Pies

I have removed the Salifert Phosphate killer I was using. At some stage soon I will add it into my 2nd stage CA reactor so my CA efluant moves through it. I am using about a 5 ounce wiskey glass of carbon. I change this every week or so. It sits in a stocking pegged into my sump. I don't use or add any other products to the tank other than fish food. Pies

Day 14 Added 7drops Zeobak & 7drops Zeofood and 3ml Zeostart. So thats it I have been stiring the media most days. As per brendons suggestion I will add 2ml of Zeostart every 2nd day. Brendon - I assume I should continue with water changes of approx 5% every week? Will keep you all posted. NickS, JetSkiSteve & Layton - Where you guys at and whats the verdict so far? Pies

Doch - Good luck with the new setup. Steve can help point you in the right direction. Don't be put off by the complexity, you get out what you put in. To get you going there are 3 things you will need. 1. A good quality skimmer is worth its weight in gold. There are some good 2nd hand skimmers around and it can never be too big. Don't be fooled by the shops, get some advice from someone running a good tank, it all starts with the skimmer. 2. More rock is better than less rock. Good quality live rock is 'the filter' for the system. There is quite a bit about at the moment but don't be stingy. Less is more does not apply to rock so load up. 3. Patience. Although it can't be brought it is the most important thing you will need. Although there are some quick fixes out there most of us just rely on time. Take it slow and you will be rewarded with a healty environment. Best of luck. Pies

Day 13. Added 7 drops Zeobak & 7 drops Zeofood & 3ml Zeostart. Tested my water too: Temprature - approx 25C (moves a little). KH/ALK - 8.1 (salifert) PH - 8.3max 7.97min (pinpoint) CA - 420 (Salifert) Magnesium - 1350 (salifert) Phosphate - Undetectable (Salifert highrange & Hagen) doubble checked Nitrate - 5 approx (Salifert) Other changes to the tank? Replaced my old (11 month) 2x250w 10k BLVs with 2 new 10k BLVs. Did approx 10% water change today. Over all the tank is looking great with the exception that I still have some algae (byroprosiss or byopsiss or whatever). No more coral deaths but both corals did die. I think some of the Acros have lightened in colour a little, but its early days yet. Not much else to report. Tommorow is the last day of the system for now. From this point on I will not add any more Zeoproduct unless something drastic changes or Brendon suggests something needs to be done, otherwise its just sit back and watch. Pies

Digital salinity metres are a good 'checksum' indicator. For true accuracy use a refractometer for specific gravity, much more accurate and very easy to use, last for ever. If anyone is going to do an order from Seame please let me know, I would like some PH calibration fluid please. Cheers Pies

I use an 'Pin Point' PH monitor. www.seame.com has them and orders over $75US are free international shipping. Robbo - These probes are designed to run 24/7 submerged in saltwater/freshwater and I know someone who has had one running for over 6 years now without issue. Also there are far cheaper 'pocket PH testers' that can be found for under $30USD. Just take off the lid, pop it in the water, read the reading, rinse and dap with a cloth or paper towel. Thats it. Note - all of these units require calibration every so often (6months to 1 year). Calibration fluid costs .99c USD and its thrown away once spent. All units measue .1 or .01 (the one I have) and are high quality. 'Pin Point' my American Marine have an excellent reputation. Colour chart tests are almot imposilbe to read, and I only found them usefull for high, medium or low readings with no accuracy. Other probes available are Temp, ORP, Dissolved Oxygen and Calcium (KH in freshwater not Calcium tests are availabel for saltwater). Probes for Nitrite, Nitrate, Iron, Amonia etc are all out of our price ranges (10s of thousands of dollars). Good luck Pies

Layton - You are supposed to stop adding Zeofood after 14 days don't just stop the ZEOBAK stop both! Jane has been dosing the Zeovit for me while I have been away. As per the system. Yesterday - 7drops Zeofood, 7 drops Zeobak & 3ml Zeostart. Today (day 12) - 7drops Zeofood, 7 drops Zeobak. No real changes yet. Tank looks the same, algae is the same, coral colour is the same, skimmer is skimming the same. Will do a water change tommorow, is a few days over due but since I was away I couldn't do anything about it. Will test water later tonight and post. Will also remove my PHOSPHATE resun tonight. Pies

Bah! The pump wouldn't make any different, I just don't have the space inside the sump. Growtech isn't Thomas Pohl's company though is it? Its just s zeolith reactor made by Growtech, there are no doubt other similar designs. Seriously though. Why not have the outlet on the side? Then you could just leave the top off alltogether. Then just reach in and pull the handle. If I knew how to build one I would Pies

Whoever designed the Growtech reactor needs a slap. Why did't they put the outlet on the side? Then you could do without the lid and just reach in and stir the media without having to wrestle with the lid. Or you could have the lid as a 'saftey' control. I give the reactor 1/10. Thoughts? Pies

I love the Tunze Streams: I currently have my pumps set to 50% / 100% with a 12 hr night cycle always running at 50%. On top of that they are off for 1 hr lights on and 2 hrs lights off. This means out of a maximum of 576,000 litres of water movement every 24hrs I am only moving 318,000 every 24hrs. Or 13,250 litres an hr on average with the streams. This means that if my tank is 700 litres (it is without displacement) then the Tunze Streams offer on average 18 times my volume every hour. But its higher during the day than at night. On top of that I have 2x Ehiem 1262 (3800 litre and hr) pumps running through a sea swirl and SCWD. These are consistant flows and always running (they are sump returns). Some of my corals are within a few inches on my streams, some of them 4 feet away. Different corals different requirements. For an SPS dominated tank I would NEVER have less flow that I have now. I have no plans to increase the flow in my tank beyond what it is currently. However if my tank grows the way I would like it too, the addition of 2 more Streams is a posibility. Good luck & I hope this helps. Pies

I have blue, green and purple staghorns with a total of over 20 different Acropora specices (or colour variants). Most are becomming small colonies now though, which is great.

Well am back from the 'Auckland Reef Tank Tour 04'. Great stuff. A big thanks to Alois & Morine & Neeve & Luke & Xenia & Scooter for putting me up, running me around, feeding me and giving me somewhere to sleep Anyone who hasn't seen Alois's tank should, its, well its big... Steve & Carla & Alisha - Thanks for picking me up (getting me out of bed) and running me all over Auckland for 2 days. I had a great time and its always good to see you guys. Steves tank is proof that tanks don't need to be huge to be spectacular. NickS - Great to meet you and your family. Your tank is looking good, but that BIG sump is calling Brendon - Great to meet you. Brendon is our resident 'zeovit guy'. His tank was quite small & had 1200watts of light!!! and was looking very good considering that it had only been setup for a short period of time. It was interesting hearing Brendon say he can't wait for his corals to colour up! Funny because they looked stunning to me. Let us know how you get on with chopping up that power head Chris B - Probably not going to read this but thanks again for showing me your tank, sorry to get you out of bed (I know how that is!). Adam H - You deck & spa looks well good, as does your tank. Adams tank was probably the best looking tank this time around (they were all good but one had to be best). I have visited Adam a few times before and have always been impressed but its just looking AWESOME. Complete coverage of coral everywhere, blood shrimp out and about, happy looking fish (not sure about that humbug though). A real labour of love and a good effort, ohhh and the new sump position looking 1000x time better Dave (punk rock 'The Clash' Dave) - Daves tank looks great. Dave has extended his house and somehow his MASSIVE tank looks small! Ohhh and thanks for the lift and the loan of your car and the tour of you obscene music collection. Desh - Great to finally meet you. You tank was looking great and its a shame you are breaking it down. Desh has some great DIY gear running on his tank and some of his corals are looking awesome. Good luck with you OE and if you return to NZ I hope you do start another tank. I also got to visit Hollywood Fish Farm North Shore and Jansens Three Kings. Damn this is an expensive hobby but wasn't too much stuff in the tanks so I didn't buy anything from either shop. I will update some pictures as soon as I can. Thanks again to everyone who made my Easter trip so much fun and for all the offers of frags, cups of coffee, biscuts and chocolate easter eggs. Cheers Mark

Its dark and I have been drinking, ohh and my haed hurts and I am wet... Dosed 7 drops Zeobak, 7 drops Zeofood.

Well its my last day of work today (I quit!) and I am sitting downstairs sending emails and finishing off some things. I head a splash and the noise of alluminimum scratching, which are my T5 reflectors. OHH NO! Another fish jumped out! I looked everywhere but could see nothing. O-well I will do a count when the lights come on. Lights on and all fish are there + 1! The Six Line Wrassee has jumped back into the tank! Whoohoo! The end of a little drama and I am quite happy! YAY!

Great colour on this acro, one of the nicest in my tank, shame its nor bigger! Pies

Layton - Maybee its an after effect of the sugar causing your algae problem? Dosing sugar is reported to cause algae blooms. I know that hair algae can grow in a normal tank without the use of the Zeolite or iron additions. I have had an ourbreak of green algae (byrosiss) in my tank since late January. Nothing else has changed, so I assume its a problem with my bulbs shifting spectrum. I do hope however that the Zeovit kills it off. Layton - You have droped you KH frm 10 - 8, maybee this has triggered it. Any other changes in your paramaters, high mg can also cause algae. From everything I have read about Zeovit, German, American, Welsh, English & Australian none are reporting algae as a problem. RTN, too little algae, dieing or unhealthy soft corals are all reported, but not algae from what I have read. I too saw small iron (I assume) deposits on a few peices of Zeolite, but like iron in most rocks I assume its inert. I have no idea though. I know iron is required by plants in grow in freshwater, is this true for marine algae? Layton - How about putting up your additions and timeframe. Are you still adding Zeobak/Zeofood? How much Zeolite? Are you using Zeostart? How many drops a day? Water changes? Etc. Pies

Dosed 3ml Zeostart, 7drops Zeobak & 7 drops Zeofood. Cleaned skimmer cup, not really any different to normal. No more coral recession, no more problems... today. Everything else looks as happy and healthy as ever. Pies

I am in Auckland for the weekend and am going to be out visiting and nabbing frags as I go I hope to visit Steve Woods, Nick S, Adam H, Alois, Desh, Chris B & Brendon. I will also be visiting Hollywood (both stores) and Jansens (3 Kings). So have I missed anyone? If so i'd love to see your setup. I will have my camera with me and will be snapping pics as I go. Cheers Mark

But their was a picture of a red 5 legged starfish. Although I see its gone now, what happened to it?

OK, I know I am a bit slow. Spell it out for me cause I still don't get it.

G.Alexander, thanks for the reply and your thoughts. I will try and answer what I can. I check SG with a refractometer, and have had my tank checked with a different refractometer. I am confident that my refractometer is giving a fairly accurate reading. 0.025. I am happy to slowly reduce my SG. This is easily done by increasing my top off by another 15 mins a day until it drops. I have always run it at 0.025 however. If it should be changed can you explain why? You also said you have a similar problem when running yours higher, did you mean with Zeovit and higer or just higer? I use a CA reactor, and am not exactly sure how to reduce my KH anymore than it is. The Zeovit instructions say to aim for about 8, so mine should be OK? I do run carbon. I have no idea what the brand is. Its the same stuff I have been running since day one though. I do change it every week or so. It is just pegged on to the side of my sump. I have no idea how to check the carbon I use, or what is available here is any better than what I already have. I have NO intention on using SUPER EXPENSIVE carbon, I simply can not afford it. I have 2 phosphate and 2 Nitrate tests. Salifert and Hagen. Both give similar readings. I know what you mean about my coral colour, and have no answer to it. I run a DelTec APF 850 skimmer, which should be more than adiquite, I feed carefully and have few fish. This is the reason I am trying the Zeovit product, as I do belive the reason for my SPS colour issues is these nutrients. No elements are being added to my tank, CA reactor, Zeovit & water changes. Thats it. I am running a bag of Salifert Phosphate Killer. I am happy to remove it, but don't see any connection. Why should I be un a hurry to remove it? I am happy to remove .5 litres on Zeovit media. Less is more? I don't want to over react. I am also trying to let Brendon (Zeovit supplier here in NZ) control the way that Zeovit is applied to my system. I will discuss the changes you have suggested with him before I do anything. I am concerned that the Zeovit is to blame for the problems I am having though. If there is a danger of mass coral loss or other problems I am prepared to cut my losses and stop. The Zeovit is expensive as it is, I don't want to compound it with additional costs of coral loss. Tommorow will be a very interesting day. Thanks for your input. Pies

Ira - I know we went to different schools but doesn't that startfish have 5 limbs? Or am I missing something?

Brendon, I'm not paniced, but I am concerned. If I was paniced I would have done a major water changed and ripped out the Zeovit. Zeovits reputation and the experance of others using it is the only thing stoping me for doing so though. I am not a big beliver in coninsodince (my job forces me to be a sceptic) and suspect these problems are 'caused' by the Zeovit system, stressing the coral. I have no way to prove this other than no problems existed prior to the introduction of the system. Any other changes? Cleaned skimmer and changed carbon, but these are normal tasks for me and not influanced by Zeovit. I replaced some plumbing with some new plumbing, but there is less than 1.5 metres of that in use. I did a water change last week (prior to Zeovit start) but again, this is a normal maintenance task. Paramaters are no problem: Specific Gravity 0.025. 6L of RODI water added every day via peristolic pump. VERY STABLE. PH 8.30 high, 7.98 low. This is via a recently calibrated PINPOINT electronic probe. KH 8.3 (Salifert) Calcium 430 (Salifert) Magnesium 1420 Temprature 25.5C now, drops as low as 24.5. I suspect there is about 1.5 degrees movement on temp Nitrate less then 5 (salifert) Phosphate undetectable (Salifert) NEVER had a reading. I dose NOTHING into my tank. I use about halfe a coffee mug of carbon. I used a bag of Salifert Phosphate Killer (approx 4 months old). All other animals look normal as far as I can tell. No deaths or problems outside of the 2 corals. My tank is almost exactly 1 year old. A journal of my antics can be found on my web site. I think I look after the tank pretty well. I had held off adding Zeovit until I was happy everthing was stable. Only changes planed are that I am due for new bulbs and hope to add them within the next few weeks (250 x2). I will continue with it for a few more days, however if any more coral dies I am pulling the plug. I do belive it will take months for it to show me a result, however I think it is reasonable to assume that if everything is going well until you introduce something new, and then have problems its fair to blame that change. Its going to be an interesting few days (nerve wracking too considering I am leaving the tank alone for 5 days when I come up to Auckland). Pies

Anyone got any coral growth pictures? Bellow is one of my first Acroporas. I got both frags on the same rock. I recieved them in in June 2003. Both were brown and small and I wasn't even sure if they were even alive. One day I finally glued them down, for a while all my coral was loose, but now they are mostly fixed. As soon as I fixed them in position, they rewarded me with colour and growth. This is the nicest purple coral I have seen in real life. It is a velvet purple texture and white polyps. Then & now: June 28th 2003 January 27th 2004 Febuary 4th 2004 Febuary 14th 2004 March 10th 2004 April 6th 2004

Clown fish NOT happy about being denied access to their home...