Aquatopia

Thanks. Looking forward to getting back into the hobby.

Chimera - did it work? Is it fattening up? A pal of mine in the states - Eric Bornemann used to advocate not keeping them in anything other than a well established reef tank as they need a good supply of copepods to scoff. He will be interested about the mandarin skin though. Good on you if it was successful. Beautiful fish aye !

Thanks Caryl, and thanks for your email earlier about the magazine.

Deltec skimmers rock - the AP850 is an awesome model. I had one on my setup in the UK because a mate swore by them. I never got round to using it cos i decided to move to NZ here. Sold the bugger and wish i hadnt - had tunze circulation pumps and controller too. Interestingly, there is a video out by Paul Talbot of syndey's Majestic Aquariums, and he advocates not using skimmers on reef aquaria if you use live rock as your biological filtration. Since live rock will both nitrify and then denitrify because of its aerobic to anaerobic ratio, more waste is handled and thus a skimmer is not needed (in his opinion). His preference is to remove the cup from the skimmer and use it simply as an oxygen reactor !!! He claims that the benefits to water quality by not using a skimmer in such circumstances are achieved because the trace elements get to stay in the water rather than being skimmed out. I can see his point, but i bet there are plenty who would argue otherwise. Your opinions on this would be interesting and welcome.

Hi - to the member whose boxfish died - i dont know exactly which one you had but i know some (possibly all) have a toxic mucus attached to their body. If they die then it leaves a toxic scum on and in the water. If you catch it in time (you didnt as you were out, and thats not to blame you), then sometimes you can save lives with huge chemical filtration and massive water changes. Sometimes this is worse than losing the fish as it may bring about huge swings in water parameters and stress the inverts and corals. Best not to keep boxfish full stop. Some of these beauties just belong in the ocean or a tank of their own. (And thats a lonely life to lead).

Hi - i may be missing the point, but can i ask why you would want to paint the inside rather than the outside? a) you can't maintain it, b) it is toxic. Maybe you just didnt realise this ? If you did want to colour from the inside, the acrylic plastic is the only route - but i would be careful even with that - as some plastics can still leech out toxins. Let us know what route you decide on aye ?

So PIES - is your tank 14,000l or 1400l ?? Incidentally - that link doesnt seem to work for me? Says no website linked to that URL.

Hey pies - i know loads of guys back in the UK who use rowa in their sumps and swear by it. another guy uses it in a fluidised bed (like a lifeguard brand filter). Its certainly flavour of the year over in that hemisphere.

Hi I saw a video by an ozzie guy and he reckoned that if you feed tangs too much protein based food (esp bloodworm), then they get real agressive. But you arent feeding bloodworm and i dont know the protein content of what you are feeding. Have you tried feeding less of what you are and increased vege content food - like dried seaweed or lettuce etc? There is also the possibility that the room lighting is creating a mirror effect from within the tank - and it may then be that the tang is attacking what it thinks is another tang? Just thoughts - prob not the case, but hey - all thoughts help (i hope).

Can someone tell me more about this conference? Where is it / was it? Im in Christchurch - are there local meetings? Ive just joined and not found out much aobut FNZAS yet. Thanks, Chris