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Be careful of the grade of epsom salts that you use as the cheeper grades contain ammonia. Well so i was told by another local reefer but i am sure someone will bite my head off if i am wrong. I now use Mag Chloride and it seems fine. Dave

Hi Tim, Layton The plastics place is Award plastics on (wordsworth street i think). The glue that we used to use at work was Quickbond and it comes in several different grades and has a cross referance to Weldon. From memory it was quite cheep about $17 for 250mls. We used to ues it for glueing Acrylic pipe to pvc for lage sight glasses 250mm NB pipe at 20meters head so it will hold up for most things in a tank. Dave.

Hi Layton will be looking forward to seeing this tank when its up. As far as the skytubes go these are great on those nice sunny days and add a lot of light between 11 - 3 i have however noticed that some of my corals have lost some colour and there was some bleaching at first but that has since recovered. I will try and get some pics when im home during the light hours. At best i think they will only be good as supplumental light. the rest of my halides will be up in the next two weeks and this should help. on a plus note i have noticed the my SPS's have taken off. The biggest problem i have had is getting the tubes through the rafters as the tank sits under the appex of the house. As far as the pvc tanks go in my last job working with comercial pools we had a bit to do with a company called mytha who make bolt together pools from stainless steel pannles covered in a pvc film i often thought that this would be a good idea for a large tank. PS Layton i can build the stand for you and will be able to get the steel at a price you wont be able to beat we buy steel in bulk at work Dave

Ok fair point may have to look into this a bit more before i decide to leave it be but i do know that it collects crud in the evil sandbed it sits in. Hell i may have to call my tank the evil empire and call the batfish Dr Evil :lol: Dave

Ok i know i havent been around for a while but when did caulerpa become so evil i no it can go asexual if not keeped in check but i thought it was still a good tool for getting rid of nitrate if pruned.

Easy Vodka tastes a lot better :bounce: :bounce:

Yes i have been looking into it very closely and am going to put three Solatubes above my tank to supply a large amount of the lighting to my new tank. It is still very much in progression as i am also having to make it fit around the new house renivations. The three sola lights will run most of the lights except for one of the halides with i will still have positioned above the SPS end of the tank so i hopr we have a nice summer and also help keep down the heat down as there seems to be very little heat transfer from the natural sunlight that comes through the tubes. But come winter i think that the tubes will only be usable for the addition to help the halides out. I must start a new post on the tank but at the moment it is on the to do listbut i hope to the first of the sola tubes in the next month so i will keep you up to date.

Well it is offical the house i am buying is unconditional and the new tank has been decided. It will be a 6x2x2 foot i will post pics when i have something to show which will hopefully be in a couple weeks. First question i have is when setting up the new tank i have five days overlap between the old house and the new house so i will leave the old tank set up and move the live stock over slowly? is this the best idea. Second i have walls to paint in the lounge will be using Aqua sheild on the wall behind the tank this is an acrylic paint will this be an issue (Chimera) you may be able to answer this for me having done your in wall install Dave

Hope im not to late but ill take afew been busy so havn't had a time to check Dave

Ahh yes this one i can do. My little Galaxia frag Mango has since been nuked even after i was feeding it for a couple of weeks. Thought it might have been a baby bubble tip :lol: Will take some more pics of the rest when i get some more battery for the camera Dave

:lol: :lol: PMs sent out with my address if you have not recived it let me know and i will e-mail you instead Dave

Hi all a date has been set for the meeting. It will be on the 15th of May at 1.30pm. The 22nd is out as i have been told by my partner as it seems we had plans for a family get to gether that i sum how forgot about :roll: (Bugger). Sorry Caryl that i could not do the 22nd but hopefully we will meet at the next meeting Dave

Hell yeah ill make room for more frags Hmmm acro and monti . BTW Pomereef my lights are diy halides so you will be able to see them when you come around. I will Pm everyone my address closer to the time. Dave

Ok im keener on the 15th as it is closer but will keep it open for a couple of days just incase plus if i have the first one then i can get it done before we shift. By the way if you have plans for a diy calcium reactor please bring them with you this is an option i need to look at. Dave.

Ok so it seems Sunday afternoons are the best for everyone so lets say the first meeting is at my place sunday the 15th or 22rnd of may at 1.30pm. Post your preferance and i will set the date and try to talk the missus into it. Steve is going to Rarotonga in a couple of weeks so i will try to work around him. Dave :lol:

Ok was not expecting such fast responce on this. So the big queston is do we have the first meeting at one of our places or should it be on neutral ground like a pub, Fishshop (this option could be out due to numbers and stores not being to keen to a bunch of fish junkies standing around talking). Day and time is the tricky one as trying to get a large number of people togeather never seems to be easy. I think that saturday / sundays afternoon would be the best for me but that will not suit everyone so lets here your opinions on a time and place. I think we sould look at meeting once and share the meeting place around to see one anothers tanks. I will put my hand up for first meeting place if this suits better than a pub or store. Ps my tank is not as impressive as some but still all welcome. Almost forgot how does the weekend after mothers day sound for everyone. Dave

Yeh come on down Caryl you could always bring a big stick to do the personal Moderating when someone steps out of line :lol: :lol: Dave

Ok with popularity growing on this board for christchurch members i think it is time for us all to meet one another and share some information All those interested post here. Dave

Joes Juice has worked wounders for me. Well worth the $35ish dollars spent on it. But i have heard that Kalk paste works just as well. Dave

I made some oystercrete a few months back and got the crushed oyster shell from pgg it is sold as a chicken suplement and costs about $10 for 25kgs the cement came from placemakers and was $20 for a 40 or 50kg bag and i brought some crushed coral substrate this was the most expensive part. It is still leaching out lime at the moment but hope it will be ready for the tank upgrade in a couple of months. Very cheep to make and as easy as hell, i played around with plan river sand and Omarau stone sand for the mould box and the with sand makes the outside look a little better. Dave

I have no idea what the extra chemicals in hot glue are and what effect they may have on the tank so i would rather not tempt fate with something that may or maynot destroy life. Pies MEK is a very nasty chemical and although it does evaporate very quickly i would be careful how quickly you put it in your tank. i now that most of the glue will float to the surface and can be skimmed of by hand but how do you now that some of the glue has not disolved into the water. By the way i have delt with a lot of pipe glueing and having delt with pressure pipe upto 300mm i think i know a thing or two about pvc nearly eight years as a filtration engineer sould count for experiance. This is not a dig at you pies so dont take it that way i am just justifieing like you have asked. Dave

Hi Drifty most pipe solvents are made from the same basic ingrediants such as betta from micos marly and marly gold from pumbing world just dont use any of the marly gutter and sporting solvent (comes in a white and yellow tube) as it has a but in mould inhibiter. also stay away from the hot glues named as they heat the pipe in the chemical bonding to get a better seal and have more chemicals in them. Leave the betta or marly glue for at least 2 hours 24 would be better, they use MEK to chemicaly bond the pvc and this needs to evaporate fully before it goes anywhere near your tank. Also wash the pipes in fresh water before putting into your tank Hope this helps.

Tim had some when he was clearing out his frags i know he has sold his frag settup but not shaw if he still has his main tank Dave

Bugger first anemoe and i have to kill it owell. No probs Brain only got that frag about three weeks ago so when it grows onto the rock next to it i will save you a piece and bring it with me or wait until you come down

As the name says some updated pic of my tank. Levels have been stable and staying that way. and one for jetskisteve this is the candy cane from you it has recovered well and starting to grow new heads The Anemone on the right came on another candy cane any ideas on what it is would be great Let me know what you think and yes i do need to clean the glass Dave