spoon

we have native juncas and carex in nz so our varieties would be fine they are widespread and easy to grow . they are common plants i use for revegetation in gullys to reduce sediment flowing down waterways

thats awesome sorry mate i dont have anty more slate atm but ill see what i can do my workmate has a lot of it i should be able to get some more

thats the one trust reputable brands then go by price

even though the company may be prepared to ship here if you get caught having plants corals or other livestock shipped here or in your possession without proper paperwork and you can face big fines and jailtime. i mean i could go on ebay and get some killifish eggs shipped to me in a foil packet customs may or may not pick up on it if they did i would expect to be in a lot of trouble

pl lights work good but you wont want those blue tubes in there and the bulbs well there is not the range that you can get with t5s i do however have a 10k/grow lux 36w pl tube you can have for free further down the track if need be (has been used less than a month) you can get great results with t5s and diy co2 why not do that to start with and as your funds grow start buying the things you need for mh and bottled co2

i would say about 50cm max as thats what ive seen on lighting units(flouro) with external ballasts

electronic ballast yes magnetic ballast with correct choke will as wellbut more complicated wiring and knowledge of ac theory and power factor is needed

yep thats identical to the one i have all you need is a power cord and four short bits of wire and you're away

there is numerous diy article for making diy ADA stands with the light bar some use pve conduit . grant may be able to help you out with getting this

probably take a bit of diy to get it to run quietly

wait till ya start seeing pods and all manner of strange critters im still seeing new creatures i didnt know i had lol though im down on pods big time sisnce i added the damsel there is still a few mysis lurking about 8)

it can be run with a normal magnetic ballast however these get hot and good electrical knowledge is needed to know how to wire it up . the electronic ballast is the clean simple way

um i actually salvaged mine from a old shop fitting i use mine on a marine in combination with a 36w pl. the tube itself dosent get that hot you can touch it with your hand it wont burn i have also used this fitting inside a all in one tank with not much room in the plastic hood good as gold

specialist electrical supplier try find an osram QT-ECO 1x18-24 230/240 s this is an easy to wire electronic ballast that can run 18 or 24w pl tubes. the s on the end is important it stands for short rather than long which is twice the size. you will also need an end cap for the tube. i have one of these so simple to wire and very compact also dosent get that hot

MH bulbs are cheap on ebay i wouldnt worry too much about them

well its the first one ive had its been going well for a couple of weeks now . the leather coral dosewnt seem to be doing so flash maybe i will try moving it around

well for the price i cant complain really but i found it noisy no matter how i adjusted it and it has a stainless steel shaft there are seio 320s on ebay atm for $30 US free shipping i wish i had of seen them earlier . ive got a 3000lph sunsun one coming also gunna try that out as then i will know what to get when i go to a bigger tank. just loving all the gadgets you can get and make im also gunna make a syphon surge tank at some stage too

yep bigger better version of spoon

you can get small sponge pre filters that slip over the end of the intake on cannister filters they would require regular rinsing

thanks LA have you figured out my username on nzmas yet? note the differece in the polyp extension on the hammer coral from the pics in the first post to the pics in the second ive been dosing with seachem carbonate and the seachem calcium, magnesium ,strontium stuff

here some pics i took i have a 34lish nano tank with a 30l sump lighting is 1x36w pl 50%10K 50% actinic and 1x24w actinic. live stock is 1 yellowtail damsel and 3 colours of zoa a nice hammer coral and some kind of leather coral. tsump has cheap nasty skimmer ehiem internal with purigen and heather also hoses small ballcock for ATO tank isnt drilled so have a weir system operating have a small 2 outlet powerhead (needs venturi for weir) and a 2000lph wave pump with the impellor cut down to reduce flow slightly

start by getting ya tank then go from there its gunna take a lot longer to cycle than any freahgwater tank you have ever had and you dont want to mess it up as fish and corals are expensive . you will have plenty of time to save up for livestock while your tank is cycling

make a hood then your lighting can be as ugly as you like

i can imagine that cost would be a major negtive it would cost a lot to get something like that made up in s/s rather than a simple glass brace. im not 100%sure but perhaps the reason for it was because its a marine tank and a large one a thick glass brace in the middle would block a lot of the useful light spectrum to corals underneath it