Pies

Its hard not to insist on the 'last word'. My feelings on the post were mixed, I personally never though Layton got any valid point accross, and I suspect that was obvious to anyone reading it. The problem was you were never going to convince him. And at some point it just 'silly'. I wouldn't worry about it though, nothing wrong with stating you case and if you do really feel strongly about it then follow your heart. Not sure if i've ever got worked up on this site. Its the internet, its not designed to be taken seriously. For me I want to learn, and am happy to share me experances with others. I am not to bothered about being right or wrong but I do try and correct mistakes being made by others if I see them. I'd like to think I am open minded enough to do the same. I have made many good friends through this hobby and this site, and distroyed a good friendship too. I have invited many people into my home from this site, and been invited to many. A bit of debate is natural, the internet is bad for it because everyone is a 'hardman/woman' when behind the keyboard. People that know me know that I am the same in real life. I consider myself friendly and helpful, but i'm not stupid and always have both eyes wide open. Didn't mean any offence to you, just saying, happy to remove the post if you want, i'll just PM it insted If you ever want to 'have a go' but don't want to make it public, PM me, i'm up for it Piechiatrist

Wasp - ? Wrong thread? Or am I guilty of the same thing? Pie

Execpt the consumer, who wins, ohh and the business's that survive the 'war'. If what you are saying is true, than companies like Amazon.com would have ment the end of all other bookstores, however there are still stores around, lots of them. People will pay a premium for retail, but these 'virtual' stores and direct sales models (Dell anyone?) are ways of passing savings to the consumer. Good luck to the LFS, they provide a valuable service and I don't see them dissapearing. I mean Brooklands were around before Reef started to import, and that wasn't a problem? Why is whats happening now any different? Its not. Pie

Wasp - You do argue pretty hard out, just look at the Layton/wasp million post thread for example, it is difficult to 'disucss' things with you without you comming on very strongly. Hence the reason I droped the garlic subject with you this time, you are very insistant. Understand my (and by the looks of it, Chimeras) point. Neither of us have said that garlic doesn't work, just that no one can prove it. There are others here who also belive it works. Personally I think its a common 'trend' in reefkeeping (maybee in society in general) that for every problem you can apply a pill (garlic in this case) to fix it. The reason I have not tried garlic (and perhapps the same for Chimera) is because there is no need. I know I don't need garlic, as my whitespot has gone, you 'say' garlic helped, but how do you know it had no effect and the good health of your tank is what saved it, not the garlic? You do make it hard for people to discuss it for you, if you disagree you will post 'forever' never conceeding a point, hence the reason i've not got invloved with too many of the debates you have been invloved in, you won't budge regardless. Just my opnion though, no offence intended. Respectfully PieMan

Joeblog. I have had this happen twice. If its the same as I have encoundered its a bacterial infection. I was loosing about 2-3mm a day. Two options that have worked for me, the first is to stave off the infection by putting AQUAKNEEDIT around the base (where the STN is) of the coral. The other option is to frag the coral as close to the STN as possibe , and scarfice the base. I've heard of people using antibiotics on the base to stop the infection but no idea if this works. I have never had it spread. I have never had it stop by itselt, try my suggestions above to save the coral. Good luck Pie

The 25mm hole will be fine. One thing I noticed is you said the overflow and durso is 25mm. Your Durso must be LARGER than the hole through the bottom of the tank, or it won't work. How about some photos so we can understand how its all working. Pie

No good for me, have plans. Pies

Good idea Chimera. It is indeed a Hynophora. My experance with Hynophora is that they are very fast growing, I got a piece from Alois about 1.5 years ago, was about the size of a finger nail clipping. I have sold several branch sized bits similar to the one in you photo, I have a piece in my tank about the size of a small childs head, another piece about thse size of 4 fists, and another about the size of a single fist, + many frags. Its a VERY aggressive coral, but does not send out sweepers or stingers. It does however bloat and spew out its guts and kill other corals (SPS only in my experance). It is a coral that has killed more other coral in my tank than everything else combined. Usually this is in the form of a coral tipping over and touching it, or it tipping over and landing on someting else. In you picture it looks skimilar too mine. In others tanks it can look far more spindley and much greener without the visible white/lime polpys. Its body is 'bloated' in the pciture, on ocasion it will 'shrink'. I like this coral, needs to be treated with respect. Very fast growing, seems to do well in my tank regardless of light or current. Pies

Nice pics Chimera, good to see some shots of something other than plumbing Is that cyno on the sand in the bottom photo or just the light/angle? Would love to see a 'portrait' shot of the whole lot. You must be looking foward to the OM comming? I can't wait to see how it will work out. Looks like its all comming together nicely, can't wait to see more. Pieman

Wasp - Thats the same 4 year old link you posted last time garlic was mentioned. Its 4 years old and all it says is in theory it 'may' help, but more information is needed. Nothing in that article says that Garlic will does help, or that its reccomended. Now I am not saying it doesn't work, what I am saying is there is little to no evidance that it does. It may also do harm, who knows what it does to the digestive tracks and organs of a fish. I wouldn't risk it if it was me. Pies

Wasp will disagree but there is no scientific data to prove that garlic works or has any positive effect on whitespot at all. I would encourage you to avoid stressing the fish as much as possilbe, feed more heavily than normal and concentrate on keep water paramaters perfect and stable. Many of us have survived whitespot. Any course of action (garlic, toxins, lower salinity, increase temp etc) will add to the stres levels of the fish. Stop the stress, expect the whitespot to subside, lots of changes will stress the animals, expect them to die. Pieman

Yota - There are pictures of my bracing on my thread "first look at the new setup". See above link. Glass braces get clogged with salt and haev a far more detrimental effect on lighting than 2 small metal rods running accross the length of the tank. Also if you want to have a MH light in the center of the tank, you are going to get very poor light penetration, especially compared to no glass. Also heat from MH lights can crack the glass, particulary if a MH is close to the glass. As for shaddows, none are visible, both with the MHs on or off. If you don't see how shaddows can be avoided, come and have a look at my tank or ask someone else who has seen it, I assure you there are none. Pies

Must be time for an update? I would be interested in seeing updated pics of the sump, the tank, and some corals compared to how they looked before the addition of the MM. Also are you still running your skimmer? Its been about 3 months, whats the verdict? Pie

I have a metal centra brace, infact I have 2. Shaddows are non-existant, which would have been a problem with glass. And my braces are by design as an upgrade from glass, which I felt would be sub-standard. Go the metal. Pies

A flash is important and often the difference between OK & good photos. Remember a camera is only a tool, a bad camera in good hands is better than a good camera in bad hands. Practice makes perfect. For fishtanks I would look for a camera with 'white ballance adjustment', a good optical zoom (3x or greater), as high a mega pixel rating as possible (3 at the lowest) and 'macro' or 'super macro' functions. Macro means closeups, 99% of all the photos you take will be macro shots. I take all my photos with an Olympus C5050 zoom, probably the best camera in its class, 5 mega pixels. They can be picked up new for less than $1,000.00. If was buying a new camera, I would be looking at the Olympus C8080, 8 mega pixel. If you want to read reviews of digital cameras check www.dpreview.com Happy shopping. Pies

IRA is 100% correct. Don't belive us, come vist me and have a look at my bow froned tank cabinet, quality customwood job. Its completely borked and I am getting a quote now for complete replacement (in Rimu this time). 3.5 years old. Custom wood and water = MISTAKE. Pie

I would get it from a rocky area if possible, only because the water tends to be clearer. Collecting on the incomming tide is best, the water will be cleaner and clearer and free of most 'floaties'. Pies

.022 - .028 Pies

200 litre water change today, all went well. Clowfish fry relased last night, I wounder how long before the next lot are laid. Other than that, looking for a bulb for my 5th halide, anyone know where I can get 10k 400MHs from? Everything is going very well, not much more to report. Pies

Reef is correct, the 6line will be fine with shrimp (I have 6 shrimp, none were bothered by the 6line). I had an 8 line for a while (in my sump), nasty piece of work, no doubt it would snack on anything it could. Evil fish. Pies

Also consider the power usage, you may find the Streams use less power than the all the Seios added up. The Seios look to be a better option for stealthing the pumps though. The Streams are great pumps, availability of them is the biggest problem. I want to buy one or two more, but can't get them at the moment (Reef, want to hook me up with a pair of streams?). The wave controller is 'OK', perhapps the new one is better than the one I have 7094. Its very limited, and I wish I could do more with it, particualry with regard to turning of certain pumps, and being able to extend the 'wave period' which in my opnion is too short even when at the longest setting. Still, it doesn't look like there is a better product than the streams on the market right now. Streams are too powerfull on smaller tanks with sand beds, maybee this is a good niche for the seios? Pieman

I did a 200 litre water change (8% ish) today, water didn't change at all on my monitor, so its pretty much right at the moment. I don't heat mine in the winter either, just add it into the tank slowly. If you notice it does drop the temp when you add it then consider pre-heating it. Natural Sea Water is working well for many of us, the rule is to use it with the first day after collection, otherwise let it settle for 4-6 weeks (as per Steve's suggestion), the reason for this is any life in the water will die and settle in the bottom. Personally, I don't think it matters, I just use it whenever and don't worry about it. In fairness though I have a large volume of water. Would have liked to have seen your tank, was in Nelson yesterday. Cheers, good luck and welcome to the site. Pies

The Durso Standpipe needs a cap on it, and a hole drilled into it. 10mm is probably too big. I would use a 2-3mm hole, but you won't know whats right until your tanks running. You may have too drill another/bigger hole though. Don't glue the stand-pipe to the bottom, or the cap to the top. also you realise the stand-pipe needs to be larger than the hole? That is if a 20mm hole is used a 25mm or larger standpipe must be used? e.g I have a 40mm hole and use a 50mm stand-pipe. Yes this means you need to buy a converter for the bottom of the standpipe to make it larger. Good luck Pie

Yeah I can imagine! Also if its not quite doing enough, the HANSEN fittings seem to be quite restrictive, as do the 'grey' union taps we are using. I would reccomend getting the Dremal to work and 'honing it out'. A few mm would make a huge difference. pie

Alois - I get to Auckland enough that I would like to be included/invited to these meetings. I may not be able to attend all of them, but certaily many of them. Can you please include me on any mailouts please? Thanks. Pie