Feelers

I'm all for GE, although Alan I'm pretty sure any animal that has been GE'd has to go through a review board(just like a new species,but under MUCH stricter rules), before if comes into the country. I assume your talking about those glow in the dark zebra Danos? My uni bio lecturer had to wait 3 years for approval to get a geneticially engineered strain of yeast (and $20000). It is a huge problem for the biotech industry. What does dyeing entail?

Unfortunately aquaculturing marine animals can be very difficult. Many require huge tanks, which makes it impractical, and others just dont seem to breed at all. Raising the young is another problem too. In america there's a bit of a market for aquacultured stuff, but all the best marine fish are the ones that cant be bred easily. Also fish in most places are so cheap that aquaculturing them isnt viable just because the fish are so much more expensive.

Ooooooo, my xmas present might be coming (a bit late tho)........ I'll let you all know in a few days. It's exciting, for once I'll be spending some real cash, just like a real reefer.

At the mo it does look a lil scary (to my untrained eye). I would make 300% sure, I cant imagine anything worse than the whole thing tipping over. Well I can, but it still wouldnt be good. Looks good anyways, and as people say the bracing will add more support.

Real Impressive. How much maintenance is there for a wee tank like this?

I think a cheap skimmer would be a better choice than UV. Uv is actually more expensive too - with the cheapest units around $100+. Algae is a sign that there are excess organics in the system. UV is more of a treatment than a prevention. Also it will only get algae in the water column, leaving the stuff in the tank alone (I think). With protein skimming you are physicially removing the crud, ie removing the algeas food. UV just kills everything that floats through it, leaving the organics (although they may break down a little). For instance, if you have an outdoor pond, and run UV - you water will be crystal clear with no algae, but it can still be highly toxic to fish if you dont have a filter.

Can you make use of the christmas lights from the wharehouse? $40 all included with 90 leds. Nice and easy.

Yeah I've decided to give it a miss 8) , cheers for your opinions everyone. I think to make money you need to go nuts with loads of tanks if you have any chance.

I think the problem would be having the temp stable, like if the tank gets too cold, you cant have the computer fire up Halo 2 by itself. :lol: I suppose as a suppliment it could work. Meaning the tank heater doesnt switch on as much. My friends cpu gets up to 70 when its hot , the warning thing that pops up has a huge flame on it haha. Not too good for it I imagine.

Water cooling a cpu is ridiculously awesome, way way better than a fan. It means you can overclock heaps. But I dont think it will do much to the tank, and your comp will have to be running constantly even if it does produce enough heat. (my geuss is that it wouldnt) If you are going to buy the water pipes for the computer, you might aswell just have normal water cooling.

For some reason they arent open on tuesday, but on all other days. Its a small store, but I was really impressed with the quality of the tanks. Its just up the road from me, so it would be perfect. Staff discount on a chiller would be great

Haha, I'm actually trying to get a partime job at Organism in Chch, so it'l be funny to see the other side of the equation.

Dealing with livestock is obviously pretty difficult when talking about return policys. http://www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/cons ... funds.html From what I can figure, fish and livestock are covered, however I couldnt specifically find it listed. The consumer law is VERY strong here, to make sure that people who genuinely have a complaint are legally entitled to a refund. I think that the store should have an official (written on the wall) policy when selling things like fish to deal with this sort of problem, as its obviously a pretty common situation. I aslo think there is some responsibility on the buyers behalf to make sure they know what that policy is. I think you are legally entitled to a refund(however it depends on whether the fish is considered "faulty"), but you will know if thats fair or not. I think store credit would be a good compromise. I would point out that it's the shops fault for not having a return policy, and not explaining it to you when you bought it. Thats why in this case I think the rap lies with them. 8) And especially with a long term cutomer, honestly that's stupid. It doesnt even make commercial sense, let alone ethical.

Well, basically a skimmer is a filter that removes organic 'gunk' from the system. It's pretty much a tower that fills with tiny bubbles, and the gunk sticks to the bubbles and condenses into foam that can be removed. Like this pic from jetskisteve..... Skimmers get to ridiculous prices, however those ones are generally for reef keeping where good skimming is essential. There are some budget skimmers around that would be just fine. I dont know if there are any of these left..... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 863289.htm You could send petplanet a pm (here on the forum), and ask if there are any left. Other cheap skimmers are the "queen turbo skimmers", jebao (AND jebo - different companies) skimmers. As your tank doesnt have a sump you will need a hang on skimmer. I would ask in the private trade exchange part of the forum for a cheap skimmer, you should be looking at around $30, or more depending on what you want. If you have questions feel free to ask everyone here, the good thing about you being thrown in the deep end is that at least you'll get some good advice here. :lol: On the chiller thing, chillers cost around $600 new, and I dont think its required (unless your absolutely loaded) . You just have to make sure the tank doesnt get too hot, and with a 34 L tank I would imagine ice bottles could work quite well on really hot days.

Hey sorry off topic but seahorsemad did you see the new species of seahorse they found up in the poor knights? Looks really impresive. Only 2cm long. vickih: It sounds like the shop is to far away to return them? I would definately make a fuss about it though. :lol: Poorly informed LFS's really annoy me.

Your local pet shop doesnt sound very informed. Salt water tanks are pretty complicated. What filtration do you have? Do you have a sand bed? Basically cycling will be very stressful for them (if they actually survive). I dont really know how tough sea horses are though. I think lots of water changes are all that you can really do. Unfortunate that the shop let you down.

I thought of possibly making a greenhouse-like covering for a pond, could be done cheaply too. I have a big back yard at my flat that would be easy to dig up, cover with a tarp and fill up. :lol:

Just thinking about possibly breeding fish as a little earner and something to do. Way down the line I want to do some marine aquaculture of some kind, so the experience would be good. Looking on trademe I saw oranda gold fish around the $170 each, 6 fish worth around $1000 in total seems to be good business. :lol: So I'm, just interesed in your guys experiences - is it possible to make much money and what fish have you found to be good to breed? I'm more interested in fish that are difficult to breed, I like a challenge and enjoy the technical aspect of fish keeping too. Perhaps fancy plecos or something like that.... Cheers for any suggestions 8)

100L sounds awfully small - when these guys are talking about the "recommended" size, I think they mean at least around the 300L mark.

They are all required to take your reading, if you question it(at least thats what I remember from Target ). Definately look into it, thats quite a big bill.

I liked that octopus tank, but it didnt have anywhere to hide, so its a bit creul in my opinion.. (while it was in the airport anyway) I think it must be a new octopus otherwise he's doing real well. I dont spose you could hazzard a guess as to the volume that tank is?

How much was the old coldroom unit? I have heard that water coolers(ie the ones found in corporate offices ect) are also a good thing, but finding one cheap is the hard part.

Is it possible to do a big group but on laser cutting? I was thinking that the majority of the cost was from getting the equipment setup, and the actual job doesnt cost too much, perhaps a big long peice of acrylic, and everyone can pay for their percentage of the lenght they cut off? Sound like an idea? Would that actually work? I spose the hieght of the comb might be a problem.

What's the deal with phosphate removers? Do they become full? -so you have to replace the media? I ask because I was reading about nitrate removers, and it said that you can flush out all the stored nitrates with salt water - 10,000 times(so its very reusable). If you dont have to keep buying media I might invest in some.

Haha, just moved in to my new flat..... lovely. 8) In the corner of the lounge found this.