Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

Definately better. They usual hold more filter medium and have several compartments so you can add various things like carbon, filter mat and ceramic bits.

So was mine so I put it outside ;). The tank was in the back room so I drilled a hole through the wall and mounted the pump in a waterproof electrical type enclosure. Ran pipes and cable through hole in wall, added a couple of holes in the bottom of box to let air in and you have a totally silent pump inside ( except for the bubbles of course ). Its a shame I did not take a picture of it before I sold the tank.

I had dusk and dawn dimming lights as well, very cool when you have fish that hide during the day and come out when the light start to dim. ALthough catfish are not supposed to be able to see red lights so by adding a red light you can see them but they think its dark :)

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

Just back from the fishy shop... We now have three ikle algae eaters who will help control the problem...

Algae needs three things... water, some unpornouncable thing in tap water and light... he said leave lights off and it will go.. I said what even the green bits that are on glass and he said yes... algae is live plant..

Also if you have lots of live plants in the tank then the algae cant compete.. but he conceded a tank full of live plants is harder to keep than fish

So plan now is to keep lights off other than an hr or so at night and so algae dies and have the three algae eaters to keep on top of it..

oh yeagh.....and fins crossed..... :)

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

had my lights off for a few days to be honest and the algae is still there i think its cause its in the lounge which gets a lot of sun all day long. might get some algea eaters myself...which did u get kipax??

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

Just get one of those large magnet scrubby thingies. All you do is rub the outside the tank bit around the tank and the inside bit scrubs off the green stuff. Get a big one as the small ones are naff.

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

got one of them already

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

And it all floats around your tank, settles somewhere else if the filter doesn't get it and continues to grow :)
Do it by hand and remove it from the tank at the same time, its easily trapped in one of the green scourers, same stuff thats fastened to the magnetic ones Neil mentioned

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

Bought some yesterday 'Otocinclus affinis', im keeping light off as well during the day:)

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

otto's in my opinion are good but not the best but they'll do

i got one in my tank - what u really really want is the world champion of algae eaters - the SAE - that one is meant to eat anything and everything. there's alot of them around but to get a true SAE is hard to find - i think they had some in bolton - these local ones may get lucky and get some but rare

http://www.ericschreiber.com/aquariu.../fish-sae2.jpg

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

can you get algae eaters for cold water tanks??

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

When my goldfish tank goes green I wash it out - Casper Stinky & Stretch are their names! My niece named them about 5 years ago might even be longer but they are still alive...... just!

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

kippax you will need to be careful with the red tail shark there ok when there small but as they get larger they become massively territorial and claim the whole bottom of the tank. if anything ventures down it will get chased and attacked. i lost a couple of phantom tetras and it absolutely harrarassed one of my discus to death. in the end i took it back the shop after havin him about 6 months. i loved the fish but he was a menance in the end.

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

Where Do U Get The Frogs From?

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

kipax ya wanna get a plec, they sort all the algae out,ive had mine a year and he's called bob(original i know), i do a part water change on my tank every 2 weeks, my mollies are always breeding in my tank so next time they do i'll give you a shout and you can have some, the guppys are good breeders too...as for the cold water tank i have one of those too, i find it hard to keep clean cos the goldfish and oranda i have in there are messy little buggers, i have an undergravel filter in mine that seems to work but i also have an algae guard which sticks to the side of the tank(a magnetic cleaner), and yes you can get algae eaters for a cold water tanks (cold water plecs) they are tiny and like doing laps of the tank

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

oh and my plec and the rest of the fish love cucumber, i give it them once a week, it doesnt last long

Re: Tropical Fish 2
 

Ours has got to that stage now, we weren't told by the shop how agressive they become when we bought him a few months back. Now he's chasing all the other fish everytime we feed them... he's going to have to go back to the shop. Will miss him though :(



PS....armani, we got our frogs from Barlows aquatics on Scaithcliffe St,Accrington :)