Kermit

Yip got that did you get the data sheet? i sent it to your e-mail address. What size fittings you have 3/4" or 1"?

Cheers guy's, too late anyways they're all gone this morning didn't really have the gear at the time so will get them next time hopefully. May setup some tanks in the garage for breeding. Poor male looks lost trying to find his eggs. Robert

Cheers for that Alan. As far as green water, just put a bottle of water in direct sun light? Whats BBS, I have some Cycopeas that the same thing? may have to get a holding net when they hatch. Also i have two blue turq discus three blue rams and two plec's in the tank any problems there? Thanks again.

They've only been in the tank four just under three weeks and they're breeding already. So cool to watch, it's like they give each other hug's n kisses and out come some egg's, the only thing is that i gota say poor wee fela all that running around to pick up the eggs while she skives off. So my question is has anyone been able to successfully hatch and bring up the fry? if so what food do you use and does the parents eat the fry when they hatch? Whats the time expectancy to hatching? any other things that would be a help would be great? Thanks Robert

Yip you sure can, any controller that has a 0-10volt output can control them, PLC's and BMS's are capable.

Sweeeeeeet, i've just been playing with a philips dimmable T5 ballast, mint. It takes in a 0-10Vdc signal to control the brightness very nice, we're controlling these on a carpark building to maintain a constant lux level. Be great to simulate sun-rise and sun-set on the tank, maybe even a cloudy passing by. :lol: Here's a list of data sheet http://www.lighting.philips.com/gl_en/global_sites/fluo-gear/dimming/products/ballasts.php?main=global&parent=137&id=gl_en_dimming〈=en

BMS (building management systems) controllers are another product, same thing as a PLC but ussually cheaper then PLC's and are made specifically for controlling lighting, temperatures, humidity etc....

Off the top of my head 3 out of 4 shops are importers aswell.

Thats the reason i'm running a sump as the over flow skims the top of the water removing the film and any other debris that gets caught in the filter wool in the sump. Great things.

I'd recommend Organism's corner of Ilam and Clyde roads in christchurch, they do a both fresh and marines and have a great layout. Redwoods and Critter kingdom are another couple of places.

Sorry to hear about your tank. Same thing happened to me Waitangi week end lost $100's of dollars of fish and coral (more into the thousands), ended up letting the tank re-cycle and slowly added stock again. Got to say am very paranoid about going out of town on trips now. You can purchase diallers that run on a 12v battery to dial out if power loss occurs or temperature goes out of limits, etc. They vairy from $250-$800 depending on your requirements. (Call numbers with recorded messages, SMS, e-mail) Robert

Thanks everyone, everythings still going well. Brought a couple of Blue rams from Organism's yesterday going to introduce them on Sat. The plecs have doubled there size in one week and seem very happy, water tested last night was PH = 7.0 Nitrite = 0.1ppm Temperature = 27.4deg c due to hot norwesterly but the temperature controller i have controls the temperature at 27.0-27.1deg c. Will test other things tonight as my test kits are at work for testing the marine system. Robert

Wawhoo. finally it's all go, here's some pics. A full frontal . One of the fish additions, stuck to the wall. Cool fish active when the lights come on And some planted views. The tank and stand were made by yours truely, got to say it's satisfying to see some thing made by your own hands and actually working well. Only have two of the four lamps in the hood at the mo as can't find the other ballast and lamp holders, grrr. Robert

Yeah i was impressed, sat there and watched them spawn for a little while. Did you ask John or Toby they were both there when they spawned they pointed it out to me at the time. Thanks for that i thought that'd be the case on the CO2, i have a CO2 bottle i was going to use on a calcium reactor for the marine system but need a bigger tank before i set one up. Well got the rest of the running gear today 2500L/h pump with the head and plumbing fittings i'd be expecting about 1800-2000L/h through the tank. JBL MICROMEC for the sump, filter wool not much more to go now. Going to make the sump tonight and hopefully by the weekend the tank will be inside, up and going. Minus the fish. Robert

Hmmm i wounder how much they are, any ways i'm pretty much got my eyes out for red scribbles, Torquoise, blue diamond and maybe malboro. But that depends on availability, i may struggle on the red scibble. As for the CO2 how often do you run it, do you run it to the tanks PH or by time clock during the day or 24/7? If i do go the rought of CO2 i will be using bottled CO2. Will get some pics ounce i get the tank in side and fully plumbed up, not pretty at the mo as in the garage with the wood soaking.

Thank you all so much for your replies, i like the look of the Rummy nose fish they're pretty cool. Looks like i'll have to get a bigger tank so i can get more discus , i'll get a couple ounce the system has settled, being a salty i've learnt to be patient so waiting for the tank to settle will be a breeze. Lighting will be a total of 120watts of standard fluro's, may opt for VHO's but have the standard ballasts and fittings. So peats an out cos of the bogwood, thanks Ijtan55 didn't want the brown water look. Sharn you mentioned to find a couple that are showing signs of some loving, well i went into Organism's today and they had a couple spawning . Karen, would like to hear more about your setup. Thanks again any more suggestions are welcome.

Hi all, well i've finally stopped talking about setting up a discus tank and started the process. I've got a 915L x 455W x 455D tank soaking my wood, i'm wanting to run a 40L wet/dry sump filter to help skim the top of the tank, hide the running equipment and easy to maintain, any other ideas? Now i've been thinking about a number of other things, such as do i use peat for the plants or use CO2 injection or not, if CO2 injection do you need to run a air stone to maintain Oxygen levels at night? As for tank mates i was thinking of about 4 Ram's, 6 tetras of some sort, 1-2 plack's any full backs with any of these fish with discus? Heating all sorted 300w heater in the sump controlled via an external thermostat maintaining 27deg c. Lighting have thought of a mixture of different lamps 2x 6,500K 1x 8,000K and 1x 10,000K 3' standard fluro's. Bare in mind i am only wanting to have about 3-4 discus in this tank, or am i over stocking it? As for plants was just going to get what ever attracts me and is suitable with my lighting. Any help or recommendations would be great, thanks. regards Robert

he maybe eating the apstasia, i didn't really see my CBB eat them for ages but did notice the decline in apstasia with in a week.

Good tip Tim. Cheers fay, so glad i dont have to worrie about them anymore now i can relax more.

Well thought i'd give an up date, the copperband has rid the tank of apstasia, i was worried about food for the little guy but he has been eating frozen foods for a little while now and he looks healthy, yay no more apstasia and no more stress on feeding the copperband yay yay yay.

Either 2x 150w/250w lamps would do, the 1 lamp will give you shaded spots at the ends of the tank. My tank is 1200L x 500W x 450D i use 2x 150w 10000K lamps and it works out well for my live stock but cos yours is 600D you may find you need to step upto 250w lamps, but that will depend on what you are keeping softies no problems with the 150w lamps, stonies only will most likely be ok if you possition them well but 250w lamps will be better, or a mix of soft/hard corals 150w lamps will probably be ok as the hard corals at the top and the soft corals down a bit lower.

I use to feed mine when i first got them, but stopped once it got to the size i wanted to be and haven't feed it since. The clown feeds one of them now and then, i found the anemone's to settle a lot better and look healthier once it had a clown living in it.

Man they look great dude awsome job.

400-500+ yeah got sick of trying to rid the pest, it looked like a mat of anemones :evil: but now you have to look hard to see one . Cookie extreme yeah have got to admit the little fella doesn't seem to eat anything else, well nothing that i've noticed.

Well after a long process of trying to zap the aiptasia with kwalk, drano i thought i'd try something a bit more natrual as i had enough of getting nowhere fast, so first i got a couple of pepermint shrimps in they went, hmm didn't see them for about two-three weeks no change to the aiptasia, hmmm ok what next sweet a copperband butterfly came up for grabs so thought why not so i got the little guy put him in and hey presto almost two months latter the aiptasia is gone from about 400-500+ to under 50 yippy no more zapping aiptasia.