Pies

I too recently lost several fish due to the addition of diesed fish, probably from the same sorce. It has highlighted to me the importance of a QT tank, and its a lesson leaned the hard way. I am sure there are people out there who would read this and say 'told you so'. Most books make it clear that the addition of a qt tank is nessesary, but few of us do it. From now I am will be doing it, I intend to learn from my mistakes. Pies

Deeveus - I think you need to do a little more reading before you move on any futher. I would reccomend 'natural reef aquairums by Tullock published by TFH'. It will answer all of your questions and is a very easy to read and friendly book. After reading the book, things will make a lot more sense to you. I don't think you've quiote grasped exactly what your trying to do yet or whats invloved. I also see you advertising for fish, in all fairness if your adding fish in the next 2-3 months you are in for trouble. pie

I'm with Chimera on this. The bigger the water changes and the more frequently the better. Many people belive that after a tank has finished cycling and found some bio-ballance then waterchanges can be done less frequently, which isn't to say they should't continue. Still people will do what they will. Fact of the matter is the more you do, the greater you chance of good health and success. Pie

Things are going really well with the new system. Spent a bit of time on Sunday dremaling out my overflow combs a bit larger. The refugium (old reef tank) needed to have the overflows 'honed out' to cope with the additional flow. In the past it was being driven by an Iwaki30, not its being fed from the display by an IWAKI100. Water is ROARING thought it. Also had to hone out the overflows in the display. Now the the IWAKI is being fed close to the pump with a 50mm inlet, water is FIREING through the tank at an unbeleavable rate, raising the water level by over 1.5cm. Now thats a lot of water on a tank this size! The display is a real WASHING MACHINE! 2x Sea Swirls driven from an IWAKI100. 3x Ehiem 1262s on closed loops. 3x Stream 6100s. From looking at it last night, and only time will tell, but if I can remove a Stream or 2 I will There is such a thing as too much flow! Got the CA reactor hooked up and in the sump. Good spot for the c02 bottle to sit etc too, worked out perfectly. Also re-connected the Pinpoint PH Probe. Did a full spectrum of water tests late last night: PH 8.25 (pinpoint) Temp 26 (electronic) Phosphate (undetectable, Salifert) Nitrate (0, Salifert) Magnesium (1330, Salifert) KH (8.0, Salifert) Water is a little dirty from the move, but has cleared compared to the photos posted earlier! Have added a kg of activated carbon to help things along. Few things left to do. Biggest it deciding how to do the freshwater top-off. Or more accuratly finding where exactly it will go. Also need to add a few timers for the lights etc which are still manual at the moment. Ohhh and need to re-wire the temprature controller with a longer cable, if you look in the photo you can see its slightly stretched Need to make a small collar for the sump, just to make things look tidy. A few small things to tidy up outside, which can't happen until it stops raining! Fish and coral upstairs looking good. Pie

Layton - Great skimmer Pie

Fay - JetSkiSteve found a guy that sells 44gallon food grade plastic drums. About $65ea (used for food storage). Pie

I stand corrected. I guess none of our tanks are made of it Pie

I'm with Chimera. I have 2500 litres of water, lucky to do 300 litres a month. I would target between 5%-10% per week. If you can manage this I would say your a saint. I aim for 10% a month. Good luck Pie

I've not heard of anyone using lasers to cut glass, certainly not here. Cutting glass hole is easy. Cutting them in pre-made tanks is hit or miss. Does't matter if its toughend or not. If it was me, i'd do it myself. You would be much better off starting with a purpose made tank. I think the root of your problems lie with trying to 'retrofit' a tank to do something it was never designed to do. I suspect if you carry on down this route you will end up spending a lot of money to get a less than stellar result. Only my opnion though, if you are set on the existing tank/stand and are commited to using it, I am sure you will work it out. Good luck Pies

Definatly not the biggest, but its in the 'larger' tank category. Glad you liked it. Remember though that big tanks don't mean good or nice tanks, small tanks can look awesome. Jude - Looking foward to your visit :> Pie

Bigger tank? Yes and no. 1st off given out house, I couldn't have a larger tank without setting it up in the garage or giving up the HT room or blocking a window with good views off, none of which I am prepared to do. So its as big as I can have it in this house. Dimentions are perfect for the effect I wanted. Still a bigger tank would mena more room for fish, the ability to keep larger fish and a wider type of fish and inverts. So yes I would like larger. The other issues is one of money. I am not sure we could afford to run a tank any bigger without it having such a serious impact on our financial position. Running the lights and pumps costs money, replacing the bulbs costs money. It doesn't take long for it to add up. So can't see the tank changing at all within the next 5+ years. Not sure about your situation, its a big call kocking out walls, drilling through floors etc. Still if you know your going to be living there for a long time, then may as well set it up the way your really want it, otherwise you will only be dissapointed. Pie

I have a Dremal and its yet to earn me any money at all. Still I guess if you could find someone to pay you to use you $69.00 dollar power tool you make a small fortune. Pie

Approx 220kg. Pie

The importance of having a plan became evident after todays efforts. I've been planing today for months, thinking about all the bits and pieces that needed to be done proior to the move. So with the help of my good mate Suphew, scones from my partner Jane, muscle from another of my good friends Ralph and several other friends on 'call' including SteveA from this site, we begun. We collected about 450 litres of water early on in the week and had it ready. Peter at Port Nicholson Glass finished the sump and I had it at home on Thursday. Great job on the sump as always with Peter, built to my design and perfect dimentions, baffles and holes. First order of the day was to disconnect the downstairs from the upstairs. We cranked the fire up to hold the temprature in the display. Then we plumbed in the skimmer, which was an awkward but straightfoward job: That done and out of the way, the big job was on. First off it was drain the sump, gut the small sump, and remove the fish and water and rock. After that it was time to move the tank out from the wall so I could spray paint the other end. Once that was done we needed to remove one end off the existing cabinet so we could slot the new sump into place. The exiting cabinet is 5 feet, the sump to go under it is 7 feet, so it sticks out a little: All done and looking good: What was going to be the worst part of the day was actually moving the tank into place. If you have been following whats being going on you will know that we have built a room less 1 wall. The new sump is 7 feet long, the room in only a few inches wider than this. With the kickboards and door frame we had approx 1cm free on the right and 2 on the left. We needed to slid the half ton tank into a slop without gouging holes in the wall (thanks for you concern Ballastic) and get it square with the back of the room whiles avoiding the shelf we had put in earlier: This photo is the 'grab the tape measure its not going to fit' photo: Good thing I am dead on when it comes to measuring does no one remember the crane incident? Ralph squeezing out through a hole that there was little chance of me getting out of: To say it was hard work would be a major understatement. However it took problaby less than 15 mintues all up and fitted PERFECTLY. Did I mention it was hard work? Once the tank is in place, plumb EVERYTHING back together! Problaby the most rewarding part of the whole job was seeing my nightmare of plumbing turn into something much more organised and failsafe. Here is a pic of the return pump, note 40mm out and 50mm! in. Janes favorite part of the entire system is this. This overflow means that in the event of powercuts, blocked or failing return pumps etc all the water goes into the drain out side, not a drop of water in the house again! No more midnight clean ups, no more monday morning 'surprises'. Add a little water, and here is one I had prepared earlier: Shame to spoild this one with Suphew in it: Suphew in his usual position: in front of the camera I mean So thats it! All done, well almost, certainly the worst of it done. A million tidy up tasks of course, but the worse of it is all behind us and we couldn't be happier. Other than taking longer everything went as planed, nothing hasn't worked, everything fits where it should and there is little that could or would be changed if I were to do it again. Thanks to EVERYONE who has contributed on todays effort, or helped us get to this point. Special thanks go to Suphew, who has done more than anyone one person on the team (including myself) and if he spent any more time around here he may as well just move in. Jane for letting me spend the money Ralph, Chris and anyone else who has provided 'on call' muscle. Peter at Port Nichloson Glass for letting me be such a pain in the neck. JetSkiSteve who may not be in Wellington but has posted me so many things so quickly, and sourced so much of the hardware I have needed from Auckland becuase its not available here. Anyone else I missed, sorry but thanks. Visitors welcome Pie

Looks good Chimera. Its a shame you arn't going to find a better position for the SEIOs though, shame that they get pride of place at the front. Any way to 'stealth' them more? Pies

IRA - Try swapping the bulbs over to confirm its a bulb issue not a contact issue. Pie

It doesn't make a huge difference, but it is an improvement. I would have done it if I could have afforded it. BEWARE that its much weaker glass so the dimentions may be restricted by the dimante. Check someone elses tank like ZeovitNZ before you decide. Good luck Pie

I think thats actually a very fair observation. Updated stock lists/info, well defined terms of trading, costs, shiping expectations etc are the keys to successfull e-comerce business model. The LFS will soldier on, but online pressures are only going to increase over time. Pies

As long as it works out cheaper I couldn't care less if the gear I am buying is comming from the States, Eurpoe, Trademe or the guy accross the road. As for diversity, I think your all wrong. The biggest thing that will drive increased diversity is increased volumes. The more the importers are bringing in, the more likley we are to end up with rare/er livestock. Pie

MARLEY & IPLEX Pressure Rated PVC doesn't have any anti-mold coating or anything else. Some silicone sealants do. Pie

And going?

This Sat will be a big day. I (with help from many friends) be moving the sump into the new sump room! Also it is likley I will be doing a large water change (600 litres), re-plumbing the tank returns and adding a new sump. The new sump is a 7 footer, replacing the existing 3 footer. I will be removing my IWAKI RXLT30 from the system completely using gravity to feed the top sump. We will also be drilling a hole through the outside of the house for overflow protection from the sump (yay no more floods, ever!). Going to be a big day, but am really looking foward to the results of improving all of my plumbing, making the garage far tider than it is currently and conserving some power as will no longer be heating the whole garage! Watch this space. Pie

Picking up my custom sump on Friday, installing Saturday 7feet of custom sump goodness Pie

They are fine, leave them be. Read 'A spineless colum' on Reefcentral for more detailed information. BTW 2inch is only a baby, I have some close to 12 inches long when stretched out at night. Pies

Never heard that before. Have any links or anything about this? Pie