Ira

What trumpet sna...Holy crap you're right, that is a lot of them.

And 1000 kilos of water, plus the tank, plus a few probably puts you close to or over the max payload. What model and year is it?

Have you tried removing the plug on the end? Otherwise you tell us what it is? All I have to go on is pictures on the internet.

Looks like it only covers about 2'X2', I don't think you've said the dimensions of your tank, but I'd assume it's a 4 foot, so you'd need two.

You're still going to need 2-3 of those to get into the low-moderate light range.

Oh... Probably give them to a friend before the RTS kills them. Fine, until the RTS tries to kill them. Pretty much anything should be fine with bristlenoses, ime.

Drain, looks like.

Yeah, that definitely makes it the best and about only option.

First thing would be to wait a week. Most new skimmers take a few days to get broken in, their behavior can change significantly as a bit of biofilm builds up in them.

I like the half filling it idea, with something like water lillies or other nice surface plants.

There are tests for all chemicals. But there's no test kit that tests for "chemicals" If you're using a recycled tank I'd be concerned it had been exposed to copper based meds or snail rid. The copper gets absorbed by the silicone and glass, then leaches back into the water. It can poison invertebrates and corals at levels below(I believe) what can be detected with a copper test kit.

Better, but still not ideal. IIRC I measured once when I had my marine tank and my rainwater was less pure than wellington tap water.

Will this work? http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=360043 I get all my computer bits from Ascent. Great service, free shipping, price is frequently cheaper than trademe. Can get things a little cheaper going through all kinds of random sites using pricespy, but more trouble than it's worth usually, imo.

I have a Nepenthe species, It's very demanding.

While you're DIYing it, throw a handful of UV LEDs in there on a separate switch for showing off the tank at night...

Should be running 24/7. What noise is it making? If that's the case then you're doing it wrong. It's not usually that hard to make sure you have enough space for whatever water will end up draining out of the tank before the siphon breaks. Like any system, it should fail safe. Not "Fail soaking the carpet with saltwater and ruining the floor" Because that would be stupid.

Yes there is...Oh, wait...Huh, guess they closed, didn't know that. Noone tells me anything.

Have you checked Odering's like I suggested?

Odering's should have it. I find it works really well, just need to cover it with something otherwise it gets stirred up really easy.

Ply handles the odd spill much better than most chipboard. But if you seal it really well it shouldn't make much of a difference.

From what I've heard and read the answer is no. Unless you think an axolotl having its gills eaten by goldfish is acceptable.

You know XP is out of support, essentially obsolete, right? I wouldn't actually suggest anyone install it. Get a copy of 7 instead.

Not really, no. You'll pretty much just have wet rock, anything that it might collect in the ocean here would die when you put it in your tank. Assuming you're talking a tropical reef anyway. The heat would kill most things from our cold ocean.

Correct...Mostly. Probably base rock. Basically live rock that has been dried and then steam cleaned as is required by import regs. No. Because that's rock. Not porous, not calcium like base rock which is dead coral skeletons. You can buy live rock from other people with tanks. It's not "Live rock" as many places get which is basically chunks of a reef smashed up and delivered as is with all the life on it. Most liverock you can buy from people here is dead, dried up base rock that has been sitting in their tank colonized with life and bacteria. Most people will buy a bunch of baserock then get a bunch of liverock from people around to get some goodies going.

I want someone to cross a betta and a redspot pleco...