dan_from_nz

the most important thing about feeding is variety I know my fish are paticually happy when I give them a different food to what they have been having, so now I always have three of four foods and feed them different each day I also only buy the primium foods now as I was told less crap goes into them less crap goes into your tank. I also only feed live foods on occasion as I have read that there are extra added vitamins in the fish foods (but that was written by the fish food manafacturers so I can't say it isn't just a little biassed)

Well I have decided to upsize now, I decided to build a higher rack and have three tanks The top two tanks are going to be bow fronts (one still waiting to be repaired) and the bottom one is going to be a 4 foot tank. I plan on having the top tank (not pictured above) as a reef tank with only a few fish in it. I have no idea what I am going to put in it at the moment but after reading an article in 'marine world' about anemones saying you shouldn't add one for 9 months after setting up a tank I have come to the conclusion that things are going to move ALOT slower than expected. for circulation I am going to get a price for the tunez wave maker(but I antisipate this being way to deer) and will probably look at the price of the tunez recirculation pump also. The middle tank will be a fowlr system and maybe some corals that don't require intense lighting (on this tank I only plan on having 4 to 6 n.o. 4 foot fluros) this will have a few fish but will still be stocked relatively lightley. The bottom tank will be a refuge / macro algea system and am really unsure about what I am doing there. this wil be on opposite lighting to the other tanks (I think this is normally what peple do to buffer ph isn't it?) and will probably have a low powered light (150w mh I am thinking) I will now be running 2 skimmers (as I have already brought one and then found out it was not good enough) running off the back of my reef tank and into the fowlr tank will be my berlin hang on skimmer and then in my refuge will be a deltec (probably an ap600 depending on price) The next steps are to silicon baffels into the refuge (will look on reef central to see how most people do this) and drill the holes in the tanks while the frame is away getting powdercoated. I want to buy a diamond tip hole saw drill bit but can't seem to find any at hardware stores, does anyone know where to buy these. I dont want to use a die grinder or dremel as I think with a few other tanks I am setting up I have enough to justify the expence of buying the correct bit

I started with 1 20l tank I had 5 neons, 2 glowlights. I then brought 2 silver sharks 1 bristlenose. I didn't have any loses but as the silver sharks grew over the space of the last 21 months I have gone through the 2 foot a three foot a small 4 foot and now a larger 4 foot (I added more fish along the way also). My sugestion would be to put whatever fish in it that catches your eye (as long as you can afford a second and third and fourth etc tanks along the way) as the hobby is adictive and its going to consume all your money any way so why put it off Good luck Daniel

I started off wanting to start a nano, then decided on a 4foot bow front with no sump and now I have decided on a 4foot bow front with a 4 foot bowfront sump and a 4foot standard refuge. After reading alot I decided it didn't cost that much more relative to how much extra space you have and in the long run if you'r going to get fewer problems it will save you money. Plus if it is anything like fresh water I brought so many tanks so fast that I ended up wish I just brought myself the big tank with a good filter etc to start with Good luck Daniel

awsome tank I wish some day I will have a tank looking as nice

I just read an article on rotifers, the majority of rotier species are fresh water, the best species for tropical marine larvae is from brckish water so maybe you could just collect some nsw from a river inlet and drip a micro algea culture into it and hope you get a culture going

I have to say I agree with pies, I have read lots of articles from people that rather than medicate their tank split 1 days feeding into 10 small piles and feed that over the space of two hours or so this is less stressfull for the fish and helps their immune system aparently. But that is only peoples opinions I don't think there is any science to back it up

I have read trickle filters are bad in saltwater because they work so efficiently (lots of air for the bacteria to multiply on) that they brakedown wastes into high nitrate levels some people gut the trickle filter and just keep it for flow.

most filters run an impeller off an electro magnet so I doubt it will do any harm

nice pics shae

Yeah I will probably regret not getting a deltec I didn't even get a price I just assumed they would be way to deer as I am trying to do this on a budget, Reef if you read this could you pm the rough ball park figure of a hang on deltec (for a 600L tank) I know the bacteria and all will generate itself but what about coraline algea and the other stuff that is normally on live rock? I think I will now have sand in the reef tank and bare bottom in the fish tank (no doubt I will probably change all of this when I read your replys and advice) Thanks for everyones help so far

I have ordered another 50 kg bringing the total to 75 kg this is still on the low side isnt it?

I have decided that 300l with 400w of lighting (plus fluros) may cause to much heat fluctuation so I have decided to have a sump (well sort of) because I have an open steel frame as a stand and a stair case through the wall I dont really have room for a sump. What I have decided to do is with the 2nd bow front tank that is sitting on the stand below rather than add large gold fish I have decided to make this the fish tank and the top tank the reef tank with only a few fish in so effectively I will have 2 300 liter display tanks rather than just the one. The fish tank will just be lit with no fluros (4 x 4ft) Does anyone have any advice on doing this or any information? also for the fish tank can I add some macro algea so the tank still looks natural and to absorb nutrients?

The only way that I have heared off to treat saltwater ich (whitespot) is with copper. This is really bad if you ever intend to have invertibrates in the tank as they can't tollerate it at all and it is hard to remove all traces off the copper. I have also heard that the copper only masks the problem anyway. the best thing to do imo would be a freshwater dip for between 1 and 3 minuts this will kill the white spot but you have to make sure the temp and ph is exactly the same. you really want to get him out of your main tank also, white spot is a parasitic infection that has a cycle the white spots drop of the fish and are the cysts (i think) this is when they multiply and attack the other fish good luck Daniel

wow wish I could say the same about having my heater set 2 deg too high over night . My pantadon butterfly (after survinving his move to napier) didn't do to well in 29-30 deg water

if you can get your hands on the oct nov issue of marine world mgazine it has an explination of a sump and how it works etc or try this link I don't remember how usefull it is though http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html Good luck Daniel

Also can I start cycling the tank without the lights? or do I need them first?

Good old freight companys (I wont mention which one) Broke the top of my new 4 foot bow front. Normally this would upset I hate filling out their claim forms but it now offers me the opportunaty to start my marine tank image is here edited link: cees I thought I would start this thread so I can post updates and ask questions as I go (and there will be alot of them) image is here edited link: cees My plans are to cut the whole top off and re-silicone two 100mm wide braces so there will be three equally spaced (distance in between) oppenings (this means there will be more pressure on the centre gap is this ok?) The tank dimensions are as follows 1220mm (wide) x 350mm (out) x 510mm (high) (this is the main box section) the curve then comes out 550mm (so another 200mm) I guess the volume is about 300L all up. I have brought 1 x 25kg sack of coral rock Is this enough or do you think i will need more? The rock looks quite dirty with black stuff through it should I waterblast the rock down or boil it in water before I put it into a tank? I guess I also need some rock too seed this rock is anyone between hamilton and wellington interested in selling me some of their rock (or swapping or letting me put my rock in their tank whatever is best) I have on order 1x 700mm arcadia slimline digital 400w mh light. this however doesn't arrive untill febuary or march as it is on indent. I guess 1 400w watt light would be very stressfull turning on and off but have blown most of my lighting budget on this one light. does anyone know where I can get maybe 4 2 foot pc's or t5's (two on each side of the tank running from front to back. or any other alternative ideas would be appreciated I have ordered a berlin 1000 hang on protine skimmer but this is also on indent has anyone had any experience with these or knows weather they are good or not? I am unsure exactly what I want to keep in the tank I will start with an anemone and some clowns and decide from there will probably try and get 2 or 3 different coloured mushrooms and have them at the bottom of the tank. I am also unsure weather I go bare bottom or get a base as I understand most people go for a sand bed now is there much difference in sand beds ie coral sand crushed coral rock etc will any soft corals grow on a bare bottom or substrate? and the final question for now I don't realy have room to run a sump as I am welding up a rack that has a tank below it the only other option would be to go through a wall and around the staircase what is recommended is it really worth all the trouble?

If you are not running an ugf you can get air turbing suction cups, these are quite cheep and do the trick. If you have normal suction cups lying around you could go to miter 10 and buy some wire (but would probably have to be stainless steel) and use a 1/32 inch drill bit to put a hole in the suction cup for the wire to go through. For my turtle tank I just buried the tubing and put some larger pebbles over smaller pebbles so far it has worked fine Good Luck, Daniel

Is there any difference in the time it takes for the bubbles to get to the surface (i think it is called diffusion time?) between a square skimmer and a round skimmer, you may find a round skimmer works better because of the even curve Just a possable dissadvantage, you could still diy a round skimmer. Also new plasti glues contain cloraform (spelling?) which melts the plastic slightly and gives a rough edge for the glue to set to, makes working with plastic quite easy now (once you get used to it)

eheim arn't really that deer are they?

black? wouldn't that absorb your light isn't there a lighter colour that would not absorb so much light, or is it a "that colour works there" scenario?

sory to hear

150 kgs thats impressive ijust put 125 kg of pebbles into my goldfish tank

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