Reefkeeping South Africa » Marine Aquariums of South Africa

Marine Aquariums of South Africa

Tunze streams

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 7:40pm CDT by Puppy

Guys a buddy of mine has 2 tunze 6100 streams that's a bit over a year old for sale .
He wants R2000 a stream.
Then he also has a brand spanking new 6101 stream for R2900.
Please pm me if u are interested.

1.8 or 1.5m tank wanted

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 6:33pm CDT by nico

Hi Everyone, i'm looking for a 1.8 or 1.5m tank to buy with or without a stand, will collect, if someone knows of some one please let me know :thumbup: will have the money by end of April.

How deep must sand bed be?

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 6:18pm CDT by HendrikKotze

I have started filling up my 500 liter tank this weekend with RO water and it is about 3/4 now. I want to scape the sand bed, but have some questions.
I have filled it up with 40 kg (1 to 3 mm) and 20 kg (6 mm) crushed coral. It is apparently not the best, by my LFS did not have aragonite.
Currently the fine coral is at the bottom and the coarse coral are on top and it is about 50 mm deep.
How deep should it be and should I mix it?
I would like to finish it before the tank is full.

Thanks,
Hendrik

Additives I want please

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 6:11pm CDT by sean_koekemoer

I am looking for the following stuff... I know I have mentioned it way back when, but my supplies are finished and I would not like to buy it from the Lfs again as I paid a lot of money for it...

This is what I want:

1.) Phosphate Media- quite a biggish bottle (Not the Fluid)

2.) Iodene

3.) Strontium

I would also like to know any Ideas as to the Following additives:
a.) Magnesium
b.) whatever else I need to get

$Permalink for 'Marine_Aquariums_of_South_Africa/2008/03/31/Anyone_want_a_refractometer_'$

Anyone want a refractometer?

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 5:55pm CDT by LikesFish

It is like 2 days old. One of those black ones.

Make an offer.

Cape Town Reef Club IMACSA

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 2:17pm CDT by Muz

There were some guys asking about IMACSA ath the meeting.

The CTRC is planning to do block bookings and accomodation for guys attending the IMACSA conference, can I just get a list of names for those who are keen as an indication.

Muz

GREEN Hairy algae back....

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 2:05pm CDT by Raven

Aahh damn-it!!!
The green hairy monster is back in my tank!!!!
A couple of days ago i've noted that some of my live rock have some green hairy algae on it... Now it started to spread to some of my other rocks!!!! Crap!

I was so proud of my new tank, as everything went well for a good while now, until 2 weeks ago - I've had some of the red hairy algae on the back glass (see thread - Red hairy algae on back glass and on some rocks - Marine Aquariums of South Africa), now this.

I hate this stuff, because it means that somewhere something is wrong - very wrong!!
I have some cheato and alot of cauliptra (not sure on spelling) in my sump.
My tank is running for 5 months now.

Nothing changed - i'm still feeding the same amount of food, no new life stock - nothing, but the damn hairy algae is back! :( :( :(

My phosphates is 0.3 (not sure on the measuring unit here but I use tropic marine to test)

Not sure on the other parameters - test kits are depleted - and my monthly budget is down the drain, as i've just bought some other equipement like a chiller/T5 lights ballasts pumps ext....The LFS is charging me R40.00 A tests.. i'm not prepared to pay that - I'll have to wait for my test kits...

How can i deal with my phosphates more effectively? (i want this all natural as possible, thus i'm not to keen to use rowa or phosphate removers)

Should i leave the LR with the green hairy algae in the tank, or should i remove it from the tank?

How can i get my cheato to grow faster, as i don't see that it's really growing fast enough, my cauliptra on the other hand is growing like mad...?

PLEASE HELP TO FIGHT OF THIS DEMONIC ALGAE:(

Win BIG with MASA and AVshop

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 10:11am CDT by viper357

You could win a Sonic LWD-320 LCD TV and other fantastic prizes kindly sponsored by AVShop - Online shop for all your Audio - Video Requirements . Click here to find out more.

Who's else is going to imacsa?

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 9:47am CDT by Punk

hey guys!

i finally decided to go to imacsa this year...

just checked out the brochure & it looks like it'll be an awesome event + i don't have to put in leave anymore as it falls on a public holiday! :yeahdude:

i also can't wait to check out the africa aquarium expo (i'm also a FW freak :razz:)

just wanted to know as it'll be cool to meet some of you oke's there

cheers,
ant
:)

Big tank

Posted: March 31st, 2008, 9:20am CDT by Wee-Man

I went to see a rather good tank on saturday, 12ft x 4ft x 3ft

Recovered from gha

Posted: March 30th, 2008, 9:59pm CDT by lindsay pollard

this is how my tank looks now after a lot of hassels ,but it is now setteled

Taking photos of tank without a flash

Posted: March 30th, 2008, 9:31pm CDT by hartz

Hi,

I'm having trouble taking good photos of my tank. I do not want to turn the camera flash on for fear that it may harm the fishes eyes - they can't exactly complain if they get eye damage.

I'm sure one or two flashes will not harm them much, but for me it is almost a matter of principle! Harming the fish a little is just as bad as harming them a lot!

The light in the tank is too low to get a good picture without the use of a flash. So I'm basically buggered!

Any suggestions?

P.S. My tank is Freshwater and some of my fish, particularly the Peter's Elephant Nose, doesn't like bright light.

For Sale Lighting Pandant

Posted: March 30th, 2008, 9:23pm CDT by Warr7207

630 mm Lighting pendant with hanging kit. 1 x 150w MH, 2 x T-5's (white and blue), supplied with 2 spare MH globes (blue and white)

R1200.00

Pics below

Should I keep two Peters Elephant Nose fish in one tank

Posted: March 30th, 2008, 8:17pm CDT by hartz

Hi,
Should I keep two of these in a single tank? Today while at the pet shop I talked to another customer there who said that if you have two, they will play!

I've read somewhere that they prefer to be solitary. I've never considered keeping two, so now I'm curious. I have not yet replaced the one I lost two weeks ago, still just doing 10% water changes twice a week as I thing the water in my tank is really bad (it reeks)

Thanx!
_hartz

Fish Compatibility

Posted: March 30th, 2008, 6:26pm CDT by Fishy Steve

Will a midas blenny harass a mandarin if I add one to my tank? My blenny is really active but does not bother my clown who is only about a fifth of his size.

Weird thing: please id!

Posted: March 30th, 2008, 12:23pm CDT by Suncoral

Please id this thing. Sorry that the pic is blurry taken with phone.

//i1

Bushman goes large

Posted: March 30th, 2008, 12:12pm CDT by bushman

For those who never saw the beginings of my round tank 2 years ago and my adivtion to this hobby I will stsrt this thread with a few very early shots, then where I got to and and now the big upgrade to my current dream. Like most of you I will either pack it in after this tank or probably even want to go bigger.

Almost 2 years ago to the date I started my very fisrt tank, a round tak although many people said it would be very hard work trying to keep the glass clean. They where right it was a real pain in the but.

Day one 2 years ago

Slowly the system matured and it got better and better but many hard leason on the way with the odd expensive mistake

The sump was moved out of the cuboard below because of damp and space problems

Then the first of the stock went in, that green carpet was a nightmare and eneded eating half of my fisrt fish in the tank. it was removed soon after.

Need a sandsifter to clean my substrate.

Posted: March 30th, 2008, 11:03am CDT by matt165

I'm using very fine substrate (playsand from toys r us) but I have nothing in my tank that actually cleans the substrate.

What can I use?

Salt Mixer

Posted: March 29th, 2008, 9:09pm CDT by Galibore

I built a salt mixer. Don't ask why. All other questions are welcome.

The cut list... well ehm, cut.

Fabrication took me a total of 9 minutes.

Fittings fitted.

Pump modified to suck air and mix. The pump sucks from the bottom of the container. I built the stand with 20mm Schedule 80 PVC.

Almost done. Added two small 6mm perspex tubes. One that my RODI outlet connects to (just makes filling easier), the other is a place for the airline tubing to connect to to make sure it's always above water line.

Piece of uncured LR, how long will it take to cure with the bucket method?

Posted: March 29th, 2008, 6:57pm CDT by matt165

Got an awesome piece of LR from Warr7207 that is uncured (was previously cured but was removed from the tank and dried out a bit)

Doesn't have a funky smell or anything but want to make sure before I put it in my new nano! ;)

At the moment i've got it in a 10L bucket of SW with just a powerhead. Is a heater also required?

How long will this take? (as I said the rock didn't have a bad smell to it)

Do I do water changes?

Is there any other way I should do this?

My Midas Blennie got Chowed

Posted: March 29th, 2008, 3:27pm CDT by keithredding08

I found my Midas Blennie trapped in between two rocks this morning and it seemed like he had been chowed by one of my crabs.

I only got him four days ago and his behaviour from the onset seemed a bit strange. He kept to himself vertically in one side of the tank. Can anyone let me know if this is normal behaviour for a Blennie.

I'm gutted but I dont think that I will get one again soon.

:(

Pincushion vs. Hammer

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 1:43am CDT by Warr7207

I have had one of my pincushions get to close to my hammer coral and he attacked it. The pincushion has totally withdrawn. I have moved it to safety, how long will it take for the pincushion to recover from this attack ?

Can I use tap water?

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 11:33pm CDT by HendrikKotze

I am setting up a new tank of about 500 liters and want to know if I can use tap water with Aquaclear (removes chlorine from water) to fill it up for the first time?

How do you frag a coral?

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 10:58pm CDT by Suncoral

How do you frag a coral?
Won't it die if you cut a piece of it off?

Livestock for a 12g nano

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 10:37pm CDT by Suncoral

I have a 12g jbj nano cube.
I have: 2x Occelaris clowns
1x Frogspawn
1x Other coral (not sure of the name; long tentacles and feathery tips)

What other livestock can I still put in (especially that can eat hair algae)?
I know that snails are good for eating algae. How many can I put in there?

Leather to go under knife

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 7:56pm CDT by Alfie

My frag tank should be finalised this weekend and this boytjie has to go under the knife.

$Permalink for 'Marine_Aquariums_of_South_Africa/2008/03/28/Refractometer'$

Refractometer

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 6:18pm CDT by LikesFish

Anyone living close to centurion that is willing to lend me your refractometer so that I can test my makeup water? I have sold all my test equipment and have to do a water change...

Lights

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 4:20pm CDT by HendrikKotze

Hi Guys,

I just received my new tank and hopefully all the necessary goodies. I just have a question about the light unit I bought.
My tank measures 1500x600x650 mm and the light is 1 meter long.
It seems to small and too short. Apparently I will have to add another one later on. The wattage seem too low as well. Or are these fine to start off with?
Is there a better way of doing the lights that will be more suitable in the long run. I want to keep corals and fish.

Thanks,
Hendrik

E.L. Inverts

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 2:50pm CDT by lIghty

Hi friends,

I'm currently East London on holiday. I believe there some nice inverts that can be collected, so while I'm here I would like to scout for some. If the locals could advise what's good and a pic just to make sure I get the right thing.

thx

The "perfect" tank setup

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 12:43pm CDT by Raven

Hi guys,
I'm looking for the "perfect" tank setup - in other words a setup that just won't fail...Even if you try... (ok ok I know this is not very likely, but what the heck lets give it a try.)
Just some basics:
The only given - the display tanks size = 300 l, and sump - 300 l.
The needs must cater for a mixed tank. Corals and fish

Now things to take into consideration for outputs:
1. Lighting - what type, size ext..
2. Substrate to be used in tank/sump
3. What is the ideal waterflow, and how to create it?
4. Parameters to check weekly/daily/monthly.
5. Supplements to use and frequency (and why you choose this)
6. What to do to prevent certain spikes for example phosphates/nitrates ext...
7. Any "hidden" secrets that the most begginers will miss, and only reliase when things are going bad - for example hairy algea start to grow, or corals/fish starts to die.

These are just some things that i could think of in short...
This can serve for very good guidelines for starters like me, and i think some interresting arguments can come out of this as well..:yeahdude:

Amount of cleaner shrimps?

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 11:08am CDT by lappiesreef

A quastion for my Nano.

it is 24 G and has one cleaner shrimp.

I am still gettin used to how much to feed and was wondering if I can add another shrimp now to absorb my over feeding if I am? and to be a friend to the other one :)

4FT L shape

Posted: March 28th, 2008, 8:44am CDT by lappiesreef

Hey Guys, here is the start of my first reef. I'll post all my progress here so I can get as much help as possible along the whole way.

First the dimentions.

The display
First leg of L
41.5 cm wide
122 cm long
41 cm high with water level coming to 31 cm
Second leg of L
41.5 cm wide
81 cm long
41 cm high with water level coming to 31 cm

The sump
First leg of L
30 cm wide
117 cm long
42 cm hing with water level at 30 cm
Second leg of L
30 cm wide
85 cm long
42 cm hing with water level at 30 cm

Worm ?

Posted: March 27th, 2008, 12:42am CDT by Warr7207

What could this be ?

Please advise on aquascaping using PVC piping

Posted: March 27th, 2008, 11:31pm CDT by matt165

I'vev just upgraded my tank and i'm going to redo the aquascaping. I've seen on a few other sites that instead of building egg crate shelves you can also just use PVC piping and drill holes through the rocks for the pipe to fit through, that way you can build nice tall structures without worrying about rockfalls.

e.g.)

* images from cjs473's tank on ultimatereef.net

How exactly does he support the piping at the bottom? Where would one get said PVC piping? ;)

Stocking my new nano ;)

Posted: March 27th, 2008, 11:28pm CDT by matt165

128L (phew, just fits into the Nano category) ;)

Currently has about 14kg LR, should I buy some more (tank looks a bit empty now)

Inhabitants:
2 Ocellaris clowns
1 Midas Blenny

3 Red Legged Dwarf Hermits
3 Astrea Snails
1 Turbo Snail
1 Serpent starfish

I'm not sure what else to stock it with? Was thinking possibly a flame angel (such an awesome fish) but heard they are about 50/50 when it comes to coral. I've seen them all kept with coral at the LFS though.

Selling my tank 1.8610610

Posted: March 27th, 2008, 7:29pm CDT by Mekaeel

Hi crew.
im selling my 1.8 *610*610 inc the stand it currently sits on aswell as a new stand that i just got for it (900 high painted in hammerite).
+-50 kgs LR
+- 30kgs Ceramic rock
both come with cyano :P
+- 60 kgs substrate
the tank has 3mm black perspex on the back aswell as the side.
all plumbing included
4ft sump included
asking R4000.00 buyer to collect or arrange for collection.
the tank should be ready to go in 3 weeks max, as soon as my new tank arrives ie 1m*1m*600.
Cool

Need a silent pump for chiller as well as powerhead for display. Suggestions please!

Posted: March 27th, 2008, 5:02pm CDT by matt165

Ok Atlas 1200 is making hell of a noise in my new tank (just barely fits in rear chambers so I think something is wrong with it. Would like something possibly smaller in size I can use just to feed my chiller. Also must be silent. Any ideas?

Also 2 Hydor Koralia Nano's are a bit weak for this tank. What should I upgrade to?

Coil Denitrifier

Posted: March 27th, 2008, 4:10pm CDT by Aziz

Any body with any experience with this. Im thinking of making one.

Who is the little fellow

Posted: March 27th, 2008, 11:39am CDT by lappiesreef

He grows in between the shrooms.

Dump Boxes

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 11:14pm CDT by flappy

Dump Boxes
I have two custom made dump PVC boxes (about 70 litrs each)
Have tested them and they work really well.
I cannot use them on my system as their pump together with my return pump suck the last chamber of my sump dry as well as confuse my auto top up.
They cost me over R900 to make up(ROBDV made them for me)
Im asking R350 each.
They were comparable to my 20 000 litre per hour Tunzes when they were in operation.

Wtf? Retarding My Actions

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 8:33pm CDT by Obi-Wan

Dean Can I have a season SUPPORT ticket, opened, for my problem on masa? log in, can't toggle ID pm posted already, looks like gibberish no punctuation/spaces, paragraphs evident. I had developed 3 well-thought out posts, and now DON'T want to continue ,frustratingly futile IF IT PERSISTS. Is it vB setting I have wrong, or what? LOOK AT THIS POST FOR INSTANCE?

Tufa Rock

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 7:09pm CDT by lappiesreef

How suitable is Tufa rock for the reef aquarium?

I have done scaping with it, bu someone told me they may flake and even give off heavy metals.

This is contradictory to everything I have read on the use of Tufa rock.

What is the general opinion on the use of this type of rock?

Daphnia

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 7:01pm CDT by lappiesreef

Hey guys

Is it safe to feed fresh water Daphnia to marines?

I discovered some live Daphnia in my Lily ponds and wonder if my mandarin might enjoy them,

Not sure how long they will survive if at all in the salt water, but I suppose as long as they swing for a little while they should get eaten?

Tags not working nicely

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 6:58pm CDT by Warr7207

If I select page 2 in the tags section I get a blank page with a heading:

Threads tagged with "doview"

Hi there

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 4:59pm CDT by limpet

hi there, i stay in ct and i have just started in the hobby although i have studied it in books. i have a 1.2 m tank with sand and marine water in it , gotta cycle it for six weeks?

Please would you advice regarding lighting and ballasts

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 4:23pm CDT by matt165

Hello

I've just bought a BOYU TL-550 128litre nano tank (upgrading from my 90L JBJ Nano Cube)

However, I see the BOYU (which is about 40L larger) only has 2x24W T5's, and the Nano Cube had 2x36W T5's!

Ideally i'd like to upgrade the lighting in my BOYU. I'd like your advice on the best way to do this (I want to keep the stock hood). Would I be able to get a 36W ballast that fits in the hood and just replace the 24W T5's with 36W ones?

What would you advise? Also where would I find the necessary equipment?

Much thanks
Matt

Seio M2600 Power Heads For Sale

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 4:10pm CDT by Submariner

2 X M2600 Pumps For Sale

Both New Boxed

R800 Each ONCO

360L System 4 sale

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 10:54am CDT by Jaco

HI ALL.
I AM VERY SAD TO PUT THIS ON THE WALL.
I STARTED AT A NEW JOB AND DONT HAVE MUCH TIME TO TAKE CARE OF MY TANK. I HAVE TO SEL.
360L TANK
WOOD CABINET
VERY GOOD LIGHTING
100L SUMPFILTER
SKIMMER
UV FILTER

INSIDE IS:
45KG LIFEROCK
CRUSHED CORREL
ANEMONE -WHITE & PURPLE(30cm)
50cm CHAINLINK MORAYA EAL
TRIGGER
DWARF MUSHROOMS
BLUE BUTTON MUSHROOMS
YELLOW STAR BUTTON POLLIPS
GREEN POLLIPS
YELLOW POLLIPS
BROWN LARGE POLLIPS
1 LARGE BLUE/PURPLE CLAM

Jaco 083 659 9474

Off-The-Shelf-Lighting

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 10:45am CDT by Galibore

I'm tired of waiting so I am slowly but surely starting planning on a 4ft setup.

I have been DIY'ing all my life and just for once would like buy off the shelf stuff. Any recommendations on a nice lighting unit that preferbably have 2 x MH and 2 x T5 or similar. Built in Moonlight would be awesome. I know of the locally made one but they are hectically expensive.

Another off the topic question. My wife really wants to keep "one of those pretty yellow fish", referring to a yellow tang (and so do I in fact :)). Would a 4ft be ok if it's a bit wider than the standard 4ft's?

Local Crabs & Stuff

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 10:08am CDT by Galibore

Hi Gys,

I was just wondering if it is legal to take crabs and other inverts from our local waters. I mean, they are so accessible, much cheaper than buying from LFS.

New Nano Set-up

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 9:03am CDT by lappiesreef

Hi Guys

I just acquired Leosha's Nano. I set it up last night and everything survived and even look frisky :) Especially the clown, Lion fish and Cardinal. Even the mandarin is pecking all around the rock work. :slayer:

The water was a bit murky when I did the rock work and now I am not too happy with my handy work. I'm also not too sure of the sturdyness...

How long should I wait before attempting a new rock scape? I don't want to stress them again too soon I guess? The move was from JHB to PTA and took about 5 hours to complete... I only got to bed after 1, but all worth it for these beauty's. :)

Upgrading lighting of new tank but keep stock hood?

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 8:51am CDT by matt165

Just bought a BOYU TL-550 and it comes with a power saving light (24Wx2). Is there any way I could possibly ugrade this but keep my stock hood?

Coral Food

Posted: March 26th, 2008, 8:43am CDT by joe

Good Morning
I recently purchased a frogsporn and candycane frags , do i need to feed these corals?
Thanx

RO waste

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 12:33am CDT by Warr7207

Is RO waste water good enough for human consumption ?

Plastic fasteners(Bolts, nuts, etc.)

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 12:00am CDT by herkie

I found a place where we can get any size and type of plastic fastener possible. The problem is the quantities you have to buy. Let me know if you might be interested and I will see if it would be worth getting and re distributing to members. Prices are ok, the problem lies in the quantities you have to buy. Some stuff you can get packs of 25, but most items you have to buy 100 or more.

Moving all my livestock over to a new tank! Advice Please!

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 11:57pm CDT by matt165

I've just bought a Boyu TL-550 and want to move everything over from my 24G JBJ Nano Cube.

What is the best way of doing this?

So far i've put in about 60L of SW and matched the SG to that of my tank. Added substrate and put some LR rubble (from the old tank) into the new tank. Any advice please.

Free frags for everyone

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 11:04pm CDT by viper357

:D:D:D:D:D

The War Machine

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 11:02pm CDT by Warr7207

The main reason for this forum entry is my existing tank's days are numbered.

Upgrade Time

I started my tank and this wicked hobby in Dec 2007. I purchased an existing tank with good plumbing, RO unit and a great skimmer (DNW200)

The package deal gave me all the basic and essential equipment.

First thing I learnt was transporting a 400L tank is not easy, especially when you taking all the water, corals, LR and other livestock for a 50km ride.

After the insane job of assembling a tank and restocking water, LR and livestock in one night. I thought what the hell have I got myself into.:crying:

Then out came my priced and most precious Midas Blenny. He danced for me in the now rising sunlight, and I was hooked.:)

I have to mention an important ingredient to the whole hobby's recipe (for me) is MASA, which has given as much pleasure, humour and heartache as the actual tank, inmates and machina.

Enough said, You want Specs and Pics

Right ?

DSB move

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 10:42pm CDT by Warr7207

Can I move my DSB ? Will all the nitrite loving bacteria die off if oxygen if introduced into the substrate ?

Snails

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 7:26pm CDT by Mo_G

What is the name of these snails from KZN and are they reef safe?

PVC fumes poisonous?

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 7:17pm CDT by Bayls

Hi
I built my closed loop system using plumbers tape to seal the water inlet pipes so that I could adjust the flow directions. Clearly there is air getting in somewhere as I have a massive micro bubble problem. Having eliminated all the other possible causes from my sump, I now believe that air is getting in above the water line at one or more of the pipe joints and I now need to seal the pipes properly with PVC glue.
My question is this:
Once I have glued the pipes in properly, I can't vent the system to release the glue vapours that will inevitably fill the piping system. When I turn on the pumps and these fumes then go into the water, are they potentially fatal to my livestock, or will they quickly dissipate/skimmer take them out etc? Is it a risky thing to do?

Cheers

Which aragonite to use

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 4:00pm CDT by sharkbite

which brand of aragonite is best to use,are all brands basically the same and it just comes down to personal choice.

500l tank

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 1:40pm CDT by nic3322

i need equipment for a 500l tank heater,skimmer,pumps,lights 2nd hand or if a lfs is having a sale that wiil help as well

Anyone ever used one of these?

Posted: March 25th, 2008, 12:41pm CDT by LikesFish

[www.instruments.co.za]

I was wondering whether it is any good.

Malachite Green

Posted: March 24th, 2008, 1:21am CDT by Warr7207

Is it possible to get Malachite Green or Quinine Hydrochloride in South Africa? If yes, where ?

Lighting

Posted: March 24th, 2008, 10:05pm CDT by Alfie

My unit that I ran on my nano gave the ghst today. I cannot repair it so I was hoping some will know where I can get a 60cm light unit with minimim 24w lights.

Good or bad hermie?

Posted: March 24th, 2008, 9:13pm CDT by Tobes

Hi guys, is this a good or bad hermit crab? He is about the size of a 2 rand coin now. Got him when he was a pinky nail size - provided him with bigger shells while he's growing. He hasn't been any trouble up to now - just grazes on the rocks all day. Will he become a bad boy when he is fully grown?

Anton

Posted: March 24th, 2008, 7:26pm CDT by anton

Hi all,
I am happy to join this site!!

I am planning on building a 4000l marine aquarium in our new house near Mosselbay and am still in the design phase (and a 1' st timer) so everybody on the forum should know what it feels like starting off.

I have been doing some recearch (6-12mths on and off) and got most of the little knowledge I have,from Robbert M.Fenners book "The Consientious Marine Aquarist".

My plan is to build a one-side view only,acrylic face, tank with a 4m length display about 600mm deep.The sides and bottom out of bricks/concrete and PVC lined and the water contol plant at the back of the tank, out of site, easily accessable and enough space for salt water ageing,quarantine facility, enclosed from weather etc.

I would like to design the set-up in such a manner that it is almost fully automated to avoid further alterations to piping and adding on stuff that "I should have thought of "
and might end up running out of space in the 'machine' room.

Is there perhaps some-one that could give me advice regarding the most practical plant outlay:

1.For regular water changes-piping arrangements.Quarantine set-up?
2.Overflow Design for max oxination or incorporate activated carbon in overflow?
3.Should I use undergravel filter combined with sump/protienskimmers/live sand/rock?
4.Can I use local sea sand and marine life?
5.Is there any suppliers in the Garden Route that can assist me?

I have lots more questions and am willing to pay for cosultations. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks
anton:wave2:

Corn snakes for sale

Posted: March 24th, 2008, 7:24pm CDT by Zookeeper

I have a couple of different corn snakes for sale.Adults-R500 and some yearlings for R250.PM me if your interested and I can send you some pics.

Instant email notification- not working?

Posted: March 24th, 2008, 5:53pm CDT by Sabi

Hi

In my user CP options i have my settings for replies to my posts/threads on instant email notification.
However when i post, the option is on 'no email' in the new post/thread window and unless i change it to 'instant email' i get no email notifications. And i have to do it for each post, whether it be in the same thread or different, to get the emails.
What am i doing wrong? Can't it stay on instant email?
Thanks in advance.:)

Favorite FW fish?

Posted: March 24th, 2008, 2:30pm CDT by Sabi

I know this is a marine forum but all the same lets have a bit of FW discussion...:lol:
What is your favorite fresh water fish and why?

Mine are angels and fancy catfish. Dunno why, but i'm a sucker for fancy catfish. Chocolate tiger pleco, zebra pleco, Queen arabesque pleco being my fav.

Angels, i like the veiltails, zebra's, black(very aggressive!), albino. Why- because i want to breed them and just like them a lot

Pics wanted!

Great to have found another place like this

Posted: March 24th, 2008, 10:44am CDT by bushman

Hi ALL

Really great to find yet another site to share and most importantly learn from others. In the prossess of building a 2000l system that I will be updating weekly.

Loved the dsb thread on this sight.

Experience in a LFS shop.

Posted: March 24th, 2008, 9:41am CDT by Alfie

Saturday morning I was in a LFS shop and got chatting to a guy that came in to buy a TDS meter. He and a friend (new in the hobby) were getting a few things like PH/KH buffer when we got chatting about RO units. Anyway it ended up with the friend buying and RO unit (way overprised) and he then asked me how to connect it. I explained to him and when we got to the end the I explained which pipe was waste water and which RO. Having just done this the friend that had just purchased the TDS meter exclaimed, "no wonder I have problems, I have been using the waste water as RO"

My point here is that the LFS does not take the time to advise people, as long as the sale is made all is fine.

Kiwikid_1's 5ft money sponge

Posted: March 23rd, 2008, 6:11am CDT by kiwikid_1

Hey all,its been awhile so here are a few photos I took of my tank and of those that live within it

Wanted : Roughly 100cm*80cm tank

Posted: March 23rd, 2008, 9:50pm CDT by Sparky

Hi Guys

I'm looking for a tank with roughly the above dimensions for length and width. Anyone with anything resembling this? I'm guessing it would be around 200L??

When is the nitrate reading getting too High.

Posted: March 23rd, 2008, 7:48pm CDT by Shanie

Hi guys,
what is the ideal range that the nitrate reading should stay at, in my 128litre Nano.
And wheni s the reading getting too high.
Thanks
Shane

How long did it take you?

Posted: March 23rd, 2008, 4:28pm CDT by Sabi

I know this varies widely depending on the persons setup etc, but how long did it take your tank to cycle?

Best test kit versus cost

Posted: March 23rd, 2008, 12:10pm CDT by Raven

Hi guys,
I would like to know what is the best test kit for the value of ones money.
For example I could buy a test kit x for R 500, but test kit y for R 600. Then lets say further that both test kits can do the same amount of tests and can test the same parameters.
Now the assumptions that i can make out of this is:
1. Test kit Y is a beter testkit to buy, because it's more accurate,
or 2 - testkit y is a "named brand", and thus we pay more for it.

Of all the test kits out there, are there any that one should stay away from?

I know this is all a bit vague and there is a lot of questions/statements , but i really hope that you understand my question, and we can start some discussions on the different test kits.

What i would like to get out of this is, is to know what to buy, what not even to look at ext.

Is it also possible to get a poll running with the different test kits? (keeping in mind that there are different price categories as well)

Wanted Live Rock

Posted: March 22nd, 2008, 2:09am CDT by Aziz

Ay one selling some live rock cured.

Collecting NSW for trade..?

Posted: March 22nd, 2008, 8:05pm CDT by Raven

Hi guys,
I'm not sure if this is the correct forum, so mods please move it if it's not.

I'm in Vereeniging, and want to get my hands on NSW, but it will be extremely expensive to drive down to the cost to get some water for myself...
So i thought if i could drive down, and bring water back for my self and other members so that we could split the cost it will be a bit better.
If one can do this at least once or twice a month.

Now my questions are:
1. Is there any law that states that one can't collect NSW and sell it ?
2. Will any members be interested in NSW (in the Gauteng area)
3. must one obtain any lisences for something like this?
4. Where is the best place to collect water, which will be safe for our use?
5. Is someone maybe doing something like this allready?

Thanks guys!

Competition Idea?

Posted: March 22nd, 2008, 7:32pm CDT by sihaya

After reading Ted's thread I thought it might be fun to have a "competition" for "most improved tank." What do you guys think? :)

Reef safe?

Posted: March 22nd, 2008, 6:53pm CDT by herkie

Caught this chap at a local beach, can someone ID please?

Another New member

Posted: March 22nd, 2008, 10:27am CDT by CDW

Hi, I just registered here. I am South African living and working in Vienna, Austria.

After many years of planted tropical and Chiclid tanks, I decided to change and start with a new Reef setup.

I currently have a ~330 liter tank with a sump. I have about 50 Kg. of LR in the tank.
My lights consists of 1 x 250 MH + 4 x T5's blues + LED moonlight.
I have an Aquamedic auto top-up system from my RO and DI system.
Then off course skimmer, pumps etc.

Still need a Calcium reactor but thats for later

The tank is now cycled after about 8 weeks.

Hopefully today I will add the first Cleanup Shrimp and a Hermit Crab or 3.

Chris

My Peters' Elephant Nose is swimming upside down

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 10:28pm CDT by hartz

Hi,

My Peters Elephant Nose (Gnathonemus petersii) appears to be sick. It used to be quite happy, but today it started to get stuck in the plants, almost appearing to be dead until I scoop it out of the water. It then starts to thrash and when it gets back into the water, it just starts to swim in loops until it gets tangled again.

Any idea what is wrong with it?

Thanx,
_hartz

My Peters' Elephant Nose is swimming upside down

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 9:52pm CDT by hartz

Sump Offline - How Long?

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 8:18pm CDT by moz

This morning I discovered that my floor was flooded, I have manage to conclude that the problem is the sump, I think I might have a crack under the DSB. How long can I run the tank with out the sump, which contains the skimmer and DSB? I have taken the sump off line and added a air pump to the display, and will do a 15% water change tomorrow. A related question is a new sump design, check out my proposal and please comment.

Proposed Sump - Marine Aquariums of South Africa

Proposed Sump

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 8:14pm CDT by moz

This is the sump I am thinking of having built, please comment. For the reason I need a new sump check out
[www.marineaquariumsa.com]

Banggai Cardinals on the endangered list

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 6:41pm CDT by Kanga

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anemone (Post 80937) Is this fish hard to get ahold of in S. Africa? I know they have recently been added to the Endangered Species list. So I suspect they will soon be super expensive and harder to get.

A friend of mine has a breeding pair that she is going to give me. I'm currently setting up their new home. I'm excited!!!

Hi Anemone, they are generally pretty cheap fish, much cheaper than Damsels or clowns, however now that you mention it I have not seen any at my LFS for a while

Eco Wheel

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 5:58pm CDT by Dohn

Hi All
Has anyone ever come across the eco wheel. Was wondering if its worth tring to DIY something similar.
System Pictures

Its a type of Algael turf scrubber that runs on an air pump. Suppose it could be used without algae to oxygenate the water and for water movement during power failures.

Its actually for filteration.
Check out some of the tanks that use it.
The Fish Registry

Im a newbie thats still researching all the ins and outs.

Another fish Id please

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 5:25pm CDT by sean_koekemoer

__________________

Lots of hardware for sale

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 1:38pm CDT by LikesFish

I have decided to open the list for all my remaining hardware. Please take note that the probability of me selling everything on this list is extremely high, meaning that I very much doubt I'll get the big tank sold with the house. But in the minute chance I do, I am then rather going to sell it as a unit.

The Big List

Lots of live stock for sale...

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 1:37pm CDT by LikesFish

I have decided to open the list for all my remaining live stock. Please take note that the probability of me selling everything on this list is extremely high, meaning that I very much doubt I'll get the big tank sold with the house. But in the minute chance I do, I am then rather going to sell it as a unit.

The Big List

New Tank Build

Posted: March 21st, 2008, 11:18am CDT by Sparky

Hi guys

I know there have been a few threads regarding this, but there doesn't seem to be a definite answer. I would like to build my own tank, but how feasible is this? Dimensions would be 100cm x 50cm. Depth is still something I'm looking into. What would you guys suggest?? Also, I remember a thread asking about using plate glass, but can't find this again. What type of glass is recommended? I'll be honest, I'm more handy working on a car engine than anything around the house, but I'd like to give this a shot.

For Sale: Jager Heaters

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 10:50pm CDT by viper357

I have two 300w Jager Heaters for sale (best heaters in the world).

R150 each excl. shipping.

My office nano

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 10:40pm CDT by herkie

I have been feeling like a nano for quite some time and then Sean Koekemoer gave me a 375x390x530 tank he used to keep an Oscar in. I did not think of taking photos untill after I got going, but this is the tank after the back panel was cut and fitted back to the tank.

I am planning to build a filter to the back of the tank below the overflow and also want to have a skimmer in the first compartment and this is where the first problem arises. CASH for a nano skimmer!
This lead to my desision to modify a Jebo into a 'supercharged' version. Here is a description of my progress.
I wonder if one of the more advanced members would start a poll to see how many people thinks a Jebo can be 'supercharged' into an decent skimmer? I do not know how and it would be interesting to see the results.

For Sale: Resun Blower

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 10:32pm CDT by viper357

I have a Resun Electromagnetic Blower for sale - R150 excl. shipping.

Resun ACO-003
35w
Pressure: 0.027 MPa
Output: 0.065m³/min

Basically it's a monstrously powerful air pump, I used it to drive 4 wooden airstones on my old DIY skimmer and I had to throttle it down to it's bare minimum. Fish shops use these to run airstones in multiple tanks over a long distance. It works perfectly but has signs of being in a salt environment, the screws are rusting and the housing shows sign of salt exposure. But nothing wrong with, it still blows like a ba$tard.

Seahorses

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 10:25pm CDT by lIghty

My GF wants to keep seahorses in my old tank once everything has been moved to my new setup, I don't have money to buy another chiller and the water temp will normally be about 28c but probably up to 30c on a very hot day. Are there any species that could handle that and that aren't difficult to keep, I know I'm asking for a lot, but if you don't ask you'll never know.

For Sale: Coral Cradles

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 9:52pm CDT by viper357

I have 27 of these coral cradles for sale, brand new, never been used - R200 onco excl. shipping. I paid R270.

Coral Cradle

Do I ditch the rock and sand?

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 9:44pm CDT by flappy

Hi Guys

As you might know I have just drained my tank and am now left with limestone base rock and Aqua Medic Calcium carbonate as substrate.
My decision now is do I take the base rock out and sand for the following reasons.
1.They may have absorbed P04 and release it back over time when I put new water in causing more algae growth!!!
2.The die off of bacteria from draining the tank would be pretty harsh and prehaps cause Ammonia,Nitrite or Nitrate spikes when the tank is refilled.
I have in the meantime saved my live rock in my sump.
If I choose to chuck the rock and sand then I will go bear bottom and try to purchase liverock as and when I can afford it to supplement my existing liverock.I need many kg`s!!!
Would you chuck the rock and sand and have a bear looking tank?

2.6m tank and stand for sale

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 7:12pm CDT by robvdv

My 2600m x 650mm x 700mm tank plus stand is for sale. It's made out of 12mm glass and served me well for 4 years.

Here's what it looked like assembled:

The cabinetry also comes with the stand.

The whole thing is R5000. I'll deliver it anywhere in Cape Town for an extra R500.

Unfortunately my livestock was being looked after by a LFS while I was moving the tank and a power failure wiped everything out.

I'm building a bigger tank in my new house, so there's not too much point in starting this up again.

Please buy this tank. It's taking up space in my already crowded lounge :)

Progress of Ted's tank

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 6:41pm CDT by ted.vanh

Hi Guys,

For the last few weeks I have been very busy upgrading my tank to the suggestions that were made by you.

I have installed a sump with a Reeftek PS2 skimmer and DSB (got rid of my hang on skimmer and 2 canister filters). I have also replaced the old powerheads with 2 SEIO 1500 litre pumps. The lighting has been upgraded to 2 x 4' blue actinic T8's and 4 x 3' 10000k T5's. I have also just installed a chiller.

The improvement in my tank has been amazing - the corals that were busy waning away havbe started regenerating and my sun coral is tonight beginning to bloom.

I have also found a LFS who I believe I can trust and recommend to anybody who lives in the Pretoria area.

As soon as I can convince my eldest to come and take pics I will post them.

EC/TDS/Temp Meter

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 4:35pm CDT by LikesFish

Does anyone know where I can buy a TDS/EC/Temperature meter on a public holiday such as tomorrow/Sat?

Moving- help needed URGENTLY!

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 3:25pm CDT by Mtroboer

Hi Guys, I am in the unfortunate process of moving to another part of town. I am planning to move my tank tommorow as I will only then be able to have help! Will my fish, corals& liferock be ok living in a few containers for about 2 days max? I will link all of them and suspend some lights over them as well as run a powerhead and heaters.

Require 4 strapping CT lads to transport 2m tank

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 10:51am CDT by Quinton

Hi Capetonian Reefers!

This is a plea for help (seeking all suckers ;-)

I need to transport a 2m tank from Brackenfell to Newlands this weekend. I already have a bakkie and 2-3 pairs of hands, but I think I'll need 6+ pairs of hands. Anyone willing to help. There's beer, braai and scintilating company on offer in return. Please post your CV below to apply ;-)

Bubble master

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 9:53am CDT by IMarine

Hi guys thinking about changing my skimmer 250 bubble master(ati) no reason for selling i just love up grading every 6 - 8 months to some thing new R6000.00:thumbup:

What's better?

Posted: March 20th, 2008, 8:18am CDT by Bayls

Hi
What's better - to leave my tank unfed for 3 days while I'm away :1: or entrust it to someone who has never kept fish?

Cheers

Complete Nano for Sale

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 11:56pm CDT by Leosha

Hey peeps
It is with Huge Heart Ache that i have to sell my Nano. We are leaving the country and i cannot take my Babies with me. A pic of the complete tank can be viewed in my profile pics.
I would prefer to sell the Nano and Live Stock as a unit and not seperately.
I'm not trying to make money out of this deal, I just want to sell it to someone that is going to take REAL GOOD care of it.

:012:

Automatic Air pump

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 10:06pm CDT by Shanie

I live in Cape Town. Can anyone tell me where i can buy an Air pumps that runs on ac power but switches automatically to battery power in the case of a power failure.???? Much appreciated.

SPS corals for sale

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 10:06pm CDT by Jimbo

Hi Guys,

I am selling the following SPS corals to make space in my system. I live in randburg JHB. If you are interested then please PM me and we can arrange:

First coral: Mother colony (very large) approx the size of a small soccer ball. Price R700

Picture of first coral

Second coral: Mother colony size approx as above. Price R700

Picture of second coral

Third coral: I have five large frags of which I want to sell for R100 each.

Picture of third coral

Cheers,

Jimbo.

Resun auto feeder help

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 8:12pm CDT by Mekaeel

hi crew.
need some advice.ive got 2 resun auto feeders.ive set the time and times to dose but nothing happens....
but when i press the manual feed button it doses.experiencing the same problem from both my units.and the guide is in Chinese :(
please help

Various Hardware

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 6:04pm CDT by flappy

OK I was going through my storeroom and found the following hardware I no longer require.

1.Aqua Medic Calcium Carbonate substrate (about 40kg) R500
2.Red Sea Berlin Skimmer R500
3.Azoo Skimmer R100
4.Red Sea Fluodised Bed filter R120
5.Azoo Fluodised Bed Filter R100
6.Speck Pump 0.75 KW Porpoise R650
7.Bio Rock R500 for the lot
8.Aqua H2o Pump 7500 litre per hour/6m head R350
9.Aqua Medic Ocean Runners 6500 pumps R1200 each (there are two)
10.EBO Jager 300 watt Heater R150
11.Tank and canopy 60cm standard R150
12.Assorted MH Singe ended 250 watt bulbs R100 each

I am willing to ship at buyers expense

CTRC meeting

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 5:31pm CDT by Muz

Hi guys..

I am sorry this post has taken so long but there has been much to do with limited time and budget, at long last the Cape Town Reef Club is ready and open.

The club is open to everyone and anyone and initially there will be a registration process but there will be no membership fee, the club is aiming to attract mainly members who are reefers but are not exposed to the network of help and interest that is available. Although the club is very separate from local forums I am hoping that local forum members will be the founding members of the club and come together to help new guys in the hobby with our experience and passion.

The logo has been confirmed and the new club gear will be will be unveiled at the meeting. I will also give a brief talk about the club, what it is all about, where we are going, objectives and what we have been doing for the last 2 months who is on the committee and what they will be doing etc. Also what we will be doing to raise funds etc will be discussed and IMACSA 2009.

The 1st meeting will be at my house in Bothasig as we are still awaiting confirmation of our fixed venue and I was getting ants in my pants. Please PM me your e-mail addresses and I will e-mail you a map.

There will be fires going, so bring a dop & a chop, I have a pool, so if it's hot bring some swimming gear.

SATURDAY 29TH MARCH ... ABOUT 12ISH !! :1:

There will be a small frag tank setup , those that bring a frag can leave with a frag, please bring containers with.

If I think of anything else I will post. !

Hope to see you supporting your local reefing club, and I hope that we can support you.

Yours in reefing

Muz

Sps for sale

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 4:26pm CDT by Suhayl

I have about 6 Millepora. They are all mother collonies which are aprrox 15 cm high and 15 cm across. With my 2 400w 20k BLV metal halides they look pink-green in colour.I am willing to swop for any other Sps what you have. Remember they are not frags.I dont have a camera so i cant take any pics.I am based in Klerksdorp but willing to make a trip to Johannesburg for the corals to swop

Kalkwasser by hand help

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 3:55pm CDT by lanzo

hey guys

i don't have the money now for a kalkstirrer, i'm going to save up for one.
I want to add kalkwasser to my tank manually, how do this.

Some of the stuff that i know about kalkwasser, but not that much:
*Brings KH up
*buffer PH
*helps with phos problems
* can raise Ca but isn't really a additive to add to bring up ca(rather use a calsuim chloride based product

Likefish told me that i can try this(plz tell me if this will work):

-5ml kalkwasser with 200ml of ro water mix good and let it stand for 15min, then throw in slowly(sump)

i plz need some help with this i really want to use this rather than my "pharmaceuticals ph buffer 8.2)

MY NEW 500L REEF TANK [soon to come]

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 2:44pm CDT by nic3322

my old marine tank was lost in a 4 hour power cut :( so i sold the equipment and
i an buying a 500l tank it will sort of be a breeding project any ideas please

$Permalink for 'Marine_Aquariums_of_South_Africa/2008/03/19/Refractometer'$

Refractometer

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 10:28am CDT by Sparky

Hi guys

I'm urgently looking for a refractometer that I can collect today. I know its a tough ask but accidents happen :-)

I'm in the JHB area so please PM me if anyone knows a shop that has stock.

Much appreciated guys

New Tank

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 10:07am CDT by joe

Just wanna know anyone has bought a tank or knows someone that bought a tank at SAMS pets in cape town, as i would like to buy one from them .I would like to know about ur experience, good or bad .

Soft corals wanted jhb area

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 9:45am CDT by raven01

any soft corals or frags, please post price and pics if you have
regards
alex

SA faces huge Power cost hike

Posted: March 19th, 2008, 9:12am CDT by viper357

CAPE TOWN Eskom wants to raise its tariffs by over 50%, the National Electricity Regulator of SA (Nersa) announced yesterday.

If granted, the increase will replace the 14,2% hike Eskom was allowed by Nersa in December last year.

That increase is scheduled to come into effect from April 1.

Eskom has applied for a revision of the price for 2008/9 from 14,2% to 53% increase [sic] or a 60% nominal increase, Nersa said.

It said Eskom wants the revision because of what the utility said are its higher primary energy costs, and accelerated demand side management costs.

In the light of the current electricity supply shortage and load shedding in the country, the energy regulator will give urgent attention to Eskoms application and make its decision after following due process.

Nto Rikhotso of Eskoms media desk confirmed earlier that the new application was to be lodged yesterday afternoon, but that she could not reveal the increase sought.

She said that Nersa will open up a public participation process once the request is lodged.
Its their prerogative to communicate what we have submitted to them, she said.

In allowing a 14,2% hike last year, Nersa rejected Eskoms bid for 18,7%.

Eskom said at the time it needed the increase to maintain effective operations following a steep increase in coal costs and the need to finance capital expenditure.

Its managers are scheduled to receive performance bonuses of shares valued at R10 million at the end of this month.

The hike, whether 14,2% or 53%, comes in the wake of a two cents per kilowatt hour electricity levy announced last month by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, and amid a new round of nationwide power cuts.

Reacting earlier to media reports that the hike sought was 24%, trade union Solidarity said South Africans cannot afford the increase.

It urged Nersa to reject the request.

More cheerful news from Eskom yesterday afternoon is that South Africans will probably not be left in the dark over the Easter weekend.

It said in a statement that two of the nine generating units that had been out of action on unscheduled maintenance came back earlier in the day, and two more were expected to come on line last night.

However, load shedding will continue until after evening peak [9 pm] as the wet weather continues, it said.

Eskom said it is currently load shedding up to 2 500 megawatts, and the risk of cuts will remain until tomorrow.

We dont expect any load shedding over the long weekend as demand patterns are historically lower during holidays, said Erica Johnson, Eskoms chief officer for networks.

Earlier yesterday, before any units were restored, Eskom spokesman Andrew Etzinger said the power situation was extremely serious.

He warned that in the unlikely, but possible, event of more generating-unit failures, power to mining companies would have to be cut.

Rikhotso told Sapa that mines are operating on rationed power, and the long-term plan is that this will be ramped up in stages.

An announcement on Monday that Gold Fields had been allocated additional power for use at its Kloof and Driefontein gold mines formed part of this process.

Its going to be done for all of them, she said.

In January, power shortages forced mines to shut down for five days.

Solidarity is to also ask President Thabo Mbeki to appoint a task team to support him in seeking a solution to the crisis.

Help id

Posted: March 18th, 2008, 10:26pm CDT by brentnorm

anybody have any idea what this is ?

Get yourselves a battery powered air pump!

Posted: March 18th, 2008, 7:36pm CDT by gaboon

If anyone has been threatening to get a battery powered air pump and hasn't done so, I strongly suggest you do. Northwold had no power for 10 hours today, I'm quite sure I would have had a dead tank when I got home from work.

Installing auto top-up

Posted: March 18th, 2008, 7:28pm CDT by gaboon

Before I break this trying to force it in, am I supposed to force this into the bracket? I know I know, a lame question but I cant afford to break it.

Green water

Posted: March 18th, 2008, 6:05pm CDT by dogshow446

hey everyone i would like to get some info on green water heard a couple of people talking about it how do you dose your tank with it and how often

Instant Marine salt

Posted: March 18th, 2008, 3:21pm CDT by viper357

Hi all

Does anybody use Instant Marine salt? Is it any good?

Raising pH

Posted: March 17th, 2008, 6:48am CDT by Warr7207

I have been using the BiCarb / Sodium Carbonate method for 4 weeks now and going well.

I would like to raise my pH by 2/10 permanently.

Am I correct in saying that using BiCarb & Sodium Carbonate will not raise the pH due to them equalizing each other ?

If I just added Sodium Carbonate, would this raise my pH ?

SPS Addicts

Posted: March 17th, 2008, 12:27am CDT by Mekaeel

was just wondering,how many SPS addicts we have on boared...me for one

Fish Types

Posted: March 17th, 2008, 8:49pm CDT by sean_koekemoer

So, now that I still have no answers, please help me with the Following fish:

Please answer in numeric order..LoL:

Squirrel Fish:

Latin Name:

Reef Safe: Yes or No

Primary Food:

Agressiveness:

Benificial to Reef Aquarium: Yes or No and state why

Generally Availability:

Convict Tang:

Latin Name:

Reef Safe: Yes or No

Primary Food:

Agressiveness:

Benificial to Reef Aquarium: Yes or No and state why

Generally Availability:

Should i build/buy a tank?

Posted: March 17th, 2008, 7:34pm CDT by geoffrey

hey guys. im thinking of building a tank, but i need to know how reliable a "home" built tank really is. i mean i have no experience, and i dont think it'll be fun watching it burst in my living room either!

reasons why is well im low on cash, so obvously building a tank is more cost effective right? how many of you guys have built one? i just need to know if it'll be worth it or if i should just save up for buying one.

and also, where do i get schematics and things for buiding the tank.

sounds like fun though, and im going on varsity holidays so i got he time. just not the experience.

if anyone can give me a couple of hints etc ill be greatful

shot, and hope u all had a good st PADDY'S day:peroni:

T5 Diy

Posted: March 17th, 2008, 3:41pm CDT by lappiesreef

HI guys.

I need some help doing the weiring of my T5's.

My tank arrived at last. I jumped in and did the plumbing (no leaks), scaping (lots of pretly's but looks good to me) and lights. Flipped the switch...AND...nothing.

Both my ballasts. I'm thinking there must be a lose wire somewhere.

It is 4 54watt T5's.

Can anyone give me a little map of where the wires should go. The ballast have 7 whole/pin thingies (i'm not technical at all :whistling:)

I followed the LFS's instructions but want to double check,

In the mean time I'll redo all the connections. Do you ahve to use the end caps or can I wire directly tot the tube and seal it. Then I can see them make contact...

My softies

Posted: March 17th, 2008, 1:11pm CDT by ed

some pix of my 1.8m softie tank

Ideal Salinity

Posted: March 17th, 2008, 11:41am CDT by Galibore

I want to know...

If the specific gravity of natural seawater at tropical reefs are 1.026 (or close), then why on earth are reefkeepers, salt manufacturers and just about everybody recommending that our aquarium water should have a specific gravity of 1.023 - 1.025? It doesn'/t make sense.

Here are some articles:

Salinity Article
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Giant Clam Health

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 7:19am CDT by Warr7207

I am very interested in getting info on what healthy clams should look like and what conditions must be provided for a healthy unit.

Kanga posted this:

"Also the Clam does not look that happy either:( and it would be difficult to provide enough lighting and stable enough water parameters for it in a nano (not impossible just very difficult)"
Quinton's new (and somewhat empty) Nano - Marine Aquariums of South Africa

Please expand.

MASApedia Error

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 6:27am CDT by Warr7207

I can't get on to Masapedia, get the following error:

MediaWiki internal error.

Original exception: exception 'DBQueryError' with message 'A database error has occurred
Query: SELECT value,exptime FROM `objectcache` WHERE keyname='marineaq_wiki:messages-hash'
Function: MediaWikiBagOStuff::_doquery
Error: 1033 Incorrect information in file: './marineaq_wiki/objectcache.frm' (localhost)
' in /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Database.php:824
Stack trace:
#0 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Database.php(779): Database->reportQueryError('Incorrect infor...', 1033, 'SELECT value,ex...', 'MediaWikiBagOSt...', false)
#1 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/BagOStuff.php(405): Database->query('SELECT value,ex...', 'MediaWikiBagOSt...')
#2 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/BagOStuff.php(300): MediaWikiBagOStuff->_doquery('SELECT value,ex...')
#3 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/BagOStuff.php(234): SqlBagOStuff->_query('SELECT value,ex...', 'marineaq_wiki:m...')
#4 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/MessageCache.php(205): SqlBagOStuff->get('marineaq_wiki:m...')
#5 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/MessageCache.php(441): MessageCache->load()
#6 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/GlobalFunctions.php(467): MessageCache->get('mainpage', true, true)
#7 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/GlobalFunctions.php(421): wfMsgGetKey('mainpage', true, true, true)
#8 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/GlobalFunctions.php(368): wfMsgReal('mainpage', Array, true, true)
#9 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Title.php(268): wfMsgForContent('mainpage')
#10 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Wiki.php(92): Title::newMainPage()
#11 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/index.php(58): MediaWiki->checkInitialQueries(NULL, 'view', Object(StubObject), Object(WebRequest), Object(Language))
#12 {main}

Exception caught inside exception handler: exception 'DBUnexpectedError' with message 'Error in fetchObject(): Incorrect information in file: './marineaq_wiki/page.frm' (localhost)' in /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Database.php:953
Stack trace:
#0 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/MessageCache.php(314): Database->fetchObject(false)
#1 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/MessageCache.php(251): MessageCache->loadFromDB()
#2 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/MessageCache.php(441): MessageCache->load()
#3 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/GlobalFunctions.php(467): MessageCache->get('databaseerror', true, false)
#4 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/GlobalFunctions.php(421): wfMsgGetKey('databaseerror', true, false, true)
#5 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Exception.php(23): wfMsgReal('databaseerror', Array)
#6 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Database.php(276): MWException->msg('databaseerror', 'Database error')
#7 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Exception.php(125): DBQueryError->getPageTitle()
#8 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Exception.php(88): MWException->htmlHeader()
#9 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Exception.php(111): MWException->reportHTML()
#10 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Exception.php(191): MWException->report()
#11 /home/marineaq/public_html/wiki/includes/Exception.php(225): wfReportException(Object(DBQueryError))
#12 [internal function]: wfExceptionHandler(Object(DBQueryError))
#13 {main}

Hot Links This Month

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 6:22am CDT by Warr7207

Hot Links This Month

Does this ever get updated ?

Sean's Freshwater Fishtank

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 11:28pm CDT by sean_koekemoer

This is my other Babies, had them for a couple of years and hopefully will have them for some more years to come. No full tank shot as front glass was a bit dirty on the outside(waterspilling etc). Have different coloured Malawi's and the 02 Oscars as well as some "Cleaner Fish" and an Eel inside the tank. Will update some time- I know how you guys just LOVE Freshwater fish....LoL

Permalink for 'Marine_Aquariums_of_South_Africa/2008/03/16/Ich'

Ich

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 10:07pm CDT by Angelreaper

Hi Guys

I see that I have white spot in my tank and unfortunately do not have a quarantine tank for the fish that are infected. Does anyone have recommendations for medication as there are inverts in that tank.

Sorry if i have posted this under the wrong thread

Red hairy algae on back glass and on some rocks

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 9:34pm CDT by Raven

Hi guys,
I have some red hairy algae growing on the back glass. I've also noted that it spread to some of my live rock...

How good/bad is this? Which parameters must be checked, and how can i get this out/under control...?

There is a lot of water movement on it - so i don't think water movement is a problem.

LED lights

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 9:20pm CDT by Raven

Hi guys,
I'm in process of upgrading my lights.
At this stage I've 3 T5's (2 white - 1 blue 80W), but these lights are more than a year old.
I want to get me some corals and/or clams which will require more lights.
The tank dim (145 * 45 * 48) (l*w*h)
So here is what i'm looking for:
1. 1 MH 250 W 14 K
2. 3 T5 80 W White (10000K)
3. 2 T5 80 W Blue (20000K)

Thus i will have 8 T5's in total....

But then I've noted that one of the sponsors are selling
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']LED - Rio Mini Sun - Daylight & Deep Sea Blue.(5 White LED, 5 Blue LED)[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']My question/s:[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']1. Can one use these LED lights instead of the T5 or MH - if not what is this used for...?
2. Are anyone using this lights?
3. Is the amount of lights that i've mentioned above sufficient or a bit excessive?
[/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Thanks
[/font]

Monti's fate

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 8:41pm CDT by Warr7207

As some of you may know I am not really fond of keeping SPS. When I bought my tank it included a pink/orange montipora.

The unit was OK for a couple of weeks, till I noticed a weird tube-like structure on the main plate of the coral. This tube had some tentacles. I investigated and thought I had a vermetid snail. I decide to RO dip the coral to get rid of the pest. This did not work, but stressed the coral to bleaching.

I got rid of the "snail" with a Calcium Hyroxide injection, but the coral really looked sick.

I have been trying to nurse it back and have noticed some colour coming back.

Please give me your opinion on what should be done to the montipora in the pic below

Juwel Rio 240

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 6:43pm CDT by iz1b1zi

Hi guys, i got a juwel Rio 240 up for sale. The unit is 2 weeks old, never seen fish. It has a 2 year warranty with juwel and i have original invoive from pet shop. The unit goes for R6800 new.

As said its practically new, but not expecting to sell it as a new unit. So starting at R4500.

here is a pic of what it looks like...

forgot to add, its identical unit, just in oak finish!

What are these things

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 4:16pm CDT by lindsay pollard

Banggai Cardinalfish - free to a good home! Must come pick up today JHB

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 11:27am CDT by matt165

Got a banggai cardinalfish, beautiful specimen but with all my studies etc i'd rather keep my tank understocked :(

PM me if you'd like to come pick him up. Today would be best.

Had enough of salt, i'm going FW!

Posted: March 16th, 2008, 10:40am CDT by matt165

Made you look! :razz:

Sliming Question

Posted: March 15th, 2008, 8:48pm CDT by Warr7207

What's is going on here.

Magnesium

Posted: March 15th, 2008, 8:06pm CDT by Warr7207

OK, what does Magnesium do and I am sure I should be testing it

2m Amazon (Aquah20) -- Cape town

Posted: March 15th, 2008, 3:10pm CDT by ivansa

2m Amazon with full sump as below (Paid R12000 new). Will consider offers over R4000
Tank is less than a year old and still in perfect condition and selling as I'm moving to New Zealand.

Tank is full of bathwater and fish. So will need some advance warning to empty and clean. Bring 6 friends as this is a heavy sucker.

Updated pics of my refugium

Posted: March 15th, 2008, 2:29pm CDT by Tobes

Hi Guys, here are some pics of my refugium. The reason I made it so tall is for more water volume as I dont have space to go wider.
The water comes in at the bottom of the refugium and flows upwards over the DSB, then over the live rock and into the compartment where the cheato is and then back to sump.

:wave2:

Calcium Test Kit

Posted: March 15th, 2008, 1:56pm CDT by Alfie

Thought I would start nvesting in some better test kits. Heres the first one.

Magnetic Scraper

Posted: March 15th, 2008, 1:53pm CDT by Alfie

Got myself this today.

Life in the DSB

Posted: March 15th, 2008, 1:09pm CDT by Sabi

H'llo

Coming near to setting up my system, i've been reading more and more about the deep sand bed setup. What exactly lives in the dsb? Macro algae, hermit crabs, shrimp? What 'stirs' up the bed? Will live sand from the sea bed have most of the life that is needed?

Also i'd appreciate if someone can take a pic of their dsb and post it up just so i can see how everything is as it'll help me get a bit more understanding.

Thanks!
Sabi

Coral purchase

Posted: March 15th, 2008, 11:29am CDT by dogshow446

hey guys looking at getting a new addition to the tank this weekend just wanted to get an idea of what you think is a starter coral that is fairly easy to look after my lighting is as follows 1 t5 blue and 1 white and 2 150w metal halide 10000k globes

How to select a new avatar from MASA

Posted: March 15th, 2008, 10:11am CDT by Kanga

Ok so the great benevolent Viper has again raised the bar and has found us some stunning avatars for those do dont want to scour the net for some

First off click User CP on the toolbar, then User Control Panel in the drop down text box

Then Click Edit Avatar

The search through the pages for an avatar that you like and tick the circle below the avatar
Click save changes and you have a new avatar:thumbup:

March 14th today, well maybe a bit late

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 1:53am CDT by neilharris

Hi all,
It is 'March 14th' today/yesterday...
Have to remember this one for next year:whistling: .

If in doubt, do a google;)
Neil

Check out this tank

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 1:14am CDT by Mekaeel

Tank of the Month - January 2008 - Reefkeeping.com

What will this be???

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 10:23pm CDT by komodo

I got these transparent stuff in my sump on the glass,they disapear as soon as the sumps lights go's on and are nogals quick, and the size of the computers curser and they are not botherd by the Amphipods

A mate of mine got a new toy

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 10:05pm CDT by Wee-Man

This little beauty:thumbup:

Cheap Scraper

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 9:38pm CDT by Warr7207

Check this gear I pick up for R35.00 :P

Why its not a good idea to keep cleaner shrimp with a pistol shrimp

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 9:32pm CDT by matt165

Cool vid! Sorry if this is a repost:

Rock thingy

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 8:55pm CDT by Warr7207

What is the white blob with red insides ?

Here's my Inverter setup. With pics!

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 7:04pm CDT by matt165

Ok client of mine set this up for me, works a treat!

200W Invertor, 2 Batteries, and a Relay. Relay switches on as soon as power trips. It also switches itself off so batteries don't drain too low, however it can easily keep my setup running for the estimated 4 hour load shedding times.

Only thing to do is take of that masking tape and plug that wire into the battery and the relay will kick in ;)

Closer shot, all put together nice and neatly in a waterproof container!

2 pin plug which goes into the wall:

2 x 3 pin plugs which I plug my essentials into (pumps, heater etc)

Here's the final product, peace of mind...

Banggai Cardinal Not Feeding?

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 3:37pm CDT by matt165

Bought a banggai cardinal from my LFS on wed. Hasn't eaten yet! I usually feed Omega One marine flakes with garlic, he went for it once or twice but spat them out each time.

Then tried a mix of mysis/brine this morning, and he paid no notice to it at all...

Any ideas?

Missing Fish

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 1:29pm CDT by Warr7207

I have had a pair of clowns (maroon and false) hosting in a heliofungia for the last couple of months. Everything has been great with the relationship. Especially that the maroon had somewhere to hide from the Black Devil Damsel.

In the last couple of days the fungia has been looking distressed, it has not been fully extending it's tentacles. So I removed the fungia from the display, hoping the clowns will host in my anenome or hammer coral.

I have found the maroon has gone missing, maybe without the corals protection gone the damsel has finally killed him ?

The interesting thing is where has the fish gone ?

Would my CUC totally finish off a dead fish in approx. 6 hours ?

Do dead fish float, and maybe the fish is in the skimmer or plumbing ?

Wanted: Multi Controller, wavemaker??

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 12:05pm CDT by Andreas

Hi,

Any one might be thinking of selling a multi controller or wavemaker or have lying around????

ReefOcto. Kalk Reactor140

Posted: March 14th, 2008, 8:26am CDT by SIMS

Hi All

I have a brand new Reef Octopus Kalk reactor for sale. Never been used, still in box.
Selling because I'm going to try the balling method and will not need kalk for it.
I think they go for R1900 to R2000 new.

I'm willing to swap for a few auto topups if you have...

Any offers...

Shipping at buyers expence.

What livestock first??

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 9:31pm CDT by Shanie

Hi Guys,
What livestock should go in first , once the tank has cycled. Some say Hermits and snails. Others say Fish & Others say Coral???

Puppy's setup

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 8:22pm CDT by Puppy

Pics as requested.I will upload more later.Henk u a star.

Komodo's new 1.2

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 7:57pm CDT by komodo

tank and sump

Chiller Down

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 7:45pm CDT by sean_koekemoer

This is a sad, sad day for me, first my Cybershot, then the day before yesterday my Nokia N95 and to top everything off: My Chiller!!!!

This is what happens if a Chiller decides to bomb out and heat your water in record time:

Before shot:

After Shot:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

TDS in PTA??-HELP-

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 7:10pm CDT by lanzo

HEy hey hey guys

Don't you know someone that knows someone with a TDS meeter in PTA.
PLZ i need to test my TDS i have a "moerse" cyno problem and i think it is my ro water.
PLEASE HELP

Help needed urgently for my clownfish

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 6:09pm CDT by Dolphinfriendly

My female Amphiprion Ocellaris has contracted Brooklynella Hostilis, she has lost alot of weight is covered in white spots and blotches, she is very lethargic and her colour has faded.

Please help me, I'm not sure how much longer she hold on.

Greeting

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 4:50pm CDT by shawn

hi all,

can anyone help?
I have a 24g nano tank with some corals.
My button poly has been thriving but recently i noticed that the button polyp has not opened at all.
On closer inspection, i noticed some slug like things moving around the polyps.
can anyone advise what i should do?
Will my polyps eventually die?

Newbie

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 4:25pm CDT by Leosha

Hey there i am fairly new ... about 4 days ... lol i have managed to chat to a few of you already. Great site and happy reef keeping everyone !!!! :thumbup:

Need help pleaseeee

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 3:18pm CDT by komodo

can someone please help meto post my picks i struggle...

Cured LR needed

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 2:49pm CDT by Punk

hi guys, i'm urgently in need of about 4-5 pieces of cured LR in jo'burg / pta area...

i need it as filtration for a mantis tank

thanks!
ant
072-957-6406

Coolingtower? Help!!

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 12:46pm CDT by Mtroboer

Hi Guys, after posting pics of my new setup we got onto the topic of cooling seeing as it can get quite hot here in the Northern Cape! So I spoke to Cybervic just a moment ago and he suggested that I build a coolingtower. Any of you guys familiar with the concept and how effective it is?

Small give away

Posted: March 13th, 2008, 11:22am CDT by Benanna

Hi Guys and Gals in PE. I will soon be dismantling my current tank in preparation for my new set-up as I need some of the equipment. I don't have anything of significance in this tank but would like to give my healthy Cleaner Shrimp and Common Clown a new home.

Anyone interested in these two, please PM me.

Cleaner shrimp question

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 1:19am CDT by Warr7207

I have 3 cleaner shrimps in my tank. Tonight one of the shrimps is swimming around the tank from reef to powerhead and so on. Now normally they walk around on the reef. Is there something wrong with this creature ?

Pincushion Placement

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 1:15am CDT by Warr7207

i have a Pincushion and Lobophytum coral right next to each other. Will they be chemical warfare or are they relatives ?

Pseudocheilinus hexataenia vote

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 12:59am CDT by Warr7207

Ok, Please vote and give personal experience of the Six Line Wrasse.

I do understand that all fish are different and react differently.

Someday we will be able to afford it

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 12:01am CDT by Alfie

Hows this fpr lights

[www.solarisled.com]

Hardy Fish

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 11:29pm CDT by Aziz

Any one for some ideas on a fish only tank, i want some hardy pref. big fish for my 1.5m 600w 750h tank. do anybody have any pics of their fish only tank's

Help our friend Sean

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 10:20pm CDT by herkie

Hi all, Sean Koekemoer has been threatening to destroy his tank and he was calmed down. Now the big one has hit him between the eyes. His brand new chiller gave in and all that beautifull stuff in his tank is taking strain. His missus just told me the water temp sits on 30 deg and knowing Zululand I can tell you a few more degrees is on the way. I gave her all the advice such as frozen bottles and fans. Please assist!

Picaso Trigger

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 10:08pm CDT by lindsay pollard

Anyone interested in a picaso around 4 inches in size

Copperband feeding

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 9:44pm CDT by lanzo

Hey guys
My copperband is beutifull but a bit on the stupid side!:1:
He seems to be eating only live brine shrimps and if i throw them in all my other fish eet it before my copper regestirs that there is live food in the tank.

So i throw in omega flakes and then directly after it i add the live brine shrims.....
he is still a bit on the slow side but seems to eet a few.

How can i get him off of the live food and let him eat dead brine shrimps or flakes?

Howzit

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 9:43pm CDT by dono

Howzit All,

Name's Dono::wave2:
Just wanted to say Hi! , I've been watching this forum keenly over the past two weeks and DAMN!! this forum is awesome. I've learnt soooo much, think my heads gonna pop. My tank is only 4days old so its still cycling... gonna need all the help I can get.. Hopefully with the opinions here, I'm certain all will be OK!

Sick Regal Tang

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 9:42pm CDT by herkie

My Regal Tang developed this eye problem a few days ago, what can I do about it?

Hi there everybody

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 8:56pm CDT by Puppy

Howdy fellow reefers

Thanks to IMarine i came accross your site.
Very nice setup.

I have been stuck to this hobby for the last 8 years.
Currently i have a 800L sps system that is about 14 months old.
Nice to meet all u addicts.

Top Reputations

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 6:13pm CDT by Warr7207

Under reputations there is number or a fraction of a number. What does the second number indicate ?

Bass Boat

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 4:47pm CDT by Andreas

Hi there.

I'm thinking of selling my bass boat so that I can upgrade my aquarium??:)

It consists of the following.

30 Hp Yamaha motor
105A Deltec Deep Cycyle Battery (used about 4 times.)
Minn Kota Trolling Motor (used about 4 times.)
Eagle Fish Finder(used about 5 times.)
2X Life Jackets (Never been used)
Fire Extinguiser
Stainless steel steering wheel
Stainless steel rod holder (4 rods)
Custom designed chair (Covered in Marine Vinyl)
Yamaha 35 Liter Petrol Tank
14 " Mags(not a nick)with brand new Pirellis (done about 200km).

Completely restored the boat (new stainless steel bolts, nuts, nails etc)
New leaf springs, wheel bearings.

Galvanished trailer, painted black to complement the boat.

Price R46 000.00

Mtroboer's Tank

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 4:10pm CDT by Mtroboer

Hi Guys here is some pics of my tank& sump, please feel free to give any suggestions as im fairly new to reefing!:)

Cold water reef

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 2:05pm CDT by 459b

I am currently building an aquarium (1350 X 510 X 700) out of plywood. It was meant to be an upgrade for my octopus, but four days into the build my octopus had an unfortuanate encounter with my needle urchin. Seeing as the octopus was small, tentacles only 10cm long, the urchin won the battle. Now i sit with an almost complete tank and have no idea what to put in it. I live in Cape town and would prefer to stock the tank with local species. Any ideas on what species of invertebrates do well in aquaria?

A summary of a beginnners sharp leraning curve

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 11:24am CDT by crispin

I was talking to Warr last night and he suggested I write a thread on the enjoyment one can get from cycling ones tank.

I re-read some of the old posts I did a while ago. Just to see where my understandings had got to from when I started, kind of see if I could answer the same questions I asked when I started. The learning curve has been vertical. Not rapid just simply straight up and six weeks in there is no slowing down, just a change in topics. And I would say the I was and am relatively experienced in the management of recalculating systems, be it fresh water tanks, breeding rare tropical fresh water fish or ponds and huge wetland systems.

In very brief summary of the primary things I asked to begin and what I was generally told.

New system or old? Answer go new as its then your build and you get what you want, you learn on the way and you are not in inheriting other peoples mistakes. I agree 80% there, I think perhaps getting an old system would have got me into the husbandry aspects quicker (the water changes, water quality, cleaning skimmers etc etc) and I would have a show piece in my house already. Also I would not have to cycle for 6 weeks. But that counts for 20% all of which I will catch up soon. In short definitely get a new tank for yourself
Bigger is better??? This was a HUGE question for me. Yes I want size, I wanted the forgiveness on my own mistakes which I knew I will make. Note WILL make as they are still coming and always will be, dont fool yourself that research will save u from these! I subscribe fully to the saying pollution solution through dilution. The principles are sound and make sense to me. But bigger costs. And costs LOTS. Everyone says Marines are expensive, everyone tries to save costs. I set a budget and blew it on the tank and skimmer alone! Size counts, go as big as u can to start, go smaller when u know whats going on. I would hate to start on a Nano and have to be so precise without having the experience.
Second hand or new equipment? This has HUGE cost implications and big risk factors. I was very lucky. Very very lucky and I will always be in MASAS dept for having members like Likesfish and in him I found honest good quality second hand equipment, but best of all honesty. I state again I was lucky. I placed myself in his hands and said this is my budget what can we do. Also Likesfish had good quality equipment, and fairly new. If it was not quality equipment or had been over a few years old I would rather have gone new, even at double the cost. Also asking others what do think of the cost of this for that type questions on a open public display is invaluable. If you are starting and not certain (as in 1000%) know what u want and are getting..ASK!
A Little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing! Ok so I have a tank, I have the basic equipment and I even managed to get the tank level. I knew what I want to achieve with respect to showing the tank etc and was now ready to full it. I read about RO, TDS, NSW and so on. Read about it but didnt understand it. You never do until you experience it. Then information is converted by experience into knowledge. That step is KEY. I got second had live rock from a guy breaking down. I waited for that. Waited to find a BIG system, heavy stocking density. With lots of people wanting the Live Stock. Why look for a system like that? It showed an experienced reefer. It showed a guy who cared. And I wanted that. Because if his system is good, his LR is BETTER. Good biological filtration is key to good water parameters. And yes I am stressing that there should be thought around these things. I got the LR and dropped it into my tank, sat back and stopped thinking. I knew roughly what should happen and I didnt pay careful close attention to settling it down. I didnt even work out which side of the LR should be up or down and so on. A little bit of knowledge lead me to trouble. Its not a little you need its LOTS. Its not information that counts, its your knowledge!
I got smacked! I went away leaving an immature system unattended. SO many people say dont. Tap water was used for top up and by the time I came back I could not see into the tank. Algae bloomed from hell! But it taught me a very good lesson. If you make mistakes nature WILL show you. If you do things right nature WILL show you. Read your tank! Look at the parameters, look at the inhabitants, look at the system. The aesthetics pf how it looks etc is only important from a human vanity aspect. Its what is INSIDE that counts. I was almost depressed at the state of my tank. I really was. A lot of work and effort has gone into it and 4weeks later I am hitting problems people say take YEARS to fix. But onto forums, follow advice and DO IT! So many people know they should do water changes. So many people know they have to acclimatize, yet so often we hear of things murdered due to human impatient! Thats a waist of life, and that is sacrilege.
this is voluntary, it should be fun! This is the one aspect I have battled with a little, especially when I hit algae so hard. But then I sat back, looked at my tank and realized that there are some many millions of things of interest in it. Be it from a bristle worm suddenly popping out, or the fact that I try count copepods to see the state of the living community. 4 weeks of having LR in my system and I play a nightly game of finding a new living organism that wasnt there the day before. Or more to the point WAS there, I just missed it. It keeps my interest, increases the fun and really gives me great satisfaction. Who said cycling was no fun???? I even found a slug like fella last night1 And yes that got me excited. If the little guys can hold so much fun, I cant wait to get a school of 9 hippo tangsJ

Anyone want a Peacock Mantis?

Posted: March 12th, 2008, 11:11am CDT by LikesFish

I need to sell one of my two Peacock Mantis shrimps... Anyone interested? Asking R200. The shrimp is about 8cm long if I have to estimate.

Lumern 250 fittings

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 1:32am CDT by IMarine

Hi guys i am willing to sell 2x lumern 250 watt fittings with 2x 250watt 12000k reeflux globes only 3months old.no ballast R1500.00 for the 2,own transport

Lanzo's tiny reef

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 8:17pm CDT by lanzo

Ocean asked me very nicley to make a thread
So here follows my steps from day 1 until now.

Wanted trickle filter

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 7:22pm CDT by Aziz

wanted trickle filter for a sump.

Hello ppl

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 6:00pm CDT by Mtroboer

Hi to everyone I have not greeted yet! Wee-Man wanted to know what kind of a setup I have, it's as follow-

The tank is a 1,2 m 280L tank with a 60L sump/refugium. I have about 40kg's of Liferock, mostly Malaysian, some Kenian and a fine crushed coral substrate about 7cm's deep. In the sump I have a 20 w Full Spectrum light,2 Jebo Skimmers(Sucky Sucky!!!!!! Saving for a TS2!), a DSB, some Caulerpa and a return pump. In the hood I have 2x 54w T5's, One full spectrum the other actinic, a NO 40w actinic and 2x Fans.

And lifestock is as follow:

Fish:

1 False Percula
1 Watchman Goby
1 Foxface
1 Coral beauty
1 Algae Blenny
1 Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse

Invertabrates:

2x Cleaner shrimp
2x Hermits (Was sold as Blue-Legged Hermits, not so sure!!!)
1x Anemone Crab
1x Debelius Reef Lobster(No problems yet!)
Couple of unknown snails

Corals:

Anemone(Not sure of species)
1x Euphelia( Thanks Reefmaniac!)
1x Sinularia
Brown Button Polyps
Green Button Polyps
Some Pulsing Xenia(Thanks to Ed although not much left, Foxface started munching!)
Blue Shrooms
Star Polyps(Or do I have any left......?FOXY!!!!!!!!!!!)
A lot of small tube and fanworms

Will sent some pics soon!

Moving my nano tank - How should I do this?

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 4:40pm CDT by matt165

I'm moving my nano from my bedroom to my lounge (just across the hall really)

Tank size: 90L

I know for huge tanks you drain them completely before trying to move it, does the same apply to a little nano??

Could I drain it half way and then move it?? Want to minimize stress / effort etc

Wanted: Auto top up unit

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 1:00pm CDT by gaboon

Looking for one of these, 2nd hand or new(sponsors?). Going away for the easter weekend so would like to sort it out this weekend.

Thanks

Hardware & Livestock for sale

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 10:36am CDT by Brandon WJ

Hi everyone, if any one in Cape Town is looking to sell their hardware and or livestock please let me know.

Stray current

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 10:07am CDT by Bayls

Hi
I'm tired of getting shocked on the sensitive parts of my fingers when I put my hand in the water (and I'm not so sure its great for the livestock either). Is there any simple way of leading this stray current away from the tank?

One-Spot Foxface

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 10:04am CDT by Mtroboer

Hi Everyone,

I'm fairly new to the hobby, have my tank running for 7 months now. I was just wondering how reefsafe the Foxface really is? Has seen it nipping at my Xenia and Starpolyps, have almost nothing left!!

Lifetech pumps?

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 10:01am CDT by Punk

hey guys, anybody got experience with these pumps?

i'm thinking of running 3 of the AP5800's (12,000 l/h @ ??? Watt) as opposed to 3 x Hailea 6550's (~5500 l/h @ 200W ouch)

i can't get full specs on these pumps (e.g. power consumption), anybody got please?

also can i run them externally?

i think they're similarly prices as well??

please vote which you'll go for

thanks! :)

Yellow Tang and algae sheets

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 10:01am CDT by Bayls

Hi
My yellow tang has in the tank for 4 days and is swimming around and pecking at the algae on the rocks, but he won't touch the green algae sheets i put in the veggie clip. is it worth dropping some shredded algae sheet into the water column or is this pointless? How can I get him to find and eat from the clip?

cheers

New tank

Posted: March 11th, 2008, 9:13am CDT by joe

Good Morning

Im planning a new tank , dimensions 1,2L * 600cmH* 700cmW
I was wondering if anyone has a pick of a similar tank, i specifically wanna know how to brace the tank.
i want the overflow in the centre ,against one of the 600* 700 sides as It will have a 3 angle view.
Any input would be appreciated
Thanx

Coral placement

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 1:33am CDT by Warr7207

I hava a Lobophytum and an acropora 100mm away from each other. Is there going to be war ?

Things to do List

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 12:20am CDT by Warr7207

My "things to do" List for my tank:

In no particular order.

Catch, Kill, Destroy, Exterminate 1 x Black Devil Domino Damsel
Create a viable phytoplankton production line or reactor
UV filter and plumb it in :sweatdrop:
Clean out Coralline from my powerheads (never been done:whistling:)
Find a Hippo Tang
Get rid of salt leak (creep) on my skimmer's outlet pipes
Get tank's cabinet installed
Install UPS/Inverter back-up system (generator is way to much PT)
Acquire and install digital pH meter
Lastly, plan the BIGGER tank (don't tell the wife :whistling:)

Hi guys

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 11:47pm CDT by geoffrey

Hey fellow reefers. :thumbup:

I'm new to the site s i thought i'd say hi. thank God i found this site!

ok just a quickie on what tank i have... its a 240L atman tank with an internal filter (with bio-balls) and an external canister. thats bout it. got 2 damsels and a fire shrimp. rest of the fish died.:( hence the reason i found this site.

really love the hobby, had to look after the tank for a friend and now i practically own it! its taken over my life! :lol:

Anyways would like to hear from you guys. have so many questions about my tank and how to get it up and running a bit better again.

Peace

Cape Town NSW

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 11:31pm CDT by flappy

Hi Guys

I am emtying my FOWLR tank for a number of reasons.

1.I want to kill the algae plague that has caused me sleepless nights for the last year.
2.I want to reenforce a certain section of my tank

I am currently faced with the dilema of collecting tons of NSW or purchasing large quantities of salt.If I collect NSW I need to get a trailer and 500 litre drum long term for water changes.(costly short term but will pay itself back)If I use salt I need to purchase enough for about 500 litres per month.I also need to fill 5000 litres initially.
Do any of you have experiance with parametres of sea water from the research institute?
What would you advise me to do NSW or salt?
As a last resort can anyone with a bakkie/truck lend a hand to fill the tank if I can provide the container 500litres or 1000 litres,I know its a big ask!!!

What is this ?

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 11:07pm CDT by Warr7207

This is from Crispin tank

Weaning my Lionfish off live food

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 10:58pm CDT by pch356

Hi,

I recently became the proud owner of a Spot-finned Lion fish (Pterois antennata). :thumbup:
The LFS I bought it from only fed it live brineshrimp, so I am trying to wean the spoilt brat off eating life food only.

I will still add live food (brineshrimp) to it's diet as a snack, but would be glad if it will take a bite from the frozen brinshrimp, blood worm, chopped hake etc that I feed the other tank inhabitants. I have a FOWL setup, so I can still pick and choose to a certain extent as to what I want to feed my fish.

Feeding the Lion fish currently is a process. First of all you have to get the attention of the other fish away from the munchies being fed to the Lion Fish by feeding them in one side of the tank. Then I take my home made tool (a funnel connected to a piece of pipe) and hold it so the the pipe is close to the Lion. I then pour the live brineshrimp down the funnel and hopefully the Lion will get a bite or three before the other realises what is going on. I am just worried that he does not get enough to eat at the moment.

Any ideas, other than feeding it with a golden teaspoon ? ;)

My Lights setup idea

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 10:36pm CDT by lIghty

Hi Friends

If you have read my thread on my new tank you'll know that I'm wanting to put 8x T5 tubes in the hood.

Although my tank is 600mm wide I only have just over 400mm of space to house my lights (due to the Euro bracing and C2C overflow). Some obstacles I have come across...

1. Could I use 2 tubes in 1 reflector as they are about 70mm wide to save space?

2. Thinking of using a piece of Perspex under the lights to form a "enclosure" and a small extractor fan to remove the heat out the side of the hood?

3. I can get "waterproof" T5 end caps for R45 ea, Good price? ( The ones with the screw on piece and seal)

All comment welcome.:whistling:

Thanks:thumbup:

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RO Unit

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 7:04pm CDT by Sparky

Hi Guys

Is it really feasible for me to get an RO unit, considering I only have a 65L tank, and should I decide to upgrade it probably wouldn't go over 200L as I don't have the space for it?

At the moment I'm using tap water treated with Aquasafe. Yes yes, I know... it's terrible, but that is what the budget allowed for right now.

If an RO unit is a good buy, which ones should I be looking at?

Ultra Violence

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 6:33pm CDT by Warr7207

I am so undecided about UV filters, please give me your take/s on pro's and con's of running UV.

I have noticed there are so many different sizes, but the units actually don't say what volume tank it should be used for etc.

Fishy's slow progress tank

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 6:31pm CDT by Fishy Steve

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread for my tank as it's kinda becoming something to look at. Not much but something. Maybe a thread will help me speed progress up on the tank but it can only go as quick as my finance allows.

Its a 140L aqua h2o curved glass tank with matching cabinet. I'm using a weipro 2013 skimmer, a canister filter doing 1100L/H, and a little powerhead doing 450L/H. The canisters outlet is creating the most flow if you're thinking 450L/H is to little.

Livestock includes a tiny tank bred false perc clown, a cleaner shrimp, two tiny blue legged hermit crabs and a small piece of LR with about six little unknown polyps on it that has sprouted a ridiculous amount of hair algae. Don't think straight away my phosphates are to high as this growth is only on the new piece that the polyps are on.

Tank cycled before I added any livestock and has been going well so far. only things being tested are ph 8.5 and salinity 1.024 (on crappy hydrometer). I use salt mix for my water changes witch are about 15% weekly.

Before anyone says :nono: about my skimmer I know it ain't great but its working so far. And I didn't mention a sump cause there aint one...:blushing:...Yet. Tank has only been running for around 2 months so all in due time.

I know everyone wants pics which will come asap. Now I am going to :1:every one enjoy the rest of your day.

Secondhand 25l drums

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 6:20pm CDT by mandarinman

im looking for 8 to 10 drums for a once off filling of new tank with nsw, prepared to pay deposit, ct only

Anyone here delt with colonial hydroids? How do I get rid of them?

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 5:22pm CDT by matt165

I've found some clonial hydroids in my tank :nono:

Was given great advice by Wee-Man and Warr on how to get rid of them, but it requires removing the LR from the tank.

Problem is the hydroids are on my base rock (bottom pieces of my aquascape) - so i've got to dismantle the whole tank if I want to remove them...

Are there any ways I can try get rid of them without dismantling my entire setup!?

New Member

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 11:33am CDT by Leosha

Hi there
New to the site ... Have a Nano ... about 6 months old.:biggrin:

Clowns spawning

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 10:19am CDT by darrencon

HI All

My clowns spawned yesterday... funny thing is that it was in the afternoon. I thought they only spawned at night.

Also they laid their eggs right under the nennie which is a problem cause when the lights go out, the nennie completly covers the eggs???

I am thinking about trying to raise the fry(I know its very difficult), but not this batch.. maybe in a few weeks time. If I put a small tile near them, do you think they will lay on that??

Any comments appreciated...

Here is a pic

Flush valve for borneman surge device!?

Posted: March 10th, 2008, 9:22am CDT by Punk

hi guys,

i'm building (or trying to!) 2 x 40l borneman surge devices as per http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...ge_device.html but can't get the fluidmaster 507 flush valve anywhere (Fluidmaster | Products | Flush Valves - Flush Valve 507)!? eish! :(

anybody perhaps know where i can get something similar that can work?

i phoned the sales director of dutton plastics (Dutton Plastics), they're the exclusive distributor of fluidmaster in SA & he said they don't stock the 507 & it's not worth he's while to bring in only 3............ now i'm screwed

please help, many thanks!
ant

What salt you use ?

Posted: March 9th, 2008, 12:29am CDT by Warr7207

What salt you use ?

Any particular reason ?

New Addition

Posted: March 9th, 2008, 8:06pm CDT by Warr7207

Check out the cool coral Matt165 gave me
:thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1:

New Addition

Posted: March 9th, 2008, 7:54pm CDT by Warr7207

Lets give a warm welcome to my newest inmate.

Hi, I'm Suncoral

Posted: March 9th, 2008, 7:51pm CDT by Suncoral

Hi everyone. :wave2:

I would like to introduce myself.

I'm 13 years old turning 14 this year and I have 2 tanks: a 250l 4ft and a 12g nano cube.

1.2 m Tank for sale.

Posted: March 9th, 2008, 7:40pm CDT by Zookeeper

Hi guys I have a unused 1,2 m tank for sale.The glass is 6mm and the size is 1,2 x 0,45 x0,45.That`s your standard four foot tank for the older guys.The tank comes with a square tube stand build out of 50 mm square tube.I was going to set the tank up but I just do not have the space right now.Price is R600 for tank and stand.If you need help with transport I can always drop it off for you.

Sound 4 sale

Posted: March 9th, 2008, 4:54pm CDT by sharkbite

1 X 15 inch MTX sub(TH 8000) in box and 1 x Calibra 1200wx4 amp.both for R1000.PH XXXXXXXXXX

Hello

Posted: March 9th, 2008, 3:58pm CDT by Cat

:wave2: Hi. My husband and I recently moved to Musina from Zim, and have finally got our one tank set up - it's just got guppies and swordtails in at the moment, but we are really keen to find out how to set up a salt water tank...

Green stalk like growth

Posted: March 9th, 2008, 2:22pm CDT by brentnorm

Mineral mud

Posted: March 9th, 2008, 1:14pm CDT by Ocean

Does anyone where to get mineral mud thanks:thumbup:

Lighty's New 110g Tank

Posted: March 8th, 2008, 10:37pm CST by lIghty

Hi Friends

For all those who where following my Tank and Sump Design thread, Tank and Sump Design - Marine Aquariums of South Africa

Well it no longer just a design on paper (or the HDD), its now glass and water...

Specs

Tank

1.4m x 0.6m x 0.55m (LxWxH)
420 lts
10mm glass with 12mm Euro bracing
Galvanised stand (40x40 square tubing)

Sump (Fully inclosed)

1m x 0.5m x 0.6m (LxWxH)
75 lts - normal water level
65 lts - Extra water capacity (incase of power failure, before overflowing)
28 lts - Built in RO Reservoir
20 lts - Built in refugium
3000cm2 / 0.3 m2 - DSB surface Area (15cm deep)
70mm - Water height above DSB ( which can be use as a refugium too)

Georgeous.......... And the tank too...:lol: :razz: :lol:

(This was taken at 1AM, 4hrs after I had started to carry 580lts of FSW up a flight of stairs - say no more, the body was not too happy!):(

The Overflow, still need to finnish the return piping.

And the Engine Room.:thumbup:

So whats left to do?

Canopy, Stand doors, Lighting, Control panel, Rock stands, Moving contents from old tank, DIY controller.............. Well you can see where this is going :whistling:

So what you think?:biggrin:

Chevron Tang

Posted: March 8th, 2008, 7:07pm CST by Alfie

Anyone know if they are available and at what price?

Advice please! Just removed my substrate, when do I add new??

Posted: March 8th, 2008, 1:58pm CST by matt165

Had crushed coral substrate (quite coarse) just removed it all (sucked it out with a pipe during water change) - ended up being about 40% water changed out of the system...

I bought a bag of playsand from toys r us (same as Warr uses, nice fine particles and light in colour!)

Do I add it today or wait a few days?

Giant Clams assist in control of Algae

Posted: March 8th, 2008, 1:34pm CST by Alfie

While reading up today I came across the following written by Julian Sprung and I quote.

"That tridacnid clams can be used to remove ammonia and nitrate from the water is well known(itt, et al 1993, Knop 1996) and this fact has promoted the notion that they could be used as a means of limiting the accumulation of nitrate in recirculating aquarium systems. Since clams are included in aquariums as ornamental features, and since thay are expensive and sometimes delicate, they are unlikely to be used in sufficient numbers to be relied on as filtration for an aquarium.

However, some species attain large size (T.gigas, T. derasa, T. squamosa) and a large speciman of any of these may have a signaficant impact on water chemistry in a small to moderately sized aquarium. The loss or removal of a large clam in a moderately sized aquarium commonly is followed by a marked increase in the growth of algae (pers.obs) indicatng that trindacnid clams can indeed compete for the same nutrients and limit algal growth. Although interest in use of clams as filters has focused primarily on oheir capacity to remove ammonia and nitrate from water, they may also be lowering the levels of phosphate and dissolved organic material, both of which are plant nutrients."

Substrate

Posted: March 8th, 2008, 12:23pm CST by Warr7207

Any idea why this part of my tank's substrate has gone black/grey ?

Salt Consumption

Posted: March 8th, 2008, 11:49am CST by Warr7207

I have been running my tank for 4 months now and have noticed that no salt gets consumed.

What I am saying is my water changes are done at 1.025 and my top up's are RO water (no salt), and the SG level never drops. This indicates that no livestock consumes salt or whatever compounds constitute the SG level of the water ?

Is it heavily sps coral stocked tanks that consume "salt" ?

Freshwater Bath?

Posted: March 8th, 2008, 10:22am CST by Shanie

Hi guys,

Is it necessary to let your new fish that you have just brought home, swim in fresh water for about 3 min, after aclimatising , before you put the fish into the main tank.

Hide the plastic

Posted: March 7th, 2008, 7:44pm CST by Warr7207

Any ideas to covering up the plastic ?

Tank Builders in JHB??? Advice Please

Posted: March 7th, 2008, 2:29pm CST by matt165

Need help with regards to a possible upgrade of my tank:

I would like to go 0.7mx0.7mx0.6m (LxWxH) which is 340L
0.6x0.6x0.4m for the sump (144L)

This should with displacement and the fact that the tank will not be 100% full, and that the sump will probably be around 60% full should put me at about 400L

How much would a tank this size cost me? Was also told to look into opti white glass???

Cost of setting up a 200L nano cube with sump

Posted: March 7th, 2008, 1:13pm CST by matt165

Ok, not wanting to jump into a bigger tank just yet but i'd like to know the cost involved of building a 200L cube, and then having a sump housed underneath.

So need costs on:
Building the cube, as well as sump
Lighting
Skimmer
Pumps

I can get a stand made myself, its just everything else i'll need (want to upsize in the future)

Free to good home

Posted: March 7th, 2008, 8:09am CST by RyanvdM

1 x 3ft tank + canopy + lights + stand
1 x 2ft Aquarium + Stand + Canopy+ Light
1 x 1.5ft aquarium
1 x 5ft - (just short of 5ft) Needs good clean

all need a little tlc but after that will be sharp.

these are more tropical but can be used for quarantine or liverog or coral prop.

must take all must bring someone with to help carry and i'll show you y nano:)

I'm in weltevreden park near hilfox power centre

ryan at 8bitscreative.co.za

Co 2 bottles

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 12:31am CST by IMarine

Do any body now what do the co 2 bottles go for new

02 Fish Id's Needed

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 12:25am CST by sean_koekemoer

The photos I took at 01 this morning. Please Id as I do not know where this fish comes from, but I can add that I've never seen them in daylight, so I asume they must be Nocturnal. Just saw both of them again tonight:

This is the red fish, I cannot find any Id pics in my books (Pic quality bad as it was taken in darkness and with a wee dash of speed):

And the Blue striped fish (again, Id please):

Maroon Clownfish

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 10:26pm CST by Shanie

Hi Guys,
I really want two Maroon clowns for my 128 l Nano, But i was told that one may eat the other. Is it safer to keep Normal pecular clowns.

Hair Algea gone.How?

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 8:27pm CST by Mekaeel

Howzit crew.
im proud to say that ive got absoloutley no hair algea.
My question how did it dissapear?
i battled with this stuff for over 10 months and then in a matter of 3 weeks all gone?????????
i stopped manual removal altogether as i was sick of it.i never used any p04 media.
these are the only changes that ive done to my system

1.let Chaetomorpha take up all the space in the fuge area,this way every bit of water that was entering the sump passed through the Chaeto.

2.been using Sodium Bicarb (robertsons) to maintain alk. (doubt this helped)

I'm sorry!

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 6:26pm CST by Bayls

OK, I admit! This one was pure retail therapy!
Pls help me ID this anomone. My book has nothing. It is a light lime green, the tentacles have a very distinct purple dot at the end. It looks very distinctive, so I'm sure the boffins will be able to help in no time.:whistling:

Puffas and dwarf angles versas shrimps

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 3:14pm CST by Gemma

In slowly adding stock to my new tank I've alot to learn and consider. I have seen 2 types of fish that appeal but need to know pro's and con's. My tank with sump is 200 litres so I won't be having many fish so I'll have to be picky. The 2 fish are firstly a little black puffer (box looking) with white little dots all over. The 2nd being a dwarf angel blue and yellow. I've been told that they are reef safe but will attack any shrimps i have. I don't have shrimps yet so can still deliberate and decided which way to go. Any ideas from you out there. I also love the look of triggers but think they are a no go.

Starfire Glass - Where to Get It?

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 3:13pm CST by Galibore

Anyone know where I could get Starfire/Low Iron glass?

Settlement Area

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 1:09pm CST by Galibore

When using an in-sump skimmer, what are you guys' thoughts on having an empty settlement area before the skimmer chamber in the sump. Keeping it empty means it's much easier to vacume clean with no equipment in the way.

In my current setup, I have to remove the skimmer to properly clean the sump bottom of detritus. It's a bit of a mission to regularly clean.

Having a settlement area will HOPEFULLY mean that most particles will settle in there and not go into the next area that contains equipment and where it's a PITA to syphon.

Can I ?

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 12:55pm CST by joe

Good DAY

Im in the process of setting up a new tank , my current tank volume is 300l and the new tank will be about 600l ,i dont have alot of space so the swop over will have to be done as soon as i decide to start the new tank. if i fill half the new tank with NSW from 2oceans and fill the rest with the water from my existing tank can i then immediately add all my live stock ?
( this off course provided that the salinity of the Fresh salt water matches that of the "old " water ill be adding )

Return pump size

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 12:35pm CST by lappiesreef

Hey Guys

What size return pump should I put in my sump?

The display is 4FT L shape (4 ft + ft) and about 40 cm deep (One corner over flow in the back of the L)
The sump is 3ft L shape (3ft +3ft) and about 30 cm deep

Capturing Fluorescence

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 9:22am CST by Galibore

Does anyone know what I can do to capture fluorescence in a photo.

My frogspawn suddenly have the most awesome fluorescence in the LED moonlight but can't get a pic of it.

What to use in a carbon reactor

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 8:46am CST by nico

Hey Guys, me again..... what substrate is used in a carbon reactor, is it the same carbon that is used in a freshwater aquarium? and would the intake also be after the protien skimer?

T5 Colour optimisation

Posted: March 6th, 2008, 8:13am CST by lappiesreef

Hey Guys

Which T5 combinations give the best colour and growth results?

So far I have a 10 000K white and 20 000K blue.

I hear there are all types like pink and purple as well...?

Tunze Nano Stream

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 6:12am CST by sihaya

At the risk of revealing how far behind I am when it comes to powerhead technology... I just got a Tunze Nano stream pumps (the cool round ones with the magnet mounts). And even though I injured myself trying to get the magnets apart for the first time (don't ask)... I have to say, they are really cool!! (and so cute looking!!) I love how easy it is to point the thing just about any direction... it's so easy to clean... it's just beautiful.

So, yeah, I know... what else is new, right? I do plan to make a point of getting caught up on all the latest aquarium gadgets and stuff when I go to Interzoo this year! Anyone else going? :thumbup:

Phytoplankton reactor

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 1:41am CST by Warr7207

DIY Gurus: Anyone made a Phto Reactor ? Is it something we can do in RSA ? Will I be able to get culture or stock to start the reactor up ?

green water ?

Electronic ballast

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 11:41pm CST by IMarine

dual 250watt electronic ballast for R800.00 no transport

250 watt globes

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 11:39pm CST by IMarine

1x 250watt reeflux 12000k and 1x 250watt 10000k for R500.00 for the 2 no transport has never been used

Lumern Black Fittings

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 11:35pm CST by IMarine

2X250watt metal halide fittings each one has a 250 reeflux 12000k bulbs thats only 3 months old asking R1000 each no transport

Last fish to go into my nano? Need your votes people ;)

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 9:29pm CST by matt165

24G JBJ Nano Cube

Current stocking list:

Fish
2 ocellaris Clownfish
1 Midas Blenny

CUC
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
3 red-legged dwarf Hermits
1 large turbo Snail
3 Astrea Snails
1 Serpent star & 1 baby Bristle star

I would like to add one more fish (so a total of 4 fish), what should I put in?

Out of interest, how long will my tank last without power?

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 9:05pm CST by matt165

Until i've sorted out this power problem at the moment (goes of for 2 - 3 hours randomly - NOT load shedding)

I want to know what affect this should have on my tank?? And how long can it last before problems arise? I literally put a pipe in there today and blew some bubbles to try aerate the water!

Solutions to load shedding

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 7:48pm CST by goodisor

Could I suggest to the admin dudes to start a complete forum on its own called load shedding solutions.Any and all solutions for temperature control,airation,circulation and whatever else is negatively impacted during load shedding.Any solution,no matter what,could posted here.

Hammer Question

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 7:18pm CST by Warr7207

What is with this long tentacle compared to the others? Is this a sweeper tentacle ?

ID please ?

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 7:11pm CST by Warr7207

What do you think these little things are ?

Tubeworm Question ?

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 6:57pm CST by Warr7207

Do tubeworm have predators. Do their heads come off when they die.

Found this one floating around in my tank.

The actual tube is still in place but now looks empty

Errol

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 6:56pm CST by xavier

Hi there I just registered recently and this is what I've got , 5 ft / 2ft /2 ft , had the tank running for about two months , got a bit of live rock as well , did the ph test & nitrate , and than to double check gave the water sample to the guys at the petshop to test , all was good , and I introduced my first dusted tang , have had it for about three weeks also monitered the feeding habits which are perfect , than added a Yellow Tang which has also adjusted well and has a healthy appetite , its been two months and I have noticed the dusted Tang swimming as if trying to brush against the gravel , I have done the tests such as Ph , Nitrate , Amonia which was a bit high so have cut down feeding to twice and done a thorough filter clean up ,water change every two weeks .I have an Sera external filter with super carbon and amonia remover with a Fluval power -head for added ariation.
Any suggestions ?.

Some kind of bacteria

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 6:51pm CST by lanzo

Hey guys

I had the same problem that started last year and ended when i got the carbon and phos reactor(December).I think it is some kind of bacteria.

here is a pic of how it looked last year July

It is not yet as much as this, but it is starting to begin again.
I want to stop it before it becomes hectic again.
Does this thing live on phos?

Things that i did this last 2 weeks:
-10% WC
-Got me a 2nd hand ro/di unit from Likefish(he said it could run for 4 months depening on how much water i make before i need to replace the fist 2 stages, i only replaced the di ressin the 3d stage )

I will test my para.... tom
Can i test my ro water with the phos test kit or must there be salt pressent for the kit to work?

Damn power outages!

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 6:36pm CST by matt165

Ok, I don't know if this is related to load shedding, but yesterday we were out for 2 hours, and today I was out for 3.5 hours.

How will this affect my 24G tank? I put a pipe in the water today and blew into it a few times but so far I have nothing in place to help against power outages.

ANY advice is greatly appreciated! If need be i'll go out tomorrow and buy equipment, just not sure what I can do (bear in mind i'm a student so "go get a genny" isn't quite practical hehe)

New canopy for tank

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 3:40pm CST by Gemma

At the moment I have 1 white light in those basic black plastic canopy lids that one gets standard when buying tanks. One of my next steps is to either make or buy 2nd hand canopy to hold more lights. My tank is 600 deep 300 wide and 900 long. I assume 2 blue and 2 white is sufficient for fish and soft corals and cleaner shrimps.
One hears conflicting stories about using glass slides between lights and water all with pro's and con's. One see's these lights that hang from ceilings, while others have brackets that sit on each end of the tank. If one goes for an "open" bulb option are moths landing in the tanks not a problem for poisoning water or fish eating them?
Going for an "enclosed" canopy set-up would then be better. Are there any decent "enclosed" canopies available apart from the cheap one I have. I have'nt seen any in the shops I visit.:slayer:

My clownfish will not eat

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 2:34pm CST by Dolphinfriendly

I recently acquired a pair of Amphiprion Ocellaris .
The male has eaten the food provided, but the female will not even look at it.

She does not seem to be losing weight or getting weaker, should I be worried and is there anything I can do to encourage her to eat.

Regal info

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 2:14pm CST by Warr7207

Please give me info on Regal Tangs, also will he dominate my insane Domino, like my previous Yellow Tang ?

Green Clumps of Hair Algae

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 2:13pm CST by RaveMan

People help

Keep pulling the stuff out -- but reappears -- concentrated on about 4 or 5 spots

what can I do

running rowaphos and carbon 24/7

Why top cover glass is good

Posted: March 5th, 2008, 10:04am CST by LikesFish

A while ago I was bashed for using top cover glass plates on all my aquariums. It was said they block lots of light penetration (18%) if 3mm thick, that they get dirty and hence need regular cleaning, causes heat issues and who knows what else.

While most of that is true, there is one benefit of using those glass covers that outweighs all of the negatives mentioned above - by a far margin. That is why I am today truly happy I kept the cover glass on.

See, at 06:00 this morning I heard what sounded like a burglar breaking in my house through the living room window. A very loud shattering noise sounded through the house. After investigation, I found that the one cover plate of my Sfigoli Infinity light pendant's 400W SE MH shattered to a thousand pieces, and all landed on top of the aquarium's cover glass. Had that cover glass not been there, I'd have to find 1000 invisible pieces of glass all through my tank - an impossible task.

Quinton's new (and somewhat empty) Nano

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 11:26pm CST by Quinton

Here are some shots of my 4 month old nano. Enjoy!

New Addition

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 7:26pm CST by Sparky

Hey all, hope everyone is doing well. Here's a pic of the latest addition to the tank.

This was taken straight after adding it. About 45 minutes later almost all have opened up.

Goggo's running around on My Live Rock

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 7:23pm CST by Shanie

Hi guys,
My tank has been cycling for 5 days with live rock and aragonite only.
Last night with lights off found lots of minute little goggo's running around on the live rock. Tried to take pics, but they too small. About a 1 millimetres long, almost transparent , with little legs on the side. They look like small miggies or worms.
Does anyone have an idea what they could Be????
Cheers
Shane

New addition - finger leather

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 7:23pm CST by gaboon

Strombus

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 7:22pm CST by gaboon

Very slow Pc

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 6:57pm CST by sean_koekemoer

Am I the only one who has this problem. Ever Since the top Pics (Wiki Thingies) has been added, my page waits a long time to open cause it is downloading the pics. Never used to be like that. Or am I halusanating (Spelling) here???- and its allright Dean, you do not need to answer this one...LoL:whistling:

I need some Info plzzz

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 3:26pm CST by Kal-El

Hey people. I just got a marine tank. I want to find out were in pretoria is petshops that sels fish and corrals. or near pretoria... or if you no any other place that you can recomend me plz let me know

Thanx:yeahdude:

Where to put a phosphate reactor

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 1:01pm CST by nico

Hi There all, where in the sump is the best place to put a phosphate reactor, Skimer compartment or rerturn compartment?

New kid on(off) the block

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 10:03am CST by Brad

Hi Guys,

Have been reading and reading and reading. You guys are really helpful on this site. Well done.
I bought a nano in November but shamefully had to pack it in (last week). I think I started too early... not enough knowledge!

Also, Nano is not the perfect set up I believe. I was hoping to perfect it before trying something larger. It really needs at least a chiller. My temp was permanently through the roof. Eventually moved it to my lounge and had the AC on all day and night. Not the best solution but it did work...

I have loved marine tanks since I was a kid and have always wanted one. But think I'll wait until I am more confident and knowledgeable before I start again. I'm an this site often and I'm sure I'll learn all I have to here.

My next tank I want to invest in properly and have a well set up operation.

Coral frags wanted!

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 9:45am CST by Bayls

Hi
I am in Johannesburg and am looking for coral frags for my tank. Also if anyone has a peppermint shrimp?

Thanks!

Cloudy water

Posted: March 4th, 2008, 8:33am CST by brentnorm

Hi guys. Can anyone tell me why water would go cloudy over night ? Should I be worried ?

Help please

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 7:40am CST by Bayls

Hi
I cant find this oe in any of my books. Can anyone tell me what coral this is?

Secondly, am I right in thinking that this is a mushroom coral?

(I was given both of these in case you are thinking they were impulse buys!)

cheers

Photoperiods

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 6:50am CST by Warr7207

I am reading the book of coral propagation. There is mention of doubling up on a 24 hour photoperiods. Basically 6 hour lights on and 6 hours darkness.

Apparently increases coral growth

Any experiences or comments with this kind of lighting setups

The "Borneman Corals"

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 4:03am CST by Warr7207

Wow, I came across this website: www.opportunitylost.org - The "Borneman Corals"

Now most of the experienced forum members probably know about this incident and/or website, but I reckon it maybe of interest to newer members.

Personally I was shocked that a celebrity reefkeeper and hobby expert like Borneman made such a cus up.

The US conservation authorities got involved but by the sound of things, abit to late for some of the hundreds of Kg's of endangered corals (500 separate corals) that were left in Borneman's care.

It is a bit of a read as the website contains permits, inventory lists and emails between all parties.

Left me with a bit of a different perception of Borneman

Who here has changed their substrate? Is it a PITA?

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 11:02pm CST by matt165

I have crushed coral substrate at the moment, would love to change it for finer substrate/ is it a huge PITA (pain in the ass) to do this??

Total hours of light on per day?

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 8:47pm CST by matt165

At the moment i'm running my lights for about 10 hours a day. Is it possible to push this up to about 11 or 12 hours? I just hate how I don't see the tank in the morning, then only for a few hours at night when i'm home...

Aquamedib blue 3000 skimmer

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 8:17pm CST by gaz19

im selling on behalf of a friend who can no longer keep marine fish
due to the power cuts and has lost many fish/coral

he has asked me to sell his AM blue 3000.
location:kloof/hillcrest(KZN)
price: R2100 neg.
shipping: can be arranged but you will have to pay.

heres a pic of MY skimmer. his one is exactly the same

this is a old pic but it just shows you the whole skimmer.

Seasonal temperature

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 7:55pm CST by moz

I have been thinking of having 2 slightly different temperature settings for winter and summer. With a slightly higher temp (27) in summer, the chiller will hopefully turn on less and with a lower temp in winter (26) the heater will turn on less. While I am sure a greater seasonal temperature variation occurs naturally, would the change have any adverse affect on a reef tank.

How much light for trumpet coral?

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 7:50pm CST by Tobes

Howzit reefers, can anyone tell me how much light does a trumpet coral need to grow? I'm nursing one since I got it and it was high up in the tank. I have a 250w 14000k MH and it didn't seem to grow at all.
I moved it lower now yesterday, was that the right move? I have it for 4 months now and it's not dying nor growing, the skeleton is showing and there are only small green "bubbles" on the top. Can someone help?:blushing:

Anemone for a nano

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 7:15pm CST by Dolphinfriendly

I am thinking of getting an anemone for my pair of Amphiprion Ocellaris

I would really like to have an anemone/clownfish relationship in my nano.
But all the anemones i know of are either to big for my nano or unsuitable for my clowns:( , I have read somewhere that in the absence of other host anemones they will acept the bubble tip anemone.

Any suggestions for a host anemone or an alternative host would be appreciated.

Second Best

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 5:19pm CST by Sabi

I know Reeftek (and reef octopus :P) the No.1 skimmer. Practically every forum sings that.:lol::thumbup:
But, as second in line what would be your pick?
How about the Red Sea Prizm Deluxe or the Tunze nano? (i can't seem to find pages on buying in SA on them)
Tnx

Durban Airport Aquarium

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 5:11pm CST by Leigh

Good news is that the tank has been repaired, aquascaped and filled.

Some pics of the progress so far.

We will keep u posted on the progress.

Wanted: Nano

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 5:11pm CST by Warr7207

Anyone leaving the country, sick of load shedding or just want to get rid of their Nano tank, drop me a PM.

Powerheads

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 5:07pm CST by Warr7207

Please give me the different powerhead brands locally available so I can do some research

Small tank wanted

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 5:06pm CST by mandarinman

looking for 60cm tank, or 60cm cube to size upto currently 50cm by 27cm

Extreme Nano

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 5:04pm CST by Leigh

Hows this for extreme. A modified nano with full TUNZE filtration system (rated for 1000L)

The outlet and inlet plumbing from the sump.

The sump.

The rear view of the system.

Top view of sump.

TUNZE outlet installed.

Front view.

Cant wait to see this baby up and running.

Its gonna be awsome.

Finally, my first fish

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 4:47pm CST by Gemma

After having had my 200 litre tank running for 1 month I have finally added my first resident, being a maroon clown. I also added a small rock with some star polyps to add some "waves" (advantage of soft over hard corals). I also have 2 little blue legged hermies. With the clown being small as he is, the idea is to shortly add more occupants before Jacques(my clown's name) has settled and become too territorial. Also because I only have 1 piece of live rock for now I can add more rock later on, with the idea being that his "home" will change in appearance thus "changing his territory and allow new tank mates to settle in. He is cool.
I will also want to add a cleaner shrimp, but man they are expensive. Price to pay to keep fish clean. My next addition will be a bi-colour blemy. Thats on wednesday.

Return pump question

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 2:28pm CST by gaboon

Heres a real dof one, had a power cut this morning, went home at lunchtime and the return pump (Rio) is pumping with triple the force it had before. What is going on here?

Hallo

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 11:40am CST by Toothsmith

Hi there. Just joined this forum. I am starting a nano Marine tank.
It has been going with liverock for 6 weeks now. Tried twice to add livestock:
1st A cleaner shrimp died within 2 hours 2 weeks later a damsel also died in 2 hours.
Cycle comeplete because no amonia and nitites in tests. Salinity about 0.26. Temp 25.
Any ideas.

Load Shedding Resumes

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 10:35am CST by Alan

General warning to everybody load shedding is set to resume today so take what ever precautions you take its back again.

Reef safe glue/putty

Posted: March 3rd, 2008, 8:51am CST by lappiesreef

Hi All

I was wondering if everyone could compile a list of glue's/putty's that have been used safely in reef tanks?

I see the american's like to use super glue. One brand was the same Quick-tight we get here. Any views on this?

Is my protein skimmer working

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 1:12am CST by Shanie

Hi Guys,

i Have a 128 litre Boyu Nano.
It has a built in Skimmer.
How does this skimmer work and how can i check if it is working?
Do any of you have a Boyu Nano?

Cheers
Shane

Anemone for Percular clowns

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 12:14am CST by Shanie

Hi Guys,
i live in Cape town.
I do spearfishing.
What anemone can i dive out for my Clowns.
pics would be appreciatted if you could
Thanks
Shanie

ReefMn Mini Review

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 11:36pm CST by Warr7207

I recently purchased a ReefMn Aquarium Controller from Boomslang.

Firstly I have no idea what imported or mass produced controllers cost, but Darius (Boomslang) was very in-depth in explaining his unit, that I had to support a fellow reefer.

When originally seeing the unit, I thought here we go, this is going to be a nightmare to get working and maintain.

First big :thumbup1: is the user manual that has been written in layman's terms and explains every process needed to connect and program the unit, loads of photos, well done.

Next big :thumbup1: is everything is supplied, cables connectors etc.

Functions:

the unit has a mains supply input and 6 AC outputs. 1 and 2 are dedicated for heating and cooling the rest are for lights, powerhead and/or top up.

The unit is supplied with a temperature probe and can be calibrated via the OSD.

The OSD is a 2 line 16 character LED. In normal mode it displays temp, whether the unit is heating or cooling. It also shows which AC outlets are on/off.

In my setup I run the following:
Heater which is now set to zero (on the heater) as the controller decides when it is on/off.
2 x PC fans are my cooling units, and they are on for 10 minutes max now, where previously I would switch them on in the morning and leave them on all day.

MH has it's own output, T-5's on their output and my sump light is on it's own.

You are able to set on/off time for all the outputs separately.

The unit is supplied with a pair of moonlights, this is a bit of a challenge to mount as they are fitted in a rectangular plastic box. These moonlights are also controlled and the moonphase can be set with no. of days etc.

The unit is also supplied with a top-up input cable. I am not running this as I have my Reef Octopus doing this job for me beautifully. The top-up set-up menu has all sorts of functions to make sure you don't have floods, like max. time allowed to fill up and time intervals between fills.

There are also a no. of audible alarms that can be set for low and high temperatures.

There is a RS-232 connector for downloading info directly to your computer. I haven't tried this yet, but the on-screen history is great. You can check the high/low temp of the day, you can even check how long your heater/cooler/top-up has been active.

All in all, a well thought out product and if anyone is in the market for this sort of gear I would highly recommend the ReefMn.

I now have lots of plugs spare on my multiplug as I don't need to use the BIG timer units anymore. Oh yes, that is another thing I liked, especially with the load shedding. The unit has a 9v battery so it doesn't loose it's time.

Anyway, my engine room is almost entirely automated, just need a auto feeder and a "auto skimmer emptier" :whistling:

Aqua Medic Wave

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 10:35pm CST by Warr7207

Aqua Medic : Seawater Catalogue : Electronics : Wave

I just purchased this pump controller for my tank. Nice bit of gear. Its has different presets that the controller can run. Namely: standard, storm, wave, sunny day, reef, beach, Ocean, and random. They are all different powerhead patterns.

Anyone with experience on what preset is best ?

The unit has a light sensor and slows the flow down at night, alternating one powerhead at a time. is this OK?

It has a feed button which is really cool, shuts down all pumps for 10 minutes so I can feed Coral Frenzy.

Feeding a tank

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 10:08pm CST by Alfie

How long does it take you to feed a tank, that is LPS, Anemones etc.

Quick Question

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 9:46pm CST by Warr7207

Is it Pratley Putty - original, that can be used to stick LR together ?

Yellowish "slime" on Coral

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 9:04pm CST by Raven

Good evening guys!
Hope all had a great weekend...(well mine was great - one of my friends got married yesterday).
Ok enough about the weekend, and back to the question at hand.
I've noted this afternoon that my cabbage coral have this funny yellowish looking slime substance on it...
Any ideas?
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']

[/font]coral

Blue carpet nennie

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 5:40pm CST by Ocean

What should i know about blue carpet nennies?

thanks:thumbup:

Baby Pincushions

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 5:05pm CST by Kanga

A week ago we noticed this baby at the base of the pincusion, this week I see there are 2, hope the pics are clear enough.

Is this normal?

Iz1b1zi tank

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 1:26pm CST by iz1b1zi

Hi guys, this is a continuation from a previous topic, thought i should move it here!

ill repost all the pics for you guys. Here we go, let me know what you think!

beginning...

And now...

The sump...

Now its just regular maintenance and it should all be 100%

New Photo Gallery

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 10:18am CST by Kanga

Some of you might have noticed that the Photo Gallery looks a little different, well let me tell you this is one awesome piece of software:thumbup:
Viper has again raised the bar with the new gallery and I trust you guys/Gals will love it.

We will still do a ( few ) How to: threads on the gallery but for now play with it and let us know what you think. Over the next few days things will still change as we figure out what people want/need from the gallery.

Try the following so long

Click on a thumbnail in the forums page (or any other page) We think you will be suitably impressed
Once the image has loaded move the cursor over the image, on the top left is a few options.
Click on the image name and see what you get, all camera settings etc.
In a members profile is a few of his images as well

Go ahead and play:thumbup:

Let us know what you think, after all we are doing this for you guys/ gals:thumbup:

Hope you enjoy

ID Challenge!

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 9:16am CST by sihaya

Ok, who can tell me what this is (with some explanation)?
http://ericdo.com/pictures/Starfire%...oft_022708.jpg

And hey... nobody cheat by looking on WWM!! ;)

Blackcap Basslett- Do we get these here?

Posted: March 2nd, 2008, 9:16am CST by matt165

The Blackcap Basslet is one of the finest Caribbean fish available for a reef tank with its stunning beauty and cavernous activity. These fish are magenta to purple in color with a black "cap" running from their lip to foredorsal fin. The Blackcap is a deep water fish that is a tough find in the aquarium industry. They are usually found at depths greater than 160 feet; thus they are not collected on all trips and command a higher price. In nature, these fish are often seen hanging upside-down in caves and crevices. They make a tremendous addition to a reef tank, but should not be kept with other Basslets. The Blackcap thrives in tanks with excessive live rock, where they can roam and hide. Keep only one per tank and do not mix with other Basslets or Dottybacks.

The family of Basslets are closely related to Seabasses, which include Groupers. These relatively small fish are usually very colorful in nature and have large eyes. The Basslets are often found along reef walls in both shallow and deep waters. These fish spend their lives mostly hidden within small recesses which they rarely venture far from.

Photo by saltwaterfish.com

Size: 2-3 inches Care Level: EasyTemperament: Peaceful Diet: Pellet, Flake, Brine Origin: Caribbean Acclimation Time: 3+ hours Minimum Tank Size: 20 gallons Coral Safe: Yes Invertebrate Safe: Yes

Skimmer Plumbing

Posted: March 1st, 2008, 7:38am CST by Warr7207

I have noticed my skimmer output plumbing is start build up salt deposits. Must mean there is a leak. This only start happening in the last week.

I am going have to take it apart and reconnect.

Any suggestions on making sure the joins are perfect ?

Any ideas on emptying the skimmer ?

Coralline - Why is it important?

Posted: March 1st, 2008, 8:23pm CST by avdp

After having read numerous threads, including comments in my own, there is always a reference to coralline, and how good it is to have in your tank.

So I had to ask why, seeing as it is a type of algae. What makes it better to have than others?

I have searched around on the internet, and checked a few books and have come to the following conclusions :

Coralline is an indicator of a healthy tank. Certain factors contribute to coralline growing in your tank, but from what I have read, it can only be introduced by live rocks. Factors that are important in having it grow, are obviously certain parameters, very important ones being alkalinity, sg, Ca and lighting.

Alkalinity has to be in the normal rang (not sure of exact parameters right now), sg around 1,024, Ca around 400 and they grow under good lighting, even actinics.

Why is it good? Various reasons have been given. From the fact that wherever it grows, no other lower form of algae (micro algae) should grow. And it provides calcarous structure to reefs, and helps cement reefs together.

'Coralline algae are especially important in reef construction, as they lay down calcium carbonate as calcite. Although they contribute considerable bulk to the calcium carbonate structure of coral reefs, their more important rôle in most areas of the reef, is in acting as the cement which binds the reef materials together into a solid and sturdy structure.' - The Botany Dept - University of the Western Cape.

So, that is what I know so far. Will be doing some more reading and research.

Any input will be appreciated.

New Nano Test Results

Posted: March 1st, 2008, 6:51pm CST by Shanie

Hi Guys,
My New Nano 128 Litres (Boyu).
Has been running for 3 days now .
with only cured live rock and Aragonite as substrate.
I took chemical tests today an would appreciate some advice as to what to do next.
The results are as folows: Free ammonia = 0,01 mg/L
Total ammonia = 0,05 mg/L
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = Almost 0
PH = 8,0
Alkalinity = 2 meg/L (Seems A Bit Low???)[IMG]
Specific Gravity was fine .

Can i add 2 hermits and a Damsel Maybe. Or should i wait a week and test again.
Or should i wait for the ammonia to spike ,
Or should a buy a chemical called "Cycle to start the process and increase the bacteria.

Yellow Aiptasia???

Posted: March 1st, 2008, 4:37pm CST by Alfie

Please tell me if anyone has seen this before.

Reefkeeping South Africa » Marine Aquariums of South Africa » March 2008

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Marine Aquariums of South Africa

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