SurlyT

I agree that sponges are harmless in terms of affecting other animals, but some of them can be surprisingly invasive. I had a type of black finger sponge that grew everywhere in my tank and was tough to keep under control. But yours looks nothing like that, so I see no reason to worry about it.

Dinos can be no big deal, or they can be one of the worst things that ever happen to your tank. I had an outbreak that started after a major reaquascaping last summer, and I never could get on top of them - I lost all my corals and now have a friend keeping my fish while I restart the system from scratch. First thing I'd suggest you do is contact Pants, get him a sample of your dinos and have him ID them for you. His website (www.algaeid.com) can be helpful but it's a better idea to put them under a microscope. Once you know what you're dealing with, you'll have a slightly better chance of combating them. But only slightly better. As treesprite said, the prevailing theory right now is that dino blooms occur in the low nutrient range where macroalgae and filamentous algae can't survive. Slightly higher nutrient levels allow those algae to outcompete dinos, but down in the low ppm range the dinos can grow out of control. Personally, I also think there's a link between certain species of dinos and the types of bacteria in the system as they've been shown to have a near-symbiotic relationship, and some people have had success with approaches that affect bacteria growth. But there's not much definitive info in this area - certainly not enough for carbon dosing, bacterial supplements or antibiotics to be considered a reliable approach to eradication. There are a couple of recent threads on ReefCentral about them. One thread mainly concerns hydrogen peroxide dosing and the other is more broad in scope. From what I've read (and believe me, I've read a lot), there are people who've had success with every method out there, but for every person who found a way to beat them there are even more for whom that particular method had no effect at all. For what it's worth, I had a strain of Ostreopsis in my system (see the attached image and also this link). I tried dosing hydrogen peroxide. I tried Fauna Marin Ultra Algae-X. I tried setting up an algae scrubber. I tried manual removal with aggressive mechanical filtration. I tried extended lights-out periods and big water changes. I tried running reactors full of Purigen and Cuprisorb. Many of these were initially promising (especially in combination with lights off) but eventually the dinos would always come back. The only thing I didn't try was letting them run their course - maybe they'd have eventually consumed whatever was sustaining them and then died back. But let me tell you, when Ostreopsis dies off, it releases a palytoxin which is none too good for the humans in your house. It was so bad while I was running Algae-X that an hour in my basement would bother my eyes to the point that I couldn't see well. Finally I got sick of the whole thing and just nuked my tank - 40 gallons of chlorine bleach right into the main tank, with a separate acid bath for the rock. Right now I'm waiting to do a few mods to my system before refilling it with water again. So be patient, be observant, be diligent. You may be able to beat them, or you may not. All I can say is good luck.

They don't stock it in the stores but you can order it from their website and pick it up in the store. I know PetSolutions also carries it.

Use a pool dechlorinator such as Winston Vanish to neutralize the chlorine. You may be able to find it at places like Walmart. Be sure to get rid of as much of the chlorine bleach as possible before going to the acid bath stage, especially if using something strong like muriatic acid. The combination creates chlorine gas which is deadly. This is all best done outside to be safe. You may want to use a power washer or even take the rock up to your local spray & wash to remove the final organic debris.

Thanks! I bought mine used from another member, and have been trying to figure out how back-pressure on the effluent line affects the unit's operation. This is obviously a translation but still helpful.

Anyone happen to have a copy of the instructions/owner's manual for a Schuran JetStream 1 calcium reactor? I hear there are PDF versions to be found but I can't seem to come up with one through Google.

I got one RBTA from you back in June 2007. I have about 6 of them right now and have sold at least that many to other members.

90 gallon reef tank + ~10 gallons in sump 12 gallon nano 8 gallon nano ---------------- 120 gallons total

Thanks for digging that up - I hadn't seen it before. Interesting point that some colors seem to carry more "clout" than others. That officially makes you the first person to recognize him since I've been using it. Excellent!

Just wondering if anyone had ever seen a list or chart that compared the "stings" of various corals. I was thinking about the inevitable wars that will happen as my corals grow out, and was curious if it was possible to predict which ones would win in any given battle. It would make an interesting chart and could add another dimension to aquascaping efforts...

Disclaimer: I'm reading as much about reef chemistry as my brain has the cycles to process it, but I admit I'm not completely there yet. With that said, though, I've had trouble getting my Ca level to stay above about 365 for any period of time, and I was told a low Mg level could contribute to the problem. So I got a Mg test kit and my first test did indeed read pretty low - about 1000 ppm. Thus far I've only been able to get it up to about 1065 via liquid buffers and was interested in the various dry-mix recipes as a better way to get there, that's all. Addendum: I've been using IO salt and also suspect that's why my Mg deficiency developed over time.

Could somone please point me to some of these recipes and associated discussions? I've been poring through the website for quite a while and can't seem to come up with them directly. I'm particularly interested to know if the choice of recipe (or ingredient ratio) would be different when you're dosing calcium hydroxide (kalk) rather than calcium chloride. Thanks in advance.