chimera

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pets-animals/Fish/Fishbowls-tanks/auction-31887181.htm

cheers. what did he/her cost ya?

30 x $150 is a fair profit... of course A is such a generous guy I'm sure he'll sell them for $10 each :lol:

how much? what store?

duke - where did you get your coral banded shrimp from? is he out the front often or shy? im after one of those - for the cool and styley looking factor

nice! bangaii's are wicked looking fish. put me down for a couple

second got a 2 1/2yr old daughter too

some? your tank will NOT start cycling unless you add SOMETHING to it. a mussel is commonly used if you dont want to put any starter fish under stress. "If you have the ability to do so, then do as many large percentage water changes during the cycling process as you can. At least weekly, more so if it is possible. And it needs to be in the order of 50% or more of the system total volume changed, that way it actually makes a significant difference to the concentration of the various species in the water. 10-20% does not do a whole lot and at this stage keeping the water parameters in line as much as possible is the goal, hopefully helping to allow more life on the liverock to survive. For example, if the water has 5 ppm of ammonia in it, then a 10% water change will reduce the concentration to only 4.5 ppm, an insignificant change. Whereas, 50% will reduced the ammonia level to 2.5 ppm" reference: http://ozreef.org/content/view/40/28/ Take your pick as to who you want to believe, some sites list it as pro water change, some anti water change and other say it does not make an ounce of difference (such as the link above) A couple are for freshwater but the principle remains the same. http://www.reefcorner.com/Manual/nitrogen_cycle.htm http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/article2.php http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/cycling_your_tank1.html http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article19.html it's all down to personal experience on here, who knows. it cant hurt either way, your tank will eventually cycle no matter what!

Water changes while cycling depends on the method you're using. Some people recommend not doing water changes while the tanks cycling because they think it disturbs the bacteria thats colonising the biological filter and will either prevent the tank from cycling or will make it take longer to cycle. I think this is a common misconception. In the berlin method however, the biological filter is what you want the bacteria to colonise - the live rock! However, IMO performing small and frequent water changes while cycling may speed up the cycling process. Taking out a small percentage of water also removes ammonia, nitrites, nitrates etc while it's cycling, replacing with good bacteria from a fresh batch. I would say 20% a week as a guestimate? Dont go large changes as you dont want to remove too much of the nitrifying bacteria that are trying to colonise the rock and helping cycle your tank.

knew you'd ask that! by that i mean from a beginners point of view, or more specifically from someone who is new to the hobby and inexperienced (not saying you are, just generalising), you will setup your new tank, all eager and ready to stock it. hopefully you're bound to know that your tank needs cycling as staff at your lfs will have told you that, but thats about as limited as your knowledge goes (typically). so your new tank is setup, all cycling and you are thinking, ok i've been told this takes a while. i can wait. so you wait, your tank has finished cycling, you add fish, you add corals, a week later boom! diatom growth. to some, it "appears to fail". to others, they research, find out this is typically normal so continue. sometime after that you get cyanobacteria growth all over your rocks and substrate, again, to some it "appears to fail" not realising that this is reasonably common. however if you dont have knowledge, you start questioning the method of filtration you're using, you question the hardware the lfs sold you. but you continue again, green algae, more diatoms, bad algae everywhere. does the beginner think they are failing? do they give up? do they think the filtration they're using is adequate? only if they believe what appears to be failure is in fact common for anyone setting up a tank. you've just got to battle through it! get my meaning now?!

definately, the berlin method (lr for biological filtration and some denitrification and a decent skimmer as mechanical filtration for nitrate control) seems to be the most commonly used system due to it's success for most people (most, not all) as with any system, any method will 'appear to fail' initially, even after cycling, but patience is the key to this hobby. bad algae's can come and go, typically when maintenance is missed or left too long. it is also generally recommended not to dose (or if you do, specifically dont overdose) any supplements. rely on water changes to take out the crap and replace the goodness i would add some form of good phosphate control helps too (you can leave that too later)

Find a happy medium

i like it, unique aquascaping. although personally i'd get rid of the single rock against the front glass, caves it in a bit?

READ: "split" = completely separate, different rooms, big walls between each, dont keep clothing in toilet...

modest perhaps?

it's a full size bedroom, soon to be split into a fishroom, ensuite and walk-in wardrobe

Here's a really cool side-on photo I just took (actinic blues on only), just before the Tang took off at a hundred mile an hour!

ok, here's a shot of the tank from about 2 metres back. it still doesnt look the same as when viewed with the naked eye but the colours are alot closer than the previous shot! for a full size shot, click here

to be honest, the blue colouring in the picture looks NOTHING like it does if you were standing in front of it. it's much whiter and looks much better with the naked eye. i'll get another pic with the digital camera when i play around with the settings more - seriously it's not that blue!!! he looks heaps like me - almost spitting image of his old man

Hahahaaa, I could have described the behaviour of my tang and angel IDENTICAL to what you just have. The regal is one amazing 'swimmer' to watch when he gets pace on. I've noticed that feeding Nori in particular, is when they both seem to be 'good mates'. The Tang is not bothered at all when the angel takes a peck at the clipping of Nori, in fact he prefers it as he grabs the bits the rip off, saves him doing it.

you call that "streaming video" :lol:

just provide me with that winning lotto ticket Ira and it shall be done! you know there is no such thing as the perfect tank, only on the natural coral reefs can you appreciate such beauty. i cant wait til my acro's grow bigger and colour up more. it's looking a tad baron... :-?

1. bought 4 foot tank off a guy via trademe around march 2004. very basic setup but got for a good price. 2. brought the tank home, put it straight in as an 'in-wall' setup. the 4 footer looks to small in the big wall, the sump is in the bedroom, tang is getting bigger... 3. so let's add a foot, some more height/width and a heap of cash. the 5 footer went in september 2004, photo today after 10 months of pain and anguish! now how can i con the wife into 7+ foot next year....

oh dear

:lol: cheers all. his name is Jaden.