lduncan

Streams are great, but when i get around to setting up a bigger tank, i think i'll go with a "swiss cheese" backwall full of closed loops (plus some through rock structures), much less intrusive than powerheads/streams. Layton

Steve, a sohal would look better ;-) Layton

As some may know, i'm in the process of designing my own aquarium controller. I've updated my web site with some (very basic) information about it: http://www.reefcentral.co.nz/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=10&MMN_position=18:18 Any feature suggestions would be welcomed. Layton

Just in case aye I don't think your tank will be going anywhere if that iron I beam has any say in the matter! Has the tank been built yet? How did you go with tracking down the low iron glass you wanted? I started updating my site with some info on my aquarium controller on Sunday, I'll post some pics of it tonight hopefully. Layton

I don't think the shop that sold it to him is a fault really, but my comments above are still relevent. If people know the limitations of a system they are going to purchase, then they should have no reason to be surprised when they find they can't keep a particular animal. Layton

You'd want your own pipeline to the ocean for water changes! Layton

Well, I do end up going to Queenstown every couple of months cause ChCh gets SO boring. So maybe there is a little bit of truth in that Pies. Layton

Hey, now. Coming from someone who lives in Wellington, surely the ugliest city in New Zealand, (yes even behind Gore!) Layton

Here is another big reef tank which has poped up on reefcentral.com lately: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showt ... genumber=1 Not to mention the bar! VERY impressive. Layton

After the fire we had I got a bunch of Purigen, not the cheapest stuff around (insurance paid for it) came to about $100 for three small bags of it. Apparently it is more selective than carbon, and absorbs 5 times as much crap as carbon. AND it's regenerable using household bleach (up to 6 times). So should be interesting to see how it goes. Layton

Yeah, but what isn't?

Never seen those before. This looks good, especially for those planning new tanks with plenty of drilled closed loops: http://www.oceansmotions.com/ This is what I will use for my next tank, with plumbed in closed loops. Layton

I use a magfloat on front and sides pretty much every day. Then about once a month i use a paint scraper (the red plastic ones) taped to a stick to scrape the coralline which grows on all sides, as well as the back glass. Not too much work really. Layton

Got a reasonable pic of my table arco tonight: Layton

I think that the shops who initially set people up with their first marine tank need to be more proactive about informing their customers about what the limitations of the system they are buying are. They should tell the customer up front that if they get a tank of such and such a size, then they will not be able to keep specific species of fish. Or with this type of lighting you will not be able to keep particular kinds of coral etc. This means their customer is not left wondering why livestock purchased from their shop keep dying, when in fact they do not have a suitable tank setup to keep it alive. This of course does not replace the need for the hobbyist to research the animals they wish to keep. But when just starting off, there is not a whole lot of information around, (unless you look around the web) so people tend to take the advice of pet stores as gospel (which is not necessarily the case). Layton

It will definately needs a larger tank than that, Clown tangs are notoriously agressive, especially to any new addtions to the tank. Generally if you want to keep one, it would be the very last fish you add to your tank. Do you live in ChCh by any chance? There are several reasons why Clown tangs are considered difficult to keep. First they are often caught with cyanide, meaning they die slowly of cyanide poisoning. And second people do not feed them the correct diet. Like all tangs, they are heavy feeders and require a lot of vegetable material to remain healthy. If you get these two problems sorted they are not particularly diffucult to keep. But yes, it will require a larger tank. I think a 6 foot tank is minimum for the optimum lifespan of the fish. Layton

So true, I would never ever want to live in Auck. I don't care what John Banks says, there is only one type of person in NZ, those that DON'T want to live in Auck! Layton

Well, here are some updated pics of my tank. The leathers are not opening fully even after some large water changes after the fire. Full tank shot Stylopora Pocillopora Layton

Yeah, the old trick of moving the camera to get the shot... that's why the background is blurred. I'll get some more pics up later.

Ok here is my favorite fish from my tank, Sohal Tang (try getting one of these to stay still!)

Yeah, i know. We had a house fire last week, started in a faulty dryer in the laundry. It wiped out the garage and the laudry. Bloody lucky that we have smoke alarms, as everyone was asleep at the time. So still cleaning up after that. (Just got phones and internet hooked up again yesterday) Good news is that the tank looks fine, just a bit of recession on a couple of acros, at the base. I'm surprised the smoke didn't kill more. I'll get some pics up soon. I've got exams on at the moment as well, so it's all pretty busy. Layton

Any update on the eggs?

I can only imagine what Mark thought when he read this :lol: Layton

Very nice Steve. A small school of longspine cardinals would look great in there. Layton

In case you guys haven't heard, i'm designing my own controller to take care of some of these issues. Most importantly price. Should be around $800 for most semi-advanced reefers.