Feelers

He has a skimmer ect - (all the normal stuff), its just that the term "nitrate factories" seems a little over the top. This guy has a massive bioball tower too - a 40 inch tall 8x8 inch box.

A dude jumped off the taupo bungy!!! That would be somewhat scary.

A guy with a 200g cuttlefish tank on Tonmo uses a bioball tower and hasn't cleaned it out for 3 years - flows still good and never has a problem with nitrates(undetectable).

hey googles translator thing kinda works 8) Amo el pulpo.

I like the chewyness of the baby ones - but I was told that noone eats the big ones because they are really chewy. Do you just tenderise like you would a piece of meat? You can also make a pasta sauce out of the ink. (which has a tendency to make your "stools go black and tarry"according to the Brittish Medical Journal ) :lol:

Propagation is the key to keeping the reefs of the world intact.

The "correct" way to kill an octopus is to bite it between the eyes. They used to have wrestling contests with Giant Pacific Octopuses(the one in the video) near Seattle. They'd go down and squirt coppersulfate into their dens - and they would rush out and be pulled to the surface. The human bait thing was a myth- but they do grab on to people as they frantically search for a foothold. Man $80 for an octopus is pretty expensive. Three years max from egg to senescence (death), the ones in market are probably females - easier to catch and probably within 6 weeks of death. I've never eaten fully grown octopus, it would be pretty chewy I imagine. Apparantly their numbers have increased due to more human refuse in the sea- which makes good hiding places.

Does anyone know if black coral can be kept? A snakestar would be cool. Apparantly the Sounds area isnt a marine reserve - so if you can dive there you could get some awesome things. There are some real cool snakestars, - but I've never seen a picture of one that wasnt curled up.

Is it reefs tank? I rekon it must be. 8)

I think the link at the bottom of pies posts is old and no longer working. Is it at the end of the late news? - the story that suckers people into watching the relativly boring chaos of international affairs?

Ohh sorry

yeah after seeing what a crayfish eats has put me off getting one - I wouldnt want it to get big either. Perhaps you could feed sea urchins the seaweed that you get to make sushi.

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$135 in the pet store in Nelson....

Hah yeah I did a google search on that too :lol: - Forest Technology Systems. Then I clicked - Full Tank Shot 8)

Have a scan on Trademe, sometimes base rock pops up - I got about 12 kgs for $40. Last week I saw 15kg of live rock go for $61. I would have bought it - but I'm not in Canterbury A sea urchin would be cool - would it survive? I know that crays wont survive without a chiller. Didnt someone here have a pet crayfish?

Unless you want to grow seaweed and aglae ect no lighting is required - I dont think anything in the rock pools would be photosynthectic - (perhaps anemones?, although I think the ones here arent). That means that you can put any light you want, . I would choose a cheap flourscent that you like the colour of- low cost and low power. The moonlighting thing is just to look cool, I'm gonna use LED's for my ones. If you were intending to grow seaweed ect, you'd have to work out your lighting, based on depth, bulb wattage ect. This would make a big increase in the cost of the system - both initially and in power usage.

Hey Newtman that tanks cool! Are you running a Chiller? What do you have in there? Are there any pics a little more zoomed in?

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From the little I know on seahorses - they are scared/harrassed easily by other fish, and are generally put in species only tanks. They also have a digestive system that is basicially "in one end out the other"- . Meaning that they need to be fed more than once a day (well optimally anyway) and thus they create a huge amount of waste for their size. When you consider the cost of a chiller base rock isnt that expensive, it will make the tank more interesting, and give you some aquascaping options. I can pour water through my base rock, and my home-made stuff - It's like a seive. I have never seen any rock do that before, not even pumice can let water go right through it. Definately has a huge surface area.

I dont spose they quantified the sizes? Oh well sounds good cheers PJ

Hey LionofZion, the rock that have seen around NZ coast line isn't porous at all - even if it has been drilled by barnicles ect - it has nothing on the coral base rock I purchased. The local rock is good for decoration, and will probably be good to help cycle the tank though. I would suggest buying base rock and chucking it in the sea - if you dive that would be perfect. From what I've seen rock pool animals are ridiculously tough - the napier aqaruim has a hands on tank - and they are all fine. Its the more delicate organisms will need coral rock for filtration ect, and normal NZ rock cant do that. (from the stuff I've found). I could sell you some home-made LR :lol: I'll post some pics when I finally haul it from the sea. As for getting crays and paua - someone sells them on trademe - and they arent too expensive - ~$20 or less I think. I'm gonna have a pet cray in the sump. You might be able to grow seaweed ect - but you will need proper lighting - just as a normal reef tank would, which means big power bills and a bigger setup cost. I saw an amazing staghorn coral in a NZ dive book - bright pink looked real cool, wouldnt have a clue where to get stuff like that though.

Yeah, I forgot to put the ball valve on the first diagram- but there will be one just after the durso. I have a cannister filter for all the carbon filterwool ect, I'll put that in if the need arises. I'm gonna totally rebuild my sump - so I spose I could go with a w/d section, but from what the other octopus guys suggest a tower is much more effective. I'll build the tower out of some old pvc, so it shouldnt be too much of a hassle. That extra tap I thought might make things easier for flow adjustment in both sections, I think I can get ball valves cheap so it shouldnt be much of a problem.

I just decided I want a bioball tower in my system - I know I know, nitrate factories, but the fact is that for an octopus that can handle up to 50ppm NO3, its not that much of a problem - and the tower is used by most of the experienced octo keepers. As I understand it - gravity feeding the skimmer is the best way to run it - and this way it will have passed through the bioball tower too. If I can rig my skimmer to be gravity fed (which I'm not totally sure of) there should be enough flow for it (hopefully). The bioball tower will be roughly 1/3 full of water, and have some sort of spray bar at the top. Also, I will drill holes incase there is a blockage, and the tower can simply overflow into the skimmer compartment. You can hopefully see how this is incorporated into my plumbing design. Can anyone see problems with this? Im gonna make my pipes huge to make sure they can handle the flow. Is a pvc T good enough or should it be a bit more graduated? ie a 45 degree split to make sure some of the water goes to the fuge. This plumbing stuff is complicated.

Yeah I just found that thing - thats why I was having problems Good thing I rechecked to box - I found another peice. The clear bit of straight tubing - does this just sit in the outflow? Im geussing thats where the sponge would have gone? With the venturi as it is I dont think I'll be able to use the skimmer like in the diagram? (the airtake clips into the intake of the pump) can I rig up a verntui after the pump? Actually if I use my other pump - I can put the venturi on the outtake - and then I can have the skimmer as it is in the diagram.