lduncan

So it must be about time to upgrade to a bigger tank! Are you happy with the size? Or do you wish you had have gone bigger? I'm just wondering if I should go to the effort of knocking two walls out to get more depth, or whether 1 will do. at the moment i could fit a 6' x 4' x 2' knocking out 1 wall, but would be nice to go a bit bigger i think. Layton

always a problem with streams and seios. Go the closed loop I say! My new tank will be drilled like swiss cheese! Layton

I've done that to my arm a couple of times cleaning the tank with the halides still running... it's almost as bad as brushing past the fire coral while moving stuff around, which i have also done a several times. :lol: slow learner i guess. Layton

I agree. Importers have little to no control on the colours of the corals they import. It's luck of the draw. Higher volumes gives a higher chance of getting some more unusual colour morphs. Problem is the market isn't particularly big. Layton

Diversity? What do you want that you can't already get?

Most are fine. Worms which get this big can become a problem though.

Well we were talking about urchins at the reef meeting on sunday, and how cool it would be to have one, and what did I find in my tank today? Not my tank, but the urchin is the same species it think, black long spine. It's about 1.5 inches. I wonder how many more there are? Layton

OK the meeting's tomorrow. Who was after frags? Just need to know how many to cut. Layton

The same way it hurts a steel impellor. The shock waves created when bubbles collapse pitt the surface. I'd imagine a ceramic impeller would be a bit more resistant though.

Steve down here does. You'll have to visit his tank. Layton

OM would probably do a 240V squirt if you asked. All they change is the motor, (and capacitor if they remember). They put together the 240V 4-way for Steve and Chimera, on Steve's request. Layton

hence why i've never had the balls to use NSW. Too much money in livestock in my tank too risk it. Layton

send "noodle" a PM, it's at his house. Layton

There is a reef club meeting this Sunday (the very first chch one) you should come along. Eventually I will host one at my house. No problem coming around to see my tank. Pomereef, all go for this weekend, for once I don't have too much work on. (Finally) Layton

I agree. House prices won't drop (especially in ChCh), might plateau for a bit, maybe a few more mortgagee sales if interest rates rise too much. The best time to by property is always today. Layton

Crown of Thorns is a type of starfish. This is an urchin. Layton

Yes.

find a slow growing one, they can suck a lot of calcium out of a small tank. Layton

If you're only putting corals in, you'll have no problems with cycling - Corals love ammonia, it's not poisonous like it is to fish. No need to "feed" the rock, the less load the better. Layton

That one's going straight to the trophy room. Layton

Personally I wouldn't do that. Switching pumps like this on and off will reduce their life dramatically. The motors are not designed to be switched regularly. The inrush current everytime it is switched will eventually kill them. But if you are prepared to replace them every year or so, fine. Layton

I have a pure culture of phyto (N. salina from memory). I believe that one of the North Island sea horse farms has access to rotifers, I think they breed some clowns too. Layton

a bit too cluttered for my liking, but still an impressive tank. Layton

I could wip something up faster than any .Net C# rubbish . With Apple's developer tools i probably wouldn't even have to write a single line of code. Plus it would look good. ;-) Layton

UV sterilizes are generally used for the purpose of killing bacteria and viruses. It does this by a photochemical reaction which causes parts of the DNA molecule to dimerise (forming a sort of "plastic") this stops it from reproducing. Ozone breaks carbon - carbon double bonds. These occur in many nasty organics you don't want floating around your tank, and can sometimes make them easier to skim out. In air, UV light with a wavelength of less than 240nm causes photodissociation of oxygen: O2 ---> O + O These O atoms combine with oxygen molecules to form ozone: O + O2 + M ---> O3 + M M is an inert substance (N2 gas) which absorbs the extra energy created by the reaction, and prevents the ozone from spontaneous decomposition back to oxygen. I guess this would apply to dissolved oxygen within water as well. But there may well be other factors which inhibit it, so it's hard to say really. Stability issues is not necesarily true. Ozone is stable, it's just that it is a powerful oxidiser, which means it reacts quickly. This is what the carbon is for, it provides a surface for the ozone to react with, to produce CO2 and O2. Layton