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chimera

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Posts posted by chimera

  1. Hi,

    I bought a couple of these ecosystems on a kickstarter campaign with the idea to have one at home and one at work, however I'm out on the road more often than in the office now hence why I'm selling one of them.  Its brand new, a self-contained tank with pump, LED lights, etc, the filtration is the mint or basil plant you place in the top of it.

    3b74eac9e857cc102b6e159c8da62e77_origina

    You can see more about them here. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kevinzl/ecoqube-c-your-window-to-nature

    First to PM will buy it.  Obviously even though its new, I can't provide any direct 'warranty' at all. Would prefer to sell to someone with experience due to the small size of the tank.  You just need a US -> NZ plug adapter (the DC power supply does 120-240V though, so just the adapter needed)

    Now on TM...

    http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=1076115885

     

    Cheers

     

  2. Ah... the dreaded Valonia. PITA.

    Oh, and picking them off the rocks is impractical, I'm not joking when I say there are millions, the tank is 1.5 metres long.

    Remove the rock and scrape them off. When they pop (and if you have that many, they will) I believe it causes them to spread more. Once you scrape the rock, wash (ie: shake/swirl around hard out) in a bucket of fresh saltwater to remove any extra crud from the rock. Then, when the rock is back in the tank you need to regularly blast any detritus that settles on, or is inside the rock, off with a powerhead. Hair algae and Bubble algae grow really well on rock thats full of crud.

    I had problems with bubble algae for a long time till my tank fully matured and I got my nutrients very low. From memory my tank was a couple of years old

    Ditto

  3. if you have mico's in cantebury, go there. they get all their ball-valves and similar parts from plastic systems (disty). ask for trade at mico's, its cheaper than buying direct from plastic systems. make sure you get the grey ball valves with blue handles (coloro brand) not the white ones with red handles! use hansen for the tank valves (or "bulkheads" being the american term)

  4. The plan is to collect local cold water critters

    Even less reason to be overly concerned with water parameters (obviously need to cycle first - but long term, you're using water that these critters live in anyway) Consider using some form of live rock, its not just for bacterial growth, gives inhabitants a place to live/hide etc

  5. So what will keep the cycle going if there is no food for the bacteria

    got live rock? that will be full of detritus that will take, even if seemingly "good quality", years to breakdown. even the bacteria have a certain lifecycle, they die, create levels of ammonia (albeit tiny) which the next lot of bacteria feed off.

    oh and someone forgot to mention test kits aren't 100% accurate... even though something may measure 0ppm, its very very unlikely. you will always have traces of something. take the reading of a test kit as a "rough indication" - not an "exact measurement". to say 0ppm of ammonia, nitrite or nitrate is only giving you a rough indication you are on the right track.

    as conch says above, base it on a healthy looking tank - don't rely or get overly concerned about "1ppm of X, Y Z"

  6. I am hoping for S.G to be 1.018 as I do not have a skimmer . . . yet!

    whats salinity got to do with a skimmer?

    amount to add is on the back of the bag - just be aware it changes with temperature so heat the water as well. best to add a little at first then measure and see what change X litres makes. then work out from there and bring it up slowly.

  7. what do you feed your reef?? I can't seem to get things to grow well. Would love to know your weekly routine with the tank

    traces of phosphates stunts acro growth (as well as poor colour) aim on getting those to zero. i use a bloody big skimmer, rowaphos and macro algae to keep phosphates down. run a calcium reactor (also with mg chips) to maintain calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. also dose baking soda every few days to keep alkalinity up (calcium reactor can't keep up with demand). also dose kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide) in topup water to maintain calcium and also helps keep phosphates down.

    overall try and maintain calcium at 400 or higher, magnesium at 1300 or higher and alkalinity always above 7 (preferably 8-9) feed my reef phytoplankton and cyclop-eeze every few days, as well as mixing up frozen brine in some water weekly. also dose amino acids every 2 days.

  8. dont expect to rely on any natural predators (wrasse, butterfly's etc as listed above) as they can be hit and miss. best thing i've found is joe's juice - around $30 for a small bottle from the shops but it nukes them pretty well. if you have a considerable number of aipstasia, then remove the rock and use boiling water / basically start over curing the rock again.

    the key to killing them is injecting a small amount of paste into the mouth - they MUST digest the paste in order to kill them. if you just get the tentacles or outside of the mouth, it'll melt that area but wont kill it.

  9. Agreed, but Obama is experienced at being a lawyer and lecturer, not politician (other than 4 years as senator). McCain has been in politics for much longer, and truly (IMO) understands how the politics game works

    :roll: Pfft. What does experience provide a politician with? A greater ability to cover up lies and deception? The fact he's a fresh face is a GOOD thing... as president he is the highest political official, the head of state and government, but that does not mean he governs alone. IMO, a president is moreso a face for the people, a figure to provide the reassurance of democracy and the US constitution.

    and anyways, you're all missing the point - change your way of thinking, consider who Obama has just replaced 8) Even some of my fish are smarter... :wink:

  10. So what did I miss? Anything change?

    yeah most people went to a dedicated marine site - one that was started so i could make millions of dollars through advertising and allow the likes of steve and nick to sell direct cutting out the lfs and make the same fortune...

    ...but of course that would be a far fetched theory. the new zealand marine aquarium society has been formally established and is undergoing the process of attaining members and working towards the good of the hobby.

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