Pies

Do it slowly. don't raise mg to high, its fuel for algae outbreaks. From what I understand natural seawater on the reefs is about 1250-1300. Also remember if using epson salts it will change your salinity, so check it when your adding the salts. I just use the dolmite (?) chips in my CA reactor, manage to maintain 1350 no problem. Pie

Ozone is interesting. GT on UR uses Ozone and his tank is perhapps the nicest on that board (certainly nicer than Tauns tank, which is TOTM on RC this month). I'm not planing on using either, so am not worried, but many swear by it. Ozone units are cheap, can be found 2nd hand for under $200.00. They also do something to plastic, and skimmers made by Deltec are safe with ozone, where others arn't. Not sure which is which though. Pie

Couldn't agree more!

Kalk works as well or better. I've battled hundrends of them, as far as I am aware I have none now. I did have an epidemic once. Kalk, easy. I tried JJ and it didn't work as effectivly as Kalk for me. Kalk to kill 100 aipstasia approx $1.00. Pie

Any other types? Whats wrong with those ones? Pie

No but I can look when I get home. Chimera knows too I think. I purchase mine from MICO Plumbing and pipelines. Pie

The higher the Kelvin the bluer the light as a general rule (there are some exceptions based on manifacturer). Also the higher the Kelvin the lower the PAR (intensitiy) of the lighting. e.g. for a 5 foot tank 2x 10k bulbs may be enough, but 3x 14k may provide the same intensitiy of light. General vibe is people use between 10k-14k, suplimented with blue and 6500-10k tubes. I am using a mixture 14k and 20k bulbs. Hope that helps. Piemania

I bround in some Selcon from the USA. I soak my NORI in it when I feed the tangs, and I use it with geleton when making my frozen tank food. Dunno if it works or not, but intend to continue to use it. Pie

I have prodominatly SPS in my tank. I feed the corals/tank in Salifert Coral Food & cyclopezze. What layton was saying is mostly correct. Its going to be hard to get the good colour with high nutrients, so by adding nutrients you are working backwards not fowards. Pie

Fresh saltwater to top it off. Most people use tank water, having microwaved it first. Pies

You will need to feed them, I used to use shrimp pellets, now I use squid. 1 question - why do you need a 2nd refugium? whats eating the pods in your connected refugium? Pie

Here is a pic of mine, had it for about 2.5 years. Pies

If the coral had dried out, then its dead. Any slime present is just the dead rock (old coral skelleton) gettng covered in algae is it establishes a bacterial ballance. Birds nest are SPS corals, all SPS coral rules apply. They are hard-ish to keep and grow slowly comapred to most SPS. Pie

??? The AP702 is a short squat skimmer designed specificaly to fit under cabinet! Pies

Hard to go past the Deltec AP850 AP702 or 902 for inline skimmer. I've owned the AP850 and 902 and would reccomend both without reservation. Might find one floating around 2nd hand or there are people on this site than can do great great prices on them new. Pie

Duke - If you are really stuck, send him down to me. I have 740 litre tank for him to live it, with a couple of other 'unwateds'. PM me if you want to take up the offer. Cheers Pie

Also interesting the corals like acros that have polyp extension during the day in captivity don't exibit this in the wild (Bourneman & Pieman I have corals under 400s with good daytime polyp extension, yet all corals show great polyp extension during the night. I have a lime green acro that has awesome polyp extension during the day where its in the shade, and done where it is in the open, yet nighttime extension is the same. Pie

Wasp - No biggie, but you had mentioned it before I didn't take as a non-compliment (?). Good luck with the sump critters. Piemania

I thought cowfish ate inverts? Pie

My pink, orange, purple, green and yellow are all doing well. I find the best colour is foung in very high light with very high current. Polyp extension is less in hight current which makes the coral looks brighter. It also grows faster. My experance with these corals. I also find it grows thicker when in higher light and current areas. Pie

I don't clean my glass often, and I can seen them crawling over the glass, maybee 4-10 per square inch. So lots. There are different types, I get little cricket things, small (no bigger than 1mm), these are the ones the mandarin eat, then the larger cricket things (that are curled up and look like fleas), most of the fish eat them, often you see dead shells floating around the tank, they must shead their skin. Then I get the mysidd shrimp, they like lower flow, the dark, and can swarm in clouds some nights. Pie

Last time JetSkiSteve was down he took a jar away, we just syphoned them off the glass. Still though you have a refugium, I wouldn't have thought it would be a problem (is this the right time to bring up skimming after the refugium?). Pie

Shame. Mine is so fat, I think its unhealthy, hope it doesn't get heart diesase or something. Wasp - I've seen a few comments from you in the past saying my tank is 'very clean'. Not sure if I would agree with this, you will have to come and see it to know what I mean. I would say its no cleaner, or dirty than any other tank i've seen. All pretty normal and standard I would say. On the pods thing, my tank is TEAMING with them, as is my refugium, and my sump has some mysidd but not many (probably because of high water flow). I rarely feed my fish (1-2 times a week), but they pods and mysidd are doing great. I think the seceret is to let their numbers grow before introducing predators, once its all established. My theory anyway. Good luck to you both. Pie

Nope, dead serious. Its nice to see such great colour and I can really see the potential. Pie

Awesome, you have some great colour there, I am quite jelous. Whats your seceret? Pie