Brianemone

really great pics. i cant wait untill i have the opertunity to dive on a reef and see that sort of thing first hand

seems like alot of fish for the size tank your planning :-? most of the fish you mentioned are pretty common. as for prices best bet is to go to your LFS's and have a look as it varies from region to region and store to store

ill be getting my tank through greg (tanks4u) he made Cookie extremes tank which is a 8 footer and i beleive he drilled it for him as its got the overflow built into it my main concern is that if the pipe i use is too large for the overflow then will it make alot of noise of gurgling as the return is not pushing back up enough to fill the overflow

another Q when i order the tank what size should i get the holes drilled for over flow return (and maybe closed loops)???? i should really go looking for the things that go in the holes (bulk heads no?) and get them drilled to that size so i guess the question is what are the best type to get and what size piping should i have??

do you need baffles before the skimmer?? most people seem to have them so water comes into sump through one set of baffles and into skimmer and through another set of baffles into return pump any thing else needed in there?? (other than the heater)

do gorgonians shed mucus like leathers??? cuase up untill today since 1/2 an hour of being in my tank the polyps have been out and happy, the peice of flesh at the bottom of the stalk that i striped to attach it to the rock with epoxy has grown back but today and yesterday no polyps to be seen i did a water change and i think that is what i think triggered it jjust wanted to make sure it normal

while i dont think my new tank will be running 1000w MH i agree with the idea of the shallower tank. i think patience is key in waiting for said corals to mature and grow into the tank. now if i could just get my mits on a furry blue millepora

i have run a tank with a cannister filter as the primary form of filtration. i would have to agree with lduncan in that to keep any sort of marine tank long term and successfully the above mentioned filtration methods are not effective or good value for money. while some people use cannisters to run certain things like nitrate/phospahte removers and carbon, they are not effective as primary filtration not only did my corals do better when i added an appropriate skimmer but my fish where visibly healthier

yeah i figure 3cm at most lost at the top due to over flow, and im making the cabinet my self so i can have it near on flush (two cm overhang just for looks and stability) so 120 long by 60 deep by 45 high the reasons i want it so shallow are to give easier light penetration for 2x 150W (plus actinics) and also because its different. every one seems to have deep tanks stacked full ok rock against the back wall it think the effect of the shallow tank will exaggerate the height of the acros that will be in the tank and eventually make it look like a forest of coral that the fish can swim through rather than swim by

one difference in time. patience is very important. the problem with asking the question youve asked is that their are so many opinions as to what is the best way to run a marine tank. imo the easiest way is the Berlinesk method. thats what most people use with their own little difference's skimmer with live rock is the essence of the idea depending on how big the tnak as to how much rock you need and how big your skimmer needs to be

if you email them to me ill put them up. you need to find a host site and then link it or you can host them on this site under your profile

the trick is with this tank to keep it "small" if i go 500 deep i would want 250w and it would look "big" my wife said im alowwed to upgrade cuase im building the cabinet for it to keep away little fingers and such i think the long shallow look would actually be quite nice like a tide pool sort of thing (nice open top maybe)

i just stocked up on the green pine, very nice plant just need some red ones now

i was think like this

those are some really nice colours coming through something to aspire to

let hear them or email me them

i had planned a cuboidal shape but then i thought that i could fit in more corals and give the fishies more room if i went longer and shallow what are your thoughts

im stuggling to think of how to add an over the tank refugium and have it still look like its part of the system (ie not ugly)

the hydnophora the one on the left??? the one on the right of the pink acro is a green acro right?

i think your right about the nutirents though reef, with my new tank ill have a better skimmer running and i've cut down on my feeding recently with the sump on the new tank ill be running purigen and ill look at a phosphate remover to. problem is with this tank im limmited to what i can and cant do

the acropora are brown because thats how i got them they are actually starting to colour up

this show my new purple acro with green polyps and a monti cap with blue rim

heres a pic of a new flouro leather

thats pretty cool. what kind of anemone is it?? those darn dwarff angels are a pain to catch

skimmers doing the same its always done, never even seen a oxygen test kit before. heres a pic of it at the moement all i can think is that its a combination of the corraline on the glass and the flatworms on the rocks