Almon

Pocillapora frag

dhoch, I have many pieces of Finger Leather with green polyps. It's a Sarchophyton, Lobophyton I think. Called Green Finger Leather, or Devils Finger, or Devils Hand. When it gets crowded, it drops off small lobes that grow into new animals. I have 3 XL animals, 1 medium, 1 small, and several newly dropped lobes. I would prefer to trade you an XL one, 10" x 6" for one of more of your frags or well developed corals. Also have to trade: Pink Sinularia (all sizes) Green Laser Mushrooms (large and highly florescent) Heliopora (Blue Ridge Coral, small and medium frags)

Chris, the picture of the Dragonface Pipefish is awesome. Can I get that in a 1024 x 768 ?

Lunare Wrasse

Mantis Shrimp are really, really, fast and can be very dangerous to people. Don't use your hand as a barrier.

Stomatopod! I had one in my tank for years before I started a reef tank. I had seen it once in a while but didn't think much of it, just some kinda shrimp, cool. NO, not so cool. For years after moving to a reef tank in 1999, I could not figure out why I could not keep small fish. I would buy them, insert them in the tank, and maybe see them once or twice after that. Then they were never to be seen again. I had large fish which I still have, but could absolutely not keep a small fish to save my life. Then I figured it out. Stomatopod! There were loud and distinct clicking sounds from the tank. Stomatopod! Snails and crabs became fewer and fewer until non-existent. Empty shells piling up with cracks and small holes in them. Stomatopod! Although they are very beautiful, they are extremely deadly in the reef tank. I eventually caught mine because he made home in the interior of a large rock. When I saw him in the rock, I simply removed the rock from the tank. That was fairly simple. Too bad I had him for about 8 years before I figured out what kind of monster it really was.

I don't believe glue works well for softies. The glue will dry and the animal will change shape and move out of the hardened glue mold. I have much Sinularia and Finger Leather and I have moved many of them. The sinularia is very easy. Wedge it in between some rocks and wait. It will attach and start moving around by laying down and attaching a higher portion of the stalk to another portion of the rock. It also spreads quickly this way. I have 3 XL Finger leathers that were attached to large rocks that were covered with aiptasia. So I pulled the animals off the rock and pulled the rock out. I added large clean rock for them to attack to. I added more rock than what the animals could attach to. I surround the base of the animals with multiple rocks. I did not put the Finger leather on the rocks, but in between the rocks, wedging the rocks and aminal together. Eventually they all grabbed. It takes weeks or even months sometimes. For Finger Leathers, I prefer finding a rock with a hole, similar to what you have, if possible. It's best if the hole is the same size as the animal stalk so there is a nice snug fit. That's really easy. But if the hole is too large, as is with your rock, the animal can't be wedged in. It will move around until the current or gravity takes it out of the rock. If you can, tilt the rock so the hole is directly up to try and prevent the animal from leaving the rock. Also, if other corals or things are too close, the finger leather won't be happy. IMHO, you should use a rock that is NOT being used for other frags. Another idea with a hole that is too large is to jam another, smaller rock into the hole with the finger leather. Wedge it in. I hope this helps.

Yes, I agree, increased flow is the best solution. I use 1 pump and 4 overflows for my 3 tanks and never ever have bubbles collect.

I have had experiences with my Palythoas. Several times I have been affected by touching them with my fingers. The symptoms are redness, slight inflamation, soreness, and stiffness in the areas that have been exposed, similar to what you are describing with you lungs. In one case, it lasted one week. Another time, it lasted two months. I think it all depends on the quantity of Paly toxin that you have been exposed to.

My tempature is mostly dependant, I think, on the tempature of the environment that it is in, my basement. I have 3 tanks on the same system with a lot of surface area affected by the environment. In general, my basement is fairly cool at 75 or less, so, I have my heaters adjusted to 78 degrees. That keeps the temperature fairly steady, dropping some on a cold nights when the basement temperature may be 65 - 68. The lights add some heat, but my tanks are closed with glass tops minimizing the heat exchange. Plus, the Metal Halide hood has a fan at each side of the hood to remove the heat. On warm days like today, the temperature will rise. Today, it has risen to 80. In the summer, with A/C, it will sometimes rise to 82. That is too high for me and I have been seriously contemplating a Chiller. I have heard that using a fan on my open sump water will decrease the temperature. I am eager to try that as a cheap alternative.

220 Reef 55 Refugium 40 Frag 10 Sump Total = 325g

I have found that if I don't glue the coral to something, it will get moved or toppled by the fish and inverts. The corals that I don't glue down securely will grow slowly or not at all. When they are secured, they grow well. My preference is to attach the coral to a small rock, large enough to be secure, but small enough to move it if you need. I also received a frogspawn from SteveOutlaw this weekend just as you described, attached to a small fist size rock. I like it....a lot. Much better than just finding a crevice to jam it in and waiting to find it on the bottom of the reef or tipped upside down.

I got a pocillipora from you and it looks great. Thanks for the support.

As a newbie to WAMAS and my first meeting, I want to thank the officers, the speakers, and all of the members that participated in making this such a successful event. The facility was excellent and the speakers were awesome. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and putting a face to the "Screen Name". I had a great time and look forward to the next meeting.

This is very important. If the power goes out, water will flow from the tank, back into the sump/refugium. WAMAS member bbyatv (Bruce) has posted a picture of the overflow he has built. Look at #2 - the anti-siphon holes. Two or three holes drilled into the return pipe just below the water surface. If power goes out, the gravity siphon begins to take water from the tank to the sump. The holes allow air into the tube and stops the siphon. It's very effective. This is it:

It's OK. Your refugium is your sump. Your overflow is on the main tank, feeding the sump/refugium which pumps water back to the main tank. All is good. No need for a pump in the overflow. The water pumped up from the refugium will increase the water level of the main tank and overflow back to the sump. You design is a good one.

I think it's a great idea. I also use built my refugium as a display tank. I use live sand and have a heater, which your drawing shows. Additional power heads can only help, and use guards to prevent snails, crabs, and other animals from getting stuck. I am not sure what the additional rocks do. Does that help?

You might want to consider a tank sitter. Have someone check on the tank once a day and feed the required amount. Neighbors and friends tend to overfeed, but there are probably several WAMAS members that would help.

I have glass tanks and was never comfortable with drilling them, although I believe that having drilled tanks would be much more convenient. You probably should drill your tank, but have one of the WAMAS members come over and help you. It sounds like Dandy (and others) is an expert on the subject. With that said, I have 3 glass tanks on the same system and use siphon overflows for all of them. The key to never losing the siphon is to have plenty of water flow. I use two overflows on the main 220g tank going to the sump below. Until recently, I had a gravity siphon from the 220g to a 40g that was about 1' away which then emptied through another siphon overflow back into the sump. That was 3 overflows handling approximately 250 gph each, all being pumped back up to the main tank via one Little Giant pump. I have recently added a 55g refugium to the setup. The 55g and 40g tanks are back to back allowing me to use a homemade siphon overflow from a customized specimen container and a U tube that flows into a hangon Aquaclear filter that is used to add water flow and current to the 40g. The gravity siphon from the 220g now flows into the 55g refugium, which overflows into the 40g, which overflows into the sump, to be pumped back up to the 220g. Below is a picture of the 3 tanks and a closeup of the homemade overflow. During a power outage, all overflow siphons remain intact, but the gravity siphon will draw air once the water level of the 220g has fallen. However, with a sufficient loop in the gravity siphon tube, the gravity siphon is restarted when power is restored as the water level in the 220g increases from the excess water that has drained into the sump. I use a APC450 Battery Backup for the main pump so I always have water flowing through all of my tanks due to the siphon overflows.

WOW! And I thought I had a worm problem. I've taken out bristle worms that are up to 7 inches in length, but 7 feet!

Nice picture..... I have a different predator in my Koi pond. My cat....he loves to fish. I now use netting to cover the entire pond. It works well.

I have 4 Heliopora Frags 2 New frags, mounted $5 each and 2 Established frags $15 each click pictures to enlarge

I have tons of Sinularia. Its been growing for years in my tanks. The 220g reef has 3 x 175w MH and 2 x 96w PC and they grow well from the top to the bottom. I also have a lot in a 40g under 220w PC. They don't grow as fast and don't exend their polyps as much as they do in the reef tank under the Metal Halides. I also have much more water flow in the 220g. Try putting the Sinularia at the top of your rocks in good current.

Green Laser Mushrooms Purple Gorgonians Hydnophora (Horn Coral) Heliopora (Blue Ridge Coral) Pink Sinularia