lduncan

Any info on that?

Personally I don't like it because it puts other crap into the water, my gut feeling is that it's not particularly effective ore efficient at removing nitrate or phosphate in any significant quantity. There are heaps of other ways of dealing to nitrate/phosphate which don't involve adding even more toxic stuff to the tank. Layton

Hey Fay, is that a Zoster Butterfly (Hemitauricthys polylepis) in that pic? How does it treat the polyps? Layton

If people knew how to get rid of it without killing other stuff, it wouldn't be considered a highly invasive species. It's manual removal for things like this. Layton

Looks like caulerpa, you don't want it in your display. And personally, I don't like it in any part of the system. Layton

You might have a bit of trouble finding some of those corals though. ... or alternatively get in a bit of trouble if you ever find some of those corals. Layton

Yeah, I've seen a couple of public saltwater aquariums, they have all been below average. But there were a lot more freshwater tanks there which were very clean and well maintained. They had these fish called Flashlight Fish (Anomalops katoptron) which were in total darkness, and they would flash a light (looked exactly like those blue/white EL backlights on LCD's, or those chemical glowsticks). Apparently the light is caused by symbiotic bacteria below the eyes, which the fish can block and show the light by rotating them into a pocket like popup headlights on cars. They were pretty cool. Layton

A bucket and a watch. ... unless you want to get technical. Layton

Went to the California Academy of Science today in San Francisco. They house the Steinhart Aquarium, and various other displays of snakes, lizards, frogs, and spiders. Not a bad display all around for $7, the marine side was a disappointment (they usually are though), but the freshwater and reptile displays were very good. Here are some marine related photos from there. They are in a temporary building while they rebuild the facility in San Francisco park. Looks like the brown with blue tip stag is everywhere: Also picked up the three volume set Veron's "Corals of the World". They are absolutely amazing books, the photography and quality is top notch. Highly recommend this set. It covers virtually all known hard corals (doesn't cover soft corals). Some Freshwater pics here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?p=118681 ...and some unrelated photo's from San Francisco here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?p=118684 Layton

Went to the California Academy of Science today in San Francisco. They house the Steinhart Aquarium, and various other displays of snakes, lizards, frogs, and spiders. Not a bad display all around for $7, the marine side was a disappointment (they usually are though), but the freshwater and reptile displays were very good. Here are some freshwater related photos from there. They are in a temporary building while they rebuild the facility in San Francisco park. Here are some marine pics: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?p=118683 ...and some unrelated pics from San Francisco here: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?p=118684 Layton

Having the lids off the tank can help cool the water up to a degree or two with the help of a fan. I don't bother with lids, too messy, another thing to clean, and i'd need a chiller if I had them on. The tank would over heat. Layton

True, and a reason why DSB tanks often don't fear as well in power outages, the sand bed is a HUGE consumer of oxygen. More so than any other animal in the tank. Layton

It might be COMMON, but I would never consider that normal.

Whether or not a tank looks nice to someone is completely personal. There is no right or wrong, different aspects of tanks attract different people. There's no need to abuse people because they like or don't like something. Layton

Are you trying to say there's such a thing as overskimming? Overskimming is a myth

Sure. I've just arrived back from Q-town, today, but I'm off to the States on Sunday (8th) until the following Tuesday (18th) So if your down while I'm here, your more than welcome to check out the tank.

you should know by now that DSB's don't remove most types of nutrient.

But 2 litres of light skimmate MAY remove more waste from the tank than half a litre of dark skimmate. You can't really tell whether it has or not. It's pretty difficult to quantify this sort of thing. Layton

Imagine if what i've said turned out to be correct all along. Layton

It does eventually, that's how sand beds work, they start off oxygenated. The bacteria builds up within it, absorbing phosphate, but then when the suboxic / oxic boundary moves closer to the surface it starts to leach. Oxygen changes, pH, and temperature are all known to trigger the release cycle of sediments. This cycle happens in nature, and it happens faster in aquaria. Ideally what you need is a large oxic area at the top of the sand bed, with a smaller suboxic and anoxic layers at the bottom. The problem is that you have very little, if any, control over the "size" of these areas. Have you always siphoned so regularly? If you haven't always, then it could potentially have caused problems. Pretty much the same material, but the key difference is it's in a different place. Gravity is helping rock, where as it hinders sand. You have denitrifying bacteria in the rock, which holds on to as much phosphate as it can, it grows and divides, so it takes up more room, eventually there is not enough room in the rock for all these bacteria and they are pushed out of the rock (called bacterial turgor). This is the rock cooking process, it happens in EVERY tank constantly. So the bacteria and it's waste along with phosphate stored within it, are pushed out of the rock, and fall to the bottom of the tank via gravity. If there is no sand there, it can be siphoned, or alternatively providing a lot of flow can keep it suspended in the water so that the skimmer can remove it. If there is sand there, well it just gets trapped there, unless the sand is vacuumed regularly. Of course this same process happens in the sand itself, but gravity being gravity means that it just gets trapped there until the sand is full, or another a trigger for the release cycle occurs. Layton

It just seems to be consistent with all those scientist and papers on how sand beds work that's all. That's both parts, ie the low water soluble phosphate / nitrate, as well as the cyano on the sand part too. Cyano fixes nitrogen gas, so doesn't require nitrates to grow, it needs phosphate, and what better place to get it than a phosphate storing sand bed. Layton

That's interesting.

I hope those aren't the first sign of clownfish going the guppy route. They look cool though. Layton

:lol: To tell you the truth. None of them are that great in terms of marine. But in order of "interesting marine stuff" Organism Critter Kingdom (Stanmore Road) Redwood Aquatics Petworld (most people don't bother going out there very often anymore) If your looking at freshwater stuff too, then: Redwood Aquatics Critter Kingdom Organism Petworld I'll be around from the 27th to 29th, and the 3rd to the 6th of Jan if you're interested in checking out the tank while you're down this way. Layton