raeh1

LEDS, aliexpress.com (or similar goggle LG LEDS aliexpress). I use them with huge success and many people who have seen mine have bought their own units. Cheap to buy, good results, cheap maintenance, compact units, cheap power... you will need to install a resistor inline to slow fans and make them quieter. Other options are Maxspect razors, and Ecotech radions but cost more. Also reef octopus are not bad skimmers. I'd put my Super Reef Octopus 5000s against the same rated skimmer of any brand for a performance comparison... Bubble Magus are good skimmers too. But its not rocket science putting an impeller and pump together to smash tiny bubbles. But some are definitely better than others by design.

get LEDS

sent you a link.

Both will be fine. I like REd sea maxs which sometimes go for around $1000 second hand. There are also some easy mods that can be done to them.

With octopus you must have a absolutly sercure lid. They are smart, and calculating and try to escape.

yah I just added 17 more frags last night and a schol tang... I could fit any more frags if I tried now... thats over 100 different types. Now started to juice up the tank.... Grow my precious :gigl:

Give it 8-9 months then I reackon I'll have tidied it up properly. And also finished installing and hiding parts. Have 5 more corals to add. 2 I lost in the phosphate spike..... Just have to ask Steve really nicely from down the road.. Maybe some more crays.

Well an update. Copperbands eating flake, Powder Blue settled in, Had a phosphate issue, but things really settling and grwoing fast now. Just wait 6-9 months and I think its will be alright... Spent hours and hours shuffling corals for best look....

yeah I might actually.

that was me :slfg: I've had two now the last for about 4-5 years... The key to feed them up on whatever they are eating then drop the food supply for a week and they well get hungry and try other things. I do this once a month then go back to feedig what they like till they get used to the other varieties. My last one only took live foos and frozen brine shrimp, the new one only frozen blood worms and now frozen brine shrimp and now flake.

This morning he started eating flake..... :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: He had been eating only blood worms and slowly losing condition so I'm most excited

But wifes got me building gardens and stuff at the new house it the moment (secretly I actually like it). Instead of driving up to auckland for stock.... and doing stuff on the tank Just finished 3 raised garden beds, my kids massive playground (slide, swings, climbing wall, firemans pole, stearing wheel and pirates telescope. Also a sand pit and planted my pinot noir vines as well. See photo below this is how I build gardens....... :smot:

Thing you've made a good start getting an all in one to start with. Tip, research you fish before buying. and also if its marine fish and it looks sick in the shop it will probably die... Bringing fish around is hard.

hey greta choice, both the rea sea and aqua ones will give you a great format to learn from and discover what you like before you venture into the large custom builds. Good luck

did my first water change since we moved (3 months), But will be more onto it now. Just been building gardens, sorting stuff and with life...

..ops

playing around with the digital camera. Ill do something decent when things grow on a bit.

and one day add a arcilles tang

I'll still frustrated that I let my set-up go so down hill when Importing. But I decided that I would only keep coral frags instead of full sized corals and grow them up. I reackon in about 6-9 months I'll have it even better. Next holidays. 1. Rubber paint in the sump compartment. 2. LED wiring tidy. 3. Wiring Cover so that extra wires that look ugly are hidden. 4. Install fans 5. Drop on side of top lid as its about 7 mm above the water line. 6. Get the Auto-top up going. 7. Proper shelfves in the storage compartment. I'll get there but reackon another $400 or so. I should total up the cost.. If I dared..... I'd tell my wife the total..... :nilly:

Not quiet there yet. Have to install fans, tidy LED wiring and tidy up my wiring laminate (as you can see it looks pretty messy)

I agree with your last two points reef. The selection is limited, although it has improved greatly thanks to some hard work by importers and hobbyists. To be honest their are key species that people really want and they are on the lists. Its risky to bring in oddities that knowone wants. Cause importers then have to hold onto them, sometimes for ages. Also their has to be a premium margin on a business that has such restrictions like importing livestock into New Zealand does, and to cover the cashflow negative nature of it. Its not like just opening up a retail store in the local shopping mall. Of course the cost of wages, maintance, and alike must all be covered. As well as extra for covering potentially losing an entire shipment. Maybe the 20-30% drop I mentioned is a little oppounistic. It maybe more like only 10-15% when there are 5 players in the marine import market.

man those tanks are awesome. Some hard core set-ups to run them. My wife insists everything must fit in the tank. :facepalm:

We both know how much a linkia or hermit crab costs wholesale and know how many fit in a box. Same with the fish.... (although they are more tricky). With more suppliers there will be increased compeition and supply. A Powder Blue was around $160-185 until recently. Aquaworld has lowered this already, as has Wonderworld to around $140. Personally given wholesale price of them its actually good value IMO and would consitute a 20-30% shift in price. (Although these guys have used vertical intergration to achieve price advantages and secure better supply).

I think the thing with marine is that it can cater for a large variety of hobbyists with different economic backgrounds. Whether we are rich or not as rich we sometimes have to limit our spending. But in life (as in a any hobby) more cash does make buying things a bit easier.

ok photos this week (by Thursday). Just finished a pile of marking...... But on the weekend I finished the big wiring tidy up..... mission.... still not exactly perfect but ok. Also finished the frag tank work... mission...... So apart from the dosing pump and the sparky doing a wiring tidy with the LED lights its all pretty set for the next fair while. I might even get time to do my first water change since moving 2.5 months ago..... "If I had 2 more hours a day..... I would spend it sleeping" :yaw2: