Cricketman

2-3times water volume/hour, though many go past this, up to 10x isn't unheard of. Remember that the volume/hour on the box is usually 20-30% more than actual levels once you have media, some head height etc...

the tank is just getting going again after being cleaned. of course there going to be a cycle. sponge filters are not going to change that. Waterchanges for a week, re-test... Don't waste your money...

It just a mini-cycle while your filter adjusts from being washed, keep up water changes remembering a few smaller changes are better than 1 big one... Test in a few days, if you still have Nitrite/nitrate readings as high or higher, could be another issue, such as over-feeding (most common). Your filter is about the minimum I would run on a tank that size, but shouldn't be that much of an issue to cause the levels to come up like that. Add the extra filter, It won't "cycle" as such, but will help keep flow up, and add water volume.

Getting it out the cage: What brand stereo is the old one? they sometimes need "Keys" which slide down the sides 'tween the stereo and the cage to release it. If you don't have them, go to a stereo place that does installs and ask them if you can just pop it out, then drive home and do the change...

Epoxy paint. If it were me, (I can be abit pedantic) I'd still seal with a couple coats of clear epoxy and let dry very well before going near the tank. Do a Forum search, Check out the posts about DIY backgrounds, concepts should be the same...

:thup: alot comes down to individuals...

With marine, the bigger the water volume, the better... more water volume means that swings and changes in the various levels (much more than tropical) are buffered across the entire volume, making them "slower", easier to handle... over 400L things become almost autonomous... (still require skimmer/liverock etc obviously) Most people up thier water volume, store all thier gear (skimmer, live-rock, pumps, reactors, whatever) in a sump. Fish shop would love you to become reliant on thier potions and lotions, buy a skimmer (pref a stand alone unit, rather than a HOB style, which are usually more expensive for less productivity), much easier/cheaper/better for your tank in the long run. 35L would not be so good for most fish species, but you could have a beautiful little hard-scape, few SPS/anemone, couple crustaceans... I warn you now, Either be prepared to spend the money on quality gear, and have patience... or, take your time aquiring information, researching exactly what you want to keep and thier needs, aquiring well-priced, good second hand gear, and be even more patient. The latter usually works out much better for all involved... The only things that happen fast in Marine are bad things unfortunately, and too often people start with a hiss and a roar, then get complacent, and suddenly the whole thing is out of whack and you're left feeling dissapointed... Reefkeepers.co.nz - alot more informal than here, but some good people and good info, and Marine based...

copper will kill them, problem is that the dose to kill the ramshorns and the dose tht may affect your fish kidneys/liver is a very fine line indeed... Try remove as much as you can manually, eventually you'll make a dent in the numbers. Not the easiest, but safer than potentially coppering your tank out... Try the salt thing, see if it makes a difference for you, It didn't for me...but I didn't use a large dose, cos I CBB moving fish... lol

God I'm homesick looking at these... great photos :thup:

Coined it... Interesting... Any autopsy results Zev?

I suggest a broad spectrum test of your levels...just for checking sake... Dissection of the mortalities?? :dunno:

Mel-ano-Tay-Knee-ah bo-e-sam-ani is how I would... I was told by my tutors as long as it is close enough that people understand what you are saying in conversation, then close enough... but you have to be able to spell it, so find a way to say it that you can remember the letters... :sml1:

sorry, see edit....

pH? temperature? airstone? I'm sure you keep your fish fine Sam, but it'd be interesting to ask these of the breeders and compare? Perhaps the imports are kept in specific conditions, at a higher or lower end of the range and the usual NZ keepers are keeping them at "NZ specifications"? :dunno: Maybe its all a giant conspiracy from the venus moon cows sending ultra-guppy killing rays, and our guppies having lived in proximity to our cows, are immune from the... MOOOON cows... :rotf:

:thup: Good on ya lads. Get onto that Prazi (Good link Graham!), that a pretty bad case you've got going, may need a couple treatments... Oh, and not fin-rot,yet... Probably just the skin peeling back (very soft) over those protruding spines from scratching against things in the tank, but watch it doesn't become infected. Prazi will help with that a little bit too, but if you do get some fungus, treat with malachite green, or methylene blue... fungus can lead to fin rot, treatment is the same, but fin rot would look more "tatty" and red streaks down the veins of the fins. That bump, the scale looks just lifted slightly, but otherwise alright, again, no infection or anything I can see from that photo, yet... Just keep the water as clean as you can with extra water-changes while they recover to prevent white-spot or other stress-induced illness...

Sorry, I meant 5 years AT LEAST peace of mind before you would have to look at it again. and for the fact that it is of an unknown age...

Look around the edges, if it looks like it is lifting/is lifting, REDO Look at the joins where the edges of glass meet, if you can see gaps/bubbles/moisture REDO If you want the piece of mind that it will last the next 5 years easy REDO Re-doing silicone on a well built tank is fairly easy, the hardest part is having to sit there with the glass and clean every bit of the old stuff off that you can... Search the threads in DIY section, there heaps of info and I believe even a how-to somewhere....?

I think that you may be right on the PO4 buzz, thats the only time I had really bad algae outbreaks. Problem is that algae cells scavenge PO4 from dead/dying algae, so you cannot remove it all without removing the algae itself. It goes against every bone in my body, and advice that I usually give about potions... but I have used Algae-fix from API with success in the past... An algae scrubber (waterfall a bit more than a trickle of water over some under-gravel plates, with a nice 10 000K light on it) would help, once the algae grows on the plate to a decent amount, remove, scrape, replace the plate, repeat as/when neccessary...

Anchor worm (crustcean) ? :dunno: Photo's speak volumes...is there any chance of you borrow/begging/stealing a decent unit?

Assuming 100% performance...

I think that unless you are running more than 2x200-300L tanks, you will find it pretty insignificant, and your energy is better spent finding other uses of electricity in your home to cap. of course, marine + coldwater(chilled) setups are going to use more than your average, but there is also alot more chance for things like stray current etc in these setups that can cause more power usage/waste on top of the extra gear running... You can get power meters that will give you an exact Kwh reading, and with the right setup a $value, that your tank is using from the warehouse or electric store, monthly power bill $ amounts are going to vary wildly depending on household (Ladies, I'm looking at you...) , time of year, energy company, etc. Good for generalisations, but we're not going to come to any hard/fast solutions guesstimating. Just saying...

You want as big a sump as you can, you want MAXXXX "overall water volume", or, go hard on the water changes, I.e Daily/ couple days... You can do this with marine too, with small LEDs and LPS or anemone species I don't recommend fish species in Nano (unless they in the "sump" side refugium ) but have seen photos of Crustacea kept successfully.

So true, and then you go to uni/polytech and people either have matured and got over themselves, or being the small fish in the big tank again pulls them together, or maybe it being in classes of like-minded or similiar minded people, either way, Uni/polytech years are MUCH easier to get on with...

That, and I have previously soaked driftwood in a bucket for a couple days with daily W/C using hot water pouring over it. Helps remove some of the sand/salt and starts it sinking-if it was floaty before. The hot water not neccesary, but I have watched tiny bubbles stream out of a peice of wood using this method... There is nothing wrong with a blast with the hose a quick scrub over and "chuck it in, bro!"

I'm sure we could find something to gag her with... Oh, Sophia, I think you mispelled Awesome... :rotf: