Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

As Stu mentioned above, Nitrate is the by-product of Nitrite, which in turn is the by-product of Ammonia. At each stage they become less harmful to fish.

So, Ammonia is absolutely deadly to fish and any trace is likely to cause a problem. As Ammonia breaks down via Biological activity, the level of Nitrite increases. IMO any populated tank should contain NO Nitrite. The end result is Nitrate.

If you imagine that most Nitrate Test Kits work on a scale of Clear > Yellow > Orange > Red. With Clear being no Nitrate and Blood Red being high Nitrate content. Consider that Tap water, when tested (depending on area of course) generally is around the Orange level, which is absolutely fine for most Tropical species, but would probably be problematic for many Marines.

Further to this, to establish a successful tank set-up, the general idea is to pollute the water initially and then over the course of the next few weeks, the waste will break down and go through the Nitorgen Cycle. The result will be that the filtration system will have established itself to deal with the fish that you will eventually add.

With Marine, many people do this by adding 'Live Rock', but in its unstabilised form (as it comes in). This can be distinguished by its RANK PUTRID smell. By leaving a new tank set-up with Live Rock introduced and allowing the Biological cycle to break the resulting Ammonia/Nitrite down into Nitrate, which is then gradually removed with Water Changes you will have a good head-start. With Tropical set-ups, because the required filter area is less, you can generally achieve this by adding some very hardy fish and by feeding them and allowing the natural waste to decompose, this will have a similar effect. Obviously the tank would need a few days after filling, before adding fish, to allow the Chlorine to evaporate. This process is aided by adding an Airline/Airstone as mentioned before.

There is a device that I made for my old system, which removed ALL the Nitrate from the water. It is very simple to build and runs constantly inline with the normal filtration system. I can bore you all with the details of that if you wish!! However, I still don't believe that this removes the need for water changes.

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Excellent essay

MAD ANDY

yeah noticed this on ebay, but not too sure exactly how you are supposed to be able to transport this as he doesnt mention getting rid of the water and he doesnt mention how he will transport the fish, so surely he's not talking keeping the fish and the water in the tank??? as it would be too heavy to lift by far!!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...333479325&rd=1

GINGA

I've kept tropical fish for most of my life and at present have 3 tanks a Rio 180 3.5 footish, Rio 240 4 footish and a 6x2x2 all in the living room of a 1 bed flat
The smallest one homes the normal fish barbs, tetra's, botia's, cory's etc oh and a sailfin plec thats about the width the tank and really needs a bigger tank
The 4 footer houses a large and aggressive tilapia of about 12" in length which i've had for about 10 years
And the big tank houses my crystal eye catfish which i've had for around 12 years now and bought when he was just 6 inch's long and now he's over 2 foot again very aggressive cleaning him out requires 2 people one to distract his attention and the other to actually put their hand in and do the cleaning, he hasn't managed to actually bite me yet but he trys on a regular basis
Looks like glass needs a clean aswell

jayRS

that is a nice fish mate, seen these before at big shops, very nice mate.

Big G

Would look well between 2 slices of Warbies that rascal

Demondave

Lol I know mate. I picked up yet another tank on thursday Now got me 2 oscars and 2 fecking huge plecs

jayRS

i did have 2 4foot tanks on the go dave, had to sell 1 ( andys) if i wanted to get a parrot.
that was ages ago now and still aint got the parrot lol

Demondave

Lol well im running 5 tanks now Just cant help it, I went and had a look at this tank as it said that there was fish with it and when I got there I felt sorry for them so had to buy them

CabrioTurbo

ouch! they aint cheap should of put a pist up i could of got it at trade from jewel

Demondave

IMO I would never have a jewel tank!! Clearseal is the only make I would have and buy!!


Dave

jayRS

i know what ya mean, if anyone offers me fish, no matter what they are i take them in, had a massive plec given to me, had him about a year then he died.
best fish i had was a clown loach, he was massive, prob 6 inch long, had him for 5 years, he died this year unfortunately

Demondave

I take it uve seen andys clowns as there fecking massive!!!!

Ive got to big plecsnow I have an 11" Sailfin and a 15" (cant rember the name but its black with blue eyes!)


Dave

jayRS

yeah i seen them, he kept on at me to buy mine but no chance, he love them dont he, last cont he had over 10 im sure

CabrioTurbo

whats wrong with jewel?

Demondave

hes got 15 now I think

Demondave

Just had lots of mates have bad expernces with them. They just dont seem to have the build qauilty of clearseal.!!

CabrioTurbo

i personally have probably sold over 1000 jewel tanks in the last 6 yrs (retail market)
the company i work for have sold MANY MANY more, in the time we have stocked Jewel tanks we have had TWO back! due to manufacturing failure with the glass/siliconing
There was also a problem with the lighting unit on the RIO tanks (they melted! ) arround 2 yrs ago. but this was proptly rectified and whoever had a problem with the lighting got a replacement immediately.

Michelle

I love fish and think there excellent my dad use to own a Aquatic fish shop, he use to sell cold water, tropical marine and koi...

I had an Oscar it got massive could only have him in my tank. my dad use to get his fish from all over the world.. and use to take part in koi shows.

He had a trigger fish and i put my hand in the tank when i was younger the thing bit my finger.. didnt wanna take it out the tank just incase my finger was a gonna.

but would def recommend keeping fish they look so lovely

and nice to sit and watch them every tanks different and always facinating

dumped

Never thought about fish keeping etc ever before -

seems a bit complex - dont really understand it - how come your not able to keep them till their natuaral life expectancy - like say a dog etc - you feed it it lives till blah then keels over.
Are their radically different lifespans due to how you are keeping them or is it illness etc as it sounds like a whole load of suffering for the fish if you aint doing it right?

Just wondering

Martin

Demondave

That may the case mate. can not speak from personal experences!! As I have only ever had clearseal. I have been tempted by Jewel in the past as they have always worked out cheaper, but have been warned off by freinds and even some aqaticshop owners! .

But If u can get me a 6x3x2 for a good price perhaps I would consider a change

Andy_RS

I feel really inferior now!! I bort a fish tank saturday! Its a Fluval Uno 500!? It has a capacity of like 30 litres n i only got cold water fish!! Wot a newb!

Demondave

lol I should worry mate, We all start somewhere just be carefull where it leads u as it gets out of control!!!

Ill get some piccys of the new tank in a bit, but it was a secondhand one so ive got to sort new greavel and a hood out. As the gravels blue

Demondave

The additions...lol. This is just a temporary tank for them before they go into the big tank. Just got to get rid of the gold fishes (the p's will be happy!!lol) so I can split the smaller tropical into that!






The sailfin is 11.5" and the Blue-eyed Panaque is 14.3"

Jon ERST S2

Here are some pics of mine. Just bought some tihitian moon sand and an actini blue light, looks really blue in the camera but it's not.

Zebra plec Got 10% off from www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk

Also added the air curtain. Looks mint! Fish love it too.

Just bought a tropical frog the other day. He's really funny!

Here is before



Without flash



With Flash


and my Zebra!

Andy_RS

When i sell my rst replica im gonna buy a marine tank n get a nemo!!

art411y

iTrader: (1)

hi lads my trade is marine biology and specialized in black tip reef sharks i built a sea life centre filteration system for warm and cold water marine fish .all water for the tropic marine was taken from the humber estuary.we had 10 1000 gallon 2 4000 gallon and 1 100000 gallon walkthrough tanks for tropic marine my favs were 3 black tip reef sharks called fergal trim and whitey a close 2nd was a leopard 4ft eel who took food out of my hand whilst sat on my sholdier

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

They are neat. But you MUST make sure to leave an air-gap between the surface of the water and the Condensation tray!! They need to be able to get to the surface to breath!!! (Those are words of experience )

Demondave

Zebra looks Jon

Jon ERST S2

Cheers Christian! He does have room I see him up there quite a bit. He's mental come feeding time. He just throws the bloodworms in his mouth! His latest trick is to get the round chips I put in, is to stick a whole one in his mouth, he can't get it all in there and just sits there sucking it while the other fish try and eat it out of his mouth!

Zebra is really cool - I'm glad I got him. Wife went a little mad when she found out I'd spent nearly £80 on one fish LOL but she calmed down. I did get 10% off

Demondave

Lol 10% off

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Cool fish and setups fellas.. im well pleased with this thread

Dave,
Your Oscar and plec have brought back memories that made me kinda sad... they are both teh same strain i had and look almost identically coloured too... RIP fellas


Jon you Tw@
I drove to BAS in bolton on Sunday with the hope of coming home with:

1x Zebra Plec
1x Gold Nugget Plec
1x Blue eyed plec
1x Synodontis Angelicus.

I came home with.......................














Nothing

Demondave

Lol.. Stu I had to rescue thjem from some old people who thouight they just cleaned them out once a year . Went there and u couldnt see the fish through the glass. But they will soon be in the big tank with plenty of space

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

You just cant resist them big sad eyes and downturned mouth can ya Dave?

Demondave

Nope.. So tonight ill be feeding the p's with the reamaining gold fish then sorting that tank up ready for tropical again. So they can get some nice swing space of there own


Dave

Jon ERST S2

doh - My wife Liane loves the Golden Nugget plecs, though they would get a little big for my current tank. I really want to get a massive tank with Malawis but she's not too sure about me having a tank in the spare room as she won't see me!

If you want fish go to www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk it's great. Lots of the places even do mail order on fish! Zebras are ok in price at the moment. I've seen them from £72 - £99. A few months back I was quoted around £160!

I'd also love a brackish water setup, some scats, monos and puffers, I need a bigger house

Demondave

Good site Jon

Jon ERST S2

I joined up - it's only £8 for the year. I saved more than that on the one fish. Great for finding hard to find fish.

Demondave

yeah. I may see if some one can get me some decent size clown loaches!!!!

Jon ERST S2

I just bought a new external filter for my tank Eheim 2232 (Has a built in heater) Had to cut a couple of holes in my hood but other than that was ok. I'm still running my old filter (internal) along side until my new one matures enough.

Bloody frog got out though through a tiny gap inbetween the new pipes. All blocked up now, and luckily I saved him. Came home from work and found him on the kitchen floor quite dry, I thought it was a frog from outside brought in by the cats and I thought it was dead. Checked the tank and he was missing, went back and he moved, so picked him up and put him in the tank in my hand and he was fine!