lduncan

as they should

I don't think it would be as effective due to the common ion effect reducing the (already low) solubility of CaOH, so that virtually no additional calcium or alkalinity is added to the tank. It may also have the opposite effect, causing precipitation of CaCO3 from the tank water (depending on concentrations and pH). Layton

A lot of what I say is not opinion. It just means you and I agree with the actual truth of the matter on this method Pies.

It you can find room in your refugium for something like this maybe: The other problem I have with mangroves is that they are esturine plants. That generally means they inhabit environments which are loaded in P. Which is not really the environment your trying to created when keeping a reef. In short they like dirt, most corals don't. It's hard to create both environments at they same time in a tank, without running into problems at some point. A big skimmer and live rock are your friends. Layton

Surely they have a permit system to allow collection of corals from the GBR? It's illegal to import corals into Australia, so the ones in the shops must come from Australian reefs? Layton

If anything, people want to INCREASE evaporation. It helps keep the tank temperature down during summer. High tank temp is a problem (or borderline) for a lot of people.

26 is no problem. I run my tank at that normally. I think it's more the variation in temperature which kills below about 30 degrees. Then sustained temperatures of 31 + can kill. Layton

longspine cardinals look cool. Healthy green chromis, are very nice too. Blue chromis (atlantic) are meant to be true schoolers, but can be expensive, coming from the Caribbean. Dispars and Bartlett anthias stay smaller than others, so may be an option. Layton

JB NY's tank ( http://www.cnidarianreef.com/ )is only number 5! should be number 1 based on the other competition there. Layton

I don't like surprises which kill stuff I spend a lot of money on.

It's been that way for years, and in my opinion is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't care if we can only get base rock and no live rock. At least you know what is going in the tank, no surprises.

That's what you have to convince ERMA of. That is the whole point of risk assessment. Some things are so robust they don't mind being in temperate or tropical waters. Layton

... but would pacific corals introduced by man to the Caribbean reefs survive? ...and vice versa? Just because the oceans are all connected doesn't necessarily mean introduction by man will have no consequences. Layton

I did :-D. I know what you're talking about cracker. Air mixed with water will not give a totally silent result, unless you have some freaky laminar flow happening. Fill the overflow pipe with water and no air, and you'll get a silent overflow. It can be made to be self regulating too, based on head height, pressure and velocity.

Here's quite a nice black background. Shame you have to look through 8 feet of water to see it though I like the look of black better than blue. Layton

The only coral which i've come across which packs any sort of punch is the fire coral. But that's only when the little "hairs" are out. Euphillias any hydnos you might feel, but not exactly painful. I don't bother with gloves. Layton

Killing nitrifying bacteria is not really an issue. It's more the accumulation of phosphate, which will eventually lead to algae problems, as well as problems for particular types of corals (sps mainly). Tank looks good though. What size is it? Layton

:lol: Critter Kingdom is probably the best place to go with tank building / rebuilding. Hole drilling is around $12 / hole from memory. I saw metal eating bacteria hit the news the other day. Apparently the Titanic wreck is being eaten.

I meant better than vodka. Like you said, you still need to mechanically remove the nutrients. UV is a common solution to the problem, but still not cheap either. Layton

Yeah, UV is the other option. But expensive. ROWA products if I remember correctly were developed to clean up lakes and ponds that had gone eutrophic, and algae had taken over. They do a phosphate remover specifically for ponds. If the pond has plants in it, like water lillies, i'd go for UV. But keep in mind that using UV will only reduce water borne algae, not algae attached to the bottom of the pond. So it will clarify the water, but not reduce algae on the bottom of the pond. If there are no plants, then go for a chemical phosphate remover. It will eventually rid, or limit, most plant life in the water. Layton

Two part will be less expensive than a calcium reactor if your purchasing food grade chemicals rather than retail commercial additives. Two part does need to be on dosing pumps for high demand tanks to keep levels stable. It's no more unstable than a calcium reactor. And unlike a calcium reactor, you can actually calculate (without experimentation) how much needs to be dosed over the day. On the plus side, no chance of adding unnecessary phosphate, or worrying about suppressed pH.

Some sort of chemical phosphate remover like rowaphos is going to be a better solution for a pond.

Interesting point about bacterial diversity. How diverse bacterial life do you need in a tank? There is always going to be nitrifying bacteria to sequester ammonia. Which is important. Denitrification - many of the common bacteria in tanks performing this can actively use ethanoate salts (I suspect this is one ingredient in zeofood from the smell), which are quite closely related to alcohols, ethanol especially. I just don't know whether lower diversity is necessarily a bad thing, as long as all the processes you need to happen are happening, which they must be if it reduces nitrate and phosphate. What other bacteria do you need? To me the effect and method behind dosing vodka is similar to the longer term effects seen with zeovit. Layton

Yip, but dollar for dollar, i think they are terrible value for money compared to streams.

Well my seio 1500 arrived yesterday. I haven't needed to use the stick yet. But man was I a little disappointed. I really wasn't expecting much for $140, but was hopeful that I might be surprised by them. Surprised I was. These things are huge! People wine about streams taking up a lot of room, but the seios are massive. Then the flow from them. Meant to be around 6000 L/hr, but just feels quite limp. It just confirms for me what good value streams really are. Personally I wouldn't waste my time with these. Looks like it'll be good for mixing salt though. Layton