chimera

thanks pies. ive been trying to design a 'sea swirl' / 'tunze stream' myself. have a few ideas just need to put them to practice! simple physics with a bitta luck - if it works, i'll let you know the design. any tips on where to buy these options for eheim etc? if they're cheap enough it might be easier and more reliable in the long run. i am also designing a chiller based using a heat exchanger, car radiator, fan and small pump. fingers crossed that works too. hardest part about that is the heat exchanger, it will be the only part imersed in the sump so needs to be non-toxic and non-corrosive - possibly a glass one might do the trick. would aluminium be ok? lastly, pinpoint ph montiors - i read alot about them and everyone says they rock. your thoughts?

wassup dude, ask as many q's as you want, everyones more than happy to help!

10 - 12 hours definately. a couple at night wont do your plants any good at all - not to mention the fish. fish need light too as it gets them in a "routine" - make sure lights come on at the same time in the morning and off at the same time at night. you can get a cheap digital timer ($30) from mitre 10 or most hardware places. browny/yellow leaves can also be a lack of pottasium in your water makeup. a 200 litre tank - in general a single fluoro will not be enough - more specifically, whats the depth? sounds like its more likely that you'll need a double. in regards to bulbs, I agree with everyone else for a freshwater, gro-lux are excellent. they will eventually lose their intensity so change them yearly.

sun light from that window wont be a problem will it?... let me guess your response "i own curtains"

so should we be calling you handymansteve instead? t24 is overkill for my tank, it's only 320 litres. and for that price, i think i'll opt for a home-made job!!! im sure it cant be that hard working out how the tunze works...

how much are they - i mean, i see overseas prices on the web site but is it an exact conversion plus a bit or is it cheaper than that? i have some friends overseas i was considering getting them to buy on my behalf and ship it over for me. depends on cost though. also trying to work out how i could design something similar using an eheim pump, some tubing and some sort of outlet...

hmmm, if only these prices were in nzl dollars http://www.tunze.com/gb/en-gb/dept_348.html

nice pic's, how much water flow should px's get? none / little / moderate / heavy / blow the tits off it?

you aint wrong, the guys a perfectionist! might take some time to study his tank filtration and see what I can design myself! :lol:

thanks for the info, might look at getting that book did you check out those links above? amazing setups. will give steve a call early next week. thanks again!

salt just keeps fish happy and healthy. a handful every water change in your tank should be sufficient do your first water change in another 2 weeks, or perhaps 10% now wouldnt hurt? andy - i said it has one of the worst, not the worst.only going on what i've read... "The health effects of air pollutants are a major concern in the Auckland Region because of the prevalence of respiratory and heart disease in our population. The Auckland Region has one of the highest asthma rates in the world. Between 12 and 23% of adults in the Region are asthmatic, and asthma is the fourth highest cause of hospitalisation in the region. Overall, New Zealand has the fifth highest rate of chronic obstructive respiratory disease (CORD) in the world, and as a group, Maori have the highest rate of CORD in the world. The highest cause of death in the region is coronary heart disease. Any increase in the rate of hospitalisation or the use of medications due to air pollution is a huge cost to society." http://www.arc.govt.nz/arc/environment/air/air-pollution/ "In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch air pollution levels regularly exceed levels deemed safe by the World Health Organisation. The Auckland Regional Council states Auckland's carbon monoxide pollution is higher than London's and that living in Auckland cuts around one year off the average life expectancy." http://www.greens.org.nz/searchdocs/PR3335.html Good to see we are keeping that clean green image. We dont even have emissions standards in our cars, I think we're the only country in the OECD that dont!!!

good old kiwi tap water

Cheers for the reply, appreciate it. Just to add to my terminology, what are "SPS" corals? Also, where do you buy Tunze streams and what are they worth? I think I gotta contact my mates in the US and UK and get me some cheap gear. Its so expensive here!!! Hmm, I wonder who's coming home shortly The eheim I have sits in the sump and pumps a little over 2,000 litres per hour so is doing about 7 times the tanks volume per hour. Still that is only for filtering and still only its 'rated' capacity. Whether its actually working at that rate or not I dont know. I do need better water flow coz you can pretty much see it - the powerheads seem to get clogged fairly quick and dont perform optimally - after a few days I can see detritus on the sand at the bottom of the tank (or rather minor algae) Will additional water flow cure this issue? The closed loop - sounds like I have that already (or rather similar anyway) I want to plumb up circulation pumps to keep detritus suspended (or hopefully float it) to run into the builtin overflow then down to the sump. Is drilling holes possible in the side of your tank?!!! I guess this goes hand in hand with the crate idea, keeping some good flow at the bottom of the tank. I assume with the water circulation, it just passes air from an external pump through hoses into the tank to circulate the water rather than syphoning water out then back in again? Sent steve a PM to see what he can do, cheers! and speaking of in-wall tanks... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=236668 http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239501

Hey Pies, A few questions for you (Im a beginner at this) I have a 4 foot reef tank with about 50kg of live rock (and want to add another 50kg of live rock)and about 8 fish and 3 shrimps. It only has a handful of corals so far but want to make it a fully fledged reef tank in time. Its built into my wall in my lounge (sacrifice a bedroom for the tank/walkinwardrobe and ensuite The tank has an external sump with deltec protein skimmer and eheim 1060 return pump. Ive started drip feeding kalkwasser as per Nicks recommendation for the last couple of weeks (and have noticed an improvement in the corals). I want to add a calcium reactor at some stage in the near future (am keeping an eye out for a 2nd hand one) and am also going to move the sump under the house soon to provide more room and reduce noise. I noticed you mention doing the egg-crate thing for better circulation. How important do you think this is? (as opposed to rock sitting on the bottom of the tank) Also, what are "closed loops?". I dont think I have enough circulation in my tank at the moment (only has 2 x eheim powerheads at either end of the tank) so want to get a wave maker to give some better water flow. I will probably also plumb up a couple of external eheims to give additional water circulation. Got any hints/tips on anything else to reduce dead spots? (as I notice my sand gets 'brown' patches - looks like algae - only in the middle where i think water movement is at its worst) Cheers.

ira - rain water can be worse than tap water - depending on where you live of course :-? auckland has supposedly one of the worst pollution levels in the world... wellies area having all those high winds is likely to carry away any pollutants same with me, all i add is 1/2 a cap of "cycle" to every 10-20 litres or so. that is why i opt for 20-25% water changes fortnightly and not anything larger. personally, i think its more detrimental adding dechlorinators and the likes to water than nothing at all (not to mention a high cost) all they tend to do is delay the inevitable.

if you say "brown" as in yellow/brownish, its most likely due to a potassium deficiency in your water.

- What!!! have you ever tried dropping one of your fish into a bucket of tap water? did it live? if it did, did it swim around happily? no, i dont think so. as a general rule, stick to 50% in emergencies only (not saying you should change if this is what you usually do - just for anyone else beginning, keep it moderate and keep it regular - oh my god,... that sounds like a tampax ad) Aaron: 10 plants in a 60 litre tank if they are a good size, I would consider reasonably heavily planted (a 2 foot tank Im guessing?). And yes, plants take up nitrates which are produced as waste by fish. Plants use nitrates in smaller quantities than they are produced by fish though and hence the importance of regular water changes. More importantly though to maintain healthy plants, ensure good levels of CO2 and potassium.

regarding personal experience - too true, hence my comment "only you will know by experience". i still tend to disagree with your "20% minimum weekly". if that is what you are used to, then continue. i started out with 20% every week then changed to 20% every 2 weeks after a couple of years and noticed no difference. fish are still happy, everything still stable etc. 50% i believe is too much. you shouldn't upset the chemistry of your water that much in one hit as it can stress the fish out (it would be hard to tell) unless you 1. have a massive tank or 2. are running into "water balance" problems.

yes, an assumption you would have to make, although im not one to make potential sacrifices to living animals

The % water change is usually dictated by how well your filtration (mechanical, chemical and biological) is setup. if you have poor filtration (say undergravel filter only) then 20% a week would be typical. if you had good filtration (undergravel filter, external canister filter etc) then 20% every 2 weeks might be fine. only you will know what is best by experience. on the contrary though, dont think that the best filtration will mean no water changes! even the best filtration devices cant remove all impurities from the water. a sump is generally a tank (external to your main tank) that holds all filtration equipment and performs mechanical and biological filtration on behalf of the main tank. usually for larger setups and usually for marine. the general rule of thumb for freshwater fish is 1cm per 30 - 36 square cm's (1 inch per 12-14 square inches) of water surface area. the general rule of thumb for saltwater is 1cm per 8 litres (1 inch per 4 gallons) of water volume.

thats a bit quick to introduce fish into the tank after 5 days?! wouldnt have fully cycled by then, but anyways... you would definately find its your tapwater thats causing the pH to be slightly higher (as most tap water is slightly alkaline) try adding a piece of driftwood to your tank to help pull the pH down a bit otherwise take out your stones and measure it again in a weeks time, i gaurantee it will drop. you can mix and match driftwood and rocks over time until you find a pretty good match for pH. oh, and up to 7.5 is generally ok (meaning most fish wil tolerate it) for most freshwater fish (subject to what stores will tell you coz they want to sell you heaps of water conditioners etc)

cheers!

howdy all am new to the forum and keen to learn a trick or two and get some good contacts. howdy 'nicks', thought i'd find you here, good to see your name is easy to spot quick bizzo: been looking after freshies for about 6 years, got bored so moved to marine. got myself a 2nd hand 320 litre reef tank that i would call "half established" (rock and coral that is) have about 11 fish so full stocked. want to build it up to a full reef system over the next couple of years. im keen on buying some bits and pieces 2nd hand if anyone has parts up for sale? otherwise, let me know where I should be looking on this forum if there is a "for sale" section!!! cheers.