Feelers

Hey guys, I've decided I want to learn scuba diving, and just wanted to know what I should look at for prices as I have no idea about brands or anything else for that matter. Thought you would be good people to ask. So far I can get a dive course at $500, or if I manage to get a group of 8 - $400 each. This is - , a dvd, 2 pool dives then 2 openwater dives, then one free napier aquarium dive . Sound like a good deal? Basicially all gear is supplied, but I'm still interested getting my own gear. $2000 was the price for a total package deal, $3000 for the next leval up. Am I best to go with 2nd hand gear? I have been looking and prices seem a lot cheaper.

I tried some jellyfish the other day, quite a rubbery texture, good to throw in a stirfry I imagine. You can buy it in little sachet things, looks real weird. I liked it , but I digress....

I think when I get my new skimmer I'm gonna have a skimmer face off. I was thinking about just using a tank that has had a few eggs chucked in and left for a while.

I'd definately use a UV on a planted tank - if I had it lying around. But I would geuss replacing the bulb might cost a bit. It can help with algae problems, which happen to a lot of planted tanks I believe. It does has a certain coolness factor

Well a home brew pad is designed to keep a 25L barrel at around 25C I think, however since they are square you could get a few of them in depending on the size of the tank. I managed to get two for $4, but I think that was luck! Just running the idea past you, wouldnt have a clue if its practical

I notice reef dissappeared from the thread long ago. Take it easy guys - its just fish keeping. Back on topic how is a beckett different to a straight venturi? Im geussing they perform a lot better than a normal venturi? And does anyone know of a good explanation of a needle wheel? Im assuming that air is sucked into the "disk" and separated into bubbles, but I havent read anything in-depth.

Could you use a homebrew heater pad? I use them for brewing and they seem pretty cheap and reliable.

Nylon pot scrubbers have a huge surface area - more than bioballs and scoria. Totally inert, and water flow is probably very good through them. Im gonna use these in my cannister when I get it going. They are cheap too!

I dont get why there arent many cold tanks around? I always wondered if the animals from deeper water needed light at all - and apparantly they dont. We have some amazing stuff in NZ, in fact for coldwater we are probably one of the best countries in the world. Can sponges be kept? I've seen some really impressive yellow ones. We have heaps of anemones too, the jewel one is real cool. Apparantly the area between Stewart island and the mainland has a huge biodiversity - comparable to that of a reef. Since im going with a cold water tank - (maybe around 12C) would I be able to keep a tank like his one? I would imagine the messy eating of an octopus would make great anemone food. Some of the anemones I found on a bio trip. They are everywhere.

yeah I bought the ones thunderstorm is talking about. For mounting them Im probably just gonna chuck them in some clear piping and run it through the hood. Cheap and easy - and the lighting effect is real cool.

Is it one of the UVC things of Trademe? I think the C part just means that there is extra wavelenght in the "C" region, which from memory is ~270nm? - anyway this is the wavelength that DNA is most succeptable to - the perfect sunburn maker.

Some sort of elephant fish?

yeah hey Wasp about photoshopping the pictures - you can basicially mess around with any photo and end up with good results. The pic of your tank was definately good enough quality to manipulate the photo without any problems with the shadows ect. Combos job was just a quick demonstration, and you can see that even a quick edit can have impressive results - with a bit of time you can have a perfect likeness. Its just a matter of how much time you feel is worth "psing around". :lol: There is one guy on RC who had fantastic pics with no photoshopping - they looked really good - however he obviously spends ages taking his photos , - its obviously his hobby. It would be nice if everyone had his ability - PS just helps make a photo from an average camera with an average user look great. Personally I would be proud of have non - ps'd pictures - but only if they were good (which for me is unlikely).

How come noone uses the various macroalgaes that are around(in the display)? I saw an old reef book and they had some quite nice looking "greenery" along with their corals.

Well I bought a jebao 918 (cannister filter) from www.deepblueaquarium.co.nz for $140. Its a cheap eheim knockoff - but I think its great!!! the filter it copies off sells for around $800+ Can do a big tank - talking 500L or more I think. On he shipping tanks thing, - I saw someone who found $125 postage to the south island, so I dont think it would be too expensive to ship it. Worth asking about anyways......

hey casey if it were me, i'd look on trademe for a tank with stand. You will be able to get a better tank, possibly with filters ect and still have money to spend on something else. I bought a 300L tank for $100 (minus stand of course) but for $600 you could get a real nice one!!!

To me at least you can tell because of the edges and unnatural look. I can see how this can be abused to make acro growth look better than in real life. It seems to be a bit of a grey area. I would say the best thing is to state what has been done if any alterations have been made. this is where you can kinda see what I mean. http://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgur ... D%26sa%3DG hue is the tint of the colours,

Im definately not an expert, but the saturation is the intensity of colour. When you increase the saturation the colour (to me at least) leaks or blurs around the edges of the object. here is an over saturated image. here is how saturation works on a photo.

I have a very basic understanding of photoshop, I would say that altering levals such as brightness and contrast would be acceptable without the "photoshopped" connotation. Since the thing you guys are all after is sps colouration its important (im geussing) that the hue or saturation levals arent enhanced or altered. For example with wasps photo - contrast and brightness can make a nice improvement, without enhancing the colours unfairly.

Is that tank in the reef section? Its not even a FOWLR, its a "FOWBR" I dont know anything about aquascaping but that one's not pretty. Why would anyone buy large rocks and pile them in such a way? Conceptual reefeing perhaps :lol: It resembles like one of those fences on old english farms, also looks rather precarious to me. I dont think I would trust its "structural" integrity. What did that rate?

I would imagine that their breeding season could be emulated with a lighting schedual. Perhaps all year round breeding would be possible? Its all to do with the amount of light (technically the amount of darkness) the animal is exposed to per day. If you were real keen on breeding this would be a feasable way to do it no matter what the time of year.

Well done reef!!!, it'll be interesting to see what happens after a few more votes. Mine has slipped back to the top 95% of tanks . Hey wasp I thought I found your tank on ratemyfish.... , very similar, , I was trying to figure out if you had moved around some rock or something, !!

I had a snake neck turtle that died, mainly due to him not accepting any food. I tried everything to get him to eat but his health deteriorated. The day I was taking him to the vet he karked it . $120 worth of turtle down the drain (literally). :roll: Live food seems the only way to go with those little guys.

Hes upgrading from what I read, it sucks that the resale value of a whole tank is so low. If it were me I'd be tempted to sell it bit by bit, as generally newbies would be the only people looking for whole setups, and the prices stay low. Skimmers always seem to get a high price on tm, so I would imagine individual peices would sell well.

Man that sucks - I'm geussing that means you're allergic to other molluscs aswell?