David R

Try hollywood first, always better to support the local guys (unless you're buying your fish of amazon too?) and much easier if something goes wrong with it... Also are we all talking about trickle filters when referring to "sumps", or just a plain old sump?

because its about $3 a packet that will last for ages? Hardly a rare or expensive commodity to worry about "wasting"... :smln:

Yeah but the others are still nice, and certainly less commonly seen in a large school.

yep, more coats, and make sure its really clean before you start... can always put black tape over any little bits where the paint doesn't stick because of silicone residue etc...

meh, 7 Days is on... :sml1:

Must have dropped their eggs in your big tank, shows you're doing it right, maybe its the extra current!

I have a sump on a 300L 4' tank and the benefits are just the same as on a larger tank; more capacity, no equipment in tank, cheaper etc. I wouldn't bother on much smaller tanks, but it really does depend on the intended purpose of the tank. If you're serious enough about plants to be installing a CO2 system I'd think long and hard about a sump as the increased disturbance/aeration isn't really what you want. It is possible to design it to minimise that, but IMO if you can use inline heaters with the canister then I'd just go for that option. Alternately you could still put a weir in the corner of the tank and drill it if you decide to run a sump later on (future-proofing is always a good idea!) and block the hole off then you'll have somewhere to put the heater and big ugly FX5 intake where its not visible in the tank, and you'll have the added benefit of the filter skimming the top of the tank.

put the sump in then add the centre support?

Cardinals are a bit "played out" IMO, they're gorgeous and popular for a reason, but have a look at some other species before deciding what you want. Serpaes, rosy, rummy nose, even good old lemons all look good in large schools (30+).

Looking good, glad to see my clowns (and dels and geo!) being so well looked after, can't wait to see it with the red!

why?

Don't like the sawn off tops on the stumps.... :lol: Sand looks good though, will be cool to see the big clowns and red in there. I think the layout will look great with your intended stock of mostly bottom dwellers + aro.

or as Evelyn Beatrice Hall said; "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,".... I have nothing against immigration or different cultures, but as Smidey said I do believe we need to be cautious about a lack of assimilation as larger communities of immigrants establish themselves in NZ. Its no secret that people like to be around people of similar ethnicity and culture (white people and maori are no different), but the way some communities of immigrants are developing does [mildly] concern me. The Chinese woman who used to do the accounts at my old work had lived here for over ten years but could still hardly speak english, and shopped at the chinese grocer, read the chinese newspaper, watched chinese TV, took her car to the chinese mechanic, hung out with her chinese friends etc. I can see how some extremists could feel our "culture" is under threat, but IMO we ("New Zealanders") don't have a culture so I view it as just another evolutionary shift in the make up of the population of this country. I have no idea what can/could be done to encourage more active assimilation, if anything should be at all, and I'm certainly not suggesting all immigrants should ditch their culture and become beer-drinking rugby-watching kiwi farmers......

Pet shop in Whangarei used to have two huge "commons" in a big (well it was big to me back then, about 2 metres long IIRC) display tank that would have been getting close to 50cm each, maybe more. The tank was at least 60x60cm and these guys weren't much shorter than the width of the tank. And like you said, they could poo like nothing else!

Only? Thats fairly tall and makes for a fair bit of pressure on the floor under the tank...

Don't judge a dog by its size, I was talking to a woman with a huge Great Dane at the park a while ago and she said they're really popular dogs for apartment dwellers as they're really lazy! I'd be keen for a male jag from that guy if anyone wants to go get it and can hold it til I get back from holiday? (Duncan?)

Whats the floor made of? I certainly wouldn't be happy having that much water in a tank 7mm out (or even 4-5mm for that matter). I'd certainly look at doing something to level it up, just think of the worse case scenario if you don't....

Yep, supply and demand is crazy with good books when they go out of print! This book is the Fat-Plants equivalent of Weidners book, after it went out of print used copies skyrocketed in price anywhere from a few hundred to $1k US! Not sure how many sold at that price though. Luckily the author did a second run and I managed to pick up a copy for $40US from his website, signed by him. Fingers crossed it goes out of print again!

I've always just used cheap spray cans from repco/supercheap, but make sure the back of the tank is spotlessly clean. Maybe a roller and enamel would be more durable though? I have had the spray paint start to flake after a few years on one tank. Alternately black vinyl would work well if you can lay it smoothly. Sucks to hear about the stand, hope you can get it sorted!

Thats twice that I've wished I could look something up in it since you picked it up, really think I might have to splash out on my own copy some time...

Now now boys, I don't think this thread was meant as a personal dig at HFFs friendly, hard working and very pretty staff... :smln: Its great you correct some of the suppliers misnomers, I think the question being asked is why not correct more/all of them. I guess the plecs are an obvious one to correctly identify because A; pleco people are usually more picky about identification than most, and B; there is often a lot more money involved so people will be more annoyed and more likely to feel "ripped off" if they get something wrongly identified. Most people who buy a $12 siamese black line flying fox algae eater either don't care which species they get, or know enough to be able to identify them and know that retailers [not just HFF] often have them misnamed (as much as I dislike saying something is "misnamed" when using a common name). Thomas what does the Eartheaters book say about A. heckelii? I always thought the "threadfin acara" name was just as 'valid' as "threadfin cichlid' because of the genus Acarichthys. IMO either is much better than "threadfin eartheater/geophagus", but neither is as good as simply calling them "heckelii"...

I'd agree with that, but there has to be a line somewhere. Selling someone 4 oscars for their 3' tank to go with their neons and plants is completely irresponsible, but on the other hand expecting a retail shop to correctly identify every fish they sell (something which experienced ichthyologists often struggle to do) is also unreasonable. Regardless of whether you call it a black line flying fox, siamese flying fox, siamese algae eater or a black and gold striped flying siamese algae eater the requirements of the similar species are all pretty much the same.

I'd seriously think twice about it if you've had problems before, in a tank of that size full of plants its going to be a mission to catch anything once its in there. Its not impossible though, just very stressful for all involved (fish and people!)..

You'll love the low stand, makes working on it so much easier and is much better for viewing sitting down. The stand on my 1400L is only 45cm high and its perfect IMO.