Achilles Tang

Never heard of Macro... why don't you post your question on the board? Maybe someone else can help with this. Venturi doesn't need wood block airstones to work!

Got 2 jerry cans for NSW from Ocean Planet. Did a taste test... taste like saltwater... heh heh! Tested salinity using my refractometer... 1.024. Tested PH.... 8.12. I'll do a no2/no3 test and alk test later. I'm pretty pooped today... and tomorrow's gonna be a loooooong day!

Would I be too much to say to buy the most expensive one? They are expensive for a reason... higher quality and performance. I think its more prudent to hold your purchase till you save enough and then buy a quality product than to get a so-so one and whine about its lack of capabilities and begin hunting for a better one. You save money, grief and time if you do it right the first time... trust me... it's the best way. I am sure many of us can agree with that.... and save thousands... but I think most people won't have the capital to build the ideal reef system until later... and that's where the compromising starts... impatience comes in... and livestock suffers.... and where does our happiness comes in?

Well, if they want to enforce the ban, it should be at the point of unloading. These guys are selling what they missed. If everything is banned, a lot of people's ricebowls will be broken. Perhaps when one day when everyone in the hobby becomes more conscientious and buys only hardy species and knows how to keep them well, perhaps specific banning will be made and bans on certain livestock can be lifted. Actually, I have no idea why liverock needs to be banned? 80% or more of the world is water, how much liverock can we take???? I'll be willing to dump 1 ton of rocks into the water to replace a small amount of liverock taken... over time, those 1 ton will become 'live' too!

My plumbing work is finally done with the fixing up of my main pump. I have washed all my sand. Tomorrow, I am going to make saltwater mix and also transfer some of my old tank's water, live sand and liverock in to make the cycling faster. Gonna pop in a smelly old raw sotong piece that I have been saving to create the ammonia I need to kickstart the cycle. The bacteria in a bottle I am gonna pour in to colonise the 15 packs of #1 sand asap. Hopefully my cycle will be over in a week and a half. Then my corals will go in first. Gonna leave my tank uninhabited by fishes for at least a month to kill off any ich parasite cysts. Gonna treat my fishes with hyposalinity treatment to kill off any adult ich parasites on them. After a month... then the fishes get to go into their new homes... By then... hopefully, the pod population will have exploded in my refugium and my main tank.

I only pressed the starter switch! Our passion for the hobby is our fuel... You guys are running the engine! Go go go!!!! AT

What? There are live rocks coming in from Japan???! Are you absolutely sure?? Japanese Garden izzit?? What's the difference??

Hey Morgan... anytime you wanna setout to go LFS... gimme a buzz!! I stay so near you and I don't have the car always.

It's a coral which prefers low flow. Are you putting it too near a powerhead? It doesn't need the full blast of MHs... slightly shaded is ok. Temp...not too sure... I have a chiller..

Give us a shout, and we SRC guys will be there to help! (I hope!)

Great post, Phang! I use the same method too! Bluebeard - those syringes come with test kits!

Guys, I bought my new pump yesterday! It's the Aqua Medic Oceanrunner OR6500 from Germany. It pumps an amazing 6500l/h, 11.4 ft (3.8m) head and consumes only 115watts! Only costs me $280... a fraction of the cost of those chemical pumps like Iwaki... so even if it kaputs in 5 years time... I'm sure the pain is minimised! The yet-to-hit-the-market Eheim 1264 only does 4500 l/h, 3.5 m head and power consumption is: 100 W, probably costs more than my new pump. Well... full steam ahead with my project!

Hey Phang! Looks like you're proceeding faster than I was! Actually... I need to update you guys on my tank as well... lots of progress done! Heh!

Maybe its time we all learn to practice quarantining our fishes to prevent ich from spreading to our main tank. It will take a lot of patience and careful monitoring.

Would help if you could take a pix so we can help ID them for you! Is your snail-like creature without a shell? Then it's probably a nudibranch or a stomatella (shell-less snail). The tiny seafan with fingers are probably a species of featherduster worms.

I wish we could get our PUB's new patented 'Sai zhui' or 'jamban juice' direct for use in our reef tanks!

Oh come on Hon... you're mean!!! RMX, why don't you DIY a good skimmer then? Rrrobt is building one based on Robe's designs. I'm am sure they'll get help you along. Your budget may go up to $100 but you will get a very good skimmer compared to those sandstone types.

Well, if your metal stand is bent due to no support columns for the middle, then logic suggests that you built it in! (I sound like a Vulcan!) Wood or metal, it will be the same thing!

Ron Shimek, the DSB expert, had a 4 year old tank crash recently and did some research. Supposedly, it was caused by the buildup of toxic heavy metals in his tank. He is still doing a lot of study on this as it is just ONE tank, and there are many people with DSB tanks still going strong after seven years... so there's no need to panic. If this research is true, then it looks like we have to replace all the sand and liverock after 4 years! The buildup of trace metal elements to toxic levels could be attributed to heavy feeding or using additives.... Oh well, Ron Shimek is getting a lot of flak for panicking people with DSBs now, but like I said, no conclusive evidence has been posted yet. There are more positive effects from a DSB then any negative ones.

Well, John Tullock and Eric Bourneman has agreed that this particular species of caninenicus cutecus is definitely reefsafe.... so there! Now get back in line! Phhhst! The things some people do to get first in line!

Protein Skimmer-Type A 110-F2000 pump:Aqua Bee 2000/18W height:565 mm surface:330 mm x 140 mm skimmer body:110 mm output pipe:32 mm input:12 mm max. size of the tank:400 Litres

The load bearing strength of metal is way stronger than wood. Wood will have catastrophic failure compared to steel... which will bend before breaking. Unless of course the welding was extremely slipshod. Outdoors where your tanks are placed... I think steel would weather better than wood. Rust can be covered better than wood rot. Consider again, Morgan... logic suggests.

The dog is reefsafe! I double-checked! I'm having both!!! Get back in line!

Oh that's what you call it! I call it the 'smelly hairy black urchin'

Rubbish!!! I am FIRST in queue! Read my earlier post!!! PPphhhhhtttt!!!