Tip and tricks of the trade!
- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- smitas5 (Marius Smitas)
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- dwarf gourami
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didn't quite get that, sorry.. asking as I had to get fish myself and it wasn't easy.. had to trick them with foodAndrew wrote: Catching elusive fish
As I spent more than wee while this evening trying to catch an errant danio the solution popped into my head and hey presto I got him soon after and right away this thread popped in as well. I was trying to cause as little damage as possible to the plants and also trying not to upset or stress the other occupants, but the old net did not quite cut it for the evasive and speedy danio.
Fish are clever little divils in noticing nets and probably have an un-nerving sense that this thing in the tank is going to remove them from their current abode - quick & easy solution =
USE THE EMPTY LID FROM YOUR TEST KIT
you can corner the fish quite easily, towards the glass, bring it open-side up (beware of jumpers) and then you can always hold it in place with a magnetic algae scraper as you scurry away to photo, medicate, examine or remove....
Andrew

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- omen (Conor)
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- guppy
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Decided to put plants into a non fertile substrate? Instead of buying expensive clay balls and poking them into the substrate around the roots, place some organic soil in an ice cube tray, freeze, and you have instant nutritious root tabs!
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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I'll add a few others as well...
Safety....
Never hold onto a tap, radiator or water mains piping etc (OR hold anything that has an electrical earth) with one hand whilst you have another hand in the tank water.
You should switch the tank off before putting hands in, but many people don't....so, that little extra safety tip may come in handy.
Add a small drip-catch wire to air tubing and electrical wires....allow the wire or tubing to "loop-down" a bit. Take a small piece of wire (freezer bag ties will do), and tie it on to the air tubing or electrical mains at the bottom of the "loop down" so that water will drip down the small wire rather straight into the air pump or electrical plug.
This, by the way, does nothing to stop an air-pump sucking water into itself if it is below the water line.
Compressed Peat Pellets...eg JBL pellets:
Always soak for a day or 2 before packing the bag of pellets in a filter (especially an external)....these expand somewhat; that expansion could potentially put pressure inside the filter.
ian
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Viperbot wrote: My advice, take platy's on the tip with drilling a hole in the intake. I had this happen in a 400ltr SA Cichlid setup a while back and came home to a destroyed floor, two half dead Oscars and a broken heater. Managed to save them, despite herself having a canary whilst I was ringing round a couple of lads who I knew could house them until I got the mess sorted. Which leads me to my next tip, NEVER burn your bridges with people in this hobby, you never know when you might need a favour...
Jay
As an addition, check the Hole you make in the return to make sure it is clear of gunk and obstructions.
Kev.
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- igmillichip (ian millichip)
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stretnik wrote:
Viperbot wrote: My advice, take platy's on the tip with drilling a hole in the intake. I had this happen in a 400ltr SA Cichlid setup a while back and came home to a destroyed floor, two half dead Oscars and a broken heater. Managed to save them, despite herself having a canary whilst I was ringing round a couple of lads who I knew could house them until I got the mess sorted. Which leads me to my next tip, NEVER burn your bridges with people in this hobby, you never know when you might need a favour...
Jay
As an addition, check the Hole you make in the return to make sure it is clear of gunk and obstructions.
Kev.
Very good point Stretnik.
On a related topic.....What would be a cool tip is how to have an automatic (external) filter intake un-blocker ie to remove the dead or broken leaves and grot that clogs onto the uptake gauze of the external filter.
I've been looking at something for my boyu 80 litres internal filter system.
Umm...an suggestions? (apart from cleaning it out daily).
ian
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- dave k (david)
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dave.
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- dave k (david)
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dave.
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bibsun wrote: Rummy Nose Tetras as indicators of water quality: Keep a shoal of Rummy nose tetras in your tank.Apart from looking great moving in a shoal,they are also great indicators of your water quality. If they are stressed,the red nose is a pale shade of red and if happy,it's bright red.
dave.
Find the same with cardinal tetra, have both in my tank and if anything is amiss they colour is very faded and noticable. I do find in the winter though that when I turn the lights on when I get home from work and its been dark for a while, they do the same, out of fright I would guess, but soon colour back up.
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- Pat (Pat Coogan)
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- dubdero (derek kearns)
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- luas (Lewis Johnston)
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lampeye wrote: never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut
hahah brilliant from Nidge

My tip if not always effective would be DIY Melafix.
As some of you may know,melafix is basically just composed of tea tree oil and water.So to make your own all you need is some tea tree oil from a chemist or shop and add it (a drop or 2) to a litre of water in a bottle,give it a mix and add it to the tank when your doing your water change.Although tank size may vary the quantities etc so play around with it..
BUT
I have read that this can interfere with gas exchange,so do it at your own risk and do your research.
Luas
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- robert (robert carter)
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