Tom Gunner

Here's a couple of shots of my old 20 Gallon planted tank: Unfortunatly I had to give it away when I moved over here from Canada, and since then I've been dabbling in a bit of marine: But I really want to build a 4 foot planted Discus tank over here, I just have to wait until my wife has a baby and we can afford it! This site is a real inspiration, and there's some great tanks in NZ. Cheers, Chris.

"T5 compact" Can you get those lights over here in 10,000k and actinic? One problem I found in building Nano tanks in New Zealand is the range of suitable bulbs in smaller sizes. In the states and Canada I can remember them selling quite a range of smaller power compacts, but here it seems to be either the standard sized T5's, or MH which get far too hot for a compact hood.

"and hopefully rid myself of the Caulerpa once and for all." I do realise that statement is painfully optimistic.

Cheers Wasp. I'll give the boiling water trick a go once I've cleaned it all off. I'll post my experiences of cleaning the tank out - hopefully it should deter anyone repeating the same mistake.

When I started my small little pico tank, I thought I would chuck some Caulerpa in there as I thought it might look quite nice growing along with the coral. Nearly a year and a half later, the weed is everywhere and it's starting to annoy me as I just can't seem to get rid of the stuff. I'm going to pull the tank to bits in a week or so, clean the sand out, brush the rocks off, and hopefully rid myself of the Caulerpa once and for all. Does anyone know of any good techniques for doing this? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's made the mistake of adding this to there tank only to severely regret it later. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Great shots. How big is the tank & Sump?

Great. I'll score one of these then.

That's what I found, it seems incredibly cheap. I'm all for buying NZ, but not at 200% more.

I'm considering getting this RO/DI from these guys in the UK: http://www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.php/cPath/22/products_id/90 This works out to be around $210 NZD, which seems quite a reasonable price for a 50 Gallon Per Day 4 Stage unit. I'd prefer to buy NZ - Are there any suppliers over here that can beat that price?

We have the Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4.5 at work, it's a great lens although it tends to be a bit soft around the edges at 2.8. If you can get your hands on the Canon 50mm macro (or the 100mm), I'd advise buying one. I borrowed a friend of mine's, and it's absolutly crystal. Great for Aquariums shots.

Beautiful shots Jeff. Great Tank aswell - what size is it? What lens are you using?

Suphew - I'm starting to plan out something bigger - a clown and anenome tank. I'd like a 100 litre cube, no sump, but partitioned for a skimmer and equipment in the back - no pumps in the main tank, hence the loc-line. Custom built stand and hood like the one I have at the moment, but I'd like to see if I could design a reasonably slimline hood housing a stripped down 150W Halide and a cooling system.

Thanks Zev.

Does anybody know if Loc-Line plumbing parts (or equivalent) are stocked in NZ? I'm after the flare nozzles and the connecting arms: http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=LL1315 It would be good find a supplier of these types of parts.

Cheers guys, JDM - I think my dimensions are 280 wide X 180 deep. I made it a little too small, if I was to rebuild I would make sure another small pump could fit in the baqck for more circulation. The lighting is 2X18watt PC one 10,000K and Actinic. I run a HOB filter on the back with just LR in there. No skimming, just add Kalk, and do a 15% water change each week which takes all of 5 minutes. I recieved a lot of advice (and frags) off Pies, Suphew, Cracker, and Reef. You can learn a lot off these guys.

This is my little 8 litre tank. I think it's the smallest one on this site. This has been running for 14 months and still going strong.

That's what I was thinking. I've just switched to Red-sea ASW, from IO, which may have screwed with the levels. On a 7 litre tank, how would you suggest dosing magnesium? (sorry, I've just hijacked the thread).

From the EXIF data on his shots, he's using a Fujifilm finepix S5500, on manual mode. It's a great camera, but with the drop in DSLR bodies, I would advise going for a good entry level DSLR rather than the large fixed lens point and shoots. The flexibility of lens choice is well worth the extra amount, as well as superior image quality. My choice would be the Nikon D50, or even the Canon 350D.

That makes sense. I might test before and after tonight. I'm struggling to keep my CA/KH up at the moment, even with adding 2-part, and I need to get to the bottom of the problem.

In general, when is the best time for testing CA & KH - right after dosing, just before, or a set time in-between? I've often wondered about this - surely the levels drop as they are used by the tank - therefore there must be a prime window of testing. What's the consensus on this?

I have my Canon S80 on trademe: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=81219470&ed=true The 28mm lens is a great wide range for tank shots - I took this with it: http://www.pbase.com/chris_and_jen/image/56368511

A big issue that people have run into with LED lighting for nano's is the huge amount of heat that they crank out. I'd plan for some decent ventelation on the hood. Please keep us posted on how you go with them - I'd like to see your progress on the project.

From what you've just described, I think you'll have a winning tank. Especially with the black background and hidden plumbing. Please do a stage by stage diary posting when you start. btw - Are you running halides on your tank at the moment or just T5's?

Great photography, and a very nice tank. When you upgrade, are you going to make the tank slightly wider than the cutout to hide the streams? Personally I hate exposed intank equipment, although powerheads are hard to hide.

I've been using PureDew, for both ASW and topups. It's the only one that seems to be RO water, and seems to be working a treat. I get the 10 litre flagons from New world for around $6 (which could work out a bit pricey for a big tank).