les

Hi sharky Sorry it has taken so long PC failer. If you are getting Peat from garden shops you must make sure its not Coconut peat fiber as this dosnt have the same properties as bog peat (Canadian Peat has) and you have to be vigelant that they havent put in any ferts or water saving chems. yes you can get filter peat from Aquariume Shops ( AS ) but not all AS stock it, and seriously if you got it from Jodie it realy dosnt cost that much even with the fraight and you know you have the right product. I didnt yous the filtewr method you displayed in Pics I got a Ham bag (left over fron Christs mass and used it as a tea bag they are calico so you might even be able to sub for a fine weeve material. My water has a hardness of 10 and PH 7.8 the peat lowerd my hardnes two 8 and the PH to just under seven but I also used Banana leaves ( only the dried ones not green) and some pandanus that I have growing hear. I hope this helps Cheers Les

Then we all know you wont be disapointed Hazell but you must remember to post pics of this new fella so we can all get a gander Cheers les

That is so cool Adam I recon even if you get twenty out of the batch they should be the fitest and best for future Gens. Is the substraight Amazon? and that Blaxya is a great cover for them. Good luck and I realy do hope that more than twenty make it Cheers Les

LOL Nes that coment reminds me of a recent Big Bang episode Hey Adan that is such a great idea cutting before soaking I will have to remember that you will get some remarkable paterning from meleluca. All of my drift wood has finished soaking and I have scraped of all lose fibers and debrie so tommorow it will go into the oven for two hours and then it will be ready to go into the tanks. The oven part was somthing sujested by a guy in USA as there nare certain things like planaria and other water born griblies that are not wanted in a tank that can live through the soaking but not the oven stage so I am going to take his advice this time around and see how it pans out Cheers Les

Hey Jarrod The Marble CT is incredable Malissa over hear had a boy like him but couldnt get a female to match. I hope you are putting them in the spawn tank soon Cheers Les

hey the pic looks good dont beat your self up

You can use the peat moss in a filter typ set up or when aging the water to go into the tank take a QTY of it and place in a bag and soak in the water as it ages it will give tanins and lower PH I use it hear in Perth with my bore water and it makes the water perfect Cheers Les

Hey Ness Some of that is Mellaluca and some Eucalipt the Mellaluca that grows in wet areas (paper bark) can make the water smell a bit but it all comes good in the end it is such a divers species from quite arid to swamps freash and brakish. Hear in WA Tea tree is Leptospernum using a common name for wood can somtimes couse confusion so I try to keep to botanical.I would recomend putting it well away down the back so the Fema Savage dont get upset with the smell just incase LOL Cheers Les

Hey Matt We have a member on this forum called Bethbot she is seriously so talented in working with resins and creating things for scaping talk to her about some ideas I am sure she would love to give some advice and help and she is a great person Cheers les

Just some pieces that I have in the tank droped a chisel in there last week so emptied it this week so I could sharpen and use it again The chisel has turned black in a week LOL all the wood has gone past the stinky stage no more dead things and all bark is off ready to boil and new wood to go in Cheers Les

Loving the collection Matt this could turn in to a vocation if your not carefull Cheers Les

@ Busman Paul LOVE IT ROFL I gota make me a copy of that. Paul I have a recipe for it but havent tried making it yet. i have a still myself and made most of the alcohle for my daughters 18th party yestarday started at 10 on sat morning and the last left at 12 sat night sixty five teenagers I have been cleaning up all day long but is was great Cheers Les

Isnt wormwood in Absinth? I think crazy european monks used to use it in some of there alcohol recipies Cheers les

Its not spagnum Moss its spagnum peat moss that lower the PH or canadian peat moss Jodie had the canadian peat moss not long ago as I got some from her it will lower the ph and add tanins to the water that the fish will benefit from I would also advise to get some fresh IAL plenty of suppliers around cheers les PS like your tank

Not to sure what pictures you mean Ness will it be spanking flat mates or wood ? Cheers Les

Lol @ Jb 89 you should send a bit of that rain over hear its tinder dry and we could do with a nice storm Cheers les

I was looking through some scaping books and you can use cork. There should be some cork trees growing in NSW they belong to the Oak tree family if you ask at the botanical gardens if they have any records of trees planted any where once on talking terms and a few visits ask for some bark to be cut it dosnt harm the tree and is a commen practice for the attainment of cork for bottles. I know we have cork oaks over hear in Perth through that means and I got my Katapang trees through contacting Botanical gardens and they love that someone is intrested in what they have. Cheers les

1. The cell walls in plants can be thickend slightly by the adition of extra potash whilst in the growing stage, difrent localities would have difrent soil make up and chemical and trace element contents. 2. Whilst preparing and drying leaves the cells undergo some deteriation. ie ( If a leaf is dried when still green it will have more elements retained in it than one that is collected from leaf fall ) 3. The legth of time any dried leaf is stored for will effect the potencie of the chemicals stored in the dried leaf 4. The storage technice should also be considerd. So after all things considerd if the leaf was of good quality when first purchased then 12 months is a good time frame to use up suply or a larger quantity will need to be used Cheers Les PS its not hard to grow so if you had a tree you would always have a fresh suply

Yes Yes they are the ones prity impresive they recon couse last years winner was forrest that there where a lot this year. That Russian bloke did an awsome job with his forrest do you think it was cork he used as if it is that would hve taken forever. ccant wait to see what you come up with Cheers Les

What? I seem to have missed your humour Kangakoi or was it sarcasm LES

They do Matt and they are very resonably priced Cheers Les

Hey Adam see if you can get a copy of the Jan TFH Magazine, they have pics of 2011International Aquatics Plants Layout Contest with pics of place getters 2nd and 3rd are forrest scapes that could lend insperation 1st place wouldnt be out of p[lace as a scene from Avatar. I am not sure if you can view it from there web site www.tfhmagazine.com you might be able to Cheers Les

Hi Paul I have Dawin alge shrimp and they are fantastic in moss that has hair alge as hair alge is there favorite food also have fresh water mussels that do a fantastic jod at filtering and add a little diferance to a tank and for somthing without legs they realy do get around Cheers les

Hope so Paul but while he dosnt he shows off them nuptual coulers which are sooo nic3e Cheers Les

Ah Ness your Dill-eary-Ass through the meds. Put yourself in the bath and have a long soak and forget about the wood until you feel Betta. I hope that is soon but keep the posts up wilst still on meds as they Crack me up. Hey Adam what moss do you have access to I think Weeping and Flame would be fantastic in a scape like that. I realy like that forrest seen I have one like it in an ADA book I could sit and watch it for hours Im sure. Cheers Les