Off-Topic

MTG

Moderator
Jul 10, 2011
10,664
2,149
Gold Coast
hi my name is Adam and im an aquaholic, its been two weeks since my last fish purchase. At my worse i was selling my body for flakes and the opportunity to hear a vortech grinding away. I hope out of coming here today i may be able to walk past a fish shop without thinking "its fresh stock Thursday i need to see what has come in"
i used to be like that untill my tank got full! :worship
 
V

'vspec'

Guest
Welcome to the recent new people.
I hope you enjoy your stay. If your feeling tied from all the reading, Ward C is down the hall. Only problem is, once you check in, you can never leave...muhahaha
 
hehehehe just found this topic.. i have gotten into the habit of calling the MASOV meetings AA meetings (aquariums anonymous.) unfortunately i got so comfortable with this statement that one day my dad asked me what i did last weekend.. and i said.. oh not much.. went to my AA meeting and had a few beers.. his poor old heart almost couldnt take it.. i saw little flashing spots in his eyes and all.. it took me 10 mins to explain it to him and mum.. :)
 

Agent M

Member
Oct 21, 2011
3,536
1,586
Melbourne
Hi I'm Megan - better introduce myself as I have been here for a while now! Just re-sparked my interest in this hobby after 2 years of inactivity, though my tank was still running. I'm always working away on some pet project of mine (often involving animals as it happens)

My interests and work revolve around the natural world. I work in the field of constructed wetlands, and I will never forget the first time I waded into a flooded cow paddock alongside a trainline in my gumboots, was handed a pair of goggles and told to put my face in the water. I thought - Ew, are you kidding me? But once I did, what I saw would rival the most insane fresh water planted tank - vibrant pinks, reds and greens. I felt the same the first time I went into a marine shop and have been hooked ever since! Before that I used to go to the beach and freak out if something touched my leg in the water :p

I wish more people would look up, go outside, look around when they are driving, know the name of that plant no one notices yet is everywhere you go, just be more aware of these things and care about them.​
I've been enjoying this online playground, the kids here play nice and have a great sense of humour! Thanks for the laughs and looking forward to many more.​
 

Agent M

Member
Oct 21, 2011
3,536
1,586
Melbourne
Naw really Grug? I'm ok in Vic because I know now what I'm looking at, before I'd see some odd looking critter and be scared of it. I snorkelled in Malaysia and the heart got pumping a few times when my imagination got the better of me. I ventured off into deeper water on my own, and suddenly thought 'if the fish are getting bigger and bigger, what eats them is going to be pretty big too', so I paddled as fast as I could into the shallows and felt so lame!
 
Yeah Really.. mainly coz the water in Port Phillip is so non see through.. so it could be anything down there.. :)
Did ok on a scuba dive on the great barrier reef though.. but i could see more that usual so it was all good.
 

Sarg

Member
Dec 11, 2011
2,559
926
Cheltenham
Hi all, I've had freshwater aquariums since early teens i recon. I have just moved to melbourne from brissie and sold a tank i had left one in my house (built into the wall) and left one in storage aka under mums house. I brought a 3 x1.5x1.5 stand down with me and am tossing up the idea of a small marine tank. I tried on in this tank about 10 years ago up in brissie on some dodgy advice from a retailer up there and in the end couldnt keep the temp low enough so had to shut it down as i couldnt afford a chiller at the time.

If i go ahead this time i'm going to get the chiller and all mechanical items first then set up the tank. Was thinking of running a basic sump set up, why does everybody use weirs instead of a few bulkheads drilled into the back of the tank which is the norm with freshwater?, skimmer live rock. Everything seems fairly easy and straight forward equipment wise except for the chiller. Noise and power and cost.
I dont have a massive budget or the abilty to run externally (atm). To be honest power consumtion is my biggest concern. Budget wise i could afford to get moderatly ok equipment it will just take longer to save and setup which isnt really a concern.

I thinking the tank will hold live rock a few corals a couple of clowns shrimp blenny all the usual things for a newbie lol... though in saying that those few things will be all i need.

Any victorians care to share wether they use a chiller and how much they recon it is on? Do you bother turning it off or just leave it on. I spoke to a guy at an aquarium nearby and he got a chiller of ebay cant remeber the brand but he said it works well though he previously never used one but is glad he did invest in one.

Anyway thats about it. For now i'll keep poking around re learning and hopefully I venture down this track as i would like to give it another shot, but as my wife says i have to many hobbies that use up money i'm allowed to get a tank but when i said marine she promplty said the expensive setup thats hard to maintain lol. Golf is my main pastime, fish (and fishing) played a big role in qld and also have a couple of bonsai to look after (how i found this place jamies sig at ausbonsai)... and photography.... and PS3.... oh two wonderfull little kids too.

Andy
 

Agent M

Member
Oct 21, 2011
3,536
1,586
Melbourne
Hi Andy and family, I have never had a chiller and never seen my tank go above 28 degrees. Personally, I would suss out how hot your new house gets before I set up a tank. If you plan well and position the tank in the coolest part of the house, and make sure you have air con for if we have a heat wave and the really hot days - you should be right. We have been getting some warm days on weekends so I would monitor the air temp on those days to give you a taste of things to come once summer kicks in (get an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer from Bunnings in the garden section for $12). You can also take steps to make your house cooler over all. Some of these options can be expensive, however contribute to the comfort of your whole family, which I'm sure your wife will be happy about! Insulation, outdoor blinds, good quality block out curtains on all the windows etc. Assuming you are buying and not renting that is.

Your tank will be cycling for a good chunk of summer so that gives you time to work out if a chiller is needed. In my last house, the tank was on the east side of the house and I had large bushes outside the window that prevented a lot of light coming in and block out curtains. On hot days I would keep the tank lights off and shut the curtains, and if my mum wasn't home with the air con on I didn't need to worry about my tank. In the new house the tank is in a poorly insulated spot with light beating down on it through laser lighting, so if the weather is going to be over 26 degrees, I know the air temp will start climbing around lunchtime and will get to at least 30 degrees in there, so I set my aircon (wall unit) on a timer and put the temp on 26 degrees. I have other animals who are easily affected by the heat to consider so it's not just for my tank.

HTH and welcome!
 

NiCd

Lead Moderator
Jul 29, 2011
4,296
1,586
Sydney
Hi Sarg,

Welcome to the hobby!

a 3x18x18 will allow you to go a few interesting things and keep alot of the smaller fish quiet well

We use weirs instead of bulk heads because first up they are easier to keep quiet, bulk heads require 20cm behind the tank so we generally prefer to have a 20cm deeper tank and then have a 12cm deep weir taking up a small corner of our tanks :) also a weir allows you to skim off a thinner layer of surface water where proteins and wastes are concentrated.

Heat and power consumption go hand in hand, there is a whole range of low power items now that do a far better job than what you would have been using 10 years ago. There are propeller based circulation pumps such as the Tunze 6045 which use 6w of power and turn over 4500l/h before you would have been using power heads that use 100w of power to do the same thing. Jager heaters use nearly half the power of other brands to achieve the same results. LED lights are the biggest saver for most of us but they need to be quality, you can now use a 50w light that will yield better results than a 250w of previous technology.

During a 40* heat wave tanks will wipe out unless steps are taken, as mentioned some A/C their home which generally requires it to be used in conjunction with low power options as outlined above, which if your worried about power is taking a global solution to a local problem and you will be using 7kw/h as opposed to 200w/h if a chiller was used. but has the added benefit of making you cozy. You can have fans blowing across the waters surface that will drop the tank temp by a few degrees and in most cases is sufficient but evaporates off massive amounts of water and is only effective in low humidity. Ice blocks and then generally used. Incorporating chillers are really the only lazy and safe option that gives you full piece of mind (IMO) but can be used in conjunction with fans to reduce how often they are required.

Some people take their chillers offline in the winter as they are not needed, but its difficult to take them on and offline depending on the days you would have the clean the water out and flush it before use each time you stop the water circulation for any extended period of time as hydrogen sulphide builds up in there due to decay and is poisonous to most living things including ourselves. There is thermostats fitted to most that disengage the compressor so they only work when they are required and only use a few w's of power when in this standby mode, your only power usage will then be the pump you have feeding it, which if selected appropriately is SFA.

Ebay isnt a bad way to buy, there is also a range of grey importers that sell them very cheaply compared to LFS.

My best advice is to take things slow and buy decent gear and do things right the first time as it will make everything that much more enjoyable.
 

VaultBoy

Member
Jul 10, 2011
2,279
673
Gawler, S.A.
Hi Andy and :welcome

The reason we use weirs in marine tanks it to take only the top layer, where the protein accumulates on the surface, to the sump/skimmer to be cleaned up! In a planted tank you probable noticed a layer of scum forming ontop of the water, this is what we are trying to avoid by having efficient surface skimming ability so the bigger/longer the weir the better it works.

I had to modify my sump a couple of weeks ago so I had no protein skimmer for a week. The surface of my water got a layer of scum on it so thick it took nearly a whole rollof paper towel floating on the surface to clean it up! I highly recommend a weir and sump system!

Jack.
 

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
Sarg :welcome. When I lived in Melbourne there was probably only a few weeks a year when I needed to cool the tank. I found the best option was the house air conditioning together with closed curtains etc. If the room for the tank has A/C then I don't think you will need a chiller.
 

Sarg

Member
Dec 11, 2011
2,559
926
Cheltenham
Thanks for the replys . Ok weir it is then!!

Unfortunately I'm renting so no AC and no chance of them putting it in lol it will be right near a window but it has a blind on it that is easily closed. Only been here 2 months but we've had a few hot days and the house got reasonably warm. It's the coral more so than the fish that can't handle the temp isn't it?

I was planning on led's an ehiem compac pump (sold a 3000 i had and never used just before I left brissie aarghh) and those tunze fans.

Does a chiller use more power than a 7kw AC, did I read that right?

I think I will set it up, just slowly I'm not in a rush can't be lol I don't have the cash straight up
 

Sarg

Member
Dec 11, 2011
2,559
926
Cheltenham
I had a jäger heater too unused though 300 watt may have been overkill. Thinking about it the system I sold was a 4x2x2 home made stand ehiem compac jäger heater sump.... Would have been perfect
 

NiCd

Lead Moderator
Jul 29, 2011
4,296
1,586
Sydney
A chiller uses nowhere near as much power as A/C a HC150a which should be suitable for that size tank uses 240w/hr when running, compared 7000w/h of a normal a/c unit for a large living area