chimera

salifert

or the scientific name "Melaleuca". Its also effective on zits too :lol: (serious!) Dries and heals them out real quick.

Personally, I wouldnt use it in my reef tank (nor any medication no matter how "laboratory tested" it is). Hence the reason for hospital tanks. If it really came down to it, its not hard (on a reasonable size tank) to take a portion of the water and put it in a second separate tank and (1/4 dose) fish in that (ie: dose slowly). I used it plenty of times in my freshwater tank with great success,... too many "delicate" animals in the reef tank though. Here's what Brooklands have to say about it, they probably just took it straight from the manufacturers label: http://www.brooklands.co.nz/pharma/melafix.htm And another "personal opinion" about Melafix killing an arrow crab http://www.lakehouse.com/aquarium/arrowcrab.htm

Personally I would not go with gib. Try plywood (either marine ply or do what I did and put normal 7mm ply up then polyurethane the whole room) My room is for a saltwater tank so obviously more caustic than freshwater however plenty of evaporation will ruin the gib - paint or no paint (possibly look at gib aqualine?) My fishroom (or rather sump room) is 1.8m x 1.8m square - I think you'll find 1.2m is a very tight fit, especially if you want to add or change the layout later. BTW, you'd be amazed how easy/often you have water spills Not sure on where it will be located but if you can, do what I did and leave a 10mm gap at the bottom of the walls incase of any flooding. Also if you can, put a drainage hole in the middle of the floor (or concrete) that makes cleaning up "accidents" easy!

but thats only going by this web site: http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightingAnswers/lat5/pc1.asp (also see page 3 of this site, "Can a T5 lamp replace a T12 or T8 lamp?") if not, it's an incredibly good (technical) read at least

I agree, after looking at 10K's (compared to 20k's) they appear TOO yellow. It's hard to find a happy medium but as you say, it's all down to the personal preference of the tanks owner! As an aside, here's a bloody good read on everything you wanted to know about T5 and T8's (which I also posted in the technical section) http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightingAnswers/lat5/allquestions.asp

great lighting faq: http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/ltg_qa.htm technical faq: http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/ltg_technical_data.htm and my favourite, a comparison of different W and K's!... http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/ltg_bulb_color.htm very interesting to see the 20k's in the photo's - coral colouring looks "washed out". supplemented with actinics or vho's helps but less impressive than i first thought. may go with 14k's as a happy medium? coral colour appears nicer under 10k to 14k although perhaps not as "crisp" as the 20k's.

halides are closest possible lighting to the sun - you try looking at the sun for 10 seconds and tell me if you can see again cant see the ballasts, they are inside the unit. need to open it up.

Just to continue the lighting questions - I have little knowledge when it comes to choosing the right "bulb" About 4 months ago I could not look at my halide bulbs for more than 1/2 a second without going blind. Now I could probably manage 10 seconds before almost blacking out So, I most definately think its time to change bulbs. Im set on the 20K's as the effect is provides is quite awesome. Looking at the endcaps (?) that the halide bulbs plug into, it has the following stamped on them: M1500-A 1500W 600V E39/41 MOGUL E40/41 GES From the wattage/voltage, I would image it can handle up to 400W lighting easily enough, but what about 20K bulbs? Anyone shed any light or do I need more information from the ballasts to work this out? I will be calling a local lighting company (same store Pies dealt with) on Tuesday but would just like a heads up from anyone prior to then to see if this is enough info for them. Cheers

well thats me, assuming my halides can handle 20k bulbs, thats where im heading...!

you mean in addition to the denimar food you get with an aquamedic nitratereductor. the deniballs feed the bacteria for up to a year after that anyway.

hi, yes i have an aquamedic nitrate reductor 400. i do believe it worked to initially reduce my nitrates. you can buy my nitratereductor off me if you like - will sell it cheap. i have alot more LR, that and my skimmer are my two main sources of filtration now. PM me if interested (see 4th item down on this page: http://www.aquatic-store.com/en-us/dept_226.html)

awesome photo!

as steve says above, his trickle's he runs an 802 powerhead (300l/hr i think?) alot of people run the return from their sump through the chiller then back into the main tank.

from what i've seen rates vary from 300l/hr to 2,000l/hr - sure thats not a maximum? 2,000 l/hr is alot. for a small tank, i would think it should be ok. read this: http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_chillers_heaters_teclima_information.asp?ast=&key=

these guys i assume? http://www.lampspecialists.co.nz/

surely it will mean you can save on fans over your hallides,... just open the front door :lol:

if relating to your anemone steve, to be fair it is sitting quite near the surface

nice! brian - can you take another 20k shot from exactly the same angle as the 10k and post? it is visible - but it would make it less biased!

:lol: customer: "hi there, i was interested in starting up a marine tank" lfs employee: "are you married sir?" customer: "yes" lfs employee: "over this side we have freshwater fish,... or perhaps a new cat or dog?..."

i have an 802 powerhead sitting on the bottom of the tank to give some low down water movement (just until i get my closed loop and streams fully sorted out) the powerhead has no "cage" for it (ie: the cage that stops things being sucked into the pump) so for the last couple of months its been pushed hard up against the front of the glass, works well. about an hour ago i shifted it back to clean the glass,... and forgot to move it back. just about to head out the door to head out for the night and i think, i'll take another look at my tank, see how its looking. PANIC! the side of my rabbitfish is sucked up against the powerhead, fish looks all limp and not happy whatsoever. @#$%@#$, dont think i've moved so quick in my life turned powerhead off and off he swims, slowly but surely. the side of his body has a big indentation where the powerhead was - almost a perfect half circle poor little bugger. chucked some food in to see if he's ok, straight to the top and starts chowing down. fingers crossed he'll be ok! my bad

cool (spot the pun), good point. ok, in that case im starting up a "chimera needs streams" charity. any donations can be made at your nearest bank or post office. alternately, money can be transferred online via a paypal account. all donations in excess of $50 will receive a free set of ginsu knives (while stocks last)

everyone tells me i dont look anything like a computer geek - more like a builder :lol: although, all my mates call me a fish geek - but hey, its an enjoyable hobby! with computers, i enjoy the challenge,... but probably more so the money maybe im just a geek wannabe... anyways, whats the general consensus with my chiller, keep or sell?!!!! i need STREAMS!!!!!

heheheee, says the man who posts AFTER me senior network engineer for a computing company,... but i sell software on the Internet as a part time job... and a certain feature in it needs fixing as soon as possible as there are a number of people worldwide awaiting the update!!! anyways, just finished now, spent last 2 hours testing!!! this clock is wrong, its still an hour behind my eyes right now =

i think i need to monitor the temperature a bit closer and make a call. i'd hate to sell the chiller (which i got for a reasonable price) then turn around and have to try and hunt one down again... oh dear, it's 2:47am... back to work :roll: