DiverJohn

HI Lorenzo. Cant wait to see the pics. I see from your post the lights you are 830 and 840. Now i might be wrong but... I think you may need to get some higher "energy" lights. Lighting is a science all on its own but I do kno that the tubes i got over here (NZ) all start with "9" Eg i use Osram Biolux Tubes 965. ( they are 2x - 3x the price of your average "cool white") But see how you go, If you notice any problems with you plants it could be something worth considering...

Hi Snowman I think you'll find its the florish Excel "Organic carbon for the planted Aquarium" Thats what it says on the label. ( Instructions say "Dont overdose" but you'll find the recommendation for controliing BBA requires double dosing. ) But for about $9.95- 11.95 per fish you can get some Simese Algae Eater's they r damn good at keeping it under control once the Flourish knocks it back. I purchased 3 for my 250l tank. And apparently they like having mates so get a couple at least. HTH

HI Squirrelfish, I havnt been keeping fish very long either, but Alan and Surphew have covered all the main points. I would also suggest you make sure you have polystyrene under your new tank (if the stand is good quality you could maybe get away with only 1/2' thick piece). Finally there are a few posts in here about transfering fish from 1 tank to another (usually a bigger tank ) Keep as much of the old water as possible. Dont clean your filter. You need to keep as much of the good bacteria as possible to speed up the bacterial colonisation of your new tank. Good Luck

Ira wot pump are u running? I think I have got this dorko stand pipe, opps DURSO :lol: sorted in my head. just sorting out a few more thing before i sit down and draw a diagram and ask for opinions... Cheers John

Polycarbonate, is a perspex type stuff They make heaps of things out of it now. Its not a brittle as perspex tho. I think you might also find it is AKA "acrylic" If you search on the net http://www.searchnz.co.nz is good. For "poly carbonate supplier" or maybe "acrylic plastic supplier" you are bound to find someone. It is avaiable in sheets and you can cut to size. Eg: someone like this could help... http://www.engineeringplastics.co.nz/plastics/semifinished.htm

Looks Great Warren

Ditto to all the above But I also have a small tank planted with a few fish (non jumpers!) and a some of the plants grow out the top , looks kinda kewl. Actually put this tank right infront of a window, but no artifical light. Goes really well.

I cant see it either

Couple of things.... The sword going red. Is it Echinodorus osiris? If so i think its normal. Mine do that. Then go green later on? Do you know much about Metal Halides?? I am thinking about lights for my new tank and was thinking about 2x 75W MH and 4x58W (5 foot) Fluoros. I dont know much about them...

HI Dark, 250ish l tank, depth from Water surface to substrate approx 450mm. Substrate is nothing special, sprinkle some washed laterite around plants whenever i think about it. DIY CO2. Lights 5x 36W Flouro's. Hygro grows well, Cabomba ditto, Indian fern going good too. I have a couple of swords growing pretty good. I have an unidentified hair grass from the plant shop, grows REALLY well (see my pics) but litterally right next to it I have some mini mondo (or mini sag??), from the LFS, that looks rubbish. Seems to spread slowly but never looks really good. Sounds similar to your problem??

Thanks again for your input Pies. Beachy, Franklins in East Tamaki have a good selection of Hansen Fittings and can get in pretty much anything you want. Bunning East Tamaki also have a good selection of Hansen Fittings, But no bulkhead fittings... Good luck, keep us up to date with progess. JOhn

http://www.dursostandpipes.com/ FANTASTIC!!! Sounds great idea. Seriously looking at putting a sump under the living room floor / basement now . 1060 might be on the cards. Cheers Pies (Oh do i get a prize for getting to Pg 22 On dial up!! :lol:)

Hey Pies, thanks very much. I need to go back and have another look at your post, but there is lot of info in there. One of my next questions was going to be "how far down from the top?" Oh well I'm off to read some more... I'm up to page 6 - I think :lol:

HI beachy, I am asking th same questions!! I think a sump may be the best way to go for me. So far my conclusions are... 1. Tidier: all you heaters & stuff can go into the sump. 2. When set up right, my impression is they are very efficient. 3. When you consider the $$ per litre filtration, they are relativly cheap. 4. You can DIY it ! Ok + or - depending on your DIY ability 5. Realsised the other day that if I did a small DIY sump, and i need more filtration (eg a canister filter) no reason why that cant be added to the sump. 6 Finally, if your not sure... Drill the hole in the side (near the top)and put a bung in it!! I am finding out its a wee bit difficult to drill a tank once its made!

HI Hilary, Sharks are kewl eh?? I have got 2 (aprox 8" each) in my 1.1m tank. Also in there are 7 Gold Barbs, 20 Harlequins, A pleco, and 5 catfish of various sizes. Oh and 6 Kulhi loaches that I never see :-? . It is quite heavily planted and my sharks are actually spending alot of time just chillin in the background - would you belive they can actually hide in the plants? Anyway in total my tank is about 250l and I think its too small for my sharks. I dont think its over crowed, but i am certainly not going to go putting 50 neons in there!! I run an Eheim 2226 Pro II. I think it would be fair to say you cant have too much filtration. I've been keeping fish almost 1 year now. And have already purchased another tank, its 5x2x2 (about 550l). I am looking at having between 2000-2500 litre per hour of filtration on the new tank. How i accomplish that is another matter When I get the new carpet, the new tank goes in. Hope my fishies appreciate it!! My sis- in -law came ova the other night, with the two sharks hiding in the corner she asked "What are those two up to?"

Found some "peat" at the garden center. "Hauraki Gold, 50l of compressed peat moss" Apparently no added fertilizer. Is this the right thing to add to a planted aquarium?? Cheers.

BUt its soooo complicated Pies Now i know how Scotty felt... :lol: Latest Suggestion from my dad is "Well if your strenghtening the floor in the basement... Why dont you put the whole lot under the house!!!" And dont laugh but I do actually have a couple of 200l plastic drums I use for cleaning my dive gear in!! I thought that would be OTT!!

Hi Caryl, I too have been asking about filtration of late, and the consencus seems to be that in general you can never have enough. OK, if you get a whirl pool in your tank you might have gone over the top :lol: My new tank (560l) I was thinking about 1200 would be enough, I am thinking now that 2000 would be a minimum. Just my 2c worth John

Cheers for that Pies. Just trying to get a handle on this and the post you mention is realllllllly long ... All the pumps you mention are 2000 lph+. If I look @ the eheim specs http://www.brooklands.co.nz/eheim/techinfo.htm (for those interested) i am guessing the 1250 I was thinking of getting is the baby of the 12** range. Would you have any info, or method to work out an expected flow @ 1m head? The max head is 2m. The drop isnt linear is it? You say your 25mm over flow handles 3000 lph. Is that 3000l out of the pump(s) or is it an actual 3000l through the overflow? What effect does submerged / external have? Perhaps I should also point out that the tank is only 560 ish l (5'x2'x2') and I will have 1 external Canister filter (probably a proII 2028) because i like the reliability and redundancy aspect of more than 1 filter. I think that between 1500-2000 lph of filtration would be ample (oh yeah its FW not marine )

Hi Everyone I am looking at the process of setting up a sump/ trickle type filter in my new 5 footer. Wondering if any of you running sumps could give me some measurements of your overflows, pump capacities, and maybe head height I am thinking along the lines of a 40mm overflow with 1000-1200 lph (@ zero head eg: Ehiem 1250) pump which will have to pump up to approx 1m. How does that sound? Too much? Appreciate your help John

Did a bit of reasearch and i found this... http://www.reddevilfish.co.uk And this is a small file but all i can say is KEWL!!! http://www.reddevilfish.co.uk/Video/HandFeeding.WMV Now when I empty my 1.1m tank and put my fish fish into a 5 footer with plants etc what to do with the old tank?? Mmmmm Funny tho I would look @ it as being a bit mean to have 1 fish in a big tank all by himself but if the fish likes it...

Hi Beachy, Just incase you missed it I posted a similar question last week... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=5483 I was looking at maybe 1200-1500 lph (for a 500L+ tank), but when you read Warrens post you might even consider more. With my 2nd hand setup I got a DIY barrel filter and also a really nice glass biological filter. I didnt think i would find any use for either of them, prefering the canister filters. But to buy 2000 lph of "off the shelf" canister filters i would have to re-mortgage my house!!! HTH John

HI jjf (hahah thats my initials too) I started up a small tank (60x30x30cms) a couple of months ago. I was in the fortunate position of having a big tank (110x50x50cm) as my main tank. So this is what i did.... I set the "hang on" type filter up on my big tank and ran it for a week to fill it with bacteria. If you have got the room just set up the new filter on your old tank and run 2 filters - I dont think it will do any harm When the time came to set up my new tank i took 50l of water from my big tank ( a normal water change) and tipped it into new one - it then needed only 15ish litres of water to top it up. Install the hang on on the new tank and I was away... No wi realise you might not do 50l water changes but I work on the theroy that you might as well help the process along as much as possible by using water from you old tank. evry little bit will help speed the process up. Couple of pics here if you like to look, taken a week or so after set up. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/DiverJohn/2_Footer002.jpg and.... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/DiverJohn/2_Footer001.jpg I have got 4 Gold Barbs, 3 Kuhlli Loaches, and a Medium size bristlenose. A good helping of plants, good chunk of driftwood, it is naturally lit only... HTH John

No probs with that here... I mix cold water from the tap and a bit of hot to get temp up. Add some aqua plus, then straight in the tank. No probs so far.

Thanks freshwest and thanks warren For those of you interested.... http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=2062&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=pumice {edit} and thanks Caryl!!! :lol: I {edit}