skippy

Smash the camera That phone pic is primo. Nice fishy

Thats your point !!! Huh???? I am beginning to see why some people misunderstand you Layton

Dunno about Whangarei, I would have thought that out Parua Bay way would be a chance. Have posted on your other thread re rockpools too

Bay of Islands Lots of rockpools around here. Omapere (west coast on the Hokianga) is another spot but you need to go around the point a bit. I can get you about a million little anenomes when I go diving if you want to come to Kerikeri and get them. Maybe some nudibranchs (pale pink with purple spots) seen them last two times I've been out diving. Are you interested in joining a Northland Club? Check out my thread in the clubs forum Cheers Skippy from Kerikeri

I do like that one Kevan - its awesome. Wicked colour, so much more reserved than Jetski's rose anenome

JDM wrote: This is exactly what I did when I got back on 29 Dec and found a red algae outbreak on my sand. Also reduced my temp a bit to about 26 (had climbed to 29.9 while I was away and the chiller thermostat drifted). Red cyano all gone now - haven't seen it since I siphoned. Mind you don't siphon your heliofungia though - they don't like it Mine died

You trying to make me feel better Cookie? The red algae didn't actually get onto the helio but it did pretty much surround it. Guess thats why I got so close with the siphon (25mm dia plastic tubing with a sucker on the outlet end - me ) Guess it doesn't really matter how or why - its dead!

Wash your mouth out Puttputt Are you trying to start another DSB or BB arguement on here? Each to their own, each to their own, each to their own, etc

Yeah maybe but I suspect that it was my carelessness with the siphon tube :oops: The heat obviously wouldn't have helped its cause much if it was a bit stressed. Like you said - Bugger! I've also lost a couple of branches of a torch coral - that was probably the heat that did that as they have been quite happy and nothing else changed. One branch on the same coral still seems to be happy enough and a second one I've got is going great guns :-?

Zev wrote: Dunno if its temp related but very suspicious that it breaks out when the temp goes through the roof (from a relatively constant 26ish degrees). I siphoned all my sand out, gave it a good rinse out and then stuck it back in. Seems to have done the trick - no return of the disgusting red crap since. :bounce: Probably helped getting the temp back to some sense of normality too Unfortunately I think I got my siphon too close to my heliofungia though. A day or two after I siphoned the sand, it started receding and is now dead Quite pissed off as it was a really nice one and seemed to be quite happy where it was.

Came back from my Xmas break (30 Dec) and tank was at 29.9 and had a superb outbreak of red algae all over my sand. Couldn't figure it out as the chiller was set at 25. Have since figured out the thermostat on my chiller has drifted about 7 degrees so it wasn't kicking in :evil: Need to replace it, but now have the chiller set at 18 and it keeps my tank at about 25.5 together with switching off the MH's for a couple of hours in the early afternoon. Heater has been off since about October. Its warmer up here you know

Serious reef tank envy happening in Kerikeri. I'd love to build something like this in my next house but the idea of paying power on 5000-odd watts of lighting alone (let alone anything else electrical) scares the crap out of me. Currently have nearly 1000 watts on the current setup and the power bill is scarey.

My thoughts exactly KP

Very cool. I'm kind of tempted to fill my spare tank in the garage and make it a local marine on. I saw hundreds of little anenomes on my dive the other day. Would be cheaper that warm marine if I can collect them rather than having to buy them

Outstanding!! You missed the summer though We had it last week! Weather has turned to crap again :-? Mind you, we desparately needed some rain as everything is dry as a bone. Filling the water tanks too :bounce: Keep in touch as to progress. Will be in Auckland at the end of the month for a day or two then 4 days camping in Tutukaka early Feb. Want to dive the Poor Knights again

I'll see what the weather is like on the weekend (pretty crap up here today but I think it is the same everywhere). I think the wife would be keen to get some scallops from a different bed which isn't too far from where I found the starfish. Do you want me to catch them or just take pics? (If we go of course and assuming I can find them again!) Do you know of any good starfish web sites so I can have a look and maybe I can ID the ones I found. Cheers Skippy

Hey Puttputt You seem to have been gone for ages - no posting. Where ya bin? oh, tank looks good. Must have a good baby-sitter down there.

Cool Love the colour. Where'd you find it?

Welcome Gavin (and Skoll the cat) Enjoy this site, no matter how much you already know about fish, you will still learn plenty on this site Cheers Skippy

Even though we are PM'ing I'll officially welcome you too

So there is - didn't see them first time round. Did you find any details on the tank or just the pic?

Be a bitchin' frag tank Struggle to keep any fish of a decent size in it and even a lot of the smaller fishes (gobies, wrasses, etc) as they would be constantly having competitions to see who could land the furthest from the tank. Is there a bunch of Banghai Cardinals on the rhs? It does look kind of cool though :-?

Thanks Sam and Raven Have also been pm'ed by Smidey who is also keen. Will give it a day or two (say to the weekend) to see if I get any more. It will be easier to contact everyone by email so if you could pm me your email addresses I can start to set up a bit of a spreadsheet with names and emails and can use that to contact everyone directly at the same time (rather than replying with individual posts to everyone ) assuming everyone is happy with this approach of course. Let me know if it is not (you will get everyone elses names and emails) At this stage will leave ph nos and addresses until everyone is ok with progress, but feel free to pm them to me if you want. I will not send contact details of anyone to anyone else unless you specifically say it is OK, and it won't be on the forum - it will be via email. We are crawling next step is standing up Cheers Martin (aka Skippy )

HI Again No need to thank me - the museum is enough thanks. I meant what I said in the earlier post - it is awesome now. The kids (big and little - 2 under 10, 1 30+ ish and 1 40) all had a ball especially in the Weird and Wonderful and the aquatic/sea/etc areas. I loved the "coral reef wall", all the tanks and the under floor(glass) rock pool is brilliant. No he didn't - bummer! Have to look out for him next time. Does he try and eat the fish in the tank? Went for a dive on Saturday looking for scallops but found sod all (been picked over by the holidayers). What I did find was a stunning pale orange with pink dots nudibranch, a weird claret/maroon coloured starfish (about a 6cm dia centre with 5 about 15-20cm legs) as well as a more normal looking starfish except that he was totally covered on the body and legs with about 5mm long, hard spines. He was about 20cm across including legs Never seen either of them before. Idiot me left the camera at home so not even any pics. :-? Want me to go back and find them and send them to you for the starfish tank? They were only in about 4-5m of water around the rocks.

Hey davidb visited the museum over the Xmas/NY break (first time in years). I was massively impressed! Only thing that concerned me a tad was that the little reef tank didn't seem to be that happy. Looked very pink and the colour seemed very washed out in the anenome and on the clown in the tank. I think it was a skunk clown but it had very little colour. Also you have a stunning crop of aiptasia going on in there (Which is probably not a good thing) Not wanting to be a picky bugger or too critical but just telling how I saw it - sorry :oops: Apart from my whinge above, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and will be back to finish it off (kids ran out of steam) soon. You and whoever else is responsible for getting the museum to its current excellent presentation should be congratulated. Good on you all. Anyone who hasn't been for a while should make the effort to go. It was packed when we went and is not the "stuffy, staid and tomb-like" museum of old - it is an excellent day out