Pies

Off the top of my head $130.00 ? Perhapps more, can't remember sorry. Great buy to this day worth ever cent. If your looking the only trap seems to be to ensure you buy one thats 'auto temprature adjusting'. Pieman

I don't dissagree, infact I do agree. But to help promote the hobbie for newbies/younger people/tight people it should be pointed out that it can be done cheaper. It may require slightly more time and energy on the keepers behalf, you don't have to go full blown SPS reef and can start small and upgrade over time. The example I was giving above was supposed to be encouraging to people wanting to start. And I belive you can, but you will have to putup with increased maintenance and visible equipment and other inconvienances and disadvantages. HOWEVER if you want a tank to look as nice as some featured on the board (Steve, Alois, Adam, NickS etc) you will need to spend 10k+. Thats $10,000.00 plus, mucho denero. To put it in perspective Alois has spent half of that amount on his current skimmer alone... Pies

I think the Peri was $250.00 2nd hand but 'as new', I think it actually came from JetSkiSteve but can't remember 100%. Alois - The DIY way or the professional way??? hahahahha comming from a man thats been running a D.I.Y skimmer for 6 months... hahhaahhaahahahahaha Alois - Earlier on you said its more consistant to run 'kalkwasser' 24/7 than just during the night. Fair comment (I don't agree but its not important and probably doesn't matter which way). But then you only run your CA reactor for a few hrs a night? Isn't that going to spike PH/ALK/CA (which is what you said to me about running kalkwasser over 10hrs a day and not 24/7). So why is it important to run kalk 24/7 but CA only 2-3 hrs a day? Theres the 'Right way', the 'Wrong way' and the 'Alois way' If you were doing its 'professionally' you would have your computer connected via a 'SG probe' and then dose fresh water when the SG raises, this way you would be taking into account the saltwater you loose from the skimmer cup collection. Also if you use a float switch (as Alois is) and you go into the tank, and drip saltwater out, the float switch system will replace that water with fresh water, so over time your salinity will be consistantly dropping. does't sound to professional to me, sound like a '#$#@ up' considering the amount of equipment you have running on your tank. If your going to have a computer and all the expensive probes you should use them. Ha ha! Piestirer

I put it too you, that it would cost less that $5k but over $3k. A friend (Barney for those of you who know him) has a 3ft tank. Successful marine tank with live rock, soft corals and mushrooms. He uses 2x3ft fluros, 1x 150watt halide, backpack hangon skimmer, heater, ehiem caniser filter, asorted powerheads on a wavemaker. Without a sump the tank does have a lot of visible equipment, but he is on a budget, and is good with his routine. He has a yellow tang, cleaner shrimp, clownfish (+ anemones), bi colour blenny + snails and small starfish etc. He uses lots of water changes (20% every fortnight) and tops up about 1L of fresh/kalk every day or 2 from a cerial container on a shelf above the tank. Shows it can be done. His tank is his pride and joy, and even though its small its still captivating and interesting to watch. Pies

Peri pump + timer - bucket/barrel + powerhead + Timer = auto topoff system. The only manual part is the addition of freshwater and kalkwasser powder into the bucket/barrel. Alois is right BUT to get back to one of my earlier points, if you do as Alois has suggested you have the issue of 'hammering' the RO membrade as the top off may trigger several times an hr or more. Also if you follow Alois advice you will have to think about how to Stir you kalkwasser as you dont want to add it to the tank while the unit is still stiring or too close to it. Remeber Alois doesn't use RODI he uses water from a resivour and is not plumbed into his water supply. Alois based on your 'article' before, do you not use kalkwasser and just use freshwater? Or do you use both (thus adding to many ions???). Pion

If the shutoff is after the RODI, then water will still be being driven through/to the membrane an you will be bleeding water from the RO (the excess water) 24/7. ---- Ro bad out ---- drain ---WATER----PREFILTER-----ROUNIT< ---- RO good ---- DI Resin Hope that turns out and makes sense?

I agree with Alios. I think you are just adding things in becuase you can, not sure if you will get any additional benifits other than spending more money. Alois, you don't like DIY is that why you took that DIY skimmer you had on your tank off?

Not if the sensor sticks on. Yout right, the chances of a problem are low/remote. However the stories around of people who have had problems scared me. Most lost everything, nothing survived, not even bacterria. Kalkstirers are usually 'sealed', and removes some technology. So you have the float switch connected directly to the peri pump or solinoid (or both). Does the solinod provide pressure to the RO unit? I didn't think it di, because if the solinoid is plumbed into the unit after the membrane then your 'runoff' water will still be flowing (forever!). If it goes on the front of the membrane, this won't keep pressure on the membrane either and as soon as the solinoid tribs the membrane gets hammered. Solinoids are expensive. Pies

Chimera. Yes you can do this, and I think this is the better was to do it. HOWEVER... I see 3 reasons why not to use 'auto refill' of the resivour. 1. If the float switch sticks, the resivour will overflow. 2. The resivour is of limited size. This I see as an advantage because if you top-off system sticks, you can only put as much water as is in the resivour, otherwise you could dose freshwater forever (bad). 3. RO units are not designed to be turned on and off all the time. This lessons the life of the RO membrane. Ideally you would run it for prolonged periods, consistant on and offs are bad (according to the instructions that came with my RO unit). If you decide you still want to plumb in RO water directly, then I would suggest dumping the idea of a 'resivour' that size and just get a KALKSTIRER. Steve knows where there is a good DIY one for sale I think (Chris B?). Pies

I'm with Warren on the c02. However i'm against the use of spray bars alltogether. I took mine off, looks 10x nicer. Have you noticed that the Fluval filters don't use them anymore and just have that little jet looking thing? UBER.

I was talking about adding KALKWASSER/FRESHWATER not running c02 and a KALKREAKTOR. and thats what you were talking about? If not I dissagree with EVERYTHING you said Altzhimers is your dood, unless you think we were talking about using a top off system to switch on and fill the tank through the CA reactor. *** Too many people run very successful systems using both KALKWASSER and CA REACTORS together. Doesn't seem to be any reason to NOT use kalkwasser. I personally don't think kalk is doing any damage to my tank with the CA reactor, however I would also be surprised if its doing much good either. I use both, anyone else with a CA reactor use Kalk as well? I am sure Alois does, Steve does, Nick does. Hrmmm the 'ayes' have it. Too many Ions.... How many Ions is too many? The more ions the better! (whatever they are). You can never have too many ions. And if you did, you just use an ion filter to take them out. Better to have too many than not enough? An ion in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. Ions is as ions does. A rolling ion gathers no moss (or algae in this case). My PH sits at 8.3 daytime, falls to 8.0 low. If I am doseing kalkwasser during the night (which I do 90% of the time), all that happens is that the PH falls slower when I am using it, but the top and bottom figures don't change. I suspect I could change it buy stiring the reactor again halfway through dosing, but I don't see that a change of .3 is a biggie, and no worse than most others. New larger tank should hold the PH low reading a little higer I hope (say 8.3 - 8.1) but won't know till its up and running. Pion

Old news dood. Infact if you look around you will see some posts about this guys setup on this board. Read the thread on RC for more info than is on the web. The guy is MEGA organised, MEGA anal. The funny thing is that his tank (aquascaping) didn't end up looking very good Its the perfect template for anyone considering setting up an 'in the wall + sump room' setup. I would love to have done this. Chimera - How about finding us something thats not years old eh? Pieola

I see an issue with 'auto top off' is that the are float switch (or technology that works like a float switch using light sensors). Not only can this fail, but it means it doses all of the time (whenever the level is to low). This has an advantage and disadvantage. If you are dosing kalkwasser, then adding the kalk soultion to the tank during lights on, when the PH is highest, this addition can further spike the PH. this is why most people choose to dose during lights off, as the Kalk can be uses to help keep the PH higher as it drops during the night. There are many examples of RC of people who have had 'auto top off' systems stick, and floods, death etc are the result. I choose to use a limited size resivour, timer and peri pump. You will find that you evaporation is fairly constant. I dose 6.3 litres a night, and my SG sits on .025 and has done for over 12 months. So it works. It means that if the timer or pump sticks on, the worse that can happen is the resivour is emptied, but its not big enough that it would cause a major problem (can't overflow the sump). I am happy with this system and will do the same again with the larger tank. My 2 cents. Pie

A good sump means you can add the larger tank whenever you want, no sweat. 1000 litre? Bigger is better man. The current plan, no matter what other considerations, is to make sure you end up with a tank larger than Reefs. By the time 2 of us have tanks larger than his, I am willing to bet even money he will have a 3500 litre + tank within 12 months.... Piddly little 8footer...

cool.

Dood pics. I am in the process of starting my sump room so keep me in the loop, ideas mistakes anything I can use. I am all ears. Good luck with it! Ohhh I saw your comment on sump turnover rates somewhere. I get about 3-4x my tank an hr through the sump, no problems at all. I run an UPS for the return pump though, to make sure it keeps running through power cuts. Pieman.

Disel is good for acro colour and helps reduce nitrates... I've got an article in German about it somewhere...

Chimera - Yes I use individual timers for all of this. Would it be easier? I don't see how, programming a computer it 10x more difficult and time consuming than using a timer. Also a timer costs about $20.00. An X10 module cheap costs about $65.00 and a 4 plug bar for an IKS computer costs about $200.00 (thats $50 per device) and they are only in german plugs too, so you will need some adapters. Then with the non X10 you will need to wire everything back to the computer (MEGA LEADS EVERYWHERE). Or with the X10 you have other issues (x10s require some skill and time to configure correctly). Can the IKS or Neptune drive the TUNZE Streams? Nope, only turn them on or off (I was at Alois house and he couldn't get the streams running on the IKS, so is using a TUNZE wavemaker not his computer to drive and pulse them). An IKS PH probe is more than a Pinpoint PH monitor, and for argements sake lets say they are the same or close enough to the same. Sure I could use the computer to controll the PH of the tank using the computer and a solinoid (more money). I thought this would be cool, but I run my reactor 24/7 with no ill effects so why would I want to turn it off, Korallin reactors and designed to run 24/7, see my paramaters, no advange to controlling PH for my system. Temp - Temp is a good one, and a computer is excellent for this. I use 3 heaters at the moment. However the costs of the x10 (which can't run more than 1 heater because of the draw of power) or the IKS power bar this adds to the cost. What I would like it to do things like if the temp rises over a preset amount, I could then turn off the lights (halides). This is something I can't do with my temprature controller. But the controller worked out about the same costs as running the heaters on the bar or x10 without factoring in the costs of the computer itself. REDOX - Whats yours? I havn't a clue. Other the Reef I doubt anyone else does either. What can you do when its low? Water change. But I do regular water changes anyway so what would I can, the computer would tell me that because the redox is low a water change makes sense. A water change ALWAYS makes sense! Never bad to to water change. If you want to control just timers there are dozens of devices out there you can program with the PC and plug your devices into, x10 and wired. They range in price from about $180NZ to about $300NZ. But don't provide any provision for reading problems, just turning things on and off (and dimming). But hey you can get into a complete setup for about 2.5k NZD (computer, plug bar, probes), add another 1.5-2k for the extras your would like. Ohhhh and you know that EVERYTHING is now centralised right? Do computer dies, tanks dies. Do they ever break down?... Pies

My skimmer smells worse than your skimmer. http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/protei ... 052200.htm A good read to explain things no doubt more correctly and scientifficly than I could. Bottom line - I wouldn't use a skimmer if I didn't have too, but I belive I do need one, so I run one. Don't think there are many, if any others about the dissagree. (There are the MUD and algae systems, which I belive do work, but are best left to the more advanced keepers out there). Piemania

I have looked at computers, looked a lot. Thought about building my own. Buying 2nd hand etc. If you are SUPER SERIOUS (or have an unlimited budget) they are a must. However for 99% of us they are a luxury. Of the ones I looked at I would say that the IKS is the best, in that its the most flexible, and most configurable. 2 disadvantages is that its centrally wired (no support for X10) and that by weight, its more expensive than gold. One of these computers decked out with all the bits and pieces you need would easily cost over $3000.00. They one I was looking at was the Neptune Aquacontroller. Which I feel is the best given that it supports X10. But has disadvantages in that it can only have 1 of each of the 3 probes attached. temp, ph, redox. I think having more than one PH probe and temp would be good. For those of us running (or I am planing to run soon) a tank with a remote sump, the IKS computer without the suport for X10 is no good, as the computer will be to far away from the lights and pumps to be effective. However the short falls of the Neptune also make it unattractive to me too. So in the end I am going 'ghetto'. Timers, Pinpoint probes, external temprature controller. What advantages would a computer provide on top of what I already have? Reporting, nothing else. This is where the computer is at its most valuable, reporting and plotting trends. However anyone willing to give me either, sing out, i'll take it. Pies

The books I have on the subject vary in when they say you need to have the skimmer connected. The only consistant theme is that you should have one and it should be running before you add any life to the tank. My advice is the same as Laytons, get it on while the tank is cycling and help export nitrates, phosphates and anything else that may be in there (die off from rock and bacterria). Good luck Pies

As you know I am planing a new tank, water volume for the tank approx 1400 and sump and plumbing tanking it to over 2000 litres. I plan to use my Korallin 4001 reactor to drive my tank, it will be a 100% stone coral tank. I know people (GT on UR) who uses this reactor on his 4000 litre tank, SPS only with no problems, and for those who have seen pics of GTs tank, you will know how good it looks. I currently dose 6L of kalkwasser a nigh using an IKS Peri pump, this tanks 10hrs to dose the 6L. My setup is similar to Nicks. When I get my 200L barrel from Steve, this is what I will use for my new resivour. I use a power head to stir it every day (1 hr prior to dosing). My freshwater is provided through RO&DI. My tank paramaters can be found on my site buy are typically: ALK 8.3 CA 430-460 PH 8-low 8.3-high MG 1350 For MG I use Magnesium Chloride crystals from APS in Auckland, approx 1 cup of crystals every month. I am also using the mg chips (10% volume) in my CA reactor brought from Zeovit NZ. This seems to work well. I do 10% water changes every 2-3 weeks, which also helps stablise my paramaters. I am curious on how easy it will be to maintain a large tanks paramaters now that I am about to join the 'big boys' with Reef I suspect it will be easier not harder. I also have a 2nd reactor chamer containing CA media and PHOSPHATE resin (Salifert Phosphate killer). Pieman

Yeah as the capital city and 2nd largest population center in the country you would think there would be something, but their aint...

Wellington? 2 shop marine tanks is exactly 2 more than can be found in Wellington stores.... we have nothing...

Bula (hello in Fiji). Well we are finally home after our 2 week trip to Fiji. Jane and I had a great time and did lots of diving and snorkeling as well as the usual things, drinking, eating, readings and relaxing. We spend the 1st week of our holiday on Kadavu Island, southern most Fiji. The resort we stayed at was very small (12 people the most that were staying when we were their, down to 4 at one stage). The 2nd week we joint the rest of the FNZAS crew on Mololo Island staying on Plantation Island Resort. Although we had lots of fun here, its not the sort of place I would retun too, Jane and I prefur the more secluded and private places where you get to meet the villagers and see some real Fiji. JetSkiSteve came to visit, but we had some 'communication issues' and didn't actually get to see Steve or Carla, which was a shame, but Steve got to meet most of the other FNZAS people so not a waste at all. (next year Steve!). The weather was fairly average, mostly overcast with some rain. Unusual for the dry season. The days the sun came out it was too hot anyway, and the weather doesn't affect the diving one bit! The diving and snorkeling in Fiji was excellent. It is obvious why Fiji is known as the soft coral capital of the world. Millions of nice corals, soft and hard, and more marine life than you can shake a stick at. The dives varried from shallow water reefs and reef crests and inner reefs, to deeper fore reefs and bommies. Lots of swin throughts and things to see. Overall the diving was fairly easy, which is good, most dives close to an hour in length. We did about 17 each. Night diving. We did a night dive and it was awesome, infact I would say it was the best night dive I have ever done. We did a site called 'Crazy Mazey' which was lots of tunnels and swimthroughs, and it was the first time the dive charter had ever done it at night. The wild life was awesome, and I say rays, sharks, fish, mantas shrimp, anemones and worms and millions of other things too. It was a challenging dive and I came up with about 4bar of air (start with about 210), which is as low as I have ever been. I actually had to suck the air from the tank! Great dive. Anyway some pics: This turtle was large, perhapps a metre accross, with a remore attached. As soon as it saw me it raced away: This is of the largest moray eel family, the giant moray. The largest of this type of eel found weighed about 240kg, so they get MASSIVE. Jane and I saw a HUGE one in Vanautu, this one was small by comparision, about as round as my thigh. Morays looks menicing and are feared by many divers, but the truth is they are gentle, blind and bit scardey cats. You can pat and stroke them, but often they look as mean as anything you have ever seen, however the one pictured here looks goofy and a bit stupid, I also think its crosseyed! Requium Sharks. Sharks are not an uncommon sight on the reef, and for most divers they are an interesting distraction but not something to fear or worry about (treated with respect of course). This was as close as I have ever been to large sharks (2.5-3m for the largest). I was approx 1 foot from them at times. This was a planed shark dive and feed, and Issakki the dive master who was feeding them later told us it didn't quite go as planed and the sharks were a little closer and in the wrong places (behind him) more than he would have liked: After the feeding some of the sharks had shed teeth and where to be found on the sand, Jane and I have 1 each, and makes they only trinket I brought back with me: I have never seen so many clown trigger fish. Awesome looking, some very large, I think once of the prettiest fish on the reef and the most active: This was the only wreck we dived. It was a passanger liner (120feet, so small) and had been stripped bare to allow for safter penetration of the wreck. I think the boat was called the Aerora: So thats that. I will try and post up some coral pics later on for those interested. I didn't take as many (good) photos as I would have liked, but was too busy diving to bother. Jane and I return to the reefs in October for a 2 week dive trip of Vanuatu, this time visiting the Presedent Coolege and Million Dollar point. Pies