wasp

Feelers was it you with the octopus? How's it going?

Durso gone? Thought a durso was the best thing since sliced bread!! Heck I only just found out what a durso is! and now it's gone!! So what's a residual overflow then?

Here's my "coral and Marlin" doing what they enjoy most, ie dipping & diving in the anemone. Had these guys 6 years.

I think japanese are into something like this. Amazing landscapes and architecture (old temples etc) bonzais, and breathtaking aquariums. Years ago when I was in a martial arts club all the moves are based on rythms, formulas etc, and I was also into bonzai growing that's all by set formulas too.

Much harder than you think I'm afreaid to say. But here is an interesting new concept may give you some ideas http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3255 Alternatively, just a fan or two over the tank can do a surprising amount of cooling. Since I've done that my chiller hardly ever comes on and the room gets up to 35 in the summer.

Hi Opius, Seth has a breeding population of them, perhaps you could drop him a pm.

Good choice Feelers. Unless you can find the bulk source of cheap P removing resin that Layton referred too, ( I can't ), you'd be burning money. Doubt there would be one pond in NZ running Rowaphos as a primary nutrient export method. Let's know how the UV goes

OK you win then, just as long as I don't have to bankroll it :lol: Just my humble, I'm no millionaire, opinion

I used food grade additives before going ca reactor, cheap enough, but other than the initial set up cost for the reactor, the reactor wins hands down. Another thing I noticed is the pumps now go longer between needing cleaning, less precipitation then I had using 2 part, probably because of the way it's dosed. Having tried both, I just wouldn't go back. My corals have responded positively also, that's important to me.

Reef and Jetski import them don't know if they can advise but may be worth asking.

To me, having a ca reactor, is all about less work, and more importantly, total stability in the tank, unlike the swings that have to happen using a 2 part additive.

Actually there IS one thing wrong with your sump! No calcium reactor in it! Runs and hides

Drifty you should NOT dose additional buffer. Because the calcium reactor adds both in balanced amounts, if you add some more of one, it will screw up your levels. ( However over time your levels may get out of balance, you would then dose one just to balance them back up again ). As previously stated the low PH can be dealt with by somehow dispersing the Co2 gas. Another way to do this than already mentioned is to drip the effluent by the skimmer intake. All that gas exchange happening in the skimmer is an excellent Co2 remover if you pass the effluent through the skimmer.

Lucky Punk!

Vodka will not help the pond. Because vodka works by assisting the production of large numbers of bacteria, which consume the nutrients, and are removed from the tank by the skimmer, along with whatever nutrients they have absorbed. With no skimmer on the pond, the bacteria & nutrients will stay in the system. I'm no expert on ponds, but I'd say phosphate removing resin is going to be hugely expensive with the type of nutrient levels we are talking about in a typical garden pond. However, a year or so ago I saw one at a house, that struck me by the clarity of the water, and this made the pond really beautiful, fish easy to see, and nice plants. I asked the lady and once she saw I had a genuine interest she launched into explaining it all to me. They had planned the pond carefully & spent money to ensure it would be done right. The pond had a UV unit installed, and this killed all green algae and kept the water clear. There was also a plastic bin type thing with a biomedia in it (bacterial). As a result of this there was excellent plant growth and the plants were harvested periodically when getting crowded, and thrown on the compost heap. Although she did not say so, no doubt this would have assisted with nutrient removal. Interestingly, she told me that at one time the UV unit stopped working, and it was several months before they replaced it. During this time the pond went green and looked terrible. When they replaced the UV the pond came right. Not 100% certain but I think Jansens sell UV units for ponds.

True statement. Much to learn about this.

If this occurs it is a bacterial bloom, and will be the result of too much vodka at once. This would result in a possible stripping of oxygen from the water, plus drastic reduction in nutrients as bacteria consume them & are skimmed. A few days later the water will be crystal clear. IMO vodka dosing is a useful tool if done right. One side effect most people are not aware of is it will reduce bacterial diversity in the tank over time, as it gives advantage to certain types. Can't remember the exact numbers but I read a thing on RC by a guy who through his work had the technology to examine the bacteria in his tank. He gave the number of bacteria types he found in the tank before vodka, and then after a few months of vodka it was greatly reduced. He regarded this as a bad thing. I guess this could be counteracted by dosing bacteria, such as is done in the zeovit system, the same bacteria could no doubt be used.

Hmmm. boring now Layton's no longer with us to stir everyone up, huh?

Cool purple one Steve! I think I may have one of those, but it never extends polyps. Does yours?

Seth it sounds like you got that tank set up exactly right.

Actually many of our local anemones, such as beadlet, are non photosynthetic. However that in fact makes them more easycare, long as you feed them heaps. My ones were the real colorful Muriwai ones from that rock at the south end. They got up to p[erhaps 6 inches across, and used to regularly split a hole open on their sides, and release large numbers of baby ones. I released these at Milford beach, I go and have a look every now and then some of them are still there.

This discussion does come up every so often, wether to spend lots of money on all that fancy equipment, or not. I have seen so many people go down that road ( the not getting any recommended equipment road ), and almost invariably there are only 2 outcomes. At first things seem to be going fine. At this stage we've seen a few of them on this board, telling people that you can do a tank for about five hundred bucks. Then a few problems start. Then the person either leaves the hobby disillusioned, or starts asking questions about how to solve various issues such as excess algae, livestock deaths, etc and ends up buying the right equipment. In my view anyway, it can save heartbreak, money, and the lives of our critters, to do it right, from the start. This applies to cold water tanks also, I ran my one for two years.

True enough. Guess it depends what the aim is. If the tank is just to last a few months, and a few deaths are not important, non of that fancy equipment is needed. In fact I once had a cold water marine aquarium, it was a Muriwai biotope, had none of that fancy equipment, and was an interesting and pretty tank, the visitors used to like it. But after a few months it began growing excess algae, and I had to put a skimmer on it.

Hi Penejane, you'll need maybe 6 kg liverock, the amount can vary depending what livestock etc. you'll have. It is the bacteria in the liverock, which is porous, that do the filtration. You don't use a cannister or hangon for biological filtration like you do in a fresh water tank. You'll need a skimmer, you can get some small cheaper ones, although the ultimate for you would be something like a Deltec 600 hangon. cost maybe $1,000.00. It will be big enough to handle a bigger tank if you upgrade to a bigger tank ( nearly everybody does ). You need powerheads to create current in the tank, enough to turn over the entire water volume of the tank a minimum of 10 x per hour. Marine grade lighting, 1 watt of light per litre of water is a rough starting point. Something to keep phosphate levels in check, a cannister or hang on filter with some phosphate removing resin in it may be the simplest.

One thing reading this thread it's one of the best advertisements for not going skimmerless! Who'd want to tip all that back into their tank?