Warren

No more cracks at each other please, - keep it civil.

Or you could just use CO2 injection...

You mean this one? http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/yellow ... 26516.html

Ok, this looks like a good exception to the Trademe link rule. If any more stuff that's on the unwanted organism list comes up it should be ok to mention it. Possibly not a bad idea to advise DOC or MAF about the seller as well, just to make sure they do get rid of the stuff... It's our responsibility to educate people who don't know what is bad. However, this does not mean every dodgy looking deal can be mentioned - only illegal stuff.

Ah, just think outside the box...

So, not the black boxes then?

We went caravanning down south a long time ago. My best advice is not to travel on dirt roads when it's raining just in case your caravan is like our's was. The floor wasn't particularly well sealed and the muddy water got into all the storage compartments at floor level. It took a long time to wash all our clothes at the next motor camp. Of course, it is summer and you will be in Northland so it shouldn't be a problem - but if it does rain...

It's not me, I have a very interesting job. I design what the box the wires go into is. When I'm done, I get a new type of box to design. Always something different and always lets my creativity find avenues to vent itself... It's great job.

Hi All, Today I am officially fishless. This is a condition I find rather disturbing but I'm sure won't last too long. My 8' tank started to become a bit of a chore to keep up with. So, while all was still going good and I did not lose the love for the hobby I sold it (to Henward) - hopefully it makes it to Auckland ok. I am already planning the new tank, somewhat smaller but not too much. The major dimensions will be reduced significantly. Old tank 2310 x 810 x 650 (L x W x H). New tank will be 1550 x 700 x 790 (viewing window of 700). The capacity will drop from 1180L to 790L so still a reasonable volume for stability. I was struggling to get the plants to grow properly in the 650 depth (always grew out the top) so 790 should make a big difference. The bottom 90mm will not be viewable as this is the gravel - why view this if you don't need to. The new tank will have a steel frame with fibreglass over kevlar/aluminium honeycomb panels. Only the front window will be glass. This will be Starfire glass for super-clear finish and 12mm thickness + toughened. This will give a glass safety factor of over 20. I'm going for a very classy look, similar to the Eheim tanks but better looking. Polished stainless steel with exotic wood, - probably African Rosewood to match the speakers... I might even have enough of the vineer left. Anyway, this is my official status but it hopefully won't last too much longer. I'm already having withdrawal symptoms.

This tank with no bracing has a safety factor of 2.354 on the front and back panes. If you install full length top bracing as well as front to back bracing, the safety factor rises to 2.80. This is a reasonable increase. It will also make the tank a lot more rigid in an earthquake. This is not so important for the glass strength but more for the silicone. If the glass panels start to flop around a bit due to no bracing, it causes the silicone to stretch more and possibly fail... Depending on how far out the horseshoe shaped crack extends, a patch could very likely fix the tank. Replacing the whole sheet would be better but if the patch is relatively small it could work. It will need to be 10mm thick as well though and extend approx 100mm beyond the cracked area where possible.

Ouch, the safety factor is only 1.52 on the glass. Hopefully it's tempered glass!!!

But they're not 400W, they're 80W... The difference is fluro's are much more efficient than incandescent so approx 5x the light output for the same watts. It's not 400W of light, it's more like 8W of light and the rest is heat. So, 400W of incandescent @ 2% efficiency = 8W and 80W of fluro @ 10% efficiency = 8W about the same light output only. As mentioned above, colour temperature is important. There are some nice 6500K compact fluro's that work quite well on freshwater planted aquariums.

Not quite, 4 of these are similar to 400W of incandescent light but about the same as 80W of normal fluro lighting...

If you go to the clubs page: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/clubs/ You will find the contact details for each club. Some clubs have their meeting place and membership fees on their page but some don't. You can contact the club to find out... It's interesting to note: For your membership to any club in NZ you get the Aquarium World delivered for free. This is a $22.00 value. If you subtract this from your membership fee you'll find being a member of a club is very very very cheap... $20-$30 for a years membership to anything is very cheap now.

Yes, no problem. You will normally have to make at least one appearance at the club meeting to join. The NZKA is a mail only club and easier to join if you don't want to make an appearance. However, we really encourage people to make the best effort they can to actually go to the club meetings.

Yes, I remember someone here talking about starting a Northland club not long ago...

If there is no FNZAS affiliated club in your area you can join any affiliated clubs you like. In fact, even if there is one in your area you can join any other club you like. We do encourage supporting the local club but it's not mandatory. There are many people who are members of more than one club. If you are joining more than one club, tell the non-primary clubs you are already capitated to the FNZAS so you don't pay twice... North Shore Aquarium Society is your closest club. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/clubs/

You'll need to show your FNZAS membership card - no card, no discount. Also, please remember, this is a privilege, not a right, so ask nicely and show your membership card. If you don't have a membership card then it's best not to ask for discount or you will be disappointed (the shops check if they don't already know you). After you have joined a FNZAS affiliated club, we send you a membership card. Your will also get the Aquarium World magazine which has a list of all NZ stores offering discount to our financial members.

Several bans have occurred over the last couple of days. These people broke our site guidelines. There is to be no further discussion or speculation about it. The next person to make a negative comment about the people banned will join them.

Two tablespoons per litre is not far of salt-water. I thought it was one tablespoon per 20 litres but only as a tonic-style medication.

You are allowed Trademe links if you are after information on something you are interested in buying. This is the only exception to the 'No Trademe Links' rule. Feel free to add the link so everyone has a better idea what you are talking about. Sample post:

This is a joke. Watch the video and you'll clearly see they are not going anywhere near the car's full speed (if that's what you want to call it - it is a Lada after all). You can hear the cars doing constant revs and even slowing down at one stage. They're also not doing more than 30km/h at any time. It's a piss-take of all the little annoying boy-racer wannabes around the world... I quite like it.

Was a reasonable one here too. Had the tank sloshing right to the limit but it didn't quite overflow. It went for about 2 minutes here. Had a couple of power surges too. You could hear the rumble from the quake about 5 seconds before it actually hit. I like nice long gentle ones like this as you feel better about the pressure being let go softly instead of it being all saved up for one big sharp hit. At least I like to think that's the way it works...

No more TM links - read the guidelines.

It seems to work and seems to be safe (health-wise). I don't spray near the tank. The good thing about most flying bugs is they eventually touch a sprayed area...