DiverJohn

Different subject following on from another post.... Purchased a 2nd hand tank with a DIY external filter with about 15l of what i thought could be Effisubstrat. Opps Good Job I rang the seller!!! I recalled he mentioned he kept cichlids, and my recollection from reading a very informative website was that cichlids like alkaline conditions and that maybe the substrate wasnt what i thot it was - it turns out to be plain old pumince. So doing a google.com on "aquarium filtration pumice" turned up #1 piece of info was from the same website I was just about to search! (on a side not maybe that why I see so many international members ) Anybody with any experience running this stuff? How long does it take to stop leaching? Any advise welcome...

Thanks for the info Warren! If you like you could copy and paste your reply into the post on "one or 2 filters" as well. Maybe I should look a bit harder at the 3 DIY jobbies I aquired when i purchased the tank ( for those of you wondering it was the 5x2x2 on trademe. ) With a tank this size using your rate of filtration mine should be somewhere around 3000lph. But I guess you need to consider the "acreage" :lol: of your surface areas. The DIY cantister filter came with approx 15l of what i think is one of the Efi** filter mediums (not the noodles). Thanks for the info

my $7 WW culture from the lfs was going really well for a couple of months before i drowned them (too much water one day and it went slimy :-? ) Anyway once you get the moitsure level right as Bill said, I fed WW on a square of bread soaked in milk and just put ontop of the soil. For feeding out 2 fish i would simply put a moist cloth on top of the culture and put teh whole thing ontop of my flouro light fitting. The WW's would come to the top and i would scoop them out with a teaspoon. I only gave my fish WW's ( or any treats) about once or twice a week. Currently I am feeding a mixture of Biosupplies "Cichlid Tucker" and Frozen Bloodworms. And the rest of the time Flakes and Spiro' Discs. My Silver Sharks really like their greens :-? Spiro Discs and Zuchinni get demolished!!

Just got a new tank (5'x2'x2') and was wondering if anbody has any thoughts regarding setups of filters. The end result is I think going to be a "community" tank for my two silver sharks and maybe some large tank mates in the future, and many (possibly 60-100) smaller fish like my Harliquins, Gold barbs. Maybe some neons, rummys etc.... And dont forget PLANTS. Planning on having no plastic plants. This is some way off but would be glad to hear you opinions re: filtration. Being a diver, the concept of redundancy is appealing. But I am also wondering about things such as circulation/ water movement. How much is needed? Do i need to consider "dead spots". Have good experinces with a particular brand of filters so would probably stick to the brand i like. Looking more for info on setups rather than "brands" Cheers Diver John

HI Rexliz, there is a crowd in Aucks' called "lamp Specialists" over the back of Ericson Stadium. Give them a call, they might be able to help. If you call I would suggest you have the numbers off the tube written down (or have the tube in your hand! ) You could also try googling the numbers on teh tube, never know what you might find.

HI Rexliz When i first read your post my first thought was "Custom lenght" perhaps for the model of fish tank you have? To a degree, the only way you will get things at "electrical wholesaler prices" (eg $8 for a cool white) is to have common tubes. The common sizes are 30, 60, 90, 120, 150cm (or 1->5 foot in the old language) You also need to be aware that currently the "common tube" is a T8 size (approx 1inch in diameter). So you need to check that measurement too. There is a newer high power tube called a T5 which is in general about 5% shorter and about 1/2 the diameter of a T8. I would suggest IMHO that anything outside the lenghts/ diameters above is not "common" and is going to cost you a bit more. IMO lights are a bit of a tricky thing, especially when you first start looking into replacing them without paying LFS prices. its a science on its own! Try this site if you want to try and do some of your own looking http://www.osram.com -> products. FYI in the trade "luminaires" are what you and i would probably call "fittings" HTH, good luck John

I had a similar idea a while ago and looked in to the CC tubes but they struck me a too expensive at the time. Any hoo your post prompted me to do another search... Came across these... http://www.coolcases.co.nz/ click on the "Lights" section - small blue neons for $15, CC tubes $20. And another http://www.stylespc.co.nz/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=3079&cat=125&page=1 CCBlue Tube $15. Heaps more on searchnz.co.nz

Strewth!! There is a "pillow" you can get from your LFS that sits in the filter. I cant remember the brand name - someone will post with it soon I bet! [edit] Aquarium Pharmaceticals Water Softening Pillow [edit] Mine was "a bit high" at 200 degrees (12 drops from the test kit ) put the pillow in and it dropped to "6 drops" in a couple of days. Although that i suspect will only be a short term solution you need to find out what is causing it. Not an "expert" but this time of year you may need to consider evaporation as a cause. Are you still taking out some water when you do weekly water changes? If you are just topping up as the water evaporates you are concentrating the minerals that contributes to hardness. I have a small 60l tank that is "loosing" about 4l of water a week. I still take out 4-6l and add 10l of new water. (With the lids off too keep it cool my big tank is evaporating about 10 l per week!) I am sure some of the long term experts will chip in too so wotch this space... Hope that helps, John

I got some meal worms a while ago. My silver sharks dont like them and they are too big for the barbs & harliquins. Frozen blood worms go down a treat tho

Thanks Matt Oh just one other point about "layers" A couple of months ago I purchased 20kg's of 2-4mm (thats the size) dark gravel, but it wasnt enough to do my whole tank. So i thought to myself "OK I will put my new gravel ontop of 1/2 my old gravel" The old gravel was made up of white + tan + light brown which i didnt like Bad move!! The old gravel also had a high % of larger stones in it (4mm+) over the last 2 months the fine gravel i like has simply worked its way down into the lower layers and I have lost the nice dark gravel effect i liked. Might seem obvious now, but not so obvious when i was doing it! But if you do it Matts way you'll have no problems

Gidday Peter

I have got an Ehiem 2226 Pro canister filter that came with the tank ( I bought the whole setup 2nd hand for $500) from trademe. I havent been doing this long enough to have had experience with other brands but one of the reasons I bought the setup was because i looked at an Ehiem in the LFS (similar model now in Pro II range) and it was about $350!! + it had an awsome reputation! All the posts and articles i read before getting a tank indicated that filtration was perhaps one of the most important things in keeping a good tank. I would like to upgrade to a larger (approx 500l) tank and am considering buying a second Eheim. IMHO within reason you cant "over filter" a tank. I think the general rule is that you filter should be able to turn over 3-4 times the tanks volume per hour? To use Pies analogy, if you buy a merc' that says it can do 200kph, you can be assured it will probably do it all day, and up a reasonable hill! Whereas you dihatsu might do 180 (on paper!) but in reality...

HI again Suzi , great to see someone else going thru all the same questions I did 6 months ago I purchased that exact kit from the LFS. I must confess that I was really keen because many years ago I did a BSc and enjoyed chemistry so surphews' # 1 I'm guilty - even kept a log book :oops: Then pretty much guilty for #2 as well. But now I am a bit more comfortable with fish keeping i run the tests about evry 2 weeks. I have got into growing plants as well now, and have added a Iron test kit which I use ocasionally. HTH John

Oh der... under gravel FERTILISER :oops: Thanks for the other tips.

Oh, not quite sure if we are talking about the same stuff. Laterite comes in a yellow & green box and looks almost like gravel except orange. I must admit that the LFS guy said "Wash it first" and i didnt. My tank went really cloudy orange for about 5 days - although i just let it settle out as I was concerned the grain might be sufficient to damage my filter. But ever since then I throw a couple of spoonfulls into a sieve (yes i have a different one for spagetti!! :lol: ) and run it under the tap till the water runs clear then i literally throw it in the tank in the area i want it. I am very keen on the aquadic clay idea and bought a 15l bag (approx 20kg's) for $9.95. put some in a container to see what happens and it goes cloudy instantly but teh next day its all settled. Sephew, could you confirm... if you were to put this clay into a dry aquarium, then cover with your gravel , and slowly add water, how long would you expect for the cloudyness to last?? If you add the water really gently would you get any?? I am looking at getting rid of my 1.1m and go to a 5'x2'x2' and trying to sus out the best way to go.. Matt: your comment regarding a under gravel filter... have you done that to encougage some water circulation through the substrate? Do you run the air pump 24/7? Is the result you are aiming for similar to the effect of adding a cable heater to the substrate? I was thinking along the same lines And if i could just clarify are your layers actaully... UGF, gravel, clay+peat, then gravel? Hope you dont mind me asking so many q's on your post Suzi but I think I'm on the same topic

HI BK, I had a similar problem a couple of montsh ago with some rummy nose tetra's. BUt they were mature (about 2 inches long) Over the space of a couple of weeks 3 of 4 went all weak, hiding in teh corners, wouldnt eat. basically wasted away the 4th one is still alive and kicking zooms around with the barbs, and harliquins no problems. I havent been doing this very long but from reading some posts on here male fish can be quite "agressive" towards females and I wondered if that might have something to do with it??

Add 1 vote for Flourish Excel CO2 - DIY system Lights 5x30watts 12 hours per day. Plants - Blue Hygro, Cambomba, Couple of Swords, and some thing else fast growing Hairgrass, mondo grass(i think?) Pruning everything except the swords weekly! Yes even the hairgrass!! I use laterite sparingy. (wash it first under running water) then sprinkle it around the base of the plants. And JBL 7 balls under each "group" of plants about 3 months ago. As for Algae, although you say you have enough fish consider a couple of SAE's ( I got 3 about 2 weeks ago & wot a difference!!) And Maybe some otto's - i have some bristle noses that keep algae under control. And i found planting more plants helps with algae. Hope that helps

OK, those sensitive individuals i apologise in advance but I thought you guys might like a funny storey I heard from some american tourists.... They were out diving on a boat and the lady got stung by a jelly fish. Well Pies is right, vinegar does work. But alas the dive boat had no vinegar! And the locals (whom I under stood to have a very poor grasp of English) weren'ty much help. So many miles off shore, and not requiring amputation, hubby was pressed to provide a "suitable alternative" to the vineagr. So off he raced to the gally, grabbed a coffee cup, ducked into the head (the proper name for a loo on a boat! ) A short time later he returned with a coffe cup full of, shall we say, "yellow liquid" and he proceded to quench the burning. In a strange twist to the storey there were no coffee cups on board the next day And FYI this is actually a legitimate First aid treatment for jelly fish stings

HI Ronin, Yeah forgot that you had a 2 footer - the "commercial version" it is a but ugly eh? Anyway it sounds like one of those arcadia units might suit you fine, I have got some for my tank too (4x 3foot sets) as back up. They are a nice setup. You might like to consider spending a weee bit more and get one of the double fittings units so you can run 2 tubes off 1 unit. Keep the one you've got for spare or if you decide you want more light for plants (like I did) or you could maybe set it up on a timer with a "moon tube"

Hi Ronin, Sounds like the easiest thing to do is go to an electrical wholesaler like Rexell and get a pre wired 2 foot twin luminaire (light fitting). I think the trade call them a "flat pack" its got everything you need in the box. These are a fairly standard fitting should be easy to come by. You also need to get a reflector also available @ the wholesaler and designed for the fitting so it just bolt together. All you need to do is wire in a cable from the plug, to the fitting. Probably the cheapest way to go with a bare minimum of wiring. DONT FORGET AN RCD!!

I use a bubble wall for about 6 hours at night when the lights are off. Reason is because i run a diy CO2 to grow plants, there is "thoeretically" a possibility that the CO2 could make the water too acidic at night ( when the plants arent using the CO2). Altho with DIY CO2, my understanding is it is less likely to get too acidic, i run it anway, doesnt do any harm. pH is constant @ 7 Hope that helps

Hi Beachy... my tank is 1.1m long and there is quite alot of plants in it. My two silver sharks (7-8") can easily "disappear" amongst the plants. its really kool to see them sneak out throught the leaves if your interested I added some more pics last night - bit blurry, need to work on my photography. http://photobucket.com/albums/v626/DiverJohn/Feb05/

Oh and.... I just went onto Plant barn on Tuesday and ordered a big pot ($19.95) so thats coming in next week for me. The different grades was actually a bigger pot not long or short , big or small pot.

OK come on fess up, whoes got a REALLY big pot!! :lol: Just had a thought... Go around some of those develpments and see if you can score an offcut of plumbing pipe. picked up about a meter "offcut" of 4" pipe, and if i wanted to i could get an endcap to fit it. That assuming your piece of driftwood is relativly straight

Just my 10c worth... I agree with Caryl. IMO you should probably go for a dark gravel. I had a mixture of white & tan gravel and my tank looks heaps better since I added a heap of dark brown gravel. You might be thinking the fish show up better?? I think you will find that the white gravel will actually reflect light straight into the eyes of whomever is looking at the tank actually making the fish harder to see. Hope that helps...