Black Mammoth

Well to the wonderful world of cyanobacteria. There is a lot of information on WAMAS and ReefCentral about the stuff. But here are the bullet points. 1. Find the cause instead of trying to mask it. 2. Usually caused by one or more of the following: Overfeeding, low flow, inadequate cleanup crew, inadequate husbandry. 3. To help clean it up here are some suggestions (find the problem and then clean up): Siphon as much as you can, get cleanup crew guys that also eat cyano, and do more frequent water changes. Then to help it along, you may want to cut back on feeding and add some flow.

Yeah, I know what you mean. My Flame angel went nuts after my Powder Blue Tang. My PBT is about the same size as the flame...just a baby. They fought for about 3 days, but they get along now. But the PBT did get ich and he still has it. I need to pull him and cure him, but he's doing OK....he's had it for many months now. Unfortunately it spread to my Mag. Foxface and I cured him, but on the last day he jumped from the hospital tank and died :( The Flame and PBT are like best buds now....very weird.

The auto switch from what I understand can get expensive. I'm not sure how much of your furnace you are trying to run, but they can require a lot of amps which your generator may not be able to handle. I have a nice extension cord for my generator. I really haven't had to use it yet, but it is available. I went cheap on the generator because I have propane in the house and a kerosene heater. When it is cold outside, I can put my food outside if it is getting warm. I might even be able to run a fridge off it, but I have yet to try. I would have bought a nicer generator if I was going to use it for life support. It runs the tank and that's all I care for now...and I'm sure my tv, sat, and xbox can hook up to it The only thing I wish I did differently is spent money on a good one so it wasn't so loud...but for $200 I can't really complain too much.

Hey guys, don't go 66. It will just take you awhile. Go the following way. 1. Either take Whites Ferry to route 15 just North of Leesburg or go the other way to get on 15 at Point of rocks. 2. Follow 15 past the outlet malls. 15 turns in to Route 7. You will continue pass the redlight at Sycoline Road. 3. Continue on Rt 7 for about another 1/2 mile or so. Take the Leesburg exit to Rt 15. It's past where the Greenway dumps on Route 7. It's not that first exit in the weaving lane, but the one right after it. 4. Continue on that road exiting Leesburg (road is still Route 15). 5. Maybe 14 miles or so you will see a sign for 234. 234 will be on your left with a 7-11/Citgo gas station at the corner. 6. BRK will be on your left a few miles later. This will be much quicker than taking 66. It's about 45min from Germantown to Leesburg (going 10 over) and then BRK is probably another 20 min from Leesburg. Anyone that need something from BRK, PM me. I'm going to Richmond for Xmas and you guys can pick up stuff from me on the 27th from my work in Germantown.

Probably a little too late, but never mount anything like that inside your tank. I've seen several people mount ballast inside their hood. The moisture will kill it and it is very hazardous. My buddy mounted a ballast inside his hood and I ended up buying it off of him. He didn't look at it since he installed it and when he pulled it off, it was pretty nasty within a year. That's when he realized he wasn't going to mount anything inside his hood

Another way you can tell, at least with my experience, you will notice a color change in your corals. Mine would start to brown out.

Last night we were getting ice building up on trees, lines, grass, etc. Around 12:30 we started to have brown outs and that stopped around 1. The power stayed on the entire time and it appears my equipment survived the brown outs. We'll chalk up the no power loss due to mother nature knowing we got generators

So over the summer I bought a loud no name brand generator from Costco for about $200. Today I decided to hook it up to see if would power my tank just in case we lose power in the somewhat boonies. The generator is powering everything in my tank. I switched on each component one by one to make sure it would power it. It runs everything. I'm pretty excited. The laundry list of things it is powering: 6x54w T5s ASM G-2 Skimmer with recirc mod, so add another power head on to that. TurboTwist UV Sterilizer and another power head on to that. Eheihm return pump 2 300w Ebo Jager heaters 1 Tunze Fans for the lights Auto-top off I'm sure I'm missing a few other things. Now I just need to rig up the system to make it not so loud so my neighbors don't kill me. I have some ideas, such as not running everything and lowering the engine on the generator. Anyway, I figured they could live with the noise for once in a blue moon power outage. I might be able to bribe them with electricity if I need to

Wow...do you think your skimmer is big enough? It looks to be a bit underpowered...lol. What is that an old water heater or an old scud missle How big is that tank? Also we need more pictures. Addicts like us need visuals

Hey Guys, I'm sure that this has been covered, but I didn't find anything in the search. Anyway, I have a 55g tank that I use for prop and QT. I got it free about a year and a half ago. It has worked great for me, but I knew that it would probably eventually leak due to the age. That day came last weekend. I was cleaning it out all together and when I looked at my stand I noticed salt creep. I wasn't too concerned think it was me over the past few months being sloppy. Well after taking the salt creep off and taking the tank of the stand it was clear that there is a small leak. I took the tank off the stand and set up the stand so it would be sitting on the leaking corner. It was really sitting, I had it held up so that there wasn't any pressure on that corner. I put a bucket underneath the suspect corner and put some water in the tank. Sure enough, it starts to drop some water. I suspect it is the caulking of the tank. It is very old and worn away quite a bit in a few spots. I was thinking about removing the old caulking and recaulking it. However, I'm a bit concerned if I do that, will I have a time bomb on my hands? If I do that, what can I use? I have some clear silicon caulk from Home Depot, but I'm afraid that isn't the right stuff...i.e. not strong enough. What can I use to fix this? Thanks

So I introduced ich in to my tank. My Magnificent Foxface came down with it. So I was like, well I'll just do the hospital tank and then put it in my holding tank. Then I can remove and treat the rest of the fish. Well after a week of treating my Magnificent Foxface she was getting better. I was thinking about pulling her tonight. I went upstairs for dinner and came back an hour later. When I came back I found her on the floor :( She jumped out of the tank. She never jumps...should have put the egg crate on top. My 75g at my old house was pretty much problem free. After a year of experience, I move and go to a 90g...nothing but problems since then....and pretty much all preventable.

I'm a big fan of Reef Crystals. There are some other salt mixes that people rave about as well. I decided to stick with Reef Crystals because of the availability (esp 160gal buckets). The results have also been good. I have higher calc and alk levels.

Well the odds of you cracking your tank for an immediate flood is slim. First, most of the glass is tempered which makes it very hard to break. If you were to hit it hard enough, you will probably experience a small leak until it reaches critical mass; meaning that you would have some time to move everything out to another tank. If you an experience a leak at all, it will most likely be a slow leak. The same situation applies; you should have enough time to move everything out. In other words, I wouldn't really worry Just keep an eye on your tank in general.

If you need another, let me know. I would be interested in seeing this as I've been thinking about doing this as a cheaper alternative than buying a tank. BTW, why is the rest of the tank so heavy? How much wood did you use?

Fins and Feathers also carries it now. BRK also has some as well as Exotic Aquatics. If you find any places closer to Gaithersburg, let me know. I work in Germantown.

Try some Blue Knuckled Crabs. They did wonders in my tank. I got my at Fins & Feathers. Also, my Magnificent Foxface loves that stuff. However, my last one never touched it. I've heard that other Foxface's will eat it. Like I said, the Blue Knuckled Crabs mowed that stuff down. FWIW I have 0 phosphates in my tank and 0 phosphates in my source water. Mine came back after my tank cycled. I cycled the tank on setup and then again after my crash.

I haven't, but I have considered it. I've found some good LFS in the area that provide healthy fish for the same price or cheaper. Every once and awhile they'll be a few bucks more, but IMHO it is worth it to support local business. After all they provide good knowledge, help, and wonderful socials.

I've been thinking somewhere around 300. I really want an 8ft long tank and at least 2ft wide. My wife and I have been talking about this for awhile. I probably won't be in contact with anyone for awhile, but trying to get some info ahead of time. Before going bigger, I want to make sure I can properly ventilate the room. I will probably end up doing that shortly. If that is a success, then going bigger becomes a real possibility.

Are there any reputable local tank builders besides NAGA? It isn't that I'm avoiding NAGA, I rather have a glass tank than an acrylic tank. I may speak to NAGA if I don't find a local builder. Thanks!

Wow...It is in VA FWIW.

Well it is really up to you on how you want your refugium to work. However, if it were me I would limit what goes in there. All I have in mine is a big ball of Chaeto macro algae. I know some like to do a deep sand bed in their refugium. If you were to do that, you may need some sand shifters to keep it clean. I personally don't like live rock rubble in the refugium. I find that it ends up making the refugium a mess. Oh and as it was pointed out, you would need a light to grow what ever algae you decide to put in your refugium. You could put some feather dusters in there if you like. However, I would just put them in the main tank so I could look at them.

To be clear, my chipping isn't of the acrylic...at least yet. My sump has a black piece of trim/plastic. It's nearly paper thing. I don't understand the purpose of it, except for maybe to hide the seams. That plastic border is the problem. It isn't a big deal because it is cosmetic, but it is just annoying.

You could also put a check valve in on your return. The siphon break would also work. You may want something bigger than a 10 g sump.

I have a GlassCages Acrylic sump that I've been fairly happy with. However, I didn't order it. I bought it from another WAMAS member. He had it custom made to fit in his stand. When he upgraded his tank, I bought it off of him. I remember when he originally got it (heard the story again when I bought it) that they didn't make it to his specs. I would have to agree. He had to use a Dremel to cut out pieces so he could fit his skimmer. It wasn't like he measured it wrong, it was clearly made incorrectly. The one thing that confuses me is how did they put the last baffle in wrong. Other than them making it wrong and the black trim along the top chipping easy, it has done fairly well. It is about 2 years old and holds water. It was used and a sump, so I really didn't care if it didn't have any scratches. It is hard to compete with their prices. However, it seems that it is hit or miss whether or not you'll be happy with it. As one WAMAS member put it to me, if you buy a GlassCages tank, buy 2 to replace the one that's going to fail. By the time you do that, you come pretty darn close to a Miracles tank. If I ever do a large tank, I will be passing on GlassCages. I'm sure Miracles makes a good tank, but I would like to find someone local. Maybe NAGA, but I rather have glass

I suspect that there is something else going on besides the lighting. Mushrooms don't really care for a lot of light anyway.