Pies

Ye ole TUNZE Streams.

Fay, its important to realise that chimeras 'in action' photo is a bit misleading. They are run submerged, not above the water as pictured. Pie

Sea Swirl is the brand. They are not poweheads, they are 'up and over' plumbing contrapions, used on closed loops or more commonly the sump return pipe. Check my recent post about my tank for pics. Pie

Suphew, will we see you? Barney will be there. I'll be there. Steve A. will we see you? Spinedoc? Mike (tawa, sorry man lost your number, please pm me your details) IRA will be at Kapi Mana Shae will be at Kapi Mana Have left a message with Brian Who else?

Shae - Come over one night and have a chat if your serious about it. It can be done but be prepared to take it seriously and do some hard work (maintenance) to keep it running. smaller tanks don't settle the same so you will probably have to do an hour or 2 a day 2-3 days a week. if you want to do this, then I think you can make it happen. DIY can save you some money, but there are things you can't skimp on (test kits, water quality, rock etc). Good luck, just because its small doesn't mean its not doable. Pie

hahahhaha

If I had something to eat before I clicked send/submit i'd be 'MEGA PIES' not just 'PIES'. *gobble* *click*

Good work Cees. Come and meet us at my place tonight, all welcome. Pies

JoeBlog - The 'revoultion' nozzels spind 360 degrees though, where as the sea swirl have a 90 degree arc. I REALLY like the sea swirls, they are the only thing in the tank that truely creates some randomness to the water flow. Now I have nothing against the OM, like I said I was within inches of buying one. But 'stealthing' the nozzels is impossible as you want the current to wash accross the reef, not be hidded behind or under it. Also they need maintenance (cleaning) which means you need to be able to access them. You also still need to get water into the tank from the sump, so the Sea Swirl makes perfect sense. But yes people like them, and I like the concept but ultimatly didn't really apply to my setup as well as what I have. Be carefull, when there is no flow through the nozzels fish like bi-colours can get into the plumbing. True to compare it to the 1: SCWD. The SCWD is a great device, and works REALLY well on my 3 footer, but I think thats where its best, on small systems, I think it becomes less effective on larger systems (why not just use 2 pumps and timers?). But an SCWD is HEAPS cheaper than the OM and doesn't require any power to run (but does drop the pump efficiently by between 10%-20%. What would be interesting is how noisey the 220/240 versions will be. Sea Swirl gets 9.5/10 pies. SCWD gets 6.5/10 pies. Pie

Sorry for the late notice. Its just that I have a few people comming around, so may as well make it official. My place, 7pm. PM me if you do't know where I am. Pies

Hawkfish a predators, eating shrimps and anything else they can hunt. I have been lucky, mine have been very well behaived. The reason the 'walk' on there fins is because they have no swim bladder, so can't really swim like other fish, when they stop 'kicking' they sink Great fish and would never not have one. They like a bit of space, but would be OK in a 4 footer I guess. The scarlett hawkfish are fairly expensive at the moment, last time I saw one at Jansens was $185.00. They live for at least 10 years (we know someone who had one for that long). Great fish 10/10. I liked my pixy hawkfish more, which died in the move

Layton 0 First off a really like the concept. They are however quite new, and many people on RC have has problems with them. Also because of the cnetralised water switching they use, they can create a bit of a nightmare of plumbing. On top of that I already had the ehiems and liked the 1:1 plubming for its minimal flow restriction and minimal space consumed. Then factor in the cost of the unit and it all seems like no gain for a lot of cost and hastle. In retrospect I know I made the right decision. Interesting the reason there is no center brace through my cabinet was because I wanted space to mount the OM. Pie

I looked long and hard at the ocean motion for my tank. Chose not to do it in the end. Pie

I think its just nessessary for water to be PUSHED into the rector so the motor that is used for circulation isn't used to SUCK water into it. As I understand it anyway. Pie

Allows the fish and other animals to move freely between the layers of the rack and increases waterflow. Can also be used to sit awkward bits of rock into to prove increased stability. ©Pieman 2004

Thankyou James, that helps me out a bit. Any reason why the CA reactor is way down there? How do you feed it (like where does the water come from?). I am considering drilling another hole through the floor (sorry jane) and gravity feeding the pipe down from the main tank overflow into the reactor, that should give it MEGA pressure. Pie

Here is a picture of the final reef rack. This is theright hand side used to support the 'wall of rock' thats going to sit on it. These racks are going to work out awesomely. I have a bare bottom in the tank at the moment and although there are some places where sediment is collecting none of it is happening under the rock, this is GREAT news and couldn't have worked out better if I had planed it Take a minute to thank JetSkiSteve. Steve is by far the most helpful person I have encountered so far in this hobby, selfless and friendly, I feel I am always in Steves debt for something. This time Steve took pity on my Iwaki pump not pushing water from the garage to upstairs, so he sent me his big Deltec pump. After a little fluffing around I now have water circulating between the garage and the lounge! THANKS STEVE. This is a major milestone. first it means I don't have a 'film' buildup on the water, second, its one step closer to connecting the two systems together. This means I get the water skimmed, heated with more accuracy (you don't realise how good a job the electronic controller does until you stop using it!), and no shock for the animals when I move them from one tank to the next. The deltec is almost perfectly silent too, but I could do with a tad more grunt. Still its going to be perfect for now. Well i've been to the ocean 5 times now and still the tank needs more water! Just incase your where woundering how much water I collect in one go, here is an arial shot! The water over the past few days and been cristal clear. How much is salt? I wounder how much money I have saved doing this? It would have taken about 2 months to make enough water with my RODI to fill the tank anyway! \\ So water is circulating, using a temp 3 foot fishtank (old rock curing tank) as a temp sump. The next BIG step is the 'merge' of both systems. I will have to buy a few bits and bobs, which is whats putting me off more than anything. I will need to buy some PVC pipe, which always bugs me as its so damn expensive! Anyone in Wellington with some pipe the can donate/lend to me? 25mm or larger will be perfect. 20mm if nothing else shows up? You know how to find me :lol: When am I going to add fish is the question I keep being asked? The answer? NEVER! Ok ok ok, maybee not never. I will move the clownfish into the tank as soon as I move the H.Magnificia Anemone, other than that I am going to hold off until after christmas, I really want to get the copepod population growing. People keep asking why I have such a big fish tank if I don't want fish in it. Well I don't call it a fish tank. I am warming to the term 'captive reef'. Piemania

Yeah that would be my single big complaint with the SCWD, that the fittings are a bit 'softcore' for my likling. Well I could well have a 2nd hand IWAKI comming though very soon, infact make an offer and you could have it by the end of the week I now have some DELTEC action (thanks Steve!).

Bah who cares? Hardly worth factoring into your decision process.

Brendon uses Diamant glass, ask him if he would use it again? Layton - Alois was claiming his tank is 12mm Diamant and his tank was made locally. Pieman

There are tropical seahorses. I have seen them in reefs, but people have problems with them under heavy lights, aparantly they can get algae growing on their backs which slowly kills them. Small tanks are possible, but require more work and intervention on the part of the keeper. Still better a small reef than no reef I must admit I am tempted to setup a nano for my desk at work. A pair of clowns, an anemone and some mushrooms and button polyps. DIY skimmer, etc etc. One day... Cyno is a type of bacterria (Cynobacterria) and is unsightly. No real evidence of it being a sign of unhealthyness or anything but it does look horrible. I have none in my 740 litre tank and a bit in my 300 litre tank that all runs on the same water. So for me I suspect its either light, current or both. Many have luck by increasing current, this hasn't worked for me. Don't panic about it though. Mirco algae is a catch-all name for algae like calurpa which is what you have (Calurpa Racemosa). Racemosa is one of the easiest calurpas to eradicate as its so easy to remove, take it out as often as you can as it can go 'sexual' which will polute the water and make it go milky white, which is bad, but the pressence of calurpa is OK and many of us have it both in the tank and in the sump. Pies

JetSkiSteve sent me his DelTec return pump today, so I hope to get a chance to try it out tonight! Water circulating through the tank is a big hastle out of the way. Quite excited about it actually. It will also mean that my 740 litre tank is fed by over 2000 litres of sump hehehehehe Pies

Cool, be awesome to get like 50 of them and have your whole sandbed made from crabs! Lame rating 8.7/10. Pie

FYI this is a joke. I ment no offence to anyone who does't have cyno and I apploigise to anyone who took offensive to my comments. Layton, how about posting some more pictures of your tank and setup? Only seem to get a pic out of you every few months, i'd love to see more of it. Particulary coral growth and coral colour photos. Pies

Cheers. I am getting close to having to think about what I will need to do. I have 250 litres in the garage waiting to enter the system, and Steves pump arrives this morning, so hopefully I will have water circulation today! Pie