Dean from Wollongong

[Dean Murphy]

Hi. I'm Dean from Wollongong Australia. About an hour and a half south of Sydney. I have kept a reef tank for about 2-3 years and have learnt heaps. I am listening to ALL of the podcasts and they are a GODSEND! THANKYOU all the way from the bottom of my heart. :up: I have had many trials and tribulations including three mantis shrimp in my 200 litre ( 50 odd gallon, I think ) tank. I visited the Great Barrier Reef of Cairns a year ago and it was amazing! I am going to go for a scuba diving course at a 5 star rated PADI course in January 2008 then plan to go to a ribbon reef in the Barrier Reef after that. I am looking into a larger tank ( 5 ft, 650 litre ) from a new Australian company called Octopus ( reefoctopus.com ), their tanks are called biolife reef ready aquariums. I have found a little info about them on the masa.asn.au ( reefing the Australian way ) website. Nothing is set in stone but I am excited about the future. I recommend this website ( talkingreef.com ), the related podcasts and the books " The Reef Aquarium Vol 1+2 " by Delbeek and Sprung. Just some background about me, I am a Registered Nurse involved in research. I have had a lifelong interest in biology and the natural environment. I wanted a marine aquarium from age 12 but waited until about 30 until realising my dream. My passions and hobbies are Reef Aquaria, Audio/visual home theatre & Singing/musicals. Was recently in a production of CATS. Am currently listening to 1st round table discussion mentioning favourite " thing " in your tank. Mine is my clownfish and a beautiful large brain coral. Absolutely gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks,

Dean Murphy.

( what a great hobby we have!!!!!!!)

[JustDavidP]

Dean....my friend...

WELCOME to the Talking Reef. Glad to have ya aboard.

You seem like a very nice, and quite multifacted guy. Great to have yet another well rounded hobbyist in the mix. I hope you find your stay here comfy. Dive right in. The natives are friendly and the waters are warm.

Be well..

David

[CarmieJo]

Hi Dean and :welcome: to TR. It's good to have you aboard.

[Dean Murphy]

Thankyou for your reply. My home town is a town in NSW, Australia called Raleigh. Another thing we have in common CarmieJo - the name of our town.

[CarmieJo]

LOL, I didn't know that there was Raleigh in Australia. I'd guess that both were probably named after Sir Walter Raleigh too.

[Dean Murphy]

I'm not sure if the town was named after Sir Walter Raleigh, though as a British colony I guess it is possible. I am all for us becoming a Republic though and having a President. Though I am not sure I would want it the same as the US system though ( no offense ). I would still rather voting to be compulsory and to vote for a party not an individual leader. Our countries have strengths and weaknesses in our political systems. I can't believe I am talking politics on a reef site! I have an American Aunty. She originates from the Ozarks. Bring on the Bluegrass!!!!! ( I think! )

[CarmieJo]

I like bluegrass! It is traditional American music that originated in the Appalachian Mountains but is played all over the world. I play the mandolin.

I think that most forms of government have strengths and weaknesses. Voting is both privilege and a civic responsibility and it is amazing to me that people forgo this honor. Then they complain about the government and the elected officials and never see that it is an oxymoron.

Speaking of Sir Walter here's a link from today's paper. newsobserver.com | Sir Walter returns to Raleigh (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/643646.html)

[V]

welcome to the TR boards bud. we're a long way from home, so i hope you bought extra beer!

[CarmieJo]

:up:But we love having you around!

[Dean Murphy]

I like being here. Hopefully I wont make some of the mistakes I made with my current set-up ( those bloody mantis shrimp! ) and hopefully I will prevent other mistakes from occurring.

[JustDavidP]

If you weren't a world away, I'd take yer mantis ;)

Dave

[Dean Murphy]

Got rid of my THREE mantis from my 50 gallon tank long ago. After many fish were eaten and other fish and coral died from the fouled up water of mantis kill off as they did not eat all the fish in one go, they rotted inside the live rock. On another note I have always had bio balls and a cannister filter hooked up to a u.v. sterilizer and have always had very high nitrate, around 40!. I have learnt much from the podcasts and took the plunge and removed ALL bioballs and the canister filter and done one 15% water change and nitrate is now reading nearly zero! I only did this last weekend!

[JustDavidP]

Yahooo....another TR success!

D

[CarmieJo]

Woohoo! Your corals will love you.

[Dean Murphy]

The corals are. I have a beautiful catalaphyllia but unfortunately not long before finding these forums/podcasts 3/4 of it died off. It was heartbreaking. I later found two dead rotting snails in my overflow. Fish would sometimes end up there too but I have put gutter guard there now. Works a treat. I can only guess that the catalaphyllia died from my already high nitrates levels going "over the edge" from the dead snails. Since getting rid of them my Corals have opened up more. Since getting rid of my bioballs and cannister filter they are even happier!

[Dean Murphy]

Funny thing is my brain coral, though happier now, never seemed "worried" even though my catalaphyllia was so affected.

[CarmieJo]

Different flow maybe?

[Dean Murphy]

Good point. My tank is looking happier every day. Goes to show less is more sometimes. Even with filtration.

[Small Fry]

Hey dean, and welcome to TR. Your tank and your journey through the hobby so far sounds very interesting, I'd love to see you start a tank journal explaining what you've done right and wrong and with some pics (love those pics)

So yeah, welcome to TR, look forward to having you around.

[Dean Murphy]

Thanks small fry. Maybe with my second tank I may start a journal. Though I know I wont make the same mistakes second time around. Have just started up a new tank for my partner. It is freshwater though. They are gorgeous fish. Tiger Oscars. I think I should call one Oscar and the other one Grouch!!!

[$cienceboy]

Hello Dean,

Waiting on my first purchase of a marine tank. I am about to place an order for a Biolife 5ft Tank from a local aquarium supply here in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria, Australia. I have rearranged furniture to give it the optimum location.

My wife and children would like me to purchase clown fish (aka nemo :rolleyes:) but my wife Marcie and I would like invertebrates also.

Can you or anybody else suggest a good mix of invertebrates to include in my future tank?

David Galea
aka $cieneboy

[CarmieJo]

David,

I have hermit crabs, limpets and nassarius, cerith and columbellid snails in my tanks. I also have the small DIBS turbo snails and colonista snails. There are several varieties of snails that are sold in the US as reef safe but they are actually temperate snails and don't do well at our temps. I am not sure exactly is able to be imported to Australia so this may or may not be an issue there. Here is a good article about The Grazing Snails, Part III: Conchs, Ceriths, Cowries, and Columbellids by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/rs/index.php). Stay away from anemones until the tank is at least 6 months old.

Clownfish are fine in your tank but is is probably too short to make a hippo tank (Dory) happy. Unhappy tangs tend to get stressed out and develop ich.

[V]

Hey $ience, good to see some more ozzies on site.

Your close to laverton yeah? Ex QLDer so im still getting used to the state (only been here 12years .lol )

I know its not exactly the closest LFS, but unless you have someone you can trust in the industry i suggest you check out Victorian Marine @Moorabbin. 03)9532 5505
Mick is the owner & can sort you out with non BS or major wallet exploding problems associated with bad info or mistreated livestock. I vouch for him personally, ive walked into this place acting dumb as on purpose, & he did not try to rip me a new one, quite the oppersite. Name dropping V might also get you a free marine pen & a smack in the chops..lol

If you want to bounce any questions im happy to help from a local perspective.

veriann_sankey@toll.com.au

However your in the place to be bud, TR is pretty cool!