chimera

that certainly is the definition of painful! i re-read it one day to see what i went through - amazing how much i had learnt none whatsoever! brilliant idea make sure the pump is a well respected and reliable brand (eheim, iwaki) also just make sure you use pressure piping for return piping (overflow doesnt matter so much) pressure piping more expensive but worth it for the added strength. also consider adding a backup for the overflow incase one outlet gets blocked (im about to do this to mine soon) like this: always go bigger for your piping than you anticipate, you can always 'throttle' it back if needed with ball valves. lastly dont underestimate the cost of plumbing!

miss my blennie too, no idea where he went (or rather how he died) blennies have such wicked little personalities - gonna have to get me another one...

solution: put ya tank in your wall then spray til your hearts content i HATE flys so it works out well!

ummmm!!! quite a bit if it were me although i would rather have one of these... ...then i could pickup either of the above

funny how nzl petrol price is never correctly reflected when petrol in the states and other countries drops. nzl govt hoarding tax revenue off commuters. it sux - literally.

wtf is that?! cool. not your typical marine, almost looks like a rock cod

coz a skimmer is generally well aerated so disperses excess CO2. quite obvious i thought.

likewise! see you in a couple of days

:lol: im sure you would have learnt from my mistakes pity my corals arent as mint as the setup! getting there though...

HEAPS better! i got CAT5 wired up next to my tank. next year im getting an underwater IP web cam and hooking it up in the tank. watch this space!

yes, definately macro algae. i have a piece of this in my fuge which i was about to throw out when i noticed a baby brittlestar attached to it! small body (1/4 size of 5 cent piece) but long arms! cute little bugger

if you saw the setup, you would understand. i only have limited room to jigsaw the hole out (because of timber around the hole to support the tank!) yet i have extra room under the piece i jigsawed out to fit a larger sink than the size of the hole. in other words im not limited by the hole size so wasnt concerned about it! pic's later will show what i mean

pies favourite saying. uber as in awesome.

Im adding a 'sink' underneath my display tank (just under the pump for the closed loop) that drains back down to my sump. At the bottom of the pipe that drains into the sump will be a horizontal piece of egg crate which i can lie a piece of filter wool on. The idea being i can vacuum out the bottom of the display tank with one of those gravel cleaners and empty the water directly into the sink below the display tank (as opposed to buckets!) This is separate to doing a water change as the water obviously stays in the system. The sink underneath also acts as a 'spill container' should i need to disconnect the closed loop (as there is always water left in the pipes and carpets going in early next year ) i jigsawed out the stand to fit the 'sink' and made up the plumbing for it on the weekend. i just need to find a plastic sink to fit the hole and then seal it in there. of course it helps having the sump room downstairs but the idea i was thinking for you was similar except just have a piece of pvc pipe rigged up (ie: less the sink) picture it much like your overflow pipe but open at the top just below the bottom of the tank so you can put the end of the hose into it when cleaning the main tank. water goes down into the sump where the piece of filter wool sits. voila, no mess, no spills keep your water changes separate (or put a two-way valve on the pvc pipe so half the water goes outside or down the drain!!!) you could even have the piece of pvc pipe removable and slot it in whenever you need it. if you're confused i'll put pic's on my thread when it's done

nah it's an RC thing i think they dont like linking to their site coz its so busy all the time

pis and brains, man whats going on jimmy??? :lol:

:lol: he wouldnt remember if he didnt

mega evaporation though with a big arse fan over the tank. i so badly need to get my chiller plumbed up... :evil: it seems to me that the second pic is the original and they 'darkened' it to show the first. much easily done! wasp - if ya cant see the first try clicking here sometimes goes to the RC logo :roll:

what abour UBER? (or "got any tips?!!!")

looks like donald trumps toupee'

I guess it depends on what photo's you're comparing them against... CRACKERS ACRO TORTUOSA HOEKSEMAI

well thats a pretty good reason would have to agree - she's looking mint cracker. dont worry about cyano, wait for your new rock to cycle and tank settle down and its gonna kick arse. at least you're getting nice acro colours! or have you become a photoshop master like the rest of them :lol:

hmmm not so sure. there's not too much difference between a hoeksemai and tortuosa. no reason why it couldnt be a tort.

as they say only bad things happen fast in a reef tank

i got rtn on one of my acro's right now but alk is ok on about 8.5. its the one acro that had a stream on 100% pointing directly at it for about 3 months, now all of a sudden its decided it doesnt like it and started to RTN up one side. incidentally that same side thats RTN got some brown algae/diatom growth on it hard core so maybe it smothered the zoox?