Feelers

I've just been having some lectures on soil microbiology, its surprisingly interesting. :lol: Anywho - the biomass of a dsb is probably very large. I'm drawing a comparison between a sand bed and terrestrial soil but I think thats actually a reasonably fair comparison to make. (this is to a depth of 10 cm) SO - some cool WOW facts they love to throw in, the total biomass of microorganisms in a 100m x 100m square (hectare) is approximately 3000 to 4500 kg. The number of bacteria in that hectare is 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 15 billion times the human population. However - biomass is different from the idea of bioload. While sand beds have such a big biomass their bioload is obviously much smaller. Since tanks still survive well with a DSB added, that tells me the sand bed isnt out competing everyone for oxygen/nutrients. The biomass in the bed is a way to recycle nutrients back into the tank in a useable form - pods etc, out of what is available in the system. It cant be counted as load as say an additional fish or coral would. I definitely think pods etc are far better food than the typical foods people offer their tanks. You can use it for nutrient export though - run a dsb and it will take years to fill, at which point you can just disconnect it and replace the sand.

Skippy this... ^^^^^seems to fit the description of Ventricaria ventricosa in the link on bubble algae. You can see in your picture the reflection of the camera flash on the bubble(something I noticed before even reading the atricle) and two inches is about the size of a billiard isnt it? Pretty cool looking algae! I actually kinda like the look of red cyano also, it looks like lava. 8)

I have a 1000W oil fin, man is it useless. On full throttle, it takes them temp of my room up by about 8C, generally my room wont get hotter than 15C, the heater gets too hot and shuts itself off.

Our flat is about $170 split five ways.

I have read about someone having a large pond for sharks etc that was in their old swimming pool. With so much sunlight it might be difficult to control algae??? You could build a big skimmer out of PVC piping, since its outside you could make a massive one, (they are comparitivly cheap also). It would be cool to go out fishing then just chuck your catch in a save it for later.

WOW -for only two months the improvement is amazing! That's a brilliant effort.

Awesome stuff!

Love the racoon butterfly fish. I remember when I was 12 snorkling in raro and there was a pair that used to live under a little overhang on a big rock, loved them ever since. Cool.

$3000 US for two weeks power.

I think I'm like you Chimera, while I dont actually enjoy the fluffing round, I throughly enjoy the idea of "making them pay" for bad service. The thing is getting your $80 will be very satisfying, far more so than just being given the money. I love complaining - I have found that a well written letter is a good way to go about things. I would detail your plight - (you can just copy paste your list!), and go above the managers head with your letter. Inform them in the letter that you have a geunine grievence, and that if the matter is not resolved you will be warning "everyone on God's green earth" to stay away from HRV. Say that you feel you have throughly earned your bottle of wine, and that they already owe you $80 anyway, as a suggested start to regaining your custom.

I went into Mico and the guys had never heard of a bulkhead haha! After describing ad nauseum what it did, I eventually found them myself. After having spent litreally 10 minutes describing both what the fitting did and how it works - even a sketch showing the rubber gaskets and eventually an online picture of the fitting, he still didnt get it . "This is what I was looking for... " - "ohh, they use those on water tanks". Uggghh!!!! :roll: SO moral of the story is, these things are reffered to as "hanson fittings" if you are ever unfortunate enough to run into such troubles. My faith in humanity has been forever shaken.

Here you go.... http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/drain.php 40mm should be plenty - I just cant remember exactly what was acceptable, for 3000LPH a 32mm pipe might even be ok, there were a few threads about it here but since the search is funked, its really hard to find them. I think 40mm might even be overkill, the calculator should help, but I think it errs way to far on the safety side. Have you thought about how your overflow is gonna work - did you see crackers syphon overflow; that's supposedly the most silent?

40mm internal diameter? Should be heaps depending on how much flow you want. Do you know how much flow you are having - ie what return pump you are going with? You can make sure you match the hole to the pump.

http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html This is the best site on sumps - down the bottom there are links to "everything you wanted to know about sumps", all very useful.

Supposedly you shouldn't burn or use salt to get leeches off - they apparently convulse and regurgitate the blood back into your system along with numerous bacteria etc. so I read.... Scratching is the way to go

I had the pleasure of seeing TM's tank in person - it's awesome, everything seems really healthy and brightly coloured, I'm also a big fan of cube tanks. Definately someone who knows his stuff

You could have the water level in the second tanks overflow lower than that of the first - and pipe straight into its overflow from the back? All you'd need to do would be change the pipe hight that feeds the sump.

http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html is definately the best info on sumps I've found, towards the bottoms there's "everything you want to know about sumps".

The light needed for photosysthesis is mostly red and another peak at more of a yellow I believe, so the higher the K value past red, the less light available for the corals' photosynthesis. I think in the FAQ he was pointing out that what's bright to you might not be "bright" for photosynthesis, as opposed to saying "higher K ratings dont lower photosynthesis rates - its your perception thats lowered". (Which would be incorrect) If that makes sense

I've dealt with that guy before he was pretty good -( if it is the DeepBlueAquarium guy), I'd ask for a refund if you arent happy, hopefully he will sort it?

Fortunately there arent too many flatworms in my trademe account - sounds like things are getting serious at your end. :lol: Edit - I see you fixed it

I got to see the TimTec in action -very nice. Tm's tank is also looking really good - beautiful diversity of corals and fish.

Im creating a coldwater setup - taken backstage while exams were going, but slowly getting it back on track. 17C is the supposed temp maxium, anything higher might not kill but will stress the livestock. Rock pool animals are pretty tough - so I'm not really sure where this number comes from, but you are probably best to stick with it as a guideline. As for chillers - if you want "cheap" go with an aquaone chiller. I was talking to a guy at a reputable petstore and he said they are very good quality for the price. Not actually cheap though - $600-$1000 depending on the size of your tank. I would suggest about 200L-400L, meaning you can get a smaller 1/4hp chiller. $600 No special lighting is required. You'd want skimmer - something like a weipro 2014 ~$160 new. There are a couple old ones floating around which would be a bit cheaper. Of course you can skip everything - some people have reported success with no fancy equipment, and had good stable tanks , it depends on what you are looking for.

Gotta say its' placement in the house isnt very good - looks like it's been stuck in a hallway waaay in the air. Im a firm believer in having the tank as more of a centre peice, it seems a waste to have such a nice tank in such an unfriendly looking location. Fantastic colours though!

I think it's great that Layton carries on the debate, just because he is in the minortiy I dont think less of his opinion or that he should stop. He is very well versed in the literature, and this gets everyone else reading too. I enjoy a good argument, and so do other regular posters. Afterall he started this thread - noone else had to reply, it was very clearly setup for a debate. Layton I think the science is still missing for the nutritional value of bacteria vrs eukaryotes - I also think a DSB makes a very alien environment from the natural reef, so everything is very much speculation on both parts. What happened with your DSB?