the-obstacle

ngapuhi

+1 - in fact it was henward that sent me the link saying to take the vacuum thing off and just use the hose 1cm or less above the sand itself. Oh, there's also an air powered pooper scooper on MFK at the moment, I'll find the link and come back.

rehab

I'm so glad you posted that. I spotted it the other day and took this opportunity to watch again. Better get the morewood out of the shed...

After a week and a half I gave up being gentle with razors and careful caressing and took a little mmetal mallet to the base. Finished the last 3rd in about 2 minutes. I was surprised at how little damage it did to the edges. There was the odd small chip here and there but nothing more than I was getting with the razor blades anyway. It seems there's a fair bit of pitting on the glass from being outside for years so I'm going to have my work cut out for me cleaning it up. Suggestions on what to use / how to clean old glass would be greatly appreciated. Thankfully I can now take the panels out one by one and go over them with a razor and whatever else will clean them up. Acetone perhaps? The parts list is coming together too. So far I have - Sump (1000x300x500) 2 x CF1200 filters stand to pull apart and rebuild in a more secure manner 2 x 150W metal halide lights (to pick up) 2 sheets of 25mm poly 1 refugium tank currently housing 10 of the first 15 panda cories to go in the big tank and a bunch of tank stripping and rebuilding tools/accessories To order/find someone selling - sump pump 2 x 300W heaters filter socks for sump about 40kg of bio noodles about 40kg of silica about 40kg of daltons aquatic stuff for the plants plants (some on the way, hoping alanmin has some more to move on in a month or so) Game on!

Hahaha, HFF must be happy with your visit today. Those long fin blue eyes look pretty cool

you too. I know which will be quicker (it won't be me)

Yep, I've already modeled it on smidey's stand. The stand that came with the tank has a ton of 4x4 legs on it but the stand itself isn't as wide or long as the tank so the sides weren't supported which is why it cracked I suspect. I'll be re-using the legs on the new stand with a proper base and top like that one. My wife now wants it in the house as a display piece so I've got to make it look nice too. It has to house a 1000x300x500 sump, 2 cf1200 filters, an algae scrubber and a 2ft refugium in the stand too so it's going to take a bit of engineering before I can start putting it all together. God bless sketchup.

the tank has a footprint of 1520 x 760 and I'd want it about 700 off the ground.

Is this something I could do in AKL? I can't travel to Palmerston North but I'll happily put my hand up to help. It'd give me an excuse to finally finish building the aviary.

Don't take it to heart. The point of the conversation is that if you're on the road in NZ on/in anything other than a cage you're putting your life in the hands of others. You can either choose to manage that risk or to ignore the risk but either way it doesn't remove the risk. I used to believe I would be awesome on a motorbike because I have great bike handling skills offroad and I'd know how to get out of trouble etc. The one thing everybody said was "it's not you, it's the other people on the road" and I didn't want to believe it. It took one day on a motorbike to realise they were right. We're not here to have a dig at age groups or to tell people how to live their lives. If I can pass one bit of knowledge on to anybody that can use it and it saves them from being killed by something I should have warned them about then I'm happy. NZ roads are dangerous if you're not in a cage.

Cool, thanks. I've decided that wood will be the way for me as I already have most of it here and I have the right tools for the job. I'd be keen to see your stand once it's finished though.

If the alternative is getting killed because they haven't seen you then yes, that's exactly what you should do. yet people keep getting knocked down and worse every day. I'm not taking the chance in assuming that today will be the day when everybody will play by the rules and I'll be able to zone out on my ride to work. Drivers are ignorant, not idiots. It's very easy to zone out when you spend an hour in your car getting to and from work each day. You've got all the creature comforts in your cage - music, comfy chairs, heater/aircon, maybe mates/food/whatever - all you HAVE to do is turn at the right places so you get home. When a car slams on it's brakes in front of you you snap out of your little trance and go "wow, that was close" then drift back into it. You get home an hour later and think "man, that traffic was censored" but have no idea what actually happened outside the cage and the strip of road in front of it for the majority of the time.

Oh yeah, you learn to make sure they've seen you before you need to jump on the brakes but if you're not sure it's safer to do a big stoppie in front of them and watch the panic in their eyes as they realise what might have happened instead of hoping they will notice at the last second and not kill you. Fear is a very very important thing to have and to understand and you can use it to your advantage - in this case to stay alive.

On a bike assume you have a target painted on your back - in invisible ink just like the rest of you and your bike. If you assume you're invisible and a target you can have an enjoyable ride and it just becomes part of the experience. I used to crap myself on my bikes on the road. After riding a motorbike for a few years I've learnt to assume that I'm invisible and that they ARE out to get me and I make concessions for that. It works for me.

I'm betting that's the problem - the math teacher will be expecting the volume on paper, not the actual weight/volume. The fact that it's a fish tank is just a way of saying "here is a 3d object of these dimensions, what is the volume"

Nice save!

yeah, sorry, I assumed it was a commercial/retail source. Thanks for the details, I'll tell him you sent me.

Any chance of a link to the reseller? I'm in AKL but would be good to get an idea of costs.

confirmed.

ahh, i replied to your pm before I read this. If you're starting from scratch with the new filter don't add any more until it has cycled.* Have you got a test kit or are you going to hff each time to get the water tested? I highly recommend buying even just a cheapy to test ammonia and nitrate. You're going to have to wait for the cycle to complete again*, or at least until you have a 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5+ nitrate test to prove that something is converting the ammonia into nitrate showing a completed cycle. I wouldn't add any more fish until the cycle is complete. The one little guy on his own will be fine. I would recommend doing 5-10% water changes as often as possible (daily is best). *you can of course do whatever you like 6 or 7 tetra in a 60L tank is perfectly ok for cycling, just look after them and do regular water changes and dose with prime if/when the ammonia / nitrite levels go up (it can cancel the affects of ammonia) if you feel you can't wait. The only reason I offer my advice is because I have a tank full of fish that have had a bloody hard time living through a cycle and they're still not right because of it. I'm in no way an expert but I wish I had listened to the experts and not given in to my impatience for the sake of the fish.

Ahh, that makes sense. Cliffy - don't take the lfs at their word. I'm 99% certain it was caused by removing the filter full of good bacteria and I'm sure most others would agree.

don't say that! At worst I guess I can put the 2 I'm getting into a super algae scrubber and have no fear of getting algae in the tank.

OK - advice from a secondary teacher - It's not to late. You need to clarify with the teacher that there is an issue and the record is wrong. The teacher has the power/right to correct the record but get on to it now. What happens is the teachers give their marks to an admin person at the school and they do data entry for the whole school so there are often mistakes. At my wife's school the teacher confirms the marks after the admin person enters them, there are usually a large number of mistakes, and then the student has to sign off that the record is accurate too. - so there you go! Good luck

that is awesome!