chimera

and not all copperbands have a taste for aiptasia. in fact, i researched them as i was wanting one myself and the general consensus is consider yourself 'lucky' if you get one that does

nice mate! i'm adding an expelair to the main tank room upstairs too as soon as we put in the ensuite (as it's right next to the tank room). however sparky mate recommended i put it on a timer/temperature controller so i can turn it on when the lights come on (evaporation mainly occurs then) and as a safety precaution, if the main tank room gets above a certain temperature it will also trigger the fan to come on... perhaps not as crucial for you considering your tank is in your lounge? although how much aeration does your lounge get? btw, nice wall. you should enter the nicest wall in nzl competition if you dont get first prize, at least you'll get runner up in the nicest door jam in nzl competition :lol:

IMO, DO NOT buy Resun. They appear cheap - and thats because they are. Eheim just dont leak and run forever because they use such top quality parts (and hence why they've made a good name for themselves) Dont risk losing your tank because of a leaking hose adaptor from an inferior product. BTW, you also see other manufacturers using Eheim pumps on their product (eg: Korallin) You'd almost think I had shares in Eheim....

jansens and hollywoodfishfarm stock it - not sure if they exist outside of the bombays though? it's only $30 - $35 and i've had great success with it. had a good 20 or 30 aiptasia, now i have 2... which reminds me i must nuke those bastards tonight...

It is quite sad really that you have to revert to feeling like this. I guess (this) saltwater forum has always been like this, ever since I joined it anyway You almost need to earn a reputation here before you are taken seriously. I think that if you actually go and meet some of these people, you will find that their online vindictive side will disappear

in addition, from an Anemone FAQ: I have not overfed nor done a large water change recently for this to occur.

I have also read people quoting this - but also the opposite. Hard to know who's right and wrong? Perhaps it could be right - as he/she/it only ever split after the closed loop went in. The anemone moved from it's normal position that it had been in for about 6 months. About 4 weeks later (today) it split. Here it is when I first got it September last year: and a quote from reef from some time ago: Splitting Don’t have too much to offer on splitting except that a well fed BTA seems to split sooner or later. Splitting seems to come in batchs. A BTA may get very large then suddenly split several times. As with most asexual reproduction of Cnidarians, feeding aggressively seems to encourage splitting. This isn’t necessarily a good thing if you don’t have a tank with lots of room for things that move a lot and pack a good sting.

Eheim gets my vote, pay a little more now and you wont regert it

My BTA split today - I'll take that as a sign my tank is running well. The second one has moved up near the top of the tank and both look very happy. When it splits again, I'll sell off number 3 Original BTA: Split BTA:

Assuming you are not overstocked, there is nothing wrong with that match up. 4x2x2 is just over 400 litres. The Deltec 1250 is rated for 750 litres (normal stocking) and 490 litres (heavy stocking) When you say small 20 or so small shrimp - what type and where from? How long has your tank be setup for?

freshwater for 8 years, got bored of it. always wanted marine, bought a 4 foot partly established tank off trademe then the bug hit me...!

why would you factor this in? surely it's almost as bad as me adding weight of salt content to saltwater vs freshwater YES OF COURSE IT DOES ALL ADD UP. Take all these little things that you dont think about and add them all up - suddenly you have another 100kg. Oh, but its only another 10km/hr officer...? :lol:

I don't believe this to be pointless - it needs to be included. It's always nice to know an approx range of how much you will be spending if 1. setting up FO, 2. setting up basic reef tank with softies, 3. full on sps tank etc etc. Sure, just to say 'thousands and thousands' does not give anyone a clue! Expand on it

We need to make reference to "Fish Only" and "Reef" tanks separately here. There is a huge difference in regards to water chemisty between 'minimum' requirements of each. Then again, it differs even furthur when you look at a reef tank and compare requirements of softies, lps and sps too. I think we can assume we're all talking about a reef tank with mixture of soft and LPS/SPS corals and a few fish?

:lol: but I still value your advice Pies The best way I think I can put this is. "Setting up a successful marine/reef tank will be more expensive if you are a beginner" The reason I say it this way is if you are an expert, you: - Obviously know what you are doing so can do away with luxury items, or even DIY some of the necessary items because you know how they work - Know how water chemistry is altered so can experiment more with alternate methods whilst still maintaining a suitable environment for your tank inhabitants - Wont get sucked into buying unnecessary items from potential greedy LFS staff (and dont say it doesn't happen) - Are likely to have contacts in the hobby who can source you 2nd hand items cheap or free Still, even an expert can spend heaps. The difference is whether the expert chooses to spend lots or not. Another way of putting it is: "The more you spend on (appropriate) quality items now, the less expensive it will be in the long run" By "appropriate", I mean spending the larger portion of your budget on the important items (eg: skimmer, live rock) After all, water chemistry is the home your tank inhabitants live in - if you don't look after this, then you might as well not have a reef tank at all.

Michelle - the big issue with marine/reef tanks is there is never a straight-forward answer. There are so many different theories and ways of keeping a marine tank, each has its positives and negatives. You can skimp now and buy 'budget' equipment although as Pies says, it will be painful in the long run. No matter what anyone says, it will cost you a minimum of $3k to setup a SUCCESSFUL marine/reef tank. Any less and you will run into problems and end up costing you so much more to protect your already spent investment. Being a beginner, most tend to learn as they go (and thus learn by their mistakes - a costly way to go, but unfortunately the best way in some cases) As you can appreciate, it is difficult to provide a costing of what you would need. Everyone can provide approximates but the sky (or ocean ) is the limit. Let's just say from $3k to $20k+, depending on size of tank and what you are keeping, depending on 2nd hand or brand new goods, depending on methodology of reef keeping (berlin method is recommended by most), type of fish and/or corals you are keeping, etc etc. The saying goes "it's cheaper to keep a horse than a marine tank" - funny because it's true. Read as much as you can now - it will save you money in the long run. Not just this site, use the whole Internet and books as resource. You will even find differing opinions between renown authors. Stay open minded and dont take everything you read as gospel!

The thing i like about it (other than it being such a simple invention) is that you can change the drum inside it if you want to change the pattern of flow. At the moment, the drum im using is configured so water flows out 1 & 3 then changes to 2 & 4. This matches up to the same outlets on the tank if viewed from left to right (in other words, '1' on the left-side end, '2' left-side back, '3' right-side back and '4' right-side end). As the drum changes outlets, it starts creating water flow against water that was moving from a previous outlet which creates the turbulence. The sea-swirl interferes with the OM flow creating some randomness too. I'd rate it 10/10 and highly recommend it to anyone looking at a closed loop.

yup, the seio's should be ok for this (having put my hand in front of steve's ones, they aint too bad - especially considering their price)

I added a 'detritus catcher' to the last section in the sump today. It's basically a piece of egg-crate sitting on two pieces of perspec siliconed to the sides on an angle. This will hopefully stop anything large enough from getting sucked into the return pump. Excuse the poor picture, but you get the idea (the water level usually sits about half way up the eggcrate) Also, the following are being added/changed soon. Pic's as soon as the bits arrive and are installed. - 1" Sea Swirl to replace the 3/4" sea swirl (no more restriction, 1" from return pump straight into tank) - Loc-line plumbing in main tank to better control/direct flow from closed loops - Addition of 2 x Seio M1100 powerheads in main tank (on when lights come on) for more water movement!

brilliant idea and thought of the same thing when i saw this post. perhaps we should write a summary, then have the next person copy and paste it and modify or add to it. once finished, have everyone agree on a final and have it as a sticky!

I'm working on the principle that your regular water changes will replace trace elements. Hence why maintenance is crucial. I dont dose anything from a bottle, although do have calcium reactor (with a layer of magnesium chips) and kalk dosing - but they only touch the surface when it comes to the required minerals (strontium etc) required.

:lol:

it was an april fool's day joke. if eric's your friend, introduce us all too him. a legend to say the least!

just dont forget the 50mm or so you will lose in height. it doesn't sound much, but 50mm over 400mm is quite considerable. i wish i went to 650mm on my tank, being 600mm it's more like 550mm useable. do what i did and draw the dimensions on a big piece of paper and put it on your wall. play with dimensions that are aesthetically pleasing to the (or rather your) eye. i really like the overflow at the back idea (as I've drawn above) and think it would be ideal for a tank your size as you dont take up extra space yet still retain the 'small' look and feel. since it's at the back, it'll never be seen. you really need to optimise space in a 4 foot tank. if you are ever up in auckland, come see my refugium, it's 1200mm long (4 foot) by 550mm deep and 450mm high.