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The Good. The Bad. The Ugly. At the reef expo 2013 I did a talk on local snails. It is covering just the most likely snails you could encounter while rock hopping or pool splashing. The images are all courtesy of Sea Shells But its difficult to navigate through thousands of snails found worldwide. Unless you already got a name. Anyway, I will try and give short descriptions where ever I can. first a disclaimer. I am not an marine biologist. Neither a marine expert. Just lucky to have an Aunt in the snail collection hobby that guided me a lot. Thanks. Strombidae Herbivore Algae Detritus Very nice snails to get. Be careful, their operculum can cut you. Strombus aurisdianae Strombus decorus Strombus gibberulus

Below are recommended water parameters that can be used as a guideline for general marine tanks. pH - 8.2 to 8.4 Salinity - 30.5 to 35 (or 1.023 to 1.026 Specific Gravity (SG)) Calcium - 380-420 Alkalinity - 6 to 9 dKh (ideally 6.5 to 8.5 dKH) NSW levels Magnesium - 1300 to 1350 Iodine - 0.04 to 0.06 Strontium - 8ppm or 8mg/l (NSW levels) Potassium (K+) - 380-420 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - less than 5 Phosphate - less than 0.01 Ammonia - 0 Calcium (Ca) All calcareous animals, especially corals need calcium and carbonates to grow and flourish. However the growth rate of corals depends mostly on the zooxanthellae (algae) that live symbiotically within them. These algae present the coral with precious carbohydrates of their own...

A few more examples I found which helped me: Salinity: NSW levels average around 35ppt. This is what we should be aiming for within a reef tank. However areas such as the Red Sea have higher than average levels at around 40ppt. If you are running a Red Sea biotope, then it’s acceptable to have a salinity of between 35ppt and 40ppt. However, for a normal mixed reef tank you should aim for 35ppt, anything lower than 32 or higher than 38ppt may induce stress upon the inhabitants. To correct a low salinity level, use salt water made up to 35ppt for your top up water (dripped slowly) until the aquarium level has reached the correct level. To correct a high salinity level, remove a qty of salt water and replace with fresh RO water (dripped...

I have been reading through a book that my daughter took out at her school library for me to read, shame, very thoughtful of her. The book is called Sea Fishes of Southern Africa, with most of the photo's by Dennis King, incidentally, did you know that the Tiger Angelfish - Apolemichthys kingi, a fish found ONLY on our coast line was discovered by and is named after Dennis King, pretty cool hey. I believe the price tag on one of these fish can reach up to R35 000.00 overseas. Anyway, just thought I would share a bit of info and photo's of some of the awesome fish that the we get on our coastline, time to start diving I think :) Spotted hawkfish - Cirrhitichthys oxycephalus Longnose hawkfish - Oxycirrhites typus Sea goldies -...

Hennie, I was wondering if you could possibly give us a short list of "generic" alternatives to the more expensive Branded Chemicals? Sure :) I only use calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity supplements, and these are what I DIY when my calcium reactor and lime dripper does not cope, so I will only comment on these three additives. Other members are welcome to post their recipes for these, and other additives, and I will move their recipes up into this first post. DIY Three-part Calcium, Magnesium and Alkalinity additives. I must credit Dr. Randy Holmes-Farley for the DIY calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity additive recipes that I use. You can read his articles here and here and here for the full story, but in short...

Whilst browsing through the local forums, I have come across regular references to the vodka method here and there. Just the latest example which has caused me to become very concerned and quite frankly, annoyed : Quote: Ive done a 75l water change jsut now, what else is there i can do to get rid of these bubbles and to reduce nitrate? (Add vodka???) (Not from masa, but irrelevant IMO) The way in which vodka seems to be percieved as fix to nutrient issues, magic cure all or shortcut by newbies is alarming to say the least. If you are new to the hobby, and have heard about vodka,vinegar or sugar being used in tanks, take this post to heart. There is no quick fix for algae, or nutrient issues. There is no subtitute for patience, hard...

I did some research on reverse osmosis in a bid to understand what is happening in our RO machines, I thought some people may find this and interesting read and have tried to summarise what I have found in the text below which has various internet sources... To understand how the process of reverse osmosis works, it helps to understand the process of osmosis which is everywhere in nature. When two solutions having different dissolved mineral concentrations are separated by a semi-permeable membrane, water flows from the less concentrated solution to the more concentrated solution until an equilibrium is reached. For example is we have 2 salt solutions separated by a semi permeable membrane, one solution at 1020 and the other at 1024...