Reefkeeping South Africa » Items by ThaneF

Items by ThaneF

Clam Advice

Posted: December 22nd, 2011, 3:49pm CST by ThaneF

Hi all,

Here is my story. I bought this stunning clam from Idol Marine - I had the perfect place to put the clam into my tank...
So I got home, dripped and all the rest, placed the new clam, came back and the clam had rolled off of the rock that I had placed it. This happened a few times and I got worried that the clam might injure it self by falling off the rockwork all the time so I placed the clam on the gravel until I could make a plan.

I sold the one rock that was in the way and I wanted to move the clam to it's final location close to the light and the clam had attached it self - This was within 2 days :eek:. So now the clam is on the floor and I'm worried it's not doing well. The mantel doesn't seem to be as "lifted" as my other two clams, tends to be bent down. The colour still looks good to me but I want to make sure that the clam is healthy. It has been in my tank for around 2 weeks and I'm worried that the clam could be "gaping". I have attached some pics of the clam - and advice would be appreciated.

[FS]: Green Star polyps for sale: Discovery, Roodepoort

Posted: December 12th, 2011, 6:54pm CST by ThaneF

Single Coral for saleCommon Name:

Green Star polyps

Scientific Name:

Clavularia viridis

Size of coral

25cm+

How long have you had the coral?

one year

Shipping or Collection only:

Collection only

Your location.

Discovery, Roodepoort

Price:

R400

Photo's:

Hi,

I'm wanting to sell this rock of green star polyps, wanting to make space in my nano for more coral :yeahdude:

Close up of GSP

Left side of GSP

Full tank shot showing size of rock

Notes:

-

SPS Growth

Posted: October 10th, 2011, 5:12pm CDT by ThaneF

Hi Guys/Gals

A little while ago I had the standard 5t lighting above my tank, my SPS's seemed to do well but growth seemed slow. I had an incident when my frog spore fell onto one of my SPS's and stung the cr@p out of it. Most of the coral is dead but there is some life at the bottom of the SPS. Will the SPS grow over is old skeleton or must I break it off and grow new? The reason why I ask is becaus the other SPS's seem to be having a great growth spurt but this one doesn't seem to be doing much/if anything :(

Sorry about the quality of the pic - digital zoom is seldom great :( but you sure you can see what I'm speaking about

On a brighter note, since I installed my LED's the growth of my SPS's have increased and I would like you know if you feel that it's a good growth rate. :thumbup: I have also notice a big change in my coral colour since I have been running th LED's :yeahdude:

This pic was taken on the 24-08-2011

This pic was taken today 10-10-2011

Can anyone guess my latest DIY project

Posted: August 1st, 2011, 1:42pm CDT by ThaneF

Right, the first item of my latest project has arrived, hoping the rest is going to arrive early next week :whistling:

Is this LED worth getting excited about?

Posted: July 19th, 2011, 1:57pm CDT by ThaneF

I came across this site and they have a "400w metal halide" replacement LED flood light - don't think it's quite 400w metal halide but an alternative?
Here are the specs:
Power consumption 100W
Voltage 220V
Lumens 8500
Beam angle 120°
Color temperature 2700 - 12000
Kelvin Warm White - White
Lifespan 30,000 hours
Product Width 185mm
Product Length 370mm
Product Height 289mm
Product Weight 5,300g
Package Width 190mm
Package Length 392mm
Package Height 292mmP
ackage Weight 5,500g

Are these algaes going to become a problem?

Posted: July 5th, 2011, 8:06pm CDT by ThaneF

Hi all,

I have these two algaes starting to grow. My tank is just under a year old, all of the parameters are in check and they have grown out of my "old" live rock. Must I nuke them or leave them, any advice is appreciated.

Tube worm shedding?

Posted: April 1st, 2011, 6:04pm CDT by ThaneF

Hi all,

I bought 2x tube worms a long while ago, they are looking good but the one has kinda "shed". They are on the rock rock and the one somehow attached it self to the bottom of one of the rocks. Now it looks like it has "shed" and the worm is exposed but stuck on the roch... this is the back half of the worm. The front half still has the sheath and is very responsive and still looking good - must i worry?

RO unit proprietary membranes?

Posted: March 26th, 2011, 9:16am CDT by ThaneF

Hi all, especially @waterboy

I have just moved into a new house and I'm no longer close to any decent LFS that stock marine so here is my question.
Many many years ago I bought a really fance RO unit and I need to replace all of the filter components, will any filter unit fit or are they proprietary?

Regards
Thane

KH Low

Posted: March 15th, 2011, 6:00pm CDT by ThaneF

Hi guys/gals

I was testing my KH and it's at 5 :whistling: which is a bit low... I currently dose brightwells reef code B whick is supposed to bring up the KH as well but maybe it's not enough?
I have read that you can use bicarb soda with RO water... but I have a nano with a chiller and I don't loose much water at all. Can I take out 500ml of water - add a quater teanspoon bicarb and drip that salt water back in - slowley with the ATO unplugged... can I do this or muct I use RO?

Garlic - YAY or NAY?

Posted: January 28th, 2011, 8:47am CST by ThaneF

Hi all,

I have been reading on the MASA forum and I don't want to start a all out war here again but has anyone bought "Ocean Nutrition Algae" lately... all of them come with garlic in them - you have no choice and it's enough to keep all vampires away for at least block... but with that been said, I haven't looked at other brands. There is a brightwell product called "garlic powder - which is actually a liquid and POTENT!!!" and they all say "It's a miracle cure but not to be used as a medication" - I thought that the miracle cure was beetroot and a shower :tt2:

I know some members here are going to say "you don't get garlic in NSW" but you also don't get a lot of the chemicals used for medicating fish, copper comes to mind straight away as well as the chemical used to treat worms - name alludes me now and the new product been punted - the coral dip...

What are your opinions here... I'm not wanting - your fish will die in "x" days when some people have been using it for years... just looking for peoples experiences with it

Mxican Turbo

Posted: January 21st, 2011, 7:39pm CST by ThaneF

Hi,

Do you have/could you get me some mexican turbo's? I have a 130L nano with a lot of red hair algea and I hear that they eat it.
Could you please advise?

Regards
Thane

Red "Hair" Algae?

Posted: January 21st, 2011, 4:20pm CST by ThaneF

Hi all,

I have this algae in my tank and I just don't know what it is and how to get rid of it. All of my parameters are correct so I've given up trying to work it out my self and ask the experts... what the :censored: is this and how do I kick it's a$$?

I have tried to find info on MASA but I haven't had any luck.
Any/all questions welcome and suggestions please

Thanks is advance

Weird fire goby deaths

Posted: November 9th, 2010, 5:16pm CST by ThaneF

Hi guys,

I have been running my nano for around 5 months now. I have got a 6 line wrasse (oldest in the tank) - a stunning regal (about 1 month and healthy, never even got white spot), two cleaner shrimp (growing at a rapid rate), some hermits and snails, sps, lps and softies in my tank all in my opinion looking good.

Bought two fire gobies on Sunday, dripped and put them into the tank. Fed the tank and they both ate like pigs. Got home yesterday and the one was missing - found it in the rock work been eaten by the hermits. Fed the tank and the remaining fire goby ate very well. Then today I got home and the other one is in the process of dying - not swimming and breathing very heavy.

I have checked my water paramaters:
NO2: 0.1
NO3: 0
NH3/NH4+: 0
SG: 1.023

Feeding: Frozen food thawed in purified water and rinsed before feeding.
The 6 line and regal look fine with nothing looking wrong, does anyone have any idea as to what could be going on here? I really am confused and worried :(

Thane's RSM 130D

Posted: October 22nd, 2010, 6:20pm CDT by ThaneF

Right, been running my tank for a little while now and really happy with the way things are looking at the moment :thumbup:... a few upgrades on the tank though.
Replaced the standard skimmer with the Tunze 9002 - what a big differance with the skimmate and noise
Next I bough a chiller (that was Bryan's fault at Jungle, the most expense 40L of RO I have evern bought :P)
And now for the drum roll......
The first VORTECH MP10W ES in the country!!!!!!!!! :yeahdude: :yeahdude: :yeahdude: :yeahdude:
Thanks to Bryan at Jungle for arranging that for me
Here are some pics
Vortech: MP10W ES

Chiller:

Full Tank Pic before MP10
Front:

Right:

$Permalink for 'Marine_Aquariums_of_South_Africa/2010/10/21/Refractometer'$

Refractometer

Posted: October 21st, 2010, 5:22pm CDT by ThaneF

I have been running my RSM 130D tank now for around 5 months. After some really weird readings from my hydrometer I decided that it was time to look for a refactometer. After looking around and calling the sponsors I found that it would cost around R900. I thought about it and started to search the net and I found a refractometer, with shipping and handeling/import duties set me back R250 TOTAL and two and a half weeks of waiting... how can it cost 4 times the amount for the same thing in this country!?!... well I just thought that I'd share my experience with you guys out there.

Confused - UPS Solutions and who's Watts?

Posted: September 25th, 2010, 11:30am CDT by ThaneF

Hi Guys,

After not have water for 2 days the geyser decided it's time to burn out and tripped my house (you know, just to add to the experience)
I got the hugest of frights with my tank and now looking for a UPS solution. I know that I need a pure sine wave device and looking at UPS's. My power usage is at worst case (all pumps, lights, heaters etc) 600w (rounded up) (300w heater, 2x 55w power compact, 4x pumps (30w each))
I have found a 1000Va 700w UPS for R2500... would this be sufficient for my tank and what sort of uptime can i expect from it (assuming the heater isn't turned on all the time - then I'll have another problem on my hands) and is this a good price?
Any advice would be much appreciated

Regards
Thane

Is there such a thing as too much flow?

Posted: July 25th, 2010, 7:25pm CDT by ThaneF

Ok, I have a Red Sea Max 103d tank (supposed to be 130 Liters) and it has 2x 550L "return" pumps. So that's a total of 1100L per hour.
I have been looking at the flow and I would like to add another power head into the tank, would a 1000L per hour power head b e too much (so that'll be a total of 2000L per hour in a 130L tank).
I don't want to have any of my future fish doing tumble turns around the tank :rofl: or not been able to keep corals because I have too much flow. I want to put a wave deflector onto it so the current will be changing all the time and there will be loss bue to the device. Any comments are welcome.
Thanks
Regards
Thane

Week and going well?

Posted: July 25th, 2010, 9:46am CDT by ThaneF

Ok, so my first week of watching the tank is done, got loads of these flea looking things all over the rock, some macro looking algea and I think I have got all of the aptasia :thumbup: but still on the look out for them. This morning I had this funny flat worm looking thing (i'll attch a bad pic of it at the end of my post).
Tested my water this morning and here are the results:
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0.1 - a little high :(
SG: 1.027 - too high? :nono:? - must I lower or or is it ok?
Thanks in advance for your advice
And here is the worm thing:

Returning to Marine

Posted: July 12th, 2010, 6:29pm CDT by ThaneF

Hi Guys,

Once again I am starting a tank, been a couple of years and wow, things have changed.
Bought a Red Sea MAX 130D, really impressed with the build quality, thought that I go this route this time.
Just started filling the tank and salt, next step live rock... and small pieces available in the roodepoort area?
Hope to chat with you all :yeahdude: