jscottbowman

Hey Chimera Really nice tank you have there. Great to see the hard corals doing well, looks like you have got hold of several frags and milliputted them in place. I have always loved the pulsing xenia - gorgeous movement. The only detration is the equipment visible in main tank (powerheads/returns) but as they get covered in coralline algae at least this is minimised, but thats what i was looking to get away from with my last tank incarnation which sadly never saw light Sadly I am running my laptop as main pc at the moment due to rental situation. My Main tower PC from UK is still in storage. Thats where my old tank pics are stored... I did once upload a pic to "readers tanks" for "practical fishkeeping" magazine, back in UK. I'll have a browse through web and see if its still hoseted somewhere and provide the link. Cheers Scott

My Tank in the UK was 4' x 18" x 18", plus sump. Cant recall whats its volume was. Its was quite successful in some respects and it was very much a learning experiment and went through several incarnations over a couple of years. My worst mistake was letting my LFS convince me to put a plenum under the live rock and substrate, when that had not been my starting intention. Sure enough my nitrate reading went through the roof and I couldnt get them down. I stripped tank down, removed plenum and re-estbalished a 2" coral sand base, with the live rock, and the nitrate level dissappeared. I had an auto top system pumping RO water through a kalkwasser stirrer, on a night timer and triggered by a float switch in sump. This generally worked well, until one night it failed on and pumped entire weeks worth of kalkwasser over in one night. Not a pretty sight next morning. I also ran a Calcium reactor during daylight hours, controlled by a solenoid on a timer. Only problem was I got a bit of a rickety secondhand CO2 system from Germany. I never seemed to able to get a steady drip with it, it either stopped, or poured though. Quite frustrating. I had two 150w metal halides over the tank, but i found the cooling fans very noisy in operation, so tank was relegated to dining room, too noisy in lounge. I couldnt afford nor had space for a chiller. One of the bonuses to my new house build is that I have already budgeted for Aircon, so should keep the room the tank is in, cool. That would be a relief. I did at one point back in UK consider upgrading to a 8' x 36" x 24", as a through room feature between lounge and study. But the quotes became astronomical. I aslo dread to think what the power costs would have been... I did get a new tank custom built in the end; 4' x 2' x 2'. It had two weir overflow towers; one in each rear corner of tank. It also was drilled with returns at the rear towers but also one return at each front corner of tank. The idea had been to direct these front return pipes across front of rock face, conceal then behind small pieces of rock themselves and have the return connected via wave maker so it would pulse back and forth across front of tank. I was trying to get away from having powerheads visable in main tank. I wanted all maintenance of pumps from sump cupboard undearneath main tank. But this tank was sold before ever seeing if it would work. If I do get back into reef tanks again, I've got heaps of ideas buzzing around me head still! I also would hope to attach a caulerpa filled refugium (sump#2) to help further drop nitrates and phosphates naturally. Oh, can you get Rowaphos in NZ? I found it excellent at dropping phosphates. Ok I am probably babbling now...please forgive! Cheers Scott

Dear all Thanks to all for your kind welcome and words of encouragement. As you say its that folks in the marine reef scene are a good bunch, and helpful to each other. I was fortunate to meet David Saxby (MD of D&D aquarium solutions / Delec) at a conference in the UK, and after chatting to him for a while, was invited to see his stunning aquarium at his home in London. Awesome just does not do it justice! Another thing possible with marine reefs is "Fragging". Do members of this forum offer coral frags for propagation of others tanks? I had great sucess in UK with a toadstool coral that dropped bits all over which grew on and could be offered to others. I had a little success with another soft coral by taking cuttings, but found it difficult to get them to adhere to a rock to pass them on, some made it though... Also, it was good to get some advice re Joes Juice for the aiptasia. I had heard the name before but not seen the product. If I recall it is based on garlic? Whats the current thinking on bristleworms? Some folks say they are a pest and must be removed at all cost. Others say they are part of the natural critters in the tank and are there to help remove detritus. Thoughts? I am presently in a rental, and busy having my home built, so I wont be doing anything quickly (a marine reef is not an easy thinng to move!), but i will keep visiting the forum, if only to offer comments from my past experiences. kind regards Scott Paraparaumu

Dear all, I have kept a reef tank a couple of years ago in the UK, before selling it all up, and emigrating here to NZ. I popped into local pet shop and walked straight into a reef display tank. Hmm thought I, dare I dip my toe back in the world of marine reef tanks here? So after a chat to the helpful store owner I learned a few things. One thing he seemed to suggest is that you cannot get Live Rock shipped into NZ due to customs restrictions. Is this true? He said he brings in dead coral rock then seads it himself for 3-6 months in his own tanks. I presume this would work as well, just take longer than buying ready to go stuff? Also as a general query, which stores are recommended in my area (Kapiti Coast). The one thing which truely puts me off getting back into reef tanks is the constant battle I had with Aiptasia anemones. Back in UK I tried all sorts; bought a couple of peppermints shrimps but they stayed in their own little rocky holes and just munched the ones near them. I bought a copperband anglefish which didnt touch them, wouldnt eat anything I gave it, and eventually starved to death after a couple of weeks (really heart breaking and frustrating). I had heard about a sp. of nudibranch (berghia?)that was supposed to munce them but as yet have not seem them offered commercially. The only thing I found successful was injecting them with kalkwasser, but i could only reach the ones on front face of rocks, and would spend most sundays for hours wth syringe in hand... I dont mind maintenance, but this completely drained my enthusiam for the marine tank. Any thoughts... Cheers Scott Paraparaumu

Dear all, recent addition to forum here, and only been in NZ about 20 months. I have kept typical community tanks in UK, and indeed a 4' marine reef tank, which I sadly had to sell and disassemble when I emigrated to NZ. I have thought about getting back into aquatics here in NZ but am uncertain about the impact of earthquakes on aquaria! I have read some of the thread on this forum and many seem to focus on structural rigidity etc etc. However my (simple?) query is, do you have to account for water sloshing back and forth and splashing out of tank during a quake? Do you make you tanks deep, but only fill them so far to account for this or do you just hope the cover glasses keep everything in? My last marine tank was open toppped for pendant metal halide lights, so that would be ideal for me having to go back to cover glasses. I also ran an auto-top up system that worked of a float switch, I presume a n earthquake would make a mess of such a system? Any help appreciated Regards Scott