Black Mammoth

Thanks, I appreciate the offer. I'm going to see how things go tomorrow with this. I may contact you depending on how things go. I hope that things will perk up and make it. It may not be too bad, but we'll see.

Thanks. I've only had to medicate my reef twice. Once when I had redbugs (before I QT). I only lost 2 emerald crabs. Now this time. I QT everything now except for that one coral. Normally I would have, but my prop tank was toast. I should have at least done a fresh water dip on it. Exit isn't a dip. You add x amount of drops for y amount of gallons. I should have tried catching the fish so at least they would have been safe. Ugh. BTW, the Flame was playing dead. It's still alive, but barely. It's breathing really hard and fast. So are the Chromis. I suspect that the ammonia is really high. I'll test that soon, but there really isn't anything I can do. I'm already doing 30g water changes and running carbon...sigh.

What brand is it? I run my Coralife 18w around 90-100gph. That's what they recommend for their UV. I'm going to guess that a Mag 3 is going to be too much.

This is the first time for me with the carbon. Actually, I haven't tested anything since I've been changing water like crazy. I figured it wouldn't really matter since I'm just going to do another water change as soon as the RO finishes making new water. I have 90g display and a 40g sump. So I'm really probably around 120g total (minus rock and room in the sump). So I do a 30g water change. Make new RO water and do another 30g. I've been doing that non-stop now. After this water change finishes, I'll run some tests. BTW, it looks like the Flame is done :( The good news is that the Chromis are still around the Maroons & RBTA looks good now. More corals are coming out.

Well I've been working on the tank now for about 36 hours. I have absolutely the worst luck! My tank was running great. Then I decided to take in a coral for someone to help out revive it (not blaming anyone). I was going to put it in my prop tank, but I was having some issues with it. Well that coral apparently had flatworms. They started to take over. I figured yesterday would be a good day to deal with them. So I had water already made & carbon ready to go. First I siphoned out as my flat worms as I could. Then I added the flatworm exit and they started to die, but they were some still available. I let it go longer and added more as the instructions and other suggested. Then that started to kill them off. I then added carbon. Then I did a large water change. My Magnificent Foxface freaked out and I couldn't calm it down nor catch it to put in my prop tank. Around 4:30 am I went to bed and I got up at 9 to find the Mag. Foxface dead :( I then did more siphoning and a large water change. I called Sean at F&F to see if he could get me another Magnificent Foxface and sure enough he had one already ready to go! Wow, what luck. So as I was cleaning up my tank, I noticed that my return bulkhead was leaking! Great! So I drained the overflow and cleaned everything up and reinstalled the bulkhead. It still leaks! Maybe even more now...just freaking great. It gets better. So I run down to F&F to get my new Magnificient Foxface and more carbon. When I return back from F&F (maybe 1.5 hours later), I find that pretty much all my SPS are bleaching hardcore. On top of that I picked up a really nice colony from Rebecca the other day. It was my wife's favorite coral. She's the one that picked it out. Well it bleached pretty bad. So I threw them all in my prop tank which wasn't probably the best because of the temp difference. I then added new carbon. The LPS started to perk up, so I took some of the SPS from my prop tank and put it in the main. They are starting to look better, but it doesn't looking promising. Then all of a sudden my Flame Angel started to freak out like my Magnificent Foxface did last night. So I caught it and slowly acclimated it to my prop tank. It looks like it is going to die. Now, my Chromis are going nuts. My RBTA doesn't look great nor my clam. The Maroon pair are hiding. I've lost some snails & crabs. This is the second major disaster this year and each time it has cost me $500 - $750 each time. I'm thinking about jumping out. This is only a week after having discussions about going to a 210 - 300g display tank. Well I'm off to do another 30g water change.

I stopped by Rebecca's tonight to pick up a Mag 12. She was very accommodating by letting me pick it up tonight. My mixer pump/refill pump died so I really needed one ASAP. Anyway, when I stopped by to pick it up, I also picked up an AWESOME SPS colony. She still has a ton of beautiful SPS left in her tank. I thought the corals would be mostly gone or picked over due to the open house & advertising, but that's not the case. If you are looking for some good looking corals, I would drop her a line. I was very surprised not to see a barren tank. Oh yeah, it's also really cool to see the setup Thanks again.

I think people are underestimating the power of T5s. I have a 90g with retrofit T5s. The setup has Triad Ballasts with Ice Cap reflectors. I also have a variety bulbs. OK, I have 6x54s, but one of my timers got messed up and I've been running 4x54. Since I have been so busy, I haven't had the time to straighten it out. I've been running 4x54s for at least 2 months if not 3. A few of my SPS frags (including Acros) got knocked over by some crabs. On top of that, my bulbs are pretty darn old. They are about 2 years old. I have the bulbs to replace them, but I haven't yet. So basically I have 4 bulbs running on my 90g, 2 year old bulbs, and SPS on my sand bed. Oh yeah, on top of that my Calc and Alk is on the low side. The ones on the sand bed are doing great! I've seen a huge growth spurt with those guys.

It is funny how people think Western Loudoun is SOOO far away. I can pretty much get to anywhere in NoVa in 45 minutes...not unless there is traffic and well all bets are off It reminds me of the time when I went to Dulles mall to get my haircut when I was living in Leesburg....a 10 minute drive...15 if you hit bad traffic and all of the lights. The lady was amazed that I went so far from Leesburg and was surprised that there wasn't a mall in Leesburg yet (besides the outlet mall). Funny stuff

I'm not 100% sure, but if you keep them up high enough they'll will probably be OK. I have 6x54s on my 90g and I keep, SPS, Clam, and RBTA with no problems. Actually, I have SPS growing on the sand bed. You don't have as much light as I do, but if you keep them closer to the top there's a good chance you can keep them. I would get a cheap SPS frag and see how that goes. If it is too close to the light the SPS may not like it. So if it doesn't do well initially, try moving the frag around and see how it does.

I was afraid this topic may come up. Who says it can't be both? I consider myself religious, but I also believe in evolution. What about the living organisms before man?

Ding! Ding! Ding! I'm glad to see that someone got the teaser. I was hoping that this would invoke some thought

We are here (and other life) because of Cyanobacteria. That's all!

I don't think so. Mine showed up a long time after I got some frags.

Ever since I added my anenome, my clowns won't leave it. It's pretty cool though. They'll dart out to grab some food, but they won't go very far...a few inches. BTW, I have maroon clowns.

Wow...must be the area. I have some as well. I haven't had a chance to get rid of them yet. Annoying little buggers.

I would look at the lights, water params, and feeding. I have a RBTA and I feed it some lance fish every few days or so. I'm not sure how much food it is actually getting with the liquid diet.

I'm out in Lovettsville and I'm a Hokie as well

I painted the back of my tank. They also make covers you can by. All you do is cut them to size and tape them on. I think that painting them looks nicer.

You are probably more than 4 hours away to finishing it. It sounds like you guys want to redo a lot of it. Why on Earth did the guy use 2x4s? Are you guys trying to support a monster tank? Sounds like he was just trying to slap something together real quick. I can't help out as I have too many project at home, but I'm sure you guys can figure it out You should see my stand and canopy. It was pretty much my first project and it looks amazing. Everyone, including skilled craftsman, cannot believe I did it myself and it was my first project. Give it a try and see what you come up with. Just have some detailed plans and measurements ready. It can be tedious work, but it is fun and something you can call your own.

I have a PBT in my 90. Everything is going great. Actually, he doesn't rule the roost like I thought a tang would do. Actually, my Magnificent Foxface is the bully. It will get agitated at a fish and show them who's boss. It is very territorial...very surprising to me. The PBT and MFF get along. At first they weren't sure of each other and were interested in the same cave. They now tolerate each other. There is a lot of posturing going on, but they get along. If I knew that was going to happen, I would have added the MFF last. I'm still waiting on a Bellus to add to the tank.

Oh that's what I was saying...2x4x and 4x4s for a 90g is overkill I was just confirming that his stand should be more than enough

Alrighty, I just did another water test. PH: ~8.3 maybe 8.4 Calc: 335 Alk: 8 I haven't tried the Nitrates, Nitrites, and Ammonia yet. I suspect I have phosphates :( I'll have to get that PHOSaR and I might run some carbon.

Wow! Now that's nuts! Congrats to him on his new tank. Yes, the stand he has there is more than sufficient. It cracks me up that people are trying to build 90g stands out of 2x4s and 4x4s. Anyway, congrats...can't wait until he joins and tells us more :D

The $20 pays for itself...usually around the first visit to a store that offers a WAMAS discount On top of that you get access to the sales forums and members forums....finally welcome.

Are the tank deals better than Scales? When Scales first opened up, I got an 90g AGA RR for $180. I ask this because I envision another tank sometime in the future