). Again with the limited supplies in pet shops around here it's not something I can source from them without paying an outragious amount for a one off order.

cool, address noted thanks

I've a 220l that I intend to run a tropical setup in, looking to plant it fairly heavily. I have a bucket of 5-10mm rounded gravel that came with it but intend to use sand as substrate. Is there any benefit to a layer of gravel as a base and then top up with sand, or just go all sand. My previous effort I just used sand and it turned out ok but I changed things several times before I got it right. Want to make sure this time I get it right first time, it's a much bigger tank to change up. Will probably obtain some of the black beach sand from around here, and pickup a nice bit of wood as a centre peice. Plants will very much be a case of picking them up here and there depending on availability and what looks nice

Hi All, is there a list anywhere on here of aquarium stores and their locations, being in a relative isolated part of the country I'd like to take advantage of having a nose around in shops where possible when I'm travelling to other areas. I know of the couple of local ones, but it'd be great to have a list of store, city and address if available. Still not too sure where everywhere is over here yet :roll: I already know I'll be in Palmerston North and Taupo over the next 6 weeks, anywhere there that's good?