TURSTY

Sorry for kind of hijacking ya post, but how about the option of purchasing an established tank? I'm toying with the idea of selling my AquaOne AquaReef 400 which is similar if you might be interested. PM me if you would like details.

The tank seems to be doing rather well considering the lack of decent lights/skimmer. Everything seems to be growing nicely, but the SPS's could definitely do with some more light. The skimmer seem to be taking a fair amount of grimy gunk out of the tank, so its working......maybe not as well as it could, but its working. My auto water change system is a god send!! The only issues I have had so far was one of the dosing pump bodies wearing out (easy fix to just clip a new one onto the pump), and the intake line getting blocked once. Salinity has been solid, and nitrates are within check, so all in all Im very happy with how little maintenance the tank needs. The copper band is eating really well and is nice and fat. We got a foxface which has done its job well and smashed all the green bubble algae so tank looks nice and clean. I would love to get some LED's next...but I seem to have too many hobbies and not enough money to go around. Here's some pics =).

Hey all, Thought I would give you a bit of an update. We have been lucky enough to get a new copperband that was FAT and eating well. As you can guess, I was rather pleased to see this: http://youtu.be/urFfk4rkL4g The tank on the whole is going really well. I have redone all the power in the cabinet as well so everything is much easier to turn off/clean etc.

Haha that is one option.....if I can catch it. My rockscape is not the easiest for catching fish!!

Yeah I went and brought a few bits of rock with the anems on it and have that in the sump with a good deal of rock to start growing. Only issue ATM is my copperband is eating it faster then it can grow by about 10x. It's funny I have now gone from having a huge problem with aiptasia to now trying to grow it haha. If you ever want any of it cleaned, let me know and I can stick the rock in my tank for a few days then give it back.

Hey All, I have a picky eater in my tank and I am in need of a LOT of aiptasia. If anyone have any rock they want cleaned or have some rock that's covered in aiptasia they want to sell, flick me a PM I can come and pick up anywhere around Welly.

Hi All, As some of you might know, I have finally managed to find a copperband to help control the aiptasia issue I had. I have had the fish for about 2 weeks now and it seems to have settled in nicely. It cleaned out all the feather dusters in the first two days, and was obviously feeding on pods etc. I have seen it eat an aiptasia once....but there seems to be a heck of a lot less of it around so I think its safe to say its doing its job and cleaning it out. Now I'm a little worried that it will run out faster then I can grow more in the sump, so I have started trying to feed it a variety of food with no luck. Today I have seen it try to eat two bristle worms.....which it seemed to find out were rather spikey (had a fit and spat them out). I've tied: Flakes Frozen Brine Shrimp via floating frozen cube on the surface Frozen Brine shrimp via hand Frozen Brine shrimp thawed in a cup of tank water and fed to the tank via a turkey baster All of the above but with Mysis shrimp A cracked muscle in the tank Live hatched baby brine shrimp The fish doesn't seem even slightly interested in any of this. Does anyone have any suggestions for other foods to try.......or is it just a matter of persistence/patience with the above foods?........or do I really need to start raising brine shrimp to adulthood, and building "Pod condo's"?

We could be keen on something like this. Would be interesting to see what some other wellingtonians are up to/what our tank could turn into when its a bit older =P

Haven't updated this in a while Have since got a phosphate reactor in there, moved the mushroom corals onto one of the big rocks, got a BTA and 2 baby clowns (which have just started hosting the nem) and yesterday picked up our new best friend =D. We did however loose our rockskipper which then ended up being bristle worm food =(.

Haha this was our tank when the power went out. 20 hours later we had a generator running, but I heated water on the fire and put it into 2L bottles and put them in the tank to keep it warm. Only lost 3 degrees over 20 hours amazingly!

Thats very interesting!! Wonder if you could replicate that small scale :bggrn:

Yeah thats the newest addition (as of yesterday actually). Its really starting to extend out now. Looks amazing! :bggrn:

Thanks =). I got it from airpumps.co.nz. Much cheaper then anywhere else and its pretty much the same as the bubble magus one.

haha this always makes me laugh!!

Bit of an update. I rigged up a skimming catch bottle with on overflow back into the sump after I had a small flood. I must have bumped the adjustment dials on the skimmer an not notised as the bottle filled up over night and soaked the place. I hope it will never overflow as I would hate the gunk that has been skimmed out to end up back in the tank, but its better then wrecking the house. I have also brought a dosing pump, and have set up an auto water change system that changes out the volume of the sump every week. Pump 1 takes pre mixed NSW and moves it into the sump just above the main pump. Pump 2 takes old water out of the sump in the area by the skimmer. This should stop the new water from being removed straight away. I need to get a sealed drum to put the mixed NSW in as I currently have a evaporation issue with the unsealed drum I am using now, but otherwise it seems to be working well. Will keep an eye on it. Have added a few more corals. I also just got some frags off a friend that ordered a few and ran out of room in his tank. Our first few seem to be doing really well too.