peaceNchaos

OUCH!

Sweet scape!

Spent hours trying to figure out the same thing years ago when my brother asked me to help him set up his turtle tank, we were bout ready to return it before we tried the hoses the other way round lol :sml1:

recently saw a tank on trademe that was constructed wtith two front, back and bottom panes ie the front was made using two glass pieces fitted end to end, not sandwiched together. Same for the back and bottom. 6mm glass I think - it got me thinking, is it safe to build tanks this way? Useful for smaller peices of glass. Had bracing on the inside where the two panes met top to bottom, and internal brace glass pieces glued most the way round the inside bottom and the top. Thoughts? Safe or not? Googled the heck out of it but didnt find much

Best news ive had today! Assumed they were the same size as the 'dori' tangs, but 8" is sweet! Shot, ill look into it LEGENDS! :bounce:

Dont worry - dont wanna get one and have it disease my other fish coz its stressed. no Tang (sigh)

Certainly sounds like my kinda philosophy! Im just gonna binge search the words 'tang tank size' and see

Yea that sounds safer to me, and still adds up to one less power cord in the DT so im happy with that. Now Ive been offered glass enough for free to make myself a 160Lx70Wx40H Display tank, this is just under the 6 foot mark mentioned everywhere as the minimum length tank in which to keep Tangs - does the extra width of the tank mean that the half foot or so im missing of tank would be less important? Or is the whole 6 feet minimum TRULY the absolute minimum? Right now, If I build this tank myself, then by adding a 230l sump (picked up $50, was gonna be my display tank till now) and an above tank refugium of bout 100l, id have a 200gal/800l system, does this affect my ability to keep a tang despite the display tanks size? I know theyre quite difficult to keep, and would leave it as one of my last additions - just wanna know now if I should plan around one or not. Im guessing not, but keen to try, long as im not imposing a death sentence on the poor fish

Cheers, Ill be adding a couple small heaters. Just gotta figure out (im sure researching more will find the answer) wether its safe to keep both heaters in the sump (which ill be adding to my system now, bought a different tank which isnt tempered so I can drill overflows) or wether one in the sump and one in the DT is preferable

None of thats to scale btw lol

Decided to go with an overhead refugium containing a RDSB, a sponge/featherduster chamber and extra live rock chamber since Ive got an odd shaped tank spare (18cm wide and 40 tall) - ill run this tank with one small light fixture on an opposite schedule to the main tank. Havent got the dimensions sorted yet but heres my concept drawings of how the stand will work - gonna have a builder mate look it over before the build. http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=2 http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=3 http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=0 Sweet. Peace.

AAARGH :facepalm: Orrighty, thanks man, have found an imports list on here to trawl through now Much appreciated

Surely this cant be right? 50%? Thought thatd be more like full to the brim: http://aqadvisor.com/AqAdvisorMarine.ph ... ode=simple

took me so bloody long to convert my thinking into gallons when I first started internet research for FW tanks years ago and cant seem to undo it now lol

Hmmm dont wanna do a reef without shrimp, wouldnt feel right I reckon. Possibly rethink the Gramma then - at the least till the shrimp are huge and see if that works maybe

Sup all So im trying to put together a stocking list for a 110gal (calling it 100gal - water displacement from rocks etc) tank, 90x80x60cm. Tank will be semi low tech, so want to stock at around, maybe just over, the halfway safe mark. Read heaps about fish mass vs length vs aquarium size vs territories and I **think** ive found a compatible list - but wanna run it by people who know more than me first. Any issues with having these guys together? - Percola Clownfish Pair (1 3" Female + 1 2.5" male) = 5.5" - Tailspot Bleny = 2.5" - Royal Grama = 3" OR Mandarin Fish = 4" - Clown Goby = 1.5" - Watchman Goby = 3" I work this out as 15.5" of small slim fish total, or 1" per 7gal of water. Does this look right for a half/ish stocked 100gal? :dunno: Im really dead keen on a Goby/Shrimp pairing, the whole symbiosis thing rocks, but cant seem to find info on wether once the Watchman and hopefully Pistol Shrimp have paired up and claimed a sandbed cave, theyl stay there and leave the smaller Clown goby alone, or wether the two are incompatible for a tank this size together? The two goby species, I mean. I know the Mandarin fish is supposed to be quite difficult to keep requiring a very mature tank, Id plan on this as my last addition about a year after the tank is set up/cycled. Also if I have these inverts/CUC together with those fish, will I likely have any problems? :ske: 1 Pistol Shrimp (goby Combo) 2 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp 2 Brittle starfish 15 Trocheas Snails 15 Nassaurius snails 2 Scarlet Reef Hermits (hopefully some hitchhiking) Stomatellas 1 Sea Cucumber Brittle Stars and Sea Cucumber to be added last of all, assuming they dont hitch in somehow. Good mix? Varied algae/detritus/sandbed/glass cleaning mixup? Do we get these species commonly in NZ? Any feedback welcome! Peace :bounce:

LEGEND! No wonder its not doing well. those yellow nodes are what had me confused aswell, couldnt pick it from the databases I trawled through. Thanks heaps! Ill just pull it out, not nearly enough light (2.1wpg), dont want it rotting away in there

Allrighty! FIRST EVER MARINE TANK! :happy1: MISSION STATEMENT: 100 Gal / 400l Low Tech Low Stock Soft Coral Reef Ill be doing ALOT of the construction myself to minimise the setup costs. Ive researched enough to know that this will likely take me the better part of this year with the curing of the rock, tank cycling, algal and diatom blooms, plus the seeding of corraline and CUCritters (sigh) but screw it, **challenge accepted**. Im hoping to keep the setup (excluding livestock) under the $1000 mark this first year. Ill be looking at spending $50ish a fortnight to slowly get things together. Im only going to use corals that are happy under no more than 3wpg (roughly) using a combo of LEDs and T8 tubes (already own T8's so might as well). FILTRATION: Im not planning on having a sump, and thinking ill manage with - a LOT of suspended live rock - HOB with carbon only - frequent W/C and - a 2nd hand HOB skimmer when I can find one. Im hoping ill get away with this with only minor adjustment problems with a very low stocking level. By building my rockwork into twisting arching bridges, Im aiming for mega efficient waterflow, lowered detritus accumulation and easier 'floor' cleaning (as well as awesome viewing depth if I sit the lighting/shadows right). Would like a DSB in the tank itself but the cost of aragonite sand might prevent this. Custom building a suspended HOB algae trap into the hood is also a consideration. STOCKING: Corals (soft/low light only): - mushrooms - varied polyps - zoanthids - candy cane - frogspawn - some sponges Fish: - A pair of clownfish - 1 or 2 blennies - damselfish down the tracks maybe? Is this under halfstocked for a 100gal? :dunno: Happy halfstocked is my aim. Inverts: - At least one shrimp Read heaps about snails and crabs but still havent worked out what combo will work for a tank this size out of species available commonly here in NZ. Ideas/suggestions here? :dunno: Also depends how much algae the tank produces as well I guess? Would prefer to attempt a healthy balance between algae growth/eaters before going chemical on it. - MicroFauna? In the display tank? :dunno: DIY + COST SAVING: Ill build: Stand and hood - (3x6 timbers + paint free under my house, plywood $20) Rockwork - (cement, oyster shell, aragonite sand - $30ish - and months of curing) Lighting System - (DIY LED plus brackets to hold T8 lights in hood) NSW Collection - live within 20mins of both the Muriwai coastline and the Kaipara Harbour. Figure it should be easy enough to take a tinny out to the ramp, run a k or so offshore with the high tide and fill 8 or 10 50l plastic drums (enough for a 10% weekly water change for 2 months), run home fill a couple 200l barrels and repeat on the same day, so should only have to make the trip 3/4 times a year (bout the same number of times we go out fishing). Should save myself bout $1000 I figure over the year doing it this way. NO EXPENSE SPARED: - refractometer - test kits - heating - powerheads/current (aim 15x turnover) - Seeding materials (want pink, green and purple corraline in abundance and a buttload of mini critters living in the rockwork) - Food (frozen home prepared veg/meat balls of some sort plus storebought something, figure that out later lol) HARDSCAPE: Im going for a 100 gallon start size to make keeping control of the parameters easier. Tanks almost a cube - 90x80x60cm - havent decided to set it up mid wall or in a corner yet (experience anyone, whats best for viewing? :dunno: ). Wanna create a bunch of arches and bridges throughout the tank - less a pile of rocks on the ground and more a 3 deep layer of different shaped arcs, twists etc through the air - ? PVC piping. drilled holes and cable ties aplenty should pull off what I have in mind. Also plan to create fake high light corals ie thick branchy formations and fans with different textures from DIY rock mixture and attempt to multicolour them with corraline algaes. Figure its a long term solution to the mega upgrade to MH/full LED (plus power bills) required to actually grow these corals. Bummer bout no anenomes tho So! :yaw1: For now, im collecting the tank and starting my DIY rock next week. Feeling much better bout it all seeing it written up properly! If theres anything painfully obvious about this whole setup that ive missed out, please let me know so I can factor it in before I get too far into this! Tho itl be a long slow process. Sweet. Done. Peace. :bounce:

CLASSIC! What a laugh Peach nachos it is. Thanks all, good to be here and all that I just yesterday organised to buy a 100gal tank which im gonna (slowly) set up as a marine tank, with a small mushroom coral reef and some clownfish (nearer to the end of the year) - might have to see if I cant find frags of a peach coloured mushroom to get the tank started

Yea I always put Hygro's into my tanks, stuffs pretty much impossible to go wrong with ive found. the pleco started munching the hell out of the sag the day after I put it in, I dont think itll last too long, im waiting to see how fast he goes at it vs how long it takes to get established before I decide to take it out or not. And yea I know hell get WAY to big, bout two weeks after I set the tank up a mate of mine rocked up to the house with 'Lemmy' the pleco for me - was too nice a gesture to take him back to the store, I figure when hes grown another inch or two (hes bout 3" long now) then ill find him a new home one way or another - figure he should be good for a year or so?

Legends - thanks all

*bows* Hi, newbie to this site - been keeping tropicals since I was about 13 or so, but took a couple years off recently. However, November last year the bug took hold again and couldnt help myself over xmas :digH: Did well enough budget wise, was quite restrained at about the $170 dollar mark total - and I now have a 35gal (community to be) tank almost finished cycling with a bunch of plants coming along nicely (and a common pleco inhabitant unfortunately - ill deal with him when he gets to big for the tank, only 2.5" atm so no worries yet besides the fact hes in with the cycle but has been doing awesomely), plus another odd dimension (1200L 400H 260W - real thin) tank with a bunch of flourite in it, empty and as yet unplanted cos I havent whacked together a stand for it, along with a box of HOB filters, spare air pumps, tubing, valves, food, backgrounds, a couple canister filters with broken impelors, tons of fake plants and chemicals and bits and peices - I basically bought a few awesome package deals cheap as to see what I could throw together at the end of it. This is the tank ive got up and running thus far: http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=5 Never really used online fish forums before when setting tanks up, but having spent the last three or four weeks trawling through the threads here I noticed a HUGE difference in how this tank looks and is progressing compared to any of my old tanks. Found answers for every problem - from the decision to use sand and flourite as substrate for the first time, a way around spare parts for an old canister filter (rigged a pump up to the canisters intake hose inside the tank), lists of not-incredibly-high lights plants i could use, moving the tank cos the stand wasnt level (had no idea that was a big deal), water clarity, all sorts o things. So yea, thanks all I guess! Been a big help from a distance Peace!

Hey all, Finally managed to join up even with a free email account - SO for my first post I need some help trying to figure out what these plants are! Bought a few mail order packs off TradeMe over the last few weeks and havent had any luck getting a species list of what was sent to me, anyone here got any ideas? Im only curious mainly cos the stem plant has BOOMED since I put it in, and im not sure how the red plant is doing - it has grown taller, but the lower 1/3rd of its leaves have come off at the stem while the upper ones dont seem to have changed much at all. Just because its a red colour and im only running 75w of light over the 35g tank Im expecting it to die, would be nice to be told otherwise but not expecting it! http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=4 http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=3 http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=7 OH and this guy - I picked up a cheap as tank which had a 4" thick layer of flourite in the bottom - the brown/black gravelly mix - the water was drained right down to the substrate, deeper in pockets where the substrate filled the tank bottom unevenly - so this lil guy was growing emmersed (roots in water leaves in air) and I threw him in the main tank at home - is it a lil sword plant of some kind? I cant figure him out tho it seems to be doing well enough. http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=0 Hopefully those picture links work!