rossco

House less feather duster...

Just make sure before you do it that you have someone teed up to look after your fish tank while you are trying to explain your way out of the funny farm when they take you away! :lol: :lol:

Its an older type house which is pretty well built anyway but even so, for peace of mind we put another 200 X 50 under middle of tank with three 125 X 125 piles. It heavy, but spread. No different to about ten large people standing together...on a tablecloth.

Of all the hidden stuff?? Thats why its hidden - its also UGLY!

Thanks for all the great feedback. Especially in the middle of my freakin 'plumbing' weekend! The sump and stuff for the tank is the next room over, through the wall, behind the old tank. Rossco has been busy going under the house to do the underfloor pipework as well as coping with Rossco overlooking essential pieces to make the loop! Also little things like 1.5 metres of rigid pipe is really hard to get down a hole in the bottom of a 0.75 m tankstand. (someone shoulda put it through top of tank before he glued the bulkheads in!) Since the tank dominates the room a wee bit I am trying to hide as much of the functional stuff like pipework as much as possible.

Someone like one of the 'retailers' / 'wholesalers' could probably comment more accurately but just by watching what shifts from the few marine tanks in Hamilton it seems there a lot more reefers out there than the few that frequent this notorious site! So do our deals make a huge difference? Importing is probably a lot like marine tanks - looks pretty easy until you start to try to do it yourself! Also a bit like Fay I buy from a variety of sources - they all have their pros/cons but all add their own colour and personalities to our tanks! :lol:

No, you have to get one of the main 'manufacturing' glass companies to do it for you (usually via one of their agents). Thats where the pain and the cost comes in. Also various restrictions as to what length and degree of bow they can do. Quite a few regularly do them for bowed windscreens for things like boats. All to get a result some people (including some reefers) don't even like! :lol:

Ended up getting Greg Kingston (in AK) to make it for us. Real pain to me and wallet getting tank made with a custom made bowfront. He made a great job of it.

Yup...now I wonder who had one of the main tanks that I got the inspiration from...

Pretty good guess Bubbles. I didn't realise what wifey meant by"an inch or two makes all the difference" until I added a few inches to my fish tank :lol: The 'old' bowfront to the side is a four footer - thought it was quite a good size until I put a few bigger fish in it and a bigger tank beside it. The new tank is 2 metres long, 700mm tall with depth of 600 mm front to back at ends with a further 180mm at front centre of bow. I think the tangs will like the extra swim room.

A wee bit bigger...any guesses the dimensions?? :lol: Clue - its gonna weigh a lot full of water. Took four of us to carry the tank alone! In regard to old tank - probably keep for a another few months yet to transition fish and things. Also thinkin about keeping a a back up 'fish only' tank cause I've got a wee mate that is an emperor angel. Sometimes they think a reef tank is a buffet just for them But then again might sell as a marine set up to recoup a bit of the outlay for the new tank.

Hi Tom Do a search on this site or one of main overseas marine sites on Marine ich/white spot/cryptocaryon irritans and have a read up. Leaving your tank empty of fish for at east 6 weeks is the only real 'treatment'. All the rest are a lot of effort with varying degrees of effectiveness.

Its pretty hard case cause clowns are usually the last fish to have white spot (cause of their slimey coating so they say) and damsels are the hardest fish to kill.

Nah, don't think he's an artist. Do hear that he's working at an aircraft manufacturer over the summer. probably the glue they use... :lol:

Hmmm...I wonder how one would apply the gallons to the inch thing for a batfish

You musta missed seeing the one in Ardie's tank a few months back!

But thats half the fun of posting on this forum!!! :lol: When are us slightly more than newbies gonna have a laugh if you newbies don't post the same questions we did?? :lol: :lol:

Yup, water might start out pretty clean at the 'source' but by the time it gets through pumps, reservoirs, mains, and pipes (some times decades old) there's a lotta crap that can end up in your fish tank. In a sense, a large part of the sanitising additives in the water are to compensate for the crappy pipes they have to travel through! Even when I was collecting rain water for the tank it is hard to keep it 'pure' cause there is so much other crap blowing around when the rain is coming down. RO/DI made a difference for my tank.

Bloody hell Feelers! Ya mean I've been taking on board your comments and advice for the last year without you even owning a bloody fish!!! :lol: Are you one of those 'voyeurs' that just likes watching other people doing it??! :lol:

Hi dog Just to add more confusion - I had the same thing happen. Yes, it was also after starting to use bioptim and biodigest. Sounds like a similar sort of algae - grew best in HIGH flow areas (as opposed to cyano). It had quite an inhibiting effect on things like button polyps when it started growing amongst them. Sailfin didn't seem greatly interested in eating it although he cleans any hair algae in sight. I dosed with vodka without great success. I started using a phosphate remover and DID have a significant reduction in algae. I am still using bioptim and digest as I do think they help the water clarity. Perhaps like a lot of things they upset the balance but now it is getting restored. Does anybody also notice an increase in water clarity after using reef booster? :-? Or do I just need to clean the outside of the glass more... :roll:

Good summary Wasp. I ain't a greenie but...I think we as people greatly overestimate our ability to control things that have taken thousands of years to develop. Look what we are doing to the environment! And here we go as reefers trying to develop a slice of an ecosystem in a relatively minute, highly overpopulated space. The paradox of reefing is that we achieve 'stability' through constantly changing internal dynamics. We are only measuring a fraction of those. I think we should all be bloody proud of being able to achieve what we do!

Don't worry Fay - I do the same thing and then wonder why the tang is so BIG! :lol:

Great to see your keyboard is working again Paul!

Don't worry Greg - despite his on-line name 'Wasp' is relatively harmless!!! :lol: