Reefkeeping South Africa » Marine Aquariums of South Africa

Marine Aquariums of South Africa

Norway's Whaling Season Underway

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 2:33am CDT by MistaOrange

This is very sad news not leka!!!!

Breaking News: Iceland's Barbaric Whaling Under Pressure

WDCS International - Breaking News: Iceland's Barbaric Whaling Under Pressure

Norway's Whaling Season Underway

WDCS International - Norway's Whaling Season Underway
Building hollow rock

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 12:16am CDT by Paul B

I know there have been numerous threads on building rock, but I think I make it differently. I make it hollow so besides allowing me to make it any shape, it also helps grow anerobic bacteria that will help with nitrates.
My entire reef structure is supported on this type of "rock" and I can build rocks very long and thin, something that is not easy to build with other methods. It is also very cheap, practically free and only takes about 15 minutes over 3 or 4 days.
First I bend a piece of PVC pipe. "This MUST be done outside with the wind going away from you." Melted PVC fumes are toxic and will sicken you instantly. If you use a heat gun it is better as it will not char the PVC but I use a propane torch and it must be done outside. You do not want to sniff any melted PVC. Trust me.
I play the torch over the pipe until it softens, then I bend it in odd shapes and stick it in water. You need a hose near by because sometimes it may go on fire. If you keep the torch a distance away that will not happen but keep a hose ready anyway.
I use "Sakrete" cement.

Then I cut the bent PVC in the shapes I want it. These smaller pieces will be used to support my reef structure when I re aquascape shortly. The larger piece will be used to support a coral.

I attach a base of acrylic plastic. I use a stainless steel screw and thread it into the acrylic, then glue gun the head of the screw into the PVC. Some people are afraid of stainless steel so you can use nylon screws. I have holes drilled all over the PVC to facilitate water entry. When I stick the head of the screw into the PVC pipe, I just stick the glue gun into t lower hole and fill it with hot melt glue.
String is wrapped around the PVC and secured with hot melt glue. Then cement is mixed kind of loose, this is smeared all over the string (wet the string first, the cement will stick better)
You will get a thin coat of cement all over the thing, but you can not finish it all in one day.
Put a bucket over it and let it set for at least two days. Then blob on more cement and wait sanother 2 days. Neatness does not count and you want the cement blobbed on rather than smoothing it on. Eventually, you will have something that will look better than any rock you can buy and coraling algae grows much better on cement than it does on real rock. Cure it in some water for a few weeks before using in your tank.
Here I started to put cement on one piece. The shell on top will eventually hold a coral.

This piece (before and during construction is 3' long)

Here is another piece supporting my structure.

This "old" bottle was also constructed using cement.
How to sterilize you tank

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 11:00pm CDT by williet

Hi guys

What method would you recommend to clean a tank that was used as a hospital tank recently and had parasites in it? Really do not want to reinfect my fish again!

I want to start using it as a holding tank?

Thanks
Willie.
Suspect Sea Lice

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 10:35pm CDT by Timone

Suspect that I have sea lice in my tank. would not be able to tell you where they came from. They are almost white and oval in shape with a lot of legs and 2 forward facing eyes. Can't take a photo as they are 2 small.Worried that they will attach my nennie or the other corals. What eats these things before they eat my stock.
9kg Co2 bottle with Dual Guage Solenoid Sale for sale: Randburg

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 10:08pm CDT by Slagter

Hardware for saleThread title:
9kg Co2 bottle with Dual Guage Solenoid Sale
Location:
Randburg
Shipping or Collection only:
Collection only
Photo's and description/list of items for sale:
Hey guys...

Got a 9.5kg Co2 Bottle and a SAGA Dual Guage Regulator with Solenoid which I'm not going to be using anymore. I was gonna go the CARX route, but I'm gonna go with dosing pumps instead.

Looking for R1500 for both. Unfortunately, the Co2 bottle isn't empty, so shipping is out.

Notes:
-
Help with my Lighting!

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 8:14pm CDT by Rabbit

Hi Guys,
I need some advise on my lighting, i currently have a 3x 54w T5 Unit. My water depth is sitting at 600mm, I have a wooden hood which is resting on the rim of my glass. the Total Height of the glass is at 700mm. the Tank is 1200mm in width and 450mm in depth
What would be the best thing to do in my case ? Sell off my Unit ? or just supplement it with MH ? or go all t5
I would like to keep some sps eventually at mid to high of the tank
I would also like to use minimal energy consumption for the Most Effective Look ie bright colours and great coral growth
Your input will be appreciated!!

I have a duplicate post on this under link:

An In depth approach to Lighting - Page 3 - Marine Aquariums of South Africa
Various corals for sale: East London

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 6:20pm CDT by Kunhardt

Various corals for saleCommon Names:
Various corals
Scientific Names:
...
Size of coral
colony
How long have you had the corals?
a long time
Shipping or Collection only:
collection only
Your location.
East London
Price:
various prices
Photo's:

Notes:
Wanting to get rid of a few of my corals.

the Sun Corals I want to get rid of cause I am trying to make my tank more sell sufficient and they are anything but that. The two normal suns I want R100 for the one on the LHS and R75 for the one on the RHS. Both I have had for ages.

The second pic is the black branching. I want R150 fo itr, had it for about 5 months now and it opens up beautifully...just a bit of tissue loss on the brances but heads are still fine.

The third pic is the Rainbow Acan, its in the worst possible place for light and really is not getting what it needs to thrive so I would prefer to sell it. A bargain at R150.

Lastly is my blue Candy Cane, wanting R150...its got about 20 heads...my Queen Angel took a liking to it so its been sumped and needs to go.

Prefer EL guys as I dont like shipping its too much of a mission.
Two Oceans Aquatic POP quizzzz you can win

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 5:49pm CDT by Two Oceans Aquatic S&S

Right for some good old fun and a chance for you guys to win some cool prizes. The order of the day will be a random pop quiz and the questions will be well what ever,but mostly general knowledge. There will be a time limit for each question and if it is not answered within the time frame a new question will be set. Prizes will be in the form of additives or hardware most times but could also include livestock. Prizes will be small and could be sent via post office in most cases but maybe you get lucky and its a biggy. So let the games begin and keep a look out for the first one. I recon on average one a week is a good starting point but you never know maybe two a day :)

Trev
Acro goby ID needed

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 5:43pm CDT by Tony

I found this guy in my filter stocking today. Thankfully he survived and is back in the millepora I bought him in. Does anyone know what it is? Unfortunately my yellow clown goby and him are fighting for the real estate space in the coral
Why does this clown look so stuffed?

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 5:41pm CDT by archiecrain

Ive had this little clown for about 3 weeks.....he has pretty much always looked Flea bitten since I got him his fins are always looking tattered, the regrow then another fin goes funny...there is no aggression between him and other clown...

Now his skin is looking bad....I have noticed that both him and the larger clown shake their heads and on occasion the bigger clown sometimes "breaths" by sticking her head out of the water......

They both active and eat well.....but Im not happy:(.....

What can be the cause?
Skimmer for sale: Newcastle

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 5:30pm CDT by mayet

Hardware for saleThread title:
Skimmer
Location:
Newcastle
Shipping or Collection only:
Both
Photo's and description/list of items for sale:
RO-RPS-5000EXT
Recirculating Bubble Blaster Skimmer w/
Buble Plate, Cone-Shaped Neck & Gate
Valve
(250mm Diameter)
1 x HY-5000S
(2,000l/h AirDraw)
4,000l
Brand new

Selling price now is 9500.00

I want 5800.00
having problem with posting pic
Chikaboo will post pic for me
Notes:
-
We are open tomorrow and some specials

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 4:23pm CDT by Two Oceans Aquatic S&S

Guys I will be open tomorrow Wed 18 May full day 11am - 6pm and the following is instock. The specials will be for tomorrow only.

Regal tangs small-med on special for R370 each
Regal tangs large on special for R415 each
Yellow tangs large on special for R425 each

Then the following is also in stock

XLarge yellow belly Regal Tang R700
Tennenti tangs R425 each
Long horn cow fish small R350 each
Niger trigger XXXLarge R750
Black Hawaaiian Trigger XXLarge R990
Chromis R60
Threadfin Butterflys R195 each

All fish have been in QT and are super healthy and ready to go

Trev
Sand sifting star

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 4:14pm CDT by deadmeat2016

Just a question, sand sifting star in sump DSB, good idea or bad idea?
superfrog's custom 20L AIO pico build

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 3:13pm CDT by superfrog
hello folks

So i thought I'd share what I've been up to lately. After having great success with my Dymax IQ3 Pico and my RSM 130D I've decided to start a new project. Unfortunately, I've had to decommission the RSM for various reasons, but the tank is still around and will be wet someday soon.

In the meantime, I'm dabbling in the pico world again since i find these little tanks to be fantastically fun and interesting.

The plan: :shuriken:
- 20 litre, rimless, AIO setup
- Filtration will include chemical and biological filtration - no skimmer. Nutrient exchange to be supplemented using a built in AIO refugium with macro-algae.
- Lighting provided by a custom built Cree LED fixture (50/50 XR-E Cool White and XR-E Royal Blue) with integrated moonlighting and refugium lighting.
- No additional flow pumps for now. All water movement being facilitated through the return from the AIO filtration (AquaOne 600 lph return pump).
- Custom built 10 litre ATO with overflow protection (had a close call once before :tt2: ).
- Custom built fuge/media rack (this is an idea I've been toying with...want to see how it turns out...stay tuned)
Scaping for this tank will be primarily a bonsai type of setup. Inspiration comes from the awesome work the freshwater planted guys are doing on their iwagumi style tanks. So this will be a marine iwagumi of sorts :whistling:

Will be using:
- 2kg Fiji pink sugar fine aragonite
- 2kg Tonga Branch live rock
- 2kg Kenya/Indo live rock
- 1kg Kenyan live rock (for the fuge)
Stocking:
At the moment the coral socking list is primarily softies (zoas, shrooms, GSP).
Haven't decided on the fish yet as I'm trying to find something really striking and unique that is still suited to a smaller setup.
thousands of bristle worms

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 3:08pm CDT by predator

found this link , its a must see:eek:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ng-frenzy.html
What is happening here ?

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 2:32pm CDT by ZeroCool

Hi guys ... got a foxface about 3 weeks back.

Something is eating his jaw open ...

What could it be ?

Let me know if you can see the pic or not ... thanks
Cape Town suburb in for power cuts

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 2:31pm CDT by JD167

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...-cuts-20110517

Anybody in Gardens area, take note of this power cut.

--cut--
The suburb of Gardens in Cape Town will have no electricity for several hours between Thursday and Friday, the city said on Tuesday.

The power cut will be between 17:00 on Thursday and 02:00 on Friday, spokesperson Charles Cooper said in a statement.

Affected streets include Upper Canterbury, Clare and Maynard. The outages were due to upgrading of the area's electricity network.

Enquiries could be made to the electricity service call centre on 0800-220-440.
--cut--
Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Have Just Left It The Way It Was...

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 2:26pm CDT by Donovan

:peroni::1::thumbup:

Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Have Just Left It The Way It Was...

10) Because the archenemy of "Good Enough" is "Better."
Patrick12 of Okinawa, Japan
9) Because I am getting tired of hearing my wife say, "I told you so...."
atwinparadox2 of Pennsylvania
8) Because of the five new frags that I never wanted.
mkbtank of North East Philadelphia
7) "I just have to move that one out into the light, just a little bit more... oops! there it goes... Right into the intake. {expletive}!!!!!
Puffster of Ravenna, Ohio
6) You wake up, look at the tank, and decide: "I'll move that rock 1/4" that way." Then you think, "I'll just spin this one around a little bit..." Two hours later, all of your live rock is in a bucket. Two more hours pass, and your live rock is right back the way it started, and you missed all your classes for the day!
Joe-ness of Schooled in Philadelphia
5) Because yesterday my ph was 8.1. After "adjusting" my calcium reactor, it's 7.0 - and I wonder why my fish are having trouble breathing.
Saulsa of Regions Unknown
4) I wanted to save money by heating my 240-gallon reef with a natural gas water heater (to save about $25 per month)... and that ended up costing around $2000 in damages from using the wrong type of PEX-to-PVC fitting. Ouch!
Zachtos of Michigan, Mt. Pleasant
3) Re-aquascaping translated into reefing terms means death and destruction will come: Dropping a large rock and breaking the glass on the bottom of your tank. True story.
Cmondo of Brokenville, Delaware
2) Because I wanted to move one small piece of rock and I ended up having to cancel my Valentine's Day dinner with my wife to re-do my entire rockscape. A month later and I still haven't lived that one down, if you know what I mean.
HaleMoana of West Chester, Pennsylvania
1) A couple of years ago, I had an idea that it would be nice to one day have a reef aquarium. Looking at the last six months of my credit card statements, I should have just left it the way it was.
EnglishRebel of Triad, North Carolina

Add to the list if you like
Noise and bubbles from inflow into tank

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 1:44pm CDT by wukkie

Hi All

I am looking for ideas to reduce the noise and the bubbles I get into my DT.
So in my wisdom when I put everything together I thought that having a small sump above my tank would be a good idea. So I pump water from my main sump up to ceiling height, into the smaller sump. From the smaller sump the water is piped down to the DT. The fall is about 1 meter, but I get a lot of small bubbles in the DT. It also makes some noise. I have tried to reduce this by creating a U bend like a toilet, but it does not seem to help.
Any Ideas?
2 issues!

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 12:55pm CDT by sout

Hey peeps

I have to issues one being white spot , how do i get rid of it?
i bought 3 goldies and think they gave it to my other fish, now it just wont go away.
I have used proto marin skin disease treatment but no joy, i have also sived the sand, and done water changes.

the second thing is still quite a shock as one of my clown fish has completely dissappeared:confused1:

I bought a tube anemone this weekend and have a Suspicion that it might have eaten my clown fish?? is this possible??
good or bad thing?

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 12:55pm CDT by Charl_Stanhope

Hey guys.

I know Ive seen this on the forum before but I got this on the rock with my mushrooms.

Can sum1 maybe id this for me. the brown thing is what I dont get. Also, can sum1 maybe id the right name for the green mushrooms(what I call them) for me.

thanx guys

While Im asking I might as well get another id. Whats the correct name for this mushroom. If it is a mushroom at all.

thanx again guys
Durso Noise

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 11:58am CDT by Alias

Hey,

New tank is in and im quite happy with it. It came with a durso as its in the TV room and needs to be really quite. At the moment its really noisy, think jacuzzi.

most of the noise comes from the sump where there seems to be a lot of big air bubble flowing out the bottom, almost like it builds up pressure and then releases. I have drilled the hole on the end cap bigger but didnt seem to help too much.

Any ideas how to stop this? its really loud.
Aqua Planet Dive Centre's Tank

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 11:26am CDT by brentv

Gonna start building my local Dive centre here in Shelly beach a Display Tank for their shop.
It's gonna be 1200L x 800W x 600H
Glass all ordered and stand arrived yesterday!

:void(0)" target="_blank">

Idea is a 'local' tank, to show there customers what to expect on the dives in the area! So gonna be a mixed tank with mainly Soft corals, zoas etc on the invert side, a few cleaner shrimps and the likes.
Fish probably few different anthias species we get here, wrasse eg: Iridis, Gaimard, fairy wrasse. Jumping bean, coral beauty, trimaculatus and maybe a Kingi... If they good :lol::lol::lol:. Gem tang, clown surgeon.
Display

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 11:16am CDT by ZeroCool

Another question from my side ...

how get can i get my water clarify up ?
Daily feeding ...

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 11:14am CDT by ZeroCool

Hi guys ...

I want know what i can add on a daily basis to feed corals ?

Any suggestions ?
Urgent help needed Pop Eye

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 10:53am CDT by AllanEcc

We introduced 5 small Chromis. After a week, one of them got pop eye. Its been 4 days now and getting worse. The eye looks as if it has fallen out. Its a big white mass/hole. The fish lies on the bottom without feeding. Should we:
isolate it in a breeding net in the tank with food,
try a freshwater dip,
leave it alone?

We have slightly high NO3 at 5-10, but have 'protected' livestock with Prime. All other parameters are good and stable.
Free Coarse Coral for sale: Ruimsig or Randburg

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 10:34am CDT by inflames

Hardware for saleThread title:
Free Coarse Coral
Location:
Ruimsig or Randburg
Shipping or Collection only:
Collection only
Photo's and description/list of items for sale:
Hi Guys,

As the thread says, free to whoever wants it!:thumbup:. Bring own container!

Notes:
-
False Gramma for sale: Cpt

Posted: May 17th, 2011, 10:23am CDT by Riddi

Fish for saleCommon Name:
False Gramma
Scientific Name:
-
Size of fish
4-6 cm
How long have you had the fish?
1yr
Is the fish eating?
yes
Shipping or Collection only:
collection
Your location.
Cpt
Price:
FREE
Photo's:
False Gramma free for collection.
PLEASE note not recomended if you ever want to add new fish or shrimp:(
Notes:
-