Aaron

Bird grit .....who would have thought aye what else does the bottom of your tank consist of Ira?

been looking around some site and it looks like ill do a south american tank was in jensens today looking round and they have a few nice firemouths and green severiums.... where can i get crushed coral from?

the reason i asked this was because i was looking @ using the 60l as the sump but it has a few lil fishies in it @ the moment, it will still have the intenal filter in it as well as an external filter, heater will be in the smaller one aswell as most of my plant life bear in mind this aint gonna happen over night i want to make it gradual was thinking of running the external in the smaller tank first to establish the media then look @ transfering it to the bigger one

have already done that Alan most of its just crap !

dont think i want discus as i heard they are hard to keep, i like the big yellow in your tank ira, what is it. Also like the fire mouths sorry for the lack of detail i obviously have a lot of reading to do, could you recomend any good sites?

was thinking of starting chichlid tank but ain't sure where to start firstly from what i understand they have different needs to other tropicals eg: ph levels,etc and that they can be teratorial,also is it important that the fish are around the same size?, what are the temp ranges? what type of gravel is best i'd like to acheive a sand type look with crushed gravel, what plants are best dont really want to put to many in though, and finally what to start with for the first cycle and how many and whos got photos ..... i dont ask for much do i

ok so im a little instrested in a sump for the bigger tank mainly to get all the unnecessary stuff out of the tank ie:heater,filter,etc but im not quite sure what to use, firstly are sumps just smaller aquarims, or a they specific types of tanks i read some where bout them having baffels, why is this, also can fish live in a sump? how big generally are sumps? is there anything else that i need to know, where can i get one ? help appricaited

ok so its time for a water change and have read mixed opinions on the subject? have done a few tset this morning ph 7 and amonia 0ppm, was think of doing a 10% water change today and monitoring through out the week watching for signs that i haven't done enough, also was thinking the other day bout cleaning filters as there is a few bits of plant matter in it, but what is the safe way to clean it without upsetting the bio filter in the tank and what happens when the filter needs a new media in this case how is the balance kept between there not being enough bacteria in the tank to break down amonia while a new filter is installed, and how oftern should you change the media in a filter

lol .... what planet r u on man i'm in the 4th week of my tank and im just tonight getting signs of amonia starting to drop off as i have been told by a few ppl now patience is very important in this hobby tanks unfortunatly cant be established in a week or two so give it a few more weeks before you put more fish in

mmm..... i to have emailed tough tanks aswell a few times now and have not recieved a reply i guess they dont want my bidness! As for the stand it aint hard to make your own you just need to get your dimensions right, i made mine out of 12mm marine ply with shelfs and doors hell i even upholstered the thing myself came to a little over $30 (pirks of being a boatbuilder) just need to stain it and shell be mint . would defientaly go for timber though will last longer in a damp enviroment

ok then so whats the deal with adding salt then? and when can i do my first water change my tank is in its second week now with the fish in it onece i get a routine going all should be well ......i hope

considering i only have a 60L tank 20% is 12 or so liter's however what is considered to be heavly planted i have 10 plants in there @ the moment so how does this exactly effect the water, don't the plants absorb nitrates in turn, whitch is the whole point of changing the water to keep the nitrate levels under control? what happens if the nitrate levels drop too low will my plants die? i spose is a bit of a catch 22 situation.

ok let me explain .... you know wht the inside of a pauwa shell looks like right, well the outsie is the same the outside has had the outer crust of the shell polished off

Ok i just had an after thought, when do i start doing water changes?

hi guy haven't been on for a few days so here's an update . i did eventually feed the fish pretty much as soon as i got of the fourms the other day, i have been feeding them every two days at the moment and they seem happy, did some test today, and the tank had a ph of 7 i also tested the tap water and it was 7.5, so it looks like everything is starting to settle in nicely. Ok i also have a few questions, i read some where that fish have a memory of 5 seconds is this true? also i noticed that the sponge in the filter is starting to go brown in places, why is that? also i added a few rock to the aquarium tonight and was woundering about adding some pauwa shells , well there aint no shell on them its been polished off so its just the inside can i add them or will it affect the water? cheers for all the help so far hopefully i post some pics soon when i figure out how?

hey before i came on this site i didnt even know about cycling and no john was pretty clear he said dont feed them for two weeks !

Arh well maybe they have a chance then as i have a few plants in my tank ......... who know's though the swords may get hungry as i've been instructes not to feed them for two weeks dont really know why ?

oh well there ain't really much i can do as i only have a single tank which means they have a better chance of survival than if i take them out.

hey chris the small ones are quiet a bit faster than the adults they seem to be have'n trouble keeeping up, plus when they come near the lil one's burrow into the gravel and the adults cant get them. smart little buggers arn't they.

Catfish dude .........theres more than one type ? um..........?

hey guys was just wondering if my lil fishys (sword tails) are acting normal i got home tonight and they were both darting up and down the tank, so i had a good look around and to my suprise there was little mini swords darting around, I counted 5 so far, so i was wondering will the adult swords eat the mini swords. Are my sword tails acting strange because of the female giving birth? ,and someone mentioned that its a good idea to have two females, but im in a delema cause its the first ever cycle of the tank and was told not to add any more fish what do i do?

Alan funny you say that about pupuke that was where i got my tank from john nice guy have yet to meet kim. good selection of fish though.

sweet thanx for that will look on google tonight bout cycling cheers catbrat

cheers for the welcome im looking foward to talking to you all and picking your brains for ideas and info.

Hi i have been readiing through the fourms for over an hour now and have come across terms that im not firmilar with, and also have a few questions, if someone could set me straight that would be great. #1 first up whats a sump? #2 what is meant by a cycle? #3 how long is a cycle? #4 whats the ratio when changing water and how often do i change it? #5 whats the minimum time before i can introduce more fish to my aquarium (current only have two) #6 is there a general rule of thumb for the population in a community realiveant to the size of your tank in my case 60x30x35 #7 is it necessary to pump air into a tank and what is the reason behind this any help appriciated