Pies

There will be between 1 and 2 feet of difference in height over 8-10 metres. Because of the layout of the house, piping in both directions will have to go both above and bellow the tank. Warren: I know I can still use gravity if there is a difference, but as soon as you go 'up' then its stops being gravity and starts being a syphon. If for any reason the syphon stops, then I am in the 'poo'. Also if there is not much difference in heigt, then the flow is less. I am looking at wanting to turn about 5000 litres an hr through the sump. I just don't see any other way than using 2 pumps. The 'ultimate' would be a 'water changer' peristellic pump, but they don't make them turn enough water over in my price range. I have been speaking to some people in Australia who do a similar thing, requiring 4 tanks (tank, sump, and a feeding trap level automater type tank for each). I think I am likley to do this. I don't like the idea of putting the saftey of my tank into the hands of a single switch of float. Although I think that I would be happy to use device like this for alarms or potentially for 'cut off' emergenciey switches, but not as part of the controll mechinisim. If I pump runs dry and blows up, I don't care, as its cheaper than loosing 3 pieces of coral. If I am missing something (which I may as I failed science at school) let me know or draw me a picture. Everything must be designed to save the tank and the house. Overflows in the garage are undesirable but more acceptable. Cheers Pies

Tried it with both. Am trying again from work..

I don't think the National Aquairum pulls of filteration at all. They use a well, and dry salt from there (which is filters through the sand/gravel of the beach) and pump out too sea... So water is always circulating. IWAKI pumps are good for saltwater, and can be picked up reasonably. I got a 8000 liter an hr IWAKI pump 2nd hand is perfect order for $200.00. And I am getting another for the same price. These are all plastic inards but not submersable. IRA. How do you ballance the water level in the tank? (so its not rising or falling but remaing constant?

Hrmmm or quote. I give up. I was going to do a post a pic of your tank today thread. If there is a moderator out there they may chip in and help.

Why can't I hotlink a pic? What am I doing wrong?

Some interesting comments. Both the sump and the tank are not 'sealed', nor will the by. Everything will have open lids. IRA. A good start, but what stops the sumps from being overflowed in the event of 1 pump failure? Remember the sump is going to have 500+ litres of water in it. Interfecus. As per my description there is no way to use gravity in either direction. Infact the water will be going up and down, and traveling about 10m. If I could use gravity I wuldn't be in this position of using 2 pumps. but it IS the only way it can happen. A water detector is a good idea! I may use something like this to be hooked up to an alarm or computer. MGILCHRIST. Float switches are completely out of the question. Saltwater is VERY corrosive, and there are dozens of examples of tanks being wiped out because of float switches not working (sticking on or off). There are some nice computer controlled water detectors which would be nice as a backup though. e.g. when water level is x then turn on/off pump and sound alarm. JackJackJack. The width of the pipe will not increase the flow rate, and larger pipes will slow down the flow rate is surface contact area in increased. Joze. You have a marine system? Tell us more about it As for pool pumps, just watch anything with metail inside. Some pumps with metal inards are OK (grunfos??? sp?) but need to be grounded other wise a rust layer will form and algae can be produce by the electrical current through the water. It is quite possilbe that your water supply has phosphates in it. I assume you mean for freshwater top/off and salt mix? If so, invest in an RO & DI filter. Not cheap ($500) but will prevent all Nitrate and phosphate (as well as sediment and anything else for that matter). Phosphates are killers. Also if you are feeding frozen/fresh food beware as these foods have a lot of phosphate in them. Keep the ideas comming. Pies

Yeah they are the same or similar. I suspect that you will get a 2nd aquarium one for less than $200 with a bulb (may be old). Ballasts change, and some are not the best, but should be OK. Just hold out until a good one turns up, as you said look now but no hurry. Ohhh and I think you have made a wise choice. We all completely regret buying things twice. 2 skimmers cause the first one way no good. 2 lighting systems cause the first 1 was underpowered. 2 return pumps cause the first one didn't move enough water etc. Good move and good luck

Sorry I don't understand? How can I join them together? 1 has to pump water from the tank, into the garage. The other from the garage into tank. Imagine have to tanks in your living room, then tank the lids off. Now pump water from tank 1 into tank 2. Then pump water from tank 2 into tank 1. Once you have this going, stop pump 1. What happens? Disaster.

Bruce said this. "We I tend to disagree Hideaway Island has what is considered to be the best snorkling in the Pacific region (If not the world) Cost, well we have done quite a bit of homework on this, prcing is comparitive to Fiji I keep my best interest in mind by making a choice" This is funny. Bruce did you get this straight from the brochure? Hideaway island was great. I would say that the snorkeling however is very AVERAGE. Thats right, AVERAGE. Infact of all the places I dived and snorkeled in Vanautu hideaway island was by far the worst. Don't belive me? I have photos. To compare Hideaway island to Hat Island (both in Vanautu) is a tradgedy. I would say that its a good spot for the unadventureus, novice or inexperanced snorkeler. Someone who only wants to see dead crushed coral or tame hand fed fish. However if you want to see a coral reef in its full glory, this isn't the place. It looks very sick and sad. As for the best in the Pacific (or the world), you are very, VERY uninformed. I have dived and snorkeled all over (indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vanautu) and belive someone who has been there, its not, and if that what you are telling others, you are being very dishonest. As for the costs, all you need to do is look it up. I suspect that Vanautu will be twice the cost of Fiji, if not more. You only need do a simple search on the Internet and compare prices of food and drink to give you an idea (you can't really compare activities as there are none in Vanautu compared to Fiji). And thats why I posted. Personally I don't care if you come or not. I do however think is wrong for you to attempt some sort of lame boycott of the FNZAS hard work to go offshore because you simply didn't get your way. If you have told anyone that Vanautu has better diving/snorkeling that Fiji, or is cheaper, you have lied. I hope that those who have brought into your deception get to read this post, and I save them the dissapointment you would bring upon them. If you are unhappy with the way the FNZAS works, how about getting involved and trying to contribute in a positivle way. It so much harder to be positive than negative, so much harder to build something than distroy it. I will full support all of the hard work of those invloved in the FNZAS, as they give up a considarable amout of their own personal time to try and organise things like this for the rest of us, and I feel we should support their decisions, not continually criticise them. Mark

I would like to move my plumbing for my tank into the garage. The fishtank is also downstairs. This means I can't use gravity. So what I need to know is how to use 2 pumps, one to send water to the sump, 1 to return it to the tank. The sump will be over 500 litres in size. I need a system that will ensure that the tank cannot be overflowed. That is the sump overflowing the tank, or the tank overflowing the sump. also needs to be safegarded against a single pump failure or power outage. Experance, diagrams or links please. Pies

I run 2x 250watt Halide 4x 80watt T5s Halide lighting, is more intense and is required to penetrate deeper tanks. It is brighter, per watt than fluros depending on how its measured (lumans, candle power etc). Here is the thing. You can use all fluros and you will be able to grow some things and it will look 'ok'. However, you will quickly want to try more interesting corals or colourful corals and you will then have to figure out how t fit your lights. Trust me on this, its easier to just buy the stuff you need first than try and retro fit everything later, its also much much cheaper. Pies

It should be safe, however I suspect its possilbe that some fish could suck throught it ir whatever, but I do know some people do this. As stated it goes 'cloudy' or can change the look of the item (often bleeching it) when submerged. Not sure why. Mark

I get mine from Auckland. I will have some stuff being sent to me in the next few weeks, and can organise your test kits and supliments there. I can provide them for whatever it cots me + your share in the postage (if we have to pay for it, sometime it works out free). Let me know what kits you want and i'll get them for you. Please don't ask me how much they are cause I won't know until I recieve the invoice. Those Hagen test kits a shockers. Pies

I agree with Reef completely on this one. If you want to keep the stoney corals, which often people do, than the halide is the ONLY way to go. I know a guy just down the road with a 3ft reef. So a small tank, and he recently upgraded to a single 175MH light as the 4 3ft tubes he had on it just were not generating enough light. He is VERY happy with his light now, but last time we spoke he was having heating problems... Get the halide light, the are better, look better. You wildlife will thank you, and its something you won't have to retro-fix on later. Otherwise you will find that its not suitable and have to buy one anyway, then you will have to refit everything. Do it properly at the start. As Reef sais, how many successful reef tanks have you seen that only run Fluros (there are some with T5 only, but I think even these are rare). Pies

Alan: Lion Fish are charted for Poor Knigts (Ultra Rare), 3 Kings (Rare) & The Kermedec Islands (Uncommon). IRA. I've posted this before but i'll repeat myself. The HAGEN test kits are complete shit for saltwater. I have slowly replaced all my kits with Salifert kits, simply because you get a consistant accurate reading with them. If I had know you were going to buy a HAGEN test kit, I would have sold you mine. None have been used more than 2 or 3 times, going cheap. Ohhhhh and using 3 or 4 bottles is common for most test kits in saltwater. Droppers, syringes, spoons etc. Magnesium is the worst for me so far. Which reminds me, must go test my water.

JackJackJack. As Layton said. We don't know why live rock and other things (Lion Fish) are restricted here. Its a complete farce. Lion Fish thing really annoys me for several reasons: 1. I would like one. 2. They are almost a perfect beginner fish in a lot of ways, hardy and pretty. Perfect for tanks with larger fish. 3. They live in NZ. Thats right, they can be found in waters in NZ. I belive that what MAF have done, is force people who want one to resort to smuggling one in or poaching one from the reserves that have them here in NZ (the only 2 places they live in the wild here are both reserves). Belive me both of these things happens. 4. Whats the difference between taking a blue tang and a lion fish? The Lion Fish thing really annoys me. Yes things are much more expensive here, but in some ways I belive this to be an advantage. That is, people are far less likley to let stock die, and far more dedicated to work at keeping stock alive. I see many posts by Americans (sorry to any Americans, this is a generalisation) on ReefCentral. They are forever adding fish and coral to make up for dead or dieing stock. No one here is going to go, "o-well, its only a yellow tang, i'll just go and buy some more" not when they are $200.00 you wont! Also I have met an importer and seen his operation, the care and attention he uses to keep anything and everything alive is truely inspiring. Because he knows that every time he looses something, that cost is ultimatly passed onto us, the consumer. Yes stuff is taken from Aussie, but mostly fish. Coral is restricted alot, but poaching happens. Austrailian coral doesn't actually have a very good reputation for colour or survival. Ira. Laytons and reefs advice is good. Take it slowly. I know i have said this like a million times, and to repeat what Layton has said, but the cycle in Marines is so much different to freshwater, so much more violent. Something you need to add to your list: Salinity measurement device. There are a few refractomoters floating around Auckland, about $160.00ea. They are worth there weight in gold. Reef & JetSkiSteve have both told me stories about different people who thought their tanks were running .025, turns out they were running .030. Many people, some I know claim they noticed improvement to their tanks the day they got the salinity right. Its one of those buy it once and never need another one items. Ohhh glad the sand worked out, my offer of some live sand still stands. Pies

Yeah they are, IMO, one of the nicest fish for freshwater tropical. Common, fairly cheap, well behaived, easy to keep, social and active. 10/10 I am VERY stingy with feeding in my tank, often only feeding every 2-3 days. Mine will eat anything and everything. If i feed Zuchiunni (sp?) with a lead weight, they will even happily eat this. I notice their colour changes a lot, often a light grey stripe, sometimes much darker. I assume its just their mood? I used to think water conditions, but I see them change daily sometimes. I have 4 in my tank currently, and plan on adding another 4 very soon (tommorow). Pies

I have 20L plastic jerry cans, 1 of which has a hole drilled into the top. I find a reefy part of coast, away from sand. I only collect water when its crystal clear, and never within 2 days of rain. On the South coast or fit-e-ray-a (sp???) park, can normally get the car within 5-10 metres of the collection point. Water is best collected on incomming times, its cleaner, safter and will have a higer plankton count. Food, I feed once every 2 -3 days. 1 pinch of dried plankton or 1 pinch of flake or 1 small cap (like a cap from a fizzy drink bottle) of frozen brine or mysis, or 1 chunk of 'Marks Special MArine Formula' which is a mixture of frozen brine, mussle, pink shrimp, oister, clam & green nori. I am going to try and order some 'Selcon' which is a marine vitamin to soak my magic mixture in. 1 every 2 weeks I feed via a plastic clip, 1/4 sheet of green nori, and small piece (about the size of 50c coin) of Red Nori. The fish love the green nori, but get sick of the red nori after a few minutes. This will all be gone the next day. I was feeding every day for a while, some days twice. The fish seamed fine with a healthy aiptite, but Algae was a problem, and the algae grazing fish were not doing there job. Now the fish just about leap out of the tank when I feed. High nutrients means the need for larger skimmers and moire fuel for algae. My fish seem as happy as ever with the new feeding system, which has been in place for about 3 months now. Pies

You think you had problems, I had to bring in 1 metric ton of water in jerry cans. I know that its 'all free' etc, but don't you expect to have problems adding live stock to a tank that didn't have any water in it a day ago? Won't you be dooming the livestock? Patience is required. Let the tank cycle, at least a little. If someone posted on here saying "today i brought a fish tank, some fish, some fish food and a heater, got home, put them all in the tank but after a few days things started dieing" people would be very critical. Feeding. Studies have shown that you should only feed animals from the sea with animals and plant life from the sea. Although you animals may eat blood worms, white worms, lettuce etc, its proven that they have a detrimental effect on livestock. Hence the popularity of brineshrimp and nori. Pies

Spelling shemelling

I have found them very easy to keep. My tank is well maintained, water changed etc. The are rpone to whitespot, so be carefull when introducing new stock. Mine eat anything, but especially like freeze drive blood worms and shrimp pellets the most. Very nice fish.