lanman

Nice! And if you decide against the tank, you can put the car up on it to work on the underside!! bob

Hmmm... things are getting serious!! bob

The frag plugs are getting restless!! bob

I think this thread needs pictures. bob

Whereabouts in Oregon? I just got back from Portland/Seaside/Astoria. bob

are you using an expensive bit, or a cheap bit? If it's a cheap bit - the first one will take 2 minutes... then 3... then 4... then 6... then 10... bob

diagonal bracing - in case a runaway forklift hits it... bob

My 600-pound tank, full of water, is 2400 pounds. Besides - it was easier to build that way, even if it took $50 more in wood. The stand for my 50-gallon stock tanks is built similarly - because it's easy. bob

Each to his own... personally, I want to be prepared in case an elephant climbs up onto my tank for a drink. Instead of 4x4 verticals, use doubled 2x4's. Cut one of them 2x4's short, and place the 2x4's supporting the top on it. Ummm... what time Saturday? hahahahah Oh, darn... I can't do Saturday - have to go to Mr. Coral; I left my winter coat there last time. Kind of like this... but smaller perhaps... bob

Paul B has an algae scrubber in his overflow; it is on a screen. Maybe you can put some plastic screen in there, and when it gets covered with algae, you can remove the screen and clean it? bob

Way cool, Justin. I've seen pictures of that skimmer - go giant skimmer! bob

I recommend just turning off the CA reactor until you need it (alk drops) as your coral grows out. Why are your nitrates so high? Mine are high - but not that high - and I probably overfeed, even though my fish concentration isn't high. Do you have a lot of fish? bob

I agree with you on almost everything you've said. But I don't blame the vendors for trying to get their money out of a coral shipment ASAP. I just happened to see an invoice at a LFS once upon a time. 10 assorted maricultured acropora colonies - $150. That is only about $15/colony - plus shipping, which probably doubles it. So call it $30 each. But then, the vendor has to pick out the 'brown, plain, ugly' ones, and hope they turn into something worthy. A couple of the colonies will probably die within a week, despite best efforts. He has to clean, dip, and care for the corals until they are sold. ... so, on those occasions when he receives a colony that is truly different and beautiful - he tries to get as much out of it as possible. And it doesn't seem so wrong. As long as the vendor is straight and above-board, and lets the customer know - "This coral just came in, it is wild-caught, or maricultured, and has traveled 8,000 miles in the last two weeks. Then I just chopped it into pieces. There is every possibility it might die before the week is out. It's up to you to decide if it is worth the cost and the risk." One other thing to think about - when I get a wild or maricultured colony - the first thing I do is take a few frags, and put them in all my different systems. Sometimes, if the frag/colony is large enough, I will give a piece to someone else that has good luck with acro's. This gives the best chance that one or more pieces will survive. In a sense, a vendor that frags up his colony, spreads it out to 20 different tanks by selling the frags, and THEN also puts what's left of the colony in his own aquaculture faciity, is probably helping to ensure that this particular coral will survive somewhere. I know the one wild frag that I got from mrcoral a while back (?strawberry limeade?) - was small when he received it; he was only able to take 3 frags - and he put the 'base' that the frags came from at one end of his tanks in hope it would grow out. The one I purchased from Marine Scene (acropora Nobilis) - I have frags of it growing in 3 of my systems (not the display), and I'm glad I do, because the main 'colony' (it was just a giant frag) is long gone. I would feel terrible if I lost this coral completely, even though I can tell by the way it was cut that there's a 'mother colony' somewhere out in the ocean. It would still be lost to the hobby as far as I know. So - there are always a lot of points of view to consider, and ways to look at things. I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Until there's no doubt. bob

Excellent point... I was there one day when an Aussie shipment came in - AND he already had a chalice and an acan that I wanted REALLY bad, despite the price (my original reason for the trip). I spent quite a sum of money - who can resist aussie echinatas? -BUT- - by the time I left, I had 5 free clams, and he owed me 9 free frags (I picked some up later, because I didn't have enough space in my car for all the corals and clams and free frags). I kind of felt the same way - spent a lot of bucks, but he gave me back about 2/3rd of it in freebies! bob

Okay... so you got a $50 milli colony, $25 worth of zoas, $25 worth of clove polyps, and a $60 clam for $100. What a rip! Go back and ask for another free frag. Oh... never mind - did you eat some pizza? That's your freebie! bob

If it is only 6 gallons - and as Davelin mentioned, the rockwork isn't fancy - you can pull out the rocks/corals and dip them in eXit in a bucket. Only takes about 20 minutes, I think. Then rinse them in another bucket by swishing them around. You will get 90% of them at least, and then you can treat the tank without worrying about the toxins. bob

+1 more for Reef-crest. bob

Nice colony - very similar to dragon-eyes. They CAN be killed by injecting them with kalk, like an aiptasia - but it often takes several attempts. I agree with just keeping them out of contact with other surfaces you don't want them to grow on. If/when they grow out onto the sand in a mat, you can just snip off the excess with scissors, and trade/sell/give them away. The sand that sticks to them makes them easy to glue to a frag plug. bob

I'm wondering about your definition of wild-caught vs. aquacultured? Do you consider 'aquacultured in Fiji' to be wild-caught? I have purchased a couple of truly 'wild-captured' colonies, and they have proven to be HARD to keep alive for the first couple of generations. Truly heart-breakers. The most recent was purchased from a local vendor/WAMAS sponsor (not mrcoral) as a really LARGE frag - I mean like 8" multi-branched frag. I am down to about a total of 6" of coral now, after hacking and slashing to keep ahead of various problems (mostly STN from the base). But in this case, it's going to be worth it if I can keep it growing. It is an awesome coral - green with blue on the tips, and an uncommon species. I finally have one 1" frag that is growing very nicely, well encrusted, etc - and a couple of 2" frags that seem to have 'settled in'. On the other hand - I purchased a frag of a frag that mrcoral received a few hours before I got there (green base, pink tips), that 'appeared' (actual origin unknown) to have been snipped right out of the ocean, which encrusted and started growing within a week. Sometimes you get lucky. EDIT: Read further through the thread, and found where you differentiate between Wild-caught, Maricultured, and Aquacultured corals. bob

Whoa... thanks so much for that info! I was totally confused - with NO idea where this quote came from. Appears to me that it was a 'sarcastic' comment in its original context. i.e. - that the poster was mocking the fact that the same people who don't want corals fragged are going to be there buying frags. I was starting to get a little defensive myself - I've been known to frag a coral here and there. I prefer NOT to sell corals that haven't healed or encrusted yet, and when I do, I usually offer them at a discounted price, and let the buyer know I prefer to heal them up first. But I will sell them. Shame on me - but it's that, or ask someone to drive an hour again in a couple of weeks after it's 'ready'. Good example - I cut 7 frags of purple monster. 2 of them died within a week, and the others are healed up now and just starting to encrust. If you had purchased one of the 2 deaders, you would be very unhappy. bob

There are many many types of flatworms. If yours are breeding that rapidly, they are probably acoel flatworms - certainly not Acropora-eating flatworms. How did they kill your corals? Unless the numbers are so huge that they COVER the coral, blocking out light - they aren't likely to hurt them. Acoel flatworms don't eat coral, but they will crawl on it. Acoel Flatworm: Acropora-eating Flatworm: Flatworm eXit works fairly well on Acoel flatworms - but you may need a higher-than-recommended dose for full-tank elimination. And be sure to follow directions; i.e. - siphon out as many as humanly possible before dosing. The dead flatworms are somewhat toxic to the tank in large concentrations. If the infestation isn't too bad, you can just keep siphoning them out, and in a few months they are likely to stop reproducing and die. bob

And as always... MADE IN AMERICA!! I have about 10 GSA appliances now... The skimmer and kalk reactor that I got when I first started out 3 years ago are still going strong. bob

I would certainly factor in the henweigh; even if you had to purchase new, we're still just talking chicken feed. bob

I had a small frag of Blue Hornets... yeah - they cost some $$$ - so they died almost immediately. bob