dan_from_nz

i dont know how bad the fluride is in the water but i know the chlorine in palmys water is really bad on a hot day you can smell it in the water it is only $1 for 20l from wet pets and is good water (although a little basic i found might just be my containers though) i have been using it for 2 years now and swear by it wouldnt consider using anything else (although i will change when i get my own ro water filter but only cause it is more convenient) plus if you are setting up a new tank they will let you take water out of the big tank the red tailed cat fish is in to reduce cycleing time

you could try adding a little bit of salt 1 tsp per 4 liters max that will reduce stress but it will need adding slowely because the change in water will initially stress her and if you have any clodial silver you could try adding come of that (at about the same rate as the salt) this countains lots and lots of benificial bacterias' that will also reduce stress this is only a roomer but i tried it when my fish were sick for no reason and it semt to work

I know being a beginer to fish forums that if you go to a large forum like reef central it is to hard to get the information you want because when they were a small site rather than set up aditional sub forums they said we dont need to and then things get to complex to change. So I agree that we sould at least keep an eye on what may need to be changed so that as the forum grows it can still be simple enough for beginers to find the information they need imo

I have just heared there is another one opening up in the city centre but i dont think it oppens until labour weekend

wow only one pic came up but it was impresive and really interesting

the only decent pet stor in napier is animalz on taradale rd if you come into napier on S.H2 when you get in you come to a sign saying city centre turn right (kenedy drive), go straight over the overpass and take a right at the next set of lights (taradale rd) and from there you can't miss it

Hi there I am still waiting on a letter from the p north club secretary to arrange joining a club and entering the show (puerly for support of the idea dont plan on winning anything) was expecting it to day but it hasnt arrived if i recieve it tomorrow is there a fax number i can use to get the entry in?

Are all your water perameters normal? How long ago did she have the fry? Some fish can get very stressed when having babies and this can make them go limp and stop eating, if you are adding a liquid food for the fry the mother is probably eating microscopic organisms off the foam filter and so she wont starve (that is on the off chance that you have a foam filter in the tank)

Hi there I know this may strike up an argument but i am wondering weather it is worth using a ugf in my nano tank with a power head attached. I dont want to use it as a filter and would only put live rock over the plate no sand the only reason i am considering using it is because it would allow me to get a high flow on a small tank pulled in over a large surface are and wouldn't trap too much stuff. Any replys much apreciated regards, Daniel

are people putting their fish in for a competition or just for fun, I have lots of fish that I could put in but there is nothing special about them. I also are yet to join the palmerston north aquatic scociety (although am going to see a lady that organises that tomorrow)

I am setting up my 100L nano reef tank (slightly oversized for a nano but it is a tank i have lying around) and am wondering how much lighting to use I have always read 1watt per liter however, with such a small tank surely you cant go down to 100 watts I was sortof thinking 3 3' vho's and running them on three timers that overlap, so that all three are only on at once for about one hour and starting and ending the day with just one. I am considering VHO because of the fact that they aparently burn cooler and I dont plan on running a refridgerator (however will set up several inductor and extractor fans on thermo's) would this be enough lighting (I am planning on having one medium sized anemonie and a few other corals not sure what just small hardy ones with a bit of colour) Also is there a fish store in the north island south of taupo that has marine products i couldnt even find one (except for a small one in kapiti that is quite good but as the shop is small the range is also) reagrds Daniel

wow a huge difference what sort of fish is that is it a lion fish???

is there someone at maf that everyone on the forum could email maybe if enough people bug him he would give in (a slight breach of the privacy act though giving out his email address)

Some time ago I was told that if one of your fish are sick you give them a bath in the opposite water (ie freshwater for saltwater fish and saltwater for freshwater fish) for three minuts has anyone tried this does it actually work or does it just stress the fish out???

thanks for all your help, Because i am going to be moving in a few months time I have decided to put off making a larger reef tank untill I have moved. I am wondering weather it would be a good idea however to turn one of my small fish tanks i have lying around into a little reef tank is it at all possable or is it too hard to keep things stable? If it is possable is anyone able to tell me what I should watch out for or what special things i will need to grow coral in such a small enviroment. Also can I line the back and sides of the glass with mirrors to reflect more light for the corals to grow better

what about if you use a floating switch like they use in the water resivour in a toilet to automatically top it up, do you have tap water of a good enough quality to run straight into your fish tank??? do you realise if you automatically take out 20% of your tank water a week there will be no room left for a gravel vac????

I have been breeding guppys for a few months now, (with fairly average results) about a month ago I got a baby reeves turtle and I decided that to be able to feed him live food I would need a more efficient way of breeding the guppys I found that if I used a breeding trap the gaps were to small and the mother would eat most of the babys before they could swim to safety and I would only end up with 4 or 5 babys I got a stationary tray from payless plastics that had 4mm square holes in it for about $7 I turned the tray upside down and cut the side walls out just leaving the corner parts to act as legs I then brought some clear perspex for $13 to make a main area for the adult guppys to be contained in and the rest of a 2 foot tank for the babies to swim around in the only problem I had was the the smaller males could get out to start with and swim around and eat the babies i fixed that problem with some bio balls i had for my canister filter that i floated up underneath the holes so that the males can't get out but the babbies can now one month on and from 2 females i have about 40 - 50 babbies in their little are (and a happy little turtle waiting for some nice live guppies) P.S. sorry to anyone offended by the fact that I am feeding fish to my turtle, but reeves turtles are endangoured species and guppies arn't

m. maccullochi has fine lines like the bottom picture ciuld be that and the top picture looks like it could be m.nigrans but i am only guessing

wow that is an impresive tank bet it cost a fortune

what does it take to just view the fish show??? do you need to enter fish or can anyone go for a look???

thanks for all your help, and thanks for offering to let me see your tank pies i will talk to you once you are back from you holiday (hope you have fun) what about lids for the tank surely highley powered M.H's shining down on the tank is going to cause a large amount of evaporation does having a lid wreck the light spectrum is it beter to have an open top and how close do you have to keep your eye on the specific gravity (i assume the water evaporates and salt stays in the tank???) I had started designing the tank i decided to go to 1800(L) x 750(H) x 900(B) but then realised that if I make it myself buying the sheets of glass they come in 8' x 7' so it would be no deerer to go 1800 x 750 x 1200 I will make the tank 750 high but the top 200mm - 300mm will be space does this seem like a good idea or is it just a waist???? Thanks for all your replies???

cheers i will look at re-designing the tank, I will probably get a glazier to build it depending on the price what size glass is best should it be 10mm or 12mm does thicker glass work better in the longrun by keeping heat more stable etc also is a sump a must have?????? can you buy pre-made sumps i am a little nervous about stuffing one up and floding my house and killing my fish and coral etc I am not to worried about the budget because I will do it slowely in stages and i am looking at starting up a pet store so it would all become a tax rite off anyway

I haven't seen any with a watteage that low but i know that it is much better to go to a hydroponics supplier for your lights as they don't seem to want the same margins a lfs does and are subsequently much cheeper There is a shop in paraparam (hydrotech nz ltd) that were selling a 150w cheep but that was a year ago and they don't have bulbs that are as blue in colour as you will want you would need to source that elsewhere can't you use a fluorescent with a ballast and vho output and get 75w?

I live in palmerston north is there anyone nearby (i dont mind treveling) that would not mind me having a look at their tank??? i want to go for a five foot tank but am planning on designing it myself so that it is not so deep but has a large quantity of surface area I am thinking of 1500mm x 900mm x 900mm my estimate is taking into account all the additions (sand rock etc) and room at the top of the tank it should hold about 700-800 liters (1215l total capacity) is this large enough? Also my theory in fresh water aquaria is that more filtration the better is this the same with salt water are there any fish stores in the lower north island that are experienced in saltwater i have been to hollywood in mt roskill auckland and jansons just up the road but it is a long drive while i am just trying to research thanks for your help daniel

Hi there i am new to the web site and relatively new to the hobby (2 years with tropical fresh water fish) I have had good luck in the hobby so far and like to D.I.Y. different accesories to get an optimumly running fish tank. I now want to move on to a marine tank and am a little intimidated by all of the knowledge required. I have been reading about marine tanks for about three months now and think I am almost ready to start building a tank. My main concern is with My freshwater set up I was constantly upgrading meaning at the end of the day i waisted a hell of a lot of money and it took so much longer to have a set up i was pleased with ( although i dont think i will ever fully be pleased). From what I can understand well cycled water is best and because i dont want to waist money and want to go straight to a big reef tank is it best to do things in stages starting with a bare tank just sitting there circulating water and make additions from there or is there more to it than that???? I am also unsure about sumps and how the pumps don't eventually overflow one of the tanks are they opperated off switches that measure the water level of the sump or do you just have to hope that both power heads flow at the same rate???? Can you still buy live rock? My friend told me that due to NZ quarantine laws we can't get real live rock is this so? or is there another way to get live rock? Your help would be much appreciated thanks alot Daniel