DiverJohn

7100K is the one to go for BUT unless an AR620T is only 30 litres 18W i feel is a bit on the dull side ( You need more Watts). Also how old is the bulb? Less than 6months it shoudl be fine, 6-12 months its on the way out, 12 month + and it should go straight in the bin! Of course also depends on what you are trying to grow, some plants are easier than others. Have you taken the lead weights off? What is the substrate/ gravel you are growing them in? How 'old' are the plants? I found that often plants straight from the fish shop will die after a week of so of looking good - BUT the roots will be establishing themselves and often the plant will grow back stronger than ever. A bit more info would help.

Hi guys ( and girls) Does anybody have a "Tronic" Heater like this one??? I have a wee issue in that the + & - markings have worn off the dial. I have marked on the pic what i think is correct, turning the dial anti- clockwise lowers the temp (hence the minus would be on the left hand end of the dial). The red arrow is the fixed mark on the body of the heater Any help appreciated. John

Just another $0.10 worth.... You could also take a couple of hundred mls of tank water to your LFS and get them to test for Phosphates, the kit is kinda pricey, so paying $1 or $2 for a test isnt too bad. I was having problems with a white cloud in my water and tested for phospahtes, found they were off the chart ! Fixed that and the problems went away. If it is an issue, it can be fixed using PO4 removers ($$) or do several water changes over the space of a couple of days (free).

What do nudi's eat?? I think these are kewl, great to find when your out diving.

Just for the record, the air that 'most" divers use, is just that... air... well filtered of course but basically just good old 79% nitrogen, 21% oxgen ( near enough!) If you have heard of oxygen being added to cylinders then those divers are probably diving on 'nitrox'. Then there is heliox and rebreathers but thats for a completly different forum

Perhaps i should have added... considering exchange rate, freight GST and the "frigging about factor" to get it for $50 from local supplier isnt too bad i reckon.

Well I googled it and it seems to go for between USD14-18 so if you effectivly double that, add some GST, a bit for freight... well you decide... HTH John

Woo, lookie here... a link on the biosecurity website. http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/pest-and ... elaginella Also listed in the "National Pest Plant Accord" See a summary here: http://www.rnzih.org.nz/pages/plantaccord.html Which the introduction says: Maybe you should consider getting the Round-Up out !

OK so i Put the eggs from my paradise fish into 2foot tank, thats about 2/3rds full, simple sponge filter and feeding liquifry #1 ( about 12 drops 3 times a day). I had just about given up and today i noticed i have got about 10 to 15 pairs of eyes swimming around near the surface. I was told that my 2 foot tank would be perfect because you can feed the liquifry quite heavy and you wont need to do a water change until the fry are big enough to see, not being 100% sure of that i only partially filled the tank so i can add fresh water once a week> About a week ago i got a plastic container and chucked in a lettuce leaf and some water. Its starting to smell "really good" :-? and has got this yucky yellow jelly like stuff on top - Is that the stuff i feed to the fry?? Any tips?? Please feel free to point me in the direction of some websites I dont mind reading up on things myself. Cheers Diver John

In terms of 'the big ones' Jansens Mt Eden & Hollywoods are reasonably close, Other than those two you really are looking @ a bit of a drive.

As a stock item?? What brand? Do you have a part # ?? even the number on the bulb?? Anything at all would be useful.

rexel would have given you osram... One of the things with MH is that they have a very high CRI, ( simply put MH produce a very good quality of light). When you see one of these burning you think "wow that must be daylight! Typically a MH of 5000K + will give that impression to the human eye. And from a few PM's with other forum members MH's of 5000k+ produce good ( if not excellent?) results in in fresh water aquariums. There is alot of "artistic licence" around K's of any given tube, one example is here (www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageActio ... &ProdID=44 ) bulb i found in America Now if you go to teh link it CLEARLY shows an osram HQI-TS 150W /D and is advertised as 6400k...simple eh... Not quite... here are osrams spec's http://catalog.myosram.com?~language=EN ... 0300437552 I will save you some time looking them up, osrams say this is a 5200K bulb. And to stop you all rushing out to Rexel, they are available for about $80-90 +GST Hope that sheads some light on things for you :lol: :lol: DJ

hold down ctrl and then roll the scroll wheel on your mouse. Works as a zoom function on most web pages, Word docs and Excel spreadsheets

You might like to read this...

Well I would love to say it a bit plainer but the guidlines say that you have to consider what a 14 year old would think... so.... evil, I think you are wrong, ( thats being nice!) the person concerned was out to make $$, if he was in it for the betterment of the hobby he would have tried to import the plants legally!

Actually i have to come out on Joze side on this one. It cost the business I work for Thousands of dollars a year in MAF fee's as well as all the paper work that I have to do everytime a container arrives. Not to mention all the work that has been done in the last 12 -24 months improving the standards of Biosecurity in this country. There are several hundred (thousands ?) of business that co-operate with MAF and do our damdest to make sure we keep the nasty bugs and organisms out of this country. ( So MAF doesnt have to go and spray west auckland again!) Not to mention the 'legitimate' importers of fish and other fish hobby how do you think they feel about somebody circumventing the law? Perhaps next time you question the costs of fish, think about the costs associated with MAF spending 50K of our hard earned tax $$ on this. UltmatelyThis cost will be passed on to consumers, it may not be directly to "fish people" but it will be passed on. Just so you know the increase come in the form of something like this. ( Email From MAF 10/8/2006) So yeah, pretty much effects everyone, from someone importing live fish, right through to the expensive tube you buy for your fish tank.

"eye lighting" do a range of MH in the 70 -250W range @ 6500K

Hi Guys, a while ago i aquired a big stainless tank and 6 paradise fish. Been sitting outside and i have been doing water changes, feeding them, but hardly ever see them. Well last week i cleared out a little 2 footer and put all the plants ( Val & some Hyrgo) into the tank. Last night i went out to have a look see and found this under one of the leave of a Hyrgo Stalk. Also managed to spend 5 minutes watching 2 fish build a nest among some val ( pic 2) Now i know these wee beasties build bubble nests, so i am thinking thats wot this is. How long do i leave them in the tank before moving them... and all those other questions about breeding Any help appreciated. John

Just following up on evils post about tube lenghts... One particular advantage of t5's is, they are all about 50mm shorter than their t8 cousins. While Evil is spot on about probaly having to go 30W ( or 3 ft tubes) on a 1200 long tank because 36W (4ft) tubes wont easily fit, especially if you have a hood! If you went to the t5 equvilent of a 4ft, its 1149 mm long, and is 54 Watts! Hope that helps. John

Well as far as lighting goes if your starting from scratch, i would seriously consider T5's, and dont automatically discount T8's either. For a planted tank the range of kelvins available in both T5 and T8 is good, replacement bulbs are cheaper, and at 500mm Deep ( less when you add substrate) i think a decent 'bank' of tubes could be the way to go, Unless you are looking for the trendy look with a suspended MH? Just a bit more for you to think about ... I still havent decided on lighting for my 5ftx2x2 project( looooong term project :lol: ), been thinking along the lines of 3x 150W MH, and a couple of 54W t5's... all on timers of course and probably not all on at the same time!!! Look at some of the photoperiods that the guys with salt water tanks run for some inspiration Good Luck John

I wouldnt try an run a T5 in a T8 fitting, even with all the mods to get it to fit, i am not 100% sure the ballasts will even drive the T5's. In relation to the colour of tube, 6500k is certainly daylight colour and works really well. But you need to be abit wary of the other number at the beginning of the code. 865 means the lamp is 6500K colour but has a 'quailty' rating of 80+, you can get a 965 which is a better quality light, closer to natural sunlight (90+). I have run various combinations of lights ( all T8's). A 50:50 split between 865 +965 and also 956 +880 ( 8000K) tube produces good results. Also 865 and 880 are available as a T5. Hope that helps

HI Shuih.... Hey be carefull with the iron test kit. I bought one a while ago, tested water yep iron was low! so thats great BUT once i organised a good PMDD fert, plants grow like crazy, hardey used the test kit ever again, so it sitting 90% unused, and.... expired. Dunno if it is really useless, maybe some one who has been using kits longer can elaborate, do the reagants deteriorate once opened?? For my ten cents i would happily pay the $1 if the LFS would do an iron test, better than paying the $40 ( i think) for the Fe test kit.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

You know sometimes you see something done really well and its nice and simple, you think ... "Damn why didnt i think of that !!" Nice job, an excellent example of "Keep it simple stoopid" NOt saying your stoopid, cos clearly your not, ya know, ok, i'll shud-up :lol: Oh and some nice slim pendant T5's would look wicked!!

And for those of you like me that said: WOT THE...??? http://www.theaquarians.net/ArticlesandWallpapers/dither_fish.htm