Ira

Brazilians generally go for around $40. So not that expensive. But they're not available that often, I assume you've asked your LFS ifthey can get them for you?

Seems to be doing well. Hasn't colored up any yet, which is a bit disappointing. But, it's tentacles are about 3 times as long now as when I bought it, doesn't seem to have been much change in the last couple weeks. There are a few tentacles near its mouth that are maybe 3 inches long, a few of those tentacles are branching? Wierd. Anyway, it's still alive.

Two out of three...Close enough.

Pies, I wonder what would happin if you took a pump out to the ocean and, I dunno...Shoved some filter wool into the end of a funnel and had the pump sucking through the funnel/filter wool. Leave it like that for 5 minutes then squeeze the filter wool out into a container. I'm wondering if that would work well enough catching the tiny plankton and similar that they'd naturally eat? Or using some appropriately fine mesh filter. Although, someone I'm sure would have thought of that before.

Yeah, definitely looks like a dempsey.

Now let's see if you can do it for less than $5000...

no, most catfish aren't algae eats. Not even all suckermouth cats are algae eaters. Plecos and bristlenoses are.

I don't dive, I can't even swim. I would like to though...Maybe after I get a pilots license(Meaning never unless I win lotto)

Don't be so cheap, you should do things properly and just do it once. Get a tunze antigrav unit to drain the water up the hose into a sink.... Or put it on a shelf. Heh, yeah, I thought the hose connection seemed a bit useless too. I'm not sure what effect on the dehumidifier's efficiency having them on a shelf above sink height would have since I assume moister air is more dense.

Most dehumidifiers, or at least several I've seen anyway, have a hose fitting on their collection container so you could run a hose to a sink or something.

Does a brazilian puffer that eats flake and pleco chips count as an oddball?

I'd say it's for the same reason Redwood Aquatics offered to sell me a shop used 2X 175 watt SE metal halide fitting, that looked like it and the reflector was all DIY'd. For $2000.

Ah, ok yeah that kind of professional stuff. I think for industrial sized ones like that the needlewheel just doesn't scale up to the necessary size very well. If they're $400 for a moderate sized eheim imagine how much it would be for an industrial sized pump? But then you could just get a nice couple kilowatt water pump for heaps less and run the skimmer through a venturi.

I dunno, a lot of the skimmers that use them seem pretty professional to me. And of course, you'd obviously remove the venturi. That'd be just stupid to run both at once.

Sure, I'll just grab my digital camera and drive down there, take a pic and... Nope, I can't. Think your standard white plastic jerry can type thing, but the mouth on it looked like it was about 50% bigger in diameter.

I'm not really sure how much the needlewheels are. I saw somewhere just a minute or two ago, but can't find it again, that Deltec swaps the needlewheel impellers for their pumps for new ones if you break it for 45 pounds-65 pounds depending on which. So that's about $120-$170 in that case and likely significantly more if you just want to flat out buyit. There are a few DIY ones around using bioballs, those may be worth a look at.

I'm not sure if it's nationwide or not, I'm pretty sure there are a couple of them in the wellington area though. They're more oriented to selling to restaraunts and things though, have things like 5 kilo buckets of gherkins...You need a membership too, I think. But the wifey has one. If you want them and can't get them, Ant, I could probably go grab them for you.

OMG, needlewheel and counter current? That'd skim people's faces right off! It'd be the start of the apocalypse! Dunno. I wish needle wheel impellers were cheaper to buy. I think if you could get a good needlewheel pump you could build a big skimmer for really cheap and it should work pretty well because you have the most important part working great.

Containers for carrying the water, there are some great ones at Moore Wilsons. 20L with a fairly wide mouth on them, about $12 each. I wish I could trade mine for those, the wider mouth would make collecting water so much easier and faster. And as far as building the sump, Peter and Port Nicholson glass. Just give him a design and he'll build it for you.

Or buy a couple dehumidifies. Put one next to the sump and one next to the main tank. That should suck up most of the humidity and I doubt the electricity would even be noticed on the power bill compared to...What is it? 2 kilowatts of lighting?

I think it's a great idea in theory, the problem is dividing up the stuff so everyone feels they got a fair share. Especially if not everyone is going to be there in person. I mean, I'd be interested in putting in about $200-300, but then the only part I really would like is the skimmer. What if say pomereef thinks, "No way, the skimmer's worth way more than that!"

Yeah, they are brackish fish.

Oh, yeah, you'll want a minimum of a foot, probably more like 2 feet of room above the sump. You could cut some off the top of the sump, 600mm is a bit excessive, but not a problem, you'll just have to put a lot of the equipment on racks to put them at the height they like.

I assume your picture isn't meant to be literal, but you'll obviously want your return pump below the water level of your tank, otherwise it'll be a pain in the butt to get primed after a power outage, turning it off, etc.

Control, what's a vax? Cause, I don't see one of these as being what you're talking about... :lol: