spoon

there will be some nutrients in the live rock for the bacteria to survive on also bacteria has a limited lifespan so its constantly dying and being consumed again as for N03 generally the lower the better for a reef tank as the corals will look their best this way . if you are worried about running out for cycling i wouldn't, the n03 is still being produced its just being converted as soon as its being produced which is the way its meant to be. in a freshwater tank we have a little bit of NO3 left as its not being broken down into N2 by anaerobic bacteria like it is in the marine tank

yep thats the one its cheap but its good stuff plenty of people on here use it the aqua 1 salt is nasty it takes ages to mix up and my corals never liked it when i tried it its just one of those things not all salts are created equally there is a lot of research that goes into them also sourcing premium ingredients to make them as you dont want contaminants like silica or heavy metal in there

salt is one of the most important things about keeping a marine tank you shouldnt skimp on quality as the salt can make all the difference between a happy healthy tank and a tank thats hard to maintain and keep stable and full of algae ive never heard of that brand of salt id also steer clear of aqua 1 salt i use marinium salt and have used red sea before .

cradle of filth fans may like this its a band called cthonic(said 'thonic') its taiwanese extreme metal and very good banned in china for their political veiws http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALSQypcw0Qc

not nessarily why turn the lights on for 12 hrs a day if you arent growing plants just turn them on wen you are home and watching the tank the fish wont care. also blur light is great for africans especially if you have peacocks and the sort it really brings out the blues i dont think you could go wrong with either of those although the leds may be a bit dim

i used to have a skunk loach that would swim into the outlet of the filter pipe and stay there for hours every time a net came near the tank

eheim pump will set you back quite a bit there are cheaper alternatives but the eheims are good quality there are also a lot better skimmers out there than that some are cheaper plenty of reviews on the net

thats green star poylp or gsp for short . its east to frag but will just grow down and move onto the rock underneath it anyway. you can just peel the purple mat off the rock and cut it with a sharp clean knife you wont need to cut too much off then use super glue gel and glue it to a another piece of rock. you can have the rock and coral out of the water for a couple of mins i normally dry it off with a paper towel glue leave it 30secs so its set enough to hold on and chuck it back in the tank. only think to be careful of is too glue it on the right way up. mite want to scrape that bubble algae off while your at it too

thats a slight variation on a "herbie" overflow there are also durso standpipes most of these are modifications to deal with noise of water as a poorly designed overflow can be very loud and even make gurgling noises like a toilet! :-? i used a herbie set up with the back up pipe set up as a durso. there are other standpipes and overflows out there too some are more complex than they need to be i reccomend the herbie for being silent and easy to set up and use

http://www.hansenproducts.co.nz/products/tank/SFTFT-size.htm they should be able to get these in in any size

id use expol as it has large beads of poly the more expanded the poly is the more pores it has so the better the insulation it just so happens that the more expanded it is the cheaper too

RODI unit is a good idea you may also want some kind of media reactor to run phosphate remover in further down the track also you want to start thinking about which type of overflow setup you want to use to get the water to the sump. you could also buy another juwel light setup and get the reflectors would look nice and neat and capable of keeping most corals possibly even hard corals although they would need to be higher up on the rock closer to the light

prices can vary so much there are some cheaper equipment out there getting good reveiws too

i know there are japanese and chinese fire-bellied newts

my younger brother was born one year, one month and one day after me

rusko- woo boost

ill be 27 next month

misty is naughty she hops into bed every night with me then wakes us up 10 mins before the alarm every morning

misty fred(ginger) and tigger on the rare occasion fred isnt being grumpy and they can be near each other fred tony molly

not really a lot have sand too but use coral sand or aragonite sand instead the whole bare bottom thing is because its easier to clean and syphon than having sand also the sand gets covered in coralline algae (and perhaps bad algaes while cycling) im not really sure what it takes to maintain nice clean white sand i gave up after my first go

any beach or silica sand is a bad idea in a marine can cause algae issues as some algae feeds off excess silica

glyphosate based sprays are the most widely used herbicides worldwide and unfortunately in new zealand the only herbicide permitted to be broadcast over waterways, this still requires a resource consent but can be as simple as quoting a number if you work for the council :evil: there is still a lot of run off from other herbicides which are more dangerous and toxic, this is not measured and may be bio-accumulative. i know of no safe alternative other than manual removal of vegetation(which is done sporadically anyway) its a pity about the eels people just dont realise how long it takes for for an eel to grow and breed and recreational, cultural and commercial fishing all take a toll

new zealand has its own of sorts http://www.roggo.ch/THEFRESHWATERPROJECT/waikoropupu.htm there is a mirror set up at one of the veiwing platforms its kinda of like a reverse periscope which enables you to see under water (depends on how algae free it is though!)

yeah or once ya get the hardware set up grab some of my rock and your away wont have much of a cycle that way and just chuck your rock in my container in garage to cycle as its gonna be a while before i need it

mix up some saltwater in a bucket or get some from the beach and adjust the salinity chuck a heater in there perhaps your wave pump when it arrives and wait . it will go through a cycle as per normal you will get an ammonia spike then it will settle down will take a few months though. other option is to buy cycled rock . pet world have it at $25 a kg i think which is quite expensive but as far as i know they are the only lfs selling it at the moment. i do have some cycled rock in the garage in a large container but i will have to test it as ive been slack topping up and i dont know whether the salinity changes have affected the bacteria or not . its not live rock as such as it dosent have pods or other beneficial critters or even coralline algae but its cycled base rock and its defiantly free from pests like bad algae and pest anemones. dont add ammonia or any fish food or anything to start the cycle as there will be enough crud in the rock to get it started when mixing up salt water its best to use RODI water which has a total dissolved solids of 0(TDS=0) probably the easiest way for you to get it rather than buying a RODI unit is to buy the 10l containers of "pure dew" water for about$6 at the supermarket.(dont buy spring or mineral water) tap water has dissolved minerals and can have phosphates which all contribute to nuisance algae growth . this becomes especially important when you top up losses due to evaporation as using tap water will just be adding more and more minerals every time you top up. as for salt red sea salt is about $18 for 2 kg which makes 60l for the first time just mix it up according to the packet and get your rock cycling. for the temp 25 or 26 c will be fine, the salinty your aiming for should be 1.024-1.025 buy a refractometer if you havent already, they are cheap enough on fishstreet get the atc model. using a hydrometer doesnt really cut it as they are too inaccurate. also as far as cycling goes the type of bacteria you are trying to cultivate is anaerobic and lives inside the airless pores of the rockwork , this bacteria takes nitrate and turns it into nitrogen gas there will still be the aerobic ammonia and nitrite reducing types on the outside of the rock which will come naturally but for marine purposes its the anaerobic bacteria that is most important