wasp

Just stick one on :lol: . But seriously, you'd want 200 watts or better, so you could either go with some flouro tubes, or else a 150 watt metal halide, plus some tubes. Don't know anything about this particular tank but if it has a hood thios might be tricky.

Agreed, those lights just won't cut it. Otherwise the tank should be OK though especially if you can install a sump.

Sounds good did he pull through?

There is a guy by the user name Pies, who used to talk on this site. He has a male and female pair, and is also very knowledgeable plus can tell the difference. But I haven't seen him around for a while but if you drop him a pm he might pick it up.

The stuff from an lfs costs 50 bucks a kilo or something similar. If you are prepared to buy a 25 kilo sack you can buy magnesium chloride, of the same or better quality as the stuff at the lfs, for something like 4 bucks a kilo, from medchem, here is their website http://www.medchem.co.nz/ Or, if you want to go real cheapskate (like me), you can get magnesium chloride from a farm supply shop for something like 13 bucks for a 25 kilo sack. However the quality is not assured, it is used as a feed supplement to milking cows to help replace the magnesium they lose in the milk. However I have been using this cheap stuff for several years. Epsom salts is also OK but using a large amount of it will cause an ionic imbalance, with too many sulphate ions. Epsom salt is Magnesium sulphate. In NSW, chloride ions outnumber sulphate ions about 10 to 1. So if you want to make your own magnesium supplement with a correct ionic balance, you mix 1 part epsom salt, to 10 parts magnesium chloride. This is most likely what the Seachem product is. However having a slightly incorrect ionic imbalance in the tank is not a major although can have some effect.

You have possums in the US also?

Sorry, posted before I saw your posts Jolliolli. Do you Chch people ever sleep? That rectangular skimmer, sounds like you might have lucked out and got a Deltec, if so an excellent brand. Signing out for the day now!

Those pumps are a cheaper brand so will have a shorter life, but good price they will get you started. The big thing is not just the lph, but also the maximum lift of 2 metres. That means flow gradually lessens the higher the pump has to pump it, till by 2 meters it stops. So you'll need to set it so it doesn't have to lift more than a meter or so. That is not from the pump, but from the top of the water in the sump, to the top of the water in the tank. Test kits, minimum ( to do things right ), is nitrate, calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity. You may also want to get ammonia and nitrite to monitor the rock cycling, but once the cycle is done you don't need them any more, so borrowing someone elses is a cheaper option. You also need something to test salinity, which has to be kept around a specific gravity (sg) of 1.025.

Yes 2000 litres is plenty. You need a minimum turnover, sump to tank, 5 x's per hour. So tank 80 litres, sump 60 litres, total = 140 litres. 5 x's that is 700 lph, so 2000 lph will be plenty. If you have a sump, use it, most marine tanks do. BTW you also need some more flow in the tank, the above calculation is just the sump to tank turnover. Media, none, in a marine tank. Leave all biological (bacterial) filtration to the bacteria in the coral rock (liverock). Using any other type of media can cause nitrate to build up, which is not very important in a fresh water tank, but is a big no no in a marine tank, once you start keeping corals and invertebrates in there. And trust me, sooner or later you will want to try corals and inverts. To cure the rock you put it in salt water same as what would be in the tank. You can do this in a tank, plastic container, or anything similar. Put a few powerheads in there, the more the better, to get excellent circulation. This will also encourage good aeration from the water surface. A heater is not essential, but will speed things up if you keep the water at 25 degrees. If you test the water, you will find ammonia build up for the first 2 weeks or so, and then it will dissapear once the ammonia eating bacteria are established. Then you get nitrite, for 4 weeks or so. Once that is gone, has to test zero, the rock is ready for the tank. There will still be nitrate (not nitrite) for several months but it will slowly come down. If you have not already seen it there is a beginner guide at the top of the salt water section, will run you through some start up type information.

Awesome! If you can set it up with a good powerful skimmer, you are a long way towards success. A sump is really just to put equipment in, wether you have one or not is just a matter of how you arrange everything, although it does make life easier. Didn't really make it clear in the previous post, but in a marine tank we don't use just any rock, coral rock is best because it is porous and an excellent home for the bacteria we need to complete the nitrogen cycle. This is one of the differences from a fresh water tank, we use coral rock in a marine tank for biological filtration, not cannisters and such. If you buy the coral rock dry, it has to be "cured", ie left in water for a few weeks till all the bacteria become established in it and all the crud in it has been processed. This usually takes 6 weeks plus, and fish cannot be put into the tank till it's done. So, if you want to get started, start curing some rock soon as you can, so it will be ready by the time you got everything else set up. And DO talk to those other reefers down there. There is much more to this marine tank keeping than can be explained in just a few posts.

They will survive in a 40 litre, but it will be somewhat cramped, not so pleasant for the fish, or for you to watch. In Chch, there is a very keen and enthusiastic group of reefers, most of them fairly new, and they even have a monthly get together. I would strongly suggest you get hold of someone like Wilson, or TheConch, (to name two), and see if you can join their get together, or at least visit, look at and talk about tanks, you will learn heaps and it will help you decide wether you can start a marine tank.

Not familiar with either of those tanks but the smallest species of clownfish, percula, would want a minimum of 60 litres for a pair of them to be reasonably happy. They normally live in a family so 2 is much better than one. They will only behave naturally, as in nature, if they have an anemone to live in, you can also keep a bubbletip anemone in a 60 litre tank, provided you have enough and the right kind, of lighting, the anemone relies on photosynthesis. Rock, no hard and fast rules but a KG of coral rock (which will become "live"), to each 10 litres is a rough guide. Filtration in a salt water tank is quite different from how it is done in a fresh water tank. For decent results you will need to do some research on this, not just set it up like a fresh water tank.

Not sure in Chch, but the guy here Helifax (who I haven't seen for quite a while) sells it I'm sure he would ship. Could try dropping him a pm & hope he is still around.

Fully agreed looks like a heap of fun! And while i doubt those girls are REALLY his full time support crew, he has put together an entertaining video, he get's it! It is also true Romania is dirt poor, country farm labourers there can get as little as around US $0.50 cents per day, subsistence living at best. Cheap as those cars are, I suspect the owners are probably from a better off background by the standards of the Country. I'll give him 10/10.

A few years ago I tried iodine dosing, it is very hard to keep the right level because it is quickly taken out of the water by various processes and reverts to forms that are not readily available to fish, corals and inverts. After several months of dosing, testing, and making sure i didn't overdose, i couldn't see any benefit to the tank at all, so when the bottle ran out I didn't get a new one. However iodine is a requirement in trace amounts, a COMPLETE lack can be harmful, but as Puttputt says, water changes are enough to ensure ther needed trace amount will be present. Also Wilson is correct, an overdose can be harmful and even kill. The risk of overdose is a possibility because iodine changes form in the tank and when combined with other elements is not detected by an iodine test kit. Therefore a lot more can be in the tank than we are aware of if we have been dosing it, and if conditions become right could convert back to a form the could be harmful in too high amounts. Having said all that, there is a Zeovit formulation containing iodine that I dose and it does have a positive effect, but I'm not sure if it's the iodine or the other ingredients. In general though, my own opinion is the money for a bottle of iodine could be better spent on something else.

They can slowly decline if there is not enough of the right food in the tank. But if it's fat and well fed could rule that one out but another possibility is water quality, if you are able, would pay to check salinity, ammonia, and nitrate, and also that the tank is aerated properly, and hasn't been getting too hot. Also pH, although just the correct alkalinity and aeration will ensure pH is OK. Is the edge of the fin where it is missing nice and clean looking, or infected looking? Hope it gets better, let's know how it goes!

If they are just on one rock, boil a jug of water & put in a pot, then carefully dip the parts of the rock in where you want to kill them. If they are already all over the tank, not sure.

Herein the dilema faced by a lot of people who have put these in their tank :lol: . They can take over EVERYTHING! Best plan for them in my opinion, is to keep them on a particular rock that is seperated from other stuff in such a way they can be contained, and killed out around the edges from time to time.

Nice one Wilson!

Sounds like here's a whole bunch of guys might be able to help you out long as they don't accidentally club it to death first! BTW I don't think it is illegal to have one for a pet (last time I heard anyway). I used to have one myself it was very cool. And as a single young guy at the time I can tell you a pet possum is a CHICK MAGNET! They love them. Just they are hard to house train, my one was a male not sure but i think a female might be cleaner.

Yes, did that among other things, back in the late 70's, for a living. But every year, furs got worth less and less, till it just wasn't worth doing. Now i'm a "city slicker" as they used to be called, so i don't have to get my hands dirty. Weird thing was the guts dropped out of prices due to the activities overseas of the anti-fur campaigners. This was a prime example of where some of these well intentioned but poorly informed greenies do more harm than good. Possums are an introduced pest that every day, 7 days a week, eat 30 tons of native NZ forest. They also raid the nests of native birds and eat the babies. Once their fur stopped being worth collecting the population exploded and even more havoc is wreaked on our native species. Thank you greenie activists! PS. Now DOC trying to control them with poison but greenie activists trying to stop that too.

The only bad thing about evaporation is having to replace it, but as long as it's done with good pure water there is no problem. Most marine tanks lose a decent amount of water to evaporation, my tank is only 200 litres but in the winter it looses about 2 litres a day and double that in the summer. Reasonable evaporation is an indicator that a good amount of gas exchange is happening at the water surface which is a good thing, to flush excess Co2 at night plus remove nitrogen gas as a bi product of the nitrogen cycle.

Well thanks Cookie very interesting. I've done a bit of Googling on this and think you are right, i also think it probably arrived in my tank as a tiny one perhaps many years ago. Found out some interesting stuff, not the least being that their gonads are regarded as a prime delicacy in Tonga. You were a chef there Cookie, right? :lol: here's some other interesting stuff 1. A new triterpene glycoside from sea cucumber Holothuria leucospilota Hua Hana, Yang Hua Yi, a, , Ling Lia, Xiao Hua Wanga, Bao Shu Liua, Peng Suna and Min Xiang Pana aResearch Center for Marine Drugs, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China Received 30 August 2006. Available online 23 January 2007. Abstract A new triterpene glycoside, leucospilotaside A, along with a known saponin, isolated from sea cucumber Holothuria leucospilota, and its structure was elucidated as 3β-O-[4-O-sodiumsulfate-β-d-quinovopyranosyl-(1 2)-β-d-xylopyranosyl]-holosta-22-ketone-9-en-17α,25α-diol (1) by extensive spectroscopic analysis and chemical methods. Leucospilotaside A (1) has a ketone carbonyl group (22) in the aglycon side chain. 2. Biomechanics of Adhesion in Sea Cucumber Cuvierian Tubules (Echinodermata, Holothuroidea)1 Patrick Flammang2,,1, Jérôme Ribesse1 and Michel Jangoux1,2 1 Marine Biology Laboratory, University of Mons-Hainaut, 6 Avenue du Champ de Mars, B-7000 Mons, Belgium 2 Marine Biology Laboratory, Free University of Brussels, 50 Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium Several species of sea cucumbers, all belonging to a single family, possess a peculiar and specialized defense system, the Cuvierian tubules. It is mobilized when the animal is mechanically stimulated, resulting in the discharge of a few white filaments, the tubules. In seawater, the expelled tubules lengthen considerably and become sticky upon contact with any object. The adhesiveness of their outer epithelium combined with the tensile strength of their collagenous core make Cuvierian tubules very efficient at entangling and immobilizing most potential predators. We have designed a method to measure the adhesion of holothuroid Cuvierian tubules. Tubule adhesive strength was measured in seven species of sea cucumbers belonging to the genera Bohadschia, Holothuria and Pearsonothuria. The tenacities (force per unit area) varied from 30 to 135 kPa, falling within the range reported for marine organisms using non-permanent adhesion. Two species, H. forskali and H. leucospilota, were selected as model species to study the influence of various factors on Cuvierian tubule adhesive strength. Tubule tenacity varied with substratum, temperature and salinity of the seawater, and time following expulsion. These differences give insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying Cuvierian tubule adhesion. Tenacity differences between substrata of varying surface free energy indicate the importance of polar interactions in adhesion. Variation due to temperature and time after expulsion suggests that an increase of tubule rigidity, presumably under enzymatic control, takes place after tubule elongation and reinforces adhesion by minimizing peeling effects. 3. Sea cucumber habits Sea cucumbers in the four island groups are found on the coral reef flats at up to 70 m depth. Some species, such as T. ananas, H. nobilis and B. argus, live among coral reefs while others seek shelter in sandy bottoms and among the seaweed. Some species live in shallow waters near the sublittoral zone, such as A. mauritiana and H. cinerascens; some live in areas with an abundance of sand and seaweed, such as A. echinites, H. atra, H. edulis and S. hermanni; some prefer areas affected by a strong wave action, such as A. miliaris and H. scabra; while others prefer calm waters, such as S. chloronotus, A. lecanora, H. nobilis and B. marmorata and they are mostly found in deep waters (40-60 m). T. ananas, A. lecanora, B. argus and A. mauritiana are distributed in waters between 10 to 50 m depth. H. atra, H. leucospilota and S. hermanni all live in shallower waters, up to 15 m in depth. Generally, sea cucumbers stop feeding and burrow in the sand at midnight and burrow when the water temperature is low (Li, 1990). Many species emerge from the sand at dawn and feed from noon to dusk. Sea cucumbers feed on organic matter and microorganisms, such as diatoms, foraminifera, radiolarian, small crustaceans and gastropods typically found in the sand (Li, 1990). Some species of sea cucumber, for example T. ananas and B. argus, have symbiotic fish in their cloacae. The internal organs of sea cucumber can generally regenerate if body is cut in two. Tools and fishing methods Fishing for sea cucumber is a traditional activity among the local fishers in Qionghai, Hainan. According to local historical records, sea cucumber fishing in Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha islands started in 1681 and has continued from generation to generation without interruption. Collections relied on free diving and capture of sea cucumbers by hand in the early periods, so the fishing grounds were restricted to waters with a maximum depth of 20 m. At some point, however, fishermen became unhappy with the collection efficiency as it was impossible to capture the larger specimens living in deeper waters. As a result, a tool known as the “sea cucumber fork†was designed and used in the 1920s to capture sea cucumbers. The fork was subsequently improved and nowadays it consists of a fork, a weight, a rope and a buoy (Figure 1). The specifications of these components are as follows: 1) Fork: the fork is made of steel with sharp agnail ends. The pointed elements of the fork are arranged in a triangular fashion and secured at one end of a cylindrical weight. The pointed elements are 11 cm in length and 1 cm in diameter and fixed 6 cm apart from one another. The sharp ends are 3.7 cm in length and 0.8 cm in width. 2) Weight: The cylindrical element is a 9 kg lead weight with a diameter of 9.5 cm. 3) Rope: the rope is usually 80 m in length. 4) Buoy: the buoy is made of plastic with a buoyancy of 20 kg. The boats used in sea cucumber fishing are generally 50-80 tonnes, in gross tonnage, fitted with a 120-250 hp engine and generally have 12-16 people onboard. Each support vessel usually carries 3 to 4 smaller boats (15-25 hp, 3-5 gross tonnage each) to enable the divers to easily move around the reefs. At the fishing grounds the collection of sea cucumbers is carried out using the smaller boats which carry a crew of 3; one in charge of steering the boat while the other two engage themselves in fishing with the use of masks or “view bucketsâ€. Upon detection of the sea cucumbers on the sea bottom the divers enter the water and swim directly above the animal. Fishing is carried out by dropping the fork on the specimen seen by the diver. One end of the fork rope is attached to the boat in order to facilitate the retrieval of the captured sea cucumber. Because of the relative seawater turbidity around the islands the fishing activity is generally restricted in waters not deeper than 60 m. Commonly 20 kg of sea cucumbers, such as T. ananas, are collected by each boat (or 2 000 kg/year). Furthermore, fishermen engaged in the collection of sea cucumber very often fish for other species such as sharks, molluscs, as well as collect a variety of seaweed species. Figure 1. The traditional tool used for fishing tropical sea cucumbers (“Drawings of Chinese Fishing Tools†published in 1989). Processing methods The processing of sea cucumbers involves three steps: removal of the viscera, cooking and drying. Prior to the evisceration process the sea cucumbers are sorted by species. In the case of T. ananas the incision is made on the ventral side, while it is done on the dorsal side for all other large species. In the smaller species a small incision in done beside the mouth. Following the removal of the internal organs the sea cucumbers are rinsed with seawater and then placed in a suitable boiler. Small individuals are cooked for 30 minutes, while larger individuals may require an additional 10-15 minutes. The optimal water temperature when cooking species such as H. nobilis and B. marmorata is around 90 °C. During this phase the sea cucumbers become stiff and lose 50-70 % of their body fluids, assuming a yellowish colouration in species like T. ananas and S. hermanni, and blackish colouration in most other species. The sea cucumbers are then rinsed again once they are removed from the hot water. Large species, such as T. ananas, H. nobilis and B. marmorata, are further baked over hot coals for an additional 30 minutes. The cooked product is then sun dried (small bamboo sections are used to keep the incision wide open in large individuals) while ensuring that each sea cucumber is regularly turned over every few hours. Up to 3-5 days may be required to dry the products completely. Proper cooking and drying of sea cucumbers is essential. If not cooked completely the sea cucumber will soon start to rot and acquire an undesirable smell. Overcooking may also damage the product as a very soft sea cucumber may not be processed into a high quality product. Fishers in Qionghai have acquired considerable processing experience over the years and tend to produce a higher quality product compared to that produced in some neighbouring countries. The ratio of dry weight to wet weight of the processed sea cucumber is 27:1 in H. nobilis and H. leucospilota, 25:1 in T. ananas, 20:1 in S. hermanni and S. chloronotus, 17:1 in A. lecanora, B. argus and A. mauritiana and 10:1 in H. nobilis and B. marmorata. Nutritional value and cooking method Sea cucumber is a nutritious seafood with a high protein and low lipid content and is rich in gluten, nitrogen, iodine and other nutritional elements (Wang, 1997). The protein content of a dried sea cucumber may be as high as 68.7 %. Considered as one of the most popular Chinese seafood dishes, sea cucumbers are also used as a traditional medicine. It is believed that the consumption of this marine organism may have beneficial effects on the kidneys and stomach as well as being a cure for some cancers. Some research findings report that sea cucumbers have helped impotent individuals as well as patients affected by other sexual conditions (Ran, 1993). In the culinary tradition, sea cucumbers are prepared and consumed in a variety of ways. Some of the most popular dishes are: sea cucumber stew, braised sea cucumber, boiled sea cucumber, lotus seed-sea cucumber and chicken-sea cucumber soups. 4. Holothuria leucospilota in the Cook Islands and the implications of traditional fishing of gonads on the population Darrin J. Drumm1,2 Neil R. Loneragan2,* 1Department of Marine Science University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand email: [email protected] 2CSIRO Marine Research Cleveland Marine Laboratories Cleveland QLD 4163, Australia *Present address: Centre for Fish and Fisheries, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia. Abstract This study describes the reproductive biology of Holothuria leucospilotain Rarotonga, Cook Islands and assesses the effect of traditional fishing on survival and reproduction. Monthly collections of H. leucospilota from January 1998 until March 1999 revealed that gametogenesis and spawning were synchronous between the sexes and spawning occurred annually during the summer months. Spawning during the first year had already started at the beginning of the study in January and lasted until April, whereas in the second year, spawning started in November and finished in February, possibly because of higher water temperatures in this year. Our data indicate that the incision of the body-wall and gonad removal had no impact on the survival of H. leucospilota in cages. However, their body weight, general sheltering and feeding behaviours were affected by gonad removal. Although the body-wall of fished animals healed within 7-14 days, the gonads had just started to regenerate after 41 days, suggesting that the spawning of fished individuals would have been greatly delayed, possibly until the following year. And there's much more but didn't want to wear you all out!

Point it at the surface of the water. It will increase evaporation and you will get a lot more cooling.