Brian Ward

Buy the one from Dan - he swears the one he carrys s the best in the business.

What kind of blenny is it? Is it something that would work well in my FO tank? It would need to mesh with a picasso trigger, black hawaiian trigger, probably a spotted grouper. everything else is routine - tangs, butterfly, angels. but no snails or crabs for him to eat

Scales is nice, but nowhere near Roozens. I'm not sure exactly where you're going to be. I was at Roozen's yesterday - didn't see anything spectacular though it's nice to look around. I usually go there looking for things that are unusual. The ponds are definitely nice - blue face angel and magestic angel in one, barracuda, an angel (can't remember what kind) and what looked like a lieutenant tang in the other. Scales is definitely nicer with better staff but most of their stock is fairly routine. Scales is much better for corals and dry goods. None of the corals at Roozens are particularly interesting so I never bother to look there.

I have one of the old Euro-Reef RS180 skimmers that mitigates bubbles with foam around the standpipe. I understand that the gate valve mod will help to eliminate the microbubbles it releases into the sump? Some other mod that helps reduce this? Any help appreciated.

Any affordable phosphate tests are worthless. They all read 0 when you really have phosphates. Start running a phosphate remover - media reactor or canister filter or media bag, however you can do it. Is 9 hrs the total amt of time all lights are on? you might cut down the brightest of the lights to 6 or 7 and run actinics only for the other couple hours. Remove the red algae by siphon, scrubbing, whatever it takes. Siphoning the top layer of sand out of the tank to get the detritus is OK just don't stir the sand bed. rinse the sand and put it back in the tank or discard if you prefer. My bet is that 1. you have a batch of ro/di water that isn't 0 tds OR 2. you accidentally introduced phosphates through lotions, soaps, etc. Stay on top of your water changes, run carbon and phosphate media, make sure you scoop out any uneaten food and remove as much of it as you can. After that, it's a waiting game - it will probably take 3-4 mos to get it back under control.

Sometimes an anemone can be kept under PC, but I would consider this an "expert" experiment since I would expect water quality and feeding to become more of an issue. You would also need to monitor closely and move to a higher light environment if it wasn't doing well. As a newbie you probably wouldn't know exactly what to watch for (as I don't either since I've never had one). You need T5 or MH for the anemone. Watts per gallon isn't a great way to measure since depending on the type of lighting, the PAR (photosythetically available radiation) will be different. 120W PC has a much lower PAR than 120W MH. Anemones are photosythetic creatures - consider it a high-light "coral" like a clam. Check out www.reefgeek.com and www.aquariumspecialty.com - they usually have good prices on lighting.

That's really looking nice. You're definitely helping push me toward barebottom on my SPS tank.

Looks interesting. I'll stick with my bath towels though - always keep 2 on top of the tank and put them on the floor before doing anything. Clean up the spill, pop it in the washer and you're good to go. String mops work great as well. I'd be concerned what the salt would do to the towels over time and what's required to clean them.

I ordered quite a few things from them. Prices were very good, quick shipping, no real problems. He drop ships from a variety of different places rather than having a large amount of stock on hand, at least for many of the items I ordered so I wouldn't be surprised if it's for everything he sells. Spoke with the owner a couple of times, he can be a jerk - was offended when I was trying to take bids from various stores when ordering about $4k in equipment, looking for the best deal and to buy everything from one place. I figured it was an off day, but I saw this same attitude come across in the vendor forum over on RC.

I really haven't taken one apart so I'm not sure about tips or tricks. I really wouldn't think you'd lose the refrigerant either, just move the entire compressor and closed coolant system as a single unit. If you break any of the lines and start losing the refrigerant then you'll have to deal with patching the cracked portion. Sounds like the system is basically a self-enclosed drop-in unit since the water runs free in the pan. The picture I have in my head, which may not be correct, is to talk to NAGA about building a box with a horizontal baffle - water inlet and outlet underneath the baffle, compressor above. Lower portion fully contained and made to withstand the pressure. Probably a 2" bulkhead inlet and outlet. I'm not sure what the heat exchanger portion of the chiller looks like so it's hard to guess exactly how it would go together.

You should definitely be able to take it apart, move the compressor and chiller coils and build a new enclosure. I'd have to look at the internals but it looks like a plastic case so I'm betting a vented acrylic enclosure of some sort would do it.

at 50 deg. some of the salt may precipitate out since it would dissolve easier at higher temperatures. though I cannot say for sure. it would likely depend on how well dissolved the salt was to start with. you also should not need to buffer the water to get the pH up. this likely indicates the water is not sufficiently oxygenated. most people mix overnight not because it takes that long for the salt to dissolve but to allow the water to oxygenate. Before you add to the tank it should match the existing pH, temp, and salinity of your tank. remember, stability is key. while fish can more easily withstand the swings your corals cannot.

Deeper sand bed doesn't matter until you go to a true DSB. That's generally 6+" of sand - it works to supplement the nitrogen cycle and keep ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels down.

hmmm... I've never had my salt mix go in cloudy. How closely does the pH match? Is it similar to the cloud you get when adding an alkalinity supplement? I usually mix my salt for at least 4 or 5 hrs and I found that IO took a while to fully dissolve. You might consider mixing for another hour after it's been sitting and before you pour the new water into the tank.

Time for a picture update: Here's a link to the complete album: http://picasaweb.google.com/brward5/FishAndCoralPics BC29 FTS: Right Side: Left Side: Added a 8W Gamma UV to the return path. Upgraded the pump to a MJ1200 to push the extra distance: Also added a canister filter to run carbon and phosphate media in: Plumbing: Current FTS FOWLR: SPS-dominated build progress. Both luminarcs hung, back drilled, electric about 50% done. Fish in QT. Moving to the FOWLR shortly. The citron gobies are for the BC29.

The seaweed for sushi is typically what I've used and appears to be the same that I've seen others use. I believe this is roasted and the ingredients label doesn't indicate any perservatives, salt, etc. Why would this be bad?

You need to reconfigure the aquacontroller for a different port. I don't currently know how to do this but I'm sure it's possible. Let's say you configure the ACIII to respond to port 456 (it currently responds on port 80) set your router to forward requests to port 456 to the ACIII. Request the ACIII via http://<your_ip_address>:456 That will get you there. The reason 80 works while in your house is that you don't have a router blocking the traffic - it's an external router owned by Cox that blocks the traffic.

Cox, as with many ISPs, blocks ports 80 and 25 for "home" customers. These are the well-known ports for http and smtp traffic, respectively. Change the port for your ACIII web page to pretty much anything else and it should work. 8080 is the typical alternate port, use 88 or something you like and you should be able to access it just like the router.

Definite interest here ....

Have to agree - this will fix the symptom but you need to find the problem. "New Tank Syndrome" is likely BS - need to find the real source. Over feeding is likely. What kind of skimmer? I'm assuming you're skimming very wet now? 2 cubes for 6 small fish sounds like too much. Are you thawing and rinsing before you add? Scooping out the extra after about 10 mins? What is the reef mix? Is this like formula one? 1 cube mysis daily should be more than enough - maybe alternate cube mysis, cube reef mix.

For the most part, tap water contains heavy metals, chlorine or chloramine and other things that are harmful to fish and/or corals. Fish tolerate it much better than corals do but you will likely battle algae forever. Since you're probably a long way from adding any corals - certainly any delicate ones - you're probably fine to keep the water you have, but use RO/DI from now on. This is Reverse Osmosis/DeIonized water. It is pure water, typically 0 TDS (total disolved solids) and to keep corals you don't want to use water any higher than 2 or 3 TDS. Buying from the fish store should be fine for now - there may be someone that lives near you that would be willing to sell you some (the filters, DI resin, and water itself get to be expensive) and it would probably be cheaper from a member than from the store - for some reason, stores in NoVA charge an outrageous price for RO water. I've also read about it being sold at Wal-Mart. These dispensers are hit-or-miss. If you can find a member or fish store to get it from, that would be your best bet. I would definitely move toward using that from now on.

50% water change will be much less negative than the nitrate currently in the tank. I'd expect the corals and starfish to be in bad shape. Change the water immediately! Even with a new tank the nitrate shouldn't be that high - if you have bioballs, ceramic media, canister filters, or anything along those lines you need to clean that media too. You should also expect an algea outbreak due to the high nitrates. I'd do a 50% water change today and test - your levels should be reduced right after. Another water change either tomorrow or the day after. Keep checking, keep changing water until you get it under control.

You would want to re-use all the water from the 30 unless you used tap water to fill the 30 - if this is the case and you want to do corals down the road we'll need to talk about RO/DI. Take the water out and put it in a separate container. Put the LR in the same container. Put the fish in another container with some of the water, ideally with a powerhead, airstone and heater in case he needs to stay there for a while. Remove the sand, rinse it (tap water is fine here) so you don't release the chemicals into the water in the new tank. Put the new sand in the tank. Add the water, pouring it onto a bowl or plate in the tank to minimize the sandstorm. Add the rock, minimize the time the rock is out of the water to prevent another cycle - anything under 5 mins should be fine. Top off the tank with new water. Let the water clear - hopefully only a few hours. Drip acclimate the fish before adding it/them to the new tank. You will likely need more sand (or you can go barebottom and forgo the sand altogether). It's not difficult, just time consuming - probably 4 or 5 hours start to finish. Many people in the club will loan out buckets, powerheads, heaters, etc to other members for exactly this purpose since not everyone has all the extra supplies - especially just as you're getting started.

OK... enough with how you can't afford it. A lot of people latch onto that earlier statement since many try to get into the hobby and don't understand the cost. As far as how to upgrade your system: You have a good setup for fish-only. I'm assuming you're running some ceramic media in the canister to aid your biological filtration? This can make up for not having enough live rock but your nitrates will likely grow out of control - that's what the live rock helps with over the canister. The aerobic bacteria is able to grow and thrive and that will break the nitrate back into nitrogen and oxygen making water changes less frequent. Also you have live sand, this helps as well. DO NOT EVER STIR UP YOUR SAND BED! It will release all kinds of horrible chemicals and probably kill most of your stock. Also before you go for any difficult corals you'll want to look at upgrading to some sort of overflow/sump system for filtration. This is preferred for mechanical and chemical filtration. The other option is a big HOB filter such as a biowheel - this can also cause nitrate problems but if you have enough live rock you should be OK. The skimmer is good - what kind do you have? Depending on what type of corals you want to keep will drive what direction you need to go. The Deltec MCE300 is an excellent HOB skimmer and will be more than sufficient to keep your water quality VERY high. Don't know if you're looking to upgrade that component, but when you do (it's inevitable) I'd seriously consider that one. If you decide to go to a sump, talk to Dan (Dandy7200) he makes excellent skimmers but does not have a HOB model. T8 lighting will keep very few, if any, corals and will probably only contribute to an algae problem. I would recommend an upgrade to T5 - at least initially. Look at the IceCap retro kits. I'd probably recommend 4 bulbs spanning the length of the tank - 2 actinic, 2 white (whichever spectrum you like best) and individual reflectors. I'm not sure what your hood looks like but my guess is that you have a standard strip light setup - this is OK but you'll want to modify your hood into more of a canopy that is more suited to holding the lights. Many people like MH but there are a ton of reasons not to go straight there - heat and cost being the primary ones. That should get you started and ready for corals.

Welcome. Join the club, it's completely worth the fee. You'll get access to the buying/selling forum and you'll save a TON of money buying things from other people in the club. I just recommend you work in slowly - you don't need a ton of live rock to get started with small fish. You'll need the live rock before you can keep corals. Work your tank up slowly - many people have. Build things yourself - great way to save money. As your tank gets more complicated, that's when you have to spend more. Just read about everyone else's builds and ask for advice when you want to do something.