suphew

Just replacing the tubes might make a huge difference, they should be replaced every year or so. If you go to an electrical wholesaler you shouldn't pay more than about $10 a tube. For a clean white light ask for a 865 if you want warmer more yellow go for a lower number 845 or similar (it only the last two numbers your interested in)

I tried it and a few other options a number of years ago. Didn't really see much benefit and got really sick of the balls floating up. In the end I found Daltons was the best/cheapest option.

I think cat's should enjoy there freedom while they still can. A lot of countries (parts of Aussie for example) have either curfews or full control of cats (cages and leads). On the other side of the coin, I believe a study was done that found a sensible number of cats actually helps wild life populations by culling mice, rats, rabbits, stoats, etc

Turning down heaters won't really help, and in fact may make the temperatures harder on the fish. The heater is only going to turn on if the temperature goes below what it is set to, which is unlikely with that bigger volume of water. What may become a problem is if you do have a cold night the temperature might drop low, and instead of your fish just having to put up with high temperatures they will also have a large temperature swing to deal with. With larger tanks I'd recommend buying a temperature controller, you get far more accurate and reliable heater control, and if you get a dual channel controller they can also turn on fans or a chiller.

Depending on the pump you might only get half the 5000lph in flow by the time it gets to your tank. Good quality pumps will have a flow curve so you can work out the flow with the head added.

They usually do have back flush, but I think it just washes water over the dirty side of the membrane rather than thought it. It's just a tap, not sure exactly how it is plumbed in to work, I assume it bypasses a pressure valve to let the flow run over the membrane

You need to buy an RO stage.

Is it fresh or salt water? It makes a difference to how much flow you want to run through the sump, and also a lot of the bigger pumps have metal parts (shafts, screws, etc) so can't be used in salt water.

There's no harm in getting rock now. You can buy dead rock which works out a lot cheaper and let it cycle, if you do a google on "cooking live rock" you might also want to give this a go, it takes some time but you end up with very clean rock.

ethyl cyanoacrylate super glues are fine to use, in marine tanks we use them to glue corals in place. Most of your plastics and enamals should also be fine, once they have cured they don't give off fumes, if they did we would all be in trouble since our houses are covered in them.

Compare how much estate agents make for the little they do. And they make you pay separately for the only thing that directly costs them, the advertising.

Some people do, but DIY rock just isn't as porous as the real stuff. Plus the pH buffering will be uncontrolled (you will have to keep a close eye in the levels). Lastly it's a temporary condition, sooner or later you will have to start adjusting your levels manually anyway.

A marine tank has a high pH anyway, often this is achieved by adding kalk which is basically builders lime or the same stuff as is coming out of your DIY rock. Coral rock or unsealed DIY is used in marine tanks because it is porous and has bacteria living deep in the rock (where the name "live rock" comes from) that converts nitrate to nitrogen gas.

It's in the middle of dairy farming country, he's taking the cheap option cause the milk solid prices were down. Now the payout is back up soon he will be able to go back to using the helicoptor. :lol:

I've run tanks for over two years with out issues. Plus you still have the "goodness" from the fish working its way down into the gravel.

Just a reminder that this is happening on Sunday.

Just a reminder that this is happening on Sunday.

Have you concidered going tropical marine? Really the only difference in cost is the livestock which is largely offset by the cost of a chiller.

I've used Dalton's in a few tanks now, it's good stuff, plants take up far more nutrients via their roots and it keeps the nutrients away from where algae can use it. But I make sure I have a good couple of inches of gravel over it.

Unfortunately neither idea will work well, Pretty much all metals will rust with salt water, even high grade stainless breaks down. The pipe in the fridge idea is a problem because of the difficulty finding tube that will transfer heat. PVC/plastic pipe is a very poor heat conductor. For these two reasons chillers use titanium tube, it doesn't rust and has great heat transfer. But it also why they are so expensive.

There's not really any danger, it will drop the pH since it becomes carbonic acid, but because of the gas exchange on the waters surface it will never get to a level high enough to be a problem. In fact when your running CO2 its recommended that you don't use air stones or have to much surface movement because it drives off the CO2. Using CO2 works really well, I have done it and the plant growth was amazing, but it's not a cheap path to follow. I'm guessing you wouldn't get much change out of $500 for that system, plus you will have to buy a bottle which will set you back (last time I checked) $300, although you can rent them. There is also no point having CO2 if you don't have the lights to keep up with it. In the end I found I was spending every weekend pulling out a bucket of plants, and realised I was spending money just to grow plants to pull out. If you have a passion for tough to grow plants, a huge tank and money to burn, or want to grow plants commercially then it might be worthwhile, but for a standard tank, my advise would be to just be patient most plants will get there with out the CO2. my2c

The first number actually indicates the color rendition index of the tube, not the size/type of the tube. 8 is a standard tube. Photographers etc would want lights with higher CRI but the standard light is fine for fishtanks. The best way to confirm the length and type of tube you have is make a note of the wattage which should be printed on the tube. Every one is different for example a 4 foot T8 is 36w, a 4 foot T5 is 54w, electrical wholesalers will know from the wattage what size and type of tube you need. "The light bulb man" on Boulcott St used to carry a good range of tubes including specific aquarium tubes, I haven't been there for a while but assume he still does.

Public Lecture - Myanmar An Aquarist's Paradise - sunday 15/11/09 @ 2pm Peter Cottle, a very highly respected and regarded fishkeeper, breeder and collector, from the UK is currently in New Zealand and will giving a talk on his recent fish collecting trip to Myanmar ( Burma ) This is a public meeting and will be held at the Johnsonville Community Centre, 3 Frankmore Avenue, Johnsonville on sunday 15th of November starting at 2pm. It will be one of those rarely available opportunities to come and meet with a person who is a world authority in the hobby. Entry will be by gold coin donation ( not compulsory ) . If you intend coming please email Dominique at [email protected] so we have an idea of numbers for catering purposes, etc. Here is a link to Petter's web site http://www.danios.info/ Regards

Public Lecture - Myanmar An Aquarist's Paradise - sunday 15/11/09 @ 2pm Peter Cottle, a very highly respected and regarded fishkeeper, breeder and collector, from the UK is currently in New Zealand and will giving a talk on his recent fish collecting trip to Myanmar ( Burma ) This is a public meeting and will be held at the Johnsonville Community Centre, 3 Frankmore Avenue, Johnsonville on sunday 15th of November starting at 2pm. It will be one of those rarely available opportunities to come and meet with a person who is a world authority in the hobby. Entry will be by gold coin donation ( not compulsory ) . If you intend coming please email Dominique at [email protected] so we have an idea of numbers for catering purposes, etc. Here is a link to Petter's web site http://www.danios.info/ Regards

Do you have plants in the tank? Simplest way to reduce algae and lower your nitrates (if water changes aren't a good option) is to grow plants. If you do have plants getting them growing well is the key, you have the high nutrients, and plenty of fish so the CO2 will be high, you just need to address the lights. Next thing I would be looking at is your water supply, a river normally shouldn't have high nitrates, but your water tank might be full of rubbish, have you had it checked/cleaned lately? You could look at getting an RO/DI filter, which would clean the water supply to close to pure, it could do your drinking water too. BTW you might want to do a water test on the river, if it does have high nitrates, then chances are one of the farmers is dumping effluent into it and your drinking it. My boss runs a side business unblocking drains and I see a lot of farmers with their septic tank overflows running into the nearest stream. At this time of year and during the winter when rain water is filling up their tanks, they constantly dump raw sewage into the streams. I bet their neighbors kids play and swim in the same water.