lanman

I know - we can't 'talk to the animals' ... but my xenia talks to me. Right now, my big xenia is getting close to being upset. It really REALLY wants to spread itself somewhere, and I haven't given it a rock lately. The main stem is well over an inch in diameter, and getting bumps all over it, looking for something to stick to. If I don't let it frag itself real soon, it will probably die back. I've been too busy to break up any rocks for it. It's also really frustrated, because it can just barely touch some rockwork nearby with it's little hands, but can't quite grow out enough to attach to it. I guarantee if I place a rock next to it, half the colony will be stuck to it within two days. bob

Woohoo! I can bring mine, and you can calibrate yours against it! When I got my refractometer, I calibrated my Deep-6 against it. And found out that all my little reef inhabitants were living in hypersalinity. Mine reads .005 LOW. i.e. 1.025 on the deep-6 actually = 1.030. And my salinity had crept up to about 1.027/1.028 on the deep-6. Almost dangerous - definitely not 'spec'. bob

Quite likely they hitchhike on the outside of it. They encrust. I have seen some of mine close up for a week at a time with no ill effects, so it's not surprising they would survive. Keep an eye on them - they WILL start encrusting anything they touch. Some grow a lot faster than others. Almost all of them look great under actinics. I have 4 varieties - white center button, pink center button, no button at all, and traffic-cop yellow/green. bob

Agree - the flower-shaped polyps at the bottom of the (frogspawn?) skeleton appear to be Green Star Polyps. bob

Does it smell like boston harbor in the house yet? My first tank went through a 'normal' cycle - for about 6 weeks. At one point my daughter threatened to move in with her mother, and the indoor cat wanted outdoors. And then one day all the algae died, and the water cleared, and I had a reef tank. And it was worth it. bob

What algae is that?? bob

Okay - here are some pics of the baby frag. This one is with tank lights on, and the camera on 'aquarium' setting. The picture is bluer than the coral is so far. Note the WHITE background is actually blue. I can't seem to get the white balance quite right. And here is with flash. Probably a truer color, but still not what it actually looks like in the tank. The actual color right now to the naked eye is pink with blue tinting. Maybe I can borrow my daughter's camera and get a more accurate color. bob

You know I wouldn't disappoint. I've been waiting for it to at least clear the top of the rubble; otherwise you'd see almost nothing. This evening, I'm planning to shoot a pic or two. Edit: But I can tell you it's already more blue then it was in Steve's tank. More light, Stevie, more light! bob

Okay - my frag of a frag is doing fine. Little fists in the air, seems to be attaching itself to some of the rubble. Couple more days, and I'll pull it out of the bucket. Seems to be connecting to at least two pieces of rock, so I'll probably have a frag of my frag before it gets very big. It does seem to be coloring up a little under my T5's - should know in a week or so. bob

Most people suggest overnight - because of any possible evil chemicals. On the other hand, if it's an emergency - 10 minutes should do it. bob

Internet search reveals several people TRYING to do what you seem to be TRYING to thwart.... You're saying that you literally have dozens-hundreds of baby poc's growing on your rockwork, etc.??? If it's a nice one, I'd say let them grow - sell them in about a year, and get yourself a new tank The problem with most people seems to be that very few actually settle and survive. bob

Agreed! I picked one of those up - BRK, I think - and use it to hold my frag rack. That sucker doesn't move. The little rubber pads hold it right where it is until you pull the outside magnet away a bit, so you can slide it around. bob

Whereabouts in Manassas?? There are quite a few of us in the 'greater Manassas area'. We will probably be able to help you out once you've got your tank. bob

I've seen a lot of people putting algae-eaters in their frag tanks. So they don't have to have big snails knocking their frags over. bob

Very nice - the Bonsai looks great! bob

That's a lot of clowning around. Those all family, do you think? bob

Well, that would be interesting... the instructions said that there would be a lot of wasted water; I assumed my flow was normal, never having seen the business end of the waste water before. It shoots a good 5-6 feet. I'll check everything with the diagram - but it came all connected. bob

Well..... I direct mine into my sump hole; it is a LOT of water! And it comes out under pretty good pressure (don't even ASK me why I know how far across the room it can shoot...) - but yeah, you could do it. I've considered running a small hose out through the dryer vent, across the yard, and into my garden. Haven't been getting much rain this spring! bob

Today I picked up a 1" frag of the 'blue' xenia from Steve. It's kind of a pale, pinkish-blue. Almost white. But if you look closely, you can see the iridescent spots in the branches. It is growing very nicely in Steve's tank - but hasn't colored up much, if at all. I've put the poor little frag in a cup of rubble, with bridal veil over it. i'm hoping it will puff up, extend its polyps, and grab hold of a piece of rock - 'cause it sure looks pitiful now. Then, hopefully I can get it to 'color up' under my T-5's. How is the other original frag doing, Eve?? bob

Dan! Perfect timing - that tank looks GREAT! Did seeing my new tank the other night inspire you to show me what mine MIGHT look like in 10 months?? I love it! Here is my 58-gallon tank at zero months (in a sense - a lot of this stuff came from my 3-month-old 45-gallon tank). Some of my frags are probably a lot bigger to start with (like the Tenuis colony from BRK, and the orange monti digi that came from someone else's tank, and the pink/puple palyzoa's, and the pink chalice). You set a nice goal for my first year! And two frags from you are in there, also. bob

I have a test kit similar to that; starts out blue, and changes to yellow. It is .5 per drop - but it is in meq/L, not dKH. i.e. - 7 drops = 3.5 meq/L. 11 drops would be significantly high if it's that test kit. On the bottle, it says in small print on the back "Aquarium Systems, Inc." I have compared that test kit to the Salifert and found it to be accurate and fast. bob

Dan - that thing was huge! What in the world could have killed it? bob

Fragging is a pretty stressful thing for a baby coral. Separation anxiety, coupled with having its foundation chopped off, and superglue slathered on its base can sometimes cause problems. If you're lucky, it will survive. RTN is often REALLY RAPID - I mean a coral can go from pretty to white to dead in a day. I noticed some acropora frags I made last weekend have a little whiteness around the superglue end - I'll just keep an eye on them and hope for the best. bob

We can just hope he doesn't lose the trial, and do a long jail sentence. Embezzlement, wasn't it? bob

Does this mean I have to get my Triumph TR-6 running?? bob