cookie extreme

i once had a tank with no skimmer!! approx. 140ltr had 2 fish in it (one very nasty but good looking damsel). the tank received lots of natural daylight, had a very small powerhead and a 150 m/h. needless to say it was covered in hair algae (ok so what it was 18 years ago and quite normal then!!), but this tank produced massive amounts of little critters plus i had 4 free swimming jellyish in it for almost 4 weeks, they from nowhere and went the same way. still it was a very awsome sight seeing them cruising around. haven't seen it since or anything even close to it. but then again that tank contained no sps or lps at all a just a couple leathers (which were hard to keep, if you believed the books then).

the fish keeping hobby is sucking you in to the black hole already - reef tank addiction!!!!! its worse then drugs, say good by to your retirement fund if you have one, if not nevermind because you will never know what one looks like either

hi buzzy, i total agree with control regarding lines. they will really get on your nerves in no time especially ones algae start to build up around the silicon. it can get very frustrating!!

you constantly refuse to show any! thats any! picture of your tanks. never mind how small they may be!!!! to give constant advice to people without showing anything you have done will not get any results. i might not agree with some people on this forum for many reasons but have to say that they have a valid piont. so again please show us any picture with your system. i hope you because otherwise you will loose even more creditability(how the heck do you spell that). again this is not a personal attack so please don't take it as one.

hi control, why don't you just get your stuff together and post pictures of your tanks, including the one that belongs to your daughter!! please don't give any excuses why that is not possible. a picture will tell us so much more then "your experience". please don't take any offence to this. cheers c

how many fish did you buy petplanet? 2 or 3 ?? years (20 or so) ago i had a tank around 80 ltr. was huge for a beginner then, with 11 fish including emperor angel. all but one died on white spot!!! i almost gave up saltwater then! i got no advise on feef keeping then!! having keept marines for over 2 decades now i have to admit that some things have improved to the better, esp. for SPS corals. others might be losing out like catalaphylia, goniopora,some LPS etc. i agree with you that it is still possible to have a reasonable saltwater tank (not reef tank) on a low budget, but would recommend newbees to invest as much as their pocket allows on lighting, tank size etc. because what you reallu want is something to be proud of and be able to show to your friends. and a 20 litr nemo tank with 2 clown fish and some rock doesn't quite cut it!!!!! and if it not for your friends its for your inner self, it makes you feel great to look at a living reef, not a couple poor fish swimming around a silly rock in a 20 ltr tank. i haven't lost many fish over the last ten years, next to what my box fish killed off, and i put it down to knowledge, experience and the right setup. what ever that may be!!!

hi pomereef and welcome to our world ( live rock that is )

480 calcium and 11 kh seems very high!

just got back from a guy who propagates corals(no names, got me into the s$%ts last time). was in his garage, with car fumes etc., very simple setup, but very effective. 10/10 for success. great growth rate on sps, polyps, softies and xenia. did i mention he uses zeovit? he/she is not to sure if it is the reason behind the good growth, butm says that lots has improved since using it! i don't want to start off that whole zeovit c%$#p again but it is nice to know that some people have (in their opinion) success with it. good on them. keep it growing!

what if it is just a natural cycle? old age with no survival mode kicking in, no heavy fragging or similar. could be just old age! it may needs to crash to produce new growth??

why can't i edit my posts??? to the second post, i have seen those kind come in quite a few years ago, used to be quite common. but not now. they were very white with nice tips, but i never had really any luck with them, may be just me, who knows.

which one?

i got a xenia years ago from a LFS, was the only one that survived the shipping, paid quite some money for it. nevertheless it thrived!! i sold countless pieces, including to jetskisteve. sometimes part of my xenia crashed for no apperend reason, some pieces disintegrated to almost nothing, only to come back from tiny outer rim leftovers! i can't really help you, i have scrubed dying xenia with a tooth brush, iodine dipped dying pieces with limited success (may be it was the iodine). i do not believe that changes in temperature has much to do with it!! if have seen xenia exposed to sunlight at low tide. survival seems to be a big issue as i have witnessed when heavy grassing takes place xenia grows pretty quickly. my tank has had no heating since december and temps. rise and drop quite a bit durin the day, with no ill effect.

probably a good thing

we are missing another post!!!! what happened to it? mythrax = perky seems to have evaporated!

so did i, also tried large sump, sump above tank (which seems to work great to produce lots of living critters to enter the main tank), no sump at all, no sump and no skimmer, and the list goes on. at present i have a large tank and a reasonbly large sump (with not much in it), let see how that works!!

unlucky skuzza, my tank gets sun light only during the "winter month" nd it is amazing to see how all corals open up. natural sunlight can't be beaten its just unlucky that one can't really control it!!

i have done the same as pies, glued the them together and put water thru 5 minutes later with no apperent ill effect. wasn't to sure about it first but talked to jetskisteve and he's done the same.

what would you rather have a 500 ltr tank with no sump or a 350 ltr with a 150 ltr sump? i would go for the 500 ltr. looks better is bigger for your fish to swim in and a little heater can be placed in some corner, plus one can choose one of the many external skimmers.

but if you trying to cut down the water flow from the sump to quiten your living room you also cut down the return from tank to skimmer, sump/refugium and additional filters what ever they may be. makes one wonder why some people with very little turnover (600-1000 liter minus the head) bother to have a sump (next to hiding the heaters)?

hi calvin, 5footx2footx?foot. whats the height gonna be?

after golf, should be home 1pm at the very latest (depends how crappy i'll play) send me a PM if you coming up. cookie

by some, try it see if you like it, if not try another one!! asking will give you lots of different opinions with different interests attached to them. also what do you want it for? posphates, just yellow water, smell???

hi mythrax, have you got a car license? if so why don,t you pop over to my place on the weekend. just send me a Pm if you interested. always nice to meet new reefers.