Feelers

I'm geussing that wouldnt be very practical though - the water level changes bloody heaps.

Check out the tsumani video in the video section - cool.

What lights are actually on the tank? Well, down here we pay 13c per kilowatt hour. Say 12 hours a day lighting with the MH, for a year. And with a 250w. Works out at about $150 per year just on electricity

Dude running 250W Mh's have some pretty serious ongoing costs. If you go the MH way just diy a cheap co2 unit - you dont need a fancy cylinder -and it will work really well. All you need is some tubing, a coke bottle, sugar and yeast. Pretty much free. Then you plants will really go nuts

I would definately say go CO2 - it is most likely the limiting factor in your plant growth. Whats the point of extra photosynthesis if there isnt any carbon to make glucose from. -There isnt, and photosynthesis will stop. Although saying that I dont know comparativly how much light your putting out. Why dont you just get cheap flouros and CO2. I think MH is overkill, plenty of really green tanks out there with tubes. CO2 actually allows your plant to build mass, while light only provides energy to allow the uptake of CO2. Id hit the first one - unless of course you have really low light levels - in which case get some new tubes - then C02. My friend diy'd a co2 reactor - his plants went REALLY nuts. My suggestion would be to build a crap one like he did - for free out of a coke bottle, and then make your decision after you are wowed by the results.

There are many problems with keeping real Nautilus - and although there is no stastical evidence, the population is thought to be declining from the pressure of supplying the shell trade. I dont think they'd make good pets, and I don't really support their capture. Argonauts on the other hand wash up in their thousands, after mass spawning events. So at least the populations arent thretend as many marine organisms are. I find them interesting from the point of view that so little is known about them, keeping one in an aquarium has only been breifly attempted. I wouldnt be surprised if their populations had actually increased with the high amounts of waste being pumped into the sea - meaning more jelly fish for them to eat.

I dont mind too much of what the vendors(reef and jetski) post. We all know they import, and for instance when jetski did a review of a skimmer - its obvious that it was gonna be one of his products. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/trying ... 11646.html But I was still interested, and he did refrain from mentioning price depite being asked. Both of them are still hobbyists - and I dont know about jetski's but reefs tank is one of the best around. I think its a bit difficult to regulate, and at the end of the day they probably do get free advertising, but they arent too blatent about it, and they contribute things too. It just means I take every thing they say on equipment issues with a pinch of salt.

Wasp are you sure he didnt mean a Nautilus? Argonauts are called paper nautilus' - but they are something completly different. They have kept real Nautilus' in public aquariums. Ill see if I can find the thread you mean.

Where's Layton and Brian too?

Well, I'm definately not a big fan of the so called "mega fauna" - ie vertebrates, but this would still be a cool thing to see if you were operating the "ROV" thing at the bottom of the ocean. (you may have to scroll to the top of the page) And another thing I might look into getting - an argonaut. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/tcp/Argo.html Pretty much noone's heard of them appart from that movie/legend (Jason and the argos). Apparantly they are found in NZ waters............ Noone has ever really kept them before, and very little is know about them. Would make an interesting pet/specimen.

Power Blue Tang, there's now a thread called "PBT part 2 - be nice". Because things got a little heated in the original.

It was the original PBT thread that got that snowball rolling.

I just noticed that the sticky is only in the saltwater forum. :lol:

Yeah I'd have to say that it has gone overboard on occasion, but it's pretty unusual to get to that level. I can recall probably 3 things that I thought were over the line. A month is quite a long time and you can come back as an alter ego anyway, I think a warning or a week ban dependant on an apopoly or something might be an alternative.

I think its a little excessive, afterall I think we all enjoy a bit of "jovial disagreement". I dont want to feel worried about what I post. :lol:

Yeah there are supposed to be problems with adding sugar, perhaps with some interaction with the slime coats of fish/some animals. - which are sugar proteins. (dont quote me on that) If it were the answer the fresh water hobbyists would probably all dose sugar.

An 8-way ocean motions kit. :lol:

If it were me I'd get the reactor and Ca/Mg/alk problem sorted first - then see if it makes a difference, didnt you say that you have probably had an alk problem for ages? Your skimmers pretty awesome- from the pics I see of your tank the bottom looks pretty clean. How about using some instant mix seasalt for water changes for a while? Molybendium/Strontium/Iodine addition? Phytoplankton reactor? , that would be cool!

Well I'll have the drill for you :lol: Wait and see how my one works out with 40mm hanson and standpipe- or whether the standpipe should be 50mm. Here's hoping. Are you able to get those 2 bottom diagrams a little bigger? As for suggestions - "go Chimera" on your plumbing - if it were me I'd want an insane amound of flow provided for by well-concealed closed loops. I'm not a fan of having any visible piping. Perhaps build a rock wall or something with homemade rock and put some plumbing outlets ect in there. I'm geussing your going the whole hog with sps? Another cool thing would be a small pod farm with a waterfall down to the display from above your sump. I think this was chimeras idea? Noone has done this before here (??) but it would be super cool even with just a small pump and tank.

I definately want to go the stained wood look. My tank has been set up cheaply as a marine tank, and if it looks good it might be worth more than my total setup cost. I havent a clue how to do that though. I'm geussing I start with the cabinet doors, then find the wood after that. Can I just screw it in?

I have pretty much the same stand as kookie posted. I dont really know what to do to make it into more of a cabinet though. How much should the wood cost to make it look good? What wood should I be looking for?

Are you going for tropical or local species?

How do you find ip's for sites like that?

I definately think any size can be cool. Some nice smaller size tanks from people here on the forum for good examples. Jettin's http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/1-vt8848.html?start=0 Helifaxs - http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/14-vt9 ... &start=195 from start to finish in this thread. I love it, Only 100L main display and its fantastic. Or you can go real small, Tom Gunners really nice Pico 8L tank. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/7-vt86 ... c&start=90

Slappers how come you didnt jump on the PBT train?