the-obstacle

A skimmer is a must. I'd be concerned about water quality inside the Manukau but that's just a hunch not anything based on science. You'll want to change about 20-30L a week for a 200L tank (+sump) so it'd be good to know you could get that easily. Other than that it sounds like you're all set.

what is cheaper than free sea water? nothing.

It's a great looking stand.

I've got a little acrylic tank and I haven't scratched it with algae scrapers or being careful with a razor. I don't use rocks in that tank for fear of scratching but otherwise it's fine.

sex.

It'd be pretty hard to play cricket under most floor boards but if there's room it's got to be better than a mosquito in your ear. Then again, you could just squash the mosquito. waiwera or parakai pools?

Now that's cool. Make big flat version of that to cover most of the base of the tank and you're away. Especially if you can hold it onto the sand/aqua mix.

what? agasizzi A long hot sunday or spray paint?

Cheesecake! blue or a van?

I'd be surprised if you ever need to replace bio noodles. I've always replaced the cartridges with filter wool and noodles. I've found the noodles host more bacteria than the cartridges ever do and the carbon cartridge is a waste of time.

if you got all the bits ready and filled it with media you'd be home and hosed. No idea how you'd clean it though...

You may find that the silicone isn't the answer - much like using silicone for acrylic tanks doesn't work - the plastic secretes an oil like substance which stops the silicon from ever setting to it. I'd go hot glue in copious amounts around the rim/rubber seal then lock it in place as fast as possible and hope for the best

The only thing I can add is that it gets better. As you get older and they do everybody starts to get on. Once school is over everybody will want to be your mate as they realise that in the real world they're all as low, or lower, on the food chain than you are. The best payback I ever had was walking into a shop and seeing a guy that used to give me grief at school still selling petrol in the same dead end job he'd had for 10 years.

when I got them as a kid it took at least a week for them to hatch at warm summer temps on the windowsill. Brine shrimp are so much faster and you're not paying for the brand.

Single sided razor blade will get the silicon/glass off. Just slide it along between the bit of glass that you want to cut off. I haven't noticed any major scratching from doing this as the blade stays pretty flat against the glass. Just take your time and not force it.

+1

Really? I like them and think once the carpet and hairgrass are in place they'll look really really good.

I have pure black iron sand and it's awesome. It's too heavy to get blown around and there's no threat of it getting sucked into filters.

advantage = a filter disadvantage = not very efficient, can be dangerous to rely on, you're missing the grate and airpump required to run it. I wouldn't but I'm weary of these things. But that is certainly what the glass work looks like it's for. I've never seen a permanent one built into a tank and I assume I never will again.

Really really cool. I need a bigger tank marine tank :facepalm:

Yeah, you'll want to aim for 3cm but a little bit less in the tops of the bumps won't hurt. It WILL mess your water up if you move any plants later on but it takes about 4 or so hours to clear up with a good filter. Are you going for a hairgrass carpet? It'll grow really really well in a sand like daltons #1 or builders mix. I found my hairgrass tended to grow on top of the silica sand I had, because it compacts down too much, but it grew through the daltons sand (which is what I think you're hoping to achieve).

actually it looks exactly like that. The photos I've seen on the net often have the opposite colouring for frogspawn.

Controller is still going strong. :thup: The split anemone looked like either half wasn't going to make it for a while there but I've increased the light (now that they're used to it) and been target feeding every second day and it's finally got it's colour back. I'll take some photos tonight if I can find the camera. I also have a little frogspawn frag that broke off in transit that I figured was a goner but it has bounced back to life on the sandbed and doubled in size. I'm thinking I might sell the big frogspawn and set this frag up to start a whole new plate. All in all I'm feeling a lot more optimistic about the tank and it's inhabitants which now includes a blue legged hermit which is mowing down the algae outbreak I had due to the increased lights.

2 separate pipes running to the sump. search google for herbie style overflow system it'll explain it all. It gives a quieter overflow and allows for a backup if the main overflow gets blocked by anything.

answers 1) big enough to handle the overflow caused by the output of your return pump or to put it another way big enough to handle the return flow of the pump and a bit more for safety's sake. If you're getting it drilled I'd suggest making 2 holes and setting up a herbie style overflow - more redundancy. 2) when the water flows over the sides you've got too much water in the sump. To be honest the more water you can have in the sump the more water you've got in the system which will make for stable parameters. Set the sump water level so that when you turn the power off and the water overflows from the tank to the sump it doesn't overflow the sump. 3) rubber tubing is fine - most pumps use rubber hosing instead of solid PVC. PVC is cheaper in general. 4) if you've using glass to create dividers you shouldn't need bracing.