RnB

i found out yesterday what fish/corals cost at the international wholsalers...... finding out what airfrieght costs today..... Reef saying most of the imported cost is frieght so far seems correct.... most of the punters cost... appears to be markup just the threat of competition see's announcements of telecom proportions!

when will shops have your shipment steve?

this friday, not sure what type. May be a possibility... Peter

its real

8) I gotta start thinking huge now, big just isn't big enough

i am happy to swap say 3kg of live sand for 3 kg of dead sand so you can seed the tank, i want to put the rest of my sand into refugium.... i like home it provides for pods worms etc, but it becomes a shite trap.... no fish in refugium means no shite..... also want to put it in the bottom of a rock cure tank to speed the process... but as i have quite a bit, at least 30-40 kg in the tank i think, am happy to gjust swap some.... Peter

if you use LOTS of high flow in loop pumps for water movement, like tunze streams, it really blows the sand around, I know of hi flow tanks that do not use sand at all for this reason......... i like the look of sand but really think the rock is a better filter.... I have sand but i am considering taking it out...... Peter

pies made a really important point at the end of his post.... more important then you know now! before you put any water in the tank, get all your plumbing, spray bars, closed loops, electric wires, probes in place, cable tied or whatever in...... "hang lights above tank (do not use hood as a rest for this) you will forever be moving stuff around...... make sure tank is low enough that you can reach to the glass bottom without using a chair ladder (you will love me later for this one alone!) find and sortout your RO/DI system... its no use 2 weeks in just adding tap water into your tank as evap makeup.... even if you agree to use someone elses ro for a while while you get acces to one yourself..... in this hobby everything you do in a hurry normally costs twice as much, and is half as good as something done slowly and thought out.... I am not as experienced as many here but you learn quite quickly, often by making mistakes..... last piece of advice..... no matter what people tell you, it is hard to have a really sttunning tank without spending quite a bit of money , (i do not want to start an argument here about how much/little you have to spend). great tanks need good water quaility (read RO/DI, good skimmer or bad skimmer and lower bio load , phosphate reducer only needed if phosphate gets in to tank in the first place!) Good flow read closed loops, NO quiet spots in the tank for muck to settle. Ask someone to donate you 10-20 snails quite early on, as they really help cleanup muck. good lighting, not only for coral growth but good lighting makes your tank look good. discipline, this cannot be purchased! you have to do all the maintenance, tests, water changes at reguklaer and stable points in time! 10% water change every 2 weeks is not that same as 30% every 6 weeks 8) find a local person to help mentor you, and do not be afraid to ask too many questions.... mail me at [email protected] and i will send you something you should read..... also happy to talk to you via phone with some advice. I am quite new, had a 500L tank up for about 18 months now. best advice i can give you is to think about the physical setup really well now while you can, talk to a lot of people because each of us have done different things and while there is no definitive right way, you will notice a trend developing in the advice you get 8) welcome, i hope you have as much fun having a reef in your house as i have!

i hear ya man, but i am not in AKL during the week so do not know if its raining, just need the heads up that its all clear and im off neck deep .. have 200L worth of cans 8)

i only wanted to know when and where, not why or how 8)

could almost be a first WGTN reef meeting 8)

just seeking guidance from someone who is using NSW.... did a 50L change from RO makeup last night, everything opened up.... keen to try some low phosphate NSW 8) P

Nick / steve can you put a post up when you think its good to go for seawater collection... cheers Peter

a guy is starting a large butterfly farm/display near auckland international airport, he is going to have a 4000L marine display so i hear.... just gossip tho, not spoken directly to them, just what I heard... Would be good to have more reef displays in public space....... IMHO the ones at Kelly Tarltons are a travesty and shame them as a professitional site ! I would expect them to have much higher quality saltwater display tanks

i loved ivans massive anemone, but it was sold when i got there.... to the guy starting the butterfly farm, so i guess lots of kids will get to see it..... it was MASSIVE like about 18nches across I am def going to get one of these sometime soon.....

true.... i bet its fat, blue and as happy as a pig in a muckless tank 8)

hey i loved ivans tank, not saying it was full of shite or anything, it just wasn't a zeovitasaurous zero anything tank........ I not think a blue linkia do that well in a low nutrient environment... but still hoping he will help lower mine 8)

i am hoping he/she love shite.... tank has plenty..... maybe thats why it was happy in Ivans tank, he had quite a few fish and feed well i think.... I wonder if it would survive in a barebottom zero nitrate/phos tank... i doubt it, artical at advanced aquarist suggested that it needed some shite to live on and plenty of rock, also said once established they where quite hardy, i am hoping it will help keep the bottom cleam etc.... Peter

When Ivan striped his tank I got his blue starfish. I was very carefull to acclimatise his and he seems to be doing well, moving around and well and no obviouse tissue damage or discolouration... I always think fish etc purchased from other tanks are a little less risk then straight import due to there survival through transport/import/ period etc. I know it will be at least 12 months before I know if its possible to keep this guy long term, I have a lot of rock , I just wished i knew more about what they eat. Peter

CB has eaton almost all the Aptasia!!!! but is getting a hard time from the Yellow tang, does most of its feeding in half light, once tang gets out front, it uses standover tatics to keep the CB out of the way..... luckily the CB is larger then the YT and so is not totally dominated.... anyone else here have a CB???? Thanks Peter

what is the company name, would love to do this tour.....

if you let it grow on the front/sides of an acrylic tank... its a bast*rd to get it off...... but i have been told that the process of scrubing it off with the correct acrylic pads does seed the tank well.......

any pump for water movement?

The key to successfully growing coralline algae: Excellent water quality, low to no phosphate, low nitrates, keep alkalinity towards mid to high end of chart, keep calcium level between 400 to 500 ppm, keep strontium level between 10 and 15 ppm, keep Iodide level between 0.03 to 0.06 ppm, keep magnesium level 1250 mg/L and keep borate level between 1.5 to 2.0 meg/L. In other words keep your parameters as close to NSW. Do you know that coralline algae does not want or require very strong lighting such as Metal Halide or Power Compacts, with these two types of lighting you will only grow a few strains of coralline algae and it takes a lot longer to establish coralline. The best lights to use to grow coralline algae are VHO URI bulbs. Coralline algae need good water flow. Find one rock with lots of different colors of coralline algae out of an established aquarium to seed your tank. Once a day take a tooth brush on the rock to loosen the algae spores. Before you know it, coralline will be all over your tank. Try doing weekly water changes with a good artificial sea salt. It does take time to establish coral algae. finf the one about scrubbing a good rock with a toothbrush each day interesting will try is straight away! I know everyione says MH are bad, but i get the best growth in the areas where there is shadded MH light, if that makes sense.... others? this is interesting also I have had good success with a one time dose of Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate), about 1/2 tablespoon per 75 gal. Within a week I have noticed new patches of coraline in ~70% of the tanks I have dosed. Of course these are tanks that I know are not receiving any other magnesium supliments (other than water changes), AND DON'T CURRENTLY SHOW SIGNS OF A NUISANCE ALGAE PROBLEM. If you have algae problems, do not dose this. If you have a specific rock curing tank, I think this could definately help to seed the rock before putting in the aquarium.

cuba street Logan Brown Restaurant & Bar 192 Cuba St Wellington one of the best resturants in WGTN! nice champs list too.....