Pies

Insted of buying a dolphin just buy a big fat IWAKI or similar. Seems wrong to reduce a pump down to 40% of its power. Not sure about the hole positioning. I suspect that because the water travels through the smaller hole before getting larger (then smaller again) its probably as bad as having all the pluming small? Not sure? Pie

Chimera - Why use the dolphin pump if its going to be reduced by at least 40% because of bad plumbing? Why not buy a grunty pump that can handle your smaller pipe sizes with raw-power? It looks to me like your trying to get a square peg into a round hole. That is your trying to solve a problem that you have created yourself that doesn't exist yet. More power. Pie PS: Dump the tank contents, re-drill the holes to approiate/correct size and re-fill?

Wasp there is a guy down here who grows out brine shrimp. He uses a large glass bottle (like a big milk bottle) with a air hose bubbling away. He feeds them exclusivly on spirlina. I think he buys it from the local dairy in a liquid form, apparantly some people drink it... His name is Barney and he posts of this forum from time to time (can't remember what nick he uses) maybee he will see this and post if what i've said is incorrect. Next time I speak with him i'll mention it if he doesn't reply. Pieman

The product 'CYCLE' claims this is a good thing. Personally I think cycle is a have but its a product that says 'add more bacterria. Do Zeovit mean addition of 'special bacteria' not garden varity bacteria? How about you 2 take a break and post some pics of your tank? Do a coral colour comparison or something so the rest of us can follow Piemania

My tank is 1400 litres + over 1000 litres in sump. 15 fish, will go to 16 with a Powder Blue Tang. Over crowding a tank is a mistake and will make maintaing the tank muc more difficult. Thats without even starting on the fishes 'happiness'. I wouldn't reccomend a mandarin in a tank that size, especially so because of the high fish load (all competing for the same food). Just my thoughts. Pie

Twice a week. Except a fat tang.

Fay this debate has raged on this board already. The survival rate or probability of an animal has nothing at all to do with its capture and importation. Copperbands, Moorish Idols, Red Finned Batfish, Leapord Wrassee, scooter blenny etc etc etc. It would probably be more accurate to say few if any fish are suited to tank life, and anything that comes home with us (the fishkeeper in general) has a low chance of survival. Try and think of it like this, ultimatly they are only fish which we pull out of the ocean by the hundered of ton and let sufficate on the decks of boats, so a coupple of mandarins isn't going to make to much of a difference. ITs just the ones we pull out with nets are ugly by comparison. Pie

Saltwater tanks can be so expensive, the thought of owning 2 would depress all but the richest of us. 1 big tank however is completely acceptable As Suphew said, several tanks from one sump is a way to distribute the cost. Captive corals are becomming far more popular, with many (including myself) selling coral 'frags' (fragments) for approx $25.00 or trading these for other corals. Fish are not often bred, and only a limited number of species, often being far more expensive than their wild caught brothers. Although most probably agree with your sentiments regarding ecology. Saltwater tanks are a great deal of fun, and after years of keeping freshwater I can't ever imagine going back. Sure its harder, more expensive and more time consuming, but its also far more rewarding. Good luck to you. Piemania

Yeah feeding really is a tricky one. NickS was telling me that he suspected his yellow tang died because of underfeeding, but hes not sure. I don't know if I do underfeed, I judge how much I feed the fish based on the 'look' and behavior of the fishes. I like seeing the tangs grazing, and the other fish foraging. I am lucky that my refugium is well over 1000 litres though and when I move the sump will increase another 300 litres. When I am doing water changes I always take home seaweed for the fish (esp the rabbit fish) which them love. Pie

The same reason all the other fish were taken off the reef. I am not convinced mine wasn't fed enough as I fed it the night before (1 sheet of nori consumed in about 10 seconds, about 5 shrimp pellets). Up until his death I would have described him as healthy and active, but from what i've read it probably did starve, I don't think there is much I could have done to sustain its apetitie. Still its dead now so don't need to worry about it, it has been going for almost 15 months and was quite large (20cm). The rest of my fish look healthy and fat and I see no reason to alter my feeding schedule. I would like to get into a situation where I don't have too feed anything at all, or only seed the refugium from time to time. Piethefishkiller

Yeah that is a lot of light. He does say he hasn't noticed any difference from 3x 400 watt and adding the 1000 watter though (1 coral colour change). His corals do like nice. He is using the Radium 20k 400s too, hope my corals end up looking like that. Mark

James - Interestingly enough my Rabbit Fish died on Sunday. It was feeding and eating on Saturday night, got up in the morning and it was dead floating in its normal sleeping spot. The real bummer was I had found a home for it in a tank thats about to be moved and its loaded with calurpa. So it was about to go on a feeding frenzy. I was using mine to clear off the calurpa before the rock went into my tank. Because mine ate Xenia It was never going into the big tank, just going to be a sump fish (740 litre tank!). So in some ways I am not too bothered about it dieing, but I do wish it was still alive. I was feeding it a lot (by my standards) but probably not as much as it needed. They are supposed to be the least efficient fish in regards to their stomach. They need to eat consistantly to stay healthy, at least thats what i read. Jane & I really like the rabbit fish, he was 'cool' but that being said I wouldn't consider another one unless I had a massive tank. At least my bioload has been reduced Pie

? Cavitation is caused by a pump pushing more water than its sucking, thus creating a pocket (vaccum) of bubbles. Shortens your lifespan? Micro bubbles are mostly aesthetic. If they are excessive than can reduce the power of lighting as light reflects back of the top of the bubbles and doesn't get into the tank. Pies

So Jansens they arn't a quality aquairum shop?

I have 15 fish and I feed twice a week. My fish would be lucky to get half a block a fortnight! Beware the overfeeders. Pies

Results from Sunday evening, lights on for 8 hours. PH = 8.29 (pinpoint) PO3 = 0ppm (salifert) NO3 = 0ppm (salifert) kH = 8.5 (salifert) Ca = 460 (salifert) Mg = 1340 (salifert) Salinity = 1.025 (refractometer) Temprature 26 (been fluctuation between 24 & 26 - Heaters are on at 24, no chiller) Skimmer removes 1.3 litres of skimate between Sunday & Sunday. Pie

Lots of people have problems with bulbs blowing/dieing due to ballast mismatch. Last time I was talking with Brendon (Zeovit NZ) prior to purchasing my lighting he was telling me about some of the problems he was having/had with his ballasts and bulb choices. Piemania

Wasp ? I don't know what your talking about but it sounds interesting, more info please!

I guess in the end the aesthetic are in the eye of the beholder. The 20ks look crisp, but without the yellow/red light there is definatly a colour shift, not sure if i'd describe it as washed out, but not sure quite how else to describe it. The photos of the 20ks on that link are much bluer than the 20k radiums I am using. I am suplimenting with 2x white 2x blue 5 foot 85watt T5s Ultimaly I think I may go to 20k 10k 20k 10k 20k but at no time soon. I like the look of the blues, but ultimatly I am curious about how the corals do under it. By comparison the 10ks are very yellow and I don't think I would go back to using them exclusivly, but who knows things tend to change quickly. Would also consider using all 14k but there is some debate about if 14k is a real measurement, as the blueness of the light isn't the only factor generating its kelvin rating. Lots out there on the net if you want to read about the 'false claims' of bubl kelvin ratings. Pie

Craig Now I am sure your probably right that the Melafix caused you a problems. But are you sure its not the wate rchanges that brought back your anemone? Or the fact that you have had to adjust you salinity? OR any of the other changes you have done latley? Now I don't want to poke you with too big a stick, but Melafix has been tested with reef aquairums and is 'reef safe'. Infact they even claim and name Anemones specificially being 'safe for treatment'. What are the chances that all their testing is wrong, and you are the one to discover that Melafix 'creates big issues'? I am not trying to defend the Melafix product, I don't use it nor could I ever imagine any circumstance that would make me use it on my reef, but I think your "it creates big issues" is probably wrong, I let it slide in your own thread about your Anemone, but I don't think it deserved its thread claiming 'it causes big issues' because in all honesty I doubt that is the case. Just my own observation. Pie

Your webshots link doesn't work. Pies

Reef wrote: This is the bit I was refuring too, HQI ballasts are not ment to run DE bulbs, they can be used to run DE or SE bulbs. Thats all. Wasp, its a term within the Aquairum community, no good in the 'real world'. Its useless when you talk to someone else like philips and say 'sell me an HQI bulb/ballast' and they say 'we don't make them'. Pie

Reef I don't think what you said about HQI is correct. When I was looking around I spoke to a few people from places like philips and osram etc about HQI. They all said similar to the following which I'll cut and paste here. DE bulbs have gotten the common name HQI. HQI is a trademark or brand name of Osram/Sylvania. They were the first to put out the DE, non-UV inhibiting glass. Naturally everyone just followed suit and called all double ended lamps HQI. This term really needs to be disassociated with DE bulbs. HQI, in the lighting industry, refers to High Quartz Iodide metal halide bulbs. This can be in the form of a DE bulb, fiber optic reflector, or SE bulbs. The name or trademark HQI can be related to metal halide bulbs that utilize 2 main electrodes requiring a pulse type or HQI ballast to ignite the bulb. The term HQI should be dismissed and we should just pay attention to the proper bulb and ballast combinations. The term HQI has lead to much confusion in the hobby. Pie

They don't look like Percs they look like some sort of tomato clown. pie

Anemones require good strong light, but I suspect any HID like MH will be fine fore them. Mushrooms will survive with any light but most seem to perfur bright but not intense light (say T5s over MHs). Pie