lanman

Power was out for a couple of hours Sunday afternoon. Ran the tanks on my generator after waiting about an hour. All is well. bob

I have mine on a controller, which is plugged into arc and ground fault protection. A couple of weeks ago, my GFI kept going off. Traced it down to one of the heaters on the controller. Someone needs to design and have built a higher quality heater for fish tanks - with built in protections. bob

Guess maybe I should check out the PAR-meter borrowing thread... measure happy chalices, and measure unhappy chalices. But the ones in the other 'tub' on that system SEEM to be in brighter light. I guess the human eye is fallible. bob

Most of the corals have been in there several months. But SPS in general doesn't do well, and chalices don't do as well as in my various T5-lighted tanks. I have two identical tanks on the same system, and the other tank (with T5's) seems to do everything better. The LPS at least grow nicely for a while, but eventually seem to get dead spots in them that aren't common in my other tanks. bob

I am new to MH... I tried a 150W Aqua-medic over one of my frag tanks, and it wasn't enough light. I ordered a brand new 250W Aqua-medic pendant w/ballast. I have been running it for several months. The Phoenix 14K bulb seems to have died young. I put in a 10K bulb that it came with. Once you are used to 14K, 10K seems so yellowish... yuck. I noticed with the 14K, but even more so with the 10K, that the light seems to 'flicker' - change brightness - quite a bit. Neither bulb really seems to be making the corals happy. Is this flickering normal? Could it be a bad ballast? Thanks, bob

What part of Stafford? I am in Manassas, about 30 mins from most parts of Stafford - but F'burg gets to be a bit of a drive. Of course - I'm probably not much stronger than your wife. I'm OLD, you know. bob

Didn't do me any good... Sunday was 'taken up' by other things. But of course I'm off today. No problem - just need salt and CA reactor media. bob

Any changes to your hours for the holiday? Like maybe being open on Monday?? bob

There must be someone down in Arlington that can go take a look? Sounds like bubbles to me, too. You need a 'calm place' in your sump for the return pump. I've used a stack of live rock surrounding it on occasion to make sure all bubbles are broken up. Your return pump can grab a bubble and break it into millions of tiny ones. What happens when you turn off the return pump for 10-15 mins? bob

While I've sometimes had my suspicions - I've never been able to prove that they are eating heathy corals. bob

Xenia is sensitive to temperatures over 83. Most other stuff can handle it for a while. bob

At that price... someone will be willing to make two trips, if necessary. bob

The police funeral, perhaps? I don't know what part of the beltway it shut down, or what else - but they were saying on the radio that part of the beltway was shut down for the funeral of a young police officer in MD. bob

Update: It appears that it might have stopped. If not - it's moving VERY slowly now. bob

I kept one alive for a year - but it just slowwwwwwwly shrunk down to nothing. bob

Nobody seems to know what causes RTN. I lost a colony (pocillopora) to RTN in the last month. Must have started about the time I went to bed; by the next afternoon, it was gone. Nothing but gooey, slimy stuff all over it. I cut some frags from the last part to be involved, but I'm not sure it will survive - they don't look so good. This is the third RTN I've seen in three years. The first was a monti-cap about 4" in diameter. I saved a small frag. The second was a HUGE frag (8"x8") of blue-tipped staghorn acro. I saved several large frags of it. bob bob

Update: Since I put the powerhead on it last night, it has slowed down. Maybe advanced 1/8" in 24 hours. Still watching closely. Will try to remember to stop at MS and see if they have any of the probiotics. bob

Me, plus one, probably. bob

I have a confession to make... when I first set up my 240 - I actually tried to hire a model to come do a mermaid thing in the tank before I filled it with saltwater. The only one I could find wanted $700. I decided it just wasn't worth quite THAT much for a smart-a$$ picture to put in my tank build thread. bob

Not interested in the tank, or the fish, or much of the hardware. But the corals certainly have my attention.... bob

I now have a pretty strong powerhead aimed at the area where the STN is progressing. bob

Like a fire break, eh? Might be hard to do underwater, though... bob

A 25-gallon water change in a 60-gallon tank (even assuming a 20-gallon sump with 10-15 gallons in it) should have lowered your nitrates by about 30%, assuming the new water had ZERO. bob

I already have a 6" x 10" 'frag' encrusted to a rock as backup. The base doesn't get a LOT of light - but a fair amount filters down and reflects to it. I'll try adding a powerhead to move more water past it. Thanks for suggestions!! bob

My largest coral - Leishman's red tabling acropora started to STN from a point near the bottom a couple of days ago. It is advancing steadily across the base. Any suggestions on stopping it? I can't take the coral out and dip it. Much further, and I will have to frag off the tables and start over. Thanks, bob