lduncan

The autofocus on my canon is crap, a lot of the time it just can't work it out. I have to use manual focus to get anything worthwhile. I'm looking at upgrading to a olympus 8080. Pies your pics always look good, especially those macro shots. Layton

Yeah, I think i need a tripod, then slow the shutter speed down a bit to let more light in. Layton

Still got my eye out for one down here Pies, but haven't seen any for months. Layton

My monitor is already calibrated perfectly. I work (among other things) with creative professionals in prepress, and have a spectrophotometer for profiling monitors and also inkjet proofers etc. So my monitors are all calibrated to ICC colourspace. Layton

Kind of hard to compare like that, they are quite different concepts, propeller vs. impeller, propeller in always going to be more efficient. But yeah, there has to be a decent amount of R'n'D go into making a product like streams, the pumps have to be contollable, and not rattle like hell over their power range, also the motors have to be very reliable. Layton

No, to tell you the truth the photos are crap. I don't have photoshop installed at the moment, so I couldn't tweak the colour to look more true, they are also underexposed. I find it hard to take good pics, any pro's out there with any tips? Layton

No problem with the sohal. The yellows fight amongst themselves every now an then though. Layton

Sounds like fun. :lol: Layton

Yeah, that white polyped leather is about 15" across when at it's best. I didn't want to get rid of it because it would look great to have a huge leather in the new tank. Problem is it could easily grow to 2 foot across before I get the new tank up and running. Pies, i have a few frags of that yellow acro, and i'm sure I could frag a few more or my corals if you want some. Let me know which ones you would like, and I'll see what I can do. I could send some Millepora (fire coral) It grow's like a weed that stuff, pretty cool shape, even if it is brown/orange. Layton

Finally added my tank to the Members Tanks section. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?p=52272 Just waiting for moderators approval, should be able to see something tomorrow. Layton

Flag the melafix, it won't help with the white spot, and will annoy your skimmer. Best treatment for mild whitespot is to do nothing. The melafix may be annoying your anemone too. I suspect if you stop adding melafix and the salifert stuff, all will come right given time. More flow will probably help (even if you think you don't have enough) I've got two 6100 streams in a 6 foot tank alternating flat out, and I still think some corals would do better with more flow. I don't have a lot of experience with anemones, I have one, but have never had a problem with it, (other than it growing too big too fast!) Layton

Thanks Guys. It's a great hobby, it has so many aspects associated with it, from chemistry, physics, biology, electronics, photography, there is something for everyone. There is always something new to learn. Hell, even the experts have a lot of questions still. Layton

Yeah on the whole wetweb is pretty good. A couple of things have made me cringe though. I suppose there is so much info there that it's hard to make sure 100% of it's up to date, but still gets a 9/10 from me. Layton

Just here to help.

But it also says that bacteria blocks the surface. This would slow the ion exchange process to nothing pretty quickly. I still think there are more effective methods than zeolites, to reduce nitrate. Layton

Well, i think it is written by someone who has a very basic understanding of zeolites. While I don't know much about zeolites at all, I know enough to know that the article is pretty lean on even a moderate understanding of them. There are industrial chemists which spend there lives studying categorising, and even creating zeolites, it is a simple name for a very broad group of minerals, all with very different properties. The way he explains it, there is no need for the zeolite at all. All it is doing is acting as a surface for bacteria to grow, providing regions for an oxygen gradient where different bacteria can do their thing in reducing nitrate to nitrogen gas. The surface area available on most activated carbons it much greater than a similar volume of zeolite, and would make a much better media if this were the case. His explanation really discounts the ion exchange process, and says that it effectively acts as a DSB. I don't think this is necesarily the case. I don't know enough about zeolite, either natural, or synthetic to say for sure, but I think ion exchange is more important than the bacterial processes, for the simple reason that the pore size in most zeolites is far too small for bacteria (by a factor of 10) and the surface are colonisable by the bacteria is too low. So I think when the right zeolites are used in marine tanks, their effect is more from the ion exchange rather than the bacterial action. Layton

wrong thread.

My camera arrived back from it's annual holiday today, so i'll get some photo's up tomorrow. I'll finally be able to do my tank profile thingy. Layton

no, it's tiny beige balls less than 2mm in diameter. Turns dark brown when exhasted and ready for recharging. It is a specially created polymer made to mimic the properties of zeolite, but with saltwater in mind (no need to worry about calcium interfering in ion exchange), with the huge advantage of being able to be recharged. It does loose effectiveness after each recharge though, so it won't last forever. If anyones interested I could get a 20Litre drum of the stuff imported for only $600.... US of course. :lol: Layton

I use purigen from Seachem instead of carbon. It's great stuff, (at a heafty price though, luckily I didn't have to pay for it. Got it courtesy of the insurance co after the fire) Last for ages, had mine 6 months, with plenty of life left in it. It's a synthetic polymer which you can recharge using bleach. Water looks crystal clear when it's running. Apparently it can directly absorb nitrate. It doesn't leach once saturated either. Layton

Nice looking fish. Layton

Of what? Kalkwasser is just Calcium Hydroxide. Reef Success Calk. I don't know, but is probable calcium chloride mixed with maybe something like sodium carbonate. Which i wouldn't think would be such a great idea if it is, because you'll get calcium carbonate precipitating out pretty much immediately? But I don't know for sure (about what's in it). Layton

Nice pic, from your tank Fay? Layton

Kalkwasser has other advantages as well. It precipitates out phosphate (mechanism unkown). It also boosts your skimmers ability to skim, (again I don't know how). These are commonly known, although unproved, other than anecdotally, I have never had a phosphate reading ever, even doing triple sensitivity. Also skimmer skims more stuff when the kalk drip is running. Layton

See here http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?p=51857