suphew

Sorry Alan, I wasn't trying to offend, just poking a bit of fun. Still dont agree through, water is water doesn't matter if it has salt in it (as far as temps go anyway), the differences is marines have far more pumps lights etc etc, therefore more unwanted heat. Moving air uses energy (i.e. removes heat), think about wind chill, the air temp is the same (cause its the same air) but because its moving it draws heat off you (evaperation/sweat). I have been in 40+ degree heat overseas and a breeze blowing at 40 degree still feels cooler. I agree towels, frozen water bottles etc all work, but do you really want to have to keep changing them all day? Buy a $10 fan from the warehouse, problem solved.

Welcome to the club! Why are you adding the Fluval? They are only useful for putting carbon etc in, you dont want biological filtration (should also remove and sponges if your powerheads have them) cause this produces nitrates (bad bad bad). Yes it's hard to get you head around after going from fresh water! Your filtation should basically just be live rock (removes nitrates) and skimmer (removes proteins (fish pooh etc)) before they turn to nitrites. I have been running with out a sump for 8 odd months, you don't 'need' one but it sure makes life harder without it. Put in new setup yesterday, have put in a sump, already glad I did.

A) Yes most people have problems with temp (unless you live in Dunedin, lol) B) 26-27 degrees isn't a problem, my discus tank has been running at 29-30 degrees for years with no problems for tetra, bristlenose (breeding), etc. C) Trying to change the temp will cause you far more problems, and prob kill you fish. D) Your heater, is a 'heater' turning it down WILL NOT cool down your tank E) Alan suggest you let all the marine guys know they can turn off their fans, pretty much all of us use them to keep our tanks cool. But seriouesly the reason they work is because they "just blow air round" this removes the heat from your lights etc plus causes evaperation which 'draws' energy (i.e. heat) out of the water.

Don't forget your water level will drop 1-2cm over a week due to evaperation (unless you have a tight fitting lid) so if you start with much more than 2-3cm from the top by the end of the week you could have a huge gap!

Turning down the temperature on your heater will not lower the the water temp, i.e. it is a 'heater' not a cooler. If the water temp goes below what it is set to it will turn on and warm it up, if the room etc is heating the tank above what the heater is set to turning the heater down wont help. In fact you are making it worse for the fish and plants because at night the temp will be dropping alot lower making a bigger over all change in temp, you are better having a higher constant temp. Most fish will happily live with temps up to 27-28 degrees for a few months, and short term (for a hot day or two) will handle 30 degrees with no problems. It is the fast changes in temp that kills them. For you bottom cleaner I recomend a couple of bristlenose plecs. They eat every thing (algae and left over food) don't get too big, don't eat plants, cheap, easy to breed. You dont need CO2, plants need, light, nutirants, and CO2 to grow, but all in balance or you will get algae problems. I assume you have added nothing to the gravel for the plants so your nutirants aren't high, plus you have low light, so extra CO2 will just cause you problems. If you find your plants aren't growing fast enough I would add another light before even looking at anything else.

As long as your not planning to run a hot tank (28 degrees+ i.e discus tank) the water surface on top of the tank alone is normally enough.

Pumice itself is okay, there are people that use it in their filters because of the high suface area, the problem with using large pieces is that when it forms it collects other rocks etc that might not be safe. There are a couple of simple tests people do to test rocks, the first is to put vinager on it to see if it bubbles (which isn't much use to you), the second is to test some water (for PH, Kh, etc) then put the rock in for a couple of weeks and then test the water again.

Hi ya, Alway good to see someone else starting a tank for the first time. A cold water tank is a really good place to start (although fresh water tropical isn't difficult but will just cost you a little more). But watch out it is very addictive! To setup a goldfish tank, and there are also a few other cold water fish you can keep like white cloud mountain minnows, all you really need is the tank and some water! But to be fair to the fish you should at least put in some oxygen weed (which the goldfish will also eat so needs to replaced) and a little filter to clean the water. Plus some gravel makes the whole tank look nicer. There are many types of filter which start off really cheap ($20 or even less) basically the filter converts fish pooh to plant food! The cheapest are air driven, but I would recomend a ' in tank filter' which is the next cheapest because the air driven ones tend to make alot of noise and will drive you nuts. When you set the tank up make sure you put it onto a sheet of polystyrene (or similar), if you dont you will risk cracking the glass when you put the water in. Put in your gravel (but wash it in a bucket first or the water will go very cloudy) then just fill it up with tap water. Add the pump and plants etc. It's likely that the water will go cloudy for a while even through you cleaned the gravel, dont worry it will go clear. You MUST then leave the tank for a couple of weeks, this is to allow the water to get rid of the chlorine and for your filter to start working, then you can add 1 fish, wait a few weeks then you can add more, you need to let the tank start working (complete cycling) before you put in too many fish. Once the tank is going you need to change some water every week or two, for that size tank just a bucket of water will be heaps, again tap water is fine as long as it doesn't have too much chlorine in it (you will be able to smell it if it does), if it does smell just leave it to sit in the bucket over night. Once every month or two you will also need to rinse you filter out, do this in the tank water you have just taken out of the tank so you don't kill all the bactria in it that keeps you water clean. If all this sounds complicated, just ask if someone locally will help you out, fish people are mostly really friendly and some one would proberly go to your place and set it all up for you. Maybe even give you some plants and other stuff. Good luck

Remember if you do try using a clamp meter it needs to be put around only one wire (putting it round both the - and + cancel each other out giving a 0 reading), which makes it a pain to measure single power outlets, they are really only good for measuring whole circuits off the main board.

Haha bet me to it by 30 seconds!

Here's a link to a good paper a found on reefcentral which explains a lot. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.htm Interesting bit in regards to your question "This purification is also seen in practice by many aquarists who have noticed the solids on the bottom of their limewater containers discolor, often to a bluish/green color suggesting copper. For these reasons, I recommend that lime solids not be dosed to aquaria when it is possible to avoid it. Letting the limewater settle for a few hours to overnight will permit most of the large particles to settle out, and whether it looks clear at that point or not, it is likely fine to use. In general, it is a good practice to leave residual solids on the bottom of limewater reservoirs rather than cleaning them out every time, as they may actually help purify the water by these precipitation mechanisms. Once the solids discolor, or have been collecting for 6-12 months, however, they should be discarded."

Are you sure the blue/green colour in your bath isn't copper, what's your tank made out of? Seems strange to me that a bath would change colour that fast from algae/mould? I assume your bath isn't sitting full the whole time, if it is install a good cannister filter and add some plants, that will clear up the algae in no time!

Hair algae is an algae not a bacteria like blue/green algae, I could be wrong but the only why I can see this working is by killing off all the good bacteria that was converting your nitrite to nitrate (i.e. algae food). A pond might survive this cause pond fish are hardy and the water volume is high, but in a fish tank surely you would start off the whole new tank cycle again and proberly kill every thing in the tank in the process? Listen to Warren, work on getting the Phosphate down.

Agreed, I only ever ran mine at a bubble or two a second, didn't know what this is in LPM but would think it would be more like litres per hour!!! This is the problem with using welding regulators it's really hard to get the flow low enough and stable. I used one for a while, I had to put a bigger needle valve then a smaller needle valve, both of which had to almost be turned completely off. What I found was a chnage in temp was enough to change the flow rate, plus there were a couple of times when I moved the valve with out knowing and dumped the whole bottle of CO2 in a night.

It was the stream the runs along side the road out to Makara, but right at the start of where it was just a trickle. Not sure if the farm land is still there since it was a few years (20 odd) and the houses have expanded a bit since then.

Thanks LB, so in the context of this post there is a worm (tubifix) that is commonly used and is high in fat so shouldn't be over feed to fish. The point being YES you can over feed fish.

FYI was driving along the hutt river last night and there is lots of driftwood there at the moment esp at the bottom end round melling area

Many years ago I saw what looked like guppies in a stream out the back of Johnsonville in Wellington. We were looking for eels but the guy I was with was a fish keeper (I wasn't at the time), he caught some and put them in his tank.

I understood from reading other forums that it is possible to over feed causing heart problems etc and shortening the life of the fish. Usually the posts are advise to not over feed fatty foods like some worms.

I was planning on putting a bigger rock on the bottom to make it more stable or join it at the top to the main rock formation. Thanks for the advise so far. The holes are going to need to be quite long, before I invest in a drill bit has anyone tried drilling, do I need a masonary drill bit or is coral rock soft enough to drill with a long wood bit say?

Will be using live rock so will be wet but planning on doing it out of the water. Did think about cable ties but want to do a tall stack with single rocks on top of each other and was thinking it would be hard to get it solid enough, i.e. not wobbly. Was also worried about murphies law and silcon, i.e. bottom joint letting go and the whole lot falling

Thinking about putting a tall thin stack or arch of live rock in my new setup, was wondering about drilling a hole through the rock and using a plastic hose or rod to support it. Is this a stupid idea? Has anyone tried drilling live rock, can it be done with a normal style drill bit or would I need a masonary (sp) bit? Also open to other suggestions, I want to give the tank a bit more dimension so I dont end up with a flat wall of rock.

I collect driftwood from rivers rather than off beaches so I don't have to worry about salt leaching. I also have a pond out back (with a couple of goldfish and WCMM's to keep the mossies in control) that I chuck the driftwood into as I find it, then when I set a tank up I have a selection of driftwood ready to go. Another trick I have used is to glue a piece of glass to bottom of the driftwood and then put gravel over his to hold the wood down, but this only works with smaller pieces and does come loose after a while.

The reason details sometimes seem to a bit lacking is because there is so much to explain, to much for a short posting like this. some times it is better to tell someone something (like add a sump) then let them research the details then ask questions for details they dont understand, all the info is out there online just needs to be looked up. Regarding the comment above, bio balls are bad in marine, they convert nitrite to nitrate which is bad for corals, live rock on the other hand removes nitrate which is why ppl keep saying "add more rock". I have slowly removed all the foam etc filters from my tank and now have 0 nitrate. I used to run a canister filter and foam on all my pumps and had high nitrate

Ditto, mines 100L, upgrade already on the way.