RnB

its all about time, I am not working this december. I love DIY, about to DIY a tunze STREAM copy....... have a 24 inch long 12inch wide piece of clear acrylic pipe 8) going to make my own skimmer 8) I will post a lot of pic's after the even. Peter

about $160US for a phosphate colorimeter Brendan, how much did yours cost and how much per test approx???? I do not know much about other brands but here is what hanna emailed me.... Most of our meters have been developed for natural, fresh water testing. I do have some information that will be of help to you. Parameters that work with Seawater: Chlorine Phosphate Ammonia Iron (HR) Parameters that will not work: Nitrate There test for nitrate is not reliable when saltwater is used..... but i think the existing tests are not too bad for nitrate anyway... thus i concluded that only the phosphate one probably worth having.... I really think that a club owned one would be a great idea!!!! I would be happy to organise it. Peter

Happy famillies at last, Copperband also eating mushed up mussel 8)

thats the problem it depends on what was crushed....... crushed marble normally ment to be ok though........ why not get some RO/DI and soak sand in it for a week or two then do some tests...... Peter

the power of being a sys admin 8) While not a true believer yet, and acknowledged reefs comments that one day, you could wipeout...... I can see the benefits , could save me a couple of hundred per annum.... But i really think that the water mid channel would be even beter... be interesting to collect a couple of samples, next time i am sailing i will, and if poss on the same day get someone to collect of takapuna..... Brendan u listerning, if we could pay for a couple of phosphate tests of these samples???? using your cool colorimeter, in fact i reckon it would be a good tool for the club to own? I am all for joint ownership of more expensive bits of technology to lower everyones costs... what you guys reckon..... Peter

Oh and I added 125L of that diesil to my tank.... Corals and fish loving it Especially the copperband, who seems to like the local pollution, will report back how i find this stuff going forward, I am glad i went along after all the rain in the afternoon sat..... WIll get some more next weekend if it does not rain this week P

i will see you about 8:30am at the boat ramp?

what make was the skimmer? looks like a custom Geo? was it needle wheel? also the calcium reactor looked way small how often you have to change the media? Thanks Peter

everyone says lifereef skimmers are good, but they need a poweerfull pump.... thus more power use. Mike the importer used to use lifereef on his personal tank..... he liked it. Peter

There are MANY different skimmer options my advice is buy one BIGGER then you can afford, dead / unhealthy corals cost heaps 8) is this a good one, well how long is a piece of string...... There is no doubt that the leading skimmers in each class are up to the job. The majors are needle wheel, venturi/becket, downdraft ???? foprgot the last bit in this ones name The question is how many 180L fully stocked tanks have you seen in NZ running with a turbofloater? Personally all the tanks that I have seen that are large and heavily stocked are using quite large skimmers, primarily deltec needle wheels (but not only this brand) I have a deltec 1060 in sump unit, its uses 2 pumps to recirculate... It is a short model to fit under tank, if i purchased again i would get a taller unit, IMHO the increased contact time of the taller stack produces more gunk. that said i have a LOT of fish in my 500L and not much nitrate, put this down to the skliimer being up to the job and having a lot of rock so the turbo floater... what model? if its the small one. i would want a lot of mature mature rock in a 180 and even then would think only maybe... /flame proofing on./ But if someone offered me the unit for say $200 then yeah grab it, however if its been offered to you around the $700-800 mark whjy not import your own, much bigger skimmer for only a little less???? All the tanks that I like the look of have BIG SKIMMERS!!!!!! Steves(Deltec) / alois's (Deltec) / Pies (Deltec) / Brendans (Not sure, us brand i think) / Steve in WGTN (not sure but looked like a GEO 6ft model) / (Mine (Deltec) Ivan was running the same skimmer as i have on a 1200L and it looked fine, lowish nitrates as i understand... his tank was cool for a young tank. When do you want one? I am going to the US shortly and I am going to bring back 1-2 skmiiers a a big CA Reacter I think tho that with constant attention to the coperation the turbo would cope with a 180, but most of us just want a big ars* skimmer with reasonably low tuning requirement. I think its about value for money and many of us have a belief that to get your water quality up there a skimmer is one of the most important pieces of kit. Think about the ammount of nitrate a skimmer takes out per hour.... its like continually changing your water...... what price are you being offered the turbofloater? iduncan - what are you using for a skimmer....

was interested so looked it up links look good I had originally considered setting them up as a breeding experiment a couple years ago but didn't feel I had suitable equipment or space to pull it off. But, I did do some pretty lengthy research on them and had gotten to the point that I felt confident at least in giving it a shot. Also, working at a public aquarium I've been fortunate enough to have access to various breeding setups as well as a wealth of knowledgable people in the industry who are eager to swap ideas and experience. For those that have an interest, may I suggest the following book. It has some solid fundemental information on breeding pepermint shrimp which, although easier than cleaners, will give you an idea of what protocols will be necessary. http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dy...m%2FShrimp.html Also, try googling "Breeding skunked cleaner shrimp" and see if you can find a paper by Joyce Wilkerson. It's extremely informative and comes with microscope captures of various larval stages of the shrimp. So far it's the best info I have been able to find on the web. I think this might be the site but the link is not active for whatever reason. Perhaps at a later time it will be back in service. http://www.reefsuk.org/CaptiveBreed...anerShrimp.html Overall, the issues with breeding these shrimp are not impossible to overcome, they just take a bit of work and a lot of trial and error. Unfortunately for us, most of the people that have had success are commercial breeding facilities and since they have a financial stake in their time and effort they are not real eager to offer suggestions to outsiders. One major issue is how fragile the frye are believed to be. Some of the research papers discuss that the mere act of bumping into a tank wall or rockwork can potentially damage them beyond repair. This is why kreisel tanks are frequently used by commercial institutions when setting up rearing systems because they afford the opportunity to keep the fry in suspension without any sharp corners or obstructions for them to get hung up on. On the other end of the spectrum would be the standard 10gal barebottom with sponge filter and heater. Somewhere in the middle would be a glass or acrylic tank with small scraps of acrylic siliconed in the coners to round everything off nice and smooth. Next problem is food contact/concentration which is a delicate balance between getting enough food in the rearing tank but not polluting your water and killing everything off. This is why commercial facilties favor flow thru setups that allow a constant supply of filtered water to pass thru the tank as opposed to completely closed setups . The frye need constant nourishment to feed their extremely large metabolisms so food concentrations will need to be pretty heavy. The frye are passive contact feeders which mean they basically tumble around until they bump into something thay they can grab onto. They do not need to swallow it whole, merely be able to grasp and hold it while it is eaten. In a nutsheel this means lot's of food of the appropiate size. Unfortunately, "appropiate" is very subjective where they are concerned. So, this is where the trial and error part really comes into play. Be prepared for lot's of time consuming attention to the tank or some kind of constant feed setup to keep them swimming in a steady supply of food. Then there is the whole water quality issue which at their delicate stage of the game is like trying to diffuse a car bomb with your eyes closed. One breeder reported just doing a small, slow water change was enough to cause a large die-off in a few short hours.

how are you starting them? PM me if you don't want to post.... Peter

I fly WGTN to AKL every thursday evening, I am happy to take a frag pack with me 8) frags kindly accepted as courrier fees 8)

Hey to make this very clear, I have no issue with Nick / Steve / Alois, I just think that in Auckland , at the moment, feelings are VERY HIGH. I have had a lot more to do with some of these names then others, i know they have all helped a lot of people. Its just that having a "presentation only" night with no commercial transactions allowed, may be a way to bring everyone together... in order for us not to start talking about the blo*%4#@dy costs of everything, i think a few presentations could be a way to go.

I have been reading a lot about culturing plankton etc http://www.sjwilson.net/reef/phytosteps.html http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/breeder.htm http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=000B0858-DE56-1C73-9B81809EC588EF21 This seems quite simple really. I have got all the bits just lying around. Anyone here in NZ doing this? Thanks Peter

hollywood had about 30 little baggies in a tank marked not for sale.... anyone know where these are going???? What have you been feeding these guys? Peter

one last point. Without a good RO/DI system, i would say go with NSW and bigger changes, this would minimise the effect of the crap you will be adding during evapouration add in...... good RO/DI is a MUST for us Aucklanders as almost all water here is runnoff collected in the waitakeres and if you ever been to the water pump sites (i used to support IT for these) you will understand the ammount of sediment and organics in it. If any AKLer needs RO/DI water PM me, I am sure we could come to a cost sharing arrangement, its quite cheap to make as the RO membrance lasts quite a while and the DI resin is not outrageously expensive in bulk... , and i go through about 100L per week on average, a LOT more in big change weeks.....

I was using NSW but i am not sure that i was collecting from the right place or in the right conditions. I changed to ASW at the start of this last winter for simplicity as i am only in AKL at the weekends and have limited time, ASW is easier for me to use for this reason alone! . I may soon be based in AKL and thus want to start investigating NSW. I fly a lot and think that the 1 km zone around the shore is def higher in crap/sediment/nutrient then other places... this zone as we discussed last night varies aound NZ, in many WGTN locations it just does not exist. I think in some locations it would be near impossible to collect clean NSW. In lots of countries the NSW is just not usable due to pollution. We are lucky in that respect. I have a yacht, with no rudder at the moment 8( ,so I am thinking of doing a few trips out a bit to collect. I believe that even 2-3 kms into major channel will make a difference. I do not find the cost of ASW to be an issue, compared to other running costs it is not a biggie (DON'T start me :oops: ) I do not feel i have enough experience to know if good NZ NSW water is better or worse for corals then good ASW, i suspect fish just do not care 8) My tank looks better now then it did, but i believe its because i am taking better care of it, using phosphate reducer etc etc etc.... Alois gets great results with ASW and many of you guys seem to get great results with NSW. seems both work well and are not a differentiating factor IMHO. Hard to collect NSW if you are in most of germany and they seem to have quite nice tanks! Another reason for me to investigate is that in the near future i plan to add more tanks etc. It may at some stage become an economic necessity to consider NSW and only use ASW when i cannot easily collect clean NSW. this weekend i want to start a rock cure tank , so I an interested in the debate about the goodness in NSW, I suspect that by growing plankton culture and feeding rotifers etc, you would be doing you corals more good then just throwing in god knows what. Without a scientific explanation for the "goodness" in NSW I am just not convinced. Sure everything opens up after a NSW change, but the same thing happens in a ASW tank. I will prob use NSW and ASW for different purposes, NSW for curing tanks etc, in fact if i could find the right location i would drop my 50kg of rock into the sea on my scuba kit, but i am scared of losing it and its worth too much!!!!!!! Any ideas from AKLers maybe over near Rangi? would cure WAY QUICK in the sea I know that is not very conclusive report but thats my millage so far.....

about the club thing I want to belong to a fish club to swap frags and ideas. I really don't want to sell many of my frags as would rather swap/give away, but thats a personal thing. I sincerely hope the club meetings do not solely become a sales channel for nick/steve. I am happy for them to offer 'special' deals to club members as some businesses do, but feel that this should not be exclusive. I would like to see Alois involved in the club, he has huge experience and i think it would be a shame not to tap this - as long as reef agree's. and wants to participate. Would love for him to present on the breeding bof baggies I am fascinated by his results and hope that iduncan can also help slowly propergate these great fish around our hobby. I do not want Alois to be using the club as a sales channel either, the club thing is not about getting lower prices, its about sharing info, seeing each others tanks etc I want to belong to a club to share info on where we can get great deals, like 200L food grade bins for $30 (barrys bins by the way). but feel if too many of the members are retailers that all i will ever get offered is there latest great import, not truely open info about where to source stuff from. I want to belong to a club to participate in group purchases that benefit the members. Lets get 10 of us together and get a great deal on refractometers for example. maybe we could hold reef gear "garage sales" at nicks/steves every so often and we could hold regular evening meetings where there was to be no selling, or swapping, rather it be presentation info sharing based??? just me thoughts, everyone seems resonable as pies has said, I have found everyone in this hobby a worthy source of info, strong opinions are held ! but thats like any sport/ hobby. I really listern to Alois, he has more experience in this than me, he has often had personal experience with different pieces of gear etc...... Maybe a night meeting with a disucssuon of sulphur denitraters, i hear chong chow sorry sp? is using one....

what is so blatantly obvious here is that this whole discussion is about money! those with the loudest voices seem to be the ones either making or spending the most! those who spend a lot have an option http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/border/transitional-facilities/animals/154-02-06.htm just do it yourself.......

congrats all around 8)

but the question is how low the prices might get before even you start to say they are TOO low... 105vt's per KG is not a lot of dosh......

bump recent piccies

see the trend developing in the advice 8) clear as mud!

I don't understand that logic..... if things where 1/2 the price, my budget would allow me to buy twice as much. I have yet to see many markets where increased competition has been to the customers disadvantage..... but DON'T get me started..... I just want to see the first shipment and see prices ACTUALLY change.... Peter