TURSTY

Hey all, Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere (I did a search and couldn't find anything), but I was wondering if anyone has tested their collected NSW for the above 3 elements? Are they usually higher then what you would find in the tap? Sam

Actually, one other question...if I start collecting sea water for my weekly water changes, rather then mixing up RO water, what would I likely see in the way of foundation elements in the collected water?

Hey all. Bit of an update. We have managed to sort out a Racoon butterfly to borrow for a week or so that has a serious appetite for Aiptasia, so that should get us back to a controllable level while I hunt for a CBB. We have brought a Blue tank (ya cant have a reef tank without a Dory haha) and a Jeweled rockskipper and a couple of corals (2x leathers and a Mushroom) to get some life in there (will get some more pics). I did some water tests with my RedSea kits and got the following: Temp - 24*C Salinity - 1.025 Nitrate - 0.35ppm Phosphate - 0.06ppm Calcium - 375ml/l Alkalinity - 7.6KH Magnesium - 1000mg/l Am I right in trying to target the following? Calcium - 400-430ml/l Alkalinity - 8.2ishKH Magnesium - 1250-1280mg/l That being the case, do you recomend using the ABC+ combined supliment or should I really be dosing each element seperate in a 400l tank? Heres the rockskipper finding a new home with the Mushrooms

Its been running for about 4 months now, so should be well ready for some life......if I can get rid of this horrible glass stuff. Might do a bit of hunting for a CBB today.

Here's some pics

So thought I would post a bit of an update. I have been concentrating on looking after my friends tank lately so have not really done anything major to mine. We had a CBB on hold but it died at the fish shop after a bumpy delivery trip so are on the look out for another one. The Apistisia has gone RAMPANT!!! There is literally so much of it that I would go through 5 bottles of ApistisiaX and only make a dent. I have had to give up at this stage until I can find my fish. Some of it has got to the size of a 10 cent piece. Im at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Do I wait for a CBB and see what happens, or do I shut down the tank, wait for it all to die, then start again and have to recycle the rock? Ill post up some pics in the next few days. Other then the Apistisia, the tank is looking really good. Some nice colours are starting to grow on the rocks and lots of life in there.

Bit more of an update. I turned off 2 of the 4 powerheads for the wavemaker and the temp has dropped another couple of degrees to about a stable 26-27*....which seems to be about room temp where the tank is. We have 4 tanks running in the same room which cant be helping. Two have sold and are being picked up Monday, and the other we are looking after for a friend and should be going within the month so hopefully this will bring the room temp down a bit. My red sea tests arrived yesterday so i tested the tank to see the difference between the API and redsea tests.......it was interesting!!!! API Nitrate = 15ppm Red Sea = 3.5-4ppm Will do about 3 waterchanges this week to get down to about 1ppm or less then go pick up my copperband to start war on the Apistisia =D.

Right. So the tanks been running for a while now (a bit over a month). There looks to be plenty of life in the tank. Hundreds of little snails and lots of brine shrimp running around. I have not yet won the fight with the Apistisia, but a copperband has arrived at the fish store for me so I hope that will help me out. I have had the water tested at the LFS and also testing it regularly with a crappy API test kit and have just started to register some nitrate. I have started changing water now and have just brought a Red sea test kit to start keeping a propper eye on it. Since putting the wave makers in the tank, the temps have been getting a little high. Its sitting around 27* and has got as high as 30* on a really really hot day =S. Does this mean its time to look at a chiller? I will get the tank stable with no nitrate and then put the copperband and some shrimp in there and take some more pics. =)

Hi all, I have had a search through the forums, but must be looking in the wrong place. I would expect with the CHCH quakes that this has come up before. Can anyone point me in the direction of some info around seismic bracing etc for a big existing tank? I would think that its much easier to brace up a new tank, but what have people done with existing tanks full of water/life? Cheers Sam

Just brought my wave makers and a auto top off float from Fish pond. I spent a good two hours, and half a bottle of Apistisia X killing off all the nasty things. I think I got most of them and will definitely put a copperband on my list of fish to get once the tank is ready!

Easy. Will see how they go for a while with the filter wool and make a call. Im in Pukerua Bay...Porirua, wellington pretty much.

Hey, thanks for the comments. I cant wait to see it in 6 months either! That's 55kg of rock wet....so nothing like 55kg dry...probably not even half that. AquaFever - You are right...and I'm starting to wish I didn't add the sand.....but then again, when the rock went in, I shuffled it down into the sand so its all pretty much on the bottom of the tank anyway. Will still need to work hard to keep the sand looking somewhat clean now though. I might take that suggestion and move the heaters, I dont really like the look of them in the display tank, but these sumps arn't huge so will be a question of if I can fit them amongst all the glass partitions and the pumps/rubble etc. Same goes for the filter wool....Ill give that a try. I was contemplating removing the bio balls and replacing them with more live rock - thoughts? Things will be slow for the next couple of months as we let it fully cycle etc. I need to go on a bit of a Aiptasia killing spree as some of the live rock had a bit on it from the pet shop :an!gry

Hey all. We (Myself and partner Stacey) are new to the forum and thought we would post up a thread about our new marine setup as we build it. We have been keeping a 300L tropical freshwater tank for the last year and have decided to switch to marine…..which was always my plan =P We have been looking after a friends (Kris aka 91 Zero on here) seahorse tank since October so have been able to learn the basics with his tank. Our starting base was the Aqua One AquaReef 400 tank which we got for a steal from a local shop. The basics: -10mm Display Tank – 400L -Sump – 55ish L -Aqua One G220 Skimmer -T5 lighting (2 X White, 2x Blue) -2 X 300w Heaters -Moray circulation pump We set the tank up and filled it with about 30kg of Aragonite sand, then water (yeah I know….should have left the sand out till later….but thought it would be too hard to remove the amount of rock we need so put it in anyway). Mixed it to 1.025 salinity and 26*C. We left this for a day to dissolve and settle. Then went in 37kg of live rock (which is pretty much all of the local shops supply) yesterday, and a further 15-20kg today. Giving us a total of about 55kg of live rock…and we added some dry rubble in the sump. So it’s now time to hurry up and wait for it to cycle. The shopping list is growing by the day, but I think the priority list goes something like this: -Water test kits - Red Sea Foundation (cal, Alk, mag) and Red Sea Algae control (Phos, Nitrate) -RO/DI filter -Wave maker -Snails etc (clean up the algae bloom) -Corals/Fish etc I’m pretty keen to grow a really nice reef in this tank with lots of corals, so was thinking along the lines of a Phosphate reactor for phosphate control, and a dosing pump for Alkalinity, Magnesium and Calcium, but welcome suggestions of better ways to do things. Feel free to give me some advice etc =). Anyway, I will keep this updated and include lots of photos etc. Here’s some of it as it stands now.

Hi All, Another newbie signing up. This time from Pukerua Bay in Welly. Ive been helping Kris (91 Zero) out with the Seahorse tank for his new wife, and my partner and I have just brought a 400l Marine tank for ourselves. We have had a 300L Tropical tank for the last year thats now up for sale to fund the new Marine Reef tank. Keep an eye out for a progress thread. Sam