tHEcONCH

I have an Electric P51 - yours cheap if you want it (comes with spare wing, spinner, etc...) Also a more sensible Electric trainer too - also yours cheap...

Good news Just keep up the water changes in the main tank to make sure any pathogen (if there was one) is flushed out

Heh heh - Meeeooowwww!!!! :lol: They certainly look better one the polyps open

Definitely

A good article on photosynthetic gorgonains: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/ ... invert.htm

Any new pics, reef?

Seconded. Water changes are the go

Yep, we've traded frags - its an awesome tank, and underscores how much better the basic 'all-in-one' design can be if built properly. I really like the shimmering effect the halide made.

I like the 'all in one' nature of the RSM - its tidy, and I really like the 'false wall' at the back hiding all the junk. I think I'll try and build a bigger version, but with halides and a better skimmer, and probably a sump of some kind to ensure plenty of little critters.

Pretty much all marine fish, and certainly all Mandarin fish, are wild caught which really underlines why you have to do the right thing. Some species of Clowns and Cardinal fish are tank bred, but a lot are still taken from the wild for all that.

Yep, that sounds like a good plan.

Hell yea - my Oscars can definitly recognise different food containers and will react accordingly - the female doesn't like NovoTabs and will 'protest' and then swim away, whereas the male gets all excited. He also gets excited by the red dried cricket bottle, whereas the female likes the yellow meal worms one - and don't even think about showing a bag of turtle treats unless you've got a towel handy to clean up all the water they splash out of the tank in anticipation! :lol:

:lol: If only my Wife didn't read these forums occasionally...

Not yet - I'm torn between buying that, a halide, and a chiller for the RSM, or just biting the bullet and building a whole new BIGGER tank along the same lines as an RSM. I suspect the Deltec would still be fine, but the main problem is floorspace at home - I need to shut down other (freshwater) tanks before I can build a new marine one. :-?

I have to agree - I've had one in my 130litre RSM for nearly a year and she is fat, healthy, and happy - and I can still find pods running around on the glass. I think there is a lot more to a healthy tank than water volume and rock weight - things like the nature of the rock / surface area, feeding regimes etc., and the other stock in the tank all have an impact. That said, the more cautious approach advocated by others is worth considering - I would not recommend putting a Mandarin into a new tank, especially if you are a marine newby. There are lots of things you come to learn about marine through experience, and that experience puts you in a far better position to be able to keep Mandarins. They aren't the sort of fish that you should just chuck in the tank and hope. They are an awesome little fish - which is why people should come to understand as much about all the factors that make for a healthy environment BEFORE they take resposibility for keeping one.

Yes. I had an old filter do the same - after a lot of poking about I found a tiny hairline crack that only leaked under pressure. Shout yourself a new one

Don't worry, we all just put our name on things for pick-up this Saturday. I'm getting sausage meat on a stick

I've been inspired by lunchtime today, where everyone rushed in, jostled about, and bought up stuff from the latest shipment - it was great fun!

Have you mounted it in the standard hood? Any problems with heat?

So, how do we encourage John to stay open late one night so we can all go and stand around pointing and planning our next purchase? A sternly worded letter to our MP? A petition? Fan mail? Special guest appearances by a C grade celebrities from Shortland Street? What say ye Christchurch Marine addicts?

joeblog is at this very moment researching the options - the nice nanotuners kit isn't available in 240V/50H, so it might be a matter of having to source other components locally - or else fit a standalone unit like the AquaOne. If you find something suitable post something up

I plan on monitoring a stock one vs alternatives for about 4 months to see what the drop off in output is like. When I replaced my old RSM ones with new RSM ones they seemed very bright and very blue, but they dropped back into their 'normal' state after about a week. Its a pity there is no way to bung an extra one in there somehow.

I'm still using stock RSM ones - mainly because they were readily available rather than any specific preference. I'll probably try some alternatives if they become available. I've tucked a brand new RSM one away so I can do a few Lux-meter tests on it at some point.

Exactly - he could even make it like a McDonalds drive through! "Would you like chips with that fish, Sir"

Lets start a petition to demand that John opens on a late night! Here we go... Fmxmatt tHEcONCH wilson (I'm sure he'll love the idea) anyone else want to sign? Cut and paste away... :lol: