quazi

I have not fed my fish for two weeks several times with only good results. However, when I have bad problems with house checkers/sitter feeding my fish. People love to feed fish, and if a little is good, more is better! You know what happens! I have let my fish go for over a month with no external food. The algae and pods were fine for them. They did not grow, but they did just fine, and they did not loose much, if any, weight. I lock up my food when I have someone taking care of my house when I go on vacation! Do not bother feeding your fish when you are on vacation. It is not worth it!

Do not feed your fish while you are gone for less than 2 weeks. Fish and critters will do just fine for well over 2 weeks with no outside food. Your tank is creating little critters and algae all the time, so there will be food, just not much. I would be more worried about water level and quality. That can kill your tank quickly.

I would add rock to this area. You will see a big increase in pod production without predators in their environment. I did this and had a huge population of pods that kept coming into my tank and kept my mandarin very happy.

It is funny how different fish do different things. My 2 bar NEVER touched the valonia, but ate any other algae. So, I go rid of him, and bought a fox face who takes care of the valonia, but is not wild about the filamentous algae. I also have a Tomini, but of course, he in sot interested in the filamentous algae either.

According to SeaLifeinc.Net Acclimation Guide: Although sea stars are notoriously sensitive to PH and salinity changes, should never be exposed to air and often require a minimum of 4 hours to acclimate, the sea serpents and basket stars are the most hardy of the group and adjust well using normal acclimation procedures.

I finally got my restrictor, and now the RO/DI works just like it should. I guess my RO filter is 10 years old, so I think every 5 years or so, it is worth investing in a restrictor. Cheap insurance. Incidentally, I believe my very high water bill last quarter was due to this RO filter being so inefficient.

Something in your tank may have killed the blue cloves by releasing chemicals. I know I could not keep Xenia for years. Then, I tried it, and the Xenia flourished for 2 months and died off. I tried again a year later, and now I have too much Xenia. Weird, I know, but things happen in my tank that I cannot explain.

I blew in the restrictor, and it did not seem restricting. I am 99% sure that is what the problem is. I ordered a new restrictor from BRS. Hopefully it will be here by Wednesday. I will try TMS when they open tomorrow. I will try BRK if TMS does not have one.

I did get some air out. But I still am not getting the kind of flow I should be getting. I am going to see if anyone close has one before taking you up on your kind offer.

I had this happen to me, too. Ochtotes was brutal. Nothing eats it. I had to hand pluck it out. This is a real danger in having a fuge with anything other than cheato. Most tangs love cheato, so if it gets in your main tank, it will get eaten.

I would not throw out the rock. Dry it, clean, whatever. But do not throw it out! I picked off lots of valonia, and I have virtually none now. You need a multipronged attack: pick it off, get emerald crabs, maybe a foxface or other valonia eaters.

WWC? World Water Council? Whitman-Walker Clinic? World Wrestling Council?

My emeralds and foxface love valonia. I wish they liked hair algae as much!

" make sure you hold the pressure vessel so the outlet holes are up". I have no idea what that means. My restrictor is part of a 45 degree quick connect elbow.

My 75 gallon/day RO unit produces very little RO water. The rejection water is produced in great quantities. So, I replaced all my filters (my RO filter only had about a year on it), the auto-shutoff valve, float valves - pretty much everything BUT the flow restrictor. So, I need to pick one up. They are under $5.00 on line, but shipping is more than that. I would also like to get one ASAP. So, if anyone has any idea about where to get on locally, let me know. Also, if anyone has other ideas why I my RO unit is not working well, please speak up.

Have you added anything to the tank lately (corals, fish, inverts)?

I think Roozens is a LFS for very experienced hobbyists. They move a lot of "product" and caveat emptor rules. I find that I would rather deal with other LFS that are less expensive or on par or provide so much better service that the extra price is a bargain in comparison. My favs: BRK, F&F, and Aquarium One. None too close to you. I am sure others have their favs that are closer.

Done too. Not too easy! Sean, you owe a special for WAMAS voters on this one!

+1 - what Sam said. I do not want to pile on, but Sam is calling this spot on. We have a responsibility to be good keepers of our charges. Watching a large animal in a small cage is not pleasant. I have no concerns on the other fish, but a large naso in a 120 is just too much. I am not the tang police. Far from it. But the truth is the truth.

LFS or MO?

"You can get it for around $75 at Roozens for 200 gallons, which makes not hugely more expensive." OK, I get 200 gallons of IO for around $40. Seems like a lot more to me. Each to his own. I like TM, and think it is better than IO. Just too expensive for me. If you can afford it, I say go for it!

I use IO and find that it works really well. I add a lot of 2-part anyway, so I see no reason for RC. I used Tropic Marin with excellent results, but it is really pricey and not worth the extra $. I used Oceanic for a while, and I had a very bad experience. I am not sure if it was the salt, but it is the only thing that changed, as far as I could tell. Obviously, many people are quite successful with it, so your results may vary.

Der ABT should know. He is doing a GB with them.

I received my new Bubble Magus Nac7 skimmer last Friday. It worked really well, but not as quiet as all the reviews that I have seen. But, I was happy with the performance. I came home Sunday night to the skimmer not working. I took it apart, and the impeller was broken. I slapped in the extra impeller that they ship with the unit, and nothing. The pump will not spin the impeller once I placed the lid over the impeller. It works without the lid on it, but that is useless. I assumed the pump got hurt in the incident, and I thought I needed a new pump. I ordered from a place that explicitly says: deal with the manufacturer. They are in China, and it will take weeks to get anything done with them if I could get anything done with them. I was really upset with this situation, as you might imagine. I Googled NAC7 and found that BRS sells them. I wish I knew that before I ordered from Sea Aquatics. I checked the BRS site, and since I am a preferred customer, I could have ordered it cheaper from them. Anyway, I figured I would call and try to trouble shoot the issue with them, and maybe buy parts from them. I called their support person, and he told me that the pump was fine, and he thought it that the replacement impeller was just out of spec and a bit too long. So, he offered to send me a new one, no charge! I insisted to pay for it, since I ordered it from a competitor. He charged me for shipping, but insisted on giving me the impeller. I received it today, and it works just fine. Still more noise than I'd like, but it works great! BRS went above and beyond the call of duty for me. I will always shop them first, before I buy anywhere else on line. I cannot believe this kind of outstanding service!

Amazingly, the frogspawn is OK. I will post pics in the For Sale section, as I have too much frogspawn! Also, the attacking coral does not appear to be a "war coral" or hydnophora, at least from the Googling I have done. I thought it was an Efflo when I got it, but it does not look like an Efflo. Can anyone help me on this?