Feelers

It might have been me who asked, I'm still unconvinced by the people on reef central, it seems everyone says it wont work but noone has done it themselves. The guy who is trying it didnt post how it went. That water keeper guy seems to know what hes talking about but he doesn't go into why the buffering ect is stuffed up by the evaporation process. He also implies that the tanks that failed with synthetic ocean water didnt have their pH/alk levels measured. I rekon that's crap. He's probably refering to calcium carbonate , which would account for the altering of the pH, and the buffering stuffup, CaCO3 is soluble, and if the salt came from 100L of water it has to be soluble in that much water again, it might not be instantaneous but it will dissolve. I dont think I would trust this recipe haha but I would imagine making your own salt to be a lot cheaper than the bought stuff. Maybe a more accurate recipe with more additives could be found. The aquarium hobby is full of rippoffs, and buying salt seems ridiculous to me ( at the price any way) I just think people seem too obsessed with saying something won't work just because it doesnt cost $250 or have a nice shiny lable and a grinning petshop owner. (in this case it needs a little more care and a few additives) Its like activated carbon for aquarium filters, say $12 a bag(a geuss), while the average price for a pound of activated carbon is around 91cents US. (A pound of activated carbon is heaps because it's so lite) Does anyone have a comprehensive artificial salt recipe? I could give Clarks Chemicals a bell and see how much a batch would cost to make.

On a feild trip to kaikoura we had small shrimps ~ 4 cms swimming in small trays and icecream containers , some lasted more than 24 hours, although many didnt make it that far. Some small things (cm or less) like nematodes last for days.

Somehow I dont think a viper fish would make many peoples christmas lists, and the biggest thing thats facing the deep oceans is bottom trawling. Its the popularity of reef keeping that destroys it. Fortunately for me octopus numbers have massivly increased due to human activity.

Not a fish either, But still the top of my list. Pinnoctopus Condiformis(the maori octopus) As for real fish, how cool would a saber-toothed viperfish be? Maybe at some point in the future deep sea aquarium keeping might become a reality, everything's so weird and violently designed down there.

cheers, I got little glass lids to keep it contained and I think I'll put a stocking or something over the intake.

I'm gonna fill the tank with sea water, and I'll grab some live rock while I'm there. Nearly everyone on the octopus forums has a canister filter, often with sumps ect but they still say they are ok on their own: "Octopusus, on the other hand, aren't particularly sensitive to nitrates, and produce a lot of them as a by-product of being messy eaters. That's why reefcentral says no canisters, but we say they are fine. It is important that you do regular cleaning of the canister, to avoid the nitrates growing to unreasonable levels. I try to do this about once a month in my tanks." If it becomes a problem I'll build a fluidised bed filter(found a good plan), and I'm in the process of getting a skimmer. I dont quite follow on the dried salt thing, I understand that the drying process will partially decarbonate the water, but surely rehydration will bring it back to normal as fresh CO2 will replace it? But since I'll have slat water it shouldnt be an issue. I plan to use a mix of live sand and argonite to help buffer the pH. Marine salt seems way overpriced, just like everything else to do with marine tanks. My tank is 300L

I'm waitng for my new jebao 918 filter and I have some questions..... What rocks have good surface area for bio filter media? I was thinking of maybe scoria or pumace. I wanna find some cheap media there is no way i'm paying $50 for peices of plastic or ceramic tiles. Maybe second hand.... Also with cycling, I have an empty tank at the mo, and I was wandering if I can cycle my filter in say a bucket untill I get some real sea water. Can the water it cycles be fresh water? I'm geussing the switch to salt water would kill some of the bacteria? but then again they are pretty tough. It sucks, I cant even use tap water for my tank as copper is incredibly toxic to an octopus, and I think we have copper pipes. Also anyone know where to get straight sea salt? I figure a bulk bag should be pretty cheap ne ideas? cheers