lmsmith

Go for the eheim. I've got 6 of them, they're so quiet and reliable. Wait it out till animates has them under half price, or see if you can get one second hand, they last really well

It does look like a good price. I don't know if I'd go for it, who knows if they'd still have replacement parts in a few years.

So I redid the tank today. Getting the old silicone off was a pain in the butt, the really old stuff was fine, but the newer-old stuff was a real struggle to get off. Putting it together was surprisingly easy, I used the other end of the pointy bits you put on the end of the silicone tube to smooth the bead of silicone. It worked really well, and it's all nice and smooth. I'm going to fill it tomorrow or Sunday to see if it holds water, then I can leave it to sit for a few days to fully cure.

I agree with spoon. It's a good idea to vary the salinity, that's what happens in the wild.

I'm looking at buying a refractometer sometime because I want to make my brackish puffer tank full marine and do the coral thing. I know my hydrometer isn't a very reliable way of testing salinity, so was looking around for different things. This one works out to be about $60NZ inc shipping, which seems pretty good. I'm not sure if it's a good one or not, and if it would last. What brands do you recommend? Would this be ok? Where in NZ can you buy them? TIA.

Was the container sealed, or did it just have a plastic lid? If it was sealed, they were in there before it got to NZ, and you'll need to report it to MAF. Otherwise, they could have gotten in since the food arrived here.

Glad to hear you know it's marine salt, you'd be surprised how many people think aquarium salt is ok. You'd be best buying a hydrometer so you don't add too much, and to keep up with evaporation.

I took out a centre divider in my tank and decided to touch up the silicone as it's an old tank. My bf kindly offered to do it for me. I went to check up on him, and turns out he's used silicone with mould repellant in it. I've decided to cut my losses and rebuild the whole tank; the silicone was a bit tatty anyway. I found this great topic about building tanks, does anyone have any other tips? This is my first time actually building a whole tank and I'm terrified!

I don't. I have nets and stuff for a q. tank, and have a sponge filter that goes in there (and not it any of the other tanks) Otherwise, with my healthy tanks, I use the same nets. In saying that, I haven't had a situation where I've had a tankful of sick fish - if I did, I'd probably do it differently and use different supplies.

Sweet, well I went to Bunnings today and got 2 25L containers and a 75L rubbish bin. I put a tap halfway down the bin. I went to the beach (where you specified on the map), and got 2 containers of water. It was beautiful and clear. I did a w/c with the seawater in my puffer tank, and their colours are really nice and bright, and they look really happy. I don't have too much of a problem with the 25L, I can only carry 1 at a time, but my bf is nice about carrying the other one, so that's good. I figure it'll build up my girly muscles! Thanks for the tips everyone!

Cute! I have 4 of the little guys. You know they do best in brackish water, right? SG 1.005

It does. Your beat option is to use hot weld (from craft shops) it stinks to high heaven, but air and rinse the tank, and once the fumes have gone, you'll be good to put fish in it.

I had 2 60l tanks that I have just emptied, so took the filters off them and already had a sump, my normal extra canister and an emergency filter on it. I'll shuffle them around next week so my 3fts have 2 filters each

LOL, I have a sump and 4 (yes, four) canisters on my 150l tank at the moment. Me thinks it's over filtered! When buying a filter, take into consideration how easy it is to take apart, clean and put back together. Also, how easy it is to prime. Inevitably the poop will hit the fan late at night for early in the morning, and you'll need to do a prime or something.

Oh great, that's really close to my house. I'll pop over tonight, low tide is about 4 I think. What do you use to collect water? I was thinking of getting a couple of 20l water storers from bunnings.

I collect rainwater now and use it. Any ideas for cleanly collecting rainwater? I just have a big 50l tub that sits outside away from trees etc

Wicked, thanks heaps guys. I guess a trip to the beach is in order!

So yes? I'm looking at ways I can do this that will be more time effective - sure, I have to drive to the beach to get water, but I love the beach so it doesn't really count, right?

lf you're using it to stick a whole tank together you need to use silicone. Methyl Trichloride and Methyl Chloride are used to stick acrylic together but they are not good weight bearers - use the Methyl Trichloride AND silicone, or just stick with silicone.

Can I use saltwater from the sea? It will be in a brackish tank, so I'll water it down to get the right SG. Obviously I'll take it from an unpolluted place and test it for ammonia/nitrates/nitrites etc first. I know quite a lot of people overseas do it, so could I do it too? Will I need to do a massive filter or something first?

Awesome thanks guys. I'll look into getting one sometime. Sigh.

I'm gonna trump the creepy stakes...been there, done that, I know it takes a while. Smells good though!

It definitely sounds like their barbels are getting worn down. I've seen it happen when the fish are really hungry and are searching for food all the time, or if they're getting fed things that are falling between the substrate, and the fish are burrowing in the substrate and bending the barbels lots.

Angels grow faster in a bigger tank. You'd be ok with 2 small angels in a 45 L tank, but they'd need about 100 - 150L when they grow up. Personally, I'd go with smaller fish, then you could have more of them. How about some dwarf cichlids, or killis or something?

You can use methylene chloride or methyl trichloride (chloroform). I know you can get methyl trichloride from pharmacies. Obviously, you'll have to tell them why you want it and probably provide ID and a phone number and address, but as long as you don't look like a creepy rapist/stalker, you'll be good. EDIT: it comes in 50ml from memory. Just realised I sound like a creepy stalker with all this knowledge about chloroform...