BrendanG

are you going to be using multiple species of xenia? or just one variety?

Has anyone reccomended Sushi Roe? Go to any asian/oriental market, and get sushi roe, soaked in water, not vinegar or saltwater, and offer them that. Many go after it with vigor, and it is highly nutritious. u'll spend about $4 I have also seen them take frozen cyclopeeze and that Nutramar Ova frozen food product, its Prawn Roe ...Pipefish take it realitvely quickly, so a mandarin should have no problem. it is somewhat expensive however, thinkin $9-12 dollars. Good Luck BrendanG

simply give it time, I've had mushrooms sit next to a bta, and they were always getting stung, but as soon as the bta moved, they were back to normal. Chances are that favia sting isn't as potent as an anemone, give the shrooms some time, and i'm sure they'll be fine. Mushrooms emit chemical warfare, so if i were you, i'd run some carbon, for the next few days.

they are invert safe, have seen them completely ignore peppermint and cleaner shrimp. Smaller individuals are sometimes easily bullied, and it seems that most individuals are initially shy for a few weeks. Beautiful fish, with ton's of personality. One of my favorites...Your corals will be completely ignored

Recieved one of your clones from Member SurleyT, back on Sept 3rd, 2008, it is doing excellant! Thanks for such a large contribution to the Hobby Flowerseller! Brendan G

I run both aquapods skimmerless, and feel as though, if you maintain a consistant water change system, and incorporate adequate biological filtration, skimming in such a small tank is useless. I do however, need to take into consideration, adequate amounts of live rock, and i personally always incorporate a fuge, AC 70 filled with chaeto, to remove floating detritus, and absorb phosphates, and nitrates. That with a weekly, to bi weekly wc schedual, has led to a more than perfect water conditions.

some people are big fans of the midas blenny, quite intresting, displays the typical blenny behavior, perching on rocks, exploring caves ect.. but also is an active swimmer, exploring all levels of the tank. They are a pretty golden yellow color, are curious, and are usually the first to recognize the bringing of food. What i find most attractive, are tanks that display all levels of activity, bottom, mid level, and all level fish. my stock list for a 28g, would be 1 potters or flame as the showpiece fish 1 orchid dottyback, royal gramma, or wrasse type fish 1 jawfish or goby , sandsifter type I wouldn't stock no more than 3 poss 4, if you keep up on reg water changes, assuming that the 4th is of small size, ie. neon goby, gumdrop, firefish, ect. good luck!

The 12 Gallon Aquapod has large compartment space, however, it is often best, in reef setups that you remove all media, the Sponge, holds detritus, that as it breaks down, creates nitrates, the bio media, ceramic rings, are often used for biological filtration, however, being brand new, there is no beneficial bacteria, and if left in the tank, will collect detritus, and you will have to wait until beneficial bacteria becomes large enough to break down the nitrates that have been held in the ceramic rings, so its usually best to trash it. I usually advise, only keeping carbon, purigen, chemipure ect. in the back chambers, as far as a fuge goes, Chamber 1 can be used as long as your able to light it adequately. I happen to find an AC 70 with a modded impeller, 3 instead of 6 impellers, filled with chaeto, will keep all NO3 PO4 to a minimum. I happen to use it on both my AP 12 HQI and AP 24 HQI, and never have had a problem. I do weekly 2 gallon wc's on the 12g since it is heavily stocked.

nice pics, hope you and your family are doing well! I'll be seein you in March! Enjoy the fish... BTW I can't believe you are selling those True Perc's I convinced you to buy! Best of luck to you bud!

heres a few better pics, sorry for the wait...

ahh... one of the best kept secretes it may or it may not be seasonal, but Strosniders will have it, Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, Target, don't I called so many stores trying to find this stuff I'm pretty sure if you mount ur LR in it, while wet, it may or it may not hold, and a second application of Foam is most likely necessary, There is a Great Thread on RC, called the UK reef (should be about page 2), in the Large Tanks section, where a guy Connected LR to Eggcrate, Sprayfoamed the spaces between the rocks, and filled the Sprayfoam with Sand, Creating a Un Realistic, out of this world AquaScape, I highly reccomend you read that thread, I'm not to forum savy, so i couldn't put a link, but this might be the Exact Idea, best able to suit you needs. Good Luck, and tell me how you like the thread

I have no Idea, But I can Say HAPPY BIRTHDAY! yeah, well accept the cake as it is, i couldn't fit 59 of em on there....lol

Check out my AP 24 thread in the General Discussion Area, I used Spray Pond foam, called Touch n' Foam, its a black polyurethane sealant. I did it about 6 months ago and am just now posting it on wamas. The SW has yet to cause any harm to the background, and once it solidifies, it can be pulled off. Words of advice when working with pond foam... PRACTICE FIRST, understand how it expands, dries, and moves with initial set up. IT would also be nicer if it were texturized, take sandpaper or an old sponge while its still wet, to add character to it... I have yet to experience any problems with it, and it was based off the same RC thread, people love the tank, think the background is unique and I like it more than a Coraline Covered Glass.. doesn't seem as natural. Good Luck, enjoy the thread

Sometimes when clowns have alternate hosts, non anemone's they are subject to stings, which can cause a bruise, or that black spot ur seeing, Do you have a mixed reef, this is usually seen as a result of clowns hosting zoas or mushrooms. I have a Orange ocellaris with 1 or 2 black spots, that isn't hosting anything as well, but is seemingly healthy. I would say that as long as the behavior isn't changing, that your clown is feeding and doing well, i wouldn't be alarmed, perhaps its just an increase in melanin? but I wouldn't raise alarm over it..

Not quite sure I understand what you mean, I'm guessing, The Tank has a pretty much Permanent Home for the next 3 years, My parents know nothing about SW, and sticking to my african cichlids and reptiles is hard enough lol... Some of the Livestock is mine and is simply on display As far as Supplemental flow I did have a Hydor Koriala 2, but it simply was too much for the Frogspawn, it was getting blasted, and wouldnt expand so it was removed The tank's flow relies on the Maxi Jet 900, and whatever Output the AquaClear Fuge puts out, its a pretty low flow tank, and i think the Frogspawn and hammer prefer it that way. As for the fiji yellow leather at the bottom of the tank, I always thought they did best with moderate flow, but by the pics, its growing and seems to be doing well. I think a Koriala Nano would be more appropriate but they wern't out when the tank got started... and about the BTA, I have a tank at school devoted to them that is doing very well, they are growing and splitting, and making me a lil extra cash through the local LFS and just lookin to adding some more color variation ect..

they are also jet black in color, so for people who use them IN tank, they are very inconspicous, and very easy to dial in...

I use VisiTherm Stealth Heaters by marineland, I find them bulletproof, fool proof and they keep my tank stable, they automatically shut off during water changes, shatter proof, and almost indestructable, but they do cost a bit more.

Hey thanks again Chris!

I do use my AC 70 as a fuge, and it runs great, I have never had a problem with NO3, NO2 or PO4 the trick that people often forget is that the impellers put out 300GPH, way to much flow in my opinion to create a beneficial fuge, the trick is to slow down the flow, the more contact your macro has with the water the more nutrients it can pull out, Mine is filled with Chaeto and LR rubble, filled with tons of pods, baby snails, brittle stars its lit by this 6,700k Betta Clamp on bowl lamp thing, was like $12 at petco I don't have a massive clean up crew, so its important that i stop the algae before it starts There is a thread on RC on how to build one, its all a matter of creating a baffle so your chaeto doesn't fall into the tank, and siliconing it and the baffle by the impeller to the inside of the filter, its really easy, and i can swear by them. Photos taken from RC thread

My A1 Guys Ha, not cool lol, though it isn't the first time you guys have tried to scare me, ie. power went out, killed everything, CA overdose, Someone had to have Nemo and *****, or bought the giant green frogspawn....it never ends esp, when im away at school.... thanks for the comments everyone,

a thanks scott and chris, that would be helpful, everythin's goin well, I'll see you in the shop

its all just judgement, I think its best when its running out of space, because in my fuge, a AC 70, it easily constricts itself, and I don't see new growth, if its not growing its not absorbing anything, thats when I prune mine, i use growth rate as a determining factor of when to prune it back,

Just wanted to post a few pics of My AP 24, its been around for about 6 months, and here are a few pics of its initial set up... All stock was taken from an old 29 AGA sorry had micro bubbles The old AGA 29 was lit by a CoraLife Lunar AquaLight Pro 130w PC, 10,000k and Actinic Coralife AquaLight 36w T'5 10,000k, and Actinic Filtration was a Coralife SuperSkimmer 65 (once dialed in, its great; but simply too tempermental) AquaClear 70 Modded Fuge with Chaeto and Live Rock Rubble Visitherm Stealth 200w Tank Perameters Ca: 400 ppm Alk: 10 dKH NO3: < .5ppm NO2: 0ppm PO4: 0ppm SG: 1.026 Temp: 27 - 28

And why do you have the Bio Wheels in Penguin HOB filter going? They become NitrAte Factories in SW Systems!! good for FW, but not SW, they hold the bacteria, and just continue to break down pollutants into less harmful NitrAtes, exctly what you want to get rid of in a SW Reef, Yes you have the refugium, but why add to the pollution, I think it would be best to simply remove the Bio Wheels, still run the filter for mechanical filtration...

what are your plans for a sump/refugium?