dan_from_nz

I know my plants went brown when phosphates got too high, i'm not sure if it was that the phosphates were to high for the plants of just high enough to create algea growth either way it is a pain. The link below goes to another discussion about phosphates and their bearing on algea growth. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=3749&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

:oops: Thanks for the reply IRA makes scence and clarifies it form me *also glad to know obviously im not the only one dumb enough to make this mistake* :lol: Reagards, Daniel

well said caryl Jason if you are after a larger fish or two for a tank that size the only fish I would recomend would be angles they get large, have a neat personality & can swim in all directions so wont feel too cramped with only 2 foot backward and forward distance

corroding nails arn't dangerous from what i have heared they just put iron into the water which is benificial for the plants (I have only been told this and personally wouldn't practice it as i don't think it is a good idea to add any impurities annessacerally) cabel ties would work well

if you done the water change filter clean and gravel clean all on the same day it could quite possably be the amonia poisoning. by cleaning all your surfaces you can remove your biological filter. if you search this forum there is lots of info about how a biological filter works and all about cycling a tank. a tell tale sign of this in severe cases is you get small bubbles at the surface of the water around the edges by the glass. Personally i doubt that this is the case as i have done really stupid things in the past :oops: like cleaning to much and never had this problem it takes alot to remove all of your bio filter bacteria. Remember that feeding more times a day will make your fish grow faster (speeds up their metabolism) and in turn they then secreet more waste and this adds more amonia to the tank. i have had fish die for no apparent reason some deaths that still leave me with no idea what happend and over time i have learned one of the most valuable lessons that is seldom mentiond in here. "If in doubt do nothing" I say this because sometimes panicing can cause you to overcorrect errors and inturn does more damage to the fish. I once had not checked my ph for several months because it had been holding itself steady for so long when I done a check it came out at PH 6.2 this is the lowest reading on my test kit in a panic i grabbed the ph corrcter that i had (and in the past when setting up the tank had used alot of) I new to make changes slowely so for my 4foot tank 320l i added 1 tablespoon of it after 20mins done another test to find no change so i added twice as much 20 mins later there was still no change so i checked the label to look for a used by date. While reading the label i noticed that it was called ph down (stupid stupid stupid) next while panicing even more and realising i had no ph up i decided to add sodium bicarbonate (i still have no idea if this is ok to use or not) at the same rate about 2tbl spoons dissolved in water from the aquarium and put in the microwave i added this and then left it for 20mins and done another check now it was PH 8.2 now i was really worried and new that i had just made a bad move and that any move to correct it would reasult in more stress on the fish so i had to wrap some towels around the tank so that they were less stressed and hope that they made it through to the morning where i could put a light amout of ph down in a tank of water and do very slow changes untill i got the ph right and for this reason i say if in doubt do nothing good luck Daniel n

the 50% water changes is what gets your phosphates down and in turn reduces algea speeking of phosfates I have noticed over the past week or two an algea boom throughout my tank to start with i thought it was just caused from me not cleaning it whatsoever for two weeks while i had visitors staying but then after two days of getting it nice and clean the algea had taken over again both the brown dirty looking stuff and green spotty stuff. at the same time i noticed my angels spawning that were a spawning pair but havent for over 12 months and i actually thought they were past their spawning used by date now I know that it is the time of year they spawn but the fact that they havent for well over 12 months (and having a very clean tank for this time) and scince moving them into a designated breeding tank with nice live baby guppies for them and their decision that they dont want to spawn now i am wondering if anyone has heared of higher phosphates being a variable in influencing angles to spawn ??? P.S. sorry for changing the subject slightly

In theory if the canister is either higher than the top of the tank or lower than the bottom of the tank you get head because you have a sealed loop and either way the water is transfred against gravity (the return from the canister still needs pressure to move the water up and back into the tank) or (the feed to the canister needs to pull water up in order to pump it to flow back down into the tank) this is how i understand it anyway i caould very well be wrong

plastic is about the only product that doesnt let uv light through it perspex in particular i think. but as warren said glass filters out the majority of the uv spectrum and then you just get the yellow sunlight that algea loves

Hi there, I have a tank a similar size and have both (as well as 2 ugf's) but personally i like the internal best mainly because my external sits on the ground 900mm below the bottom of the fish tanks most external filters have a low pressure tolerance in their pumps and to pump the water up that far (and is even worse if you have lots of filter midium) you loose alot of flow with an internal they take less time to clean, have no head hight (as they are at the tanks level) so the only flow lost is from the pressure of the filter midium. if i were to do it again i would go back to the normal style tank where yo u can only see 1 1200mm face and 2 ends (at the moment i have a bullet shaped tank so you see 2 1200mm faces) adn have 4 internals running in there that way you could have great flow and only clean one filter at a time thus not killing you beneficial bacteria. although another effective filtration method i had on my old tank was cutting the return pipe short and filling a breeding tank with filter whool and sitting it out of the water so ontop of external filtration you have an effecient wet dry filter worked really well

perseverence larger ciclids enjoy them as a meal and clown loaches also i think good luck daniel

as alan said when you seperate them make sure they are in the same tank and can see each other

is it native or tropical? from what i understand you can't use sand from new Zealand beaches as it contains some or alot of silicon to get the right information put this in the saltwater section with all the details or your tank the guys in there are very helpfull adn really on to it when it comes to saltwater tanks

carbon can pull out as much good as it can bad chemicals. I use it on and off as it has its advantages and disadvantages but from what i understand even the carbon manafacturers say not to run it in a fresh water aquarium all the time

cheers will stop in there next week

Brian yeah the U.V units are what they use mgilchrist, sorry I tried to find the box but i must have thrown it away. It filters out the algea (along with tank clouding) and lasts about 3 months i think Two three moth lots come in a pack (about $30) Next time i go into wet pets i will get the name for you (probably saturday) can you sheild the tank from the sun any more (maybe a more atracktive way than leaving the curtains in that room closed 24/7) what lighting do you have if the bulb colour temp is too low (kelvin rating) the algea will grow alot more i have 2 x 30w 10,000k and 1 x 30w 7,800k the higher the K i think the closer it moves to the blue spectrum (i dont think this makes scence as the actual colour is based on wavelength and is measured in nm's i think but i know 10,000k is a much "bluer" white light than the 7,800k which comes out "green") There might be someone more experienced in this scence that can comment. 'ajbroome' is a good plant grower i have heared and he might be able to shed some light on what lights should be used (no pun intended).also there are certian nutriants that promote algea growth and if you starve your tank of these they wont grow

where is it? i am going to a seminar in wellington next week I might go afterwoods to have a look (and drink )

I never got a credit card ntill just recently (age 22) i don't really see the point in one the only reason i got one now is because i have a have a house that is in a trust that i am the benifactor of and control so it makes it easier deciding what i pay for and what my trust pays for at the end of the month

yes U.V. steralizers do stop algae but you need a higher power than they say I think algea can only multiply in a stagnant situation maybe a couple of power heads would give you better flow and reduce the algae. also JBL do a package for canister filters that gets rid of green water they are little brown balls in a netting (like activated carbon) i think they are clay based and that keeps the water quite clean

Nice father, Did I mention i've just decided to put myself up for adoption? I can take good care of his credit card

Yep thats what fish keeping does to ya... makes you spen money you don't have :lol:

Well if anyone ever heres of any comming up for sale i would love one

ahh interesting cheers for your help

cheers

Are we not allowed pics in general or just not allowed really big ones???

this one is not so big