Pies

I have a pair. They have spawned in the tank several times.

I havn't cleaned my kalk drum for over a year. Probably over due. It is stired with an Ehiem 1250. The tube that takes water out is about 1 foot above the bottom so it can't suck up any sludge. Pie

I would do things differently if I could start again. More around rock layout and circulation than anything thing in particualry about the method I use though. I'd layout my sump quite differently too. coral in my tank are getting large. I used to have lots of corals, but now I have fewer but they are larger. I decided to keep things that were doing well in my system and get rid of things that were only doing OK to make room. I enjoy the look of larger corals more than having a larger vairty. My growth is excellent, as is colour. Its not like some of the TOTM or Zeo tanks i've seen posted, but it looks great, awesome purples and pinks and greens in particular. Fish are healthy, tank is mature and stable. I do nothing to it other the feed, clean the glass and skimmer. I need to do more water changes, but weather has been a big factor. My goal is low maintenance, minimal cost (given its size). Hence the reason I stopped Zeovite, Carbon, Phosphate removers and any other additions. Kalkwasser, CA reactor is all i've got. Pie

WOW I love it, your setup is stunning PuttPutt I am impressed.

So do i now BTW. Havn't used either in about 15 months. I don't like being called ignorant by anyone. I do consider it offence and rude. The reason I post this is simple though, why should people listen to someone who is unable to generate a result. You always talk about proof, surley your own tank is proof of your own methods. Nah my tank looks great at the moment, just my life is full of other things that dominate my time more than the tank and I don't post on this site much anymore, I get sick of seeing your idiot like adivce and endless pointless arguements trying to show people why your right, when obviously your not. I'll happily post pics of my tank if you like, perhapps we can compare our 2 systems and let the public decide which method is more successful. Pie

I had a solinoid on mine, but didn't notice any difference between having it or not so I removed it. Pie

JDM - Mine works well and is as simple as you could setup. I have a 44gallon drum (210 litres approx), fill of ro/di water. I put a big scoop of kalk in the drum. I have an ehiem pump on a timer, it runs for 30 mins every night about 1 hr before I start adding freshwater. I use a timer with a peri pump to add water from 12am-7am every morning. The trick is to stir the kalk, and then let it settle every night before you use it. But it needs a we while to settle. Pie

I use 2 buckets of media a year, which are either 5KG or 5L. CA reactor couldn't be any easy to run, but I am thinking of using both for a while just to see how it goes. Suphew has expressed interest in it so we might go halfs in a brew and see how it goes. My growth is excellent, and I am forced to throw corals out or put them in places and let them die. But I wounder if it will change the growth (skinners/fatter) or whatever. Pie

I can'be belive the mods didn't jump on it. I assume RTFT means read the farking thread? And being called ignorant is quite abusive. Just because someone disagrees with your point of view doesn't make them wrong (well in Laytons case I guess it does). Wearing a volly of abuse for it is a little OTT. Layton - Think about it like this. If anyone really thought UV would improve the health of their tank they would use it. Its not like we are afraid to spend the money on our tanks. The bottom line is its just another gadget, completely un-nessessary. I'd ask you to post up some pics of your tank again, show us how all of your theory and 'there is only one way correct way to do it' rubbish and show us. After the last pics I saw of your tank I can understand why you don't post many photos, maybee you should relise what your doing isn't working. Unless you want a dull looking brown coral tank, in which case, carry on, and remember to replace the UV bulb at some stage. Pie

I use a CA reactor. I can't image a cheaper or less fuss way to do it. Turn it on, tune the bubble and drip rate, leave for 9 months, refill and repeat. Re-fill the CO2 every 7-8 months. A bucket of media costs bugger all. Layton - i'd actually try to try the method you are using, to see if it give me different/better growth/colour. Are the ingrediants easy to source? How much would I need to use a day for my tank (2500 litres). I have often woundered if a mix of using both might be more ideal than just one or the other? Pie

22 in is good, its about 56-57 for me, Wellington North City supply. Pie

You can get a meter to read TDS if you want (total dissoved solids). Typically the different priced units are down to 2 things, some have replacement parts and some are throw away units (cheaper short term). The other is the amount of water produced per day, typically more expensive units do more. It takes me about 3 days to fill a 210litre drum, TDS=0, 5stage RO/DI. You really should have an RO/DI unit, its hard to get it right with corals, especially SPS without one. I am pretty sure EVERYONE who has an SPS setup uses some form of RO or DI or both. Layton may not, pretty sure he uses mineral water from the tap, or used to. Everyone I know with SPS uses RO/DI. Best place to get em, EBAY. Pie

I've had 3x IKS pumps, 0/10 none are in working order. Been running an Aquamedic one for about 2.5 years now, still going. It comes with a spare tube too, but i've not used this yet. Mine runs for 12hrs a day. The one I have isn't variable speed, but works great for freshwater top off. Pie

This thread is silly. I added a Poweder Blue tang. All fish happy. I think its because my tank is in a Rimu cabinet. I suggest everyone uses a Rimu cabinet, it works for me, also the oil used to keep it in good order helps with coral colour. I loved Laytons comments about Bob Fenner too. Layton the expert. Bob Fenners information is 30 years old. Yet when someone like Bomber has an idea its 30 years of experance. hahaha. You can have stunning coral growth and colour without UV, of this there is no doubt. Why bother with the expense. Someone made a comment about its a bargin if its only $20 a month? Spending $20 a month on something that is useless and unessessary doesn't sound like a bargin to me, better off using the money to sponsor a child.

With all the million dollar skimmers out there I find it hard to belive that if adding a $5 air pump to it would make it better that they would have done it. The Deltec instructions seem to say to set your air-intake to the 2-oclock position which actually restricts the air going into the skimmer, if they wanted you to have more they would say set it to 12-oclock at the very least. Pie

Steve - Great to meet you. Love to see you again. Suphew & SteveA have tanks fairly close, I am sure we could pay them a visit too, both very nice tanks. Pie

Potassim. Jeez Chim, didn't you snap at someone the other day because you only make 1 change every 3 months or something... Stop dosing everything and anything. Water, skimmer, food for the fish and animals. Surley adding trace elements and other guff is only going to make things more difficult to resolve. Pie

I've had mine for a while, I was lucky I got a very healthy fish. I have several tangs in a large tank and I find my powder blue to be very aggressive and always scrapping with my Yellow tank and sailfin. Very prone to white spot and often considered a more difficult fish to keep than most. Pie

Another thread on its way to distruction thanks to Layton and his theorys on Zeovit.

Borneman talks about bacterria infections in SPS. I've seen this myself, infact I have a STAG at the moment thats dieing, going infected in the middle. I am confident I can save it but am curious to see if it will heal itself. So far its lots about 2 inches in the last 4 weeks. Odd as its in the middle of a stalk so is receeding in both directions.

I was going to do it when I had SCWD running. Good product, just a shame they restrict the flow so much, I think the upgrade is probably worth it if your tank or pump is a little larger.

I was given one by my brother in law a few years ago. Be ware, they do not work well/at all in salt water. Pie

Eric Bournemans advice is that its OK to add SPS corals from day 1, wait to add fish. Pie

rotifers are alive. The babies NEED rotifers. The problem is that if the food isn't alive they don't know to eat it, so you need the rotifers to envoke a feeding responce. The rotifers are the easy part, the next problem is feeding the rotifers. Which is where the algae comes in, you need HUFA enriched algae to feed to the rotifers so they provide a good quality of food for the clowns. keeping the algae alive is a CHORE. I am with cookie, its hard, and 10x harder in NZ because if you culture dies no one else can give you another culture. If someone started a culture and made it easy for the rest of us we would have clowns comming out our ears. You can buy HUFA enriched rotifer food, which I have tried. I also smuggled (sorry maf) some rotifer cysts from the US. I had little success with the rotifer food. If anyone gets it right and is prepared to share, I am sure we would all be into it. Pie

Its all part of the great circle of life. Don't forget, over time everything will die. Wasp - I wanted to do what you do but the costs put me off too. What I have done now is I can sell frags from my tank. I only give corals away to people who trade, and I only ask for money so I know people appreciate what they are getting (less likley to just take it if I ping them $25 than offering it for free). I suspect well less than 1/2 of the stuff I have sold has survived. Just coral, no fish. Pie