Pies

You know Auckland must be bad if someone living in Christchurch doesn't even want to be there....

What Layton said. Clown Tangs, like the Sohoal Tang Layton has can be a great addition to a tank, as long as you are ready for it, and big fish are your thing, as they get massive. Alois had a med clown, not sure if he still has it or not? Very pretty fish. Pies

I looked at these units, in some detail. Looks expensive, but if you have to buy 4 Eheim pumps (as I will for my new tank) its fairly reasonable. Ultimalty I have decided that I will go for the seperate pump approach, I didn't see any real advantage to these units, other that the 'randomness' of the current, but I think I will get better results with individual pumps on a wavemaker/timers. Also plumbing everything back to a single point its fairly impractical as far as I am concerned. Pieola

1000 litre an he at no head. Via Aqua are just another 'cheap' branded pump, like many others out there, and I am speaking from experance. Buy the ehiem, you will never regret it, it will work forever. My experance with Fluval is also favourable, I consider the fluval to be a reasonable option, I use one. You can't really use the canister filter as a pump from a sump to the tank, they are not powerfull enough and are designed to work in a 'closed loop' manner, using them to pump head pressure is not going to give results. You could follow Iras advice and use a powerhead to 'boost' the flow, not sure how well this would work, but its reaks of 'ghetto' to me. I am sure there are a dozen other ghetto things you could do with celloptape, blue tack, power heads, a pair of siccors and some pipe cleaners. I would reccomend against it. Sumps are great, but I don't think they are a good idea for freshwater. The overflow system doesn't work as well as it could, and there are issues with 'comb size' because often the fish are smaller. Also there is algae problems and a few other issues. Sumps in freshwater are best left to the experts, or to people running several tanks with the same water paramaters. Buy that ehiem or fluval. Pies

Caryl - not as much as me... Planing and planing at the moment. Ohhh and saving. Shame everything is so expensive. Steve, I couldn't even make room for a half cup of sand its so full

The point I was trying to make was that unless there was a MEGA well paying job, a bunch of hotties, a 3 day week and lots of free travel waiting for me, i'd rather stay here.... In fave there would have to be a lot of hotties, far morethan a bunch. Auckland just aint cool, no offence to you jafas...

Frag some of them puppies and send em my way... Looking good layton, far more corals than eairlier photos, and more fish! Just finished the Survivor Marithon. Overall the 'All-Stars' has been a dissapointment. Bring on "Survivor Vanuatu". We are there in October, wish they would still be filming it when we arrive Pievivor

I sugest keeping the camera still, you will never get a clear pic of the fish if your both moving, hence the reason its hard to take a picture of a still object when you are moving. Trust me, give it a try. And if you want a real challenge, take a photo of one of these...

Looks like the background is moving too... Sohal tangs are very nice, and good on you for giving one a go. Personally I think they get a little big (and aggressive from what I have read), however there is little doubt they are a stylin fish (reef central logo anyone?). More photos!

The barrells arrived and are at my house now. Anyone from Wellinton (IRA) can pick them up directly from me. $45.00ea covers their cost and the postage, i'll pay Steve so you pay me. Thanks to Steve for finding these, sending these and buying them up front. Cheers mate. Pies

*update* Things are going OK with the tank. All setup and running, but corals are looking pretty average as I don't have the space or time for everything. All energy is being spent on planing for the new tank, which I hope to get underway in the next few weeks. The new skimmer is doing a GREAT job. But I am just out of space, so much rock, so little room. Pies

It would tanke a lot more than a pet shop to get me to move to Auckland, a LOT more.

OMG fire? Glad to hear everyone is OK. A smoke alarm saved my old house too, well worth the $10.00 they cost. Good that its all going well. I just need another tank to 'live through' since mine is in a horrid state setup in the garage. Keen as for some photos. Send em to me via email ([email protected]) if you can't be bothered posting them up. Love to see them. Good luck with the exams. I remember how busy I was when it was exam time. Be all over before you realise it. Pies

I am not sure Ira would enjoy working for me... That being said anyone wanting to setup a pet store in Wellington is likley to make a fortune considering we really don't have a decent pet store here, and no pet stores with marines or any reasonable amount of freshwater stock either. Pieman

Layton - Been months since we have seen some pics and updates on you and your tank. Whats up? Pics? Keen to hear how you are getting on. Pieman

I have no experance with it myself, HOWEVER there are mega long threads on the EA on RC & UR. The bottom line is 'its a joke', and doesn't do what it claims for the majority of its users. There are a few stories of people claiming success with it, but most think it makes no difference. As for the science, magnets are a bizarre thing in their effect on biology anyway, you can get them from hippy stores and stick them behind your ears to cure cancer etc but from what little I have read most claims are un-proven. On an unrelated fact - The EA claims 'patent pending' but have not filled for a patient. Conspiricy, lie or mistake? I know what I think... Pies

Michton - www.google.com has your answers.

Ro strips the water of sediment down at a molecular level. This is why you use 'pre filters', to entent the life of the membrane. DI removes any trace of ionic metals and free radicals. RO may not get all of these (whatever they are). DI doesn't removes sediment, bacterria it changes the chemical composition of the water it self. This is why people use DI, consistant water proerties, but its not a filter, its for stripping filtered water. If you need a cheap setup use 1micron PRE FILTER and DI resin. Add the RO later. The pre filters are uses to entend the life of the RO unit, which is used to filter the water at a molecular level and extend the life of the DI resin. A carbon pre filter will strip the water of taste and any chemical compount more efficiently than the RO this saving it. RODI is important for many of us, as Alois so eleoquantly puts it 'being professional'. I think its becomes 10x more important if you using pre-mix salt. Pies

Mine makes 1L of water and spills 7.5ish. So it does waste a lot. Tank water needs to be filtered as much as any other water. Sure it won't contain chlorines and chlorides and florides. It will contain bacterria, sediment, potentially more pesticides etc too. RO is out, wastes too much. Sediment filter, carbon and DI should be used. DI is cheap, as you can DIY (sorry Alois) the DI container, use anything really, old drain pipe or whatever. So the cost is just the media. Prefilters are about $12ea, but the rub is that the housing is about $80.00. But once you spend the $80 its cheap as from there. If it was me I would be a 1micron sediment filter and housing (less than $90), then DIY the DI media through a piece of scrap pipe/ice cream container or whatever. MINIMUM. More is better. Piemania

I am surprised Alois isn't using a sediment filter prior to the DI resin. The DI is a chemical filter, not a sediment filter. The DI resin will not filter DOC. Cheap option use a 1micron prefilter, .5micron carbon filter then the DI resin. WATER is the most important component of your tank. If your not prepared to provide the best possilbe water for your environment then you may as well resign to failure now. all the life in your tank lives in it, why would anyone skimp? Pieman.

Phosphates come from the media used, nothing to do with the reactor. If the media has phispahtes present, the reactor will leech them out. If the media is to course, it takes longer/more c02 to dissovle the chips. Personally I didn't know what was best, went for 'medium grade'. Good luck JackJackJack lets see some photos, I am sure it will work just fine. Ultimatly a CA reactor is a pretty simple piece of equipment (like protien skimmers), and I don't see any reason why a DIY/CUSTOM model will work any better or worse than a store brought model. Pies

I refuse to list my costs based on the fact that if I actually saw, in back and white, how much I have actually spent, I suspect I would at first cry, out loud and a lot and then spontaniously explode. $1.5k rock $2k coral $1k fish $1.5k Skimmer $1k Halides $500 T5s $500 RODI $1k tank and stand $1.5k Tunze Streams $1k Return pumps and closed loops Lets stop right there.

Some more information would be usefull. Forexample you say your PH/nitrate have come back fine. What have the came back from? What are they now? I suspect your are still cycling, can take over 3 months if you used dead rock to start that tank off, I assume you did because you said the rock 'was' grey. The brown growth is almost definatly Diatoms. A very common type of brown filmy algae. Normal, not a problem and no need to loose your sanity. Phosphates? Possilbe, but unlikley to be the major contributor in this case. Lets talk about DOC (Disolved Organic Content). Are you running a protein skimmer on your tank? If you are great! If not, start saving... Water changes? Water topup. Are you doing water changes? By this I mean taking saltwater out and putting saltwater back in? If yes, good! If no, then this is something that needs to be done often. I would suggest that because the tank is only 90L, try and do 20L ever 2 weeks or so. Evaporation? Do you know that you need to replace water evaporation with freshwater not saltwater? Are you measuring your Specific Gravity? If so, good! Keep it between .022 and .027. Really doesn't matter a great deal which, however keeping it stabe is very important. I see your in Auckland. Perhapps pop over to one of the 'teams' house 1 day and have a chat with them, I am sure they can answer all your questions and concerns, and its so much easier to chat than it is to type! Good luck to you. Pies

Ira is on the money, and yes it would make only a small difference given the size of the tank, however we are talking about doing it 'correctly' remember? Don't forget about that skimmer cup (1.5 litres of scum from my tank a week, so I suspect Alois is more like 3 litres + of saltwater he is skimming out and replacing with fresh). Every week addingmore and more freshwater and removing more and more saltwater.... can't be good. Alois - D.I.U If you make it yourself its D.I.Y but if someone else makes it then its custom? Does this mean if I drill a hole in a bucket, put a pump on it, tie it together with flax and give it to Chimera he can say his topoff system is 'custom not DIY' because it was made by someone else? You need to face the reality that that skimmer is very much a DIY unit, no disrespect to Desh who made it, but DIY is DIY. Let me say it again D.I.Y. So come on Alois, tell us the truth, what else is DIY in your system? We know about the tank, stand, overflows and skimmer. Anything else? PIY

IRA - does that factor in the price of that berlin skimmer too? ) Its the 'extra essentals' that start to cost. $500.00+ RODI anyone? Etc et al. Ohhh and lets not forget the fish... $200.00 yellow tang anyone? $165.00 Hawkfish? or for the even more elite... purple tangs and black tangs... ouch.