David R

Ah, yep, got it now! I guess the size of the pipe would determine how much water it sucks up? Only potential downfall I can see would be that it could cause more water to siphon down into the sump when the pump switches off, depending on how far below the height of the weir your drains are.

So that pipe drains out the back, or somewhere? I presume there's an opening somewhere near the top to prevent it siphoning the whole tank! Looks like a very simple and elegant solution, and another positive aspect for the overflow box vs a full-height overflow.

You could also insulate your tank with polystyrene on the back, sides and base to help retain the heat.

redracer, can't recommend the lights enough. They're bringing out a programmable timer for them too. I've just been watching the tank with the moonlights on, very cool. Bent up some little brackets to replace the cable ties. Not terribly pretty but you won't see any of it when I've finished the fascia.

I've been thinking about this very subject lately too, been considering buying a cheap paddling pool or large plastic trough to use in the event of a catastrophic tank failure.. http://youtu.be/cee_67bdnu0

:oops: cheers! bring the family next time, always happy to talk fish!

You shouldn't be getting a GH reading on rainwater, unless you have limestone in your water tank!!

Interesting. I recall someone (Caryl?) saying one club had a meeting where everyone brought along pH test kits of all different age and brands, they did a comparison and found that event he expired ones still were accurate. I finally used up my API pH test kit last week (about 3 years old) and I did a test side by side with the new one and they were both identical. I guess companies need to put a date on that kind of thing after which they no longer guarantee the accuracy, but I don't think I'd throw away a kit simply because it was a week or two past it's use-by date.

We're home tomorrow if you want to drop the bins off and check it out in person! I got a bit busy this evening and remembered I was going to take photos just after putting my home made pizza in the oven before sitting down to watch a chick-flick with my wife (she helped with the lights this afternoon so there's gotta be a bit of give and take!). Still managed to snap a few half-decent photos despite struggling to remember how to use the camera, and forgetting to clean the glass... FTS Aro I noticed the left side of his jaw looks a little bung (for lack of a better word), perhaps damaged from jumping and hitting the glass when younger. Hopefully it becomes less noticeable as it grows, the right side still looks good tho! Altifrons L128 Had to zoom right in on him, surprised at how well that pic turned out given that he was about 3' away from the camera, as you can see here; Biggest L190 And I put the camera on a tripod (balanced on the couch, thus the slightly crooked angle!) and flicked thru a couple of the different presets with the lights. I can't recall which is which, but you get the idea. And for comparison the old 4' T8 fluros (2x 4' 2x 3'); It's been a while since I've put any effort into taking pics of the fish and I definitely need to brush up on my skills. I am very happy with the lights though, and the pics don't do them justice (of course). The pics above just show the pre-set modes, the difference is far greater in person, and you can adjust the intensity of the red, green, blue, violet and white lights to come up with just about any colour you want, and also the right level of intensity. Given the amount of ambient light in the room (I was really struggling with reflection on the glass) I'm thinking for the sake of taking pics building a hood around the top of the tank will be the best option to help contain the light. It's going to have to wait though, I've already blown the budget on this one and we've got a wedding in the US in March to attend, so until then all non-essential fish-related spending is on hold. of course more fish come under the 'essential' category IMO!! :lol:

I've just finished the "temporary" set up of the new lighting, the Current units have a metal adjustable "foot" at each end designed to sit the light on the edge of the tank, but as I'm putting a 3' and 4' unit together to make a 7' length over an 8' tank it required a bit of modification. I also wanted to attach them to some aluminium C-channel so they could be lifted up above the top of the tank to allow better spread over the 1200mm width. Here's a side on shot showing how slim the units are, and the wire foot on each end; To join the two units together I removed the support out of one, then cut the bends off another so it could be inserted into the adjacent unit. Fairly straightforward, but unfortunately not rigid enough to support the whole length as I had hoped for, so it will need to be attached to the C-channel in the centre too. No biggie. I've experimented around and found that raising them 150mm off the top of the tank gives good spread without losing too much over the side. I have also angled the front unit ever so slightly to help prevent the light spilling over the front of the tank. I'm thrilled with how they look and the colours of the fish, and the quality of the lights too. Can't recommend them enough, worth every cent over the cheaper units I looked at, and even more so when the programmable timers come out. I'm going to get out the DSLR and try take some decent pics of the fish tonight! More info on the lights here; http://www.current-usa.com/aquarium-led-lights/satellite-freshwater-led-plus Now I have to decide if I join the C-channels together to make a rectangular frame and suspend that either from the ceiling or a couple of supports above the tank, or if I build an open topped wooden fascia around the top (and bottom) of the tank to house and support the lights. Suggestions???

I've often pondered having a lower pick up, but I've always found it simpler and tidier just to have a well aimed return or powerhead to keep the debris circulating. I do get a bit of a build up of waste in front of the stump in my new tank, but it just happens to be one of the main areas the big royals hang out so they often give it a stir which helps send it up and over the weir. To me, having the surface skimmed is more of an advantage than the downside of it being a little more difficult to pick up waste off the bottom of the tank.

The light units are all of 11mm thick, I'm not going to be drilling anything into them!!

Yeah very cool, just need to work out how to attach them to the aluminium channel and raise them up off the top of the tank. Only downside so far is they don't have the threaded holes in the top to screw in wires for hanging, otherwise it would have been simple. Very happy with the colours and the spread so far.

*snap* we must have been writing the same thing at the same time... :-? A Herbie or Bean Animal type set up [google it] is the best bet for silence. Basically you have two or three drains, all capable of handling nearly the full amount of flow from the pump, one is set lower than the others and controlled with a ball valve to run at a full siphon, taking say 90-95% of the flow, and the remaining drain(s) handle what is left and are also near-silent because of the small amount of water flowing through them leaving an unbroken air column. The design of the weir/overflow itself will depend on where the tank is and how you want it to look. I went with a traditional corner box as I didn't have space for an external, but if you can work it then an external box is the way to go, similar to this old tank of mine (now Hovmollers cold water marine tank); I found this thread on MFK a useful guide useful when figuring out how big to make my drains; http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... Viewing%29 *edit* I'm running two 50mm drains and around 8500-9000LPH at a conservative estimate. With the ball valve on the lower drain wide open it runs as a full siphon, just. I have the ball valve slightly closed and run a little water down the higher drain, so IMO the MFK numbers are pretty much bang on. Given that a 25mm pipe has less than a third the cross section of a 50mm pipe I'm not so sure a 25mm drain could flow nearly half of what a 50mm one will handle?

Lights have arrived!! Just got the call to say they've been delivered to work so I'm heading into town very shortly to pick them up. Two more night-shifts so plenty of time at home (albeit in a slightly zombie-like state) then a three day weekend, hopefully I'll have them running very soon!!

It's all expensive... Waste pipe is cheaper than pressure pipe, but 32mm is the smallest size they make it AFAIK. Plumbingworld also sell the straight pipe by the half-metre too, rather than fixed length pieces at the big stores. I spent around $250 on plumbing for this tank, including the drain to outside, 50mm bulk-heads and ball valves are rather pricey! My accountant (err, I mean wife) will have the exact figure somewhere, she's been keeping track of the total cost of the build. I'm thinking about doing a total cost break-down when it is all done, but it is kinda scary looking at how fast it adds up! I haven't exceeded $5-per-litre yet though...

So are you setting up a new tank to transfer your existing stock into? IMO the best thing to do would be either run the new filter on the old tank until it is established, or transfer the old filters onto the new tank when you move the fish over and leave them running until the new filter is established. Putting old gravel in a stocking in the new tank will do very little (may transfer a few bacteria, not many though) and will do nothing if you don't provide an ammonia source.

Yeah me too! Bishop, I get all the plumbing stuff from Pulmbing World, unless I happen to be somewhere like bunnings buying other stuff and need a couple of bits. They have a better selection and usually give you a bit of a discount if you're buying lots of it.

Cheers Greg. I have added a sheet of egg crate behind it to stop it flexing with the force of the water pushing thru, but I'm very pleased with the water quality. I'm going to try avoid rinsing out the 30ppi sheet too often as I figure it will get more effective at catching fine particles as it clogs. I'm just wishing my new lights would hurry up and get here so I can take some good pictures..

Cheers! Bit of an update on the sump, I gave the Poret foam its first "proper" clean today. In the month-or-so the tank has been running it has only had one light rinse when I had to remove it to install some egg-crate behind it to help support the sheets. It didn't need to be cleaned yet, though the water was building up in the high side about 3-4cm above the level on the low side, showing there is a fair increase in the restriction of flow as it clogs up. Cleaning wasn't too bad, I didn't bother trying to get it spotless, in fact I intentionally didn't clean the last 30ppi sheet very thoroughly as I feel the more clogged it is the more effective it will be at catching fine particles. The first two sheets (10ppi and 20ppi) both had a fair amount of crap in them, so it is obviously doing it's job. The water clarity has been good enough for me, skilled photographers and gin-clear-water-fanatics wouldn't be happy with it, but given the messy fish I have (that are still nowhere near grown!) I am loving having a filter system that doesn't need attention every few days. The settling chamber is working fairly well too, it has been about a week and there's a fair bit of muck in there. I'm leaving it for now to try provide some food for my pothos, so far I have barely been able to get a detectable level of nitrate, nitrite has been zero right through and although I have had a couple of small ammonia spikes (up to 1ppm) they have only been after a heavy feeding of veg for the plecs and didn't last long. I'll take pics to show the accumulation of waste next time I clean it out.

Not sure yet, according to NZPost they're in the country, but haven't made it up here yet. Hovmoller might be able to answer that question though as he has a couple of them.

I'm sure you could find a middle ground of moderately hard water with a pH of high 7s to low 8s where they could both coexist, if thats your thing. Only problem is they'd make the fronts seem drab by comparrison!! :lol: *edit* that said, these nics look far nicer than any others I've seen here. Give your fish the right water and the right food and they'll reward you with great colours and plenty of fry.

They're not aggressive enough to bother them and not small enough to be eaten, so fine I'd guess!

That fish in the last pic is a stunner!!! I agree about breeding them at a younger age too, good idea letting them grow first.

Small update, I managed to track down some Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) last weekend and "planted" them in the tank today. With the sump I replaced one of the lids with a piece of acrylic I had and put some holes in it for them. The roots will grow down into the settling chamber and will help pre-filter the water. They're fairly new cuttings so don't have many roots, hope they'll take off soon. Might put a small led lamp above the ones in the sump. For those not familiar with Pothos, they are a terrestrial plant that can be grown with the roots submerged in the tank. They're tough and easy to grow, tolerant of low light, and eat nitrates like crazy! Here's a big discussion on MFK where I got the idea. You can either grow them in a hydroponics basket or with the roots just hanging in the tank. http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... te!-POTHOS I have got several more plants, I'm going to plant a few more but will have some for sale shortly, flick me a PM if you're interested!