David R

Looks good. My mission this weekend is to build a stand.cabinet to house my sump in the garage, you've given me a bit of motivation now!

I had the mushroom thick burger while in Auckland last week, thought it was reasonably good, sort of like a middle ground between Burger Fuel and McCrap. I really liked the chips too, nice and crispy. I'd go back again, at least to try the bacon and guacamole one, or the jalapeno one, or the bacon and guacamole with jalapenos...

More bichirs I reckon, or clowns.....

Footprint is actually 1400x650mm so it's even less than that. My big tank is 2400x1200x700, so with a footprint of 28800cm^2 and ~2200kg it is about 76g per square cm.

#YOLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :facepalm: I just measured the poly under my 400L tank that has been there ~12 months and it is still exactly 10mm, hasn't even crushed half a mil with ~500kg sitting on top of it. Perhaps if you're not using ply or a flat base under the tank [ie just sitting on steel or timber frame) you might get a bit of crushing going on, but with a flat surface like ply even with a massive amount of weight on it the poly will barely crush, so 10mm is plenty.

and probably cheaper than replacing your school of neons every few months...

I've only got 10mm under my big tank.

:nfs:

IMO livingart and the obsticle are under-estimating things. A properly cared for silver arowana should reach 24"/60cm in a couple of years, and most will keep growing to ~30"+. To adequately house it you're going to want a tank that is at least 3x the length of the fish long, and as wide as the length of the fish. a 6x2x2' tank would be an adequate temporary home, but long term you will want something with a footprint more like 8x3'. Here's a couple of pictures to show you what you're getting into, arOwana are amazing fish, but caring for one properly is a pretty major undertaking. Taken at the Berlin Aqurium, the largest silver in the display was over a metre long and getting close to 30cm top to bottom. And here's a video of a guy from MFK's tank with several large arowanas, making an 8'x36"x30" tank look small... http://youtu.be/UvwQTh0OTYI

:facepalm: plants ..... NO PLANTS!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers for that coolmc, how long have you been using them for? Given how cheap they are I'm a little sceptical about their potential lifespan. How do you find the colour of them? I'll go in and check it in person out next time I'm in Auckland, I had a play around with sketchup and if their claimed 160* spread is anywhere near accurate then I would have expected the coverage to be pretty good. I'm not worried if the tank isn't completely evenly lit, in fact I'd prefer it not to be as IMO it looks more natural!

Remember they've got to light up an 8x4' footprint and 65cm water depth! I was planning on mounting them a foot or two above the tank. They also do a 10W, but I'm not sure if they would be enough.

Any suggestions?? I really want LEDs for the shimmer effect plus the power efficiency and long life, and because there are no fish or corals the lighting is purely cosmetic. I've looked into DIY and I think it will be the way to go in the long run, but for now I really want something easier just to get it up and running. Does anyone have any experience with something like this; http://ledworld.co.nz/index.php?dispatc ... t_id=30679 I've seen similar lights used before, for example; http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... ly-Started (pics of tank with lights on pages 20-21-23), just wondering if anyone has had any experience with the locally available ones, or any better suggestions?

Anyone breeding the 'Peru Altums'???

Hmm, should probably throw in a few South Africans and some "natives" for a true ethnically diverse tank...

I would, but it would break up my South American theme... :sml1:

I'm sure the angels will be incredibly excited at having that much room to swim...

Just a regular Indo with unusual bars.

To try put a bit of perspective on it, that big piece of wood on the right of the tank barely fitted in the back of my station wagon!!

Pics just don't do the size justice, seeing that big aro turn and swim directly towards you (instead of the usual left-right-left-right swimming of most aros in aquariums) is awesome!

I think you'll find most of the plecs that command a high price are the ones that are difficult/impossible to breed in captivity. There are a few breeders out there with some good stock, if you look thru the "Individuals Pleco Collections" thread you should be able to figure out who they are.

No need to spill, just try searching for the naughty word I used....

All of the above... :lol: There was an interesting thread on MFK a while back, basically about "obesity" in aquarium fish due to over-feeding and the wrong types of food. Many large CA cichlids (discussion was in the central american cichlid subforum) that one poster had dissected had big fatty deposits around the liver (IIRC) that was a likely factor in the premature death. I'll try find the thread when I have a few minutes spare...

KFC does wonders for bulking up young kids, doesn't make it good for them though.

LOLOLOL!!!! fankies for bringing that up Caryl! :lol:

If you don't know how big the fish in it just looks like an average aro in a standard 180g! Your big piece of wood cleaned up nicely tonight, looking forward to checking it all out on Wednesday.