Pies

I've seen them on the shelf at Jansens. Pie

Hermits are fine in the water 24/7. I have some blue legged hermits and they have been going for over 18 months no problems. Remeber with hermits they grow, so you need to provide larger shells for them to live in as they grow. Humbugs are not compatable with anything. They a cute when small, but grow fast and dominate any tank. Talke with JetSkiSteve and Adam on this board, they have been trying to get one out of a tank for weeks. Horrid fish, best avoided. Clownfish, pretty much compatible with anything that won't eat them. If you want to provide and anemone for them, do your reading, Anemones can be tuff to keep of you don't know how to care for them. Good luck. Pie

Add 5mm for the Tank Inlets (bulkhead is not what they call then in NZ). Add 10mm for the 50mm otherwise 5mm is fine for 40mm and smaller. Drilling the hole. My 5 footer has duel 25mm holes/dursos/overflows and it can just keep up (big pump though). I would reccomend going BIG, like 40mm Tank Inlet (bulk head), with 40mm stand-pipe. I would then reduce down to either 32mm or 25mm for everything else. Why, one thing everyone here has learned, is you can't make a hole bigger without much hastle and risk. However it only costs about $2 to make a hole smaller So go 40, reduce to 32 or 25. My personal experance has shown me that there are no downsides to using larger plumbing, and many downsides to using smaller. Of your not sure between 25 and 32, go 32. Good luck, sounds like a good projects. Take it slow, take your time. Your on the right track by sorting out your tank logistics first. Get all the plumbing etc done before you start, and you will be onto a success. Ohh you asked how close the inlet and outlet? It really won't matter, do what looks/works best. If you want to get tricky, you could pumb one through the overflow box. Can be awkward (so i've read, never donw it, but have thought about it), but will keep everything nice and tidy. See ya. Pie

I was impressed by your sps grow out facility. One day I aspire to do something similar (not on such a grand scale though). Pies

Hahahahaha 3 days, I noticed changes. Keep eyes open for bleeching corals. Is your skimmer pulling more crap out? I noticed this almost imediatly with Zeovit. Good luck man, I am sure its going to work out sweet. $1 a day? You could sponcer a child insted. Every day your corals look better, a little child waits. Everytime you post a pic, a little child waits... Pies

At least you've got your health. Pie

Well if thats the case I definalty don't have a Lionfish or Moray eel. Lists, bah. Its not like anyone pays any attention to them anyway. What a complete waste of time for all involved. Pie

I am curious as to were we stand legally. Can I submit photos to MAF of my Lionfish? Or of my Moray eel? Or will they say 'hey your shouldn't have those!' and fine me or distroy my animals? Will they ever check? Can I submist a photo I took of an animal when diving in Fiji and say its a photo taken in my tank? Pie

Easy to answer. Go bare bottom. Saves having to buy sand. Over time you will learn more, and if you decide that DSB is where its at, then go for it. If you decide BB is the way to go but hate the look, then add a 1cm dusting of sand. I personally use 2x DSBs, but i'm not nessessarly reccomending them. Each to his own. Good luck, good times (and poor times) ahead. Pie

I think this is silly. We have all taken digital photos of our tanks and they often don't reflect the actualy colour or vitality of the subject. The heavy blue lighting plays havoc with the cameras white ballance. Those photos look real enough to me. I certainly don't think they have been photoshoped to decive us to sell more Zeovit. Pieman

Back in Wellington, thank goodness its nice to be home. First of thanks to everyone who invited me into their home and let me see there tanks, homes and familys. I enjoyed meeting with you all. A mega big thanks to JetSkiSteve for being my driver for the day and taking me to meet so many of his friends. So lets get into some detail: Cookie Extreme: WOW. Cookies tank looked great, and its in an awesome setting. Very little rock, and 'low light' by comparison to many. Cookie has some strong ideas about how he wants to run his tank, and to be honest its pretty hard to argue with him. The tanks a stunner. The sump (in crawl space under the house) looked a little rough, but was doing the job easily. Equally impressive was the small Berlin/RedSea skimmer being used 'in your face Deltec'. Thanks for the chat and the advice, I found your tank truely inspiring. 'less rock' NickS: Having not seen Nicks tank in almost 12 months all I can say is 'wow'. One day I hope I have coral growth half as impressive as this. It was a crime to see Nicks potplants for Acropora skeletons from extra corals he has no room for. also the growth shapes of the montipora digitata and acros looked stunning. Colour was good (pinks, reds, yellows, greens and purples). A real credit to you Nick, looking very sharp. Chimera: Chim was awesome to finally meet you and you family. Chimeras tank looks great and to be honest, out of all the tanks i've seen so far it was in the best 'setting'. The in-wall truely is stunning and Chimera has done a very professional job of it 10/10. Plumbing etc all looked as it does in the photos, a little crazy Fish loved the currents in the tank, sea-swirl + Streams + OM closed loops really work well. A very health and clean looking tank, can wait to see how it takes shape in the next 6 months. Awesome stuff Chimera, I am very jelous. JetSkiSteve: Steves tanks has great coral growth, but many corals missing as he has been selling up in the hopes of moving house. Steves anemeone is worthy of a tank all of its own and is by far and away the nicest I have ever seen and always makes me wish I could find one for myself. Can't wait to see what you do for you next setup. Ohhh and also the little tank Steve has been selling on Trademe looks awesome, which I could have taken it home with me. AdamH: Wow! Adams tank has always looked great, but its been changed and all the white PVC plumbing has been removed and Streams added. Also rockwork has been changed and mushrooms have been removed. Very nice tank and the home of my favorite coral, a massive helofungi. Great tank. Wasp: Not home, must have heard I was comming Cracker: Time just not on our side Thanks to all. Cheers Piemania

Interesting threads of Reefcentral about the CBB eating corals. From what i've read, everyone lives in fear of them eating corals, but no-one anywhere has actually witnessed it. People were talking like its some sinister myth. I killed all my Aipstasia with kalk, I had millions, and i'm not joking. Nice fish, you must be doing something right to have kept it for so long. From what I understand if you can get them past 3 months, they go for-ever. I remember seeing one at Chris's on the north shore, I am sure he said it was close to 10 years old when he sold it! Pie

Me I have purchased wholesale quantities and am happy to sell it to members of my elite inner circle. Pies

I am using cyclopseze rehydrated with Salifert Coral Food and sometime Selcon. Piezola

Boruneman tells us there is no dissadvantage to adding SPS during the initital stages of cycling (reefkeeping magizine last year in his article). High nitrite and amonia don't effect the coral like they do fish. Pie

My LPS looks awesome and have never been target fed. Same with my Anemones. Pies

Wasp - The 'leak in the tank technique' is the same as any cycle technique. For the tank to cycle (rock included) you need an amonia source. A tank does cycle, regardless of the state of the rock though. Pie

Hi HelifaxNZ Good luck with the new tank and welcome to the board. First of the Bob Fenner 'Concencous Marine Aquarist' is a good book, but its a bit dated. Its a good read but I wouldn't reccomend it (and I own it). The best book for a newbie would be from the same published by Tullock "Natural Reef Aquairums", its basically an update to the Fenner book and has much more information, and much of it is more relvant. Also for corals Bournemans "Corals" book is generally considered the best. I would endorse this and its in keeping with the Fenner/Tullock book. As for feeding the invertibrates. You will get a dozen differnt ideas. For me personally (at the moment) I don't 'target' feed any of the inverts, but I do feed the tank with 'plakton' like foods. You will hear lots about nutrients, and corals needing nutrients etc. Watch the symantics of it all. Corals can benifit from nutrients, or can be impeeded depending on the nutrient types and coral species. Most/all corals benifit from feeding though. Either way you can keep corals successfully without feeding them. Good luck. There are lots of people with tanks on the Shore, so make contact with JetSkiSteve and I am sure he will point you to view some tanks and discuss some ideas. Pie

Chimera - Love to see the setup and the OM IRL. Cookie - I don't remember us 'stepping in the ring'? I try and offend everyone in equal amounts Love too see you setup and meet with you. Just don't be too offended if I am rushed, I only have a limited amount of time. Pie

I know I shouldn't laugh, but I had too. hahahahaha Poor evil Zeovit. Poor evil Thomas Phol. Peace out. Pie

Cool, thanks Cracker. I would love to come out. I'll have my camera, hope you don't mind me taking some snaps. Pie

Nope. I do use the Aquamedic zeolite phosphate binder. Pie

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Notice to all the jafas - I'll be in Auckland for the week, and hope to catch a few people and see some tanks. I'll be out on the North Shore on Sunday to view JetSkiSteves tank, and Steve is going to scoot me around a few tanks during the day. So if you want to meet up let me know. Also i'll be at Sky City so if your near by and want to have a coffee or a beer do sing out and we can meet. Anyone who has frags/cuttings or livestock for sale for myself or any of the Wellington crew, let me know and we will sort something out. I am back in Wellington Wed night. See ya soon. Piemania

What helps my tank the most, in my opnion/experance is good water quality and stability. I don't mess with my tank much, and my water paramaters are stable. I have lots of pods, but that makes sense given that I have over 1000 litres of water out of the primary display. I also have lit areas, and perminant dark areas for different life. I use hybrid methods, borrowing from everything - Heavy Skimmer and lots of live rock (berlin), DSB, BB, Sediment Catchs, Carbon, Filter wool, Reverse cycle lighting, Calurpa growth, Kalkwasser, Water Changes, heavy random water flow, powerfull lighting, spread spectrum lighting etc etc. But I still belive the the key is stability. My hands in the tank maybee 2x a month. who knows. Pie