lduncan

Not many people have used this method. I would start with 0.5 a teaspoon per 180 gal every second day. The water will go cloudy. Wait until the water clears completely between doses, and monitor nitrate levels. Layton

Please use the "Sugar Treatment Salt Water Tank" thread. Layton

Nope, this guy is a builder living in Portland, Oregon, USA. Layton

I tried it with success. There is a thread here http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?t=2231. If i were to do it again, i would dose no more than half of what I mentioned in that thread, and let the nitrate drop more slowly. Layton

forgot to add. He doesn't use zeovit! Layton

This amazing tank now has it's own website. http://oregonreef.com Layton

For those who don't know much about Bangaii breeding. The female produces eggs, and the the male fertilises them, and holds them in his mouth where they hatch and live for about 18 days total (they live in his mouth for about 4 days after hatching) The fry come out of his mouth fully formed about 7mm long. They seem to be quite sensitive to shock. The best thing is that they can eat live enriched baby brine shrimp straight away, no need for smaller foods, which are difficult to find/culture. The males do not eat while incubating the eggs, so they need to be feed a lot of food before carrying. The eggs are a redish orange colour. Layton

I now have two confirmed female bangaii's in my tank. I have one which produces eggs every 3-4 weeks, and has done for months. The second one has never produced eggs... until today. Here are some pics of the surprise I got this morning (sorry bout the quality, it was early, and she is now in hiding so I can't get any more decent pics.) She will carry the eggs for about a day trying to find a male, after that she will just eat them. If anyone has a male, let me know. Layton

I agree with Pies, i'm too lazy to collect water. Layton

Ok, no one should consider doing a tank that size without one. Layton

Advantages: Cheaper, may be more convenient for those close to the sea. Disadvantage: You have no idea what sort of crap is in it. Some stuff may be beneficial, some may not. Depends on where you collect it I suppose. Each to their own I suppose. Layton

you know what i mean. No one on this board would consider doing a tank this size without one. Layton

I was just thinking that! Layton

You absolutely MUST have a sump. There are no problems associated with flooding unless the tank is poorly designed or constructed. There is a thread running on this forum on proper sump design. Check that out for ideas. A visit to someones tank will clear up a lot of questions, and would definitely be worth while. With halides, it's more a matter of keeping things cool, rather than heating. If you are getting the tank custom build, add a lot of closed loops. This helps to reduce the need for unsightly powerheads scattered throughout the tank. Some things you can do in stages, some you can't. Get all the pluming done up front well before filling with saltwater. Test with freshwater and make sure you are happy with it before filling with salt water. Get all lighting sorted before filling with water. Get all live rock aquascaped the way you like it before adding livestock. It's much harder to change this with a tank full of coral. Allow the tank to cycle for months with live / dead rock, and add livestock slowly initially. It takes a lot longer for a marine tank to reach equilibrium, and it is far more important than with freshwater that it does. Equipment which can be added later for convenience include: Calcium Reactor Denitrifier Aquarium Controller

I'd say it would be well worth visiting Pies, if you could. If you can get to Auckland, there are plenty of well setup tanks there too. It could save you a lot of money in mistakes. There is nothing like seeing this stuff setup properly in person. I would drop the height from 900mm to 6 or 700mm, then extend it another foot in length. 5 foot vs 6 foot is a reasonable difference. 900mm front to back should give you more options for aquascaping than the standard 600mm. This would be a good size tank to get started, it will allow you to keep just about anything you want. Do you have a budget in mind? The more filtration the better, but it must be the right type of filtration. Jetskisteve or Reef usually have some quality second hand and new equipment for sale, so PM them when you come to making any decisions. Wade through the posts on reefcentral.com and you'll gather a lot of knowledge, the large reef tank forum (even though 5/6 footers are not considered large) has some good general info on setting up tanks. Layton

Daniel, where in NZ do you live? Before buying anything I think it would be a good idea to go and visit someones tank to see how it is setup, it is quite different to freshwater, even in the basic tank configuration. I would say that if you want to keep a wide variety of livestock a 6 foot tank is probably the smallest I would go for. NZ quarantine requires that live rock be stored dry for 3 weeks (unless there have been changes recently to this) but there are sources of dead rock which has been reseeded to start your tank off. The basic keys to a successful reef are: Big skimmer, High waterflow Lots of light patience What size tank are you looking at?

RC = www.reefcentral.com Massive online reef related forum. JHardman is a clown fish nut. Breeds every variety you could think of, plus more. Check out the fish breeding forum. You really need a source of phytoplankton to enrich any live food with HUFA's to get good success. Layton

Barebottom is an up and coming trend in some circles in the States (if RC is anything to go by). Personally I don't like it. A thin layer of substrate is good. Many of the guys promoting barebottom tanks have come from having deep sand beds, which turned nasty. So they are going from one extreme to the other. I'll take the middle ground. Layton

doesn't really matter, as long as there is enough water flow through it to keep it from freezing up. Layton

6100 are 12,000 L/h each. But there is a kit which comes with two, and a controller for around $1300, together they give 24,000L/h 20,000L/hr in the 6200 is crazy! you'd need an 8 foot tank min for those puppies, (unless you went with no substrate). Layton

approx $1200 -$1300 for the big boys dual 6100's with multicontroller. That gives around 24,000 L/hr at full blast. That is the top of the range... currently. (I hear they are going to release higher flow ones soon!) Layton

:lol: That's quick! Marks dragging the chain a bit Layton

Looks like things are starting to come together nicely chimera. When do you expect to fill the tank? Layton

They may be a good option for smaller tanks (< 4 foot). At that price they may be worth trying. Layton

the streams use 18W at 12,000 L/hr (~3,000 Gal/hr), of course they are nowhere near $80 though. I can say that they are one of the best addtions i've made to my tank. Then again it depends what you are into. Soft corals don't need as much flow, but definately benifit from it. SPS definately need it. Layton