Pies

.7 stone. hahahahahha. Yeah! And I brought a fish the other day for 16 thrupinse, 6 pense and 4 bob. Pie

I don't belive it happens, not sure if its supposed to happen though. My comments about money were just an illistration. I didn't mean that $140 isn't a lot of money, its just not a lot of money in the 'scheme of things'. When your importing fish that may be worth over $200ea and with most coral retailing for $75+. I was just trying to highlight it as a comparison. Sorry if anyone misinterpretid my point, hope that makes more sense. Pieman

Cool! The yellow tongin in a nice coral. Your fish look great. Nice to finally see some pics! Pie

+ the weight of the glass, stand, rock/gravel, hood, lights, filters/sumps. My 14000 litre tanks weighs an approximate of 2.5 ton excluding the weight of anyone standing in front of it Pie

I wish I was earning stupid amounts of money too In all fairness, and as an observation, most of the people I have met with nice marine tanks own their own houses. Moving a marine tank sucks (I know), which is unavoidable when your renting. It would be hard to reccomend someone start a tank without owning their own home, and thats without getting into the whole money thing... It is an expensive hobby, money doesn't garantee success either but it does take more than just good intentions, sometime you just need to buy the kit. I don't want to come accross as snobby but its hard to get by without spending thousands and many of us have spent 10s of thousands. There are a few here who have done it on a budget and may be able to offer some advice. There is more good 2nd hand/cheap china-copy gear around than ever before. But pumps, rock, lights and stock always cost money. And believe me, there is always some else to buy... pie

Sorry perky this couldn't be any more wrong. $140.00 a year for a licence? Not a great deal of money in anyones books. Why would a MAF vet come? I don't really think you know what your talking about Perky. Even if it did cost $150 an hr, thats not a lot of money either. I have a friend who was stocking 2x 6 foot tanks (marine). He decided to build his own importation facility to reduce the stocking costs. He told me that all up it cost about $3500 to stock his tank, including all the MAF costs and the costs of bringing in 2 shipments. He belive that the retail cost of what he brought in was over $6,000.00 Retail. Now your could argue that he lost money because of his time, however a very real saving and he can still import again if he wants. It won't be easy, but I think its more difficult to know what do to (fill in paper work for councels etc) than the cost. This is certainly the case with marines. 3 members on this forum have started importing fish in the past 18 months and 2 more intend to start up. Can't be too hard or expensive if thats the case. Good luck. Pies PS: There is a thread by RnB that shows all the forms etc needed to start your own facility. Check the saltwater section.

Mandarins - You will want over 30kg of live rock and a tank over 12 months old. Easy to kill a mandarin, make sure your tank is ready. Pies

Me neither

If you read some of my early posts I have said this before, don't under estimate the cost of the plumbing. I too have spend in excess of $1000.00 and I am not finished yet. I can see another $250.00 when I move the sump, maybee a little more I also buy at trade prices. Looks good, more photos!

If you read some of my early posts I have said this before, don't under estimate the cost of the plumbing. I too have spend in excess of $1000.00 and I am not finished yet. I can see another $250.00 when I move the sump, maybee a little more I also buy at trade prices. Looks good, more photos!

Great idea RnB. Chimera, you should get your tank it, be cool for people to see it 'before and after' sort of think. Seeing the setup before its all finished and dressed and tidied will give an appreciation of how much work is acutally involved. Pies

Wow thanks guys. I don't think its the nicest looking tank in the country though, but I appreciate the sentiment. It is really comming along and starting to show potential. Your right about the size RNB. The photos are deceptive, its a large tank by many peoples standards. Thanks guys! Pie

Perky - Patience is your only friend right now. Do a search on this forum and see what others have discussed. I would advise doing nothing, reducing stress is the key in my experance, the whitespot will go if the tank paramaters are healthy. Others will reccomend removing it and adding copper, which will work. It means a 2nd tank and catching the fish (more stress). A few may reccomend garlic, this 'may' help. Whatever your do EVERYONE will agree, reduce stress (no hands in tank, stable water paramaters). Also if your going to act (medicne, copper, garlic, hyper salinity etc) you need to do it now. If treatment is all you can do for you pet, the longer you wait, the less likley you are of a positive result. Pies PS: Doubble check and make sure it is whitespot, not an air bubble or similar.

? I couldn't understand what your were talking about at all? Being on TV? Rude glass makers? Did you acutally enquire on a price for delivery? I doubt its diamons, infact I suspect it would be possible for under $300.00. $300.00 is a fraction of the cost of making a big mistake building a 2000 litre tank, which, in all fairness is quite large and holes quite a lot of water. An abitious first project. I built my first marine tank, 740 litre, NEVER again it was too much of a hastle. BTW I lived in nelson for almost 20 years. Pies

Dogmatix really? Because its still OK to bring fish up in a net and let them suffocate on the deck of a boat by the million. OR to catch them with a hook and let them die by drying out in a bucket. Smashing tanks full of live animals in fits of rage is lame. I give that kind of behavior 1/10. Pies

Cracker - hehe, I was thinking the same thing Wasn't someone on this forum starting a new marine fish store or something? Pie

Warren - Yes have thought about it, really don't want to do it if I can avoid it. If another goes however I will have few options but to do it... The tank as of tonight, warts and all: Pies

Building a 2000 litre tank is a big deal. Make sure all your jigs a square and you have approx 4 tubes of silicone on hand. I would also use iceblock sticks or similar to keep the glass off the glass. Good luck, love to see some pics. Pies

I use the Olympus C5050zoom, all are taken freehand. Glad you like them, I like them Pie

Been and gone. I still own the namespace but just don't have the time to do it right now. Want to, just time preventing me from putting it back up. Thats for your interest, i'll put it up on this site when its done. Pies

Early on in the week my Blue Tang was having a fit because he though he was going to get fed. Part of his fit was to try and splash water out of the tank, which he tried. The water hit the bulb and cracked the glass. This bulb is 2.5 months old, what a waste of a Radium 20k 400 watter: Added another light to the tank, so am now running 5 400 watt bulbs, 20k (radium) 14k (Narva) 20k 14k 20k. Theere is no visiable difference between the Narva 14k and the Radium Blue (20k?) bulbs. A nice frag starting to find colour and a bit of growth: My standpipe is a bit noisey as I had it too short. No problem, went to lengthen in in the weekend. Suphew arrived for a coffee unannounced and watched me dump about 250 litres of water into the garge floor! Opps. Suphew and I (thanks mate) spent the day collecting water, and clearing up a mess. Jane also tidied part of the garge to avoid too much damage. Having the sump down stairs is such a good idea, glad the water went straight out the garage and not onto the lounge carpet. So a drama but not a big problem, good excuse for a water change anyway My boxing shrimp have spawned again last night, took some photos for anyone interested. This is the typical stance, with the female above the make while the female release the young, the male stands gaurd: This is the mother shrimp with massive visible load of young: Again a good photo showing how many eggs she carries in proportion to her own size: You can actually see the little eyes of the babies the day the release. Like clowfish babies this seems to be the sign, if you can make out the eyes they are about to be release. Happens about 4 hrs after lights off. Pies

Layton - I think that is what it was, mg ch, but I am sure it cost me $100 for 5kg from APS. Maybee I just got ripped off? Quite happy with the chips at the moment, seem to be doing the job. IRA - I have a little 3/4 a tub of Salifert PH/KH buffer at home. If you want to come out and grab it you can have it, I don't use it any more. I think its part of a 2 part system from Salifert with the Calcium product but not sure, Reef will know. Pie

Beachy - The DURSO needs to be larger than the hole and the rest of the plumbing. So your example of a 32mm DURSO and 25mm HANSEN hole and plumbing is perfect, I have this exact setup myself. Remeber to drill a hole through the end cap of the durso, this helps break the syphone and make sure gravity is the only thing invloved. You comment about replacing the 90 with a 45. It probably won't make any difference. Check with Chimera as he has a calculator that works this sort of thing out, but its probably not going to make any difference. I'd do it myself but am mathmatically retarded. Good luck, glad its all working out! Pie

That looks really neat! Interesting with the larger fish. More pics? Pieman

I have read about this before, some people use this water mixed with their supply water as its VERY hard and high PH so suits freshwater cichlid tanks. Read this a while back can't rember where, no experance myself. Have you tried drinking it? I have, it tastes funny. Pies