lduncan

Personally, I run my water through filter wool, which I clean twice a week to stop bacterial build up, I would rather leave bacterial processes to the live rock. The amount of crap that comes out after only 3 - 4 days is quite amazing. It keeps the water sparkling. A skimmer can also take care of mechanical type filtration for smaller particulate as well (diatoms and the like). Layton

Reef keeping is like a E True Hollywood Story... sooner or later your going to fall into a spiral of, not drugs and alcohol, but fish and corals. The addiction never stops, and the fascination never wanes. Warren, you will be hooked. Layton

I couldn't believe it myself, all I saw was the end of it's tail sticking out of her mouth! The mandarin fish was rather small thought, about 1.5" but the clownfish was only about 2.5"-3" at that time. Layton

Hey Pies, your avatar just reminded me. I was in at Redwood this week, they have a new shipment of fish in. Got them to hold a mandarin fish for me! Aparently they are about 4 inches long and fat! So hopefully my female clown can't swallow this one! Two more weeks in quarantine. Layton

OK, now it's raining! it's getting quite serious now, lightning is huge, I hope the power doesn't get knocked out! My corals are growing 2-3mm every two week on acros, at the moment, which I am reasonably happy with. I'll use SeaChem buffer to raise alk. I dose Kalk and MgCl to maintain calcium and magnesium. Checked your post, the colouration looks good on that frag! As far as lighting goes, I love my 400 watters! Layton

I haven't dosed strontium for months. I always use to, but recently read a paper, which stated how rediculous it really is to add strontium to an aquarium. They explain how the mechanisim for depositing strontium in the coral skeleton is a defence technique designed to detoxify the effects of soluble strontium. It is completely separate from the calcification mechanism. So really it appears that add strontium, is really harming corals, rather than aiding them. And I always thought adding strontium was benificial to corals, and coralline algae. Things change so quickly! Undecided on iodine yet, i add it every now an then, but not regularly. Pies, we got thunder and lightning down here an ChCh at the moment, no rain yet though ;-) . Layton

I have keept mine at about 9-10 dkH (3meq) also. It's true that running higher alk makes it easier for Ca and Mg to precipitate out, which probably partially explains increased calcification rates. But also means calcium and magnesium have to be monitored even more carefully. As far as increased risk of RTN with running high alk, maybe it is because calcium and magnesium levels change faster, stressing corals? I'm tempted to trial raising alk to about 3.5 - 4 meq over the next month or two, monitoring calcium and mag levels, and see what happens. Layton

Just been reading through the lastest online reefkeeping mag (www.reefkeeping.com). Eric's column, which is always very enlightening, has the following to say about alkalinity. I have suspected something along these lines for a while. I remember when I first tried making base rock using cement, and calcium carbonate, and even though i cured it for months in salt water, after putting it in my tank, my alk levels when through the roof! I only had soft corals in my tank at the time, but the green start polyps, which suck calcium, were growing extremely rapidly, and had white growing margins, (similar to those on M. Capricornis when all is well). Anyway here is the extract, it would be interesting to see what everyone runs their alk levels at. Layton

Yeah, I got streams comming! Layton

This current tank about a year and a couple of months. As far a magnesium goes, i get it from a lab supply company down here myself for much the same price. I used epson salts in the past, but was worried about the build up in sulfates from adding a lot of it. Mg Chloride seems more logical. I decided against the 299,999g system for my next project after seeing this thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=268540 ;-) Layton

Personally i'm not a fan of DSB's, well not in a dispaly tank, a speciallized sump maybe. What's your temperature at? I have had problems in the past keeping my temp stable with big lights, I had to rig up up diy chiller to keep my temp fluctuation to under 2 degrees, until I get something more permanent. But with a 400W halide on a 5 foot tank, with added waste heat from pumps in aus, I suspect the tank temp may rise quite high? But then a/c is common in aus (unlike in NZ), so that mey help. As far as food goes, I much prefer mysis over brine shrimp, but if all you have access to is live brine i'm sure your bangai's (whenever you get them) will go nuts over them. I got my bangai's to eat initially by feeding them newly hatched brine shrimp. Layton

Don't know about the crab, i've never bothered to find out. It's the exact same one that is shown halfway down this months Reef Keeping mag here http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-02/index.htm The one in the xenia, which incidently is where this guy came from. The xenia has suffered a bit, so he has made his residence elsewhere. Tank turnover is around 15x an hour the water ripples are quite decieving, it looks like a mill pond, but there is reasonable flow. I am definately going to upgrade to a pair of streams soon. The aro's will thank me for it i'm sure. Tank Specs: 180g (standard 6' x 2' x 2') 30g sump (too small for my liking but contrained to something which will fit under the stand at the moment.) The PVC pipes on the left are the returns, pumping out around 4000 l/hr The PVC pipe on the right is the drain. I HATE this configuration, but the tank was ordered BEFORE I found sites like reefcentral.com, and was a result of bad advice from the LFS. I've thought about changing it, but it would require me to completely empty the tank for a couple of days, which I really can't be bothered with. So i'll just wait until I upgrade to my 900g inwall with adjacent fishroom! ;-) Params as of Sunday: SG 1.025 Calcium 460ppm Alk 10 Temp: 26-28 Mg 1100ppm (little low, but getting some MgCl soon) NO3 3ppm (has always been at 0 so looking at ways to reduce it, sulfur nitrate reactor is looking they way to go) PO4 0ppm!! (Salifert low range kit)

Do you have a good supply of frozen mysis shrimp, or brine shrip near. Just thinking that the bangai's very rarely eat flake food. Tangs will also need an algae type food as well for optimum health, I feed spiralina flakes, but a lot of people use nori, the seaweed used to make sushi. The reason I ask about food is that you can probably put in a small amount of shrimp in the tank every couple of days, (even though you have no fish yet) this will help to slowly ramp up the bioload on the tank, until you get your fish. It will help establish a larger population of bacteria ready for when you add your first fish, so the resulting "mini cycle" is smaller. Layton

Here's another full tank shot, more in focus and a little less over exposed.

I agree with Pies, forget the madarin fish for several months, it will more than likely die if added too soon. I once had a madarin fish and it only lasted 2 days before I saw it's tail sticking out of my female ocellaris clown's head! Must have been that time of month ;-) My first addition, as far as fish goes, would be either the Bangai's or the Clown fish, I would probably lean towards the bangai's first, because they can be a bit shy initially when it comes to feeding time if newly introduced with other fish. Adding them first gives them a bit of time to settle in. Just a note on bangai's, in the last year or so, this fish has been prone to a bacterial disease, which seems to kill very quickly. Bangai's were previously known for being one of the more hardy marine fishes, but this reputation has been tarnished by this disease. I know a couple of importers here in NZ have had trouble with imports of these fish in particular, losing entire shipments to this disease. As far as corals go, i would recomend something like capnella (kenya tree), or sacrophyton (toadstool leather), if you want to keep sps in the future I would stay clear of lobophytums, as many species are toxic towards sps. Star polyps are also another bullet proof coral to start with. With the 400W halide you should be right to keep sps corals in the future. I would still like to know how long you've had the water and rocks in the tank. Layton

How long has it been since the water and rock have been in the tank? Layton

Actually, although Fijian reefs are known for their large diversity of coral species, this particular seriatopora species (S. guttatus) has not been found in Fiji, it seems to be common throughout the Indonesian Islands, and some reefs off the coast of Africa, around Madagasgar. Layton

Just a clarification, these corals were not collected by NZ hobbyist's (MAF has regulations for marine fish and inverts similar to freshwater fish). Generally corals are shipped in plastic bags in water, however I have heard people trialling shipping acropora's with wet news paper, with aparently reasonable results. If I recall correctly the transit time was around 36 hours, with no losses. Some seriatopora species also have the added problem of having very sharp points which can often puncture shipping bags, even when doubble or tripple bagged. Layton

Came across some pics of some green seriatopora's on the web, aparently these were collected in Papua New Guinea by hobbyists. I know Reef has been trying to get hold of a green seri, are these the ones your after? Layton

That's a real shame. Eddy was a real character. I knew he was ill, but I didn't know exactly how serious it was. My very first purchase for my marine tank was from his shop, base rock. I was just in his shop on Thursday too. Layton

Yeah, i'll have to agree with Pies. I don't think the pics do it justice. But then again, I know how much practice it takes to get good photos of your tank, I am still far from mastering it. I like his fish grow out tank with the banggers and clowns. Layton

Reef, can you find an air leak in it anywhere? That could be causing your problems. Layton

Sorry, I couldn't resist. ;-) Layton

That's how a skimmer works. Layton

My nirates are slowly creeping up, despite regular water changes. Does anyone have any experience with sulfur based nitrate filters/reactors. Reef, I know you do, do they work? Layton