henry

thank you ira, i will try and take the train out to petone to check this out! incidentally, i recently took the train to kaiwharawhara to the animates store and was like a kid in a candy shop... so many tanks, so much equipment... having previously only been to animalz in miramar (whos fish section was pitiful) i was in heaven! apparently there is also a store in the hutt somewhere.. do you know the address of this store, the nearest train station, and how to get from station to store? thank you, henry

hello everyone... my introductions are on the welcome page any information about wellington clubs would be greatly appreciated.. i am aware from postings that there is an upper hutt club and a kapiti-mana club, and a non-affiliated wellington club. information about frequency of meetings, subs, activities, contact details would be greatly appreciated thanks very much, henry

hello everyone, you will find my introductions on the welcome board in preparation for introducing plants to my 60L community tank i am increasing the lighting to around 60-80W. i currently have a single 18W aquarium lighting tube, solely to illuminate the fish. i have been investigating the "energy saving" lightbulbs that are actually fluro tubes twisted into a bulb shape with a self contained starter. the 20W bulbs are 1200 lumens and 6500 kelvin.. i am thinking of purchasing 4 bulbs and 4 hanging bayonet fittings, wiring the 4 fittings in parallel and positing all 4 bulbs insde a large round light shade that would sit on top of the tank with a single cord coming out of the middle. the estimated cost of this project is $60 (all supplies from Mitre10). This compares favourably to the next cheapest option, a double fitting and two 40W tubes from www.sog.co.nz for around $100, + some sort of reflector. i would like thoughts on this.. effectiveness of these bulbs? would the vent holes on the light shade be sufficient for the four bulbs? another issue i have is that currently, to clean my tank out, i remove all the plastic plants and stones and wash them in tank water, and then vacuum over all the gravel to complete a 25% water change. i do this weekly... with a planted tank it would obviously be harder to vacuum the gravel.. how do others combat this problem, given that a small tank requires more maintenence.. how often do others vacuum gravel? thankyou henry

Hello everyone, have been reading posts on these boards solidly over the last few days since discovering them! i have a 600x300x380mm freshwater tropical tank with various community inhabitants, all happy and healthy. the tank has one 18W lighting unit, one 50W heater/stat (tank is in a warm room), an early model eheim internal power filter, and an airstone. the tank has been up and running for around 6 months, with several initial fish losses during the cycling phase (first few weeks), but none since. prior to running this tank i have had various goldfish set ups at various times. i am very interested in aquaria, and have done a lot of reading, specifically about water chemistry, biological filtration, and lately planted tanks, including diy C02 set ups. i live primarily in wellington where i am a law student.. i would be very interested to get in touch with other people in wellington, specifically those with plants and fish to sell at nominal prices! the prices, range etc. in pet shops is so dissapointing! plans for the short term are upgrading the lighting in my tank to around 80W and introducing plants, and more fish. also acquiring an external filter as i dislike seeing the internal filter in the tank, and it is a little small. long term, another tank (probably chichilids, or an amzon tank with discus) would be great. here ends my introductions, nice to meet everyone henry