breakaway

Is this a 'real' freshwater fish? Or is it one of those species that people keep in freshwater as juveniles and go saltwater as they grow into adults? According to internet they're freshwater, but I'd like to hear from experienced people.

Dwarf Puffers!

I want to keep power for the cooling separate as I have to install the LEDs soon, and I don't want to tie anything into the current ballast / wiring. I'm not very comfortable working with mains voltage either

Yeah, I'm sure it needs it, because without it the temperature would hit 29-30 almost every day in summer. It doesn't help that the tank is in my bedroom which doesn't get as much ventilation as any other room in the house. I'm sure all this wouldn't be a problem if the tank was placed in the living room which has a heatpump.

As stated in one of the original post the 300w PSU is only for testing. I will replace it with a power brick from a dead cellphone or similar. 240v fans not a possibility, because the fans need to be really small in order to fit into the hood. The smallest 240v fan I've seen is 120mm.

For the time being, I've jump started an old 300w ATX power supply for testing - looks like the configuration works well - the light has been running around 2 hours almost and the temperature is only 26.7 degrees Next mod for this tank would be to replace the 11w light with several (~10) 180 lumen Cree or Luxeon LEDs. Will get around to that when I have time.

And an activity LED (not really necessary but figured I might as well while I was there! (The ON/OFF switch is for the main lamp). Yet to implement - On/Off switch - Power supply - Need to buy a power brick that outputs 12V @ ~200mA. Current draw is 124mA @ 12V. - Some sort of grating or similar so that fingers don't get shoved into the fans - Speed control (These are 3 pin fans, so can be controlled via PWM - If I can be bothered!)

I used hot glue to secure the cables inside the hood. Then used nuts/screws to secure the fans to the hood. Wasn't able to put 4 screws into each fan due to the internals of the hood. But everything is on securely, and doesn't vibrate or rattle. So I'm happy. Here is the finished product: 2 x Fans in Push/Pull configuration: Right side of tank - air in Left side of tank - air out

So the next step was to trace the outline of the fan onto the outside of the light hood, and mark for drilling. Then, out came the 40mm hole saw: Not perfect, but good enough.

This is my first DIY attempt / thread. The AR380 is terribly designed. The ballast for the 11w light gets far too hot, and there's not enough air circulation. When I took it apart, the ballast was way too hot for me to touch and hold on to. Due to lack of airflow, this heat radiates down into the water through the reflector, often pushing the temperature from a nice tropical 26 degrees up to anywhere between 29 to 31 in summer. Thus far, I had been using bits of paper to raise the hood 3-4cm above the tank and then pointed a desk fan so it would move the air in the gap between the hood and the water. This worked well, but there are a lot of issues with evaporation / temperature fluctuations / blowing atmospheric crud into the tank. So what do we do? Hack it apart and install some cooling fans! :lol: My main goal was to modify the hood but leave it looking (fairly) standard. After I opened up the AR380 hood and removed the light / ballast / reflector, I saw that there was hardly any space in there, so I'd have to be careful with mounting. It also had terrible self tapping screws that held the reflector on, and a couple of these promptly stripped the thread as I undid them. But I was able to put them back in securely.

^ Again, from the site:

Just did a google search, and you say you have a Blue Planet Tank Maid 1000? According to Blue Planet's website, the flow rate of this filter is 1000 L/Hr. On a 54L tank, isn't this simply too much flow?

I've got one male and one female German blue ram in my 200L heavily planted aquarium. Water parameters are spot on. There are a few community fish in there (assorted tetra, otocinclus, etc). I've had them for about one month. My question is about breeding them - and about them pairing off. Firstly I've read that just because you put a male and a female together doesn't mean they'll pair off. Is this true? And if so, is it possible they'll never pair up so they'll never breed? Secondly, how can I tell when they've paired up? The male currently chases the female around a little (not aggressive at all) however they also spend a lot of time on opposite ends of the tank doing their own thing. Any input appreciated!

If anyone wants to buy an AR980 now's the time - tank + cabinet are selling for $800 new at animates.

I've been doing a lot of research on the RSM tanks. Apparently the reason they have such a bad reputation is because the first iteration of tanks (the smaller ones) had skimmers that didn't work well. However this issue has apparently been addressed in the 65 gallon version (RSM 250, the ones at HFF that cost $3799). The lighting also seems to be quite adequate, 6 x 39W T5s with a total of 234 watts of lighting. The verdict now from many sites (nano-reef / reef central) is that it's a fairly good setup, but still a bit pricey, but ideal for a first timer. You can keep a lot of stuff in there (a lot of hard / soft corals), but the lighting might not be entirely sufficient for things such as anemones or clams. A lot of people have chosen to add their own DIY sumps made out of plastic containers etc with aftermarket skimmers in them.

This sounds like a broken filter. I've owned numerous internal stick-on filters and power heads that use suction cups. None of them are that noisy. One got mildy noisy once, and I cleaned the impeller, and that shut it up good. Also, none of my filters have 'fallen off' their suction cups. Take it back and get a refund / replacement.

Have you tried pricing up the parts individually and gotten a comparison of what it comes to? I think a well built good quality cabinet, lighting system and tank will send the budget to around $1100-$1300 easily - leaving hardly any money for skimmers, sump, return pumps etc!

So what's the verdict? The Red Sea max is an aboslute no-no? The thing that appeals to me about is that it is an all in one unit with adequate lighting etc, and its just "Plug and Play" pretty much. No mucking about!

Hi, I just bought a Fluval 205 about 2 months ago, and I watched the instruction DVD that came with it. They mentioned that if the filter starts to leak, to inspect the gasket that goes between the motor housing and the filter. See if it has cracks in it or anything. Also note that damage in the gasket might not be obvious. A replacement gasket should be available from your LFS for a few bucks.

Just and update - all the fish are still doing well (Have moved them into a 200L aquarium) Have figured out what was causing the drop in pH - it was the activated carbon. After the last day of treatment, I did a 50% water change and dumped the carbon back in (at this time the carbon had only had 2 weeks of use). The remaining meds must have gotten sucked into the carbon and it must have reached its capacity - so it was leeching it back slowly. Got a new one and now its good as gold.

Technically water is also a chemical, so if you're chemical free what are your fish swimming around in? :bounce:

How big was he? Edit: According to google they can grow up to 5 inches. The ones I have are still adolescents and are under 1 inch each so 2 bloodworms are plenty. After having eaten 3, their stomachs look like they are about to explode! And the one you had is a Colomesus asellus (I think). This puffer is a Carinotetraodon travancoricus.

Ignore, accidental double post

One more thing to consider here is that the people that are happy with a shops' service will often not go on a forum and post praise. But people who feel that they've been hard done on the other hand, will spread negative publicity even though it may well have been an isolated incident. I've found that it's a matter of building a relationship with the store. Get to know the people, and they will treat you well. It's like this almost everywere - I own a motorcycle also and first time I go to a new dealership for a service on a bike I get charged full price, but once you get to know them, you get a lot of hand outs and insane discounts etc. Fair enough really. Like a loyalty program.

I keep mine with oto cats, and am careful to make sure no food goes uneaten (Usuaully, each puffer gets 2 x bloodworms). The puffers never give the otos any grief.