wasp

What do I suggest? Little point asking me because plumbing is definately my weak point. No doubt others will chip in, something called the Cracker Pipe made an entrance & created a stir a while back it is basically a tap with a pipe on top, you adjust the tap to adjust hight of water in the overflow. But seems you've got all the bases covered the second pipe will take over if the main one does block. I am sure it eventually will, but it will just be one of those maintenance things to give it a clean every now & then. But anyhow the whole thing is looking great & will no doubt become an excellent environment for the creatures that are going to live in it.

Love it Kyle! I think your outlet pipe in the overflow will be prone to blockages though, that's if I'm seeing it right & it has an end cap on top above the drilled holes? No worries though you've got a spare pipe, good engineering. If you make the drilled pipe easy to remove that will make cleaning easy from time to time if the holes block.

Is it completely fabricated? No. Has it "been enhanced to the point of being annoying"? Yes

You think this is an honest resemblance?

Yes that Reefer Madness one is photoshopped also, but not to the same extent as the one I posted.

Sheesh & I thought they were fish! :oops: Anyhow a piece o this would be cool in my tank if someone can just tell me where to get it. Obviouslu it is not photoshopped nobody would commit a conspiracy like that!

Well, if this ones real, please tell me where to get one I want it

Still think I'm safe! Women are strange creatures! A few years ago when having a mobile phone was still something special, she kicks up wanting one. So I get her one, she uses it for a few weeks then chucks it in the car glovebox & has barely looked at it since! I don't even try ringing her on it the call will invariably go unanswered. Lucky she doesn't read the fish forum either!

Sometimes it is a conspiracy to fool people. Check out the colours of those fish.

What do I do for her? I let her live another day! Isn't that enough? Just kidding :lol: .

In fact you are correct Cookie, you can tell for sure the pic TM posted has been enhanced, by the colour of the fish, which is unreal. I'm still picking it's a nice tank though. The one Reef posted is reasonably genuine, some of us checked this tank out a while ago & got some independant confirmation, although there is probably some enhancement.

How do I know for sure? Well I don't know much for sure However the tanks I'm thinking of which I've seen lately, the excellent polyp extension is accompanied by excellent growth, and solid healthy looking form. I take that as an indicator things are coming along nicely. BTW Layton those tanks you posted are great! The Japanese certainly have an eye for beauty.

Beat me to the post Reef I know the one you posted is not Japanese, I was asking about the one TM posted.

Wow, that tank's a beauty! Japanese by any chance? It is certainly easier to keep nice corals etc. with a low fishload, although of course some have success with a high fishload, just need more filtration, more skill. I don't think the question of how much rock can be answered. It is dependant on too many variables including bioload, type of rock porosity, current, other filtration used such as zeovit rocks, phosphate remover etc. Does polyp extension have anything to do with the price of fish Layton? I doubt it. It has to do with coral metabolism / respiration, both indicators of health / growth. Unless of course the coral is "gagging" but can't say I've seen a lot of corals gagging

True, I'd go back to sand if the current would not blow it away. My tank is certainly "clean", but I see better polyp extension in tanks with sand.

Suckers! :lol:

Just curious Nic, how's it all going now?

Sounds like them spawning, which they do. Saw a series of pics once put up by a guy with an old style DSB & a ton of bristleworms. One day they all decided to spawn he photographed it all, ended up with the tank murky.

I had a bucket of NSW stashed away for quite a few months before eventually using it. Then I found a whole heap of barnacles growing in it! Perhaps they were spawning when I collected the water? They obviously did well in the bucket ( which was tightly sealed ), however Cookie is right about their survival in a tank, I once put a bunch of catseye snails in my tank, some of which had barnacles growing on them, interesting to watch you could see them putting out there little hand shaped grabby thing & trying to scoop in food, but within a few weeks they were all dead.

Might end up with something like this! Lucky Score!!!

25. A degree or two more is probably better for the corals, but I'm just a cheapskate with electricity. In summer though, when cooling costs money, I'll let it run at a higher temperature.

Good to hear Tel!

There are a lot of different theories / methods and the hardest part for a newbie is sorting it all out. Here's what I think for a basic set up. Others will suggest other ideas and they may also be "right" because there is always more than one way. When converting from fresh water some equipment you can use and some not so good to use. A basic marine set up is like this. don't mess with anything less than a 3 foot tank. Smaller can be done but it's hard. 4 foot up is best. The filtration is done by bacteria that live in "liverock". Liverock is rock made from old coral skeleton and is porous. You should have somewhere around a kilogram of liverock to each 8 litres of water in the tank. The liverock is in fact dry and dead when you buy it at the LFS, but becomes "live" when after a few weeks in the tank it gets a bunch of bacteria living in it that eat the waste products from the fish. So one way to set up a tank is to put a thin layer of sand in the bottom. Put in the correct amount of rock, then fill with seawater. The seawater will need to have 10% freshwater added as our water is saltier then the ideal level. Then you need all this water to be moving, both to assist liverock filtration, and because most marine organisms need it to be moving. So you add a few pumps, enough to pump the entire volume of the tank ten times per hour (10 x times flow) This is the minimum, 20x or more is better. Then you need a marine grade light, most of the corals we keep are photosynthetic and need correct light. 1 watt of light per litre of water is a rough guide to the amount of light you need, but this may vary (upwards mostly) depending on what you are keeping. Don't use your old cannisters for biological filtration, leave that to the liverock. Cannisters and such do aerobic filtration only and do not supply the anearobic filtration important in a marine tank. Cannisters can be useful for using carbon, or phosphate removing resin though. The other thing you need is a protein skimmer. A good one is expensive, but the success of your tank will to quite a degree hinge on how good your protein skimming is. A good one will last you for life, get a needlewheel one they are the best. As I said you will hear other contradictory ideas and they will likely also work. I've just suggested one way to get a basic system going. Glad to hear you've done a lot of reading, that's the big thing, there's a lot of learning to do. Good Luck!

Maybe too much light for them. Anyhow if these are for sale at SOG, how much?

I would not have started at all had I known the full cost.