chimera

Mmmm, because we all use streams as our return pumps

yeah, most likely as the manufacturers or importers dont want to deal with the public, its too much hassle for them. resellers are easier for them.

yeah i do half the job - blast but not syphon thats why i want to go BB just for a little while to see how much crap i accumulate! probably about time i did a big syphon too.

they are more expensive to buy through plastic systems than through mico - even though plastic systems supply mico already been there done that, ask for trade price through mico. if you are going to mico in tawa drive (just down from plastic systems) ask for duncan, he'll sort ya out! be aware that even though plastic systems have almost every type of plumbing part imagineable (its a BIG warehose full of goodies) they didnt have plumbing with yank threads so if you are getting anything from usa with usa threads on it, make sure you get your extra plumbing parts from there too!!!

yeah that makes sense - i can almost visibly see this happening in my tank. sandbed gets fill of detritus, flow stirs this up landing on and leeching to/from the rocks, feeds the hair algae. i went through a stage of not having to clean my sandbed (other than stirring it up every now and then), it was very clean, white and held no detritus at all (my sandbed 'grain' is large so this was easy to see whether it was clean or not) at the same time my rocks were extremely clean, i had heaps of coralline algae and no hair algae at all. even when i had hair algae, it was only in one place and i had it fully under control in a couple of weeks with rowaphos. now, my sandbed is dirty (not majorly, but visible) and contains detritus (noticeable as its like small grains of fine, dirty coloured sand) the same detritus is covering some of the rocks especially those in the centre. interestingly the left side and right sides of the tank are near immaculate, the rocks are covered with coralline, there is no "haze" (or very little) detritus and very minimal to no hair algae on the rocks. the centre however has a film of detritus on the rocks and the worst hair algae too. other than phosphate causing this, the only other differences are 14k bulbs over the left and right sides (where algae is at a minimum) the 10k bulb in the middle is where hair algae is at its worst. additionally, the closed loops and streams provide most flow to the left and right sides, with less flow at the centre/bottom. im sure these are also contributing factors as i would expect to see the same amount of hair algae over all rocks. i am considering removing the sand and going BB for a little while to see if and how this makes a difference.

so BB meaning no 'fine particles of crap' from the sand bed blowing onto and suffocating your rocks? And BB meaning easy to vacuum up detritus?

yawn, are we going down this track again? http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?p=43445

why not pulse it? corals love the tidal effect

im only a few minutes away from wenderholm. need 100 litres changed tomorrow and 200 litres stored

Wasp, can you PM me your phone number or at least when you'd be home? I wouldnt mind getting my water tested too. It would be interesting to know what my phosphates are rather than just "undetectable".

high tide 9am this saturday, cracker you getting some water???!!!

now there is a contradiction in terms :lol:

Yeah, also running Zeovit and started to get hair algae after about a month. Dosed less than the recommended dosing too. I had hair algae in the past but had it fully under control with Rowaphos. I also feed moderately heavily to keep the tang and angel fat. Also rinse the frozen. Im starting to get good colours from the zeovit (as opposed to without) however the hair algae is a real pain. Not major, just a dusting at worst 1/6th inch thick on some of the rocks. Running rowaphos again in conjunction with zeovit is certainly helping though.

"Anemone's". Depends on the type but in general yes hard to keep. Light is important, flow again depends on the type. Some like low flow some like high flow. Probably BTA easiest to keep for beginner.

only 6? pft!!! try 8

hahahahaaa, you forgot the "talking on the cellphone doing 80 in the fast lane" part too i wouldnt part with my cruiser unless there was something way cool to replace it with. its got everything - and all the room. handles better than many cars i've driven and is quicker too. even a fridge/freezer built into the centre console gotta keep the beers cold somehow! :lol: btw i've still got a nissan maxima smx for sale if anyones interested!!!

:lol: i gotta vx landcruiser so i have no problems with space!

wOtching with interest...

needs to be lightweight, 4 foot long. need 4 of them. yeah, not cheap @ lfs, all they are are folded and polished pieces of aluminium, branded with "im a fish product so im expensive"

2 foot, 100 litres would be fine. can go less (eg: nano size) but IMO i wouldnt recommend it for a beginner.

regarding http://www.delighting.com yes this is exactly what i need: now why the hell do they have to be sitting in a warehouse in singapore???!!!

put me down for about 3 or 4. i already have 5 but that only does 100 litres. always keen for more as they are bloody handy.

you could happily put clowns in a small tank, not too small as most fish like their space. provide an anemone for them and they will be even more content as for the tang, yes most are compatible but most do grow too large for a small tank. my blue tang was orginally in a 4 foot tank and wasnt overly happy, he's much more content in the 5 footer.

yeah something like that might just do - and yes, the shiney ones - a reflective surface provides an amazing amount of extra light

heheee, user error?