jolliolli

Hi, I’m looking for mountain cloud minnows, non-fancy goldfish and plants suitable for an outside pond. Please msg me with what you have available for sale cheers

when i used to keep discus i always seemed to get recurring bouts of internal parasites, would treat they would disappear but return. I'm not sure if they can fight it off themselves.

sounds promising, but be aware that coughing/spitting food is also a sign of internal parasites as well...

beautiful tank

Be aware that collecting kauri shells, be it live or dead is not permitted.

send TM a pm, he owns inside oceans and is a very good tank maker

water quality and temperature is easier to control in a larger volume of water, so the biggest you can go would be best.

Reverse osmosis removes teh dissolved solids out of your tap water. They are not essential, i know reefers here in chch who don't use RO water for their reef tanks. My spare tank in the garage which has mainly soft corals and fish just has plain tap water, but i purify my water for my main tank which is where i keep my more sensitive corals. In terms of corals you would probably want to start out with some easier ones like some leathers and mushrooms and once they are growing well then look at branching out to hard corals SPS and LPS. These are more sensitive to water quality and require a bit more care (eg monitoring your mag, calcium and kH levels and dosing additives as required). In terms of the beginning your setup you'll either need to buy some dead rock and cure it which usually takes around 4 - 6 weeks, or you'll need to find someone selling live rock and use that. Benefit with live rock is you can start adding small fish etc immediately as the bacteria are still live. You still need to take care that you don't stock too quickly as there is likely to be some dieoff of bacteria during the time you get it and the time you put it in the tank. With regards to fish, you need to take care with what you select and the order you put the fish in. Some of the small hardy fish that beginners often choose aren't actually the best fish to go with (ie damsels, tomato clowns) as they can become the dominant fish in the tank. Small percula or ocellaris clowns are pretty good starter fish and they don't need an anenome to live in, in fact i wouldn't recommend getting one for at least 6 months to a year after your tank is setup

just post your questions here and we can give advice. The red sea max tanks are nice all in one units but can be a bit limiting in the long run as you don't have the ability to upgrade parts easily. YOur most important pieces of kit for a marine tank are your lighting and skimmer and ensuring you have enough flow in the tank. What type of livestock are you looking to keep? fish only, full reef? softies and fish? these questions will determine what type of skimming/lighting etc that you need.

cheers, i haven't sourced any yet so will check them out this weekend. Thanks for the heads up

i only feed fine bloodworms and have never senn any problems with overgrown teeth.

cheers, will try them out

think it halls shopfittings you're talking about, yeah thought i might try them out

Does anyone know where you can buy reasonably priced acrylic sheets? i've seen them at bunnings but they are pretty pricey. I thought anybody who has made an acrylic sump may know. I"m actually using this for poster displays not tanks so thickness doesn't matter.

i have a couple of buckets of brown gravel (see pic) sitting in buckets outside. you can have it for free if you want, PM me if interested