Pies

Hahahahahaha. I rekkon the DelTec sticker on my skimmer is worth over $500.00! If I could go back in time my skimming money would be elsewhere. Pie

And its just my opnion. DelTec make VERY EXPENSIVE skimmers, are they worth it? You obviously think so, I don't. Still though comments like yours must be good for the DelTec importers in the forum. Another few sales for JetSkiSteve, good work Puttputt you should be in marketing. By the way, I am using Aquamedic calcium reactor media at the moment, its its the VERY BEST money can buy. Worth every cent, and I doubt anything anyone could say would change my mind. Its worked like a dream since I first added it. Pies (JetSkiSteve, i'll take my commision in cash please)

This was a paid advertisement brought to you by DelTec, makers of the worlds most expensive skimmers.

Check reefcentral.com for heaps of info on people who have tried using TECs for DIY chillers for tanks. The bottom line is that it doesn't work (well it does, but its so inefficient its not worth the time). You also need to despense with all that hot air on the TEC as well. There is on comercial unit for sale that has been used in PICO/NANO reefs, but from i've read its not worth the hastle. Pie

Yeah I think thats well over a decade ago. Pie

PetPlanet - Quite right, sorry not sure what I was thinking. Pie

There are none in NZ. None in the Poor Knights or anywhere else. Pie

When was this? Like 15 years ago? I have had a peacock mantis in the past, got some bad photos of it. I left it in the tank, it was fine, only about 2cm long. I have another mantis in my tank now, came attached to a rock that my birds nest coral is attached too. Was a good buy that coral, had about 6 crabs in it, the mantis, 2 pistol shrimp and some nudi Pie

I don't think so, they are yelowers, without the darkness. I will try and snap some pics in the next few days. Pie

I have added some new fish to my sump, blue striped clowns. They look like Clarkii but the stripe has a blue sheen to it, very cool. What I want to know is if the female (small one) is the same type of clown. It looks the same, but has a 3rd stripe near is tail. Now I know some change with age and sex. Anyone got any info for me on these fish? Thanks Pie

I have seen similar in my tank, they are breeding so I have no idea what they eat, I havn't noticed corals being munched or anything but its possible. Live and let live I say. Pie

Not quite, Layton would NEVER say dump the skimmer and just use a sandbed! ever... Skimmers 1 / Non-skimmers 0. Pie

A 2 foot tank is NOT a nano tank. They are talking about tanks well under 10 litres. Interesting though the Pico on here (Tom Gunner) has a skimmer running on his. The reson they usually don't use them is practicality, its hard to get one to fit, especially on the small glass nanos that are so popular. 100% water changes are trival in small tanks, so you can do them once or twice a week no problem. I also see my post got edited, it doesn't make as much sense now. Although its not listed as a word on dictionary.com so maybee it was just in the name of being gramatically correct... Pie

WRONG. In fact not even close to being right. In fact I would say 100% the opposite if right. I doubt there is a person here not running a skimmer. I know I didn't buy mine for the '' value. Its not a 4" chrome exaust on a Toyota Corolla. Its is the heart of the berlin method of keeping fish, which we all (99%) are using. Rock, skimmer + light. Just an extra, where do people come up with this stuff... Pie

Layton - HAHAHAHAHA. I agreee completely (with Layton). How many other skimmers have your tried before you came up with that pearl of wisdom RAEH1? Hahahaha. MCE600 the best pfffft. Pie

And we know Sprung LOVES the DSB too

Quick changes in KH have been attribrited to RTN. I'd take it slowly. Everything i've read about adding baking soda saying bake it. I'd water change my problems away, chances are you problem exists because of you CA Reactor not setup or running properly. Pie

I've looked at those rails too. I don't know if you would want to drop to 1 bulb, but certainly could be done by going to 2, which would have a saving and also make coral colour better as the hot spot would move accross the tank! Do it! Pie

ALK and CA (sorry CS is a typo) are bound to each other, Layton I am sure can explain. As I understand it to have ALK that low and CA that high it means you have large PH fluctations (effecting the test scores) as normally you can pick exactly what your ALK is by testing CA and knowing the PH or know exactly what the CA is by testing the ALK. 4 is WAY too low for ALK, and if your are experancing slow coral growth, poor colour or even death or deteriation of some corals, outbreaks of Algae you will know why. Chemical imballance. Layton - consider this an invitation to come and get all scientific on my behalf. Piezola

How do you get an alk of 4 and a CS of 480? And I see no mention of PH. PH is probably the most important reading to do, and if you ALK is 4, you know you PH is poos. Pie

Tangs have dropped in the north over the last few years. I paid $199 for my yellow, from Jansens in 03. Hope you enjoyed NZ Steave, look foward to seeing you blog about us on your site, and to see how the tank survived in the absense of its master Pie

You need to use the right type of phyto, HUFA enriched. You can get away with not using Phyto and buy rotifer culture foods with HUFA enrichment, more expensive but a lot easier. Rotifers are around, i was sent some but had little success. My biggest problem was an underestimate of time required to do it, I am a busy man and I don't have the time. Reef was advertising he had rotifers, as do a few others. Good luck, I hope you get further than I did. Pie

$180.00+ a month estimate, total power bill $400.00 a month. Pie

There was an article in Coral magizine recently about breeding Mandarins. Its possible, but like shrimp etc very challenging. Clowns would be cool, i'd love to do it, but a source of rotifers is a challenge, and the time involved to keep the food source going makes in a MAJOR undertaking. There are other cardinals, like the pajamas which would be nice too. You can feed them on brine shrimp which is a lot easier than making cultures of other foods. Good luck.

I think your chances of success are about 0, or maybee worse. www.reefcentral.com has all your shrimp breeding needs. But here is some stuff to consider, they will not be of a saleable size for about 18 months. They are small and will eventually move onto phyto and rotifers very late in their planktonic stage. This means stocking the tank with the correct HUFA enriched foods and algae for approx 15 months. And thats just from what I can remember from reading about it a while back. If you MUST breed, and it is to be encouraged why not try clownfish or cardinals. Both are considered very easy by marine standards. If you are successfull you could try something more difficult. However have you noticed the shortage of captive bred clowns and bangaii in NZ? No me neither, need me to spell out why? Hope that helps. Pie