dendrobate

No, I believe the Tunze Mini Pump are still AC pumps, what I'm looking for are Direct Current pumps (i.e. one that needs a power converter that converts alternating current to direct current). I have a couple of DIY projects that requires specifically DC pumps.

Amphiprions have broad-spectrum mucus coating from birth that gives them some protection from all anemones. What yours is doing is bonding with the hammer by taking its signature mucus in(eating it) and excreting that through its pores to mimic the mucus of the hammer.

Not sure if this is the correct section to post this? Moderators, please feel free to move this to the right section. Anyway, I'm looking to buy some 12V DC pumps to be used for ATO. I've got 1 previously from ebay, but can't seem to find it anymore. Anyone knows any LFS that sells them?

Thanks bro

Anyone saw any Ricordia Florida and Maxi-Mini carpet anemone lately?

Thanks for expressing interest, my filtration method is modelled after one of the club's most senior member's setup. When I first joined the club and was in the planning stages for this tank, I did a lot of research, listed out the biggest issues of my last setup, and looked at many members' tanks as well as actively seeking advise and input. Many members of the club were influenced by this particular member's tank that did not have any sofisticated equipment and tried to maintain water quality simply through good understanding of how nature works and applying it to the hobby. My display tank is 48" x 18" x 24", while my sump is 48" x 18" x 18", it is a lot larger than most sumps used for a 4 footer, the reason behind that is because I need the extra area to grow macro algae, my main biological filtration. Here's a little explanation of my sump setup, the water from the display tank drains into the sump via 4 seperate 1.5" pvc pipes (2 active & 2 emergency), each of these pipes goes into a custom/DIY filter sock that's 100 microns, to remove as much detris as possible. The filter socks are changed every 3 days, I have 5 sets of the filter socks and I hand wash them slightly and leave them in a bucket filled with water and bleach for a couple of days before going into the washing machine for a good wash without any washing powder. the water on exiting the filter sock should be relatively clean, but not 100%, so I have each of these pipes sitting inside a larger (100mm) pvc pipe with the bottom capped off. The idea is to have the water than comes out of the filter socks stay in the larger PVC pipes and any detris will settle to the bottom of the pipes and only clean water oveflows out of the pipes. The area immediately after these are my aerobic filtration section. I have heaps of dead coralline corals that I collected and cleaned thoroughly then bleached and dried for a couple of weeks before use. These dead coralline corals serve 2 purpose, because they're very porous (more porous than live rocks), they'll host heaps of the nitrifying bacteria to convert NH3 to NO2 and NO2 to NO3, also, because they're mainly made up of calcium, as it breasks down, they'll increase the carbonate hardness, however, the breakdown is too slow to replace dosing, but since I don't have many calcium demanding stuff in the tank, I don't need to dose, however, since adding the clam, I might consider dosing a little kalk in near future. After the aerobic section, is the largest chamber of the sump, the DSB/Macroalgae section. I've filled the chamber with shellgit of different size in layers, starting with the finest at the bottom. The DSB is 8" deep, then I added a layer of the dead coralline corals and on top of it, a piece of egg crate. The macroalgae sits on top of the egg crate and is exposed to 20 hours lighting. I've DIYed the lighting using the LEDs (12 Red & 8 Blue) from Aquastyle. The macroalgae I'm growing is a local variant of the Caulerpa racemosa. The growth rate of these are amazing under the LEDs and I have to trim them every week or so. The purpose of this chamber is to provide a media to host the denitrying bacteria via the DSB, as well as to grow the macroalgae. Most setups will manage the NH3 to NO2 and the NO2 to NO3 part of the nitrogen cycle, but many struggle with the nitrate conversion, which often leads to algae outbreaks and poor water quality. The water from the DSB chamber enters a small chamber where I have my cheato tumbling around, before finally entering the last chamber where the water is fed back to the main tank via the return pump. There's really isn't anything special about my filtration, in fact, most sump these days are very similar, except for the additional equipments and reactors. I do however, monitor my water very closely and always add fish slowly and always remove any visible waste/uneaten food. Having said that, to anyone who is reading this, please do not disconnect your skimmer, reactors, etc. Every setup is different and what I've done here is done with the intention of minimising the number of equipments in the sump as well as to keep the system as natural as possible. Also, I do have a skimmer and a nitrate reactor around that can be hooked onto the system should a need arises. I guess the problem with my setup is the amount of space taken up by the sump as well as the lack of aesthetic appeal.

Went out collecting yesterday to get a cleaner wrasse to replace the one that has gone missing (probably got sucked into the overflow) since thursday, got that plus a pair of scopaz tangs as well The cleaner wrasses straight to work once they're in the tank. The Scopaz tangs cowering in one corner, hopefully will settle down by tomorrow.

Thanks guys, this tank is sort of an experiment for me in terms of scaping, I wanted something different from the usual rockwall or island scapes for this tank, and having done freshwater planted tanks for the last decade or so, I wanted to combine the design concepts of both fresh and salt water into this tank. I totally loved my last freshwater treescape, and wanted to replicate this in the 4 footer. Here's a couple of pics of my treescape from the very beginning.

Some pics of the tank's inhabitants.

So far the corals are doing really well since it's winter here in Australia, but like I said before, I wouldn't worry too much about heat issues in summer as these were collected from places where the conditions are really harsh, with temperatures going as high as 39° in midday, and as low as 18° at night. I'm only having relative success with the fishes though, in the begining, I pretty much try to catch everything that I see (a little kiasu), the result is uncompatible fishes or fishes that're too big/old to adapt to captivity. These days, I try to get smaller and younger fishes, as their more adpatable to changes and their diet are more varied, making it easier to get them to feed on frozen or self prepared food. I also try to do a little research before each trip to decide what to catch, even if it means going home empty handed. When I do get fishes, I put them in quarantine, that has a few permanent residents so that the new fish will learn from them how to feed on frozen food. If I'm not able to get them to feed with 10 days, I'll bring them down to one of the senior member's place who seems to be able to get almost any fish to eat.

Indeed I am, as with most guys in the club, we steer away from the expensive/complex/high-tech stuff that's readiliy available from the LFS, and instead, try to achieve good results with good understanding of the requirements of the inhabitants in our tanks and good husbandry. For example, I, like most the club members, do not use Protein Skimmers, calcium reactors, etc. Through the advise and guidance of fellow club members, I've design the sump such that most of the filtration is handled naturally, through the use of DSB, macro algae and good pre-filtration of the water draining into the sump. The only piece of equipment that I might consider buying is a chiller, but that's only because I want to keep some of the more exotic corals and tubeworms (temperate zones) I see when diving, if however I decide to stick with what I currently have, I wouldn't need a chiller even though the water would go as high as 35° in summer, as all of the corals I collected were exposed/trapped in tidepools at lowtide with temperature reaching as high as 39°.

Thanks, you should see some of the catches by the other guys in the club, mine are just the more easy and common stuff, the more experienced guys in the club get some really awesome stuff each time, makes me drool everytime.

Thanks, Yes, it's actually very rewarding to be able to say that everything in the tank is collected or caught by myself. Of course, it didn't quite started out with this intention, being a Singaporean, everything here is just so expensive by comparison, and I was just going to try to save some $$$ by catching my own fishes, but once I started collecting, it just got more and more fun, and really get a sense of accomplishment when I catch something that's really hard to catch.

Yes and no, there are different rules and regulations in different states of Australia regarding the collecting of fish and invertebrates, most states will have regulations regarding collecting inside or outside "Green Zones", that are protected areas. There are limits to how many things we can collect, what can or cannot be collected, as well as the permitted methods of collection. We are also not allowed to sell any of the stuff we collected. Our club organises collecting trips only to areas where collecting is permitted, however, we also go on diving trips to Green Zones just to appreciate the wildlife there. The club has strict rules about the conduct of the members on these trips, and often, we're approached by researchers, authors, museums, etc. to help locate rare species of marine life either to take DNA samples or photos of them in the wild, etc. What we want to do is collect a little something for our hobby, but at the same time be responsible in what we do so that others may be able to enjoy it in the wild. Here's a couple of pics of the stuff I've collected:

Boxfish are my daughter's favourite! I used to collect them from the wild for my tank, but like you said, they're pretty hard to get them to feed, the trick to it is to get the smallest possible ones and keep it in a holding/quarantine tank that already has fishes that feed readily on frozen food, that way they'll "learn" to eat what the other fishes are eating. Getting them to feed is only half the battle, these fishes are really subseptible to ick/white spots, I've lost quite a few to white spots already, as such, I've decided not to collect them anymore, and just enjoy them while diving.

Thanks, yes, I usually rush into setting up tanks as well, fortunately, this time I wanted to make my own stand and because I was lacking a couple of tools and a mate from the club offered to lend them to me as well as help make the tank, I had a couple of weeks to play with the intended setup. Here's a couple of pics on the tank construction, enjoy. The design of the stand was discussed and a detailed blueprint was produced for reference throughout the building process. Some of the materials used. The ultimate workshop with State of the art power tools My mate Ignobolis hard at work... under the ever watchful eyes of the tough supervisor. After a gruelling 3 hours of hard yakka plus a couple of bourbon, the results are great... After a good night's sleep, a hearty breakfast and more bourbon, here's the final product. The stand measures 5ft long x 2ft wide by 3.5ft high, so how to transport this back, with ultimate care and safety procedures of course.

Lol, I get that quite a bit from some of my more geeky mates (no offense to you).

Yes, I agree, as I collect all the corals and fishes myself, I'm only limited to what I can find. I've been slowly replacing the larger pieces of coral frags with smaller ones as I go along. Also, I've been fragging some of the larger ones and giving them to other members in my club.

The skeletal structure is made of PVC pipes that also serve as a secondary return from the sump, I then attach pieces of dead corals that I've prepared earlier to the pipes. The larger base pieces that's crucial for supporting the entire structure and keeping it balanced, were drilled and have the PVC pipe go through it. As for the "branches", they're be light porous pieces zip-tied and siliconed to the pipes. Here's a couple of pics of how I did it.

Hi everyone, First a little background info about myself. I was formerly from Singapore, migrated to Australia 6 years ago. Been in the aquarium (and related) hobby for over 25 years, pretty much did everything related to the hobby, from goldfish and guppies, to marines and corals, shrimps and other inverts, as well as frogs and snakes. I've not had a marine tank for over 10 years, the last time I had one, it was a 3 footer with T5s and internal overflow and no chiller. Needless to say, it was sort of struggling along most of the time, mainly because it didn't have enough lighting and constantly struggling with heat related issues. I kept the tank for close to 3 years before shutting it down due to various reasons. So for the next couple of years, I've gone back to freshwater, mainly planted tanks and vivariums, but I'm always monitoring the marine scene. Since migrating to Australia, I've been spending a lot of time on work, but since changing job last year, I got a little bit more time to spare, and with the availability and affordability of various technologies such as chiller and LEDs, I've decided to take up reef keeping again. I'm currently a member of a club call AandT Society, a local fish keeping club in Brisbane that has been around since 1927, but in the last decade or so, has focus mostly on marine fish. A unique feature of the club is that most of the members collect their own fish and corals, which is really great because live stocks here are really expensive. Alright, enough babbling, here's some pics of my current tank, an old 2nd hand 4 x 1.5 x 2 , with a 4 x 1.5 x 1.5 sump, that's been setup for close to 4 months now. All the live stocks are collected from the wild myself or by fellow club members. We go out collecting a couple of weekends each month depending on the tides and weather. FTS - 05 August 2012 FTS - 23 July 2012 FTS - 03 July 2012 FTS - 22 Jun 2012 FTS - 10 June 2012 FTS - 02 June 2012 FTS - 30 May 2012 Thanks for reading, comments, thoughts and suggestions please.