Beezel

Hi, Just to keep going on the topic, I checked Ca2+ and 5mg/l as low level is suggested as alright still but optimum would be 30-30 mg/l. Mine are rather 60-80 mg so more than that not sure if that level is a problem but would not think so. Try to find somebody who grow them up north here for any reasons to have a chat about it. Does somebody of you guys know someone north of Auckland doing that? Cheers Daniel

Hello livingart, Agreed that temp. and DO play a role in water quality but normally they should be fairly stable in an established system like mine for example, 14 degree, and above 6.5 mg/l O2. Which is good enough to grow demanding species like trout, that does not cover it quite well enough for me. There must be something else going on, with still plenty of options like the nutrition in the food is not good enough, stress with too many animals, not enough hiding spots, injuries, not enough Ca2+ available from the water, infections (bacterial, virus, fungus), etc. Would like to get in contact with somebody who has a koura farm but I do not know anybody here up North, they should have come across problems like that and might have an answer. Just keep going and try to find out more about it step by step. Cheers Daniel

Hi, Just the same thing happened in my tank now, water quality just fine, everything else good, fish are happy, enough food, and koura start dying, sad thing. I will check the Ca2+ concentration but I doubt it is the problem since I put in some crushed shells months ago, pH is good although has a high buffer capacity. I left the previous left overs from moulting in the tank to keep the Calcium in the system. I have quite a few shrimps in the tank as well but did not think they would take too much calcium away. Do not think it is the problem but will start to check everything out step by step before I put new crayfish in later this year. Let's hope it is something easy to fix. Mikey did you find out more since the last posting? Cu Daniel

Hi people, Thanks for the links blueether, i think I have seen them and just roughly overlooked them but worth having a closer look later. Sophia thanks for the links with your tank, how is it doing? Looks colorful. To M@, wow the word is spread fast I guess wouldn't thought of it as a really good example, but looks better than before empty with just plastic plants in it! And yes koura are muncher and have a weakness for plants as lunch so i heard, I guess I have to figure out how to get around it because I would like to keep them they are pretty. Thanks for the input so far from you anyway. Cu Daniel

Hi, I am a newbie and need some tips and advice to add native freshwater plants to the system i have. I have started to look around for basic info about equipment like lights etc. but it is easy to get lost. Would appreciate any tips where i could find basic info about plants in freshwater tanks (books, web, forum older topics) before I dive into specific stuff for native plants. To me, i am a lab tech at the Northland Polytech in Whangarei and spend the last year setting up an old system we had in the hallway just collecting dust and thought I can get it going again. It has two tanks basically both 98cm*58cm*30cm connected over a bridge for ripple effect an overflow at the end with a little tank underneath with a submerged pump for a bit of a current flow. I connected an external filter (Eheim 2075 pro3), chiller (Hailea HC300A) and a UV system (Emperor UV 40W). The system contains at the moment some common bullies, redfin bullies,cran's bullies, inanga and koura and is pretty stable with the water quality. Now I am looking for plants may be next year but one expert told me not to even try since it is expensive and difficult to grow plants a s well. But I like a challenge and thought first do a bit of research and reading and then decide, so any tips and advise are welcome. Have a nice weekend everybody. Daniel