lduncan

I'm not necessarily saying you have to know how it works (THAT can come later, if at all). But just knowing what it does, completely. Not what it does some of the time, but what it does in it's entirety, without glossing over the negatives. Also, the negatives are important in the progress of the hobby, and anything in general. Most learning comes from mistakes. That's how things progress. Not by pretending that something works in a different way to what it actually does. I for one would not like to setup a tank with a DSB on someone's advice, then several months, or a couple of years down the track, have rock looking like crap covered in algae and cyano, spending hundreds of dollars on phosphate removers a year, then have that person say. "Oh yeah the negative is that the sand bed doesn't actually get rid of the phosphate, it just stores it, it leaches up into the rocks too. Once it's full it leaches it back into the water." Some people may be prepared to take this risk. But if they don't know about it from the outset, then they have no choice in the matter. Pitfalls are just as important as the benefits, and help people in making informed decisions. It's all i'm saying. Give the whole truth, not just the good half. Let people decide for themselves. Layton

Even if something is unsafe, risky, hard to follow, not proven, it doesn't necessarily mean it's useless. Ignoring the negatives is not helpful. If you use a DSB, you should know what it does. If you use zeovit, you should know what it does. If you use a SSB, you should know what it does. If you go BB, you should know what it does. Layton

Fine, but like I said, there is no need to sweep things under the carpet. It's not helpful. Layton

Whooa hold up. What systems did I call useless? Layton

Here are some: Aploemichthys xanthopunctatus (Goldflake Angel) Chaetodontoplus personifer (Personifer Angel) Pomacanthus chrysurus (Chrysurus Angel) Pseudobalistes fuscus (Blue Line Trigger)

I'm not knocking anything. I'm just saying that there is not need to sweep something under the carpet and pretend like it doesn't exist, that's all. The fact that zeovit does what it does, sand beds do what they do, and BB does what it does, has nothing to do with my tank. There still going to do what they're doing. Layton

Far from settled at the moment: http://www.nzreefs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=44 Just got to remember to take the camera with me in the mornings when I leave. (I'm not living where the tank is setup). Some colours are alright, others are crap at the moment. It is interesting to see the whole rock cooking process going on in the tank. I never though the rocks were that bad. Never had cyano problems, (only ever had a small 2 inch patch once), and the odd isolate hair algae crop a couple of times, yet the rock is full of detritus. Once you see this process in action, you really do consider the whole BB thing a little more seriously. Layton

All of the above came from the manufacturer's guide on their website. Not much to argue with. Layton

"... shown to cause slow tissue loss in SPS corals" "... lead to tissue necrosis and therefore death." "... tissue loss starting from the coral tips or the complete loss of all tissue within a short period of time (i.e. rapid tissue necrosis, RTN)." "... can lead to tissue loss from the base, especially in weak corals and corals which are already damaged." "... slowly progressing tissue loss from the base." "... as well as complete loss or all tissue in certain corals during your tanks dark period." "... fast tissue loss of an entire coral branch over a short period of time." Layton

The best way, is to wait till close to the 28 day period, just before the male spits them out, and you can see the formed fry. Then net the male at night. Into another tank. If some of the fry are not free swimming, then you can keep them tumbling in an airated bottle until they are free swimming. Note that pyjama cardinal fry are a lot smaller than bangaii fry, and are usually harder to raise. Layton

Here is another calculator which includes calcium, alk, and mag. http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html Layton

I'd be happy if I could keep my alk at 9.6. I think that's a good value. I've also had wild acros that have been brown for over 12 months, and then just decide to colour up. So i think some species are more temperamental than others. Sometimes i think it's just a matter of stability and time. Layton

Alkalinity seems to be a factor in colouration. Lower alk can result in brown corals, higher alk, more colourful, in my experience. Layton

I've got the hardcover version. It's quite a thick book, so i'd say it would be worth getting the hardcover over the softcover, it will last much longer. Layton

true

If you're interested in stony corals, then "Corals of the World" apparently covers every species of acropora, and other stony corals. It ignores soft corals altogether though. It's a 3 volume set, with a hefty price tag of US$160 at amazon. It's meant to be very comprehensive. Layton

I would call it a good basic reference to most corals found in the trade. It's not complete, but does look a diseases a little, as well as some stuff on coral anatomy, water chemistry etc. If you're looking more for in depth stony coral info, it may be a little disappointing. It doesn't really go into species level stuff, it tends to stick at the genus level. A good beginner / intermediate book though. Layton

That's why they secrete mucus, and have those nice colours.

Tweezers and patience I guess.

don't know about the zoa eating ones, but the monti eating ones is like putting a parrot fish into a reef (one that only eats monti's though). They wiped out a big 8" green monti cap, and another medium sized encrusting monti I had. At least the zoa ones are easy to see, the monti ones are only a couple of mm at their biggest. Layton

...you might appreciate this For those that haven't, you won't understand why someone went to all the effort to make this, until you come across the bastards! http://www.fullauto.org/nudi.htm WARNING: This link is bandwidth intensive, you'll need 2Mb Jestream, and be prepared to wait! Layton

I think they are just mis-bared percs or ocellaris. Places like ORA (an aquaculture facility in the sates) often have a few mis-bared clowns in there hatches. It's like guppy genetic variations, but with clowns. Layton

Isn't the idea to create a skimmerless tank though, using sponges for filtration?

Must have missed this. It could be both. The papers I have seen show that an increase in iron can result in loss of zooxanthellae. Loss off zooxanthellae can result in the appearance of corals "colouring up". But coral can readapt to a certain extent to these elevated levels. But then there is the phosphate binding side of rowaphos. The water may test undetectable for phosphate, with great coral colour, but the rocks and sand may be full of phosphate, hence the algae growth. The problem with rock which contains high phosphate is that the phosphate makes it's way into coral skeletons which are attached to it. It makes for a nice environment for boring alages to attack a coral. This may be one of the reasons for so called "STN" which usually starts at the base of corals. Layton

I was talking about this one: