DiverJohn

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pets-animals/Fish/Pumps-filters/auction-71519471.htm

Hi Murray, I have a 250l tank running an old eheim 2028 Pro , i have also aquired 2x 2228 ProII, and an Ehiem Wet/dry. I got all of these second hand and not in preistine condition. The 2028 came with my tank and i suspect has been running continuosly for atleast 4 years. The others had all been running on a saltwater tank, but were replaced by a sump etc ( as those salty people do :roll: !). Although working, i completely stripped, cleaned, replaced all the seals & shafts, filled them with new media &... they just work! All up about $50 for parts, $200 for media - enough for 3 filters!. The wet and dry is a noisy beast of thing - an issue that many have - but otherwise is a great filter! IMO Ehiem rulz! A second hand Ehiem can be picked up on TM quite cheap. But i have never had any others, so cant draw a comparison.

Hey fishy People! Now this isnt a conspiracy against teh rest of the country so dont hassle me all you mainlanders ... ok!!! :lol: I have had a clean out in my tank and my yellow bucket is overflowing with: Rotala Macranda (HEAPS!!!) Stargrass And about 7 baby E.Orisis. Needs to be picked up cos i am a bit limited at getting around after breaking my ankle a week ago! There is probably enough for 3 or 4 people to get a good chunk each. {Edit} Please let me know by email [email protected]

As well as getting big those sharks are FAAAAST and jump when excited so you need lids on tank, I had two, now only one shark, about 20-30cms in a 4 foot tank and i think it is barely big enough.

Freshwests' PMDD is great!!

HI Graeme Test your water before putting it in the tank, then you know if you have a problem at source or if its a problem with your set up. As you are running CO2 - evn DIY - I assume you are growing plants? Plants actually "use" hardness in the water so you need regular water changes to keep hardness up as well, not just to take out nitr*tes. I find that if my water change is a couple of days overdue the plants stop giving off O2, but start again as soon as i do a water change. If the softness is low then you have very little capacity to buffer so you could just try adding a bit of Baking soda to increase the hardness, and see how that goes to start with. Once you can see the effect on pH, KH & GH, using a more measured approach ( teaspoon of Baking Soda @ a time) Bird grit may be a long term solution. Or you may just need to bump up the hardness when you do a water change by adding a teaspoon of Baking Soda to the fresh water. HTH John

Hi Radu, forgot to make one point... what coloyur is your sand/gravel? White or light coloured gravel reflects alot of light straight into your eyes, making the fish look far less colourful.

Your tank is about the same as mine which is 115 cms. UNfortunatly my 'dodgy size' means i cant run 4 foot tubes so i run 6x 30W ( or 3ft tubes) thats 180W over a tank that is about 250l If i had a 122cm tank i would run atleast 4x fourfoots and possibley even 6 but adjust the time they where on (photo period) - but thats just my thoughts to get my plants to grow!

HI Caper, IMO Alan is about 80% right, and to be fair i think most people dont need to run it. IN simple terms carbon is used to take 'chemicals' out of the water, things the filter cant pick out. One example has already been mentioned medicines. The one that springs to mind is melafix the instructions say to remove carbon from your filter 'cause the carbon will filter it out. Another example of what carbon is used for is to remove tanins from the water. Tanins are the brown stain you may get in your water when you put a piece of drift wood into your tank. I have also read that some people use carbon to 'polish' the water, to make it crystal clear. You should also be aware that after a while the carbon breaks down and actually releases back into the tank the bad stuff it has absorbed - hence why it needs to be replaced regularly. HTH DJ

I 4th that!!! Also my stargrass looks a bit like that, keep it trimmed back and it grows nicer. Its also quite fast growing under better light so without going OTT you MAY need a bit of fertilzer to help with micro nutrients.

HI Stompa... dont worry about it! Some people just get a bit pedantic. However something to point out to the camera enthusiats. The two bulbs that have been taken out from the tank are i suspect the two offered for sale on trade me 'rated' at 10K and 15K respectivly. NOw regardless of the accuracy of these 'ratings' I can assure you that interms of visible light that humans can see ( and automatic cameras repsond to?) the HI K bulbs are actually appear dimmer that a 'daylight' tube because the eye ( and the camera?) only pick up the useful light. Anyway, thanks for the pics Stompa, I think it shows the difference between old and the new setup quite well.

Even tho i have never grown it i was going to say the same as sharn!!

Even tho i have never grown it i was going to say the same as sharn!!

Well here is what i would do... Do a 25-50% water change straight away. depending on Number of fish etc... 10-15 % every two weeks may no be enough, most here would recomend that 10-15% is a minimum weekly change. Any ornements that you can easily get out, do so and clean them in hot water. rinse well and return to the tank. Check your filter, if there is an algae bloom, it may have become clogged and flow reduced. rinse it carefully ( Ie dont clean all the cr@p out) and re-install Comlpetely close the blinds to keep sunlight off the tank, if nessasy cover the tank during the day. You dont mention lights... so will assume your friend has some. turn them right back. to say 6 hours per day, if your friend has more than one set , consider turning 1/2 of them off completely. Slightly longer term you may need to check the age of the light tubes, if more than 9 months consider replacing them AFTER thing are under control! Feed the fish while the lights are on. Check how much your friend is feeding. Be very pedantic and ensure everything is being eaten ( in about 3-5 minutes) Finally continue to do a daily water change of 10-15% till it comes right. And MORE details about your friends tank would help. Exact size, fish (qty and size), lights. Oh and long term.. try real plants...the fish will love you for it ( but thats just me :lol: :lol: ) HOpe that helps. John

Yep... use Fastway as well, no complaints so far but i only ship plants.

[edit} doubled up :oops: :oops:

Yeah.. dont worry about shipping plants... they are very hardy. I have shipped as far afield as Christchurch and as far as i know they arrived sweet !! And a recent batch to wellington arrived ok too...

Theres your answer fishoi!!! How long do you have that going per day luke?

I'd say yes 8) Good indication that all is well in the tank. Plants have plenty of nutrients, CO2 and Light. If your not getting any algae then the balance is good!

Yeah.. its called "wattage"... unless you go T5 and pay for a good electronic ballast which you can dim... What are teh dimensions of your tank??

Hi fenris... SO much to tell... I woudlnt nessasrily jump at the el cheapo flouro tubes. They altho not very bright, the colour may infact promote the growth of algae. Warm / Cool white tend to be quite hi in the red/ orange part of the colour spectrum - and unless you have a full range of bulbs lined up beside each other you would be hard pressed to see the difference. Also the el cheapo bulbs will probably only be a 'c' grade, ( or more likely an "e"!) this refers to the quality of the light, as you get closer to 'a's you are getting closer to teh quality natural daylight. I would be inclined to pay a wee bit more.. go for a good 'daylight' or if bunning's stock it the newer 'sky white' which is 8000K. If you are worried about "brightness" for your axy's, only put 1 tube over the tank. ( but i dont know how big your tank is ??) Hope that helps. JOhn

Thanks Laurence ... been waiting for an update :roll:

Well looks NUFFIN like my leopards

I have a personal preferance for Ehiems and have a HOB that i used to use. As Caryl said, it depends on the water level depends on the brand but anything more than 20mm below the lip of the tank and you are likely to have a water fall == noise. Also re flow... On my eheim and on my brothers HOB ( dunno brand) and on my neigbhours HOB, they have a little 'valve' than you can vary flow.

What Antwan said But FYI... I run 6x30W T8's on a 1150x 500 x 500 tank. ( about 250L). If my tank was a wee bit longer i would probably run 6x36W (4foot) tubes. John