camnbron

In addition to water changes do you guys do dailyish tank syphoning? I syphon out around 3L every second day, cleaning out crud and stuff. for me its: 44L fortnightly (10%) *25=1100 3L every second day *182=546 So 1646L/year of NSW Plus Top-up water 2L/day =730L Man the amounts of water I go through starts to add up!

Valid question Candy, I've created a new post to discuss this here so we don't drift off topic and have to change the subject title like tHEcONCHES one!

following on from Candys post in the Takapuna water subject, it would be interesting to see the overall cost of going ASW. Of the two (ASW and NSW) it would be the cleaner - less unknown variables compared to getting NSW from the boat ramp/beach/harbour/side of the boat. But then you would have to look at the cost/benefit of it especially if you live within a minute or two of the sea. From what I understand there are a number of steps and requirements involved to do it correctly You need: Artificial salt mix - Redsea, Instant ocean Good quality water - RODI unit Big container - drum for mixing salt/storing salt Heater - to aid in mixing How long would the filters on the RODI unit last when using it for both top-up and ASW mixing? Do people buy the salt in bulk to reduce costs or group buy? I've gone NSW but I still have some ASW squirrelled away "just in case" Thoughts? Views? I did a search of the section and came up with these previous discussions: Stupid Beginner Questions Topic tends to drift a little biggest disadvantage of NSW Whoops!!! NSW around NZ Little bit of info there No doubt there are other ones too but thats all I could find at the moment

Question is "where did it get split to?

Set it up like a freshwater tank Put heaps of caulerpa, chaetomorpha, some red macroalgae/lettuce as well as encouraging coralline on the live rock Algae that tank up! You'll be able to get reds, greens, pinks, purples, critters coming out of your ears.

See you all at the meeting. I'll be bringing a few things along: 3x 4L buckets of MagFlake to sell some excess MacroAlgae to giveaway, Caulerpa serrulata and Gracilaria curtissae probably only a handfull of each though.

Assuming Aquanet is the importer they are Kuda's, tank raised as per this post in the commercial section: CORALS AND CLAMS AND SEAHORSES.

Did my testing yesterday. Test result was 1470, so it is slowly creeping down

Don't forget the bay!

Exactly Wasp, I agree. We have a slippery slope scenario. Boot camp may or may not be the best medicine to cure the illness we have in our society, but something has to be done. Youth crime has been in the headlines on a regular basis for a while now. Not minor crime but murder, attempted murder, assult with deadly weapons, assault, careless use of vehicle, shooting at policemen, exceeding 100km/hr in tauranga carchase, stealing guns, stabbing corner dairy worker do I need to go on? Very slippery slope. Yes there are good teenagers too, but the rot is setting in.

Congratulations, I am too. But, what does this have to do with the topic?? The discussion is about this post: Generally IMO there has been a noticable change in teenagers over time, I left the 7th form in 1996 and could see i the years below me big attitudes, disrespectful behaviour and lazyness. Sure there are still nice teenagers, however the group that I speak over is growing in representation. Why are they like that? More than likely a wide range of of different reasons. Will boot camps help? Hopefully. Like has been said, removing the person from their influences (Drugs, family, friends, gangs, etc,.) and replacing them with role models, discipline, good food, direction and attention will have a positive outcome. On a slightly different point. When I got to 6th and 7th form, like all other schools, the people who didn't want to be at school had left (because they were old enough to leave). I have no doubt that this had a positive effect for me and my classmates as our teachers could focus on the people who wanted to learn. What will happen if the people couldn't leave until 18? IMO the people who want to be there will be dragged down. Something needs to happen to ensure the disruptive group is reduced in numbers, if boot camps work, why not.

Boring garden hose method: Tools: Garden hose, Garden tap, nozzle for end of hose Draining: 1. Plug hose into garden tap 2. Turn on tap with nozzle open to remove air 3. Close nozzle 4. Turn off tap 5. Crack open nozzle to release pressure in hose then quickly close again. 6. Disconnect hose from tap (also remove attachment from end of hose) and place in garden or lawn. 7 Take nozzle end of hose to fish tank, submerge then open nozzle 8 Remove nozzle and attachment from end of hose and attach gravel cleaning attachment. 9 Drain tank to desired level Filling: 1 Plug hose into garden tap 2 Turn on tap with nozzle open to remove air 3 Adjust tap to required flow rate (not full noise) 4 Close nozzle 5 Take nozzle end of hose to fish tank, submerge then open nozzle 6 place spare hand at end of nozzle to disperse water randomly 7 Fill tank to desired level

Just so you understand: Kongs (NZ) Ltd is the importer of Aquaone Product. If your local fish/pet shop has aquaone then they should be able to get you replacement parts.

Thats what I used to do when I had my 240L freshwater tank. Good old garden hose out onto the grass. Then Garden hose back into the tank. Just have a nozzle so you can turn it off and on when putting water back in. Alternately, if you have a water container and a spare pump you can do the same thing, just make sure you can turn on/off the pump at the fish tank. Makes it heaps less of a drama

Cheers Davidb, Looks like the issue is me! I'll see how my test goes this evening when my SG and Ca is corrected

I purchased it from petplanet in auckland while I was visiting family about a month ago. It has a yellow sticker with 09-2010 on it (expiry date?) Also the batch numbers are: Mg-1 0807-F Mg-2 0807-H Mg-3 0807-B

Cheers guys, My SG is a little high and Calcium was also a little low, so I will adjust those at the same time and then retest this evening. Just had to check about the spoon thing - just in case. :roll:

I have recently started using this manufacturers magnesium test kit. I have been using their KH/Alk kit for a while with no issues. So I understand how to read the numbers on the syringe - that is not the issue. My test results for the three times I have used this kit have been 1500ppm/1500ppm+ For water changes I use Natural salt water - so I would expect this to lower not raise the magnesium level. I use Epsom Salts or Seachems Reef advantage magnesium for raising magnesium (am going to move to Magnesium Chloride). The part of the test I am unsure of is - the measuring spoon. I measure 1 level spoon, is it supposed to be heaped? I've searched the internet, including the salifert website, but cannot find an answer. Could this be the problem or is my kit dodgy?

Did you get this one going? Was it any good? Just curious since you posted asking what skimmer would be suitable for 200L

Looks like a nice toy Reef. You'll have fun with that when it arrives I'll bet

Yup, its a great idea to go and have a look at other peoples setups. So much easier to understand what things are and how they work when you see it in the flesh. Thats what is good about what Gannet is doing in the Tauranga area in the marine keeping scene - trying to get people organised enough to have meetings. That way new people can come along have a look at the setup of where ever it is being held and meet the people in person.

The only problem here is how does a new hobbiest know what is available? Its always good when you walk into a shop and they have what you want on the shelf. What would be the point in a shop if the shelves were empty but they could get the stock in for you!?! The internet is great (if you can access it), especially forums like this where you can ask questions, but looking at pictures and reading stuff only goes so far. I'm a nuts and bolts kind of guy, I like to see what I am buying. If I have to buy over the internet, I will, but my preference is to get it from a local shop.

As per previous subject discussion: The best skimmer you can afford (within reason). I have a deltec MCE600 on my 440L system. I find it to be a good skimmer, very bulletproof. I got it secondhand off another reefer. It would probably be too big for your tank, but they make a smaller model. For lighting since you are going fish only with live rock, you don't need heaps of fancy lights. Anything will do really (again within reason), as its just so you can see and enjoy the fish. If you went with a higher K light they have a more blue light, this will make the fishes colour pop more. Thinking to the future you may want to consider using a light fitting like one of those Hagen T5's with a remote ballast and individual reflectors as then you can shuffle the tubes around to suit the tank and other lighting you may want to add.

So I understand what you are saying here, if my local retailer wants to stock Tunze and Deltec (and that is what they tell me), they should not have any problem with getting the stock from the supplier? Is there anything else that would stop this from happening?

I haven't seen them for sale in the Rotorua store either. This is the same for tunze equipment. They have both on their display tanks just don't have any equipment for sale. It doesn't make sense to me why the equipment is not in shops - you can't sell it if customers can't see it. I have had to resort to buying secondhand or parallel imported equipment because I cannot buy it from my local fish store :evil: Is there a worldwide shortage of this gear or is it just because we are in New Zealand? Either way it doesn't help either companies reputation.