freshwest

The problem I see with trying to remove the other fish is that with all the disturbance that would be involved with doing that the fry would get eaten. Even trying to siphon out the fry will be a challenge. I guess the big question is how many days do they need to feed off the parents before they can go it alone.

I wish it was that easy . There is the pair + 3 other adults .

I have a pair of discus that spawned a few days ago, which was great. The problem is they have spawned in a tank with 3 adult discus. The fry became free swimming this morning. The obvious problem is their chance of survival in that tank is going to be marginal at best. Any ideas? There best chance I can see is to get them out of there and into a small tank. Has anyone removed fry this young from their parents with success. It seems a real shame to take them out as the parents are doing a great job.

What phosphate remover gives the best bang for your buck? Are all p removers created equal? I plan to maintain a phosphate remover in my new FW planted tank. I brought some Rowa to start with, how does this brand compare with others? I read some where in here about using aluminium oxide as a p remover or have I got my wires crossed.

Has anyone had success-using UV to control blue green algae? It should help with controlling the b/g algae that is in the water column. I would be keen to know as I am anticipating a problem in my newly set up 1300 L tank, as I have b/g algae in my other tanks its only a matter of time before it gets in there to.

Everything is up and running. Got the co2 in yesterday. Have started to think about a background. At this stage Im thinking of using 10 mm poly painted black. What backgrounds colours are people using out there? Maybe a lighter colour would crate more depth? Penny for your thoughts.

Thanks for the offers of floating plants everyone . I have decided to heed Warrens and Lukes advise and wait a few weeks and see how the other plants develop. I drained the tank yesterday and added an extra layer of gravel which seems to have stopped the aquamix from leeching out . Did a run into Auck and brought some plants will add some more today . Heres some pics of the progress so far.

Everything is up and running and working well. The only problem I have is water clarity. It seems the JBL aquamix is causing the problem. I put a good layer of gravel over it so it should clear in time. Im on the look out for floating plants. With 800watts of M/H light the tank is very bright. I plan to use some floating plants over the middle surface area to give some shade for my discus. The plant that comes to mind is Ceratopteris thalictroides (indian fern,water sprite) if anyone has some they would like to sell let me know. I will post a plant list of other plants Im on the lookout for in private trade and exchange.

Quick up date. M/H lights up and running. Working on the sump today should have it all up and running by tonight. Plumbing turned out to be a bigger job than planed and as for the price of fitting don’t get me started If everything goes to plan I should get some plants in over the weekend. Pics to come.

A commercial irrigation shop will have 20 mm plastic check valves. One thing you may need to think about is the head you will create with the pump having to open the check valve when running. The other option is to have less water in your sump so that it can handle the back flow if the pump is off. You can minimise the amount of water that can be siphoned back to your sump by having a small hole just under the surface of your inlet line so that when the siphon starts due to a power cut it will only siphon water out until it reaches the hole then the siphon will be broken due to air being sucked through the hole, or have your spray bar very close to the surface . Hope that makes sense?

Week 4. The maiden fill went with out a hitch. No creeks or groans which was a relief. Here are few pics of the progress so far this week. As you can see the aquascapes are glued in place and the gravel is in. Will post some details of the plumbing and lighting later in the week.

Good points Warren .The plan I have is only to plant in the areas i have cut out of the polystyrene aquascape and areas were there is no R/UG.These areas are around 100mm deep and i will fill these areas with a good plant growing substrate . In a way it will be like planting into pots.

Week 3 Started on a bit of a downer. After reading Warren’s post I decided to move the tank from the stand and take a closer look at the flatness of the base. Not such a big deal with a conventional tank but with this monster a logistical night mare not only did I have to build a tempery stand but it required considerable sweet talking and the promise of beer to convince some friends to help move it again. Checking the base turned out to be a good move as there was variations in flatness of around 1.5 mm in places. The variation was caused when small pieces of wood and steel got trapped between the stand and the base when I was screwing the base down. Anyway problem solved. Thanks for the info Warren. As far as setting up the tank goes I have just about finished the polystyrene aquascapes, just a bit of tidying up to do around the fitting. Finding the right bit of drift wood turned out to be harder than I thought. I spent 4 hours walking up a river in the Coramandels, at times up to my neck. Having a picture in your mine of what you want and finding it in reality turned out to be a challenge. At the end of the day I was happy with the piece I found even though it was not quite what I wanted. This is probably a good time to give an over view of the design I have for this tank. As I have said earlier the tank is being set up for discus with an emphasis on low maintenance and high water quality. I guess the best way to describe what I am planning is a cross between a bare tank and a planted tank. The success of the project well be if it looks natural and the fish are healthy. To achieve this I went for poly coated with gravel. This has minamised the amount of gravel need and in turn fewer places for wastes to accumulate. It looks at this stage I will use around 100kgs of gravel instead of the 500 kgs You can see in the pics of the poly aquascapes areas were i have created the places for planting . These areas will be filled with a mix of gravel sand and laterite . Another feature I am going to try with this tank is a reverse under gravel filter As you can see by the photos the R/UG filter covers a large proportion of the central area of the tank. I hope by doing this it will prevent the build up of waste in the gravel. The R/UG is to be run in a kind of closed loop. I.e. The water will be drawn from an intake at mid level (you can see the hole in the left corner) from there it will pass through a 10 inch pleated filter and returned through the r/ug. The pump Im using for this is an Eheim 1262, which has a flow rate of 3200 l/h. The advantages I see with this system are. 1. The pleated filter should maintain exellant water clarity 2. The 50/60 mm layer of gravel over the under gravel filter should act as a reseasonble bio filter. 3. By defusing the return water over a large area I can achieve a high water turn over rate with out creating high turbulence. 4. Cleaning a pleated filter should make maintenance easier. The overflow (top right hand corner is to be connected to a 150 L sump .The sump will hold a bio filter, heaters, Co2 diffuser, auto fert doser, and possibly a UV light. The sump water will be returned via a 2000l/h submersible pump to two spray bars positioned vertically in the front corners. The 2 pumps combined will give a turn over rate of 4 times an hour. I also intend to install a constant drip system (8.l/hr). This will take care of evaporation and provide a small daily water change. Lighting. Metal halides will be used for the majority of the lighting. The dilemma I have with these is the ones I have are 400 watt, one is not enough, and two a bit to much. Ideally a couple of 250-watt lights would be best. The lights are to be set up with most of the light focused on the planted areas at each end of the tank with the middle area being shady. I also intend to use fluros, not sure of the configuration at this stage. The main purpose of the fluros will be to provide dawn and dusk lighting .I would like to add some moon lighting further down the track. Well that’s about were im up to. Heres to a productive week, every thing going well we should see some water in the tank by the weekend. Thanks for your thoughts and encouragement.

Here are some pics of my DIY overflow. The key points to remember when building one is to make sure your out flow pipe is large enough to handle your pumps in flow and you put a check valve at the top of the U bend. The check valve stops air bubbles from forming in the U bend, which would stop the siphon. Here is a pic of my Fronts that are in that tank.

Hi Warren .The glass is 12mm . (fingers X). Looking forward to your pics . In fact it was after looking at some pics of your tank you posted sometime back that inspired me to have a go at a big tank .

Hi Krib .Drilling is best, but you can also use an overflow box. I made a couple and they work fine cheep to make to. Google DIY overflow box should get plenty of hits. I made mine from a couple of Tupperware containers. I will post some pics of what I have made.

Things are progressing. a little slower than anticipated with Christmas and all. The main project up till now has been designing and building the aquascape . I have decided to build it out of polystyrene. The idea behind using polystyrene is to avoid having gravel 20 cm deep. One key point I have for this project is make it low maintenance .I will post some pics soon which should help explain what I mean.

What a day! Met Greg (tanks2u) at his place to help him lift the tank into his van. First impressions Hell that’s BIG, second impression 10 minutes later hell that’s HEAVY! The move into the fishroom turned out to be a nerve-racking experience, without the forks on the tractor I don’t think we would've made it. It took a super human effort with 4 men to move the tank 10 meters with the last lift onto the stand being brutal. The body is still recovering... Anyway the tank is now in position and the viewing hole cut in the wall. I'm really pleased with the results so far. I’m still pondering plumbing and lighting options, will up date when things are finalised...

Big day tomorrow. The long awaited new tank is being delivered . Dimensions 230 x 77 x 77 . Total volume 1363 L This is going to be the new home for my Discus and other Amazon fish. Will posts some pics in the next day or 2 . Its been a long road to here having had to build a family room (viewing side ) and a fish room (tank side) . The building project started in June so the arrival of the tank tomorrow is a big mile stone . Still plenty of work to do , plumbing , filters ,sumps , lighting etc . Should be fun

Just what i needed . thanks ghostface . Great price to .

I’m running a sump on my 450 l tank planted tank . I found I had to install a pressurised co2 system to get good plant growth . Co2 is a must without it you will find that the high gas exchange through the sump will not leave enough co2 in the water for good plant growth . I also found it difficult to keep my pH down again because the sump gassing off the Co2 . Over all i am happy running a sump when you take into account low maintenance, added volume, and high water quality.

Me too . Thanks 1 Dragon28 2 Pablo 3 Kazz 4 Blueand Kim 5 Caryl 6 Freshwest

Thanks for the replys . From what i have been told they are a young pair and have layed eggs a few times but have not raised any young yet . (Sounds like my discus ) . Hopefully with the right conditions they will get there act together . I will put some photos up when i get them in a couple of weeks .

Does anyone have experiance with Uaru's ? The reason i ask is I have been offered a breeding pair . From what i have read they require conditions the same as Discus . My long term plan is to have them with my Discus in a 1200 l Amazon bio type tank . My only reservation is they could be a bit to hard on plants .

Well done Dogmatix . Great looking fish . Were the parents wild caught ? . Put me down for some .