at last a few photos

a few photos at last

a few more

Beautiful!

Particularly like the Gouramis! Gorgeous colours!

Looks great mate is that the tank where u lost some fish out of

Well done on getting the photos done.
Don't forget to take a few extra for the February photo competition!

hi alan , this is the tank I lost the fish out of , but as you can see all is well now .

Ok cool how much water do u change on it per week as the tank lools heavily stocked to me

hi Alan ,tank is heavily stocked , water change is 20% every Tuesday night . but as you can see two externals one with 3kg bio home media so no ammonia or nitrite and nitrates around 10

Lovely black /gold angel you have there... Nice tanks

with the amount of fish u have i would do 40-50 % change a week but thats just my personal opinion

Think the bio home media is stepping up to its name in this case with the regular reduced water changes needed that's keeping nitrite and ammonia at zero and nitrates at a low level,maybe the extra filtration from having two externals filters running is a big plus too....

hi lads ,thanks for the kind comments on the photos , I did eventually get a mate to show me how its done. next step is to hopefully attend the meeting next Tuesday as I would love to put some faces on names of you helpful bunch

if you think the tank is overstocked you should see the pond will post some pictures in the spring ,and its all down to bio home media

Lads ues can use whatever media yous like 20 % a week on a tank that heavily stocked isnt enough and it will end up in fish loss as it already has dont mean to sound smart but thats just what i think

I tend to agree with ya alan....although it does depend on NitrAte levels to a certain extent...

I myself am a firm believer in weekly 50% water changes and keeping NitrAtes below 10ppm at all times...The reasons being these....(1) NitrAtes "ARE" harmful to fish...They stunt growth etc! So keeping them to a minimum is essential...(2) Water changes are not simply to dilute NitrAtes, they are also done to replenish essential natural minerals that fish and plants (in the planted tank situation) need, so it makes sense the more fresh water you replace the more minerals you are supplying them with, resulting in healthier fish and plants...(3) Algae growth is vastly reduced when you keep your water fresher and cleaner...(4) Larger water changes in my experience keep the PH more balanced over time eliminating the possibilty of sudden PH crashes and the disasters that can cause...(5) Larger water changes help to keep nasty parasites out of your water (6) And this has been my fish keeping motto for years (Fresh Water Fish Love Fresh Water) Sure isnt that what they are living in and getting on a constant basis in the wild when it rains!

Some people might think 50% weekly is overkill and can actually cause problems but it has been my experience that 50% weekly water changes have never let me down and i find my fish and plants thrive under these conditions....Just my opinion though...Im sure someone else has a counter arguement!

Hi lads ,well it's certainly food for thought , certainly the fish loss I had wasn't down to lack of water change but purely lack of oxygen . To change 175 litre of water every week is going to take a long time and surely that amount of change won't it stress the fish out .

Are u familiar with the JBL Aqua In Out system Robert?

Say goodbye to buckets and water spilling everywhere!

You will change 50% of the water on a 350 Litre tank in about an hour max I reckon!

Because of this system I can change 50% of the water on 6 tanks in under 3 hours on a Sunday morning (240 Litre, 100Litre, 70 Litre, 50 Litre and 2 x 30 Litre tanks)



BTW in my experience large water changes cause absolutely no stress on fish whatsoever...In fact I usually find my fish love it and it shows in their colours!

It doesnt mention dechlorinating the water when refilling the tank in this video but all you do is this.....Before you start to refill the tank dose the aquarium with dechlorinator first...It is recommended to dose for the total aquarium volume not just the water volume you are replacing...So if you have a 350 Litre tank dose dechlorinator for 350 Litres of water before refilling.....

I swear by this system! It has saved me many hours of heartbreak and is perfectly safe for fish!
Ive never had any mishaps using this system and it has NEVER harmed any of my fish!

The other thing to remember Robert if you do decide to up your water changes from 20 to 50% is to increase it gradually over a period of about 4 weeks...Step up by 10% per week maybe....Suddenly increasing your water change regime in one go might just shock the fish...Do it gradually and you wont have any problems...

I change just over 20% once a week on my tank which is exactly 100L of fresh water going in......now in saying that it's lightly stocked at present,but when I had the SA set up with JD's etc. I did weekly 30% changes but they were shitting machines!!......I have done 50% changes in the past on smaller tanks but it kind of comes down to what your stocking and what quantity you have at the end of the day + what time you have free to do these water changes.........I personally would love to do daily 5-10% changes but I just don't have the time due to some long days/nights in work so it's once a week for me!!......Giving your stock,size of tank with 2 decent externals running,if it was me i'd defo up it a bit to maybe 30% changes but obviously as gunnered72 said 50% would be better!!

I have a system were I can change 100L of water in 10-15 minutes by pumping water out my window and adding water I have stored in 25L tubs back in.

Ger

EDIT: I forgot to say nice tank dude,looks good

Thanks lads for the input, the jbl system looks very good , the problem I have is the tap on my nearest sink ,the kitchen is one of these ultra modern ones the oh chose ,the output being rectangle so no adaptor is going to fit it . I do have a standard garden hose outlet in the garden but this won't work as it is only cold water. From all the advise I have got I think I will increase my water changes to 30% weekly for a while and monitor things to see if there is a difference .

The system for changing water I have now is by far the easiest and quickest that I have had.............I drop a pond pump with hose attached into the tank and stick the hose out the window.....power on and 100L gone in seconds.........I have 25L containers full from the week before that I bring into the house the day/night before the change to bring the temp. up to room temperature.......when I pour a 25L drum into the tank I put it under the tap outside to refill for next week and just repeat with each drum.......job done in less than 15 minutes ........some people like to aerate there stored water for 12-24 hours before adding to the tank but I don't anymore and haven't seen any difference............NO MORE DECHLORINATOR ASWELL WOOOOHOOOO

Ger

I know my mate said some forums automatically resize the photo when you post it, so it's easy . Facebook is one

Surely water temp is too cold for tropical

robert wrote:

Surely water temp is too cold for tropical

It doesn't be long heating back up in the tank........the temperature goes from 26 degrees to just under 24 degrees........with some other tanks I've added the water straight from out in the back shed.....it would be 10-13 degrees and when added to tank it would maybe drop from 26 degrees down to 20......it all depends on the fish really and what your trying to achieve ie.stimulate spawning etc..........I remember doing a big change using coolish water with young Discus in the tank and that got a bit scary though!! they don't like surpises them fish ha

Ger

LOL be careful Robert your heading into water changes with cooler water territory there....Believe it or not you can change out your water with cooler water.....Once the temperature difference is not too dramatic....When Ger says room temperature I think he means about 19 or 20 degrees and remember he is changing 20% weekly cos he is lightly stocked so when he actually adds that ammount to his tank its not gonna alter the temperature too drastically.....In fact alot of breeders will use cooler water changes to induce spawning in their fish as it mimics the rainy season in the fishes matural wild habitat which is a common time for tropical fish to spawn naturally.....

Sorry Ger! didnt mean to copy what you said....Posted at the same time

gunnered72 wrote:

Sorry Ger! didnt mean to copy what you said....Posted at the same time

No bother Eddie..........with all this talk of water changes today I was thinking how I use to do it when I started first..........I use to fill a bucket in the sink,dechlorinator in one hand and a kettle in the other i'd bring it to "exact" tank temperature using a glass thermometer......then adding "almost" exact amount of dechlorinator........then adding the bucket of water to the tank was an effort....aiming it at the filter outlet i'd slowly pour it in....... jaysus changing 50L would of taking me over an hour ha........ah the good aul days

Ger

Yup the good old bucket,kettle and thermometer technique.....Ya live and learn LOL