Heron Reef

CHILLER FOR SALE !

2011-06-08T11:39:00.001+01:00

WATERCHANGES !

2010-11-16T13:57:00.001+02:00

We forget how important the old adage :

"The solution to pollution is dilution " often is.

I have been fighting high phosphates for some time now , and even though i don't overfeed and also ensure that frozen foods are rinsed .

I have noticed a recent decline in some of the corals and decided to embark on some daily water changes for a week.

This has made a huge difference to th Redox and also the appearance of the corals.

This has awakened a new vigor in my keep and also me.

Regular water changes it will be from now on. ;-)

RANDOM PICTURES FROM MY TANK

2010-10-29T10:06:00.000+02:00

TANK STAND TAKE 2,5

2010-10-28T17:03:00.001+02:00

I have done a simple Sketchup drawing of what things will look like.

This will be a very basic box frame with panels on and dimensions will be 720 mm sq.

Height will be about the same - this is a lot smaller than I would have liked .

But .....................................

This should provide me enough space to be able to install a decent sump with topup and refugium.

I will try and knock-up some more details and need to get the stand made ASAP.

Happy reefing

H

NEW TANK STAND ? NO NOT YET ;-)

2010-10-27T17:17:00.001+02:00

I have to consult with SWMBO before this can progress.

The need for space to include all the equipment and ease of manufacture will have to be balanced with esthetic needs. ;-)

Easier said than done !!!

Happy Reefing !

Hilton

TANK STAND

2010-10-26T16:45:00.001+02:00

I have managed to put the new sumps in and it is working ;-).

I do think I can do better though - so next step will be re-design the base/stand.

I would like to have something round - but from a practical perspective that just wont work.

So a square stand is probably the way to go.

Have seen this on RC so might do something along these lines , will have to wait and see.

STILL UNDECIDED

2010-10-14T09:54:00.001+02:00

I really don't know if I should do the change over to the new sump system ;-)

It seems to be a real catch22 - do it now and the redo it all again in 4 weeks.

Or choose not to and then run the risk that it does not work as it is supposed to and then have the potential chaos to put a stop-gap in place to keep things running.

There is still additional drilling etc needed - and this can only be done after the change - I would prefer to do that now whilst all tools are at hand.

Guess that answers my own question . :-)

PREPARATION FOR MOVE

2010-10-12T13:16:00.000+02:00

I am getting things ready for the future move to our new place.

I have identified - what I think is a nice spot for the tank - this is a large covered patio.

The tank should be visible from all sides and shielded from the elements nicely.

I have also constructed a sump that will fit in the cabinet and as a result a remote sump will not be required anymore. This makes for a much neater and cleaner appearance.
I have not fitted it as yet - I am debating whether to wait for the move - or to do it now to ensure it functions correctly and then disassemble it all again when we move.

Decisions,decisions.

Happy Reefing

PROBE CALIBRATION OUT ?

2010-09-21T13:29:00.001+02:00

I refer to the salinity variation experienced as per my post below.

I have since re-calibrated the salinity probe and whilst the readings are closer to what I would expect it is still little out of whack.

I will double check with a spare hydrometer that I know is 99.9% accurate.

Happy reefing !

UPDATE !!

2010-09-17T14:06:00.000+02:00

I upgraded the firmware on my Profilux II a while ago and battled to reconnect via the RS232.
This resulted in me being unable to use old sensor calibration data and had to do all afresh.
I guess in the process the maximum on time of the auto top-up was shortened to a few seconds.
This meant that the top-off timed out before all evaporation could be replaced.
Due to a busy schedule I only picked up on it a number of days later when the return pump started sucking in air.

I immediately made the required corrections and slowly added fresh water to correct sump level.

All went relatively well - but noticed that salinity sits at 30 instead of 50 . I am a bit perplexed about this. Could not figure out how this might have happened.

CLAM LOSS !!!

2010-09-15T13:19:00.001+02:00

I am sad to report the loss of my squamosa clam.

I have had this specimen with me for a number of years and early last week was still well.

I have been battling phosphate in my tank and use phosguard(Seachem) in a fluidized container.

I am unsure as to whether this brought the sudden demise on......................

I will miss it :-(

SCRAPER

2010-09-08T16:55:00.000+02:00

A FEW MORE PICS ;-)

2010-09-08T13:06:00.001+02:00

THE MOVE IS ON !

2010-09-06T17:44:00.001+02:00

Funny in a way I guess ;-)

But as I eventually get the picture up - I also need to say that the house has been sold.

This means that within the next month or so - thoughts of re-locating the tank will start filling my mind.

I do not look forward to it - is always a lot of hard back breaking work.

And there is always the risk that something might go wrong.

Also the tank is so damn heavy and a bugger to move due to it's shape . It must be turned on it side to go through any doors.

Wet hands and a slippery glass wheel is essentially what we are dealing with.

I have done this a few times now - so will add some of my tips and experiences here.

Hope somebody can find some use from it.

Happy reefing until next we meet.

Hilton

FINALLY ! A pic of the round tank ;-)

2010-09-06T17:30:00.001+02:00

LOOKS LIKE THE TANK MIGHT HAVE TO MOVE

2010-05-10T08:57:00.001+01:00

We have put our house up for sale. ;-) I have been wanting to re-aquascape , but based on this have decided to let things be.

The tank is due for a make-over but will rather do it once we have settled in our new abode. Will be a few months still,but just makes more sense.
I am still fighting the scourge of Rodactis in the tank and will probably end up scrubbing all of it off the rock before placing it back in the tank.

Happy Reefing

Till we meet again !

HIDE AND GO SEEK OCTOPUS

2009-12-22T12:00:00.000+02:00

Sydney - Australian scientists have discovered an octopus species that carries around coconut shells to hide in when threatened - behaviour the researchers said was the first example of sophisticated tool use in an invertebrate.

Rest of story here

A SHORT BREAK

2009-12-22T11:49:00.001+02:00

We will be taking a break from trading for a while - so will not be able to take any calls. Please still feel free to look around ;-)

Be back soon.

HI THERE !!

2009-11-12T14:45:00.001+02:00

Tank still looking good !!!

UPDATE !!!!

2009-09-04T09:23:00.001+01:00

Hi there everybody ;-)

Tank is still doing well and settling now that I have stopped putting my hands in it.

Pictures to follow ..............

Happy reefing.

Hilton

JAPANESE REEFS

2009-08-25T14:50:00.001+01:00

A really impressive Japanese reef with nice pictures. I could not understand anything but certainly lots of eye candy ;-)

An unusual and convenient way to mount frags in your tank. Looks a bit like a soap dish with some holes drilled in it. I like , would you want one in ur tank ???

Link to site here.

Happy Reefing.

Hilton

UPDATE !!!

2009-08-25T14:25:00.001+01:00

Hi there Everybody

After an extended absence things are finally starting to settle down again.

I have a new system up and running and feeling pretty good about life.

I will post some pics and updates shortly.

Happy Reefing.

Hilton

DOWNSCALE !!!

2009-03-02T07:42:00.001+02:00

I have not been able to devote as much time as I would like to the tanks anymore.

This has made me decide to downscale and go for something a lot smaller and more manageable.

I have set a temporary tank up and will be moving all my "Keepers' over to this tank.

Once everything else is gone I will look at building a new tank .

Thanx for looking.

Happy reefing.

Hilton.

LIVESTOCK FOR SALE

2009-02-05T13:06:00.001+02:00

SHOPS

2008-10-21T11:27:00.000+02:00

Some really impressive shops I could spend a lot of time in ;-)

A NOVEL IDEA ??

2008-10-14T16:46:00.004+02:00

Thought that it would be really cool to have your aquarium orders delivered with this truck ;)

ANOTHER UPDATE

2008-10-02T13:40:00.005+02:00

I have managed to get the two main tanks - upper reef and open ocean plumbed together.

I have the overflow from the main tank running to the one below and this is introducing a fair number of micro bubbles at the moment.
I need to decide if this bothers me enough to want to do something about it or whether it is worth leaving as is .........
Time will tell ;)

SYSTEM UPDATE

2008-10-02T13:00:00.005+02:00

Hallo again everyone !!!

This project has progressed somewhat .........the two main tanks to the system has been installed.

I have moved all existing stock over and final aquascaping needs to be done.

I have installed some of the lighting but the final components still have to be added.

The system has morphed into something slightly different to what I had started with.......

I will tell you more of this in future updates.

Thanx for reading this.

Happy Reefing !!!

NEW SYSTEM

2008-09-03T08:12:00.012+01:00

I have decided to go for something decidedly different for my new tank(s).
An interconnected aquarium set-up comprised of several biotope-specific tanks .
A so-called multi-gradient system.

The breakdown of the system as follows:

A 350 litre near shore shallow reef display tank.(New)
A 420 litre mangrove root biotope tank.(New)
A 900 litre FOWLRtank.(My existing tank)
There are future plans for a sea grass biotope tank.

These tanks will all be linked in a U shape running of a central 500 litre sump.Because these tanks will be connected, the total water volume will be 1670 litres minus the volume of water displaced by LIVEROCK in the display tank and FOWLR tank and the deep sand beds of the mangrove tank.The sump is where all the needed filtration equipment will reside. This will be carried over from my current system.

A bit of information about what it is I am trying to achieve:

Let's start by looking at what a biotope is:

The word biotope is derived from the Greek words bios meaning life and topos meaning place. Thus it is the living place of a specific biological community. A captive biotope, such as an aquarium ,would aim to replicate the living conditions of a specific reef community. In the case of the system I am designing this biotope is located in the Indo-Pacific. The Indo-Pacific is home to seventy-five percent of the world's coral reefs, this is also where the majority of aquarium stock is collected so makes my job of selecting inhabitants for my tanks a little easier.

Whilst a serious "Biotoper" would want to be more specific as far as this biotope is concerned I have chosen to simply recreate a generic Indo Pacific Near shore Reef. I do not want to tie myself down to a specific area. It will be difficult enough to implement the discipline required to keep to the specific biotopes.I do not want to be concerned about the species to much.

The specific biotopes represented by each tank were chosen based on the critical role that biotope plays in the overall health and stability of the display tank's biotope. In other words, mangrove-fringed shorelines, sea grass beds and open ocean are all individual biotopes intrinsically connected to the coral reef ecosystem.

Mangrove Root Biotope – Mangroves provide a filtration system and provide a nursery ground for many reef species. Mangroves play a role in helping to control the reef's exposure to damaging UVB which leads to coral bleaching and detrimental algae outbreaks. I am hoping to nurse some juvenile fish species in this biotope with apogon species being the likely candidates.

Sea grass Bed Biotope (Future tank)– Sea grasses are efficient when it comes to nutrient export and provides a haven for many food sources consumed higher in the food chain. I have not found a reliable source for sea grass so currently this tank is not being implemented yet . For now this will probably be a refugium containing a DSBand cheato.

Open Ocean – FOWLR the water volume helps to stabilize water conditions that are essential for the survival of tropical reefs. In addition, this habitat is an important source of food supply for reef species. The raw water from this tank will feed into the sea grass habitat for processing.

A FOLLOW-UP

2008-08-21T09:06:00.005+01:00

I forgot to say that I have seen and measured the tank I am interested in.

It would work very well with a few changes and would make for a very unusual display.

I just need to see what can be done pricewise. ;)

EDIT to add : This tank was sold before I had made my choice , it had been there for weeks ........go figure.

UPDATE AT LAST

2008-08-21T08:50:00.001+01:00

I have been away for a while again. Not much has been happening on the tank front and things are pretty much "As Was".

I am thinking about building a multi gradient system and hope to have some more information to post about this soon.

I am going to look at a tank that could suit my purposes quite well and hope that we can negotiate a price.

Wish me luck !!!

STANDPIPE FITTED

2008-06-20T08:45:00.003+01:00

I added the standpipe yesterday evening - bit of a rush and have not had the oportunity to fine-tune it yet.It has made a huge difference though. The tank is a LOT quieter , with some patience and dilligence I could probably get it close to silent.It does not bother me to much as it is now though so it is not a priority.

I have however discovered that my the 1x 14k halide (150w) was not working anymore . I ended up taking it all appart and discovered that some fusing had taken place on the ends of the bulb itself. I am not entirely sure why this had happened.A connector had burnt through and I ended up replacing these connections too. I re-assembled everything and it seems to be good to go ;-)

I will spend some time on both tanks this weekend , moving things over,aquascaping etc....

I will update with photo's and more next week.

Happy reefing.

SUCCESS !!!

2008-06-19T08:15:00.002+01:00

I have fitted a much smaller pump (1900l/hr @ 1.7m) as the main return and it is certainly a lot better. The overflow still poses some problems but I will fit a Durso standpipe soon and am sure this will make some major improvements. The room the tank is situated in is fully tiled and I think that this does not help as far as noise is concerned. The tank cabinet itself acts as a bit of a soundbox also so will see what things are like once I have silenced the overflow.

I am hoping I will be able to live with it ;-)

I will add a few pics shortly , water has been salted , warmed and I need to get the Profilux computer system fitted and then I will start moving some of my stock over.

Happy Reefing

SUMP CIRCULATING FOR SHORT WHILE ONLY :-(

2008-06-18T10:10:00.003+01:00

Well - I had water going for a while but the pump was resonating so badly that it did not last for long. I will have to find something a little lighter and quieter to function as the main return pump.I was hoping to create a great deal of turnover through the sump and also the main tank (was aiming at about 20x volume) . This has resulted in an overflow that sounded like niagra falls . The pump I used was probably a bit of overkill (5000litres/hr at 2m).

I will downgrade and go for about 2500l/hr using a much smaller pump.

Update to follow.

Happy Reefing.

A BIT OF AN UPDATE

2008-06-17T14:28:00.001+01:00

I have water circulating through the sump !!! Yay !!!

NEW TANK IN MAKING

2008-06-17T08:36:00.001+01:00

I have not sold the smaller tank yet , so have decided to keep it for the time-being. I moved it back into the house on Saturday.
Being on my own made things a little easier,no permission to seek ;-) I had some help from a wonderful lady and it is now sitting pretty in my lounge.
I will move all my sps into it and this will allow them to grow uninhibited by the softcorals that have started overtaking the main tank.

More info and pictures to follow soon.

Happy reefing

SOME PICS OF EXOTIC PETSHOP TANK

2008-06-04T14:12:00.008+01:00

Hallo everyone , a flood of updates on one day :)

I have been cruising around a bit and here are some of the pictures I took whilst at Exotic in Boksburg.

TOTM ON REEFPARK

2008-06-04T13:58:00.011+01:00

My tank has been chosen for tank of the month on Reefpark.

Go check it out at :

TOTM

or by clicking on Reefpark in my reef links added above.

Happy Reefing

UPDATE !!

2008-06-04T13:57:00.002+01:00

Hi there everyone,things have been pretty quiet for me on the reefing front.
I have not made any changes to my tank for some time now but all inhabitants are still doing well.
I might have to move in the future so have decided to just let things be for now.

Happy Reefing

TANK FOR SALE

2008-03-31T16:33:00.002+02:00

PICS OF STOCK

2008-03-31T14:09:00.005+02:00

AMANO

2008-03-19T13:54:00.002+02:00

"The Zen approach to aquascaping is difficult to put into words. Part of the aim is to turn the aquarium not into a mere reproduction of some habitat, but to assemble a composition that evokes emotion from the viewer. It is a living art, and the aquarium is the canvas. To extend the artistic analogy a bit further, a naturalistic biotope aquarium is realistic, the Nature Aquarium impressionistic."
- Takashi Amano

LOADSHEDDING ???

2008-03-19T13:14:00.002+02:00

I noticed that most of my corals did not look very happy yesterday . This was after a 2 - 3 hour power outage due to the inability of Eskom to provide customer service.

There seems to be bleaching on some of the staghorns and I am not 100 % sure what the cause of this could be. I checked alkalinity this morning and it sat pretty low at 6.5 dkh . I am constructing my own monster Calcium reactor to place on-line, I am hoping to have it ready by this weekend.
I will use manual additions to bring things back in line again. I am not sure what the current calcium and magnesium levels are .

AQUASTICK ..........

2008-03-19T08:40:00.005+02:00

I have decided to use a product called Aquastick made by Two Little Fishies to mount some of my SPS frags.
I have never used it before but bought it this time because my LFS did not have Deltec epoxy in stock.
The epoxy is only mildly adhesive but found it relatively easy to work with. I do like the fact that it gives off little residue and sets in 20 minutes.
I have found that without proper support frags tend to shift before the deltec epoxy has time to set. So this is an improvement as far as the deltec stuff is concerned.
A serious downside is the fact that even with very little visible residue my skimmer still went absolutely nuts.

AND A FEW MORE :-)

2008-03-18T15:26:00.000+02:00

SOME INSPIRATIONAL AQUASCAPES - TO ME ANYWAY ;-)

2008-03-18T13:49:00.002+02:00

LOAD SHEDDING HITS US AGAIN !!!!

2008-03-18T13:46:00.007+02:00

It was scheduled for 8 AM but due to pressure on the network ended up happening at about 7. Grrrrrr.........

I wanted to go home and check on the tank , but just have'nt been able to get away from work.

I realy hope everything is ok and happy , expect power to be off for 2 to 3 hrs.

This tree kinda sums up how I feel.

ANOTHER POND PIC :) !!!

2008-02-27T15:38:00.005+02:00

SOME POND PICTURES......

2008-02-27T15:27:00.004+02:00

The pond as it looks now - hopefully I will be able to leave it alone cause it does look quite nice.

THE POND - AGAIN

2008-02-26T08:37:00.008+02:00

I have changed things again.................... ;-)

Just could not let things be ......(Sigh)

In reality the pond liner had a leak. I tried to find it but had no luck , so eventually , ripped it out completely. I decided to use a large tote bin I had as the reservoir instead. It worked out pretty well - I will add some pictures of it soon. There is 5 goldfish in there now , the new residents have not been given any names as yet. Thinking Reel and Rod could be the way to go :-) .

That would make them Hook,Line,Sinker,Rod & Reel.......... Lol .

THE POND - ANOTHER ATTEMPT

2008-02-11T10:16:00.004+02:00

Pond re-done !!!! I finally got around to doing the pond this weekend.Spent hours driving around looking for rocks. I would stop suddenly and jump out of my car to get a good look at rocks lying at the side of the road. My daughter felt it was all a big adventure , bless her little heart. Pretty happy with how everything has turned out.

A pic below

Until next we meet .

May the ZEN be with you.

THE POND - STILL ;)

2008-02-07T10:43:00.002+02:00

I have decided that the pond needs more work. To get the waterfall and filter in requires a bit of re-arranging. I do not want any of it to be visible so need to hide it as best I can.I also want to include more large rocks as a feature of the garden and pond. The dogs , we have six of the little monsters !!! , managed to dig a hole nearby and filled the pond with dirt in the process. This will all be remedied by take number 2. I want to see if some sort of vacuum can be incorporated on the base of the pond.Wish me luck.

Oh - I will be adding a few common goldfish instead of koi as I feel the pond isn't deep or big enough to do justice to koi.

May the ZEN be with you.

POND

2008-02-05T09:57:00.002+02:00

I got little joy from the skimmer pump so have decided to use it in a freshwater pond instead. I have finished doing most of the ground work and am pleased to say that I am happy with the results. I still need to make a simple filter that I will gravity feed and possibly have running over some rock work to create a waterfall. This will add O2 and should provide a nice soothing noise.
I have also included some papyrus grass and a pond lily. All considered it was a good weekends work. Pictures to follow.

I have three goldfish , Hook,line and sinker :-) who will be glad to have the extra swimming room. They are currently in a holding tank in my fish room.

The pond will form part of my Zen/Japanese garden that I am in the process of constructing.Pictures of this to follow too.

Things have been pretty quiet on the reefing front and I have ended up selling some of my equipment. I need to sell some more bits and bobs.

Happy fishy type dreams until we meet again !

SKIMMER PUMP FAILS SPECTACULARLY !!

2008-01-18T10:15:00.001+02:00

I had my doubts about this pump when I originally bought it and my fears seem to have been well founded. (See post made in November)

Rust has formed around the impeller body - causing it to bind. I am not a happy camper.
An e-mail will be sent off to the company shortly :-( . I wait to see what response , if any , I get.

BACK FROM HOLIDAYS !!

2008-01-16T03:44:00.001+02:00

Welcome to 2008 !!!!!!!!!!

I have had a good rest - hope you have had a good xmas break too.

Some sad news to report :

The cube tank is no more and many of the corals there-in I have unfortunately lost.
Long story - so don't even ask. :-)

Nothings Changed....................

2007-11-01T01:13:00.000+02:00

Hi there !!!!

Things are still looking good on the tank front and not much to report at this point.

I have added a gorgonian to the main tank and guess that's about it.

I am back from Capetown !!!

2007-10-24T09:45:00.000+02:00

Boy am I pleased to be back :)

It was a very enjoyable trip and we had good weather for most of our time there. Thanx to 1time for an excellent flight there and back. I have added an extra Capetown page to record our trip. I have also included another of my experiences of the Two Oceans aquarium.

The tanks have been humming along nicely whilst in my other halves's care and I am pleased to say that nothing untoward has happened in my absence. I did small water-changes on both tanks when I returned and obviously had to do a bit of a clean of the viewing glass. I also fed my sun coral as he did not get anything to eat.

There seems to be a slight(sarcastic) bryopsis outbreak on the sps cube - will have to start removing manually - I am also thinking about adding ozone to this tank in an attempt to boost redox above 450 mv. This will hopefully combat spores and I have used this with good results in my other display.Another option would be uv but I will only consider this if the ozone does not produce results.I am also using Prodibio on both tanks .

I will update you on the progress.

May the ZEN be with you.

No longterm effects ?

2007-10-16T08:44:00.000+02:00

I am quite relieved as the extended power outages of the past week has not seemed to have had any longterm effects on either of the two tanks. I plan on doing a bit of maintenance tonight as we will be away for a week or so and my parents will be left to take care of feeding the tank etc...

I found it quite laughable when I started explaining everything that required doing on the tanks. Made me realize just how involved it can get at times. I will be leaving the food in little bite sized bits to ensure that the tank is not overfed in any way with clear instructions as to what goes where. I am confident that the systems will run on their own without major intervention for the 5 days that we will be away.

Be talking again when I am back .

Happy reefing.

New skimmer pump.

2007-10-16T08:33:00.000+02:00

Hallo there.

It would seem that it was the Hailea pump I was using to drive my skimmer that had decided to give up the ghost . It was in-fact this pump that was causing the tripping of the rcbo.I went to Petmasters on saturday and bought a King5 to use in it's place. There is however a slight concern as the impeller looks like this:

The pump is being sold as saltwater safe so will be keeping an eye on it. This pump is not quite as powerful as the hailea so skimate production has altered. I will continue running it as it is now and then make a decision on it's continued use.

Power out again !!!!

2007-10-12T02:51:00.001+02:00

I got home late last night to find that the power had been switched off during the day.The rcbo had tripped again when power was restored. This meant that the tank was - again - without movement trough the sump for more than half of the day. Temperature had dropped to 24 deg C. I wasn't a happy camper - after much plugging in and out of equipment it seems the main return pump is at fault - it does not seem to leak to earth immediately but instead insulation breakdown after a period of running. I did not have a replacement pump to run so was forced to keep this one in service. I will be going home a little earlier today - so will try and get this sorted out.

It is also time for a water change on both tanks and this I will do on the coming weekend.

I haven't added a pic of the cube as yet and do so now :

This picture was taken shortly after the tank was set up - I have moved some of the inhabitants around since then and I have also added a Tomini Tang.

Where has the time gone

2007-10-11T15:17:00.000+02:00

Hallo everyone - already another month has passed since my last post.

Things are going pretty well as far as the tanks are concerned.

There have been some power failures recently due to "Power Shedding" and I got home yesterday to find that the rcbo had tripped and the sump had been isolated from the display. The reason for this is unknown I immediately turned it back on and found that the main tank temperature had dropped to 23.6 degrees C. I hope that this wont have any long term effects.

I am Back !!!!!!!!!

2007-09-12T15:23:00.000+02:00

I have changed many things on my tanks since I have been on here. EEK !!!!!! 7 months have passed all ready since the last post.

I will update the stock list shortly as I had a bit of a meltdown in the main tank due to a neighbour creosoting wood whilst we were on vacation.

I have also started a small cubish SPS tank and the main in-wall has now become a Softcoral/LPS and non-photosynthetic (Gorgonians& Tubestrae) species tank. This is after having seen this Dante's Inferno.

Ron Shimek does not appreciate the general terminologies of LPS, SPS as in this quote from his blog :

One of the things Eric and I had to do at RK as part of our monthly task as editors of RK was to review the banal offerings of the endless “Tank of the Month” articles. These articles were/are an endless repetition of technical drivel - nobody ever started their narrative with a phrase similar to…”I wanted to create an environment that was optimal for such and such an organism or group of organisms, and here’s how I set out to do that biologically.” Instead they continually went into useless technobabble and compounded this up with use of meaningless filler terms such as “LPS” and “SPS.”

Whilst I agree with his view that it is more about the physiological and biological needs of the corals,the common terms as used above is still a fair representation of what the biotope aims to be and provides an easy comparison for others. I will thus continue using these terms for the time being. You can find some more reading on Ron's site by following the link.

Ron has also been doing research regarding laminar/turbulent flow and the effect this has on certain gorgonian species(I think he has evaluated 3 species) .I hope to e-mail him soon and attempt to glean some of this information from him.I think it could be useful in providing the gorgonians in my tank with the correct environment for them to thrive in. I will let you know how this pans out.

I will add some more info on these tanks soon.

A Bit of an update

2007-01-24T09:29:00.000+02:00

I haven't posted here for a while - so thought it is about time !!!

Some more pictures

2006-09-20T16:27:00.000+02:00

The livestock

2006-09-19T14:12:00.000+02:00

Fish:

1 Powder Blue
1 Foxface
1 Sailfin
3 Green Chromis
4 Mono's
1 Clark Clown
1 Common Clown
4 Starburst Anthias
2 Lyretail Anthias

Corals:

2 Torch Corals
Various Acropora
Various Montipora
Echinopora
Other:

To follow

Pictures

2006-09-19T14:06:00.000+02:00

Tank Spec's and other ramblings

2006-09-19T09:33:00.000+02:00

Size: 1800mm x 700mm x 800mm making approx 1000 litres before displacement.
Construction: All glass 10 mm thick - double base drilled for 2 x 50mm corner overflows.
Sump: Collection of 60 litre tote bins - more on this later.
Lighting: 3 x 400watt Venture Metal Halide running in Lowbays.
4 x N/O Fluorescents (3 Actinic , 1 Daylight)
Circulation: Tunze TS24 Kit - 2 Return pumps of 4500 litres/hr

2006-09-19T08:50:00.000+02:00

A full shot of the tank 07-09-2006

The Start of my Blog

2006-09-19T08:39:00.000+02:00

Hi there - I will start posting some information regarding my reeftank here. This is the first for today - I will add some in days to come and try to do it chronologically.This will hopefully give an indication of how the tank has developed.