DiverJohn

Hey everyone.. all my plants went last night - thankfully to a good home. I thought you might like to see what happens when you strip down a tank that hasnt had a gravel vac for 2 years. Had I known that Java fern was in short supply I might have tried to wrangle a bit more from 'fresh' but he breeds cichlids so he will probably get his money back one day !! Any whoo, Fresh parted with $100 for this lot... I suspect some of you 'planties' are going to drool!!! 1)First up is an over view of what came out, not shown is enought 'rotala macranda' to over flow a 5litre bucket. Also the left hand side of the towel are a couple of small Orisis and Java Ferns 2)Next is The Main E.Orisis in the tank. In the plant survey is a pic of E.Orisis, but this isnt that plant. Over the years that plant 'died' and spawned the "one" ( :oops: sorry everyone thats counted as one in my book !) in pic 2 and 2 others I found at completely the other end of the tank. 3) THIS is the Rhizome from the E.Orisis i purchased in 2003 for about $20. The original plant sort of "died off" and as you can see this was sprouting little ones like crazy!!! Yes its thicker than my thumb! 4) Lets just say fresh's exact words where... "Oh My... is that Java Fern?" And he had this kind of look on his face mixed with :bounce:

Thanks Guys !!

Hi Guys, Just wondering if anybody out there knows if this is legal. What i am trying to accomplish is for a devise ( in this case a fan) to switch off when the devise on another cuircuit ( a clothes dryer) turns itself off (NB the live side will still be energised) A sparky has told me you cant switch the neutral, or wire the fan into the neutral side of a circuit, but is it legal to use the neutral to energise a relay? I hope the pic is accurate Cheers

Na mate, got a bit extra, but it wasnt the insulated type, but did the job nicely.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Sorry Lady, but thats really funny! Dont you hate it when you do things like that?? Just to prove we are all human I installed a DVS over the weekend, Read the installation instruction - yeah shocking eh!! - they said place vents as far appart as possible. So i did. I got them 8meters apart...One in the living room one in the hall by the bedrooms... was feeling really clever till i realised i only had 2x 3m lenghts of ducting !! :evil:

HI guys and girls, I was wondering if anone has any ideas whats wrong weith one of my paradise fish... Symptoms are: Fins stuc out to teh side, scales look to be sticking out and woudl swear appears bloated?? Any ideas?? Treatment? Been to Jansens they have a couple of new aliment remedies...Acriflavine and Methylene Blue ( thats been around a while I know) and of course Melafix. Will any of these be useful ?? Any help apprechiated. John

For an extra $2 you should ALWAYS replace starters with tubes, ages ago when i offered tubes for sale, they where included. I am not 100% sure on if your Aqua one is the same as mine, but you may like to check the connections of ALL the wireing into the components. I was having drama's with 1 tube in my AO 2x3ft unit, after trying EVERYTHING and almost replacing the ballast I touched a wire into one of the ballasts and it fell out in my hand!!! So I undid the screw then pushed the wire back in and hey presto! The ballast stopped buzzing, light lit... and stayed lit, all good!!! And I am sure it doesnt need to be said but... disconnect it from the mains!! HTH

Warrens right but i find the 965s work better than the 865's for growing tricky plants ( particularly red one's)

Try some of these links.... http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/commerci ... troduction which starts off.... All plants and plant products are prohibited entry into New Zealand unless an Import Health Standard (IHS) has been issued. Import health standards include the phytosanitary measures that must be taken in the exporting country, during transit and during importation and quarantine before biosecurity clearance can be given.[/ also of some use may be: https://www.ippc.int/IPP/En/default.jsp Hope that helps

Thanks for that Will have a ring around tomorrow AM and see if i can track down a glazier thats open. Can you PM me some contact details?? Thanks John

Hi Guys, Anyone in south/central Auck got a wee bit of glass lying about?? came home from 2 days away to find 120 of 150 litres on the floor of my spare room!!! A piece about 300x150 would be great. if you can help PM, email [email protected] or txt 0274 666 339 Thanks John

A few more things to consider. All of those figures will have be generated running the tubes on the best elctronic balasts you can get. Pretty good chance you will be running 'old skool' magnetic ones. Was looking tru some data sheets froom Osram check this out ... a 5ft58Watt 865 Daylight puts out 5000 lumen, and 840 (warm white) = 5200, 965 (biolux) = 3200 Lm and the good old "Floura" - aka Grolux - 2250lm. I have had very good results with a combination of 965's + (865 or 880) 965's are a bit pricier, but the 865s & 880s are cheaper, so on balance still works out at 1/2 the cost of a LSF tube!

Sorry to be a predantic Alan but no the 'rating ' is written on the tube :lol: :lol: google seach with key words: fluorescent tubes age spectrum Basically yes... they tend towards the warmer colours

Well i have my own opinion on "the best light for fish colours", and it's quite simply as close to daylight as you can get. Ie: 5000-8000K. Having seen many tanks and lots of photo's where people say "why dont my fish colours stand out" i have to say that IMO the biggest culprit in making fish colours 'bland' is that damned 'pea soup' gravel the LFS supply. Its got too much white pebble in it. And that white pebble is reflecting light straight into your eye... making it look washed out. Remember fish evolved over millions of years to camoflaged to predators, alot of whom, look down from above. So think like a fish. If you where swimming around on a white ( or light coloured) background would you turn your full colours on ??? For my $0.10 I would first spend $15 and get some nice dark substrate, Dalton propagating sand would be ideal, with the added bonus your plants will love it! Then just get some daylight tubes from bunnings.

I use Alumnium Sulphate available from Garden centers and Mitre 10, bunnings etc... $7 per 500g bag Add 2- 3 table spoons to a bucket ( 10l) of water,Physically remove 'excess' algae, put plants in solution, put in a cupboard over night ( 24hrs ish ?) kills everything! Except the plants. I do this on tropicals, so cold water plants should be hardy enough! Aluminum Sulphate is also known as "Alum" or (I think!) "Hydrangea Blue"