spoon

heaps of whistlers out pines beach

theres a few different ways of hooking them up especially with magnetic ballasts like you have , the capacitor is to change the power factor to make the tubes run efficiently otherwise they will draw more power than what they need too. you were right about bulbs being connected in series to a certain degree sometimes tubes use a single ballast to run both ( although im not sure if they are connected in series or parallel ) it would normally state on the ballast most of the combinations its capable of being set up with ie 1x40w, A, pwerfactor 2x20w,A.power factor yours only states one and while it may be capable of being used in a different configuration its probaby not worth it as you would need to figure out the power factor and get a capacitor to suit and thats some good mathematics in itself i wish i could help ya more but i cant rmember enough about it to feel comfortable helping you out

did ya get any diffusser plate? im on the scrounge for a few little bits dont care if its gone brittle :smot:

yeah like ira said but that wont cause a gurgling noise. so its only half the problem how many holes are drilled foin the back there? if its 2 your in luck

show us a photo so we know what we are dealing with here there a few types of overflow and each type has tricks to make it quiet

pm lambo and see if he will let you go look at his tank i think its a rio 400 has 2 sets of twin t5s and hob deltec quite cool

if you are trying to do it on a budget then epoxy wont hepl its really expensive id just use water based paint its all good once its cured

look up carlson surge device or reverse carlson surge device and bourneman surge device

wouldnt oxygen weed growing in a river be the one that is an unwanted organism and illegal? :digH:

try asking cameron at pet world on ferry road he should be able to get it done. while i can drill glass myself im not keen to try it on a expensive tank just in case

it will depend you could powder up some fish food it should start skimming straight away( well within 30mins) if there is nothing to skim out of the water it wont skim

para rubber should have it, i wish i could find that thread it was cool as if they are too expensive try finding it wholesale i think dunlop make it

it would depend on the ambient room temperature and also it you have a 200l tank and a 200w heater the heater will on a lot longer than if you had a 300w heater also lights and pumps add heat to the water

if using a sump to filter tanks you run the risk of disease being transferred to the whole system but its a risk worth weighing up as it would be much simpler all plumbed together . another fishroom ive seen used HOB filter on the tanks but on the front glass for ease of maintenance. yet another used a large compressor style air pump using garden hose piped around the room then air lines were tapped into this using the 4mm irrigation barbs going to air powered filters just using aquarium gravel as the media. as for lighting the tanks it depends on how fussy you are about seeing the fish. as si_sphinx said it could be as simple as a 4foot batten but if you would really like to be able to see the fish you could use a energy saver bulb over each tank with a cheap clamp lamp

it may well be if its only a short section thats in the water it would cost less than $5 for 400mm long in 20mm with threaded ends its when you have to buy elbows etc that the price will make it not worth it

bunnings or the like , i got mine at bunnings

60mmx60mm in 3mm was $20 at mitre ten mega

i used a black epoxy spraypaint on pvc pipes and left it a few weeks before putting it in or if you dont want to risk paint change your pvc pipes to thick wall alkathene from bunning its black fits the pvc fittings and its easy to put a thread on it for threaded fittings just heat the pipe with a heat gun and screw the fitting on it will cut its own thread, then trim off the excess with a craftknife. you can find different size lengths with threaded ends normally in the irrigation isle

yeah daphnia is a good idea or mosquito larvae , boatmen or any lil water creatures

it wont work unless your tank is brackish you an hatch them easy enough and wash them through a coffee filter they will remain free swimming for a few mins in freshwater

it has two flat pins ( no earth ) they can be carefully bent or use an adaptor it will work fine on our power here i have the 1000lph model running an old aquamedic HOb skimmer on my 30l it works well but try the 3000lph pump out first perhaps but in a cheap irrigation valve in case its a tad too much i think the skimmer will work a lot better with a bigger pump as it will suck more air

using a needle wheel wont make a difference unless you block off the old airline and run a new airline to the new pump the pump you are running on it is only rated to 1200lph per hour which is probably half the problem . it would normally be around 2000lph or more to get enough air through the venturi id reccomend a cheap needle wheel pump dont spend too much as the skimmer isnt worth a lot of money any way perhaps one of these http://www.fish-street.com/pinwheel__needle_wheel_pump

post some pics of your skimmer and pump and current impellor that will give us a better idea of what you are dealing with

id be picking chlorine here the levels vary from area to area after the earthquakes

id say about 30-40 cm to get full spread and not so much heat into the water