Pies

Icecap definatly do. Pie

I have scooter blenny, mandarin, sixline wrasse in my tank. My tank is teaming with pods and mysidd, although its not clear if the are establised in the tank or only end up their from the refugium or the sump. I think they are established in the tank though. Pie

All 6 were in my 740litre prior to the move for over 12 months. Pie

Ive got 2 cleaners and 2 red shirmp and my 2 boxing shrimp havn't bothered them. Pie

Check my tank thread for pictures of my mated pair, They spawn every month or so. They were purchased at different times and formed their pair in the tank. Pie

No. The water changes remove amonia from the water, which is the key to the tank cycling. This is why some add 'starter fish' or bits of food to rot, it seeds amonia which is the basis for the cycle. Water changes during the cycle will do nothing but slow down the cycling process. As for water changes to control Nitrate, not really. It takes 17 50% water changes to get 100ppm to bellow 5ppm. So you need to do lots of massive water changes to control nirate, not very practical for most of us. pie

I have 2 tanks, 1 with blue back ground 1 with black. I'd never go with black again. Pie

I think it looks excellent, leave it as is. Pie

Awesome man. Your sumproom kicks ass. Pie

Cookie - Nah, I am a patient man. Bubble coral. I brought this from Steve Woods about 18 months ago, it was quite small, and attached to an awkward piece of rock. Its doing great, slowly growing and its base and grown over onto another piece of rock too. Acro polyp extension 15 mintues after lights out. Baby fungia coral today, see how they have grown Pie

Pies

Wasp - I don't have any tricks. I just pop em on the sand and cross my fingers. Layton - I've seen these corals recess just like that with too much light, the just shrink and retracts away from it. Pie

Frag and send to Wellington I'll send em back when you get it under control. Good luck Pie

Its almost definatly a poor reaction to light/current. It can easily be saved but you will need to find it the perfect conditions straight away. I've saved a few for people in similar condition brain/trach/bubble etc. Not sure if that helps, but if you want your welcome to try it in my tank for a bit. This worked recently for a bubble coral that Suphew had, i've also recovered (mostly) a trach for him too. Good luck, nice corals. I think its a lobo. Pie

Galaxia are the most evil corals in the tank. Nasty mofos: Its all looking good: Tank is going well, everything is ticking along. Just sitting back and letting it go. Pie

Nudibranch and flatworms are very closely related, with many flatworms mimicing nudi as a survival mechinisim. Chimera - Its almost definiatly a Pericelis, which is a turbellaria (saltwater flatworm). (sp?) Its harmless. Pie

No I havn,'t, i have been lazy (and playing BF2 AND GTA). Still in the fridge. Will start it late next week though. Pie

I have found that if you feed the tank late at night (within an hr of lights out) you will often witness better polyp extension. I often feed the tank twice, once to involke the feeding responce, and again an hr or so after lights out to feed. Pie

I think we are all (most) saying what I said earlier. It would be bad advice to say you don't need a skimmer, hence the reason why almost all of us use one. However it can be done without one. A friend of mine in Duniden (Cliff) has been running a skimmerless tank with mostly softies and LPS for over 2 years without issues. I know he has since added a skimmer to the tank, and its doing better, but it was fine before. he has no calurpa and just delt to it with water changes, LR and I am not sure what else. The photos i saw made it easly as good as most of the peoples tanks i've seen on this forum. Go the skimmer. Pie

there was a good article on RC mag a few months back about skimmers. There is little doubt that the name-brand expensive skimmers like Deltec (hey I use one!) and bubble king etc are good skimmers. Infact I think it is safe to say they are better than most other skimmers. I think if you look around this is a fact. Now the tricky bit, how to say it without getting flamed... Have you heard of the perato principle? The 80/20 rules. Reef mentioned a porche, which is a great way to start. Now a Porchse may cost say $150,000.00, a WRX-STI may cost $75,000.00. Now the porchse is faster, but its twice the cost. Is it twice as fast? Nope. Is it worth twice as much? Depends on weather that extra 10% of performance is worth it to you. Thats where the whole queen vs. Aquamedic vs. Deltec stuff is interesting. For say $2000.00 are you going to get a better result with 1 Deltec, 2 Aquamedics or 6 Queens? It comes down to value for money. You won't argue it because value is subjective and will be different for all of us. One of my staff owns 2 Fererri's, I think he is insane, but thats no ones business but his. Is his fererri better than my Toyota? Almost definitaly, is it worth the exta cost, not to me, but obviously to him. Pie

All good advice for the beginner, but not nessessarly true. There are lots of examples of skimmerless tanks out there that look outstanding, and are keeping corals and fish that many of us struggle with. My advice would be that a skimmer is essential, however building a system without a skimmer would be an exciting challenge for an advanced fishkeeper, but to be avoided by the masses. In bob fenners book he sais that skimmers are 'the most importand breakthrough in successfully keeping marine animals'. so that sais something. Pie

No. Its what I did with my old tank as well. Remember your return pump also provides circulation. So if you are having a small tank, it will be infinatly cheaper to use a large return pump (Iwaki) and have it not only providing water through the sump, but providing all the circulation for the tank. Pie

why not look at an IWAKI 30/40. Second hand less than $300, new probably not much more. Not submerseable but infinatly better and more reliable. Its what i'd do (what I did). Pieman

Chimera - My Blue and Sailfin get these from time to time. They are usually gone within 3-5 days. Not sure exactly what it is, but to me it looks like a pimple, which is what i've been calling them. The fish doesn't seem to notice and i've not noticed mine being agitated or it effecting their diets, they still eat like there is no tommorow. Pie

Looks very nice from here. Love to see some higher res photos. Pie