flymike

I run 650l in main tank (1800x600x750) and 200l in the sump sump, using the jabeo DCS9000 at no.4 power (apx %49 power) flow is apx 3332 lph up to the tank This is not a high flow, giving only 5.1x cycles per hour of the tank, but is ideal for the low stocking and bare bottom I have currently. I also run a fluval CP3 2800lph wave maker pointing up to the overflow I designed the overflow and pipework to be able to handle 10,200lph, at the head height the tank is at (apx 1.2m from water level in sump to water level in tank), the DCS9000 maxes out at around 6800lph at this height. I would go with the DCS9000 pump for what you want, it will be ideal, and a quiet runner Mike

Hi Jorj X Mckie, I currently have around 15-20 cuttings of Devils Ivy/golden pothos growing, I use them in my tanks. Thay ave started to form roots in the water and growing new roods There pretty hardy, and don't require a lot of light to survive Im in auckland, but can ship I'm sure. Pm me if your interested. Cheers Mike

I use 2x sponges per 170l tank, and have made a moving bed type filter to go on top of them. works a treat. All run from a 40w 4.5lps air pump. Vacuum the tanks once a month or so.

Things have been crazy lately, need to clear some room For sale Pick up only, Warkworth, Auckland Can possibly meet somewhere closer to Auckland for collection, depends on purchase Giraffe Cichlid (Nimbochromis venustus) 1-1.5cm $3ea Electric Blue Cichlid (Sciaenochromis fryeri) 1-1.5cm $3ea Demasoni (Pseudotropheus demasoni) 1.5-2cm $5ea Livingstonii Cichlid (Nimbochromis livingstonii) 5-6cm $10ea 1 Only Male Golden Peacock (Sp. Aulonocara) apex 10cm $20 Give me a PM, txt or call, 021 148 5668 Cheers Mike

I am currently putting together a 650l set up my self, using a 300l sump to house all the gear though. I have gone with 3x el-cheepo 300w Jebo heaters (think they were $15 each), but will control them via a 240v STC-1000 temp controller hooked up to a 4x multi board. Have used these in the past and they are great, 0.1deg adjustment and accuracy, and you can adjust how much temp drop before it switches on (have mine at .5deg), can also easily calibrate the temp. Has a large red LCD display the one I'm running on my 450l tank controls both heating and cooling with a relay each. but the single (either heating or cooling) relay units sell for around $30 on TM Requires a little DIY to install in line with the heaters. and make up a nice mount for it I am just going to set the jebo heaters in the sump to 27-28 deg, and the controller at 26deg, then if the controller dose fail the heaters thermostats will be the back-up Iv had a perched branded heater stick before and cook 30 odd Africans, some I will never be able to replace. So don't rely on a single failsafe, just in case

Talked to the guys at aqua world today, basically said to get quarantine done cost efficiently would need like 5-10 fish, so not interested in getting one, unless I wanted to pay the big bucks. Still have my hopes up though.

Can anyone confirm recent pricing on an Asian Green? Thanks Mike

Hi Guys, Im lucky enough to be getting a large 700l tank soon. I would love an arowana to put in there with a few other predotory type fish. Im not all that keen on the shape of the silvers or blacks + the size that should reach. I love the shape of the asian and jardini aro's, but also know that if I get a jardini I will most likely end up with a one fish tank. I canot afford to get a proper asian aro, but am wondering if anyone deals in lower grade fish? I see they exist in the states for as low as $80us May be a silly question, but are there cheep asian aro's in NZ? Thanks for your time Mike

Ive built a few mate, but pays to get a good thermostat to control them, Like the STC-1000 . Basically I just mounted a 300w stainless steel element in side a 50mm pvc pipe with branched female threaded ends. heaps of info on google. *********BUT DO GET A GOOD THERMOSTAT TO CONTROL************* I lost one tank of about 40 juvi fish to this mistake

Of course the canister has more media, but I'm trying to offset that with the 4 sponges. The tanks not going to be overstocked, as the fish are mostly juvies now, and I hope to have the new tanks and setup sorted in 5-6 months and spread them back out. I test my water often, so i guess I'm just going to have to wait and see if it works out, if not I will have the canisters to fall back on. because I'm having to store the tank and fish at the in-laws, I'm really trying to keep the running costs down, I don't want to step on anyone's toes if ya know what I mean

Not really possible where iv had to set it up. I'm lucky enough to have access to some of the suppliers, this helps bring the costs down significantly.

Hi Guys, Were being kicked out of our current house (5 months before buying our own property!), So I'm putting all my African Cichlids (40x mostly juvis) in to a large tank of apx 450l for storage until I can re-set up properly in the new house early next year. I just want your opinion on the way I'm planning on filtering this larger "storage" tank. I have just set it up and am cycling it now with- -4x large sponge filters, run of a Eheim 400lph air pump (have had them in an existing tank for the last month) -1x 2800lph Fluval wave maker -1x CF1200 canister (which has been filtering another tank for the last year or so) This will be replaced with a Fluval U4 internal) This system is set up in a my in-laws garage and I don't want to be using a heap of their power. I have it insulated on all sides, top and bottom with 25mm poly, to help keep the heat in, minimize heating requirements. I plan to replace the canister with a Fluval U4 1000lph internal filter as they use less than half the power of the canister but with better flow. I've put 2 sponges at each end of the tank, with the wave maker at one end and will have the U4 internal at the other, 50mm of aragonite covers the bottom, and about 75l of rock piled along the back of the tank. With the U4, 4x sponges and the 2800lph wave maker I will be getting apx 4200lph of water movement which is around 10x the tanks water volume per hour. Am I right in thinking that this will be sufficient for bio filtration on this tank, remembering its really just for storage for 4-6 months or so, and I will still be doing water changes every week. - I am hoping the U4 will act as more of a solids filter, and the sponges as the bio, with the wave maker and U4 helping with circulation. - Just after others opinions and ideas. - If Im heading up the wrong path, please point me in the right direction, I've had to do this in a hurry. - Any hints on sponge filters will be greatly appreciated as this is the first time I've used them. - If I had to fit another internal to help with solids filtration, i would be getting more than twice the circulation of one cf1200. And the power consumption for the two internals would also be less than running one canister. Thanks Mike

Yeah, looks like the three dem's are OK. Fitting in nicely to there new home (for 2 weeks anyway, then I have to move them to our new place and there tank, hope I don't loose any more during that rigmarole)

When I unplugged the controller, the relay in the controller let go, I herd it click, as it was still heating when I found it, the display was reading 36.5C, I have shut the tank down now, and moved the surviving 3 dems in to another tank, thankfully they are still surviving, although my livingstonii was trying to eat one of them last night! I have to admit I haven't turned the heater back on to see if the controller had reset its self to a higher temp or something like that, will have a look at that tonight. I run a similar set up on another tank, using a STC-1000 temp controller and the weipro SS elements in the sump, setting it up this way costs about the same, and with some minor electrical skills to wire it up you end up with a controller you can calibrate, set when things turn on down to 0.1C and can also run a cooling (or similar) fan if it gets over your set temp. I got the weipro unit because (I thought it was an easier to buy a unit as opposed to making one) I wanted to set up an in-line element in the return line for the canister, which works great by the way. But the controller for what ever reason failed

Was a AR950, fish were only going to be in there for another 2 weeks max, were having to move in 2 weeks, and iv got a 500l tank to put all my fish in when we do. 200l, Wife said they were all happy when she left at 7.30, I got home at 4.30. 26C stranded temp, The controller runs a 300w SS element to heat, and iv got it mounted inline on the canister return. Im wondering if the 36C it got up to was the max for the ellement, or whether the controller could only read up to that. Either way, I'm gutted!! Doesn't really matter any way. I guess this is why you should always buy the best gear (and now iv learnt that lesson) guess ill be shopping for some replacements after the move.

Got home from work last night to one tank full of dead fish. :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: :ske: The issue was the heater, A 300w weipro mx10-22, the relay was stuck on and the temp had climbed to 36 C. I did manage to find 3 demasoni still moving, but my hopes aren't to high with them surviving. So this is what was killed off 1x Stuartgranti Maleri Male (bright orange & irreplaceable in my eyes) 5x Auratus 5x Electric Blue (Sc. fryeri) 9x Demasoni (so far!) + three of the females were holding) I'm a little disappointed it happened, as my plans were just coming together, and breeding had just started happening. Just thought I'd share my pain

Hi Guys, I'm needing to buy a new biger tank pretty shortly. Have a few second hand options Im looking in to. My question is.... In your opinion/experiences/thoughts..... Is a longer skinnier large tank 1800x600ish with a footprint of around 1.08m2 better suited than a shorter wider tank of 1500x700ish with a footprint of around 1.05m2? Dose the longer length spread the territory's and aggression apart a little more We've been asked to move out of our rented property (for the landlords family), We are buying a house in feb, and have decided to live in a caravan at the inlaws for the next 5 months. I am planning to put my african cichlids, mostly juvies and young adults between 1-4 inches each(11 species in total) in to one large tank for "storage" until our own property is ready to live in. My one consideration is that I'm growing out 6 giraffes, and was advised to look at a 6' long tank to get the best out of them, the other fish will be spread around this and two 4 footers once the house is ok,ed early next year Thanks Mike

Checo out my thread mate, DavidR swayed me on keeping the sump and improving its design. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=65300

I'm running one of those on another tank, with a single 300w element. I've got it set up with an in-line system after the canister, with the temp probe mid way down the back wall in the tank. I think it was a waipro mx1022 ?. Seems to work a treat, no issues with it loosing programming in power outages yet. The one thing that slightly annoys me, is that the relay click when it turns the element on/off is quite loud. I don't think that model can handle the 500-1000 watt elements though

These are through Raymond (LOTOFISH on here) 1000w http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=748891962 500w http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=748890384 I have the 300w ss version, there designed to plug into weipro controllers, but I simply cut of the plug and wired it through my temperature controller via an extension cord I wasn't thinking so much of safety, more for heat transfer (efficiency) from the surfaces of the element/s in contact with the water. A single 1000w element has a surface area of XXX (I dont know what it actully is), where as 2x 500w elements almost have twice that surface but the same total wattage 2x500w=1000w

Yeah, I was looking at the titanium elements. Currently using a stainless steel 300w unit on my 4' tank with roughly a 300l capacity inc the sump. The controller I use is an adjustable stc1000 temp controller. slimier to this http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/heating-cooling/other/auction-750159733.htm I have it set to 26deg with a .5deg differential, switches on at 25.5. I also have it set up to switch on a fan for cooling at 26.5deg. So it will not be like having 2 indavidualy controlled heaters, just one controller with 2 titanium elements. The power usage will be the same, so that's not an issue. Also plan to insulate the tanks with polystyrene on all sides, top and bottom, and just have it so I can remove the front and top for viewing and any work that needs to be carried out. That heat loss calculator at the top of the page is a neat tool.

Hi Guys, I currently use a stc1000 temp controller and 300w element for one of my tanks heating. We are building a bigger multi tank,sump driven set up. The plan is to have the element in the sump. In my head I see 2x 500w elements heating more efficiently than 1x 1000w element (just by having more surface area in contact with the water) Am I right in thinking this? Thanks Mike

Hi Guys, Were moving out to somewhere a little more rural than we are now. Im currently replacing around 250l total, in my 3 main african cichlid tanks a week, We aren't on town supply and are lucky enough to have around 100,000l rain water storage (5 tanks). We are buying a property that's running on 100% bore water, and has been for the last 50 odd years. To my knowledge, there has been no issues with the hot water cylinder or pipe work in regards to deposits or any buildups at all. I really need to know what I need to lookout for in regards to water quality for my tank top ups? I was thinking about a RO/DI filter, although I feel this would be an extreme measure? Will I need to look in to carbon filtering or something like that? I havent had a chance to get a water test done yet, but will do. Any of you guys running your systems on bore water? Cheers Mike

I had a very similar problem in a 200l tank with 12 dem juvies, 7 yellows (3 adult, 4 juvie) and 3 alunocara"s, not that long ago. Things were all good, then for seemingly no reason they would do the same, hide with any movement near tank, and only dart out to grab food then hide again. I was checking water quality trying to work out if it was something in the water stressing them, all seamed ok thought it may be to much light, so dropped down to 1 bulb, no change after two weeks. Came to the conclusion as there was a slight creek in our floor when approaching the tank it may be that, but that's a long shot with what I know now. I have since shifted some of the structures around and removed the yellows and added 10x Auratus juvies, the Auratus aren't scared by anything so far, and the dems now hang out in the open with them all the time. Was just a change in the dynamics of the tank seamed to fix it, floor still creeks but dosnt seem to bother them. Im not sure what caused them to act like that in the first place, but the change in scenery and tank mates changed things in about 2 days.

By the reply's and pm's I have received, chances of me having fry from non hybrid parents of some type is looking pretty low.