inedukated

So i'm watching the Top Chef marathon on Bravo, and I notice out of the corner of my eye my biggest Turbo snail has a strange tube sticking out from the shell, and it is shooting a bright green fluid out of it, and this lasted about 10 seconds. Is the snail going to the bathroom? "spreading his seed"? dying? I tried to get a camera to take pics, but he was done before I could snap a shot -Ben

....thanks this gives me a reason to study more anyways....

5 gallons twice a week, topping off with half kalk, and half plain RODI (my Alk is near 11, so I don't dose kalk all the time)

I just moved from my 55gal system (Total water = 70gal) to my 75 gallon system (Total water = 105 gal) and had to mix 45 gallons of saltwater when it was all said and done... That being said, it's been a week or so now, and I have hardly skimmed anything. I haven't messed with the skimmer yet since the migration, and perhaps playing around with it will create some more skimmate, but my question to you is this: Is there just not enough nutrients in the water yet to skim? And if that's the case, can I cut back on water changes (assuming "levels are fine") until the water "matures"? -ben

Disagree. I have a Mag-18 hooked up to a SCWD, no problems. AND its on my 75gal tank. Granted water travels 3-4 feet up before it reaches the SCWD, which puts it around 1400gph, but still, I've had no problems. JMO. I definitely like the idea of two SCWD's on two pumps though.... I'll have to work that into my future budget. -Ben

Eventually the rock will cure. It shouldn't take too long, maybe a few months. keep up with water changes (RO/DI, not tap) to get nitrates down, and you'll be fine. -Ben

Anyone heard of this guy? He looks awesome. I've never seen him online before, or the price for one. Thought I'd ask you guys if any of you have seen them before and have any more info on them....

Here's a pic of my old tank before I got into (WAMAS) corals and moved on to something bigger. It's about 1.5 years ago. Not necessarily the prettiest, but with a few colorful fish, you can do a lot with FOWLR. -Ben

Will definitely make sure to be there!

I just migrated from a 55 gal with 10 gal sump, to a 75 gal with a 20 gal sump and 10 gal fuge. In order to do this migration, I added 45 gallons of mixed salt (Reef Crystals - RO/DI). My calcium level dropped from 420 pre-migration to 320. I've added 10g of calcium powder (don't have a reactor) and also kalk, and currently have: calcium 360 kH 11 pH 8.1 (lights off) nitrate - 0 Phosphate < 0.05 How quickly should I bring the level back up to 420-450 for calc? dose every couple of days? This is what my gut tells me, but thought I'd post for "the experts" to comment -Ben

All clowns are territorial, some more than others.... Mine started out to be the sweetest, shyest fish in the tank, and within a year turned into monsters, batting me with their tails whenever my hand went in the tank. Don't know what causes it, but I'm considering a clown-free tank now. JMHO, -Ben

I'm not seeing the thread.... can someone link it for me? -Ben

Michelob Ultra? why?

It's a bit cleared up now..... take a look and post comments, criticisms, etc.... You can see I am trying to separate my xenia so they stop spreading onto neighboring rocks... I have a few more chunks to rip off. -Ben

Yesterday was my big moving day.... new stand, new-used tank. Here's what it looks like: It took about 5 hours to do the entire migration from the 55gal to the 75gal. No definite losses yet, but nothing seems really happy about the move. -Ben

Howard..... already sent you a PM... PLEEEEEASE bring the gutter screen. I need some for my new setup (pictures will be posted tomorrow morning) -Ben

Hi new guy.

Great suggestion. I think i can get my hands on one of these from my old job. Howard! I am actually getting ready to do a tank migration (in 8 hours, depending on when I wake up) to my 75gall that I had waiting. Since I took your idea for the overflows into the sump, can you bring some of that gutter screen with you to the meeting? I need to get ahold of some. Hopefully within a few weeks the remaining lifestock will be back to normal, and I'll come pickup/drop off some frags from you!

To put it bluntly, if you can see it when the tank is filled, it's too big. Those little annoying scratches (like the ones around the keyhole to your car......those of you who don't have keyless entry) come out, but when I say decent scratches, I mean the ones caused by gravel and sand scraping the tank, didn't come out much. Anyone is welcome to try.

Here's my story: I am remodeling my basement to get ready to sell my house. My electricity throughout the house must've been wired by a parkinson's patient with hooves for hands, so at about 8pm I decide to redo it all. My electrical panel is pretty poorly labeled (mistake 1), with comments that just say "Lights and plugs" but give no indication as to where in the house these mysterious lights and plugs are. So, I begin to flip a few of them until the power is out in the basement. I then walk upstairs to glance at the tank. I do this deliberately. I see that the lights are on, and fish are fat and swimming. I am happy. Since I am already in the living room, I go into the kitchen and poor a pitcher of beer. This is required for electrical work. I then proceed into the basement and start ripping and gutting away, adding outlets, rewiring ceiling fans, removing old switches, etc etc.... I leave the basement at 1am and see the lights off on the tank, but do not gaze at the night creatures (mistake 2). My hard work in the basement calls for another drink. I wake up around 10am (I love being a student). I shower and eventually make it into the living room at 11am. I am greeted with tragedy. I see my yallow tang on the bottom of the tank and 3 cleaner shrimp dead, one being devoured by hermit crabs. All other fish are breathing heavily, my blue pocillapora is half out of the water... I freak out. I run in circles. I try to blame my roommates. I see the problem immediately: My return pump from the sump into the tank died when I flipped the breaker on the tank. I was using a piece of crap ebayed pump (mistake 3) because I "couldn't afford" a nice eheim pump or other dependable model. Since it stopped returning water to the tank, there was no movement, because I use my returns instead of powerheads in the tank (perhaps mistake 4). In summary, 14 hours of non-movement within my main tank resulted in the death of my lifestock. I gave the proper 2 flush solute to the deceased, and poured another pitcher. What I have learned from this (hopefully): Mark your electrical panel so you know exactly what powers your tank Buy more reliable pumps, which don't crap out on you when you have drops or surges in power Place a small 200gph pump within the tank just incase this happens again, to keep some movement Sorry for the long message, I hope others can possible learn from my stupid mistakes... -Ben

A little delayed, but here's my findings: Cerium oxide does work. It removes smaller scratches (and I mean SMALL) but does nothing on any decent scratch. To be honest, if you have one of "those scratches" that stick out in your tank like a sore thumb, it's too big to remove using cerium oxide. I worked a small section of my tank, maybe 6"x6" and it took about 20 minutes to make it scratch free. Now, maybe some of you have plenty of patience to do 6+ square feet of tank, but I didn't, so I gave up. Conclusion: Unless you are SERIOUSLY going to dedicate multiple hours to a tank to remove faint scratches, it's just not worth it. If anyone wants to borrow some cerium oxide and a polishing pad for a drill to investigate for themselves, send me a PM. -Ben

2nd - get an RO/DI filter 3rd - get an RO/DI filter ....i think you get the point. -Ben

Does anyone know where I can find a 36" Tek 5 Ready-fit unit? I've only found one at specialty-lights.com My girlfriend has a 75gal acrylic tank with a tiny acrylic hood, and it fits these ready-fit units well... I don't want to rig up retro-fits. Any other place? -Ben

As everyone is saying.... be cautious and add piece by piece over a few weeks/months. There's no reason to risk contamination of your entire tank. Good luck!

I am going to give cerium oxide and a buffing pad a try. Will post pics and results in about a week. -Ben