suphew

What time are you home, I'm warming the car up now.... lol Are you home on the weekend? I'm sure Mark will be up for a visit as well. Also time you came and had a look at my new setup.

Looking really good Steve, must be time I came out for another look (and brought my frag bucket )

Haha thats funny, cause I had a water cooler sitting in my Christchurch office, I had it sent up here thinking I would try turning it into a chiller but never bothered so now its in storage.

Yeah I'll get round to posting some pictures one day, whats blown me away is how much easier the extra water volume makes things (I have double what I had before). Everything is growing a lot faster and looking better, I've been enjoying the fine weather while it lasts so haven't been doing anything much on the tank, just clean/empty skimmer (couple of times a week), feed fish/corals, fill up top up water. I decided I should do some tests on the weekend but only got as far as testing the salinity, which was spot on, last time I tested was when I filled the tank, I guess I should do the full range of tests since I haven't done most since setting up but every thing is doing well, good colour good growth so...

Currently running 3 x 250w DE 10,000k Mh, and have had 2 x 3foot T5 blue tubes going for the last month or so (over 1680mm long tank), so not a lot of T5 action for the size. On the old tank (~900mm) I had 2 x 250w Mh and 2 x 3 foot blue T5's but again only for the last couple of months it was running.

I'm not convinced they are the same coral, my tank has only been running for a couple of months and I wouldn't call it low nutrient, I have a bright pink monti, blue/purple, and had the orange/brown (until a UV accident killed it) they are all in the same tank at about the same light level but completely different colours. Also the pink and blue came out of my old tank and haven't changed colour at all.

Pies uses 5 foot T5 tubes, he got his last lot from Reef so you could try him, only other option I know of is de lighting in Singapore, theres a thread in the commercial section. He does good prices on lighting kits too, reflectors, ballasts, water proof end caps.

The control gear is different, the wattages are different and I think the starters will be differend as well. Also the tube length (T5 3 foot tubes are actually about an inch shorter than 3 foot) and contacts. So simply put, no you cant put in T8 fittings then swap the bulbs later. A point from chim's post that maybe wasn't clear is that most of what he was saying relates to the same wattage, i.e. lumin output per watt is similar but a 3 foot T5 is 39 watts, where as a 3 foot T8 is 30 watts so almost 25% less light

Marinegirl can you advise who stocks your products in NZ ideally some one near Wellington, I'm interested in a couple of your products and from the responses you have been getting I would say that a few others are as well.

You could get some snails they would produce enough waste and will help with the algae. Other option would be to catch some glass shrimp some will die but some will last 6 months or so.

The live rock doesn't need light for the bacteria to live and do its job, having no lights also means you wont have problems with algae growing on your equipment etc. But in favour of lights you will get coralin (sp) algae growing on your rocks so they wil look better if you move them into your display, and also having lights on your sump at night helps stop the PH from dropping so much when the display lights are off.

Now that I have a bit more swimming space I'm keen to get a small school of fish, I currently have 3 Pajama Cardinals they school a little but stay close to their favourate rock pile and dive for cover. If I got a few more are they more likely to school properly, and be a bit bolder? I was thinking maybe 10 or so?

Yes you can, I did it for my first marine tank. But there are a few differences, mainly that you need holes drilled in the tank otherwise you have to have all the pumps, skimmer, etc in the display tank. Also with marine you want to have as big as tank as you can, this is because success is all about keeping things stable which is hard to do in a smaller tank (small in marine terms being anything less than 200 liter or standard 4 foot, which is what most reccomend as the minimum starting tank size). Lastly Marine tank tend to be a different shape, wider and higher, this is because the rock takes up so much space. To be honest, if your going to get into marine, with rock costing $15+ a KG, most fish run at $100+, and all the other equipment that is required, the cost of the tank isn't a big part of it. Getting a custom tank made by a tank maker will be far cheaper than going to your LFS, normally not too much over $1 per liter.

I agree with Caryl, I think it will be the heat, WCMM breeding is triggered by cold water entering the tank, it makes them think it has just rained, becuase of the warm weather it's likely your top up water is a similar temp to the tank water.

I have 3 x 250w DE on my tank just over 1500. DE = double ended SE = single ended Anything over 6500k (which you might if you luckly get from the switch on gardener) is ok, marine keepers tend to like 10,000+k cause the colour looks better.

Will only be ok to keep the water for a couple of weeks if you have an air stone or pump in there with it. otherwise the water might go stagnent, also keep it out of sun light if your containers are clear.

Can see why it would be a problem. I have had the odd container go green if I left water in the bottom and in the sun, I would just make sure you pour most of the water out between changes. By the way if you have containers why are you using dechlorinator? you can just leave the water in them for a day or two and the chlorine will be gone, an air bubbler helps keep the water moving.

ditto, plenty of secondhand one's about to, going rate is about $120

Anglefish, I strongly suggest you go straight to T5 tubes and dont bother with T8's, T5's will cost a little more but put out far more light and are still useful if you go to MH lights later on to run blue tubes where as T8's will be too dim

Yes you can, but look into what type of bulbs you want first because the bulbs make up a huge part of the cost i.e. 250w DE or SE, 400w SE.

I got the perspex and had it bend to the right shape by the shop I got it from, then cut my own comb using a dremil. Not as good a job as getting it laser cut but far cheaper and I had to adjust it once it was in place anyway. Gaps were about 5mm and 5mm between.

Co2 is CO2 is CO2 it doesn't matter how you produce it

Yes it will reduce the efficiency of the filtation, with reduced flow you will have reduced oxygen getting to the bacteria, plus you will have less dirty water being processed. However because you have plenty of filtering this wouldnt be a problem just makes having them all a bit pointless, if it was me I would just remove the 2 internal filters, you don't need them and the tank is for looking at plants/fish not ugly plastic boxes. If you do want to keep them all, why not direct the output's at the glass or decorations to slow down the flow.

As close as possible, but far enough so you don't get splashes and so that you get the coverage you need. Mine are 4-5inches above.

As I understand it plants don't actually stop using CO2 at night or stop producing O2, becuase there is no light they just slow down alot. There is a maximum amount of CO2 (and O2) that the water will hold, at night when the plants arn't using as much if your water is at CO2 satuation it will just bubble off, if its below it wont hurt to boost the level at night.