john1

HI Caryl So your uncle became australian. He is game. :roll: Australia at the moment is in dire straits. Draught. I'm not sure if I spelled it correctly. I don't mean a cool wind or a kind of beer. Just visited a German Forum. Downloaded a 3.5 meg program. Not sure at first what it was. When I installed it, my eyes watered. A wonderful database for aquariums. Up to 30. Decription of fish, plants, common names, latin names etc. also the temp, dH, pH and so forth. Absolutely marvellous. But, it is in German. I do speak, read and write in German. But, and that is a big but, most technical words are foreign to me. (lived here in OZ for the last 39 years). I would love that program in english. It is an unregistered shareware one. Maybe there is an english version thereof. Have to investigate. Let you know if there is. BFN John

Hi Caryl Thanks. So it was my eyes. Never mind. While we are on the subject of biomedia-changing, I would like to point out the reason why some LFS' say it should be changed more often. To make more money. If the manufacturer tells you you never have to change the bio-...whatever, it would not make any money. My old Eheim cannister is a different kettle of fish. I can only talk now of my Fluval 204. Water goes first through a coarse sponge, then up through 3 trays., of which one can be halved. The to one always should contain the ceramic noodles. The other two or three, depending of model, can contain all sorts of media. Usually filterwool ist the first to get blocked. Now then. (an old australian expression). Big dirt gets trapped first in the coarse sponge (4 in the Flugal). The you might have filterwool then charcoal. Can be reversed. If you for instance take out the coarse sponge, filterwool and charcoal and leave only the bio media, it would not last long. Full of good bacteria AND dirt. Useless in one word. So if you clean out the coarse sponge, replace the filterwool and maybe charcoal in time then you should not have to clean the bio-media. All it should ever see is clean water. Bacteria is so small it will not show up as a cloggage. So, I believe it was Warren, said you don't have to clean the biomedia is right. So if you change all the other media in time, you can leave the bio-max...rings... noodles alone for a very long time. Greeting from Australia. (A New Zealander once called it, I quote"A rathole of an offshore island". It was just after the under-arm-incident. HE HE John

Hi Goldie Loooove your Smilies..... John

Hi Shilo Thanks to you I got an exploded view of the filter. TETRA sent it to me. Now we are cooking. Thanks John

Hi Warren Maybe I am blind, but I could not see who said 4 weeks. It would be helpful if you answer and it is directed at someone, then use a name, so that the person concerned knows that he or she is meant. That was not a critisism, only a helpful reminder. John

Hi If you bring the temperature down to zero degrees, you won't have any agressive fish. Garanteed. John

This is a pretty old post. But I could not resist expressing my opinion. Pegasus IS right. The two 15 Watters is probably good enough for a goldfish bowl. I don't know how big (long) your tank is. But a 3 footer, densely planted tank need at least 60 to 80 watts. Here in OZ the rough approximation is, 10 W per foot. So a 3 foot tank has one tube of 30W and so forth. John

To whom it may concern. I believe that Pegasus' reply was the best. The average vet is probably more knowledgable than the average GP. Animals can't talk. The problem is that the average aquarist sometimes does not know himself if a fish is sick. Some fish have a disease which can only been recognised by disecting. One sick fish with no obvious signs of sickness are pretty impossible, even for a vet, to diagnose. So a mere, pardon the expression, vet-nurse has most likely less idea than a qualified vet. Unfortunately, most aquarist leave the fish in their tank until it dies, or kill it beforehand. So subsequently there is little practise a vet can get. Not enough specimen. John

HI The LFS said that the bio-media should be changed every 6 months. I have a Fluval 204, it has 3 trays. One of then can be halved. I have all the ceramic rings, here in OZ it is known as ceramic noodles, in in two of the halves. When it comes to replacing or cleaning, I take 1/2 tray out, wash it thoroughly, you can do it anywhichway you like, then put in the almost new-again ceramic noodles. When they are populated with bacteria I'll do the same with the other half. So at any given time I have good bacteria in my filter. John

Hi Shilo Many thanks. You are the first person to give the right answer or at least point me in the right direction. Went to the first site (petsmart) and it looks like the Tetra Whisper Power Filter. The only thing is, I only have ONE slot. Now I can go to a LFS and ask for a Tetra cartridge or what ever it is called. Thanks again, you are a marvel John

Hi all I asked here in oz at the boronia forum but still no answer. I try to put a photo of it on my site. Maybe someone will recognize it. But to begin with, it has a small compartment with the tube and the impeller. The bigger one seems to have a divider in it. Something is missing from that divider. Maybe someone who has this type of filter could explain how the thing should look like. Many thanks John

Hi there I've got a Hagen u/g filter. All I have to do is, move the gravel and slide the bracket toward the center. Easy. But it is possible on some makes you have to move it toward the rear. Awkward and inconvinient. In order to change it you really have to strip the lot down. Almost not worth it. John

Hi Many thanks to everyone. Now I know I'm not barking up the wrong tree. Will try it here on the Boronia Forum. Thanks again John

Hi Phillip You must be very lucky with your red tailed sharks. My big one constantly chased the little one. Most book say you should only keep one. So there you have it. There are always exceptions to the rule John

Hi Everyone I was given a 3 foot tank and a few accessories. One of them was an outsidefilter called "Secondnature Whisper Power Filter". Any idea if I still get spares for it? Thanks John

Hi Cariyl Next time you do deliveries, use a trailbike. Leaves bigger tracks He He John

Hi Midas Never used that birds..t. But If you have a cannister filter, fill one compartment. If the grit is smaller than the holes in you basket then wrap it in a nylon stocking. But first wash out the 'dust". Cannot do any harm. And the constant flow of water has more effect than a still-water-environment. Should work. John

Hi As goldie said, hers fell in. What a travesty. Fill it up, go away and it falls into the water. Goodbye to all fish. There is a place for automatic fishfeeders. BUT, it must be of high quality, and if possible with battery-backup. So unless you are prepared to part with lots of money, because you usually get what you pay for, stick with a neighbour. John

Hi there I also have black algae. But only on my powerfilter (2) motor housing and associated parts. I don't worry about it. Remove it now and again with my fingers and whatever comes off, goes straight into the filtation system and it is gone. Simple. John

Hi Regular salt addition? The only salt as such I put in, is ordinary supermarket sea salt. To make the water harder, I have extremely soft water here in Melbourne, I use saltcrystals from the LFS. Brought it from 3dGH to 23 dGH!! and a very stable pH (around the 7 mark). As far as 'calcium salt/pool salt' is concerned I don't really know if there are any additional chemicals in it. But I don't think that you can 'overcalcify' the tank water. A human should drink milk to increase the calcium in the body. Again, I don't think you can have too much calcium by drinking too much milk. The body absorbs only what is needed. The rest is expelled, the usual way. So if that poolsalt increases pH and has no ill effects on the fish regarding extra or dangerous chemicals, then go for it. I pay A$20 for 250grams!!! at the LFS. John

Hi Janet G. The idea of styrofoam is not to level the tank but as Midas and Warren said, to stop the floor from cracking. And 10mm is all you need for most tanks. A perfect level tank is not necessary, it only looks better. So however level your stand might be, styrofoam is an absolute must. If you have a metalstand, then then a bit of protruding weld is all you need to crack a heavy tank. So listen to Midas and Warren. (even though Warrens explanation was really intended for a civil engineer or a nuclear scientist, a slight overkill ) John

Hi Ira My 125l tank keeps the pH quite well after I added the beforementioned salts. My small tank always goes from 7.1 down to 6.5, which does not worry me because when I do a waterchange (20%) with my pH8.2 tapwater it goes back to the 7 or so region. The tapwater here in Melbourne is about 7.6 to 8.3!!!! And the hardness is 3dGH!!!!!!!!!. Pegasus cannot believe it. Normally high pH means hard water, but, there are exceptions. John

Hi Ira Just spoke with the guy from the LFS. I said you have south american cichlids. He said your pH should be 7 to 7.2!!!! He charges A$20 for 600 grams. Whatever that means. I personally would not use baking soda unless I know for sure what it does or not does. John

Hi Ira My water here in Melbourne has a dKH of 3 and a dGK of 4. Because all my fish died, I wanted to start again with african cichlids. the LFS sold me a powder which supposed to increase the hardness. IT DID. It's 20dGH and 16 dKH. A beaut. It is called african cichlid hardness salt. He also has the same kind of salt to increase the pH. John

Hi Ira I an not having a go at you. A small amount of humour injected should do no real harm. I really don't know what sort of cichlids you have. "South American" does not mean much. Most of them I saw in the Baench Atlas are in the region of 6 - 7.5. Then again, even that is meaningless unless one knows the exact species. So don't throw away you pH meter yet. Having a 'normal' tank with an 'normal pH reading of 7 can go down to 6.5 or even a bit less. With little effect on most fishes. But 5.7 is a dangerous level IF you cannot control it. John