richms

$5 at miter 10 mega for the 2 and 4 foots, the 3 are an unpalatable $15. Still, cheaper then the petshops

Put some foam under the stand if it isnt even, if its not level then you have a whole nother problem of the tank ending up not level. You will need to pack it up in the lower parts with something.

I'm only running at 1280x960 on this machine and thats video card limitations because its an old 16 meg card and drops to 65k color if I go any higher, the other is normally at 1600x1200 but its not on at the moment. I had a look at the guidelines, and at those low res'es its hard to see anything. I would still like to see the higher res ones since its to see what it looks like then the horrid over compressed photobucket ones.

The linked images are way smaller then the width of my screen?? Any links to the high res ones?? Anyway, nice pics, wish I could get something remotely as clear Mind you, cleaning the glass would help me out heaps Have fun with the camera. I know when I was using a mates "only 5 megapixel" dslr I was getting pics a hell of a lot better then I ever got out of my compact, and that was just on auto.

I was thinking more like this one http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.8345 looks to be a bit more finished then some of the others. Hard to tell from the pics, They shipping is quick tho so if its no good you just order some other one and put what you got up on trademe, and usually sell for more then you paid

There are some blue led strips on dealextreme.com that may do the trick, not sure on their brightness however.

Bare magnetic ballasts are about $8 last time I bought one from an electrical wholesaler, so if you need a certain wattage, then go that route, but by the time you get endcaps and starter sockets and the .75mm solid core wire you need to wire it up, the pre made one on petplanet that does t5's looks like a better and better deal.

The ballast regulates the current, so if you put a 20 watt tube on a 38 watt ballast, you will be overdriving it. Wont last long like that, but will be nice and bright while it works, till it cracks from overheating

Loads of cars have 35w metal halides in their headlights, I know you can get up to 8000K for them. Perhaps that's a starting point for you to look at? Would need a grunty 12v supply for the ballast, but it gets you hot re strike which is hard to find on a mains powered ballast.

Yes, legally they have to, but your options when they dont have them are limited to either getting angry at them for not following the law, or complaining to places that will tell them that they are being naughty and to please get the parts, - meanwhile you have wasted more then the filter is worth of your time and have an unfiltered tanks. I wouldnt be risking it, the CF1200's have proven themselves, and the price difference is one meal at wendys, so not worth the risk IMO.

There are issues with some plasticizers that are used in plastic leeching out and being toxic, some act as pseudo hormones and stuff, some actually break down to estrogen or something. color or smell wont really tell you whats what, it needs to be ordered as food grade. there are loads of big containers on trademe that are food grade, from bringing in things like fruit concentrate or similar.

The 2 connected to the same plug will have the thermostat in series with the element, there will be another connection in the plug where the 2 are twisted or soldered together. Often done really dodgey so it pays to open the plug and have a look. I would just buy new ones for the piece of mind.

Well considering that any correlation between the numbers on a typical heaterstat and the tank temperature usually results from luck then there being any accuracy to those things, other then needing the screwdriver I dont think your too badly off, plus the contact size on the old thermostats I have seen looks to be much better then the pathetic size in the heaterstats.

Which is why you make sure there are methods to recover it, unlike at present where the only option is the once a year hazmobile who initially were not sure if they should take them since they didnt know if they were hazordous enough. Now, since this is NZ, the environmentally irresponcible country, the chances of someone stepping up to offer a residential collection and recycling service are virtually nil, so yeah, it can be a problem, I have about 20 that have died around the house this year sitting waiting for the next hazmobile, and who knows what they really do with them once returned really...

Greater loss from the tank into the room will always make the tank run at a slightly lower temperature then when the room is hot nomatter what the heater is. However the hysteresis on the heater with it on almost all the time may make it slightly worse. I wouldnt sweat it. If it was like my tank and all heaters on all the time and dropping to 18° at about 10am, then worry New 300's in there should make a difference, will see in the morning.

If I can get something like that for $50 then I would in a second, at the price listed there, it will have to wait. Im still umming and ahhing about changing the lift tubes for powerheads, but once again its a cost thing. REALLY annoying seeing how cheap they are in the USA, but shipping is really the killer on things like that.

Halogen tops out at about 3300K if they are good ones, 3000 for cheapies. I am assuming they are the linear ones like worklights use, in which case they are even lower - 2700K is not unheard of...

I dont have the same luck here with my goldfish tanks, I think enough light still gets thru the curtains to make it grow, since its lit the same as another 2foot which stays clear, is just furthur from the window.

All of my little airpumps are starting to get a bit sad, and the idea of changing the rubbers in them doesnt appeal, and the replacing them all is looking like a better idea, but really I would think it better to get one or 2 big grunters then a whole lot more little ones, so any recommendations on ones that are good? Each would have to drive about 4-5 airstones in undergravel lift tubes, so want a decent amount of air, and maybe one or 2 large airstones on the bottom, I had turned those off to get more air to the lift tubes but would like them running again too.

Miter10 have 105 watt ones, really big tho, and the screw cap will come off it if horizontally mounted tho. I have some in my home office and workspace to make it nice and bright since my metal halide stopped working properly.

I drilled a hole out the floor and ran a garden hose under the house to the wastewater drain, put a snap fitting on the end of it, and a male version on the gravel vac, I start it syphoning into a bucket and then snap it onto the hose so it all goes straight outside. I just fill it from the hose, I got an adaptor that takes a garden hose size thread down to a shower hose sized one, and I fill it from the mixer so its about right temperature. Just put the anti chlor stuff in to the tank first.

I undo the shower and got an adapter to take the thread up to normal garden hose tap size, then run a hose from the bathroom to the tank, after setting the mixer to about tank temperature. cant turn the hose off at the end because that ends up sending cold water back into the hot and out the overpressure valve, so I just carry the hose thru in a bucket till I'm at the tank, and then carry it back in the bucket. Biggest problem is that the flatmates always want to use the loo when I am doing this and the door wont close.

Doesnt matter if the corners are square or not, they both will add together to make a rectangle of the dimensions that are the same as the straight sides of the triangle.

I will give the feeding ring a go, but from how messy they are at eating, I can see that it will possibly just get shoved out of the way in the feeding frenzy that happens.

Wondering if there is anything that I can dial up to like 10 mins, and it will kill the power to the filters for that length of time. Its quite annoying to feed the fish and watch it go straight into the filter intake, and now I have one at each end of the tank I cant just feed them at the end with no filter. So want to kill the power when feeding, but don't trust myself to remember to turn it back on, or to not go out if I set a manual egg timer to remind me to turn back on. Any pointers? I have seen countdown clockwork plug in timers at bunnings but they make the thing run for the time, not turn it off. although a mod may be possible I don't want to get to gut it to find that it cant be...