suphew

Yes is the answer, but you will need to have a chiller even in Wellington. you will also need live rock etc, the local rock doesn't perform the same filtering function cause its not coral based. Also you wont need the strong lighting unless you plan on keeping seaweed, kelp, etc. But to be honest by the time you pay for a chiller you aren't reallly going to save much $ over tropical, which is probibly why there are so few about.

salt water is completely different but for fresh you would have filter wool on top of the trickle filter stack, this speads the water out over the media and traps most of the larger crap before it hits the sump.

Is there a rule of thumb regarding DSB sizes? I don't have one at the moment and don't want to fill my sump with sand, was thinking about adding some containers of sand and changing them every six months or so. ALso is there anyway to clean the phospates etc out of sand/gravel, I have a bucket of coral gravel from my old tank sitting outside in the rain, it has been there for 3-4 months, was wondering if this will clean it and how long it will take, or if not if there is another way?

any glass cutter can make a lid, just go to your nearest with the measurements they should be able to cut it while you wait. Will be a lot cheaper than perpex unless you have access to some.

I think a sump is a great idea on a larger fresh water tank, it allows you to run a desent wet/dry/trickle filter with large volumes of media, this is about as good as it get for filters.

you either run a full siphon system in which you adjust the speed of the water going down using a tap, or you set up a durso stand pipe, which simply put has the intake close to the surface so the water stays at that level and as long as your pipe handles the flow wont go far above it. You can also just drill the tank or have a pipe at the level you want the water to sit, but this tends to be noisy.

Couldn't agree more. For me I don't want to have to buy and store the extra chemicals, plus I proberly have far lower CA and KH uptake in my tank. I can see the benifits in being able to just dose to correct levels but I'm lazy and would rather just turn up the reactor if I see my levels start to creep down.

I repaired a tank a while ago, tried 3 times using neutral cure and the tank leaked every time when I tested it, as soon as I used acidic cure it worked fine. The neutral cure just doesn't stick to the glass well. Also in my marine tanks that are a lot more sensitive to chemicals I have put still wet acidic cured silicon into the tank and let it cure under water, this has been for sealing bulkheads, putting in overflow etc. Has never caused a problem to the fish or corals.

how does the say go? bad things happen fast, good things take time. I prefer to make slow more stable changes and this also means I don't have to have the chemicals and dosing gear. 2 is a valid point but this just involves adjusting your reactor correctly, ie both bubble rate and drip rate and because the changes are slower the impact is less and can be adjusted for if they do swing to far out.

Have also read of people putting them into another container to feed them so the food doesn't go all over then tank, but I don't know if this would be good to there skin, all that handleing

My refractometer has a small screw on the top, and should be adjusted every now and again, Its easy to do just need RO water and zero it in.

I have a similar one, not as nice and branching rather then encrusting, blueish/purple with red polyops. Just tried to take a pic but only blue light on at the moment so they didn't come out will, plus its only small. I don't think its that uncommon, I got mine from Pies who has a huge one, but I think my colors better :lol:

I thing the clown is trying to make the anemone move, maybe it wants to start breeding but doesn't like the stop? Does it have a mate?? Maybe it thinks moving will increase its luck!! I don't think it is an uncommon thing for them to do. They also do it to stop the anemones from walking over their eggs.

No my point was, why do you need to dose? If your params are to low, turn the reactor up till you get to the level you want then slowly adjust it down.

You should fill your location in, in your profile so we know where you are But box filters and UGF (under gravel filters) run off air pumps so are very cheap, a box filter is just a pastic box filled with filter wood or sponge air goes in the bottom and draws water up with it, UGF are plates that go under your gravel air goes up tubes sucking water through the gravel. Box filter are easy to fit if your tank is already setup, but don't work as well as UGF. The next step up is an internal filter which it sound like you have already, these work better again. The price doesn't really change that much, air pumps $10-$15, plus box filter $10, or UGF plates etc $15-20, internal filter $30+ But its been a while since I purchased any of these sort of filter so I'm sure someone will chip in if I'm too far out

Dont see glass either :lol:

I dont know if I agree with this, there have been a number of times when mine has stopped working correctly, my bubble counter leaked, dripper clogged etc. I have just fixed it and a couple of days later the levels are all correct again. Maybe yours is just running close to maximum and is only able to maintain levels not inrease them.

You suggest not using sand because it takes nutirants away from the water column lowering the amount of food for bacteria and therefore corals, yet use UV which kills those same bacteria anyway? Seems weird to me.

I did think about it, was either that or dye my cats. But seriouesly more than happy help your tank get started again I have a bucket of coral gravel outside I could a container of it in my sump for you.

Can you explain please? Cause I dont get it.

Just as a side note to, I used to let mine run round the house, and outside to, this was all good fun but they can move really fast and are starting to become a pest in the wild. There has been talk of banning their sale, so just make sure you keep a close eye on it if you let it out. Or at some stage decide to keep it outside.

Doesn't using UV contradict your whole bacteria in the water column feeding the corals theory??

Yeah no life, was waiting all day for Pies to call to go for a bike ride. Did my water yesterday, sick of painting, too cold to work outside... blar blar... yeah no life. I even finished off ghost recon on the 360 :lol:

:lol:

Pete makes the tank for a lot (most) of the shops in the lower north island. Check out hutt pet for filters they seem to be the cheapest shop (IMO). getting them off the web can be good, but I hate having to wait :lol: I use Fluval 204's, not had a problem with them and am happy to reccomend them. Haven't used any others.