chimera

pretty close. nitrifying bacteria (converts waste to nitrates) exist in the rock and sand and require oxygen (aerobic) to survive. putting rock directly on sand essentially means smothering them, hence one reason for using a reef rack.

jetskisteve, some of us are taller than others with longer arms - there are definately advantages to being just under 6' 3" pies, even though arms dont end up in the tank often, there are times that pruning is required where long nose pliers dont reach or just wont cut it (excuse the pun) i think 750 will be my maximum, may still stick to 700. it may look disproportionate being any deeper, if I take into consideration the size of the hole in the wall.

how does that compare to glass?

in the unlikely event of a major leak, water passes through the hole in the floor... running past a wool filter before re-entering the sump... the wool filter used primarily to remove any dust accumulated on the way down

i dont think you're using joes juice correctly. most imporant, turn your pumps off. inject into the centre of its mouth. go overboard on it soaking the little buggers

not so sure on the depth at 1m, 750 perhaps. i'll need to design it in, as strange as it sounds, cardboard cutouts first to at least get a feel for the dimensions. other than that, it means more intense lighting, for example for keeping anything that sits on the substrate like various clams etc. if i had it my way (or rather had the money), i'd be doing that kuwait tank on laytons thread

exactly what im figuring too. otherwise if i were to pay for it in one hit, i'd have a heart attack from shock

they must have just read the size of layton's tank upgrade :lol:

yeah maybe more, 750 perhaps...

you all noticed increased algae growth with the higher temperature? i have, hence why chiller is becoming more a priority. just need to find time to go to mico's or chesters outside of house rennovations and plumb the bastard up... :-?

so you set aside a $30k budget for this then?!!!

exactly what im doing to stealth my streams. hole in wall will remain the same 1.5 but tank will be 1.8, giving 6" each side to stealth them

...running past a wool filter before re-entering the sump

I dont know about you, but i'll be building/assembling mine entirely in the garage first. that sort of includes plumbing because I want to use as many parts from the existing tank as possible (which i cant take apart quite yet!) im in no major hurry to get it installed either as i have limited budget, but also dont mind taking my time because (other than wanting to do it right) i still want to let my existing tank further develop. there will be plenty of additional features (both tank and environment related) for the new setup. the first stage is strengthening and waterproofing (sealing) the floor. the walls in the room are to be marine ply (costly stuff) and the sealent will go an inch or so up the walls. the centre of the floor will have a drain back to the sump incase of any major leak (even though this has not happened yet, EVERYTHING will be covered this time! dont want to take any chances with the amount of money i've spent rennovating the house!) as mentioned in my other thread, the room will also be temperature controlled kicking in 'exhaust' fans should the ambient temperature rise too high. as mentioned, i've taken some ideas from steve weasts tank. for example, there will be gaps between rockwork and side of the tank for easier cleaning, the lights will purposely be kept away from the sides (and more so) from the back to darken those areas giving a sense that the tank continues further than it's physical size limitation, there will be a piece of (removeable) black perspex that slides down the back of the tank about 30mm off the glass (although there will be further design in this to incorporate/stealth the closed loop). Additionally, I will be designing the closed loop and rockwork together so that the rockwork hides the outlets. The closed loop system under the reef racks will be better than you have ever seen - top secret design for now, to be honest i should go buy shares in mico's... All in all, it will be a mind-blowing improvement from the current tank. The next few months will be tank design. The biggest area of concentration will be around testing the dynamics of water flow, optimising/matching pipe size and pumps, designing the lighting hood, and aquascaping.

Well keeping in line with the other posts thus far, I might as well start a new thread for the tank upgrade. As Layton is doing, Im looking at front-back depth moreso than any other upgrade aspect to give it more realism as opposed to 'just another tank'. The current tank is 1500x600x600 (540 litres) and the new tank Im looking at is 1800x1000x650 (1,170 litres) so a little over double in size. The tank will still be an in-wall tank. Aquascaping will be done with more of a '3d effect' - in other words some rocks in the foreground will hide those in the background so viewing from different angles will give different views. This should add to the sense of realism. I have all the equipment now to run a larger tank without any upgrades - except for the obvious - lighting and potentially a couple more pumps for water movement. I am looking at low-iron for the front piece to give better clarity. I also have a few other ideas up my sleeve and a few 'borrowed' from Steve Weasts tank. Any ideas welcome.

thats a moose of a tank. i like the fact you are going 1600 for front/back size - im going about 1metre but only because im limited on space i think this size is something most dont have (600 for most) so the extra 400 (in my case) and 1000 (in your case) is heaps. if you have actually measured out 1600, stood back and looked at how big that is, it's HUGE. in fact, i personally would not go this size even if i did have the space because of lighting requirements and ongoing costs, let alone the extra pumps required to get water movement (again more money) with 1metre, im looking at 6 x 150W'ers supplemented with about the same number of 4ft T5's. let me know if you find a cheap source for low iron glass i want to use that at the front of mine.

yawn, another topic thats outdone itself. more pics!

so true, that shit winds me up. means they dont need to be as careful with their selection, the "buy and try" attitude - your wallet is not much lighter than before you walked into the shop. prices too low leads to people who are not passionate about the hobby but just want to 'give it a shot'. a $150 marine fish that will (or should) live 10 years to me is good value. on the flipside, the same fish at $20 and the "if it doesnt work out, oh well, buy another" attitude followed by "hang on, i have high ammonia levels no wonder my last 10 fish died" attitude and finally "but its ok i haven't spent that much" the one area on dont mind seeing high prices on too much is livestock

nice

such as all those other weird additives in artificial salt

or euphyllia for a better term

only if you use the american 'hot glue' stuff (the separate purple primer and red glue) - that stuff is AWESOME. however, after buying some and using it, i think just the usual pressure rated pvc solvent is fine. the hot glue stuff is evil and seals very well. but for our use, a little extra cost for not much advantage. just my 2 cents worth, an actual plumber might suggest otherwise!

:roll:

OMG 3 pages of discussion on how crap seio's are, can we put this to rest? it's as bad as reading about DSB vs zeovit vs ya mumma

bryopsis is more stringy and finer. looks more like caleurpa. in fact, i have a few pieces of this in my refugium. if it were me, i'd take the whole rock out. last thing you want is a break out of the stuff in your display. i have some caleurpa in my fuge of which it's 'spores' are finely ingrained into holes in the rock. its near impossible to clean a rock fully of it.