Maintenance Latest Topics

Casualties...due to water change?

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 06:58:51 +0000

Hi guys

i returned home from work yesterday to find 3 dead fish... two 6 cm frontosa and a 5cm electric yellow. Now i had done a water change ( well not so much a water change just a top up from evaporation)a day or two before about 5-10% in a 6*2*2. i just used tap water and was going to plop in some water conditioner until i realised i had run out.

i looked at the temp and it only dropped about 1 degree and returned to its original temp in an hour or so.

i assume this unconditioned water was the reason for their deaths?

how do you guys do water changes in large tanks?

how often and how much?

Any help appreciated

Cheers

Chris

Cleaning Empty Tank

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 23:55:09 +0000

Cleaning Empty Tank - Calcium Stains.

Author: yaldaraisamonkey

I was just wondering if anyone has used Hydrochloric Acid to clean calcium stains from the inside of a fish tank.

Im just not sure if the HCL will damage the Silicon.

Has anyone dont this before?

What kind of mix did you use?

Replies »

Author: Benny85

i remmeber there was a thread about this before, the general conclusion was that acid must be diluted alot before used since very corrosive on fish, probably not a very good idea to use such a fully ionised acid solution, maybe try a weaker acid ? like vinegar?

Author: wysiwyg

Hi,

Try using pH down - I found that this worked pretty well and obviously doen't have any down sides that I have found.

wysiwyg

Author: cirulis

I used diluted HCL on my tank, cleaned it off in no time, just wash the tank out heaps when your finished. And ad small amounts of acid to large amounts of water when diluting

Author: YeW2001

I just used warm water + vinegar and it worked for me.

Easy

and safe

HTH -

Author: petroby

G'day All, yes the vinegar method has been around since glass tanks came into being it works well, also cleans chrome, brass, pewter too.

cleaning old tanks

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 23:32:13 +0000

I know it sounds obvious but I just want to know what is the best way to get built in dirt of glass lids and tanks besides a bit of elbow grease.

got some old algae and calcium build up on mine..

any ideas.

Cycling: Fishless cycling

Thu, 21 Oct 2004 03:09:11 +0000

Hi all,

I am currently undertaking fishless cycling, I have been puting amonia into the tank for about 4 days, I now have nitrates. All the info I read states that you need to continue until you get a nitrate spike, then reduce the amount of amonia till the nitrate reads 0. Whats constiutes a spike? At the moment NO3 reads 12.5 is this a spike? yesterday it read nothing.

Cycling: Handling ammonia/nitrite spikes

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 08:42:28 +0000

I've just checked my water with testers...

indicates that there is quite a high level of ammo and nitrite

what should i do besides change aged water and put in some media from another established tank ? Would changin aged water kill whats already established?

oh the tank is only 3 ft and only been set up about a month ago...with a cheap sponge filter and hang on filter...

Also any one heard of "Ammo-Lock" or anything similar to use?

Does it work ? and how does it work ?

Thanks for you help

Tam

Filtration: Nitrogen cycle: Water changes

Fri, 08 Oct 2004 13:35:56 +0000

hey guys i have an 8x2x70cm(H), at the moment i keep:

1 saratoga 30cm

5 frontosa 7bar

1 gold spot pleco

i use 1 ehiem canister filter 1500L/H i bought from AOA. airstones x 3, 2 heater one on each end, im running the inlet and outlet of CF on one end of tank.

my Q is:

is it more efficient to run CF inlet & outlet on opposite ends?

is this CF enough filtration for all my fish even when they are fully grown up?

ps tank water conditions is very good and very clean at the moment?

Help, fine scratch on outside of tank

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 08:32:56 +0000

G'day All,

I just accidently scratched the outside of my tank . The scratch is very fine, you can't feel it with your nail. Since this scratch is very fine and on the outside of the tank can it be removed safely.

Thanks for your help, this really has bummed me out,

Jamie.

High Temperatures

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 21:48:04 +0000

High temperature!

Author: Cichlid Boy

I actually unplugged all my tank heaters the other day as I figured that the temperature would stay high enough naturally now that summer has arrived.

I woke up this morning (after a sweltering night) to find most of my tanks at 30deg!

And to think that it's only going to get hotter.... better start freezing those water bottles.

Replies »

Author: Auscanuckafishy

Tell me about it

I had bottles in the tanks all day yesterday, they would be fully melted again within 30min.. ugh!

No casualties to speak of at least.... Hopefully today won't be as bad cause i'm not gunna be home to look after it all

Mark

Author: Melbourne Bill

But in Melbourne I have had to reconnect my heating system over the last 3 days because the water was getting too cold.

No-one wins

Author: KoJSuperMarine

yeah it is very hot

bad for the tanks aye

i have air conditioning where my tanks are in our lounge room so i leave that on when im down there temps usually dont go over 28!

Author: SamJW

I would have thought that most cichlids could handle temps up to say..... 34 degrees? At which point I was going to begin to panic.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Reg's

Sam.

Author: Anita ozfish

My garage got to 36 room temp on Monday, so I opened the doors to let some air circulate. It went up to 39

. It was actually hotter outside DUHHH The tanks were all running at about 32 at that stage so I closed one door, put the pedestal fan in there and the temp came down quite a bit. Lack of oxygen is the usual killer on these hot days, so make sure you all have enough air running in your tanks.

Author: Cichlid Boy

Sam - when water temperature rises, so does the metabolism of the fish in it. They start to breathe heavier/quicker - and at the same time, the higher the temperature of water, the less oxygen it can carry.

34 degrees is about 3 degrees higher than I'd like to put my fish through, especially as I have some Tanganyikans who are genetically accustomed to deeper & cooler water...

Author: elise007

As you say Anita lack of oxygen in the water at higher temps is a high risk.

I am currently running a trickle filter system through all my tanks in my shed using a Pondmaster 4200. As it has an outlet in which i can plug a air tube inot i have done this and it pumps air straight into the return tube of the pump.

My thought was that this would keep plenty of air in the water? Is this accurate or not? If that isn't the effect that it has why would you have that ability in the first place?

Mark

Author: Link 2 Hell

Sam

Rift lake species are use to a pretty constant 26-27*C enviroment and don't take well to sustained temps over 30*C

On the other hand it would not phase equatorial riverine species which are considered hot water fish like Discus, Jurapari, Appistos, Etroplus, Hemichromis and Steatochromis

The main point is oxygen content in the water and the ability for gas exchange (breaking the surface tension)

This can be increased with a more aggitated air volume through the airstone

The main benefit of a trickle system is the amount of saturated oxygen it leaves in the water take note of this if you bag a fish from such a setup in hot weather for a prolonged period, if the fish is use to an oxygen rich enviro it will distress quickly you will find this more so with Champsochromis that don't travel well most times if overcrowded

Author: meesterclarence

Greetings. The only time I have a problem with the temperature is during the winter months, and then it is keeping the water warm enough. We have terrible winters, and every time I leave for a day or two, I get really stressed out. I keep all my tanks in the main house, and totally avoid the garage, as they would surely freeze. My salt water fish are especially susceptible to temperature changes, as I have many extremely sensitive types of fish, which are beautiful, but very challenging. Good luck keeping those temperatures right!. Take care.

m/c

Author: SamJW

Thanks for the info everyone, sounds like I should jump on the band wagon and start freezing some water bottles too.

Cheers

Sam.

Author: danceswithdingoes

Usually turning off your lights during the day, removing hoods and lids and have a fan directing air onto the water surface is a more effective first aid than resorting to the freezer bottles.

I just fired up the protein skimmer on the seahorse tank to help oxygenate the water (hovering at 28 degrees)

Author: SamJW

Hi DWD,

I agree with your logic, plus it would avoid cold spots in the tanks.

My only concern with doing that is that some of them may decide to see what's on the other side of the glass and jump out.

Thanks for the hint.

Reg's

Sam.

Author: steph

We had a heap of casualties in the salt water tank on Monday/Tuesday

Lost all but one fish, 3 shrimp, the abalone ...

The coral banded shrimp loved it however, he shed his exoskeleton and grew!

Steph

Author: ducksta

Sorry to hear that Steph

Personally I feel leaving the tank and holding a stable temperature is better than dropping ice blocks in or anything that will slowly drop temperatures which are only going to rise again. Is this safe? I am hugely paranoid now!!!

Author: 00 Electric 00

someone mentioned above about takin the lids off and letting it drop naturally I prefer that way.(if I doesnt get too hot)

To solve the problem with fish jumping out put ( dam forgot its name but its a sheet of plastic which has holes between it u also use it to separate a tank into sections).

good luck everyone

Author: Fishy Chris

what are you guys talking about? You seem worried at 39 degree heats haha. Penrith (10 minutes away from me) had temperatures reach 43degrees the other day lol (third day in a row that it was over 40 degrees). Bummer eigh lol. Ah well. At least i have a nice air conditioned house (well its actually normally an igloo because the room im in most is always the coldest haha).

Cheers,

Chris

Author: Alan Caboolture

Consistant high temperatures are a bit of a problem here in S.E. Qld also although the water in my fish room has not gone above 28C this Summer yet. Some of the other big breeders here not only have insulated rooms, but have reverse cycle airconditioning as well. warm in Winter and cool in Summer.

If I put air con in my fish room my wife would go balistic! So I make do with an $800 air blower and just about as much in plumbing, airlines, valves and diffusers. In other words I use evaporative cooling. One, two, sometimes three airstone (plastics in my case) depending on the size and position of the tank. Keeping catfish cool in summer is a problem but with adjustment of air and evaporation up or down temperatures can be controlled within limits. With my system I can have some tanks 7degrees cooler than others and all in the same room.

So forget your ice blocks and just turn off the heat sources such as lights, open a lid or two just a fraction, and add heaps of air during heat waves. It's just basic physics, but mind you keep the tanks topped up as you will lose quite a bit of water in the evaporation and cooling process.

Alan

Author: Pommie Dave

When my tank temperatures reached beyond 32C the other day I did some wholesale water changes of about 60% with new water at around 27C.

I know that you shouldn't really do water changes with a difference of 2C but it seemed the only practical thing to do at the time.

The fish seemed to love it! But is this really ok to do or am I asking for trouble??

Author: Fishy Chris

whats wrong with doing water changes with water that isnt the same temperature as the tank water is?? I always do water changes with cooler water because i dont bother heating my water first, and i have NEVER had any problems at all. I think fish only hate the water when the sudden change in temperature doesnt rise back upto the normal warm temperature it should be (so if u suddenly put in a heaps of cold water and leave it at that temperature). Although it does depend on how cold the water is that ur putting in because if its 20degree's colder then it might be abit too much of a shock lol

Cheers,

Chris

Life Buffer Theory

Thu, 04 Aug 2005 07:13:59 +0000

Life Buffer Theory explains how we can all do our tanks in our own way, and at the end of the day our fish live and breed, and even though which ever way we maintain our tanks, one way may still be better than the other. We can improve our practices and SEEM to be just as successful, but in reality we will have a greater Life Buffer for maintaining long term successful aquarium maintenance, and in the short term if a problem arrises these “optimum” decisions can prevent the issue from having a greater detrimental effect than it otherwise could became.
I have called this the Life Buffer Theory, and it advocates that “an aquarium’s life buffer capacity for maintaining life is determined by the number and quality of optimum decisions”.
"It works for me", we've all heard it said, and have probably said it ourselves. I came to ponder why it is we can do things so differently and the fish still seem the same, when I knew it could be done better, though lacked an answer as to why someone should alter their habits. I had no ready answer to contradict this comment, even though in my own mind knew, “it works for me” was a litany for maintaining ignorance. Aquarium keeping is an information based hobby, and the more knowledge we have the greater our chances of success - the fish may be alive and healthy, but that doesn't mean you can't improve the Life Buffer capacity of your tank.
A hobbyist can ask several different people the same question, and receive just as many different responses and none of them necessarily wrong. How can that be? To that I would say some responses are better than others, and our decision on how we have put our tank together, will decide how robust our biological Life Buffer capacity is at supporting aquatic life. Dependant on how you combine all the different choices when setting up a tank, from tank size, to stand construction to filtration type, how this filtration choice is set up, to heater wattage, equipment brands, to lighting, how many bends are used in our plumbing, species mixing, fish numbers, pH, temperature, aeration, gravel size, depth and composition - every decision we make, will affect the final capacity of the tank’s Life Buffer.

A tank’s size will have a great impact on the Life Buffer- the bigger the better, however we can still have an extremely successful smaller tank with the right choices coupled with the tank size.
When we set up an aquarium, from the first decision to the last, we have a variety of choices to inform our decisions. Some of these choices will be forced on us, such as tank size for example (I would really like a ten foot long tank, but I can’t afford it). Nevertheless, a choice is made and a tank of two foot is settled upon because of these constraints. It is fairly well known that when something goes wrong in a tank, it will do so faster in a smaller tank than a larger tank. So this simple economic choice has decreased the Life Buffer capacity of our tank and this is how the theory behind Life Buffer can start to impact. That doesn't mean you can't have an extremely successful two foot tank, it just means a number of other choices will hang off the reduced tank size. If we have made the most number of "optimum" choices in all the choices we have made, then our biological life support safety Life Buffer will be wider, if you have made poor choices in one or more areas, these poorer choices can have an accumulative effect on the Life Buffer’s width. The narrower it becomes, the more chances you have of a situation, IF something goes wrong, that it becomes terminal to the tank's inhabitants by the Buffer narrowing to the point of elimination, and how long the tank can stay set up in its current fashion without further intervention/changes. That is, how successful long term overall the tank will be, and when something goes wrong, wether this problem is a mere "hiccup" or the fish suffer to the point of discomfort, ill health or death.

This tank has been set up with a denitrate filter (white PVC back left), 18 watt UV steriliser (middle bottom) and a UPS with external battery (right) which powers a small 15 watt Eheim 1048 that pumps water through all the bio media (in this case, Denitrate, bioballs and Matrix). The Eheim 1048 will continue to operate in the event of a power blackout due to the UPS providing a continuos supply of power to facilitate the pumping water/oxygen to these media. The Oase Nautilus 12,000 pump (front left) has also been plumbed in line rather than emersed in the sump, which will cause the pump to have less impact on the tank’s temperature – important if you live in areas that get hot in summer. This tank will have a very broad Life Buffer capacity.
If we stay with the above example, what happens if one of the decisions we have made is to keep Oscars, which are readily available in shops at around 40-50 millimetres, so after being asked for advice the shop assistant looks at the length of the fish, and concludes that they will be okay in a two footer but doesn't take into account the fact the fish will grow and become much larger. We put five Oscars into the tank, and everything works well with the box filter that came with the tank, but as time goes by the fish get bigger, produce more waste, and even with increased water changes and filter maintenance the tank can’t maintain a healthy balance due to its size and filtration method.
We may upgrade to a better filter, but the fish continue to grow and aggression problems increase. If we don’t intervene, we may lose some fish due to this, so we take more advice (or come to our own conclusion), and we purchase a bigger tank which will increase our Life Buffer. Had we chosen a bigger tank originally with better filtration, or not put Oscars into a two foot tank with a box filter, we would not have be forced to make alterations as our Life Buffer’s capacity would have been broader from the outset. If we don't improve the filtration and tank size the Life Buffer capacity will eventually narrow so much that it is in danger of snapping and be no longer capable of supporting our choice of biological life forms.
If we improve the tank size but keep the same filtration, this will help in the short term but soon the Life Buffer capacity will begin to narrow again due to the extra load on the filter from the increased waste produced from growing fish. So it will not be fully effective in this example to increase only the tank size if we don’t also improve the tank’s filtration capacity. That doesn't' mean to say we can't keep the five Oscars successfully with just a box filter in a bigger tank, it may mean more water changes and filter cleans for example, or more careful feeding, more experience coupled with more astute observation, and so on. However, the size of our Life Buffer will still be narrower; we just have to do more to keep it sufficient. If this tank was filtered by a system that turned the tank over 4-5 times per hour, it will be much more successful at maintaining a clean tank, and thus more healthy fish, not to say less maintenance for the hobbyist due to an increased Life Buffer capacity.
The choices we have to make are not only about equipment (type and brand) commensurate with tank size and biological load, but also how the equipment is set up and how it is maintained. Continuing with this example, we have five Oscars in a six foot tank and we have a great....canister filter on it and the tank is being turned over five times an hour. However, we have not packed the filter optimally and have reduced its effectiveness by not using the mechanical media in the correct order for example, putting the finest media first and the coarse last. What effect will this have? The filter will get blocked faster as everything will be trapped in the first layer of filter wool, while all following layers will remain relatively clean (unused). "So what", I hear you say, "just clean the filter more regularly, and there will be less to clean when you do it". True, one could do this, however, apart from what is the point in having other coarser media in there, more frequent maintenance means more effort, and people on the whole are lazy creatures, and if more work is required, that means there will be more chance the tank's filter is run at less than optimum for longer, and more often. In itself this will not kill the fish, BUT the Life Buffer capacity will be smaller. Also there is the knock-on effect to the biological media's inhabitants. A filter getting dirtier faster, and for longer, will mean overall less water flow, less water flow = less nutrients (ammonia and nitrite) getting through to your bacteria, less food for the bacteria = less bacteria = less denitrification = more possibility of an ammonia issue. In addition, less water flow through to the bacteria = less oxygen, less oxygen = less bacteria as this will now become an additional limiting factor on the bacteria's population level. This domino effect will happen, and have this impact. All in all, it probably won't kill the Oscars, but what happens if there is a power outage with the tank already not operating at optimum, this little 'hiccup' may then prove to be the deciding factor on whether your tank can ride out the blackout…or not.

How well we set up our tank can have different impacts on our fish depending on species. Some fish are more forgiving, others can be more prone to “mysterious” problems. Perhaps these mysteries could be better understood when the accumulating impacts on an aquarium’s Life Buffer are taken into account? The aquarium housing this K1 colony has a denitrate filter, and receives regular water changes from water pre-prepared in a barrel. It also has two large canister filters on it – if one filter should fail, the second is still in operation. One filter was neglectfully not turned on for about a week after a clean with NO affect on the fish.
How does the Life Buffer Theory impact on the bacteria that cycle our tanks? There is a plethora of biological media choices out there, which is the best and which should you use? The end answer will be dictated a lot by individual circumstances, but that doesn't change the optimum order of rationale behind the choice, it will just make us select the best for our circumstances. Bacteria ALL need three basic things to exist, and any one of the three things can be a limiting factor on their population levels, and thus their beneficial effect on the tank. These bacteria need a surface area to live on (our biological media), oxygen (for aerobic bacteria) and a food source (fish waste). Limit one area, and this will be your limiting factor - the maximum beneficial/positive impact the bacteria's bio rhythms can have on your tank as you have limited their population size and thus its impact.

1. Surface area - every thing has a surface, everything is capable of being a bacteria’s home. The basic aim is to get as large a population into as small an area as we can.
2. Oxygen is a big player, I think not as fully recognised as it should be, explained below.
3. It is fine to have their food source (organic nitrogen) as a limiting factor as if this has limited the population level, there isn't excess pollution to cause damage to the tank's balance or the fish.
So two areas we need to have input on are 1) surface area, and 2) oxygen. Take a few common media; bioballs, matrix and sand (as used in a Fluidised Bed Filter), these three media all have MASSIVE surface areas.
If we were selecting a media by their surface area capacity alone, bioballs would be the weakest of the three choices. However, bioballs when set up as they are intended to be, in an emersed, out of water situation with water trickling through them, don't have the limiting factor that submerged matrix and sand have of oxygen availability. In addition, with a properly set up system containing bioballs, in the event of a power outage with the bioballs staying moist the bacteria will not suffer, and with their easy access to oxygen will not suffocate. With any sort of biomedia in an enclosed/submerged situation no matter how well it is set up, after about an hour the bacteria will start to suffocate and die. In a sump situation, it won’t be as bad, but still not as good as when the water stops flowing through them, oxygen will not be brought to them and they will have to rely on what is in the still water about them, which they can quickly exploit. This means when the power comes back on again, we not only have no (or less in the case of a sump) bacteria in your biological media, all this pollution will be pumped directly back into the tank. With the bioballs, the power starts again and the bacteria get back on with the job. Keep your bacteria alive, and you keep your fish alive (this is a key point), and not the other way around as they are the LIFE blood of your tank. In addition, with water trickling through bioballs, you are in effect increasing the tank’s footprint and with it, its ability at oxygen exchange. Bioballs actually add oxygen to a tank, where as other forms of biomedia take it out.
“My tank has plenty of oxygen” I have heard said, ”why do I need more and what advantage do I obtain?” The advantage is to increase your tank's Life Buffer capacity.
Matrix’s main differentiating feature is that it advertises that in addition to converting ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate, it can also break nitrate down. This is pretty good, however, for those of us who do our regular water changes, this build-up of nitrate is being exported anyway, and while it is terrific to remove it further with the use of matrix, fish will suffer in the case of emergency or over crowding (or a combination of the two) much faster from lack of oxygen than they will from an excess of nitrate (this is also a key point).
Fluidised Bed Filters (FBF) have a VERY large surface area and you can get a lot of bacteria into a very small area. Its most prominent characteristic is its ability to more quickly match fluctuating fish population levels to eliminate any pollution issues due a sudden increase in ammonia. They can rapidly, with more speed than bioballs or matrix, build up their population to deal with the increased bio load resulting from a large number of extra fish being added to a tank. FBF have wonderful potential for maintaining cycling with fluctuating fish numbers as found in a commercial situation, say a wholesaler where population levels can change dramatically. However with a huge bioload, they also hold the possibility of efficiently stripping oxygen out of the water (due to their equal potentially huge population capacity at consuming oxygen), and in addition as a by-product can have a negative impact on pH with the carbon dioxide they produce from their respiratory process. All aerobic bacterial colonies will consume oxygen, and release CO2, but if the fish load produces enough food to support the potential number of bacteria that the surface area of a FBF can maintain, then there are negative effects that one needs to be aware of and address, otherwise you may limit the Life Buffer capacity of your tank. In addition, as with biomedia inside a canister filter, the biomedia inside a FBF is in a completely enclosed environment, with the power off they will run out of oxygen and die. So a FBF, unless employed to utilise their optimum benefits (matching large fluctuating fish populations), can reduce the Life Buffer capacity of a tank. Used in the correct circumstances to take advantage of their best features, and countering their potential negatives, they can increase the size of the Life Buffer’s Capacity.

      Bioballs in a trickle filter – as bio balls are meant to be utilised.
Bioballs do have an over riding advantage that matrix and sand cannot match with their oxygen giving/access characteristics, but not every tank can be set up with bioballs, it simply will not be practical for a host of reasons. But that doesn't alter the fact that a tank which is properly set up with bioballs in a trickle situation will have a broader Life Buffer capacity than a tank without them.
If you set the bioballs up in a submerged situation, then another media would be better, as if used immersed (under water) you would reduce your tank’s Life Buffer capacity due to their smaller surface area.   Better still, a set up with correctly used bioballs and Matrix will give the best of both media, and the Life Buffer capacity will be even broader than if used individually.
If a hobbyist makes a number of less than optimum choices, these less than best decisions may combine to further decrease the Life Buffer and potentially equal one bigger decision of poor quality. That   is,   a single poor choice can be equalled by a larger number of lesser poor choices. The final total of these less than optimum choices will affect the amount of Life Buffer our tank will have to ride out short term problems, or the long term health and life of the tank. The more optimum choices made will combine to increase the tank's Life Buffer capacity, and the better chances our tank has for long term success and overcoming short term issues.

This is a water change tank situated under a much larger tank. All water is pre-prepared, in this case with salts for Tanganyikan fish, and heated to match the tank. Such forethought as this or the use of a barrel or other containers to store and pre-prepared water for water changes can have a positive impact on the Life Buffer.
All the choices are ours as a hobbyist to decide upon and to understand the ripples from our choices is the information and knowledge our tanks are maintained by. It is the Life Buffer capacity that underpins all the decisions that make up our aquarium, and ignorance of these impacts will overshadow our success as an aquarium keeper, where as exploitation can increase our success.
When someone says “it works for me”, this may be so, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done better and improve the tank’s Life Buffer capacity.
Craig Thompson

Maintenance: Cleaning glass

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 03:13:40 +0000

hey guys,just wondering if there were any special techniques to cleaning the tank glass, I hate seeing water streaks here and there,, cheers..

Making own pre prepared solutions

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 05:52:36 +0000

I have recently bought some seachem "safe" with the view of making the following solutions:

1. "prime" equivalent

2. My own Malawi mix (prime, pH buffer, some calcium carbonate to raise hardness and cichlid salt)

3. My own Tang mix (as above different concentrations)

1. would be used for when prime alone is needed.

2 and 3 would be kept in solution to be added to new water before water changes. In other words, instead of messing with spoons and powders I will make a concentrated solution (1-2L at a time) and add 4-5mL per 20L new water. Nothing more to add or do - just run the water add the solution - stir and add. The solutions would be made in 1-2 L lots with deionised water and because only small volumes used should last for ages.

I don't have many tanks so mixing into 200L is not a viable option...(only ever do 20L buckets at a time) so I think this is the best method for me. I have access to precise laboratory scales (accurate to 0.001g).

Is this a sensible idea?

Anything I should add/omit from the solutions?

Any suggestions/advice/hints would be welcomed

Nitrogen Cycle:

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 05:40:04 +0000

Article found here:

http://www.cichlids-aust.com/articles.html

Starting a new tank

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 02:44:55 +0000

Hi all,

My friend has a 20inch tank that is being set up.

If i was to run the new filter (AC mini) on my current tanks for 1 week, would that be enough time for the filter to be seeded with bacteria.

Also after one week, is it safe to put the filter back on the 20in and have a few fish in there to start off until the water is stable.

I do use test kits for anything, so i'm relying on experiences from you guys.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanx

Hung

Tank Crashed

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 08:39:48 +0000

Hi Guys,

As stated in my previous Topic I bought a 2' tank to rear some P. Lombardoi fry.

I filled the tank by siphoning off the water from my community tank added some limestone rocks and once the water temp was right added my female Lombardoi.

To my amazement there were 2 extra fish swimming in the tank within a couple of hours.

The next morning there were another 20+

The next morning they were dead.

The next morning my female was dead!

I checked the ph it had risen from 8 to 8.2.

Should i have let the sponge filter mature first? The guy at the pet shop said that there should be enough bacteria in the water that it should be o.k.

I have now filled my tank and maturing it as I did my 4' tank. I have 2 BN's and a couple of snails which hopefully survive.

If anyone has any tips I am all ears.

Cheers,

Whistlin'.

Tropheus Maintenance Regimes!

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 01:13:07 +0000

Hi Guys,

Please share your tropheus maintenance regimes including tank size (water volume), amount of water changed and frequency, amount of filtration used in your tank and the amount of tropheus u have in the tank.

Hopefully, this will help people decide if they are up to the maintenance required for tropheus keeping!

Dave

Water Changes

Wed, 07 Sep 2005 01:12:37 +0000

Yesterday at a trade display for a scientific conference in Sydney, I spoke with a rep from a US aquatic supply company (some researchers breed zebra fish to do developmental biology studies on developing eggs / embryos) - www.aquaticeco.com

He told me that for most aquariums the need for regular water changes was a myth perpetuated by companies selling water conditioning chemicals and that he and others he knew kept both fresh and salt water tanks without regular water changes (only a couple of times a year). He only added RO (reverse osmosis) water to top up evaporation.

He said that plants would take care of most of the nitrates and carbon filters would remove most of the other trace nasties which would accumulate.

Of course with cichlids it is difficult to get plants to grow in a tank (I have managed 2 well chewed but living anubias) so we would still need to remove nitrates with water changes but it got me thinking.

If he is right, it would make keeping a salt water tank much easier and cheaper.

Water Changes: Frequency

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 03:28:54 +0000

I have heard of people doing 2 X 50% water changes per week, and some do one 25% change every fortnight and many others somewhere in between.

Can you change the water too much? Or is is good to change water more often?

Water Conditioners

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 12:42:25 +0000

Does everyone in Sydney use Prime? Could be just me, but seems like quite a few mention it in discussion. Up here in Brisbane there's stuff called "Water Ager Cn". I'm sure it'd be in NSW.

It's apparently exactly the same stuff as Prime but is imported in bulk, re-labeled and distributed by a local Aussie company. I buy a 250ml bottle for $15. Removes 3ppm chlorine, 1.5ppm chloramine and 0.1ppm ammonia, as well as detoxifies the metals, at 1ml to 38L.

I started out on Prime, a great product no doubt, but I find it too expensive. I've found Water Ager Cn just as good.

There's also another cheap but quality water conditioner up here called "Aqua Star" which neutralizes 5ppm chlorine, 2ppm chloramine and 1ppm ammonia. I believe it's the same story as Water Ager Cn - local distributor re-badging an OS product. Aqua Star is a couple of bucks more for a 250ml, but it does 1ml to 70L. I don't use it as it's not as readily available, however a fellow enthusiast uses it and I'm envious he doesn't need to use as much water conditioner as me.

Just got me that everyone was talking "Prime" and thought I'd mention the pseudo-Aussie alternatives.

Water Restrictions and Water Changes

Sat, 09 Apr 2005 00:45:08 +0000

Water Restrictions and Water Changes

Author: spraypakstu

Hi all i was just wondering with summer around the corner and already Melbourne is in stage 2 restrictions what ways others have found to save water as im looking to buy and install a water tank. What do you use???

Thanks Stuart

Replies »

Author: burundi 6 bar

thats cool if you keep american cichlids mate

cheers

darryl

Author: lungy01

Hi spraypakstu , Don't worry bout Darryl

i think he takes alicit (manufactured) chemicals

... get yerself a tank of suitable size airiate it / and pray that ya won't be stuck in melb 4 eva

.... : hump : hump : eh

Andy ...

this emo limit is killing me

EMINEM & LINKIN PARK RULE & I ALSO HAVE A LARGE COD !!! /tongue.gif" border="0" style="vertical-align:middle" alt="tongue.gif">

Brownsplains - Brisbane - drumpak@bigpond.com

Author: spraypakstu

Hi guys the idea for the water tank is to use the water out of it to fill my water conditioning containers but if there is another way someone has found im interested

Btw doesn't the saying go

"FOLKS ARE DUMB WHERE I COME FROM"

Thanks Stuart

Author: lungy01

Stuart ... no mate i hope thats not how it goes

as i'm from Kilmore dude

....

Andy...

EMINEM & LINKIN PARK RULE & I ALSO HAVE A LARGE COD !!! /tongue.gif" border="0" style="vertical-align:middle" alt="tongue.gif">

Brownsplains - Brisbane - drumpak@bigpond.com

Author: o BaZ o

Hi spraypakstu

Somehow you've managed to attract Darryl and Lungy in the one thread...

Your method should be fine, as long as you stick with the plan of conditioning the water. Rainwater is soft, you will need to make the water hard using buffers if you keep africans.

baz@bigfoot.com.au

ICQ: 930008

Woodford NSW

Author: spraypakstu

Thanks Baz thats exactly what i had in mind just trying to find ways others have done something simillar.

Thanks Stuart