breakaway

Am I the only one who thaws out the blood worms before putting them into the tank?

Nice idea on getting 2 heaters. I'm sure you've spends hundreds if not thousands of dollars on your fish tank, why risk it all for another $50?

Well, that certainly had an ending different to the one I'd anticipated.

The CO² system consists of the following components: 1. Gas Bottle (~$200) - looks like you got this sorted 2. CO² tubing (~$15) - polyurethane is good. 3. Bubble counter (~$10) 4. Diffuser (~$30) 5. Brass check valve (~$10) 6. Regulator w/ needle valve (~$120) 7. A solenoid (~100) - these at times come integrated into the regulator - they are used to turn off the gas automatically at night so you don't have to worry about it. With an appropriately sized gas bottle coupled to the system, you shouldn't need refills for 6+ months.

This sort of stuff is almost always contagious. I would isolate the sick fish immediately. That way when you medicate, you don't hit your plants and/or other fish with the medicine that they might not have any need for. I'm currently dealing with a sick puffer (fin rot) myself. I've got him isolated in a 10L tank so metering medicines is easy (the tank just has him and 2 guppy fry, no plants or gravel).

I noticed one of my dwarf puffers was getting picked on in the bigger tank, so I moved him to a smaller 10L quarantine tank by himself and 2 baby guppy fry. This 10L quarantine tank also houses my last remaining puffer fry He's been in here about two weeks. There's been no sign of trouble thus far. He eats well (up to 4-6 blood worms per day) He seemed fine in the morning, but when I had a look at him now, the tips of his fins are going white. A quick google shows it's fin rot. I'm already treating with API PimaFix http://aquariumpharm.com/Products/Produ ... oductID=57 Have done a 90% water change before starting treatment. Am I doing the right thing? What are the chances he will survive this?

Check for play in the impeller shaft. It may just need a thorough clean.

Nice, what kind of puffers?

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=45887&p=499496#p499496 Read from my post at 3/4s of the way down the page. Also read the first post on that page.

I just picked up another AR380 aquarium light hood with working magnetic ballast, and lamp. Now I'm thinking about fitting it into my hood (so I have 2 x 11W) - Is there a limit on how long the wires between the ballast and lamp can be? I want to house the ballast away from the hood because 1. There is no space, and 2. They get very warm.

Will any ballast that can run a Single 24W T5 work for my application?

Another smarter course of action would be to buy one of these http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 253627.htm And then gut the whole thing and retrofit into the AR380. Much more cost effective than buying a ballast for $80 + a bulb for $20 + fittings and reflectors costing another $20. Total cost of "DIY" light = $120. Total cost of readymade unit that has pretty much all I need = $149. Hmmm....

I just found this http://www.guppysaquariumproducts.com.a ... d_485.html Apparently this is a pretty reputable online store. Spoon - can you take a look at this and tell me if this ballast is sufficient to power the 24W PC? It says that this ballast is for "1 x 24W T5", but the product image clearly shows that it's the same ballast (1x18-24) that you're using. And, its only 26AUD. Are T5s and PCs run by the same type of ballasts?

Seriously.. don't worry about it. I've had high CO2 in 200L tank with dwarf puffers and it didn't bother them at all. They even bred, twice. Also, the dwarf puffer is more sensitive to water conditions than the average guppy.

Just priced up these ballasts from Rexel in Penrose, Auckland. They are $81.70 for the L version, and $78.73 for the S version (excluding GST). Definitely more expensive than I'd thought. Looks like this is pretty much the only place you can get them from though from my google searching. Importing is an option also but with this ballast I can have my lighting running next weekend! I'm not sure if I need the S or the L versions (I want it to fit neatly inside the AR380 hood if possible;) so I got the guy to bring em both in, will give them a call tomorrow and see if I can go down and compare the sizes of the ballast with my hood and then buy the appropriate one.

Is it T5 or T5HO? Big difference between the two.

Don't need/want that much light, also can't handle ridiculous amounts of light leaking out which is a problem with pretty much all MH luminaries.

Just plants. 24w isn't enough for anything marine in a tall tank I don't think, unless its a FOWLR setup which I'm not really interested in Where did you get yours from Spoon? How hot does the lamp get?

As in title pretty much. Need one to power a 24W PC so I can retrofit it into my AR380. Already installed some cooling fans in there 8) Bulb looks like this: Can I get electronic ballast to do this (I heard that electronic ballasts produce less heat than magnetic ballasts)

This is a very nice tank puttputt. Is there any reason in particular you've decided to go bare bottomed?

I always get excited every few months and look into LED. But once I price up the ballast, the LEDs, the heatsinks, it's often way more dear than getting an off the shelf unit. This way you also save the hassle of having to build everything.

pH was normal, I checked the pH after the death of the puffers and it was 7.2. I then put the guppy in, which died in under 12 hours. This leads me to believe there's some sort of contaminant in the water that isn't nitrate, nitrite or pH.

Good stuff, nice tank there. I wouldn't keep bumble bee gobies with puffers. Just because they're oddball fish doesn't mean they go well together. HOWEVER, my puffers live happily with a guppy, no nipping or anything. The personalities of the fish vary wildly. Still I would only keep them in a species tank. If you want to see breeding etc it's the only way.

The water in the tank is contaminated. Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite were all 0, but it's still contaminated. I put my "canary in a gold mine" guppy into it, and it was dead inside 12 hours. I don't know what could have possibly caused this.. just the other day, I drained 99% of the water out and replaced it with 'good' water from my 40L tank. Perhaps there is a contaminant in the filter? Or the heater? But that doesn't make any sense because the fry lived there happily for many days. The last thing I added to the tank was the heater. I obviously washed it thoroughly before placing it into the tank. Is there any way the heater can cause this?

Lost all of them