Luke*

I agree prolly halogens; i looked into it once and short answer no, they aren't any good for plants, not the best spectrum of light, too red. shame otherwise they would've been a convenient cheap solution. they do get very hot though.

Try adding some methylene blue next time to fight fungus, the air stone will mix it well. Better luck next time. Usually subsequent spawns work out better anyway as both the eggs and milt (sperm) will be fresher.

Sweet. I meant how are the babies going now?

Last I saw it was at Pet City (Hamilton) but that was a while ago now

Hey Shae, I've heard these fish are great hair algae eaters. How are they going now?? All the best

Great pics - cute kids. I use the same to raise my discus.

Peat doesn't just lower pH it is also a relaxant and apparently has hormones in it that induce fish to spawn. It's a huge element in the wild so the fish always enjoy some home comforts.

Allow 10G/discus, leaves you 20G for all of the other fish. Just beware that the beta may mistake any bright colours for another betta (assuming it's male) and attack it. Same goes for the guppy tails.

I've just tried twice no luck they all died. And that was feeding liquifry as a first food too. Apparently bacteria is a big killer though so next time i will rinse them after hatching and see how i go.

This is a good topic i'm in Hamilton and want to convert to MH. Why do those setups have the bulbs in them also? Are they known as T5's the ones Jansens and the like use on their big display tanks? Is it to provide a more even spread of light, colour spectrum, both, or something else? Let me know how you get on slappers

Which Hollywoods? I got some spare cash

Aside from light, carbon dioxide is the most important nutrient for plants. There's lots of info about DIY CO2 and pressurised for that matter. Lots of people still have success with ferts and good light. Some CO2 is produced from the fish and absorbed in to the water from the atmosphere. For real lush growth though you want CO2.

From what i've heard they are expensive overseas too, as said, they're becoming scarce in the wild so naturally this drives prices higher than petroleum. Yeah I remember reading about Kim's one and someone who had a female....any more info there lucky zebra owners?

Mine works well, but i find like flourish excel it often leaves a slimey coat on the surface of the tank. This is likely just too much fert that is being consumed or maybe it is one nutrient in excess. My trace element states it has balanced proportions. The slime can easily be removed through siphoning the surface of the water or just doing a water change to break it up and dissolve it, it is a pain though as it cuts down on light levels. The advantages exceed the disadvantages though and is especially economic compared to commerical ferts. You want 0.1 ppm of iron so you could invest in a kit. Any more or any less the authors of PMDD at thekrib state has equally detrimental effects. Just like any nutrient, it should be just right. My mix is a combination of macro nutrients N-P-K and micro nutrients (trace elements) but you could have them separate the N, P, and K, as well as the trace elements. Every setup will have different requirements for the nutrients but I don't know how you're supposed to know which are more or less required for certain plants and setups.

Pet World in Hamilton currently has some

Just make sure the end doesn't come away from the pump or it will siphon your tank out. I use one as described on pressurised C02 so it's no worries. Probably would be a nightmare for DIY yeast CO2

Just make sure though if the CO2 runs out that it doesn't create a water pocket that the fish could get into and get trapped. It's an old fishing method used in a similar way where the fish go in to the get the bait and can't find their way out.

Smuggle a few wilds through customs? It's for the good of the hobby c'mon!

I used an upside down 300ml coke bottle for a while that worked well weighted down with sinkers and hidden in the plants. If you've got something long you might wanna put some mesh over the end so fish don't get inside and get trapped.

http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html There's a table 2/3rds of the way down that tells you optimum CO2 levels and you can work this out through your pH and KH, in terms of bubbles per sec you'll need to experiment till it works out right for your tank's water chemistry.

Do I hear a group trip to the Amazon?

Yeah i agree give up on the shell. It's CO2 that has dissolved into the water releasing and raising pH. You'll want to age the water every night with a bubbler and heater then use that for water changes with your discus so it stays constant and doesn't swing the pH for them. edit: and have a stocking or two full of peat in the aging container to counteract the raise in pH if wanted.

I know people don't like to hear it but discus 'prefer' to be by themselves - like most fish. They also like 0 nitrate which usually means lots of water changes. They also like to be in groups of at least 5-6. www.simplydiscus.com some more tips for starting out and basic discus requirements. goodluck

Halogens emit red light which many have found their plants don't like much although swords seem to like it. The red end of the light spectrum is the low end 3000K and most people use as above the 6000-7200K hotter white type. 9000K is blue hot like light reflected off the blue sky.

Does she have any white worms/blood worms???