Popping in to say Hi.

[Simon Garratt]

Just wanted to drop in and say hi to all you ladies and gents. Cracking forum you have here with a very freindy atmosphere...

No doubt I'll put some ramblings up over time, but in the meantime...just wishing you all a very happy new year from a very cold but sunny England.

sorry, i couldnt find an intro thread...

simon.

 

[Tangs Rule]

Welcome to MR and Happy New Year.

 

[Domboski]

Hi Simon! Welcome to MR. Your article in RM is awesome!

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Welcome mate.

 

[duke62]

Welcome mate.

i think thats australia :lol2:

 

[jhale]

Hi Simon thanks for stopping in to say hello
There is no intro forum so you picked the correct spot for an intro.
Happy New Years to you as well :party:

 

[prattreef]

Hey Simon,

Welcome to MR. Hope you enjoy your stay.
Randy

 

[meschaefer]

hello.

 

[Simon Garratt]

Hi again guys. many thanks for the warm welcome.

As for the article Domboski, Randy and Jonathan caught me on the hop a bit as i was nursing a bust collarbone at the time, and had deadlines on other articles, so i was a bit surprised and flatterd when they asked if i could scribble something down. I'm glad you enjoyed, and hope to do a few more articles in the future if the guys will have me back.

I'll bang together some pics and put a thread up on my system as soon as I can as it may interest a few being predominantly a fake LR system.

in the mean time, here are a few snippets.

still growing out at 2 years from frags.

The gubbins underneith.

and the sump system

Thats about it for the mo, but like I said, I'll do a proper tank thread as soon as i can.

regards

Simon.

 

[ecvernon]

wow cant wait to see your tank thread!!! welcome and Happy new Year

 

[tosiek]

Welcome, And amazing article. Was a great read.

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hi and welcome to MR

Beautiful corals and tank you've got there

Cheers
Pedro Nuno ;-)

 

[danny13oy]

^ +1 :smile:

 

[Josh]

Welcome to MR!

Great article BTW.

 

[Simon Garratt]

Hi guys, thanks very much. Pedro, strange you should reply, I was only singing your praises yesterday on another Bb about that superb article of yours.

regards

Simon.

 

[masterswimmer]

Simon welcome aboard. Great article. Thanks for taking the time and sharing with us.

Russ

PS - A belated but heartfelt Happy New Year to you too.

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hi guys, thanks very much. Pedro, strange you should reply, I was only singing your praises yesterday on another Bb about that superb article of yours.

regards

Simon.

Hi Simon

Well your article puts it well, its the way I view it for a long time and finally could do it with the Zanclus. There are other experiments on my horizon, Oxymonacanthus logirostris is one of them, but fortunately Matt Pedersen has already excellent data gathering which will ease a lot the task. For now and within short notice (I hope...already ordered it), I decided to experiment with bacteria film feeding of sea stars, namely Linkia multiflora, since a lot is mentioned about the possibility that Linckia feed on bacteria film among other things, but apparently no studies or very few were(are) conducted, so I have some undocumented experience, nothing much, still I have an idea, let's see were it will get me and the Linkia...
Excellent article of yours on fish behaviour which corroborates a lot of what I many times stated based on observation/experience. Many times fish turn to corals or other "possible" food sources almost surely because they do not have what they need, but they are desperate, scared, hungry...we have to understand that and do everything in our reach to meet their needs, or simply we have to be honest and fair with them by not keeping them if we are not willing and capable of providing for them what they really need, accept their needs and natural behaviour. I call this a sustainable reef husbandry approach that will certainly lead to a better understanding of the marine organisms and their needs.

Cheers
Pedro Nuno ;-)
Post Scriptum: BTW you should find Hymeniacidon sanguinea and Halichondria panicea on the shores of England...or very similar to them...have look on a rocky beach during low tide

 

[Lenny718]

Welcome to MR! And like many others said your article was great

 

[duke62]

hey i checked out the uk reef site.pretty cool.

 

[Simon Garratt]

Pedro.

I decided to experiment with bacteria film feeding of sea stars, namely Linkia multiflora, since a lot is mentioned about the possibility that Linckia feed on bacteria film among other things, but apparently no studies or very few were(are) conducted, so I have some undocumented experience, nothing much, still I have an idea, let's see were it will get me and the Linkia...

Funny you should mention this as i was being quizzed the other day about my Maldivian Fromia Indica stars that have just spawned. I put the relative success ive had with these down to the fact that in my tank i have regions where there is a light short growth of soft turf algaes where the stars commonly hang out. Imo, its not so much the algae that is providing the nutrition as i never see any patches removed. instead i think its the bacterial and microfauna coatings or mulm that these areas create that privide the nessesery food types required, as well as capturing very fine foods that i add such as rotifers etc that are small enough to get trapped in the mats. i have a hunch that this might be why so many people struggle with these starfish in more pristine set ups such as ULNS or new setups where the stars are having to scavenge across just bare and clean coraline algae. I must add, that these arnt areas that i would consider 'detritus traps' as such, as they are well circulated and illuminated. They are i feel just a byproduct of having a more mature and diverse sysem that comes with time. I think between the Linkia and this particular Fromia sp, there is probably quite a similar feeding pattern as ive seen the Fromia Indica quite regularly in tidal pool areas where these types of algae's proliferate. And Linkia's in lagoonal or tidal areas where similar conditions arise.

If you want any more info on the Fromias,or photos of the spawnings just shout and I'll make them available.

As for the fish behavour thing, I allways find it quite amusing the assumptions that are made on occasions. I had a friend many years back who had a dog faced puffer. He was highly delighted one day to show me how the fish had learnt to spit water out of the top of the tank at him to attract attention so he would feed it. he was all smiles untill i said with a sideways grin that his fish was mixed up and was confusing up with down..He looked at me a bit confused until i pointed out that puffers in the wild blow a jet of water into the sand to expose any hidden crustaciens etc, and that all that was happening was that his fish was now associating the surface of the tank in the same manner, ie if i blow some water up at it, hey presto...some food appears...

He was a little gutted but still thought it was neat.

......................................................................

Hi Duke. many thanks for the compliments. My site has had a major overhaul just lately and i'm still mid revamp as it were with loads of stuff sitting in the background. hopefully it will all be linked back again soon so you guys can have a better brows.

kind regards

Simon.