wasp

Bubble algae http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... id=1149084

Be interesting to know how coral growth is affected at the different times of year. Also, as bleaching due to global warming is becoming an increasingly common occurance worldwide, be interesting to see how those temperatures would compare with say, 50 years ago, although we may never know.

Here is a new slant on it, no personal experience though so I'm just posting for those who may wish to experiment. http://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10051

That really is looking very good! Must be doing something right .

Trouble living in Dunedin. Houses well sealed up against the cold. Condensation not an issue in my drafty place. :lol: The only thing you can do is one of those dehumidifier, air circulation systems that people are getting installed of recent years. They cost around $1,500 and up but are cheap to run. They can be very good for your house wether or not you have a fish tank. But you could just wait out the winter for now, condensation should not be an issue once the weather warms up. Attempting to re use condensed water for the tank is not a good idea, it gets contaminated with the dust etc that is in our air and is not very clean.

Looks like it's been kept under less light than ideal, plus had a few frags chopped of it. Just give it direct light 1/2 way down the tank or so, and medium flow, it can sometimes take a few weeks for these things to come back to their former glory, but you should be rewarded

What I used was a product called Reef Solutions, it comes in a bottle and you just tip a little in the tank each day, it's excellent stuff for may types of soft corals. Some people have had success by directly feeding the goniopara small type food such as cyclopeez although I haven't done that myself.

They are a very difficult coral. A few people keep them and they do well but for most people they slowly fade away and die. I once had one once which was in a very bad state when I got it, I fed it and it did well and actually grew a bit, but if I didn't feed it it would go backwards. Eventually I got tired of messing around with it & gave it away.

You are not the only one, I did the same thing when I was a newbie :lol: . This has happened a few times, I think that often the seller is genuine they don't realise it's a pest either, doubt you would get the more experienced people selling them.

Ditto. Have noticed several times how things change & start growing when a big leather is removed. I'm starting to think that certain sps will fight each other also, even though it's against the prevailing wisdom.

Not enough room for any clown hosting anemones, some native ones perhaps although they are non photosynthetic meaning you have to feed them a lot and pollute the tank. For softies best plan would be avoid any stingy type ones altogether, just some zoanthids and non stinging type mushrooms. A small finger leather or similar would be pretty cool too.

One of the smaller acropora gobies would be OK although a bit cramped, other than that I cannot think of anything. A better plan would be to visit a rock pool & get 3 or 4 small glass shrimps, plus a few hermits crabs. The glass shrimps will do well in a marine tank and actually look pretty good, and are quite interesting, and could simply be released if they get too big. The hermits will only last a few months but also are very active & interesting to watch. Best of all these things are free!

Once the ammonia and nitrite are at zero, the tank is considered cycled. There will still be nitrate, but this is less toxic and you can start slowly stocking the tank. The nitrate eating bacteria take several months to really kick in. Your alkalinity is still too low for good health of some organisms, in Mg/l it should be at least 2.5. I am not sure what Red Sea Buff actually is, long as it's carbonate alkalinity rather than borate alkalinity it will be fine (assuming you plan to keep corals). Once the jar runs out though, use baking soda. Much cheaper, and does a good job. I still think you should get your LFS to check your alkalinity with a different test kit.

Your magnesium is where it should be, somewhere around 1250 to 1400 is fine. Calcium at 370 is nothing to panic about, but if you want to maintain it at 400, adding some calcium is the right thing to do. Something funny about your alkalinity though. Are you talking Mg/L or DKH? Either case the numbers you mention seem unlikely especially as you had a high pH. If you know any other reefers you should ask him to test a sample of your water to double check the accuracy of your kit, or if you don't know anyone yet, take a sample of your water to your local marine fish shop and ask them to test the alkalinity for you. Once you have established the correct alkalinity then post it here and we can advise what to do next. BTW, if you don't yet have any livestock in the tank, it will not matter much what your calcium and alkalinity are at this stage.

I like the 2nd to top, and 3rd to top.

I'm in Mairangi Bay so you can drop over although I'm not sure if my tank is that much more.... interesting...... Anyhow, give me a call on 479-5446 if you want to have a look. My name's Alastair

Very nice! Like the architecture! That scroll on the left really sets it off!

Those costs sound good. You didn't mention the free beta! The lab I have an interest in primarily only test for NZ and Aussie but may be able to sort the rest of the world for you. PM'd you re which lab, etc.

At night, when there are no fish around to bite, brains and candycanes put out their tentacles hoping to catch a meal, and other corals extend more also. I took these pics tonight in a pitch black tank with the camera flash, it's like looking at a different little world at night!

BTW I can organise you regulatory testing for NZ and Aussie at a keen price.

Any idea on cost yet Layton? Special opening price for NZ Reefers? Free beta test model for your old buddy wasp?

Hi thanks for that, also thanks for the offer to send it to me! Actually I have it on my hard drive but was wanting to share it with someone, thought it would be easier to give them a download link than email them the file. I'll direct him to this thread, cheers for the help!