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Items by Kevin

Marine Aquariums of South Africa

• 

  Brittle starfish

  Posted: September 13th, 2010, 11:13am CDT by Kevin

  Hi Guys,
  
  I been away from the forum for a while now (studying, work, travelling etc).
  
  I installed a sump on my Boyu TL550 in March / April this year and basically just put a whole lot of play sand in as a DSB with a bit of live rock from my display tank.
  
  Yesterday, I was changing the light bulbs on the ATS, when I noticed that the sand on the DSB was alive with movement.
  
  Closer inspection revealed hundreds of tiny brittle starfish. They are about 2mm in diameter and white in colour.
  
  I had some baby brittle stars about a year back but none survived. I think the Harley got them all.
  
  I have a huge brittle star in my display tank (body is the size of a R5 coin) and a few small ones which hang out in a small piece of live rock. The large one loves to chow pieces of hake, which I feed to my Harley. The Harley should actually eat the starfish, but he/she seems to be intimidated by it.
  
  I have added nothing to my tank since March this year, so I have no clue as to where there little guys came from, unless they are breeding in my tank ? There are no babies in the main tank at all.
  
  What are the chances they will survive to adulthood in a tank? Do they need any special diets?
  
  Thanks
• 

  Feeding fry

  Posted: April 19th, 2010, 5:30pm CDT by Kevin

  I know absolutely nothing about breeding fish or raising them, but from what I have read here and from other sources, feeding them seems to be a problem.
  
  I have one doff question. Why cant they be fed micronized fish food?
  
  I did a test in my lab and I can quite easily mill fish pellets down to 212um in size. I can even go down to 110um in size.
  
  Will baby fish eat normal fish food if made small enough and put into the water stream?
  
  This stuff is basically finer than dust particles so filtration and skimming will have to be stopped during feeding or it will remove the food quickly.
  
  I am sure this has been tried before, but I am interested into why the baby fish would not attempt to eat a lekker instant meal.
• 

  Anemone in a Nano tank

  Posted: April 15th, 2010, 12:19pm CDT by Kevin

  I have upgraded my lighting to 3x24w PL tubes in the Boyu TL550 and I have added a 60L sump with a DSB.
  
  Is there an anemone which will survive in my tank and one which my clown fish will adapt too?
  
  My tank is about 16mnths old and I have excellent water parameters excpet for the nitrates which hover around 15. Hence the reason I added the sump.
  
  I really want an anemone for the clowns, they look lost without one.
• 

  Boyu TL550 with sump

  Posted: April 13th, 2010, 10:17am CDT by Kevin

  After a year or so, I have finally installed a sump for my TL 550.
  
  I will post pics of the modification soon.
  
  I have drilled a 32mm hole into the back of the tank for the overflow and a 20mm hole for the return. The back of the TL 550 is glass not acrylic so I had to source the drill bits. Builder warehouse have got in diamond drill bits from Torkcraft. I paid R129 for the 20mm bit and R169 for the 32mm bit.
  
  Drilling was a breeze, but I did quite a bit of practise before hand on old glass.
  
  The overflow, will start to operate from tonight. I have split the overflow into the sump into two lines. One line will run over an ATS and the other will flow directly into the chamber of the return pump.
  
  I have set up a DSB underneath the ATS in the main chamber. The sand is playsand at a depth of appox 12cm. On top of this I want to put in Chaeto and some other macro algae.
  
  The return pump is 2000L/hr, I dont know if this is too much for the tank. Advise will be appreciated.
  
  I still need to install some lights in the sump for the ATS and for the algae growth.
  
  Space is limited so I am going to put 2x50w downlights for the sump and try and squeeze in a 23W CFL floodlight for the ATS. I hope this is suffiicent or is it overkill?
  
  After all of this, if I still have space, I want to chuck the Boyu skimmer as far as I can throw it and put in a lekker skimmer in the sump. Any advise here would also be appreciated.
  
  Here is a pic of the sump. It is approximately 60L.
  
  
• 

  Boyu TL550 with sump

  Posted: April 13th, 2010, 10:17am CDT by Kevin

  After a year or so, I have finally installed a sump for my TL 550.
  
  I will post pics of the modification soon.
  
  I have drilled a 32mm hole into the back of the tank for the overflow and a 20mm hole for the return. The back of the TL 550 is glass not acrylic so I had to source the drill bits. Builder warehouse have got in diamond drill bits from Torkcraft. I paid R129 for the 20mm bit and R169 for the 32mm bit.
  
  Drilling was a breeze, but I did quite a bit of practise before hand on old glass.
  
  The overflow, will start to operate from tonight. I have split the overflow into the sump into two lines. One line will run over an ATS and the other will flow directly into the chamber of the return pump.
  
  I have set up a DSB underneath the ATS in the main chamber. The sand is playsand at a depth of appox 12cm. On top of this I want to put in Chaeto and some other macro algae.
  
  The return pump is 2000L/hr, I dont know if this is too much for the tank. Advise will be appreciated.
  
  I still need to install some lights in the sump for the ATS and for the algae growth.
  
  Space is limited so I am going to put 2x50w downlights for the sump and try and squeeze in a 23W CFL floodlight for the ATS. I hope this is suffiicent or is it overkill?
  
  After all of this, if I still have space, I want to chuck the Boyu skimmer as far as I can throw it and put in a lekker skimmer in the sump. Any advise here would also be appreciated.
  
  Here is a pic of the sump. It is approximately 60L.
  
  
• 

  Boyu TL550 with sump

  Posted: April 13th, 2010, 10:17am CDT by Kevin

  After a year or so, I have finally installed a sump for my TL 550.
  
  I will post pics of the modification soon.
  
  I have drilled a 32mm hole into the back of the tank for the overflow and a 20mm hole for the return. The back of the TL 550 is glass not acrylic so I had to source the drill bits. Builder warehouse have got in diamond drill bits from Torkcraft. I paid R129 for the 20mm bit and R169 for the 32mm bit.
  
  Drilling was a breeze, but I did quite a bit of practise before hand on old glass.
  
  The overflow, will start to operate from tonight. I have split the overflow into the sump into two lines. One line will run over an ATS and the other will flow directly into the chamber of the return pump.
  
  I have set up a DSB underneath the ATS in the main chamber. The sand is playsand at a depth of appox 12cm. On top of this I want to put in Chaeto and some other macro algae.
  
  The return pump is 2000L/hr, I dont know if this is too much for the tank. Advise will be appreciated.
  
  I still need to install some lights in the sump for the ATS and for the algae growth.
  
  Space is limited so I am going to put 2x50w downlights for the sump and try and squeeze in a 23W CFL floodlight for the ATS. I hope this is suffiicent or is it overkill?
  
  After all of this, if I still have space, I want to chuck the Boyu skimmer as far as I can throw it and put in a lekker skimmer in the sump. Any advise here would also be appreciated.
  
  Here is a pic of the sump. It is approximately 60L.
  
  
• 

  Candy cane frag by mistake

  Posted: April 9th, 2010, 10:38am CDT by Kevin

  Last night I was rescaping my tank and I moved my candy cane to the bottom of the tank to move some rocks arround. I never realised how heavy the candy cane was and the rock it was mounted on fell over causing a small rock fall in the tank.
  
  I now have four candy cane corals as the mother broke into four where it brached off at the base.
  
  I only want to keep one, as they grow quickly and I only have 103L nano tank.
  
  Anybody want to swop? I am looking for a small frag of bubble or hammer coral.
• 

  Zeolite filtration

  Posted: April 7th, 2010, 12:39pm CDT by Kevin

  What is Zeolite filtration and can it be used in a nano tank?
• 

  Hermit crab changed colour

  Posted: April 6th, 2010, 4:11pm CDT by Kevin

  In December, I collected a few local hermits from Eastlondon. They are green in colour with yellow spots on their feet. These guys really mow down hair algae and macro algae.
  
  All of them are doing fine, but one has decided to change colour. It has gone a dark blue colour. I thought it was molting but it has been like this for a few weeks now. It is very active and is eating well.
  
  Anybody here know why hermits change colour?
• 

  Snail trap

  Posted: March 31st, 2010, 1:30pm CDT by Kevin

  I have a problem with hundreds of small snails. They dont seem to do anything bad, but the tank looks gross when they all decide to inhabit the glass.
  
  Is there a way to catch them, instead of picking them up one at a time?
• 

  Green flourescent mushrooms

  Posted: March 8th, 2010, 8:05am CST by Kevin

  I have got a small problem with my Mushrooms. They have grown extremely fast and now I have to start removing them out of the tank.
  
  Does anybody want some or want to swop for some other lekker coloued mushrooms?
• 

  Asterina starfish pest

  Posted: February 9th, 2010, 1:25pm CST by Kevin

  Hi Guys,
  
  Any ideas on how to get rid of asterina starfish? I have got literally hundreds of very small blue starfish which have stripped my tank of all the coraline algae and they are now chowing my star polyps.
  
  I spent hours this past weekend picking out the ones I could get to, but this hardly made a dent in their numbers.
  
  What will chow them, keepiing in mind that I have a TL550 tank and also have a few brittle stars?
  
  Thanks
• 

  Lights for an ATS

  Posted: August 12th, 2009, 9:19am CDT by Kevin

  I know this has been discussed before, but what lights are the best for an ATS. I am building one this weekend, it is going to be small as space is tight.
  
  Probably 150mm X 250 mm.
  
  Are grow lux lights the best and do they come in small sizes?
• 

  Rics spurting stuff

  Posted: August 4th, 2009, 5:24pm CDT by Kevin

  My rics throw out this cloud of mucus stuff into the tank every now and then.
  
  What could it be? Are they trying to reproduce or are they expelling waste.
  
  These guys are getting quite big, some are more than 120mm across when fully expanded.
• 

  White fan worms

  Posted: August 4th, 2009, 4:34pm CDT by Kevin

  My live rock is getting covered in little white fan worms, which seem to be reproducing at a rate. What will chow these things as they are getting out of hand?
• 

  Plumbing fittings

  Posted: August 3rd, 2009, 10:48am CDT by Kevin

  Hi guys,
  
  I am almost finished buliding my sump for my TL550, but I cannot find the correct plumbing fittings for the back of the display tank. I want to have a 32mm overflow and a 12mm return with black rigid pipes. I have seen that plumbing suppliers have screw in fittings for water tanks that are leak proof but they only come in very large sizes.
  
  If you guys know of any suppliers in the JHB west rand area, I would appreciate it.
  
  Thanks
• 

  Red Gracilaria, good or bad?

  Posted: July 27th, 2009, 5:23pm CDT by Kevin

  Hi Guys,
  
  I have got some red gracillaria algae growing at quite a rate from one of my live rocks between my Rics. It is smothering the rics, so I will have to cut it out.
  
  Should I keep this in my tank as some sites say it is good and other say it will take over the whole tank?
  
  They say Tangs love to eat it, but I have no tangs in my nano tank.
  
  Advise please!
• 

  Brittle star breeding?

  Posted: July 24th, 2009, 3:10pm CDT by Kevin

  I recently bought a coral which had a large brittle star hiding away (bonus :thumbup:) and since then the brittle star has taken up to hiding in a rock at the bottom of the tank and only comes out to eat when I add frozen food. It is about 150mm across in size.
  
  Last night I saw plenty, very small (3mm across) white brittle stars cruisng the same rock where the big one is hiding out. I have never seen these before in my tank and the tank is now seven months old.
  
  How do brittle stars breed? Is it possible that this stowaway came with eggs (babies) as well?
  
  What are their lifecycles and do they also have different morphological stages like other starfish?
  
  Sorry I cant get pictures, these guys are really small and move quickly.
• 

  Metal Halide

  Posted: July 8th, 2009, 5:45pm CDT by Kevin

  I am going to go with a metal halide conversion on my TL 550 (topless)
  
  I have seen a nice clip on unit but I need some advice:
  
  The bulb is a 150W HQI Aqualight rated at 14000K
  
  Is this too much for a TL550?
  
  I want to keep some clams and some other corals which need extra light.
  
  I am busy with a sump conversion to include a decent protein skimmer, a DSB and maybe an ATS.
• 

  Green algae problems

  Posted: May 18th, 2009, 9:59am CDT by Kevin

  Howzit guys,
  
  My Nano has been running now for about five months (Boyu TL550). I have had very good water parameters from the beginning.
  
  Tank inmates:
  
  2 small clown fish,
  2 Cardinal
  1 lemonpeel angel
  1 turbo snail
  2 hermit crabs
  1 cleaner shrimp
  
  Currently the parameters are as follows:
  
  PH 8.2
  Alkalinity 6 (this has dropped from 10, a major water change will rectify)
  Ammonia 0
  Nitrite 0
  Nitrate 10 (fluctuates between 5 and 10)
  Phosphate 0 (Elos)
  Calcium 400
  
  The tank has been through cyano outbreaks (salt change fixed this), brown algae outbreaks and now a green algae is forming on the glass.
  
  This green algae is almost impossible to get off. It grows in tiny spot like colonies which need considerable force to be removed. Problem is that in the effort to get them off, I scratch the acrylic.
  
  Any ideas?