tangtastic

We stock the NLS Float range that goes all the way up to a 7.5mm pellet. Our large Passer Angel loves it.

Not a big commitment though..... :lol:

Correct. Customs don't chase people for payment. You don't pay, you don't get your stuff. Whatever shipping agent you are using will hold the goods and calculate the amount you need to pay. If they need the lodge a formal clearance with Customs (low value items are written off on mass via manifests) then Customs charge additional processing fees on top of the duty/GST and then there will be the Customs Agents fees. If MPI (MAF) decide to examine your shipment, or an MPI clearance is required, there can be additional charges. Customs do not charge you for examining your goods.

Nice pics. You do realise the wrasse is only lulling them in to a false sense of security. As soon as it is big enough it will eat them.

They had a program on the discovery channel about one type of grouper that almost exclusively eats crays. A large one can get a hundred in a night.

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Assuming you are transferring all your stock from your old tank, why don't you do your freshwater leak tests then drop the water level in the display so that you can transfer the water from your old tank with the stock. This will make it a lot less of a shock for all concerned. You could use a good 3/4 of the water from your old tank (syphoned out clean) and use the remaining to shake the crap out of your rocks and catch the fish in. This way the water conditions won't be massively different and you can just drop the fish in.

http://www.reefs.org/library/testing/miraclemud

I bet all the tourists running around, standing on the reefs and having their crap end up in the ocean does more damage. Who many tons get dredge out for road works and construction?

The skimate colour has changed in my skimmers since dosing phyto. One is an Aqua-C EV240 which uses an injection system and the other is an Aqua Medic with a needle wheel pump. Definitely greener. And on the SPS front (only one in the tank) I have some plating monti that would always grow for awhile then start dying off, then start growing again after a water change before dying off again. Since I have been dosing phyto it has not gone through a die off phase and is probably larger than ever with great polyp extension.

Someone might like to let Julian Sprung know that corals don't benefit from phytoplankton feeding as in his book (Corals - A Quick Reference Guide) every coral is listed with phytoplankton as a food source. How can feeding an artificial phytoplankton food be better than feeding live phytoplankton? The only real downside I see with phytoplankton is that it is more labour intensive, takes up more space and requires more equipment. This is the whole article http://www.dtplankton.com/articles/filterfood.html

Been dosing 500ml per day into two 750 litre tanks (would dose more if I had more) for at least a month. NO negative effects to date unless you call improved coral growth and a massive increase in micro fauna a bad thing. Even noticed a decrease in cyno . If you can get/grow phytoplankton then it would be the best first choice food for feather dusters. If not then go with a quality food that is suitable for feeding them.

I would take it down to 24 for winter. Mine is set to heat to 24 and the cooling kicks in at 27. The tank sat at 27-28 all summer.

You won't be able to keep a Heteractis magnifica in a Red Sea Max. A bubble tipped anemone would do just fine. The magnifica require massive amounts of flow and very intense lighting.

Yes you can get them. The anemone in the movie is a Heteractis magnifica - Magnificent Sea Anemone.

Ditto to that. More gaps in the rocks would greatly improve water movement and your fish will appreciate the places to hide in. It is easy to make reef racks with eggcrate and cable ties which you can then stack the rocks on and in front of. This leaves a water space behind the rock work. Your substrate looks fairly chunky. Often it is recommended to go bare bottom for the first six months with a new tank as it will make detritus removal much easier. I would blast all the rock work down once a week with a powerhead. If you can get some Astrea snail they will help. They will eat cyno and their continual grazing of the rock helps stop algae forming. That is no where near a bad case of cyno.

My Salifert test kit read 1500+ the first couple of times I tested with it. Was always around 1300-1400 with a JBL test kit. Last test was 1460.

Units were imported by Kong's (NZ) Ltd. You should be able to get just about any pet store to order you one in. They are still listed in their pricelist.

Mico Plumbing in Auckland have them.

You should sell the other ones. I am sure there are plenty of hobbyists that would buy them. Deltec skimmers are also hard to get in NZ. HFF is the only stockist in Auckland and I personally don't like dealing with them. I asked at Origin and was told the NZ supplier will not supply them. Is there anyone else who stocks them? My point was not cost related it was how hard it is to achieve. All things considered, I think setups in NZ are of a very high standard considering our lower availability to access the same range of livestock, the smaller range of hardware (unless you import it yourself) and the higher prices we pay for it. Doesn't Cookie Extreme use Red Sea Berlin protein skimmers? I didn't get to see his tank before it crashed (power cut not skimmer related) but from what I heard may people thought it was impressive.

My point is you don't have to invest a fortune in a skimmer to do it. People new to the hobby don't want to spend a fortune on a hobby they are still not sure about. Don't be so hard on yourself. I am sure your tank would be considered mint by everyone accept you. I mean planted tanks like this: Yes but if you buy it when it is the other 10% you are probably doomed. Always better to start with the healthiest stock you can and part of that is knowing what to look for in a healthy fish. Most stores will sell it to you if you are none the wiser.

Marine fish don't need water conditions any better than freshwater fish (bar the obvious salinity). All fish like zero ammonia and zero nitrite. In my opinion a mint planted tank is harder to achieve than a good looking marine tank. Bad tank design probably kills more fish than cheap skimmers - fish going into over flows, direct feeds into skimmers, fish jumping out of tanks etc. Tank mate stress will kill more fish than a cheap skimmer. Poor quality stock is a bigger problem than a cheap skimmer. It really pays to know what to look for when buying fish. A good eye can save a lot of money. This was Ultimate Reefs tank of the month and it has no skimmer. http://www.ultimatereef.com/TOTM/2008_march/ Don't be put off because you don't want to invest in an expensive skimmer. Sure you may look back one day and wish you had but that will probably be when you are upgrading to a bigger tank.

Interesting analogy. But wouldn't it be more like a slowly filling bucket of crap. A skimmer would be a hole in the bottom of the bucket. Bigger/better the skimmer, bigger the hole, so the bucket fills more slowly. Any skimmer, even one that some people deem to be crap, is better than no skimmer at all. You may just need to increase the size/frequency of you water changes, use phosphate/nitrate absorbers and avoid species that require super low nutrient water. If you don't want to keep coloured sticks it should not be a problem.

Would probably work with sea horses since they prefer low flow and there would be plenty of hold points for them on the algae.

Pair of scissors. Just cut the branches off and rubber band to rocks. Tight enough to hold but not so tight that the band crushes them.