wasp

You sure about that?

Don't agree with all that. In a lightly stocked tank a skimmer may suffice, but in a heavily stocked tank more than just a skimmer alone is required.

Thanks Alois! There are still some pretty sad looking corals in the tank but it is heartening to see things at least starting to come right. I doubt I will ever know just what caused things to get so bad, but I do suspect poisoning by that cat repellant.

Many things can contribute to these problems. Flow, sandbed, allsorts. A pic of the whole tank would be useful. Small skimmer? Don't worry that's what many including myself do when starting, it is hard to bite the bullet & spend the $$ for a good one. But remember once purchased a good one will last you for life. If you get a super powerful skimmer, you can probably kiss goodbye to 1/2 the problem at a minimum.

Yes I'll agree, ANY amount of phosphate can be removed with a phosphate remover such as Rowaphos, provided enough is used. But if that test is genuine he will need to spend a LOT of money on Rowaphos. I think it would be a better long term plan to get a quality skimmer, for a start. Then we need to look at the whole management there is likely several problems. Once Phosphate is down to reasonable levels Rowaphos becomes more economical, just as a backup.

Also, could you post a pic or 2 of the tank? This will help also by showing us equipment used, and a lot of other useful info.

That reading is HUGE, are you sure you did the test correctly? What brand of kit did you use?

The crud the skimmer removes contains phosphate, therefore the skimmer removes phosphate. In fact, if you can, have a look at a tank with a skimmer. Imagine all the crud in the collection cup being poured back into the tank, and becoming fuel for algae growth! Seeing it like that can help you make the decision to get a skimmer. They are not cheap, but are a great asset to a tank. IMO the most efficient skimmers are the needlewheel ones, although some get good results with other types also.

How is Pure Dew filtered? If it is just carbon treated, this will not remove the phosphate content, which will be the primary cause of your problems. Perhaps you could contact them & find out, it may be no better for your tank than tap water. The other options you have are vacuuming the sand at each water change, which IMO you should always do, using vodka or similar or one of the bacterial systems such as zeovit or prodibio, or you could use a phosphate removing resin. However none of those will have a major impact if you are using top off water that contains phosphate.

Well, down the track a bit now, I've been through a period of wishing I didn't make the move, as corals suffered badly, all went brown, no PE, and I lost my nicest coral bar a few frags saved at the last minute. Thanks to the many who have visited & offered advice / sympathy. Anyhow I've fired up the zeovit reactor now and things are slowly beginning to get back on track. Some, but not yet all corals are now showing PE, and some colours are starting to return. So here are some progress shots, not awesome I know but certainly an improvement on a month ago. I'm feeling a bit better too as I see little improvements each day. Green cap Purple one & deep sea acro ( I think ). Pretty mushies & zoos Green table Tricolour, still brown but looking better Green stag

Pretty

Nope, never seen one that colour. Perhaps I should get out more! :lol:

Well that's pretty Layton I've not seen one that colour. Still got it? I once had yellow sun coral but got tired of feeding it in the end I sold it.

OK I can see it now it is a sinularia, does look kind of blue though. I'll bet with another 5 years growth on those sarcophyton you would have had to prune hard!

Yikes there would be some time in doing it like that! Maybe his background is black?

Maybe it's my eyesight. Come in about 1/3rd way along the tank from the left, at the bottom of the rocks, there is something red. The blue thing is a little right and above of this.

Which part died first? The green?

What's the blue thing slightly above right of the red mushrooms?

OK well there could be some useful info there. was there anything different about the brown bit, ie shade, flow, or whatever?

Yes sadly you are probably correct. Reef told me a good way to figure these things out, check against the colour of any fish, see how real they are. However in that particular pic there is not much fish available. Bet it's still a pretty awesome tank though!

I've seen one NEARLY as good in Barrys tank, although yes, the one in the pic is probably enhanced. Barry gave me a piece of his one, I rush home with high hopes put it in my tank, within a week or two it goes brown .

Chill Dude Why is the last pic a fake? You've really dissapointed me there I was thinking it was the kind of tank I dream about. For some reason I can never get all my montis looking good at the same time, there will always be at least one that does not have the correct colour. I was thinking this guy has ALL his montis looking good! Anyway, what's the give away that it's fake?

A great achievement! Lush growth of coraline really enhances it! But Hey, where's the lionfish? :lol:

I have done so no issues at all.

Yes I am sure your board is overkill for what I want. My needs are very simple, I just want 3 stage cooling, ie, when the temperature hits a certain point, a fan comes on. If it goes up a degree, another fan comes on. If it goes up some more, the chiller comes on. Some other members have been very helpful & pointed me in the right direction, & there have been some options, but they are expensive, so I just thought I'd check you out Layton see how it's coming. I had no idea that debugging it would cost so much, I guess it is a commercial decision you will have to make. But I'm going to dispense some advice . - You appear to have a good grasp of this type of circuitry, programming, etc. You also know what an aquarium keeper will want. Therefore IMHO you are as well placed as anyone on the planet to make a top line product that will meet the needs. As a budgetory concession, go with the cheap Uni logic analyser and at least see if you can get this puppy finished. I know so little about this market that I don't even know what other products are out there but you should have the required qualifications to produce a product that can clean up.