chimera

thanks for the tips!

gotta pic caryl?!

cheers, looks good but i might do darker. was that a specific or named light blue colour or just "light blue?"

of course. well im after something that DOES look good, hence the post. I suggest paint as its permanant. I guess the type of paint has to be one that sticks to glass and is ok with salt water! What colour is everyones preferred choice? Im sticking with oxford blue at the moment...

interesting,... http://www.aquacraft.net/w0014.html not to say i believe everything i read, but it is an independant review of a product that is widely known as one of the best (sparks up two subjects for debate 8) )

ha ha haaa! thats the hard part, keeping the water wet, nice call. if you want salt water, get something like instant ocean - artificial sea water. you'll probably need a reverse osmosis or deionisation filter (or both) to "purify" your tap water and mix the ASW (artificial sea water) with. Probably not necessary to do as many water changes as something like a reef tank but this obviously depends on what you're keeping in your tank. As Ira says, ASW is not cheap and can add up. Last I looked you could buy a bag of ASW that mixes 120 litres for about $30.

hassle and cost is not an issue. want to make it look better. i agree medium/dark blue looks best but c'mon ira admit it, backing paper is a pain in the arse and looks ugly, does this look familiar? Appreciate the feedback though, thanks.

What's a good colour for this? I read on this site oxford blue turned out nice. My tank is in the lounge wall and backs onto a small room (which is dark - even during the day) so painting the back of the tank is not a necessity for me but Im considering it as it might look more effective plus hide some plumbing. Thoughts? Pies - you did this on your frag tank, how did it turn out? Would you do it for your new tank?

yeah sorry dude! but im glad steve said that because my wallet is empty...

thought i'd reply to this simply to pop this to the top again (worthy of another read ) where did you get the perspex cut? was it a local wellies store or a national outfit? looks a good idea to let good flow through it. dunno if this is old or new but i'll post this site i found too. good site for general info http://www.aquarium-design.com/

according to steve the deltec should be fine for my new tank so i will hold onto it, thanks.

I was looking at the hansen tank valve and thinking it was upside down as it makes more sense to have the fixed thread piece inside the tank as its one less piece to have a potential leak with on the outside. However, I was basing my decision on it being that way up from the current overflow valve in my 4 footer being up that way. The union taps are the ones with the self-turning thread separate to the main tap right? (ie: thread not fixed in the actual tap to allow easy removal) Thanks for the link and info Pies.

k, ta. for the life of me do you think i can find that bloody frag grow out tank!!! i saw and read about it the other night now cant find it ANYWHERE!!! :evil: a link to it would be much appreciated....

pies, im picking that was you a few times a week? quite an interesting range, hopefully all who voted have marine/reef tanks...

keep water "salted" by doing water changes with real sea water, change evaporated water with freshwater. miss_muffit - if ammonia is 8ppm, everything would be dead or would be starting to die! try another test kit (and make sure you're not testing with a freshwater test kit). if it is actually high, your tank is overstocked - get a bigger tank or send some critters back to the ocean. what filtration do you have? have you tested the water you are actually changing? change about 75% of the water now rather than a little bit if its that high. once you've sussed out the ammonia problem, cure whats causing it (too much feeding perhaps? overstocking?)

something around that ok, will go straight to the 10k's..!

Since posting last Tuesday, nitrates have dropped from 20ppm down to about 10ppm (colour appears to be little over 10, perhaps about 12-13) and phosphates have dropped from 0.20 to 0. Since then, I have done a 20% water change with ASW. The reduction in nitrates has also been helped by the nitratereductor working hard out (1 drop per second works out to something around 20 litres per day or 100 litres since last Tuesday) I am mixing up a batch of RODI water at the moment for another 20% ASW water change tomorrow night. I have physically scraped off as much cyano from the rocks as possible. It is still coming back but not nearly as quickly as it was a week ago. I have the MH's now so will look at designing a hood for them to hang in today and see if this helps remove the cyano. Will have to design it (according to jetskitsteve) so the lights sit higher up for a few weeks then bring it down once the coral's have adjusted. I might put in 7.8K lights in (some spares that came with it) then change to 10K in a months time. Hopefully the better lighting will help reduce the amount of cyano too.

My bi-colour blenny must've taken some hints from Pies one. He is getting more and more agressive especially when anything goes near his "hole". I was killing aiptasia with a syringe and he was attacking it and my hand! Scared the crap outta me coz I wasnt expecting it. Now the little bugger chases takes on the blue tang when its feeding time! Very funny to watch though

Well, after some lengthy discussion with Pies, Jetskisteve and my physics-guru mate + using some reefcentral calculators, I have increased the size of the hole for overflow from 35 to 45mm to allow for 32mm piping (the hole needs to be about 45mm so it can handle a 32mm pipe - basically need 10mm or so larger hole to allow for the pipe thickness/thread) My friend worked out that a 25mm hole with water-level height in the overflow of 450mm gives 5,200l/hr and a 32mm hole with overflow water level at the same height will give 8,500l/hr (this doesnt take into account elbows and friction in the pipe but this is really quite negligible to the overall figure) Using Reef Central calculators, to pump 5,200l/hr (1370 gallons/hr) requires a 38mm overflow hole with a linear overflow water level height of 560mm. I will be using an Iwaki rated at 5,500l/hr but guesstimate I will lose flow rate because of a 3 metre head height. I could get a maximum 3,500 litres (900 gallons) per hour (according to Reef Central calculators) with a 32mm (1 1/4") hole. While this is still less than the rated maximum for the Iwaki, the loss in flow rate because it has to pump 3 metres straight up should cover it. The other holes (for closed loops) will remain 35mm (to allow for 25mm piping) All bottom outlets will be hooked up with compact ball valves (taps) as follows (the white line shows the approximate position of the bottom of the tank) Pressure piping will be glued into the bottom piece (a pressure fitting) and runs down to an Eheim pump. There will be 2 of these made up. Each Eheim pumps output will be plugged into a SCWD, and each SCWD will direct water flow back into 2 "inlet holes" each (or 4 total) One on the bottom for circulation under the reef rack, one on the opposite side from the overflow and two on the top/back.

1. The MCE600 skimmer is a hang on job right? It is rated for high stocking at 450 litres or low stocking at 700 litres so you will need to upgrade it. 2. I would think you would need to upgrade, IMHO going over 600mm deep you start to require more powerful hallides. 3. Ask Pies for this one?!!!

Just outta interest, how often does everyone feed their fish?

And I appreciate the help So you mean best to have extra holes through the bottom with piping going up into the tank to get water movement at a various heights. Does make sense aesthetically hiding them under rocks but i think i will leave as it is because i can direct water flow downwards by having holes nearer the top. I dont mind too much seeing the pipes, they wont be that visisble anyhow and there's only a few of them. Pity you dont have Chesters Plumbing in Wellies, they are really good. Those valves/taps were only $19 each for 32mm ones and their service (well, the service i got from them) was very good. Hundred times better service than any time I've ever visited the #!@#$% at Mico.

i agree re: that pic, way too excessive. my point was that is how i want to plumb it, but a much much simpler version of that. good point re: accidentally leaning on piping - and it will be around the back. i will just have to be extra careful. the pipe work will be seen going into the tank a little bit, i will stealth it by having it black. i know how i want the rock formation laid out hence why the 3 holes in the bottom are spaced at 300mm, 600mm then 1100mm apart. my reason for moving pipe work to bottom of tank was to reduce the amount of plumbing sticking out the back as i wanted easy access. there is only 2 holes on the back/top and 1 side/top so access to the tank shouldnt be too bad. there will always be design faults with something like this, something that i wish i changed but didnt realise until its in and running. its murphys law that this will happen. however, i want to minimise any potential hassles by posting questions about it and getting everyone's feedback.

I am asking because I want to know where the most recommended place is for the holes at the top (ie: as high as possible, as low as possible, in the middle or whatever). i wanted flow for the closed loops from the bottom to the top and top to the bottom (or a mixture of both) to give good circulation and water flow (i will be using a reef rack too) i wanted holes just under the surface of the water (or as far to the top as practical) or considerably lower down and completely hidden from view (behind rocks) Much like this guys design:

best i get a 40 metre tank then and try and beat the record