wasp Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 On Anzac weekend I took my wife for a couple of days in Kerikeri, did all sightseeing stuff but for me the best part was a visit to Puttputts. Both Puttputt and his wife are excellent hosts it was a great visit. But the tank is a stunner, to be honest I can't remember much about what the rest of the house looks like I was pretty absorbed with the tank. It is a decent size, around 2 tons. Pretty much geared to sps with good lighting and excellent flow. To me, the flow showed one of the advantages of a really big tank, it was swirling around all over the tank with no dead spots at all, but also not too strong anywhere either. The corals love the conditions, everything in the tank is healthy as, beautiful colours (no zeovit system, although some zeovit additives are used), and the growth rate of the corals is astounding. One coral in particular is so big I'm not sure if I would be able to get my arms around it. Like a successful gardener, Puttputt has to get busy pruning regularly, and it is true, his drive is paved with coral skeletons! But hey, any successful grower has to do something with excess product I guess! Lots of fish, and they are all fat, didn't see any aggresion and they are all looking totally at home. Then we went under the house for a look at the business end, very nice fish room with generous sized refugium with caulerpa, and large sump. Very well set up large calcium reactor, skimmer, UV, phosphate reactor. A lot is fed to the tank and I was surprised how much skimmate is generated in just one day. The calcium reactor is going flat out, with the outlet running in a solid stream. I think this is part of the reason for the fast growth rate of the corals, all their needs are well met. It was very pleasing to see equipment set up that has plenty in reserve, in terms of being big enough to easily meet the needs of the tanks inhabitants. We got talking about the large number of frags Puttputt has distributed to other reefers. Puttputt is planing to set up another small tank, for mounting and cultivating frags. From time to time these will be for sale, to people willing to make the trip. And this brought up another subject for us, in my opinion anyway, people contacting other reefers to see if they have frags available, MUST be prepared, and expect, to make payment. The expenses in running these reef tanks that produce the frags are quite high, and paying for frags is only basic good manners. (My opinion, anyway). Hmm pics... Sorry folks not today! hopefully I'll get them sorted in the next day or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie extreme Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 generous sized refugium with caulerpa, and large sump. that just shows his skimmer is undersized if the caulerpa still grows. have been telling him his skimmer is not enough and he should up-grade for a while!! give you $50 for that useless skimmer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dororke Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 I also recently visited this tank and have to agree it is a stunner. Transparent to anyone entering the abode is any semblance of work. To the uninitiated it looks like fish in a bowl - and beautiful fish at that. All the real hard work lies beneath where a large sump, big chiller, huge skimmer, and a calcium reactor that has to be seen to believed does the work. Well not quite all the work. There is water flow to be compared with a tidal wave at work in the main tank. What I particularly enjoyed was the employment of caulerpa in the refugium. Nothing against the zeovites out there but just to show that you can achieve great success either way with nutrient dissipation. I took loads of pics for myself but none, and I guess this is just something 2D cameras can't do, really show the depth of the system. From the front the tank is wide - 2M or so; but the depth is equally impressive at another 1M giving so much extra room demanded of the large fish that adorn the display. Yes - Mr Puttputt is truly an advocate of SPS and specimens outreach (literally) the tank. The colours are vibrant and the water is crystal clear. From a personal perspective I was intrigued to see that all this was achieved with the use of NSW. I don’t want to start the debate again – it’s long harangued now, but it does confirm to me that with proper care you can sustain life with either ASW or NSW. What is still quite amazing to me is the timeframe that has elapsed to get the tank into this form. As a marine aquarist of nearly 20 years I would not have thought it possible to get a system running quite so well in such a short period of time as this – some 10 months to date since set up. I was privileged to be allowed to see this for myself first hand. Hope you guys get the chance too. More pics Mr Puttputt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie extreme Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 yeah can't wait to see it myself. only saw the remains of his last set-up and that was pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emperor Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 bring on the pics, bro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 that just shows his skimmer is undersized if the caulerpa still grows. have been telling him his skimmer is not enough and he should up-grade for a while!! give you $50 for that useless skimmer! I've told you again and again, $75 and not a cent less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 Ha Ha! I think that's an inside joke some of the newer members might not fully understand :lol: Well here's some pics, just hard to get to quality right but anyway here goes :- This one is a deep water acro with flourescent colour like I've never seen before in an acro Some kind of table A close up of a super big table, this was stunning in real life but the pic is blurrred The same table with a huge (meter or so maybe) green stag behind it Very fluffy gorgonian This shot just doesn't show the size! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 OK well now I've got some better quality pics but no time to post them till later. But for now, here is the famous Puttputt meter wide green monster trying to grow out the top of the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slightly Blue Dalmation Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 oh wow that gorgonian looks awesome, mine is still one long stalk with a few smaller off shoots got something to look forward to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drifty Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 lol that green acro is awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie extreme Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 nice going puttputt, that gorgonian surely has grown heaps considering most reefers don't get much growth with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camnbron Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 AWESOME!! Those are some monster SPS colonies! What wicked blues and greens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speed Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 Looks like i need to make myself a trip to kerikeri! Look at the blue stag and the blue table top!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 oh wow that gorgonian looks awesome, mine is still one long stalk with a few smaller off shoots got something to look forward to thanks all, tank is really looking fine, CE, thats half of it, cut your frag in 2 and the others bigger - growing really well, love the shape and movement of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 Also in Kerikeri there is a restaurant over the water, with a HUGE fish tank. Only part of the tank is visible in the pic, it goes round in a circle. Just had my cellphone camera but here are some shots Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 WOW . Thats a big tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted April 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 Here's some more Puttputt's tank, slightly better picture quality Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markoshark Posted April 30, 2008 Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 Hey PP, is that your blue-tipped "brown" Stag? Looking fantastic What kind of camera btw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johannes Visser Posted April 30, 2008 Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 Also in Kerikeri there is a restaurant over the water, with a HUGE fish tank. Only part of the tank is visible in the pic, it goes round in a circle. Just had my cellphone camera but here are some shots WOW That's what I want a BIG tank :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted April 30, 2008 Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 Hey PP, is that your blue-tipped "brown" Stag? Looking fantastic What kind of camera btw? No, its the one you said was a blue tipped brown stag, and i said no, its a blue stag, wait and see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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