Aquatopia

If i was to print the emails he sent me basically laughing in my face at the fact he has flouted Trade-ME rules then you would not say he was a nice bloke. In my opinion he is a disrespectful ignorant self absorbed cretin. Still, i have moved on.... (And sold the item to a MUCH nicer and more deserving bloke). As far as $150 new - i doubt it !

I couldnt agree more Ira. The fact that it is now sold to someone who recognises value for money ratifies the price he paid. Its just that he is one of those losers who considers it acceptable to muck people around. What goes around, comes around. Im sure he will get his just rewards. The ones he has bought will undoubtedly burn out on him and flood his living room carpet, hehehehe :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

WARNING:- My advice is that you do not trade with trader paul397 on trade-me. He bought this from me and is refusing to pay claiming he has changed his mind and bought a pair elsewhere. His details have been passed to trade-me, but i thought you should all benefit from knowing about people who pull out of legally binding contracts !!! What a moron !

Thanks for the ratification Chimera. I think anywhere between $115-130 is a perfectly fair price for such an item, as you and anyone else in the hobby with any brains knows ! If he thinks its an unfair price then he is missing out !

Does anyone know someone called P NORTON ? They bought an eheim1060 off me on trade-me and i am having difficulty contacting them to arrange payment and delivery. Thanks

I think the seller is somewhat confused between the New Zealand dollar and the Japanese Yen !!! You could get an infinitely better setup new for less than that !

Don't know what all the fuss is about - looks just like a backpackers i stayed in in Darwin last year, lol.

raeh1: Im glad that things are sounding good. Do make sure you heed the advice regarding cleaning the sponges. With 6 on the go it is going to be a MAJOR element of your biological filtration and you are pretty much preventing the live rock (how much do you have and what size is your tank in gallons after displacement?) from doing its complete job. You will need to keep on top of your water parameters as a result, but that is achievable. Feeding the anemone is OK, but in my opinion i would suggest not feeding it regularly - just occasionally. It shouldn't need regular feeding because if you have the lighting and everything else right it will get 90-95% of its nutrient requirements from its zooanthellae. All feeding will achieve is greater potential pollution of the tank and rapid growth of the anemone. Good luck

Remember though - if you DO use a sponge over the powerhead it will become a biological filter (and mechanical). This means that when you need to clean it you must do so in the aquarium water (easily achieved if you do it at the same time as a water change in the collection bucket). If you do not, then you will be killing the bacterie that you have generated as part of the biological filtration process in your tank. The other thing to remember about that filtration process is that it will only ever break your wastes down to NITRATE level so you need a further method of exporting these (dont stock too high in the first place; regular water changes - although not BIG ones, remember your tank inhabitants wont like a huge change to improve conditions, they require the conditions to be constantly good not up and down). Im planning my new tank at the moment and there is no way i will be using powerheads, a) because they are unsightly IMHO and b) just because of the problem highlighted here. Good luck with this anemone.

Used to get a finer white sand in the UK - called P25 - think that just related to the granule size. Folks there use it in conjunction with a mix of other sand sizes for DSB's. Beware of fine sand though as it can get everywhere. (Even moreso than coral sand).

I dont see any reason why not. If that is the case it is tantamount to censorship - and shame on this site for that !!!

Firstly - nor will you ever do - not all, but most of the things are not on the allowed import list anyway. Remember - America has a HUGE import industry going on, and a market to support it. They run their business along the lines of "because we can" rather than "because we SHOULD". I wonder how many more corals and fishes will die because people see them ON-LINE and think, Hmm, that Moorish Idol looks nice, lets get three of them for our 3' tank. At least with the LFS there is an outside chance of some advice (and hopefully even some scruples as to what is sold to whom). Secondly - "Let the newbies have their brown mushrooms and leathers" - that sounds somewhat arrogant and Im sure you didnt mean it that way Brianemone. Thirdly - What guarantees are there for online trading of livestock? Fourthly - Do we really want the demise of the LFS? Would they not be better being guided to get things right rather than "run out of town"? What about all those convenient bits we still need them for? SALT? Who wants to pay freight on that? And thats just for starters. I dont think on-line trading is the perfect solution at the end of the day.

Hi Is anyone keeping one of these or know anything about them? Its a similar shape to the algae or lawnmower blenny - but shorter and stouter though, with a reddy/brown leopard dot sort of pattern. Saw one in a LFS abroad, but i think they were quite rare. I also read in The Reef Aquarium (Tullock) that they are obligate coral munchers. Which i was amazed at cos i thought blennies were reef safe (!). If anyone can shed any light that would be cool. http://www.dotphoto.com/MemViewImage.asp?AID=2422044&IID=78505875&INUM=3&ICT=3&IPP=24

Ira, Thanks - but that would be difficult as my tank is not yet set up ! LOL

Steve - will be renting. Thanks

Ben - Great pics - the Bellus Angel is lovely. Aren't they pretty rare coming from fairly deep ? Can see the difference in colour in the two pics but its not so easy to do before and after comparisons when its of a different picture. Any chance of before and after of the same thing (preferably larger area than a close up on the Acro) ? That would really nail the difference.

Hi all you Welly folk ! Im coming up to Wellington on Thursday 19th (May) for 4 nights. Gonna be looking around, checking out the city, and hope to get to see some good reefs at the same time. Would love to catch up with some of the people i have been getting to know and chat to on here. Also, if anyone can suggest somewhere cheap but comfortable to stay, I would be most grateful as i dont know Wellington at all. (Spare rooms are even better - Im litter trained ! lol). PM me if you can be of any help, or have a tank you wanna show off. Cheers, Chris

Pies - do you mean Pet World? (Ferry Road)? They are $59 there nowadays.

Just to second that, Thanks for your hospitality Dave, especially being the "new kid on the block". Its great to be part of such a helpful and friendly group. Im looking forward to when i have my own tank up and running so i can play host also. Seeing all these great tanks here in Christchurch is insirational indeed. (Bank Manager, watch out !). Cheers Chris

Spot on Pieman ! The tullock book is great - "The Natural Reef Aquarium" is indeed its title. It just goes into that much more depth than the Fenner book (i bought it and asked Organisms to change it, which they kindly did). Just took delivery of "Aquarium Corals; Selection, Husbandry and Natural History" by Eric Borneman. Amazon is a great price. NZ$58 landed. Took 7 days to get here from ordering. Great book - 464 pages !!

Anthony - for what its worth, i DO know that when cutting acrylic you have to have straight edged blades.

Stunning specimen Michael. !! Anyone keep an achilles tang? pics?

Yup, as JB says - they do 240v version of the Squirt. The Super squirt is not yet available in 240v though

Steve, yes in theory. Also, the fluid released must have a chemical marker of some sort. Ultimately it could be possible to make a probe that detects this marker and sounds an alarm - or even activates a solenoid controlled valve which diverts the tank water through a separate filter system. I guess that would be beyond any but the most enthusiastic and wealthy (or daft) reefer. Its all food for thought though. Im sure there must be commercial studies being done along these lines.

Ira - thats food for though. I dont really know much about the corals lifecycle after spwawning either, other than some corals are male and release sperm and others are female and release eggs. This happens at the same time. I believe that they then float around and eventually find somewhere to attach. Cell division takes place and the first polyps begin to grow. Quite what the feeding requirements would be i dont know - planktonic i guess. A fascinating area for sure. Anyone want to sponsor me doing a marine biology degree?