aquanaut

It wouldn't matter with my one as the TV glass and the tank are seperate units. There was silver and grey film, like a thin paint i rubbed off the inside of the tv tube. It rubbed off very easily with a wet cloth, i haven't growen any extra arms or legs yet so i think it is safe! It could be lead based or something like that being old so maybe gloves should be worn.

I have been thinking of making one for some time now and have nearly completed my first one. I bought an old tv off the net for $5 and away i went. It was a little harder than i thought it would be, the tube of old tv's can hold a charge and it can be a nasty belt. The tube can implode also so that is another problem. The best way around these problems is to leave the tv unplugged for a good amount of time, ie a month. You can discharge the tv yourself with a long screwdriver under the cap, but it best left to a professional to do. Another problem i came across was the tube is one piece so if you want to retain the front glass to give it the real tv look you have to cut it apart. I lay it down on the ground and knocked the top off the back with a long stick so it could de-vacuum properly, hoping for no implosion. I then broke out most of the glass and ground it down and sanded the edges. Next time i will try a heavy duty glass cutter to get a cleaner look. I have included some pics of the nearly complete tv, less the tank and light that i need to purchase. Its pretty ruff looking but i needed a trial one to see if it was too hard to do myself.

I did do the rock trick Ira, it didn't look right though. And yes the first pour i did ended up blowing everywhere, lesson learnt!!!

I found a really good, big piece of wood in Kaikoura a while back while fishing. Naturally i brought it home for my tank. It sat around for some time as i was away in Oz working, i'm now home. I had set my tank up and thought the piece of wood would just sink to the bottom when added, how wrong i was. So i tied weights to it and that worked but it wouldn't sit how i wanted it and the weights looked ugly. So i took it out and have had it soaking in a large drum for the last month, thinking this would work. Once again i tried it in the tank and it still floated, very annoying. I came up with a great idea one night and have just completed the mission. I first set the piece of wood up in the empty tank to find the very bottom and balance points. I then drilled a series of holes, mainly at the ends and some in the middle, about the diameter of a 20 cent coin and varying depths. I went down to the local tyre store and got a whole lot of their spent wheel weights, lead of course. I melted them in a couple of pots, do this outside as it stinks to the high heavens. I then poured the hot melted lead into the drilled holes. Hey presto one piece of wood sitting in the bottom of the tank, no ugly weights tied to it. I thought this may help others having trouble with wood not sinking. It would work with any size piece of wood just change the drill bit size etc.

It looks clear from the angles i took the pond pics from, but is pretty green up close. The shallower part is alot clearer than the deeper part, All the photo's were taken at the same time. The rain we are having in christchurch at the moment has helped fill it up a little so it might make it through summer this year.

I have finally remembered to take some pics and a vid of the pond at my parents place. They are close to a river and it runs naturally underground through the river rock with a high static level. They dug it out about 10 years ago and just let it do it's thing. There were heaps of large goldfish but when there are dry summers the pond dry's up. We try to take out as many fish as possible but over the years they have died off and been picked off by predators. I find it amasing how the snails end up being in there from just a hole dug in the ground. The huge goldy is the last one left, Survival of the fittest one would say. http://s467.photobucket.com/albums/rr31 ... V00059.flv

I have a bag with the sand/grit from taylors mistake, you can have some if you want it. But i leave to go back to aussie for work on tuesday so it would need to be before then. PM me if you want some.

Gotta love the reptilia in aussie, I walk through the camp im at and have bungarrows, tartars and bluetounges crusing round. We get the odd snake but they hide more than the lizards. I wish i could smuggle them back to nz in my bag sometimes. Especially the tartars they are awesome little critters, and so fast.

What about a big salt lick!!!! Any rural supply store will have them. And it will dissolve in the water, how easy.

There were 4 there and i'm 99% sure they were the one's from trademe. He said a chick owned them but didn't know much more than that.

Could have been? At organism they were in fresh water and the guy said they hadn't been in brackish but who knows!!!

That suxs!! I would have loved them but work commitments don't allow me to keep anything like that at the mo. My partner wouldn't have the time either, damn it. You didn't need salt though dude, they were in fresh water and hadn't been in brackish water! Hopefully they are breeders and we see more of them in the future. So damn cool though, i bet you are gutted, i would be.

Hey cichlid7, I went into Organism on tuesday and they were in there. Very very cute, like little bumble bee's cruzing the tank. They could'nt tell me if they were breeding pairs but if your one's are i'm sure there will be lots of interest hint hint.

what made you think of maggots? lol Dunno! I was lying in bed thinking about getting up as im on night shift tonight, last night woohoo, then back to nz! Anyway i was thinking of fish food when i was laying there, and i thought of coarse fishing and how fish love maggots. It got me to thinking if people used them or not as i thought (and i'm probably wrong) that they are full of protein. Stella that does sound damn yuck but very practical i guess! I wonder if my newt would eat them?

I have read lots of times what people feed their fish but have never seen people saying they feed maggots. I know they are used alot for coarse fishing so wondered if anyone fed them to their fish?