David R

Thats pretty much it for me too, I'm not really into excessively modified things (be it hotrods or overdone riceburners), prefer restored classics and tasteful subtle modifications that enhance the look/feel of the car rather than butcher it into something completely different, but I can still look at and appreciate the work that goes into a highly customised rod... F1 probably wasn't the best example given the strict restrictions, have a look at the lap times for the Nurburgring, top two times are set by a car using a 2.6-2.8L V8 motor (Radical SR8), the dodge viper ACR with all its 8.4L displacement is a full 24 seconds slower....

*sigh*, that is the exact kind of thing that really grinds my gears. Of course you're right though, don't formula one cars run 17 litre v8's....

If cheap power is your think a 1/2JZ toyota motor would probably be a better option again, 5-600hp on stock internals isn't too difficult, or expensive. Oh, and not all rotaries go brap brap...

I've found in the 6 years I've been using it, fine substrates like the red grit and messy fish like cichlids, plecos and dats you want to stir it regularly because its hard to vacuum. Unless you're going to go completely planted you're better off just having a thin layer covering the bottom that can easily be stirred to keep it clean.

Japanese reliability, economy and handling? I can't stand people that get all passionate about one make/style of car and bag on anything different, IMO it just shows their ignorance and stupidity. I'm a honda guy so have been on the receiving end of a fair bit of stick from munters, and the funny thing is that most of the honda geeks I know have the broadest tastes in cars. Just a look at the NZHondas "f-ing sweet car pics thread" or the Circle Jerk Crew blog shows appreciation for all things automotive from race cars to rat rods, show cars, street cars and just about everything in between. Really, anyone who claims to be into classic cars and can't feel the love for something like this just because it comes from Japan isn't really into classic cars.... http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/ ... 10-003.jpg gahdangstupidbloodyimagesizerestriction!!!*#&^$&%*^$*#(!!!!!!!! :evil: :evil: :evil:

Why? Its certainly not going to improve the look of the tank greatly. Long term I think you're going to fail trying to keep live plants with severums and will have to decide on one or the other. IMO you should scrap the plants, add some more wood, and perhaps a few more mid level swimmers like chalceus, silver dollars, rainbows etc/

Monster!!! :( RIP jardini

Thanks Caryl. I think it'll be safest to stick to the food safe ones. They have some decent sized containers that stack nicely on top of each other, ideal for making a multi-layered trickle filter!

oops, this was supposed to be in the DIY forum... :oops: And on this topic, whats the story with using non-food safe plastics in tanks? Likely to cause any problems?

http://www.stowers.co.nz/index.html A friend just told me about this place, loads of different plastic containers, ideal for making sumps/filters, water storage, transporting fish, etc. Just about to go check it out now to get some ideas for my next set up...

Yep, I did it with an uneven steel stand and it works, but I think using poly would be easier.

Flag the carpet, either polish the concrete if you're concerned about how it looks or put something like lino down. Sounds like a good sized room for a nice big tank...

Excluding insulation, 10mm poly will be fine underneath the tank.

Thinking about it anyway. Henwards system is good, the only think I'd change if I was making it fron scratch is that I'd make the tower taller so the water takes longer to flow over the media. I'm also planning on having a chamber to let the muck settle out before the mechanical filtration.

Solar would obviously work over summer, in fact with a large body of water like that you'd hardly have to heat it over the two hottest months once you got it up to temperature. The big question is what you would do over winter, and you'll need something more reliable than solar IMO.

Yeah I had a heap of them too, you're not the only one!! I think they're talking about stuff like ultimate muscle roller legend, look it up on youtube, crazy japanimation.....

A well insulated room with a heat pump would be the most efficient way to maintain it (this is going to be indoors right?), but you'd want something like a spa heater to help bring the temp up. When do the arapaima arrive??

Don't you mean the other way around? What counts is the exposure the water has to the bacteria living on the media that break down the waste, if the flow is too fast the water won't be exposed for long enough for the bacteria to do their thing, and if its too slow the volume of the tank won't be turned over enough for them to make a difference. If you have more media you could have faster flow as there would be more bacteria to convert the waste quicker. Fast flow + a small volume of media would = very little time for the waste to break down. I think...

Seems how we're talking about this tank, here's the latest lot of photos from him: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=302630

Do you need to stay awake then? :lol: For some strange reason, they spend a lot of time teaching us about this sort of thing at work, call it alertness management. Naps should be no more than 45 minutes, or over two hours. Stay off the fatty foods, and try to maintain regular meal times (No point in having a huge feed at 1am as your body won't digest it properly). Try to sleep for a solid 7-8 hours when not at work but remember that quality is more important than quantity, but you will occur "sleep debt" if you miss out on the normal amount of sleep, and if you rack up too much of that your body will eventually just say "pay up" regardless of what you're doing. 3-5am and pm are both at-risk times for dosing off. And if you're not up to it then admit it to yourself rather than trying to battle on and put people at risk.

lol I thought she was being punched over before I read the caption!!

Ideal Electrical http://www.ideal.co.nz/

Bunnings?? There's one just up the road from hollywood

Just imagine what the world would be like if everyone learned by trial and error rather than other peoples mistakes...

would be even scratchier than gravel. Mine never had a problem diggging in 3-6mm gravel, but they preferred to hide if given a pipe or rock cave of the appropriate dimensions.