suphew

I'm wondering what lesson you learnt? That you like screaming like a little girl? Personally I touched one and learnt not to touch them again. :lol:

Ditto, we have two 404's and they leak a little water after every clean.

There is no issue with posting links to relevant information and threads on other forums. It is prospecting from other forums that is against the guidelines.

maf hmmmm

Just like cats I think the jury is still out on them being a pest, they may eat a few native insects and it's possible (don't know if conclusively proven yet) they may get eggs from some ground nesting birds, although I'm not sure ground nesting birds there are to worry about have that live in the typical suburban hangouts of hedgehogs. If you take into account the amount of non-native pest insects they eat that are competing with native species and eating native plants...

I strongly recommend you get it wired up by some one qualified, water and electricity don't mix. IF you don't have one already I also strongly recommend you put an RCD on the circuit.

That may have more to do with lack of protection in the wild?

There are many different types of tubes, BUT each type/size has it's own unique wattage, so long as you get the correct wattage for your fitting you wont have any problems.

Also try running your hand down the length of the tube to remove static build up and giving the tubes a bit of a twist/wiggle to help make sure the contacts are seated in firmly.

Most starters are the same and very cheap to buy, have a look at the size and go visit bunnings or similar they will only cost you a couple of bucks.

There is no requirement in the rules for members to be friendly, there is however to be civil, not to personally attack members, and not post to create reactions. A number of posters in this thread are walking very close to the line, if it continues down this path it will locked, and I might start issuing warnings. Come on guys if you can't play nice, maybe you shouldn't play at all.

The 840 tube you have is 4000k, sun light tubes are typically round the 5500-6500 range. With regards the plants different kelvins (colour) can make them behave differently, ie go into grow mode, flower mode, or dormant etc. But really for the amount of light we typically have on tanks your best to pick them by what colour you like the look of best. You can get tubes a lot cheaper if you buy them from an electrical wholesalers (they all sell to the public despite the name), the last two numbers on the code (840, 856, etc) give you the kelvin (or colour). Just take a note of the wattage of the tube before you go shopping, each type and size of tube has the pretty much unique wattage.

It's just old "fruit salad mix" gravel I had laying round. 3-4mm I guess just about he perfect size to go in and not come out. I might suggest to my neice that some cool coloured stones from the warehouse would be a better idea. Also she has some WCMM's in another tank that I gave her a couple of years ago, I'm assuming they would become Axolotl tucker if she added them in?

Bit of a noob question from me, my niece has recently gotten a couple of gold Axolotl's. One of them has a very much larger stomach, my sister has seen them with gravel in their mouths so I assume it has been eating it. Is there anything I can or need to do? Will they just poop it out?

CO2 will only causes corrosion because it turns into carbonic acid, the carbonic acid is so diluted in your tank it wont cause any problems. But this is why the pH of your tank changes when you start dosing CO2. You need to put it into the inlet otherwise there is little point, the bubble will just get blown to the surface and wont defuse much at all.

Theres an online store called farming direct, they are the cheapest and have the best range I have seen

Salt water cyano needs to be treated differently from freshwater. Cyano is a bacteria rather than an algae although for most purposes it is treated as an algae. As a bacteria it is nitrogen fixing, which means you don't need to have readable levels of nitrate for it to be a problem. Phosphate can still be a problem even below levels hobby test kits will measure. Firstly some more information. Do you have a skimmer? How often do you do water changes and were do the water come from? What water are you using to top up? How long has the tank been setup? Do you have and how much live rock? Do you have sand in the tank? What is in the filter under the tank? Sorry for all the questions but as you'll know by now saltwater tanks have a lot more variables. Unless we spot a problem with one of your answer, most likely your best form of attack well water changes and running some phosphate resin. BTW it sounds like your having a bad outbreak, but a round of cyano is a pretty normal event as a saltwater tank matures.

What about giving them a better option? Not sure how you would do it but something like putting aside half a swampy paddock or letting the verge round one of your ponds grow out might do the trick?

I would be careful using old bricks, they may have been sprayed with all sorts of pesticides and weed killers over the years. The only way you will find out is to try a couple in a small tank with something your not going to be too upset about losing

true, but it wears a bit thin after a while

I ran CO2, ferts, and a lot of light on a tank. One day, I had a realisation that I was spending half my weekend pulling out the plants I was spending so much time and money on growing.

Diffusion isn't really a big problem. When I ran CO2 (pressure system) I feed the bubble into the uptake hose of a canister filter, it was well and truly diffused by the time it came out the other end. I have also made a few DIY diffusers they work well to but most diffusers are an ugly thing to have in your tank, so the canister filter system worked well. adodge, I see from your other post you are still sorting out your lighting. Can I suggest you get this done first then wait a few months before investing big $$ in CO2 you will be surprised at the difference some good lights will make.

As with most light systems, the age of the tube or bulb (that ones for you livingart) is very important when it comes to brightness and colour. To get a true idea of how your borrowed fitting works, I suggest you visit an electrical wholesaler (they will happily sell to the public) and pick up a couple of new tubes. 4 foot T5's are one of the most common, ask for some 865's and they should only cost you round $10 each just tell them what wattage you need and they will get you the right ones. Once you have committed to a path you could look at buying more expensive specialist tubes if you not completely happy with a standard daylight tube (865).

Yeah give or take it's about 10%, although I'm not sure why you would add "hot" water. I guess to help adjust the temp but IME it's not really needed (to be heated I mean).

Unless you are making up artificial salt water (ASW) the RO/DI is only used for topping up the evaperated fresh water. Yes a lot of people use natural salt water (NSW), the only thing you have to do it it is water it down a bit, the salinity in NZ is a bit high. It's also important that you collect clean sea water