Ira

I don't think I have the patience to fillet that many little fish.

Kind of an odd question...True or false, even the most experienced person can screw something up. Well, yeah. Experience doesn't make you immune to everything going wrong, just makes it less likely.

Hahaha, Yeah, I think most guppy behavior can be blamed on them being dumb.

Ok, new plan, I'm going to make a tank with miracle mud, zeovit, a DSB, dose with vodka and use a plenum. I'll have the most awesome tank ever!!

Except, most of the frogs are introduced anyway, so no real harm using them and MAF will probably thank you...Wait...that's a good reason NOT to use them as feeders!

Come get as many as you like, Cees. I still have somewhere over 100 left. Caryl, I can bring you 20 or so to the BBQ if or would prefer to pick them up or what?

You could probably do something like a single topped off pipe with just small holes drilled around it every few inches all the way to the top. That'd give you a bit of current through the rock all the way to the bottom, in theory. Then just add a bunch of extra holes near the top like Dan's suggestion.

I'm seriously considering doing something similar to get rid of my pearl gouramis, Cees. I'm unbelievably sick of them.

I've had a look around for RCDs and couldn't find any at the the places I looked. My experience with RCDs hasn't been pleasant, the ones I have had the damn things keep tripping every time the lights turn off.

I've got the general idea, just can't remember the colors and want to double checking everything before I have things more permanently wired up.

I bought some ballasts and bits off Pegasus and I've got a small set wired up just to make sure I can get it to work. And was going to double check everything with Pegasus but thought I might as well post it here in case anyone else finds it helpful. I currently have it wired up like this, the wires just twisted together and the whole thing sitting on the kitchen table at the moment It works, but I'm not sure about a few things. I assume it's not possible to wire any of the components backwards? I'm using a cheap extension cord with one end cut off for the power(Cheaper than buying the bits to make one) it has a brown and blue wire and a green/yellow ground. Would the brown be the phase/line/A on the schematic wire and the blue the neutral or do I have that backwards? Does it really matter? Should I leave the ground wire unconnected to anything or is there anything I should connect it to? Once I've got these questions answered I'll solder and heatshrink all the connections and screw everything down to a piece of MDF covered with mylar to reflect the light.

Didn't you read that article in the newspaper? They've been discovered living in the sewers, happy and healthy. Can't say the same about the worker who was attacked by the 2 foot long giant sewer bristlenoses, though...

Yup, it's normal. Don't know why they do it. I've heard things ranging from it being a contact behavior, sorta like, "Are there any other plecos around?" to being partial air breathers. So...No clue why.

Hypostomus plecostomus is the common pleco. Totally different fish than a redspot. Do a search for gibbiceps or sailfin pleco. You'll never find redspot pleco because NZ it seems is the only place that calls them that.

Yeah, height of the top of the tank isn't really a problem, just might need a step ladder. It's depth of the tank that's the real factor because it's a huge pain in the butt when you can't reach anything that's fallen.

I should have had you take a closer look at the overflow on my tank while you were there. It's pretty simple.

Similar to this one in the pic here...Among the flatworms...I REALLY need to kill those bas...Errr, things.

I just discovered there are 30-40 1mm or so long pods that have been living in my algae magnet bristles. Must one be a great ride when I'm scrubbing algae with it.

Ok, the simple explanation. "Bigger is better"

Yeah, the stronger the better.

Maybe, if you have room, you could get a stand made up that would put the two bowfronts side by side. That way you can have them raised up so their bottoms are maybe 800 or so from the ground and you'll have HEAPS of space under them. Be kinda interesting,a double bowfront look.

Just a little concern, you're probably going to want a lot more space above the tanks than it looks like you've got there. Looks like only a few inches. You'll never get anything bigger into the tanks than small fish, let alone good sized pieces of liverock. And witht he sump you'll need even more height for any kind of skimmer to remove the skimmer or it's collection cup. My sump has about 260mm/ 10 inches of space above it and that's still cramped

BBQ at your place, then the next week a BBQ at Judes. Busy month, hehehe. I'll be there.

I thought the whole point of the media trays in cannisters was to make sure the water is forced through the media. My 404s seem like they'd do a pretty good job of it. Or is the salifert phosphate remover so dense the water just can't go through it?

They're more expensive. All I've seen around actually for sale are small ones at lighting places but seemed to be around twice the price, then there are aquatic ones that you'd have to look hard to find around here and they're even MORE expensive. Calcium based, actually. I estimated the cost for me with my smaller tank to be around $100/ month and that's only with small water changes on 200L tank. So, IMO better moneywise collecting seawater. You can also DIY one, mine cost me about $100 including a heatgun to bend some perspex. Still needs some refinements, but just an air pump, jerry can, float valve and a few other little bits.