AshleeL Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 Hi everyone - Im new to this forum although Ive been scrolling through all the forum topics for a while now, trying to learn as much as possible (and bailing Stella up on facebook at every opportunity). Myself and a colleague have set up a biotype display tank in the reception area of our workplace in an attempt to raise awareness of our native freshwater species. Unfortunately we had a disastrous first run, being complete newbies and ended up with a tank full of fish infected with whitespot. We ended up salting the tank for close to three months in order to get it under control, which we never fully did and eventually lost all of our fish to bacterial infection. We have now revamped the tank and are starting to restock it with fish (after rigorous quarantining!). We have: Aquarium: AquaOne Brilliance 150 (398L) 150W x 50D x 65cmH Filter: Nautilus 1400 Chiller: Hailea 1/2hp Substrate: mix of natural stones and substrate from a dry stream bed, aquarium gravel and white sand base Fish: currently two female crans bullies, one juvenile koura, 20-odd shrimp and one juvenile inanga that was caught in the shrimp net. We also have around 500 snails of varying species, and numerous mayflies, caddisflies, dragonfly nymphs and any other freshwater insects we can get our hands on. Plants: Watercress, Juncus spp, Chara fibrosa, Myriophyllum propinquum, Ottelia ovafolia, Azolla (probably A.pinnata), Liverwort spp, moss (I think Hypnodendron marginatum), Lilaeopsis novae-zealandiae and Ranunculus (I think R. marcropus) We have attempted to recreate a freshwater lake/stream side macrophyte environment for the fish. We hope to include redfins, banded kokopu, another koura and more inanga over the next two months. Any tips or hints would be greatly appreciated - we have many ongoing issues with our Hailea chiller as well as phosphate and minor algal issues although we hope we are resolving them soon with the addition of new filtration media and weekly water changes. Thanks! *edit: cant seem to figure out how to upload photos here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 14, 2016 Report Share Posted October 14, 2016 A well thought out project, what issues are you having with the chiller and how did you go about loading a pic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleeL Posted October 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2016 Thank you! Our chiller has had two temperature probes and a new motherboard as it keeps chilling the tank down to six or seven degrees, whilst the panel readout says 26. Lead to a few panicked moments. It's currently operating alright but seems to have this issue whenever it is turned off for longer than ten minutes (which happens every maintenance cycle). Still can't upload photos from either phone or pc! May have to try a photobucket link or something similiar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 14, 2016 Report Share Posted October 14, 2016 I have put the photos in gallery on here then copied link into the post before if that helps. Strange with the chiller as a new motherboard should have fixed the problem, you could leave it plugged in while doing maintenance or run it on a bucket of water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleeL Posted October 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2016 Thanks livingart here are the links to the gallery- dragging and dropping image files did not work on this forum. Due to the new Health and Safety legislation, our tank has to be run from a specially insulated powerboard so if one thing is switched off - its all switched off! Caddisfly nymph Female Crans Bully Fresh water Shrimp kiwiraka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 15, 2016 Report Share Posted October 15, 2016 Beautiful system, well done Which part of the legislation is your setup governed by? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleeL Posted October 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2016 Cheers - It has definitely been a lot of hard work! Workplaces have a duty of care to employees and all electrical components used in the workplace must be certified, original or purpose built parts and fit for purpose - we had an incident where the tank overflowed and our Health & Safety Officer insisted that all the electrics were changed by a certified electrician and hooked up to a waterproof multiboard. WorkSafe are reportedly looking for an organisation to use as an example in court, so if an accident were to occur where the tank overflowed and someone was electrocuted, our workplace would have been liable. All of our electrical components must now be tested and tagged each year by an electrician. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 15, 2016 Report Share Posted October 15, 2016 Yes all the gear i use at the University is tested and tagged each year, i use plugboards with individual switches for each outlet so i can just turn off one fitting at a time. All lights run off two big wall mounted timers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleeL Posted October 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2016 I would love to have light timers - our reception staff are left to turn the lights on and off and they have occasionally been left on all night. Unfortunately with the tank leak and electrical equipment ( we have to use this powerboard http://www.powersafe.net.au/custom/guhd10-2/#) we have blown our budget by a considerable amount and are only allowed fish food expenditures for the next while. One of the problems I have at the moment is housing such a juvenile inanga its hard feeding him - he seems to be able to feed on crushed mealworms and the occasional bug he scavenges in the water but a colleague brought him in and we couldnt release him. Brine shrimps he spits out and and daphnia have always migrated to the bottom of the tank and he is definitely a surface dweller. Do you know of any other foods for juvenile fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted October 17, 2016 Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 Have fed mine crushed flake, could try whiteworms also that is one hell of a powerboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted October 17, 2016 Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 Inanga prefer to be in schools especially in the whitebait stage, thus if you only have one it might not do to well. I really believe they learn from each other, a couple of weeks ago I added 16 juveniles in a tank that has 4 existing adults. When I feed them the next day the adults of course started to gorge them selves while the juveniles schooled around them. Then one juvenile grabbed a bit of food (tubifex this time) & one by one the rest followed. Following day they all got stuck straight in when I feed them and this was a completely different food (Repashy Grub Pie). Also feed white worms, ground up prawn and for the bigger fish earth worms. An Inanga school of a dozen or so would look great in the tank as well - active mid water life. livingart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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