Pies

What, no Aipstasia spp?

I don't really understand what your are saying or insinuating? What sources? What? Pie

The magic properties of garlic re-surface. I'd reccomend holding a white rabbits foot in front of the tank at feeding time and chanting 'be well, be well' for 3 mintues. Less than 3 minutes will be ineffective, over 3 minutes and your efforts will be wasted, unless you add a 2nd rabbits foot, in which case you can chant for 6 mintues if extra potency is required. Both methods are proven to be as effective as each other. Pies

Layton has made it very clear that you can not have but not both. With comments along the lines of "You can either keep a sand bed and all the near critters that go with it or have nice coloured SPS, I know what i'd choose" etc. This is the 'attitude' that I was refuring too, an attitiude of unwillingness to accept that people who are not following the BBB (Bare Bottom Bomber) method are 'WRONG'. No arguement from me here, I have from day one said that the BBB method works, but i've also said there are many people with successfull SPS tanks who don't perscribe to Bombers thoughts on the detrimental effects of sandbed (Mr Bourneman and Jbert for example or team MM). Its being told that the non BB method for SPS isn't ideal that bugs me, because its untrue. Thats not a particualry fair analogy. I could care less about how clean my tank was, as long as the animals that I was targeting to keep where happy and well cared for is my end goal, and for it to be aesthetically pleasing to me. Not sure they do? Photos: Not interested in a pissing contest, but am interested. There are not many reef keepers here in NZ, and I enjoy seeing other peoples setups. Especially those using different methodologies to the ones I am using, i'm always looking at ways of improving my own tank and seeing what other people are up to appeals. I've been called lots of things, i'll add uptight to the list. Pies

Little bomber groupies The only issue that annoys me in particular on this forum regarding sand beds etc is the attitude. Comments like 'you can keep a sandbed or SPS corals' etc agrivate me because they are completely untrue. Statements made by people who seem afraid to post pictures and updates of their own setups, but are quick to comment and critise others. I've cooked some rock, and bugger all came out. In fact so little came it i'd say it was a complete waste of time. I certainly won't bother doing any more. Sand in todays tanks seems to have 2 purposes. 1st for those who choose it for aesthetic reasons, sand bottom tanks looks nice BB tanks do-not (sure this is a personal thing). 2nd for tank benifits of a sandbed, critter life, fish comfort, coral/anemone comfort and 'filteration'. I use a sandbed because they look nice, promote a healthy macrolife environment to the benifit of the corals/fish and to reduce nutrients to promote good coral colour and growth. Pie

Do you mean Diatoms? No, or at least not that I can see. The sand bed remains white, people often comment on it, asking what the secret is, there is no secret, i just leave it be. Yes I use RO/DI. Pie

1 Micron will remove most sediments and DOC from the water, it will not however remove metails and some bacterria. It will not remove colouring agents from the water either. The UV should kill the bacterria but the metals and other elements in the water will remain. Ozone will remove the colouring agents, but again doesn't tackle the minerals in the water. Also if you are UV after the 1 micron, any thing you killed will remain in the water colum until it settles somewhere and rots or is skimmed out. Pie

You've mentioned this before, it always has puzzeled me. My phosphate test at 0, in fact i've never seen a reading with all 3 of the Salifert kits iv'e owned nor with the colourmeter or a redsea kit. The reason I use phosphate media, is simply because I belive that it will help if any is present. I recently put a KG in my tank, this replaced 1KG that i've had running since I set this tank up, back November last year. So its not because I have p04 or even think I have p04 problems. But I do belive that its a bit of a back stop for me. I see no harm in running it, it costs me so little I am not fussed about the cost. No conspiracy there. Infact I am confident I could just take it out and not notice any difference. And as for my rock, it doesn't look particually algae ridden to me, no different to my glass. It looks shiney and new after a snail has zoomed over it though. An arguement that will never be settled. It is a FACT the DSBs work in SPS dominated tanks, it worked for years, it will continue to work for years to come. Its a cop-out saying 'it will cause problems in the future', scare mongering for the most part, a weak way of putting in an unknown. If they didn't work as you state time and again, why are there so many great tanks out there using them? Perhapps the DSB works *gasp*, thats right... Again, the reality of this does not ring true, i'd point you at this months (probably last months now), TOTM on RC. Doesn't look like he's got to many of these problems, ohhh wait thats right, its going to crash, one day... *yawn* DSBs are fine if you want an aesthetically pleasing looking tank with stunning SPS growth and colour. This isn't to say you can't achive this with the BB, because you can (just without the aesthiticly please bit Pieman

Yeah but in my closed system, surley any nutrients that are released will be skimmed out as soon as they are in the water colum? They have their place in healty looking SPS dominated display tanks. Pie

Layton - I don't quite follow? So are you saying my rock isn't a good candidate because it has algae on it? And if my rock was clean (no algae) then this algae wouldn't competer for the p04 so then the bacterria can do the job of consuming it? I would have thought that given the il-effect of the DSB on my rock, my rock would have been the perfect candidate for cooking? Man am I confused now, doesn't look like I can win either way. Pie

Sponge filters and nitrates. Seems as good a place as any to ask: Does it really make any difference? I've read it does, even avoid using them myself for the very same reason. However I wounder, how much nitrate a 1foot suqare piece of filter wool could add to a tank? Some of those hang on skimmers have pre-filters on them, and they are designed for small tanks? Just curious if anyone KNOWS this is a problem, or if its just more theory with no real practical application. Also note things like fluidosed bed filters use filter material to stop the media excaping from the reactor, wouldn't think be cause for concern too? Just asking. Pie

Head pressue? Usefull for a power or circulation pump... If you did replace 2 streams with 30 of these pumps, think of the money you would save it base rock! Pie

? Dissagree all you like, its a fact. Just because it differs from your own experance does't make it un-true. I wasn't saying you were lieing or being decietfull, just saying that what I have seen hasn't been as spectacular as I thought it was going to be (given how vocal you have been about what a huge amount of gunk comes out). Its rock from my own tank, you've seen the photos (and commented on the poor state of my rock), to me looks like normal rock, you described it as typical for a DSB tank, the ticking time bomb... My tank has moderate/high flow, moderate skimming BUT it also has DSB. You've all seen my tank, in photos and on-line. I'm not keeping many secerets. I'm stocked low for the water (16 fish for 2500 litres of volume). I feed sparingly, but only because the tank seems self sufficient from a food perspective. Pie

heh.

Yeah, and a Stream that does 12000 litres an hr cost $320.00. To get 12000 litres and hr from that you would only need to put about 15 in your tank. Hrmmmm what to do, 15 pumps in the tank or 1 pump. Hrmmmm decisions decisions. Pie

YMMV. Suphew and a have done a little experiment. We took some rock (approx 20kg) from my tank, set it up in a 4 foot bare tank with skimmer, heater and lots of water flow (4-5 pumps). The rocks shed a bit of sand for the first few days, but since then I wouldn't say the rock has shed a LOT, if anything at all. A little sand has collected on the bottom that must have been in the rocks, but to be honest after reading 'how surprising it is how much gunk is in the rocks' and cooking our own rocks (ex my tank, DSBx2) I would say its dissapointing how little actually comes out. Pie

Stunning down here. Will do a water change tommorow with the new Bildge Pump! Pie

Maybee this is the whole point. The 'law' surrounding the whole subject would appear to be pointless, hence the complete disregard for it. Back to Mr Lionfish. How can not keeping a Lionfish benifit society more than keeping one? The reality is that its because the there are rules preventing the importation of venomus species of animals, because New Zealand does not want to be seen as Asutralia, with all sorts of killer bugs and critters everywhere. I am sure at the time the law was created, no-one was thinking about ornimential fish for the pet trade, they were thinking of snakes and spiders. You can import guns, liquor, cigaretts, pornography, knifes, weapons, poisons, dogs, cats and fireworks BUT not certain fish and coral, because they are not on a list or becasue they are on the wrong list. While pointless laws continue to exist, people like me will continue to ignore them. Wasp, you may want to think that but the reality is different. If laws were there for our protection the sale of Liquor and Cigaretts and McDonalds would be outlawed. I won't, and encourage others to do the same, follow rules/laws that are so obviously pointless the defy common sense. An interesting question would be this: Do people in NZ want Lionfish because they want them, or because they are not allowed to have them? Pie

Don't hold it against me if you loose your first case Pie

Have your tested your Phosphates? P04 is the most likley cause of hair algae, most likley introduced by frozen food. Heavy feeding of Frozen foods sounds like the root of your problem. Be interested to know what your Nitrates are, and what you KH and PH (range) is. Pie

Bubble Tipped Anemone. Pie

It will be fine. I don't like your choice in plumbing, but a word of advice would be to remove those silly 'built in hose clamp thingies' and replace them with the stainless ones you used on the SCWD. Also, and like the stand pipes it maybee a little late, those red handeled taps really are 'poo'. They are so hard to turn, and you can't easily disconnect plumbing from either end. If you can return them, or can afford it, look for the Blue handled taps used in my tank (and many others). The are the 'good stuff'. Don't mean to put down your plumbing either, i've become somewhat of an expert in tank plumbing over the past few years, perhapps even a plumbing snob. Can't wait to see it all up and running. Pieman

BLueTom - A word of advice, if you want to pass your major you best learn how to spell it correctly first Hell you can defend me any day. Pie vs. The Country of New Zealand. Pieman

Ohhhh and its about 70c a packet, so I am sure she won't mind too much. Pie