chimera

Found this on a website regarding aquarium photography and flashes:

individually they can be harmful. do another 20% water change daily til it drops!

Picked up my 50mm (2") ball valve today - it's the king kong of ball valves! Got a good price through Mico at $60 + gst. I even went direct to the importer (Plastic Systems) and their retail price was $63 + gst so happy enough. The valve is bigger than my forearm! It's certainly going to have some mega-flow going through it soon. OM is on it's way and due here shortly then the fun begins. Valve is similar to this: In the meantime, I have been watching one particular acro's growth - plenty of extended polyps and loving the new bulbs. I would gather once it gets some decent water movement it's going to be even happier. Going to do a kH and Calcium test tonight - I suspect with the calcium reactor running 24x7 and kalkwasser getting stirred up properly prior to dosing now that it should be better than before. Post tank pic's tonight. (Outside of reefing, I went to Snow Planet (http://www.snowplanet.co.nz) for a board the other night, way cool! If you haven't been, go and support them (silverdale, auckland). Only downside is the limited size - but they have some really cool jumps )

yes, skimmer will last ages assuming you service it every now and then (ie: clean out lines with white vinegar etc) personally, i would either buy the love daddy skimmer now 2nd hand and have it last me forever, or save some bucks and buy a middle of the range skimmer brand new (still, dont go too budget). marine is an expensive hobby, while you dont want to cut corners you dont need to buy the best of everything... (says chimera who is perhaps the worst at this...!!!)

a higher megapixel camera is important for maximum resolution - the higher the megapixel the larger the shot which means you can crop it down nicely and make it look 'zoomed in' - but its not everything. make sure the camera has fast processor and preferably can be manually preset (eg: for ISO etc to account for fast movement) also check it has a macro setting for those close up shots. i use a sony dsc-p100 5mp camera which seems to do ok. while its a good point and snap camera, it's still not the best (even though it has all the goodies on it) i think mastering photo's of fish etc is more user than camera. IMO, turn the (camera's) flash off and use natural lighting of the tank instead otherwise the shot can look "washed out" (excuse the pun ) others may disagree, if they do, I can give you many reasons why not to use the cameras flash however, you should use an 'external' flash where possible (more expense ). a tripod (or at least table to put the camera on) is ESSENTIAL. even the steadiest of hands can blur your shots! i dont use the optical zoom (where possible) and NEVER use digital zoom (and never buy a camera based on digital zoom - it's pointless) make sure the glass is EXTREMELY clean on both sides obviously. Also, it depends if you are shooting fish or just the background. If fish, then their movement is unpredictable which makes it difficult to get focus. If you can manually preset the focus then have patience to wait til a fish swims in the path of focus, you should get a nice shot. Set auto-focus mode to single AF and use the lowest aperture setting your camera offers (remember a lower aperture number represents a larger opening = more light) i have always been impressed with the high-end canon camera's. of course, going to the 10D or 20D means a second mortgage but their middle of the range camera's are very good.

i guess that then asks the 2nd question. fish can handle higher concentrations of nitrates etc than corals. a good skimmer is specifically important for a reef tank rather than FOWLR. if you are looking at keeping corals, then get a good skimmer. if FO, then an average skimmer will suffice. so are you going to go reef tank at some stage or fish only?

it's not being nosey at all!!! thats what the forum is here for, ask til your hearts content personally, my total tank volume is 1,000 litres and I run a deltec TS1060 skimmer. it's rated for 1,500 litres i think so i really could get a larger one. however in saying this, i have a massive amount of LR (live rock) which is a very good form of filtration. skimmer is worth $1600 new. i would recommend you look for a 2nd hand skimmer and save a heap of bucks.

UP to 2 hours before high tide. Ie: 1 hour prior would be preferred. Skimmers, now there's a big debate You will probably find Deltec reign supreme amongst members here, but you pay top coin for them. My in-sump Deltec TS1060 is quite mad and takes a heap of skimmate out for it's size! All down to what you want to pay - but remember skimmer is an important piece of the puzzle so dont skimp on one. Typically getting one rated for twice the size of your tank is recommended. Look for plastic 20 litre food-grade (important!) buckets with press-fit lids. About half a dozen of those will be sufficient and are water tight.

wouldnt worry about it too much, mine still alternate between being open and closed all the time. seems that when i try and get the conditions right for acro's (ie: higher calcium/kh) , the leathers arent happy. if i try and get conditions right for leathers (ie: lower calcium, moderate kh) then acro's aren't happy.

after collecting NSW on many occasions in various "weather conditions" i would tend to agree with wasp comment above - delay changing water a day if it means 'clearer cleaner' water (otherwise possibly the stir up could also add extra silicates to your tank?) in fact, not only the water condition but the actual collection process is so damn difficult when the waves are crashing around too i used to heat up my water prior to changing but dont bother now. doesnt appear to make an ounce of difference to corals or fish and the tank temp only seems to drop stuff all!

i posted that just before xmas,.... it's almost 3 months later now! i ended up getting two cleaners.

wow, that IS impressive. good work and good luck!

:lol:

i think we're all looking for free pods! the U.S. have companies that breed and sell them, not sure of anyone in NZL. if you find out, i'd be keen too. as brian says, thats about the only way as far as I am aware.

oooh ira, i take offence to that

it's a special pvc glue (or rather a solvent) forget the name of the stuff but it basically "melt's" the plastic allowing it to bond together. get it at any plumbing store. use it in well ventilated area or it'll give you a headache! make sure you wipe off any excess glue, leave 24 hours to dry then flush out with heaps of water.

yeah thats exactly the forum i was reading!!! very interesting i thought

2 x 32mm = AMPLE!!! That is effectively about 14,500 litres per hour - at a maximum flow rate of 2 metres per second (which is the maximum flow rate recommended before you start to get 'water hammer' which can damage the pipes)

can we get "nudibranch berghia verrucicornis" (type of sea slug) here? in fact, can we get any nudibranch here? apparently very good at eating aipstasia... and they look cool!!!

actually she's quite nice i might be able to get two skimmers

i'm going to sell my wife and buy a larger skimmer

oh so very PC here arent we?

tested it? just incase?

pm reef and ask him