Feelers

Yeah the plan would be to grow one phyto high in Hufa - N. Oculata, and one high in DHA - Isochrysis galbana. I dont know if I have the luxury of choosing what species to grow, but the uni may have these on hand. What's the deal with water changes and filtration in the fry tank? And an air bubbler? Do you want big fat bubbles or fine ones?

Well been doing a lot of reading.... Found one guy who successfully raised (well up untill the point where they are likely to survive) maroon clowns. He tried 3 times, and failed, but on each instance the food he used wasnt the best. On the 4th attempt ~50 survived, (with the "proper" food) I think the key to raising the fry is to have a reliable source of phytoplankton and rotifers(the hard part). From what I can see, growing pyto and rotifers is "easy", but having them available when you need them and not having crashes ect requires a lot of pre planning, and a lot of time. I asked my Marine lecturer about any help - and the uni doesnt grow phyto or anything! I may be able to ask my microbio lecturer for a starter culture of phyto, but thats probably as good as it will get. I'll see if I can grow 2 different species, which apparantly improves survival of the fry. I dunno where to get the rotifers - I was told if I go out with a plankton net and a microscope I can seperate some out. I think I'll have some practice at growing the phyto and rots, and try to get a good system down. I think I'd lke to have 2 seperate batches of rots, incase one of the cutlures dies I'd have a back up. Pies didnt you have a go at rotifers before? Where were your original cultures from?

I think the links arent working either?? Perhaps the server has a problem. Do you think this would be suitable for sand aswell?

Where'd the picture go? I think I might give this a jam, what are you gonna put in it?

A drain pipe or something a similar size would probably do the trick.

Nice job! The window's awesome. Just a question about cooking the perspex - do you think that if you have the perspex resting on the top of the PVC in the oven it would soften and melt around it? Do you have a link for this design?

For a pair mandarins though I'd need a massive tank(so they can feed themselves) wouldnt I? I'll send an email and see about the rotifers. When using brineshrimp are they enriched? Ie letting them soak up cyclopeeze or something before feeding? The guy who trying to breed fire shrimp used straight brineshrimp, which seemed a weird way to do it.

Has anyone actually tried "cooking" the rocks at really warm temperatures to speed up the bacteria's metabolism? I would say that 32C would probably be a perfect temperature, although I'd have to look into it, there might be a higher temp that could be beneficial. I have my rock in the sea, and will be getting to that stage soon, I spose I could run a test to find out if it makes a difference. Can anyone see any problems with (more literally) cooking them at elevated temps?

Some good suggestions, I have looked a little further into the shrimp thing, and the accounts that I read had some things that I wouldnt have done myself. Thanks for the ideas, it does make more sense with the fish, so thats what I'll swap the plan around to now. Are both fish a similar leval of difficulty? Would I be best off with the cardinals? Reef how did your baby bangais go? I get on really well with my marine bio lecturer - I think that I maybe able to source rotifers from there. On the probable failure thing, yeah I know my chances arent good. However, aquaculturing is my intended career path, and at least I'll learn some things along the way. Long term, mimic octopus rearing is something I would love to do (an "impossibility" at this stage) Ummm unfortunately I do :oops: , as a geuss is it because there are so many cheap wild-caught ones around? What would the minimum tank size be for say for a happy pair of bangias? I want a real challenge, and this seems to be a good one!!! I will also have access through the uni to all the papers on the subject, so there might be some useful info somewhere out there. Perhaps I could convince my lecturer to give me a hand. Man would that be sweet!!!

Well, I think I wanna try my hand at breeding cleaner shrimp, and was wanting some thoughts. I was thinking a setup specific for a breeding pair, which means I wont have to worry about the eggs being eaten or sucked up into the sump ect. I want to setup a phytoplankton culture, and in turn culture rotifers. Do you guys know of any good links on either of these ? Definately wanna go diy with eveything, it should be an interesting experiment. I dont really expect to successfully raise any shrimp, but I wont know if I dont try, and it'll be some good experience. So what size tank do you guys think will be good for the parents? How succeptable to water parameters are these guys? Do you need to worry about alk, ect? I was thinking I could use my weipro skimmer, so that should keep their tank clean and oxygenated. I have a 90L tank that was gonna be my sump for the coldwater tank, but I upgraded, so do guys think that will be big enough? ( I'll be taking the eggs out and raising them in another tank.) Any tips would be appreciated.

On the SCWD note, many report a 40% drop in head from the pump, which is heaps!!

Dont worry , getting back on track. Im wondering how much maintence is a sand bed? Like if you do it once month will the sand be ridiculously dirty? I'm gonna be feeding really messy live food, so there's probably gonna be a lot of gunk around. What do you guys put under the tank if it's bb? Do you paint the bottom?

Whatever man, I'm not here to proove anything. I like it here because the people are friendly, I like them, and they are interested in some of the same things as me. And I really did find the colour thing interesting. (I wasnt trying to show off, I found it because your question sparked an interest) And I thought others might find it interesting/funny/howevertheytookit too. I always try to avoid confrontation in my posts, and I dont think that was a fair thing to say.

Slappers pack your vodka.

I was genuinely interested in whether one colour was more popular than others,(I just started taking psyc lectures haha) (not a dig at Layton). None the less I was surprised with my findings. 8)

Haha, yeah I fired up my chiller too - dont have a tank setup so I chilled a 1 litre jug of water down to 5 degrees. :lol: And the LCD readout's great, when you press the button it makes a satisfyingly loud beep, like you've really achieved something. 8)

Sorry it wasnt a most popular sand contest. Just colour....... unfortunately the data probably cant be extrapolated. :lol: However, I do also think that bright Chartreuse would not look good in a reef tank. -I'll bet you a fiver. 8)

Does anyone have a phytoplankton reactor? Anyone know of any good designs floating around? I saw someone culturing rotifers from phytoplankton in a RC totm. I would love to try and raise clearner shrimp at some stage.

Based on a recent survey, "Palace Blue" was deemed the most popular colour, being chosen by 15% of participants, in a test of 44 colours. Which is actually quite a strong result. Bright Chartreuse was deemed the worst, :lol: Now, where would one find "Palacial Blue Sand" I wonder....

Layton is it online somewhere? I still have uni access so I could perhaps post the rest.

I agree, , I think Laytons very well versed, and as they say variety is the spice of life.

Hurrah!!! Got a great deal and xmas finally came at last. $450 for ''brand new'' (never been used but 2nd hand) http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/chillers-vt9860.html 2nd one down, the Aqua One Chiller 1/2HP 400L CC50 from some guy in Chch. The chiller is quite a bit bigger than I expected! Real stoked with the price though, I was preparing to buy one new at $900 I'm just about ready to start my tank finally.

Ohhh, I thought a crash was you come home one day and the tank is all dead or dieing. I thought it was a fast happening thing, like a sudden release of all the phospate due to some shift in the dynamics of the sand bed... or something. :oops: In that case the term "timebomb" seems a little unjustified. I dont think I'd be too scared by a new wave of Al Quaeda attacks with slow release post-accumulation expulsion devices. Wouldnt have quite the same ring to it. :lol:

Personally, I think that a sand bed will fill up, and become a "septic tank" as layton says. If organic gunk is landing on surely it will sink down into it. However, if it does leech PO4, the amount doesnt seem to be un-managable. If you have a good skimmer surely it just skims out whats being released, and you have the other benefits of a sand bed. Otherwise Pies tank would have loads of PO4 problems, and surely his sand bed is old enough to be "full"? All the tanks that crashed - did anyone do a phospahte test(out of interest)? Oooh I'm now a 3 star citizen! :lol: