wasp

Done the 2 day test on the new carbons, they tested at Aqualight 0.38, and Rowa 0.29. These results are many multiples higher than the Jansens one, I'm wondering if the samples may have been contaminated somehow. I used different glass containers, should have done them one at a time, in the same container. Perhaps someone else has these carbons and could run a test also just to compare? If the levels really are this high any normal phosphate test kit would detect it.

There is a very pretty green one, I got one of these from Barry. However in my tank it just will not colour up properly, doesn't look much different to the brown ones.

Reef has supplied me with 2 more brands of carbon, they are Rowa and Aqualight, so I'll be able to report on those in a few days. I did a final test on the Jansens one, it's been soaking for 9 days and the phosphate content of the water is now 0.10 mg/L

OK, well for most softies, that will do, but only just. Bear in mind that 14,000k bulbs, while pleasing to our eyes, only give the coral around 1/2 the light that is useful for photosynthesis, than 10,000k bulbs. A better plan would be to go 10,000k MH, and get the blue from your flourescent tubes. Also, to get "balance," you may be better with 3 MH lamps. With only 2 over a 5.5 foot tank you will likely have some lit areas, and some darker areas. You may be able to make it work with 2 MH lamps depending on just how you work the flourescents.

I've got some of those MH bulbs for sale, $125.00 each, but to be honest you may be a bit low on light, depending what livestock you want to keep. What livestock did you have in mind?

Usaco I don't see any information on your filtration so don't know what you have at the moment. However, when you feed, you add phosphate to the tank. Most food is at least 1% phosphate. So you must have some means to remove this phosphate. If you are not removing at least as much as you are putting in, you will eventually have a problem. This starts with a skimmer, the best you can get as this is possibly the single most important part of your filtration system. The crud your skimmer removes is largely organic material, and contains phosphate. So in some low bioload tanks a skimmer is all that is needed to keep on top of it. But with most tanks, something more is required. The two most popular options are an algae refugium, or phosphate removing media. The next two methods are contraversial although I have used both with success, they are the zeovit system, and vodka dosing. However these two last options require a greater skill level, a refugium, or phosphate removing media should be your first port of call.

PM me your email address

There's 2 importer guys, jetskisteve, and reef. Don't know if they can do it for you but could only ask.

US$120.00 for pink milli? Yikes! Sometimes I love New Zealand!

I'll post this on Zeovit.com, perhaps the Americans may know it :-?

Wow 3 minutes, 2 replies! You guys have a life away from the computer? :lol:

Crop photos?? Dude I'm still trying to get my head around working the camera :lol:

Yes it's good therapy collecting down there at night! Peaceful & relaxing.

Used to be everywhere. Now I don't see him. Is he still in the hobby?

Have been having a problem with the xenia in my frag system for a while now, every now and then for no apparent reason one of them will suddenly shrink right up, totally retracted. Stay like it for maybe a couple of days, then come back. So today I was looking at one totally pulled into itself, then I see what looks like a worm. Got tweezers and pulled him out, he was tunnelled right into it. He was really hard to see, exactly the same colour as the xenia. Here he is Photo not so good, (like all my photos). However, he is segmented like a bristleworm, but without bristles. Perhaps he is a type of bristleworm, I don't know. I've still got him alive in the jug, just incase anybody may know how to get a positive ID.

Well a bit of a monstrosity but it will certainly save you a few bucks. How fast did it fill up for you the other night?

They look like the other snails on the rocks, but the normal ones have a very thin flat trap door, but catseyes have a thick oval shaped one. The door is nicely coloured and is sometimes used in jewelery, it is this bit that is called the "cats eye" The catseye snails are in much lower numbers than the other snails so you have to pull a heap of them of the rock and look at the little trap door thingy, until you find one with the cats eye type trap door. Once you've got the first one, you may be able to spot the subtle difference between the snails shell, so you can just get the cats eye ones without having to pull 100's of other ones off.

Howzabout a pic of your water collection trailer?

Of course all we are testing here is phosphate, it may be that some of the more expensive carbons will perform better in other areas such as ability to absorb. That can be tested also, but it's more than I can be bothered with.

That will be great Reef. When we catch up.

Test is done, the phosphate reading of the water came in at 0.02 mg/L. Trouble is I don't know if this is good or bad compared to other carbons, but just at face value, I would say it is a very good result. The reason I say that, is that this was a cup of carbon soaked in a cup of water, for 2 days. It then comes out with a reading which would be many multiples lower than found in the water of a lot of tanks. So if this carbon had leached this amount of phosphate into a whole tankful of water, the effect would have been tiny. If anybody in my area has some other carbon please give me a bit to test, the real value will be in the comparisons.

Once when I had bad hair and other algae, I used cats eyes. They ate hair at first, then stopped eating it. The solution was I took a bucket down and collected 100's of them and dumped them in the tank. They blitzed the whole thing including all the hair in a few days. Then I had to have a bucket next to the tank to dump them in as I could take them out, before they starved. Left some in that lasted in some cases 2 years. But some will die in the tank also, good idea to keep an eye out for dead ones they can make a lot of pollution. When you are collecting them, if they are a bit thin on the ground compared to ordinary snails, try a different spot. They seem to be in high numbers relative to ordinary snails in certain spots.

To truly compare, the skimmate would have to be dried. otherwise it's hard to tell if greater production, is simply water. To me that BK skimmate looks fairly wet skimmate.

If you heat and squeeze a pvc pipe, you just squeeze one end, not the whole thing.

Here we go again. I'll say one thing for you Layton, you are nothing if not persistant. :-?