wasp

You would have to do a lot of them before you had pollution problems. The longer you leave it the worse it gets, better to get started. Just do a few each day if you are concerned.

There are several ways to kill aiptasia, what worked for me was a product called Joes Juice, available at the pet shop. You give the bottle a shake, suck a bit into the syringe, and squirt it right onto the aiptasia.

They don't like much current, in the old tank I had to slow the stream to get mine out, or I'm sure they would have hidden till they starved to death. Eventually they stayed out all the time, but if I turned up the current they would hide. Don't think that's your problem though Bychineva . BTW those frags of that green thing you gave me are doing well, ended up 3 bits which I have glued in different environments, all doing well.

And at what level does ammonia become toxic to corals?

That is a fish I have always wanted. Oh for a bigger tank!

Oh

Do they get on with yellow tangs? If so i might keep my eye out for one when they hit the shops.

Those zebrasoma are quite cool, they look like small ones? How big do they get?

Wow well i don't think I'll wade through the whole thing before I go to bed :lol: Some good info though eg the bit on cyano bacteria.

Oh I see, thought it was going to be buried in the ground or something. In that case, for me anyway, I would go with rocks from a rockpool complete with the various life forms, and some of the porous coral rock that marine tank keepers use, to house the bacteria to do the filtration. The two main issues are keeping it cool and keeping it clean. If you can afford a protein skimmer this will go a long way towards removing nutrients from the water that would eventually lead to algae cluttering up the tank. What lighting you need will be detirmined by what plants you want to grow, some of them are designed for bright sunlight & will need strong lighting. Years ago I had a rock pool tank for, i think, around 2 years. Just about any living creature you find in a rock pool will do well in a rock pool tank, long as you find out what they eat & provide it, keep the tank cool, and keep it clean. There is a myth that because rock pools sometimes warm up in the sun and the occupants survive this, that it must be OK to keep a rock pool tank at warm temperatures. Not so, some of the inhabitants cannot handle high temperatures over long periods of weeks or months. The temperature should be kept below 20 most of the time, and better around 16.

As algae may not be such an issue as in a tank, you may be able to get away with just liverock and a quality UV unit to keep the water clear. Although I may be wrong others may have some different ideas. In an out door situation you could have many types of soft corals growing in it with no supplementary lighting. You will also need a pump to provide some water movement, and would need to do about 25% water change monthly, plus top up evaporation with fresh water. BTW the above regimen will not be enough if you want to look at it through the glass there will eventually be too much algae.

Some mushrooms and some polyps will be OK in there with no light, but go with the floros, trust me! If 4 tubes is to expensive to run use 2. Try a different take on it. You save money by not using lights. You lose some livestock as a result. You are now poorer would have been cheaper to have the lights.

Yes they love a bit of real sunlight Not sure if this is still available but if so an exeptionally good deal http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/150w-m ... 17593.html

That lighting will be OK Penejane, for about a couple of years I ran a 60 litre tank with 4 t8's, 2 white & 2 actinic. Kept many types of corals happily, no sps though. Some people will not believe this but also had a heteractus malu anemone in it, who started off real small but after about a year I was forced to sell him cos he had grown & filled most of the tank.

Agree with that. Also, must say that there is a tendency for people moving to salt from freshwater ( I know cos I was one ), to attempt it on an impossibly small budget, leading to eventual failure. I'm wondering if we should really tell anyone who cannot spend 2 grand to even attempt a marine. I'm not being unkind either I've been there, when I started my first reef I told my wife it would cost 300 bucks. That's what i thought at the time. Ended up costing even more than it should have due to first up buying a lot of el cheapo equipment that had to be replaced.

I know you can get a standard type bulb you use in the house & paint it, seen it done in student flats. Just how efficient it would be over a fish tank i don't know.

Also, marine velvet is much less common than the other form of whitespot, simply because it is so lethal that it is less likely to slip unnoticed into the fish we buy in the shops. But it does sometimes happen & in a case where a lot of fish die it may be the culprit. Here are a couple of useful articles http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004- ... /index.php http://www.wetwebmedia.com/amylloodiniumart.htm

Yes, if it was marine velvet, you need to leave the tank fishless for 6-8 weeks for them to die out. Any pics of sick fish to help with ID?

I'll be around but only for a short while, it's a working day for me. I am near Jetski ( North Shore ), what time would you see him?

Alf there are 2 types of whitespot, you may have had marine velvet which is quite often fatal.

Don't worry about it, other than newbies who have not yet had time, everybody has killed stuff. You are right it is part of the learning curve. For me the best way to ease my own conscience was to breed and distribute more corals than I've killed, and I'm sure in a few years you'll be doing the same.

Didn't Raglan have an onshore wind? If so the water might have been dirty. Salinity 1.028, you should add a bit of fresh water & thin it down to 1.025, the same as the reefs. Not critical, but will make it easier on the fish as they will not have to work so hard keeping their own salinity inline. There is some evidence that corals may grow faster in higher salinities, but even if so, it may simply be due to more trace elements, etc. Adding supplements depends what corals you got, probably just calcium alkalinity & magnesium, but even this may not be needed for some corals.

Yes but not the good ones. Time was a factor unfortunately. Went to one that is supposed to be good but it was being re worked and all the tanks moved, so hardly any stock. Weird to see all the snakes etc. though, would be pretty cool to own something like that.

Cheers Zev! Hey my Mum and also my brother live in Havelock North! Not into fish though.