Pies

Diver. Coral sand and rock is failry expensive here in NZ, not sure if there is a way to get it cheaply, but if you do find out let me know please. Remeber than normal sand with silicates in it is no good. There is a web site somewhere called 'guff' or 'garp' or something that has instructions on making rock. I have seen a bit of aquacultured rock and it can look quite nice although can be much heavier than the real thing! Its impossible to tell ones its got gunk on it. Searchs on the net will find it. Oyster shells etc at seafood factories and shelling plants. Jsut look through the yellow pages. Temprate is always a bit of a problem... good luck.

My dealings with Redwood Aquatics have been far from Ideal. I had problems with some stock I purchased from them and their attitude and customer service was shocking. Poorly treated stock and an arragant attitude from Bob a 20 year vetran who can't even make the effort to correctly identify stock or gague their stocks health.

Saltwater is a real pain. Eveything and anything metal with corrode. Priming, powdercoating etc all hepls, but really just prolongs its life. My next tank will not have lids fitted (no does this one), but I will use 2 or even 3 braces accross the middle (+ brace on the sides). the 3 Braces will be no wider than 100mm with lights between them, not lighting through them. I will make all the viewable sides out of 'starlight' glass or its equilivant. The back and bottom will most likley be heavly drilled for circulation pumps and sump. One day...

The problem I see with metal... saltwater.

Desh your tank looks great, and your photos are excellent too. I have heard very nice things about your tank from others. Why stop at 4 photos though? More please. Warren: It is time! Order that rock and lets get started Fiji will be some much better if you don't think of it as a 'meeting' and start thinking of it as a 'research project'. Pies

Baby shrimp are called 'coral food' :roll:

There are stoney corals in there too Reef, like yours its mixed. Does look good. Who is the big boys tank?

My 700 ltr I built myself in the garage. 10mm with 6mm bracing. The single centre brace came unstuck at the beginning. The tank had a bow it so pronounced your would not belive it was possible! Maybee 4cm from where it shold be in a horrid funnel shape! But thats sorted now. 10mm glass is not all made equal. I am not sure what difference there is, but glass is often different colours and I woul dbe surprised if that didn't equate into a difference in strength. Starlight glass. This glass is becomming more and more popular, and I will be using it for my next tank. This is a specail type of glass that is made without lead, so it is as optically correct as perspecs (with none of the disadvantages). This glass is very weak and brittle compared to lead toughend glass. I agree with your comments about access from the top, hence the reason I made my own. I will make (or have made) my next tank so the lights are not obsecured by cross beams and supports, but my experance shows they are VERY NESSESSARY. No one has touched on the subject of doubble or tripple thickness bases yet. Possilby more important in a marine tank they may hold hundreds of kg of rock and sand + the water? Drilling the glass (to hide all those ugly pipes etc). Does this effect the strength? For better or for worse? Does the pressure for the sides different for the front back? If so does that mean for larger tanks perhapps 18mm for the front and back, but 10mm for the sides? How think should the top supports be? Mine are 6mm, is this wrong. Heat. Does heat effect the glass strength? I have heard of cross bars breaking because of too much heat from the lights above. I think the poll should also have a 'have custom built' vote. I voted 'build' but in all likleyhood next time I will have it built to my specifications. That will do. More questions than answers Pie

Photos?

Diatom filters are available here in NZ. I know that I have seen them at Animates here in Wellington, and the Hutt Pet Centre in Lower Hutt. Last time I looked they were the re-usable bag types. Diatom Filters are just fine bags for removing Diatoms (gold/brown algae) thought, will this really help with the green water? If you persue this, I have heard of people using silk as an alternitive. Pies

If you have been checking out this forum, you will have seen some corals often refured to as Acros by which people mean Acropora. Acropora are a stoney coral, some refur to as SPS (Small Polyped Stoney) corals. Acropora have polyps (the coral animal itself) but are not visible during the day, this is a technique to avoid predation, they do come out at night, to feed of course! Many expert reef keepers belive the best way to juge your tanks health is by the corals polyp extension. An unhealthy or poorly catered for coral will not fully extend its polyps. If I don't see polyp extension I don't often notice any growth of the coral, if I see polyp exension I know the coral is growing, and can notice some growth every 3-4 days. Some Acropora will grow as much as 15cm a year (BBC - The Blue Planet), I have only witnessed about 1/2 of that at best. My polyp extension is not like the photos every night, but most nights. I check the tank each morning about 8:15am (lights out at midnight), which is when these photos were taken. I would love to see some pictures others, but here are mine, Enjoy! Notice 2 polychete (bristle) worms on the rock F R E A K Y stuff in these tanks at night. I have some monster worms, many an easy 20cm long!! This photo is of the purple acropora frag that is posted elsewhere on this forum. Cheers Pies

PC100 Your tank is a stunner! I Like the aquascaping too and some very nice fish (purple tang and powder blue on my list of 'to gets'). Would love to know some of the details of your tank - Size, lighting, skimming, additives etc. I would also like to see some high-res photos if you have them (can email them to me if too big to post). Cool!

Do you have enough filteration? I do belive that Algae will come with excess nutrients, e.g. phosphates, not sure if Nitrates has that much of an effect on Algae though... Try testing for p04, or adding some phosban, rowaphos or similar. UV will clear the algae if you want to go down that route... Interfecus - Plants are typically better at the uptake of nutrients than Alage from what I have read. Joze - I have heard of a few 'snake oil' products that can clear algae blooms but I always worry about the side effects and other effects it may have. I think I would rather understand what caused the algae and resolve that, not just resolve the alge (which is the sympton of a problem, not the problem itself). JMO. I run a neglected 450 litre tank, heavly planted and stocked, NO algae. Water changes, heavy filteration are what I attribute to it (4x canister filters running on it!). Good luck Pies

No problems on the web site, mine is about as basic as could be, but please copy it all you want! The stoney corals are much harder to keep, especially in newer tanks. The require prestiune water and stability. The LPS (large polyped stoney) corals are even harder as they are so easily damaged. Nothing you can do about the clowns, so cross your fingers. Mine live in a Sacrophyton softie but are moving into the Anemone now that I have one. That Favia you have is a cool coral (mine is fleshy, yours is hard?) if so its something i've been looking for to add to my tank. It will grow VERY slowly, may want medium/high but indirect light. There are heaps of interesting looking corals, so just slow down and wait, plenty of time to add them later. You are on track and at the exciting stage of discovery now! good luck and enjoy it. Pies

Melanotaenia thanks for your comments. I use a c02 injection system, as well as heavly stocked tank for my c02. Not sure how much c02 wood releases. I would like to see some info on this if you have it? Also does anyone use a c02 measurement tool (like the Dupla one?). You substrait sound very reasonable although I would prefur to 'make it my self'. I don't like the idea of unwashed river sand simply because I would like to know whats in it. I doubt any studies have been done on Otaki. That is whats the difference between Otaki and the Hutt? etc... I was thinking of 1cm clay, then 1-2cm of latteritte, then 1-2cm sand, then 3-5cm gravel. Deep beds are the action Lighting. hehehe my favorite subject. I don't belive your comments on 'cheapie' tubes are better. Many of us have been growing plants for some time, and although lumens is one way of measuring light, its not the best, I would be looking at PAR and Kelvin. Kelvin is 'wave length' you talk about and its is a scientific fact that 6000 6500 kelvin is the correct spectrum light for your freshwater tank. I have tried all lights, cheap white ones, gro lux, pet store brands etc and have settled on a mixture of 6000k & 6500k lights. I assure you that bulb select is important, but the cheap white bulbs are not going to give you as good a growth, colour, shape or sexual reproduction like you will get with correct spectrum bulbs. All that being said, they are still cheap, with 4ft bulbs costing between $8 - $18ea. They should be replaced every 9-11 months, as the PAR drops significiently after this period, however lumens remain very much the same (this is why its not the best method to measure light for our tanks, but is good for office lighting measurement). There is a lot of information about on lighting, have a look about. My tank is mostly Algae free, c02 and lots of correct spectrum light helps. I think I have read just about everything published on lighting, but keen to learn more I add 2ml of Iron every 4 hrs into the tank. How does the bed last for 5 years? Is that book the one written by Diana Walstad? If so i'd love to borrow it. Much like John Tullocks work, I love books that are looking at the entire 'ecology' of the tank, and not just at individual components. Look foward to meeting you and drilling you about all sorts of stuff at the BBQ (if this weather sorts it self out!). Cheers Mark

Good point Steve, that chiller is a scarey beast.

Nice work. Well done on your patience on not adding fish yet, your deserve to do well. Your rockwork looks like many tanks, often called 'The Wall Of Rock' Still its the best way I think especially for beginners like me and you Good work on the site, looks like another one I have seen. A couple of things. Remeber we gave you some advice, which was to get some soft corals. Well that coral you got today, the Ancora, its an LPS or stoney coral. There are pretty tuff corals to start out with, good luck however. It will like medium light, medium/low current with random current 'bursts'. Its not clear from the photo but there are 2 types of 'hammer coral', one is on the end of stalks, the other is is a S or U shaped shell. Which is it? In the photo is looks 'sloppy', needs some current, get a power head at it, not too much though! But it needs to fill its tenticles, and it needs some current to do this. Also you said you will get some clownfish. Thats fine, but if the clowns move into the coral they will most likley kill it. The other corals are indeed Discoma, or mushroom coral, coralmorphs etc. The top ones, the hairy ones are probably 'Ricordia. Mushrooms are the ultimate STARTER corals, and mine first ones too. You can acutally cut them in half and then you will have 2 They like gentle current and medium/low lights. They walk around the tank, stretch and multiply. Cool! They will sting and kill any stoney coral though, and they are a plague in some tanks but you will be fine. The bottom coral (SHOCKER of a photo dood!) is a moon coral, Favities or Favia, sometimes called a 'moon coral'. Medium low light, gentle flow. This is another stoney coral. Can look stunning under Actinic light. Ohh hermit crabs will hunt and eat snails for their shells. I never knew this so just use 1 of the 2, not both. Hope that helps. Here is a photo of my Ancora and my Favia, check to see if the same or similar to yours. Keep it up! Pies

My personal pick for best beginner book is John Tullocks "Natural Reef Aquarium". Its up-to-date and I still reference it now. The internet is your best bet for info though, its as likley to be accurate as any book, and concencious can easily be found on boards like this one. Everyone here has a reef, and baring a few equipment choices and gadgets we all subscribe to similar methodologies = Lots of Live Rock, Larger not smaller tanks, Big Skimmers, Sumps, medium to strong lighting & good circulation. I am not sure it should be so expensive that you would need to borrow money from the bank, anyone would think Reef was a bank manager or something... :roll: And remember a lot of equipment can be DIY (lights, skimmers etc). Pies

Chris L. A marine tank is not something to be started on a whim. You were looking at it a while ago, why not try a rock-pool type aquairum first. The stock is free and its a great place to learn. A 3ft tank is very small. This doesn't mean it can't be done, it does mean you will need a perfect routine. Such a small amount of water makes it VERY difficult to keep things stable. The reason most of us have large tanks with large sumps is not because we are rich or spoilt, its because success with these tanks is so diffuclt with a small amount of water its easier to have a bigger tank. You would need as a minimum: Tank Heater Protein Skimmer Rock (25kg ish minimum) At least 1 canister filter (if you don't drill for a sump) Several power heads. As much light as would fit (4 tubes on a 3 ft?) A supply of saltwater A supply or filtered freshwater (RO/DI or distilled) Something to measure the temp Something to measure the SG Saltwater test kits for - Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate Then as optional: Some sand (only a dusting for beginners) Carbon Phosphate resin Filter wool Maganet glass cleaner Kalkwasser I am not trying to put you off, but its will cost many hundreds of dollars no counting stock, and it will be hard work with a small tank. And the biggest thing with a marine tank is having the right equipment to see it all through, which does require money to be spent. If you have access to some money, and a patient and persistant then go for it, its a great hobby. Good luck Pies

I run a sump. So I have some filter wool there 2 days a week max, just a small square about 4 inches square. I run a 'refugium' so I want to get gunk into my sump were the little critters eat it. Water + Rock + Skimmer = saltwater tank. Nothing else, NOTHING. I run carbon from time to time, and some phosban and thats me Too easy... Keeping the stoney corals (often refurred to as SPS) is where all the technology comes into play. These corals require obscene amounts of light, perfect water quality and obscene amounts of water flow to thrive. If you want to go down this route, thats were the cost comes into it. If you just want some nice softies, and easy stonies then its all much easier Go!

Warren no need for a filter. Saltwater and rock, serious, you will need nothing else. The longer you let it cycle the better, so get the tank in place, add rock and salt and leave it. Maybee a few snails to get things started. I know you use RO water so top up of freshwater is covered. Maybee a power head to circulate the water. No need to wait for out Fiji trip. Any help you need i'm you man. If you want some to borrow some books I can lend you some up-to-date info on 'natural systems'. UV, filters, bio balls and siporex is all out. None of us use anything other than rock and a skimmer. And there is a guy in Duniden thats run a successful 5ft 550 liter soft coral tank with no skimmer either... Go fot it. Piemania

Joze How big is your tank??? A 2000 watt heater seems pretty extreme! I use a 300 on my 400 liter freshwater and its gets cold here, no problems. I would be surprised if anyone has a spot so cold that 300 watts can't hold the tanks temp. What say you all? I am also using 1 300 watt heater on my reef, which is about 900 liters. My lights do some of the work during the day, but at night just the heater to back things up but it did the trick fine. I don't expect to add any more heating to the tank. I am looking at adding another 700 liters to the 'sump', and I may need more heating then as it will be in the garage. But the reason for this is no keep it cool in summer!!! Pies

Warren. For someone who appreciates the science of fish keeping a captive reef system has your name all over it. The only problem with the Reef system is that once you start, you may well find that those precous discuss take a back seat to the reef untill you realise that the freshwater is just a 'primer' for the real thing! At least thats what happened to me! You know you have a four footer that you can drill, fit a sump and start a system. All you need is salt water and some rock and you half way there! Find a skimmer, done. I personally will donate some corals to you and some sand to help seed your system... Thats FREE MARINE STUFF, offers like this don't come along every day... GO FOR IT!

I am surprised a clown would eat one, for one thing they are poisonous, hence the reason nothing eats them, or at least that was my understanding. And clowns are not picovroes, I have seen my own clowns spit out live copepods so am very surprised they would eat any fish. Redwoods. I got a Mandarin from them (mail order). It died after a few days. They told me it was fat and healthy when I ordered it. I recieved it and it was sooo skinny, Jane was shocked at its condition and considered calling the SPCA she was so upset with its health (could see bone through its skin). I asked them (redwoods) several times (have the email transactions) if it was fat, they said it was fat and very healthy, eating well. I was appauled when it arrived. I contacted them straight away, and was met by the comments 'its fine, thats what they look like you obviuosly don't know what your doing, if it dies its because your tank is unsuitable not out stock'. Which if you read between the lines is 'f$#k you, we have your money, good bye sucker'. So check your stock before you pay for it! I have nothing positive to say about Redwoods, their stock or their attitude. Maybee they are different as a LFS but others have also delt with them and been dissapointed. That being said our new Mandarin (Mandy of course) is a real character. Always out, always on the glass, it feeds from my hand, is so fat I am surprised it can swim. I could catch it in my hands if I wanted, no problem. She loves having her photo taken too, and is my partner Janes favorite fish. I also have a scooter blenny, which is a cool little fish, another dragonet, and very cool. Weird to watch it swim, but cool. I would like to add another mandarin, a male to make a 'pair'. As long as you have lots of little pods and life in the tank is should do fine. I have a refugium set up which is LOADED with bugs etc too, and I belive this is helping maintain the life in my tank. I can't wait to setup my 700 refugium in a few weeks time!!!

Yeah that coral is looking nice, i've got a few not that are starting to show some good colour. I belive the added flow from the Streams + the Sea Swirl & SCWD help quite a bit. When I plumb out into the garage, it will give me another Sea Swirl and another 3000ish liters an hr of water flow. My corals go through 'phases' of growth. Sometimes growing quickly 2-3mm a week, sometimes not. I can tell if a coral is growing as when I check the tank in the morning the polyps are out, expecially the ones at the 'end' if you know what I mean? I am really tempted about 400 watt halides. Sorley tempted. I am not sure it will make much difference or not. I think I will go to 1300k bulbs too, which means I will prolly go for 2x 400, although am considering 3x 400 with a 10k in the middle. Basically I have no idea, but a large proportion of tanks with stoney corals have 400s and many tanks struggle to get good colouration with 250s. You can, but I don't think its as likley. I have fragged my tank twice in the last week which has been cool. I have given away about 25 pieces of coral. Stonies and softies, some mushrooms too. The people who recieved them were very excited and its cool to see stuff actually having grown so well that I can give them away. I will be getting rid of some lime green hynofora, which I have 2 large colonies as well as several frags. This coral does very well in my tank and looks great. It also helped 'clear the sand bed' of lots of little frags and bits too, so the tank looks a little less cluttered. I have some more rock work to sort out on the left hand side, but that can wait for now. I hope to have some more stuff arrive in the next few weeks, which will make for a need to finalise the rockwork. I have about 40 kg of rock in the sump waiting to make its debut.