Aquatopia

Hi folks. 1) Are zebra plecs available here and is/has anyone succeeded breeding them? What about golden nugget plecs ? 2) The above corys are my favourites. I have never bred fish, just kept them, and want to start. Can anyone spare some time to give me some proper advice? I have searched through previous postings and it just seems to be "snippets". I kinda need someone to lay it out for me. If you dont wanna type out heaps on here - PM me and i can call you or vice versa. Thanks in anticipation.

Hi guys Thanks for all these replies. Some new thoughts are coming through and my initial thoughts are also being confirmed. Ultimately what i am probably going to do is have a reasonable but not too large amount of decent live rock in the tank. on the left side i want to create a sloping reef cliff with a protruding peninsular which has a few aarches in it leading to caves behind. In order to achieve this i will use a combination of reefracking and saddling rocks to get the desired effect. On the right side of the tank separate from the rock cliff will be a "bongie" - ie rock stack - which will be secured using 15mm pipe with holes drilled in the rock and the rock "slid" over the pipework. I will then keep a large amount of marine rock as a filter medium within the sump. I intend to put in a closed loop to create my water flow within the tank. Ultimately this is a relatively cost effective way of doing things and it keeps unsightly powerheads out of the aquarium. Less risk to fish and wandering inverts. Less heat produced in the tank. Good route to take all round. Cheers for the postings - still keen to hear from MORE of you guys n gals out there. Seems to be just a handful using the forum at the moment. But there are heaps more members. Are we "salties" just a small little group in reality? Lol. Oh, and i hope your weather is better than ours here in Chch - its been vile today ! :evil:

Thanks Brian - I hate using google - i always find that when its explained by "people" who have read the context of an enquiry you get a better answer and less confusion, but thanks for the tip. As far as the standpipe goes (oops - there goes the thunder and lightning again - what a horrible day) - do you have a pic of one? Yours maybe? No worries if not - maybe thats one for google. I may give that a go.

Hi I dont want to feel like im "butting in" to this thread, but:-- Couple of questions - Whats DURSO and Whats STARBOARD EQUIVALENT ? (as mentioned above) Cheers As far as the refugium goes - what are views on another section for miracle mud and/or caulerpa (the latter being regularly harvested to remove what they absorb) ??

Hi Brianemone Thanks for your post - Yeh I think i will have to "cull" the list (a little). Thats why i was asking for lists of what people had and how much rock they had and what water volume. The more i can compare on stocking densities that work for others then the better i will be placed to make the right choices myself aye.

could it have been a porcelain crab ?

Cheers Cracker - and what about the idea about getting decent rock for the display area and just dead marine rock for the sump to act as a filter - does that make sense? Its $5 a kg cheaper.

Alan - doh ! That was a joke about the GPS !!

The main problem with canister filters is that they are a pain in the arse to maintain, and thus they end up NOT being maintained, and cause more trouble than they are worth. Yes, the best use is for occasional mechanical filtration, but you must change the media very frequently. If it just becomes a garbage bin then all you are doing is passing your water over garbage several times an hour. And thats worse than not doing it at all. Another thought is filling it with crushed live rock? What are peoples takes on that? Would it just get clogged up ?

the Watford Aquarium in England used to have an interesting article on DSB's - they seem to have removed it now though from their site. I daresay if you email Danny there he will be happy to help. I was going to set one up in my reef over there and he advocated several different grades of sand - although i cant remember if this was meant to be mixed or layered. It was something to do with allowing the creepies and crawlies to move around (although i may be spouting rubbish here - thats just what springs to mind, and i have to admit, of the ones i saw in the UK they all had varying grades of sand). Im not sure why they have to crash and start leeching phosphates - or whatever - whats the explaination behind that? Of the people i have spoken to, most have had them for years!? Eric Borneman is a total advocated and i believe he reckons on 6-8 inches plus as pies said. He also is keen on caulerpa (harvested regularly). But then from conversations i have had with him in the past, he also has the ability to pump fresh ocean water into his system. Another thing he is keen on is surge/wave tanks !! Now theres yet another topic. What a fascinating hobby... :lol:

Hi again - another question. The tank i am planning will be 1000 L x 500 H x 600 D Thats what, 66 gals (UK) or 300litres - without displacement and full to the brim. i will have a sump too though. Just wondered what amount of live rock you would recommend. I want to have a sloping rock-cliff on the left wall (about 2/3 of the wall) and running along along the back wall to about half way, with a peninsular jutting out from the corner towards the middle of the tank. This will create caves etc and swim-thru's. Then i want to have a rock pile (the aussies call this a bongie i believe) on the right with different sizes stacked up (by drilling holes in the rock and slotting it over piping. So really Im not looking to put too much in the tank. Can i make up the remainder by putting rock into the sump in its own chamber? And would i be ok just using dead rock for this rather than cured (ex-live) rock? After all its just being used as a filter medium down in this part of the tank and looks wont be so important? What total kgs would you recommend? Cheers

Hi if they spawn again - TMC in the UK have their own hatchery and are commercially breeding loads of species - im sure they would be happy to advise. They have a website - hang on....... www.tmc-ltd.co.uk there u go - they may even have articles, but there is a contact link and they are usually responsive and helpful.

Eric Borneman used to write for one of the UK fish mags - I contacted him through them and he was INCREDIBLY helpful. He used to host a chatroom too - but Im darned if i can remember. It was linked to AOL I think.

Interesting article in Marine World about a new "wonder-cure" for aiptasia and majano - its called Joe's Juice (how unfortunate) and is available from the stockist in the UK Comes in a 20ml tube. Requires no syringing - only squirting a tiny amount near the mouth of the anemone. The editor of the mag used it in her tank and was amazed at the success. If anyone is interested i will find out what copy it is in.

Interesting comments on this and some of it is gone over my head. Paul Talbot of Majestic Aquariums over in Sydney suggests on his video of removing the skimmer cup and just using it as an o2 reactor !! Not sure I agree - but yes, they do the same thing. He also said sometimes you get discolouration in the water and you can clean it up by using (washed) activated carbon for a day or so to "polish" the water. Although i know this doesnt address the cause. Its hard to suggest without knowing the full array of water parameters.

Hi folks Here is my fishlist (sorry - im keen on a reef but the fish are equally important to me). Harlequin Tuskfish Tang (not yet decided which but i like powder blues and purples) Coral Beauty Algae Blenny Scarlet Hawkfish (posted separately asking about its reef suitability) Pr Blue cheek gobies Pr Fire clowns or Perc clowns or Skunk clowns Banana wrasse or Pyjama wrasse Freidmanns dottyback(?) or Royal gramma Your opinions on these fishes will be valued, but also I wondered if members would like to list what fish they have and how big their setups are so i can compare my wishlist to other successful reefs ? Also, being new to NZ, it would be interesting to see what are the most common fish over here (and average costs too). You must get bored with new enthusiasts asking all this stuff. Sorry !

Hi folks Couple of questions - Whats DURSO and Whats STARBOARD EQUIVALENT ? Cheers As far as the refugium goes - what are views on another section for miracle mud and/or caulerpa (the latter being regularly harvested to remove what they absorb) ??

Thanks everyone for your replies. Have had a few offers to assist with the rock - any other offers will be received with humble gratitude. I could always row to fiji in a pee green boat - me and the owl and the pussycat that is. Anyone got a GPS for dinghies? Lol

Something is nagging me that this is not reef friendly - anyone know? Im making my list and checking it twice......

What does everyone think about existing reefkeeping members on here keeping an extra piece of rock so that new reefers can call on say 5 members (in rotation) and utilise these 5 pieces of already seeded live rocks to fast-track their aquarium setup? Is this something that could work ?

Hi folks, My name is Chris and Im another POM escaped from that overcrowded island on the other side of the world ! Been here a year now and looking to get back into the marine hobby. The few excursions i have made to local fish shops seems to have been a bit disappointing. See, I was about to set up a reef tank at apparently you can't get LIVE ROCK over here? Something to do with bio-security. Now I can understand being protective of this wonderful country, but can anyone help or make suggestions? (Either on here or by IM or email if its more appropriate ). Here are a couple of links which you may find interesting, and indicate what i was hoping to find here;- http://www.reefkeeper.co.uk/acatalog/Live_rock.html and another http://www.stm-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Onli ... ck_14.html Also - any of you members from Christchurch - Im keen to meet, chat etc and to have your advice on where is worth going and not going in the area for fish/inverts/hardware. And are there any online stores in NZ ? Cheers for now Chris

Im not sure what a liquidosed reactor is - maybe hi means liquidIsed I reckon it might be the same as a fluidised reactor/filter - i.e. a container which passes water into the bottom and out of the top at a rate which maintains a solid medium in suspension without allowing it to pass out of the top.

Hi Layton So are you saying you would not use ROWA? i guess so. And yet i have seen some of the most amazing reef setups where it is used extensively. I know guys who literelly would not be without it. How do you overcome the stripping of trace elements by a protein skimmer? It would be interesting to know how fast the additives are removed - for example - do u reckon an efficient skimmer like say the Deltec AP850 - might take 100% of additives on the first pass? On the grounds that most tanks are cylced several times an hour ? Or would it take several hours or days to remove them? i guess that also raises the question - what additives (if any) do you use? Maybe none. Gary from Paraquatics in Brighton (UK) never bothers with them and he has been profiled in several magazines over there. Im beginning to think its just a case of "whatever works for you" sort of thing aye !

Hmmm,,,,, HOOK, LINE AND SINKER Revenge will be sweet....... :lol:

Layton - Cheers - that raises a question not addressed specifically by Paul Talbot. He claims his phosphates are always practically zero and im not sure why because he doesnt mention the use of stuff like ROWAPHOS either (which really is flavour of the month in the UK at the moment). Would you consider ROWA a better alternative to skimming on the grounds it doesnt take out trace elements too? i can see we will have some interesting chats when you are less busy in a week or two. Incidentally - im not claiming to be a guru - just posing different ideas and seeing what people think. Best way to gather information and knowledge in my book.