Kermit

Hi again i've just recently purchased a matting pair of common clowns, now two nights ago they spawned i was hopping the shift would have deterred them from spawning so quickly but not so. Now i know people in the past have posted regarding food and rotifiers feed up on algae seem to be the best source of food, i dont have any rotifiers at the mo and would like to try something to keep these fry when they hatch. I've heard of people using egg yoke as a first food, has anyone heard or know of anyone that has tried this, or maybe someone can suggest something else that maybe of some success? Cheers Kermit

Hi All its been a while. I've had a clam for the past 5 months and for the first 4 months it was going great, come out and coloured up beautifully, but in the past month or so i noticed it withdrawn and unhappy, i had a look and noticed these little white cone shaped snails that were covering the bottom of it so i scapped them off and the next day the clam was back out and seemed happy, i find myself repeating this ounce a week and am getting tired of the snails attacking the clam, i've read that there are parasitic snails that live off the clams and cuase damage. Does anyone know how or what i can do to rid these pests, my calm grew 5mm over the first 2 months and now seems to put all of its energy in defending it's self. Any ideas would be great.

Hi ya Duke, hows the leather looking? Mine sometimes does that, i've even got one that has reseaded due to the salt levels being to high (1.030) but now i've brought it back down to 1.025ish it's come back out and expanding again. What do you use to check your salt levels?, i was using a glass Hydrometer for ages and didn't know my salt levels were way high until i purchased a refractometer, i'm not saying go out and bye one but if you know someone that has one get them to check your water as i've heard a lot of people down here in chch had level around the 1.030 mark when they tested their water with the refractometer. Leathers are pritty hardy anyways. Kermit

I posted this a month ago, exactly the same wording pictures the lot. Is this person selling more then one or just finding it hard to sell. Even though its not impossible to keep something live in this setup i wouldn't recomend it to some one, especially some one that is new to the hobby. Poor poor fishes .

Damn Damsels, i had the same thing when i added any fish in tank after the Damsel, in the end i yanked him and put him in his own tank and put him back in the main tank after i had all the fish i wanted in there. My opinion is Damsels are a real pain in the A. If you can catch him without stressing the others (especially the Tang) and find a temporary home or another home all together that'd be great. Happy fishing. Kermit

Count me in dude. I agree its about time something was done for the hobby, there's a lot of people here that would like to try breeding, as for myself the only thing stopping me from doing so (other then waiting for my clowns to start spawning) is the access to a good reliable first food source such as Rotifiers. Maybe MAF could be more fore coming in allowing importation of rotifiers. Why aren't rotifiers allowed to be imported anyways? arent there rotifiers in our ocean or are they different? If so, seems funny that you can't import something that naturely lives in our back yard but can import something that doesn't. Here's hoping to a success of rotifier avaliability for the Hobby. Kermit

OK, so how many peolpe would use this size tank, and/or reacomend this size tank to someone that may or may not have exsperiance? Maybe i'm just over reacting, but aren't nano's very hard to maintain and haven't most of us warned new comers on this forum to keep away from a small tanks becuase of the problems.

If things aren't hard enough as it is now, i found this for sale on trade Me, i feel sorry for the poor bugger that buy's this exspecting to keep healthy Clown fish and ends up killing them becuase some F%U& T$^&*&% has misslead them, to make a quick buck. Why do these poor clown fish have to suffer, this setup doesn't come with clown fish so i wonder how many have already died becuase of this persons lack of knowledge or/and ignorance. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Lifestyle/Pets ... 547124.htm

Cheers guy's with the main tank i have the DBS tank is 1/3 of it's size in area so sweet. I was thinking of running the outlet of my skimmer through into the DBS as my circulation pump (400-500l/hr), is this a good idea or does this prevent the DBS from working to it's full potential? Maybe i should run my main sump return pump though the DBS (1000-1100L/hr) or is this to much circulation? What ya think?

I reckon it'l be a great thing to set up, keep us posted on your progress i'd love to see how it all works out.

hi All, just about to set up a DBS and have a couple of questions. 1. Is there a recomended water flow? If so does anyone know the calculation? 2. I have a 4'L x 20"W x 18"H tank my total water volume is 260L, (tank & sump) i only have room for a 20"L x 16"W x 10"H DBS, is this big enought? Any information would be a great help, thanks.

Sweet, like it when things come for nothing. Were did you get the coral from? Would it be Critter Kingdom, i noticed about a month ago they one simular in their tank. Kermit

I use Seachem "Reef Builder" it maintains my ph spot on, any benfits that the one has over the other? Is one for a reef and the other for fish only tank? Just curious...

How much per/Kg is this stuff???

Ok looks like i'll be doing more to the sump then expected this month. I agree with Layton on the wool as i know it can cause more harm then good if left in for a long periods of time but i replace it every week with my water changes sometimes if its really ugly during the week i'll replace it earlier, and removes so much crap that would be still sitting in the sump if it wasn't there to remove it. Cheers Wasp, its the second or third attempt with what i have as you can see the fish love the extra room at the end with no rock, when i was in Fiji i noticed there was more fish on the edge of the reef (the drop off) then actually in the reef (during the day) so i thought i'd creat a simular inviro. At night they all sleep in the rocks crevises. Will get more rock tho to hide the return pipe in the corner.

Do they?? Going to upgrade sump with a BDS soon so may do it then.

Hi all i thought it was about time that i put some photos up for all to see, Tank spec's: Tank 48"L x 20"w x 18"h with 20Kg rock, 1" of sand, 2 x 2000L/hr circ pumps, and a 300watt heater. Sump holds about 35L that has bio balls, Turbo skimmer, and 2400L/hr return pump Lighting 2 x 150watt MH 10000k, 2 x 4' Actinic fluro's. Fishies 2 x Polymous Clowns, 1 x Long nose Butterfly, 1 x Bicolour Blenny, 1 x Purple Tang, and 1 x Damsel Inverts 2 x Anemone's, 1 x Clam, and a pile of leathers, brains, and 3 x tube worms. As we all say, "the photos don't do it justice". Actually they are really bad, i'll try to get some better focused ones. Kermit

Ok, a sump is usually a container (small rectangular glass/plastic tank) that has been divided into more then one section using glass dividers. Usually the first section (were the tank water returns into the sump) is were you put your bio balls, Rock, or what have you, this were your bacteria will grow and live and act as your filter. The reason bio balls or Rock (a really porus rock is recomended) is used is becuase of the large surface area, more surface area more bacteria, better filtration. The second section is were you put your heater, skimmer, return pump (water returned to tank) that way you don't have unsightly objects in the tank, except for your circulating pumps. No you don't need lights for a sump. Attached is diagram for simple sump. Kermit

True, here's an attachment dude. http://www.reefcentral.com/modules.php? ... d=1&page=5 Hope this helps, if you want you could go back to page 1 and read all about marine systems. kermit

I'd be surprised if they're 50L tanks... I had a 50L tank as a quarantine tank, man talk about a pain in the jack c. I'm going to in the next month set up a nano and it's going to hold 160L (sump and all) and i wouldn't even want to go less than that. Then in March/April it's the 2000L island monster O yeah. More water the better and what these guy's have been saying about sumps isssss true, man i wouldn't know what to do with out the sump makes a good place to dump your chem's in as by the time it gets into the main tank it's all diluited. In the end it's up to you, if you want to try it out in the 50L then it's your choice and good luck hope it does go well. As we have all had a taste in the hobby and know what we can get away with we are just trying to share the knowledge and would like to see it go well for you as a first timer. Regards Kermit

Here ya go Pies. http://www.ecosystemaquarium.com/html/m ... ation.html From what this site say's you'd need about 30-35Kg's of the stuff.. How much is this stuff /Kg anyways?? Kermit

Here's a site that did a lab test on the mud breaking it down into it's compounds, 30% silicon dioxide wow. http://www.reefs.org/library/article/mm_analysis.html

You've just got to get the wright wholesaler, and get the wright person. I.e Rexel (wholesaler) and talk to a lighting rep, helps if you have a specific lamp type, colour, and model, obveously they can't get all makes as they will deal with certain lighting companies (osram, Sylvania, philips, etc....). be specific and it'll help you and them to track something for you, helps if your in the trade tho, or know someone in the trade as they will look after the trade price wise. 50L tank is realy, realy small dude, i don't even think i could keep that up and going for long myself. Bigger is better in this hobby. Kermit

Oh yeah, still do that 9 months later, drives the wife nut's. I find the bigest problem trying to sleep when thinking about the big projects that you want to do and you want to do all the calculations at 2 in the morning, over and over trying out different ways, then getting up 5 hours later to go to work. I think i've got a problem, may have to go see the Fish therapist Kermit

Sorry to hear that Wasp. Did you turn all pumps off before lights out and sit waiting with a tourch? Kermit