Feelers

I was under the impression that bio filters are totally acceptable for soft coral tanks. 640L is huuuge you probably want about 150-200L. Remember these auctions only run for a week, there are plenty of tanks around. You can use wood in marine tanks, I dont think it would cause any problems? And from the sounds of it you can make jouvenile puffers into full marine safely.

Well from what I've been reading it would appear that you can convert jouveniles to full salt. I cant find this written anywhere, it seems people want these as fresh water but are forced to make them more marine as they age. The slow transfer between salinites is for the filter to catch up NOT the fish, I havent found any info about how long this should take if say you bought at an aquarium(fresh) and transfered it to marine. It does look like its possible, perhaps others will know for sure. As for buying a tank I think either here or TM. No question about it, go second hand. A full system with sump shouldnt be too hard to find, making a sump is super easy - just buy a tank and silicon in some dividers. Trademe is weird there are some people who set totally unrealistic prices and stay there forever, and there are others who have been forced by their wives to get it out of the garage for whatever $ they can muster. I got a 280L tank for $100, a 120L tank for $30 with an 80L free (both new tanks) , and now a complete marine setup 450L for $700. Just wait it out for say a month and there will definately be a bargin in here somewhere.

I'll have a read around, but with most brackish things the transition can be done over a day. I was just thinking that maybe jouveniles can't be converted to full marine until they develop a bit later. I was totally stocked - when I was in Australia at a nature reserve mangrove thing I saw a little puffer crusing around in very shallow water, I had never expected to see one outside a tank. Im still trying to find out whether its ok to keep the younger ones at marine salinity.

Cant the puffers go full marine if you adjust them when their young or arent they able to do this at a young age? You could just run it at full marine from the get go, with a wet dry filter(either one you build in your sump or an external one) or a cannister filter. I'd build a sump and put a wet/dry waterfall part in it with bioballs, that will set you up and you wont need other filters. You can run carbon in the sump baffles in a bag. If you want to add live rock and corals you can later on, you might be best to start with a bit of rock though. You can still put wood/mangrove stuff in there, just put the liverock in the sump if you dont want it to be seen. Skimmers heaters ect can all be added to the sump. If you are thinking about full marine you could go fish only tank - there are some amazing fish available.

It has a different juvenile stage and adult stage, the young ones look more attractive with the black dot and more stripey. There are a few different pics with clearly different species but the people have obviously mis-ID'd them, so its hard to sort out what they are. 8)

I have seen some ridiculous prices for driftwood, terrible peices, very small and poor shape similarily priced. I was like "What the hell, hese things do grow on trees." :lol:

I was just reading through a random octopus thread(it was the thread of the month for August) - the guy had some stunning photos of a hitchhiker octopus that he allowed to stay in his brilliant reef tank. (page one) And then on page page 4 in an upadate after he got back from holiday to find this caused by a pipe bursting and frying the elctronics, everything dead. Taken from this thread , how depressing is that!

Look at the growth in this thing! He lists about 100 species of coral, so presumably there are more in there. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/totm/index.php Very impressive colouration. 8)

Yup thats the one PJ and it was an excellent find, I've Pm'd chimera about adding it to the list.

Does anyone have the link to that awesome ID guide that PJ posted? I couldnt find in the the Sticky'd links page, it should definately be on there, the best ID guide I've seen!

In a planted tank you are looking for calmer conditions, as oxygen displaces CO2, in a well airated tank the CO2 will be pushed out into the air. In terms of actual values of air pumps and things - I'd guess its only a problem if you notice your fish breathing at the surface, (this also happens on very warm days as warm water holds less oxygen), I am under the impression that not many people with a planted tank use an air bubbler and they do just fine.

I've seen lots of arguments about the load bearing problems with fish tanks, somo people say its sweet and some people say its dangerous. :-?

Oh another thing I should point out - what should I do about lighting in my small 90L? I'm thinking of the anenome primarily. I dont know how long I'll have them, say two weeks max I'd imagine. Wasp have pm'd you with some questions, as I ofen tend to do.

Is that a bottle of Absolute Vodka in your hand in the first set of pictures? A bit of a strange time to be hitting the sauce dont you think? The arowana looks awesome.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-10/bp/index.php You were doing experiments with the lux meter? Obviously not on the list of your priorities right now but an interesting read.

Did I miss something? 8)

I have a question or two about moving all the fish etc. I have a 90L tank that was previously going to be used for a sump. If I chucked all the fish and corals in there with the filter attatched (2 clownfish, anenome sailfin tang and I'm not sure how many soft corals) - will they be ok? I'm not sure whether this would be big enough to hold them till they are sold?

I had a look on trademe and I couldnt find any of these in the expired listings, how much are these things new? Also what would a second hand one be worth roughly? They look like a pretty serious filter. http://www.aquariumguys.com/eheimwetdry1.html Are these noisy?

Having never been diving before (this will hopefully change in the holidays) how many cool things would there be down there that would be good for my future coldwater tank? I'm pretty sure there are yellow zoos and jewel anenomes around, and also there is a very cool species of pink staghorn coral which would be awesome. I don't know how common all these things are or if they only exist in marine reserves etc? I could keep the nudi. Was it a Jasons nudibranch?

I'd second that, I just got an amazing deal on a second hand tank, the price difference between 1st hand and second hand stuff is ridiculous, most marine things have a fairly constant value after becoming second hand, - they tend to age very well. I'm a dedicated bargin hunter, and every so often a really good deal will pop up, patience(aka poor time management skills) is a virtue. I think everything I own is worth as much today as the day I bought it, actually I think I can make money on my collection of marine goods. If you buy a whole setup off someone - it will be much much cheaper. And you also know when you come to sell, you'll get most of your money back. 8)

From what I've read 25mm is too small for that kind of of flow. You need 32mm I'd say at least. I was worried about this when I was looking at overflow options, its quite hard to find definate info on. Here's the RC calculator - I think it errs quite a bit on the on the safeside. http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/drain.php

WAHOOOOO so it is a tunze you think! :D Does that mean it has the electronic controller etc? How do you guys suggest moving this thing? I'll have a trailer - but I thinking about trying to keep all the water, it is worth it? How would I go about this... :-? Ummm in terms of what I'm doing it's all up in the air right now, I don't really know, but I had to jump on this deal. I think I could have one of the best chilled tanks around with an octopus and local fauna - anenomes etc, often most do rock pool setups without skimmers etc, (although I still need a serious skimmer). Its very much up in the air. 450L is a serious tank, its another setup from my current one.

So it isnt a tunze then? I was thinking it looked like the old ones... ???

Can someone tell me what that is in the top right corner? Is that a tunze? It would be nice if it was. :lol:

Well What do you guys think? A good deal? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... d=75872502 I got it for $700, but I have to make it all the way out to Ashvegas, which is probably why it's so cheap. I plan on getting the tank, selling the filter, selling the pump, selling all the fish and corals. Then I'll sell whatever's left, and hopefully I should have picked up the tank and stand for a really good price. I'll then sell my old crap tank, and stand and it should work out that I got a good system el cheapo. Comments?