cookie extreme

are you back from your overseas trip? how was it?

ok the upgrade - it involc=ved more time then i guessed. :roll: i bought the ballasts and bulb holders from lamps exclusively, mt wellington in eaglehurst road. they quoted me the best price. ($54 for a ballast and $20 per holder) compared to ideal electrical ie. $84 and $38 respectively. all prices before GST of course as Helen wants to live too! so 3 ballast's and 6 holders (2 per bulb) i was $ 310 poorer. i ordered my bulbs from the US (AB 10000 250watt DE) and waited. well bulbs arrived and i started. removed screws and the whole unit virtually fell apart. :oops: bulbs were to big so had to cut openings into the reflector to fit holders, changed ballasts and tried to put the whole thing bach together. what a pain in the b$^&$. griddle cover did not fit as ballasts are to tall so had to cut them out as well. luckly the ignitors are ok from 100w to 400w so no change needed. hook it all up again and plugged it in and it worked. light looks nice and bright. all up it took me about 4 hours, ok maybe a bit more to change to whole setup. it was pretty nerve wrecking cutting the first relector (if i stuff this one up i am screwed) but it became easier after that. btw i fixed the new holders for the bulbs in the griddle cover plate, the holes are perfect for it. anybody who ones more info please on it please pm meand i will give you my number and/or address.

its some sort of carbonate mix etc (have to admit don't know the exact recipe ) it will bring your PH to the "right level" within a very short time, just makes me wonder how much of the stuff remains in the tank and influence the KH in the long run once your PH goes down again for what ever reason and you tend to add some more of the stuff. most pet shops sell it and it works a tread on cichlids.

just well? i would say he would be doing great as most "struggle" to keep theirs at that level. but a good point about airation, it still does not explain why his KH goes up unless he adds something that puts in more carbonate.

like i said to you before stop using the PH up there is no need to add even more as a KH of 16 should keep your PH stable (it will flactuate during the day but thats normal). what material is in your eheim filter (any type of rock?)

thats how much they were! about 2 - 3 months ago! i was quite surprised too.

well got my bulbs yesterday, god it was long 3 weeks waiting for them. the installation which required cutting new openings into the reflectors, changing the ballasts and bulb holders took a bit longer then i thought. all up with cleaning etc a cool 4 hours (hey i didn't want to stuff it up ) will post the whole process in the next couple of days as it is late and it may take a while. lets see if it does make a difference. but it does look a lot brighter but then again my 150w bulbs are a year old.

if it is red put in lower light levels. they can/will adjust to more light but give them time

in reallity that's not possible god what african country did you emerge from? no offence well i bought a pack of prodibio from seame.com which had trace in it. i did not not use it in the first few weeks but started about 2 months ago, have to admit i can not see any difference but that could be just me looking at the tank every day

i would almost agree, but if trace elements are depleted in the way as for an example calcium then a simple water change would not bring it back to natural seawater levels (if you use NSW) so the question is why not dose it in small amounts? tel i didn't know that were are a "kraut" too

stir up your substrate and you will also notice an increase in water clarity.

many roads that lead to Rome and most are good to travel on!

also your leathers are very small!

what has happened to the three pillar tank? another rock wall? ?

i once ordered stuff for work from gilmours (mt roskill) and from MD on the same day (tuesday morning). well MD arrived first, got a call on friday morning that my parcel had arrived and if they could deliver that afternoon. gilmours hadn't arrived by then. :roll:

what material do you use in your CA reactor?

test somebody elses water with your test kit or even better let somebody test your water just incase you do something wrong because 50 is extremly high

spawning behavier? a pair i had a few years ago did that. so may be he/she is lonely!

bet ya five bucks he wont. the word looser comes to mind. then again maybe he used to be known as mandarin or what was the other name that asian kid used? :roll:

and with very little lighting and just some small additives from HK. still looking good b. .

i use a 25mm return and 25mm drain. at 4000 liters its at maximum capacity. i had do reduce to return pump a bit. i would go 40mm next time. thats at full syphon, had a durso before and just managed 32oo liters at the most. can you get a second hole drilled in?

did you remove those pinnacles you made?

sorry dude, haven't managed to get there yet! $$$$$$ its bloody expensive. remember to take the film containers!!!!

a hidden zeovit user in the closet, don't be ashamed you can come out and admit your using.

unless your tank is very small it doesn't really matter if you loose 12 or 15 liter a day as long as over a week the water level stays the same. i top up (by hand) approx 20 liters at one time to get the same water level before a water change. does it make any difference to the tank? no! simple top up pump or nothing if you don't mind topping up every day would do the trick, of course more advanced systems would make it easier.