treesprite

Crap. Just found my blenny dead. A few hours ago he looked fine, was acting normal. I'm guessing the salinity changes got to him after all. The only other fish I have is an orchid dottyback, which is eating fine and looks fine.... I hope it stays that way.

Thanks, Tom. I got some calibrating fluid in the order with the refractometer. Last night I was digging around for a PVC piece, and to my surprise I found an ancient Instant Ocean hydrometer. It has a faded note with a line written on it, to indicate that 1.025 was reading 1.028. It is slightly more off now, just sitting in a mess of junk for I don't know how many years. After getting my tank salinity back to normal, I mess d it up again. Last night while I was doing stuff behind the tank, the ATO container ran out so I filled it, even though I thought I filled out the day before. This morning the carpet was all wet so I was frantically looking for something leaking when nothing was leaking. Then I realized the ATO water was empty again. I had knocked the ATO line out of place, so the tank was getting lower which just kept the ATO running all night. 10 gallons of water on the floor (container holds 5). Now my salinity is 36. Most of my snails have now died, including the ones I had before I got the ones I thought might have been a bad batch. No problem with the corals except some palys that started looking bad but those are perking back up. No problems with the fish.

Thank you for telling me. It does not sound good. I think we are really spoiled in this area, having some really great vendors in such a small area. I kinda doubt there are any reef aquarists at all in Middle of Nowhere. I would give the location, but the possible move involves a sale/purchase of a campground, and those transactions usually come with agreements to secrecy about the locations until the sales are complete. There are only a couple campgrounds in the area, so even saying the town will give it away.

Thanks for the responses. The warping has also occurred to me, but seems unlikely because out hasn't been exposed to excessive temperatures or pressures. GraffitiSpotCorals, which one did you get? I'm wondering if the lower priced Milwaukee one is just as good as the higher priced models. It seems people had complaints about a Hanna model, but I can't remember the specifics.

Does anyone have info on Rick's in Frederick? It is probably about 50 miles, but it was the first and closest thing on a search. I would like a comparison with the other LFS that is in Frederick (I already know that place).

I'd like to get a digital, but can't afford it right now. I have to keep tank stuff on hold until I know definitively whether I'm moving to Middle of Nowhere.

Sounds like a great ATS setup.

I had the hardest time with an adjustable LED fixture, so I gave up on it.

My sump and fuge are in separate containers. I don't have any macros, but have a bunch of liverock in both the fuge and the sump. I guess it doesn't export nutrients, but it gives nitrifying bacteria a place to be, and provides refuge to pods which I believe is what a refugium is for rather than just existing to keep macros out of the display tank. I use a good skimmer, change filter socks every couple days so food and detritus don't have so much chance to break down into pollutants, and dose carbon and bacteria.

I didn't like doing bare bottom, but keep the sand bed less than 2". One thing it does is reflect light to the underside of corals. I've heard of people painting the underside of the tank to give the the illusion of sand.

It helps to know where not to go! I'll still have to drive several hours to get the captive-bred fish I've been planning to get, if the move goes as anticipated. Would probably wait all the while until FF, pre-ordering fish and corals from responsible vendors (plus some FF freebies) after I've had a few months to make sure the tank is doing okay on filtered well water. I really hope the move happens, even if I do have to do a lot of hobby travel.

Welcome to WAMAS

Does anyone know of any responsible LFS near Berkeley Springs, WV? I might move to Middle of Nowhere in a couple months (not 100% sure yet, offer was verbally accepted but nothing is official yet). Berkely Springs is the closest well-known town (it's a half hour drive from Middle of Nowhere, in the opposite direction from Hancock, around the east back side of Sidling Hill on mountain roads, not the side you see on 68). I think the border of VA is about 30-40 miles down 522, so something right at the border might be okay, or going the other way maybe a place in or near Hagerstown. I'm not really sure how far Cumberland is, but I don't like that area. Thanks in advance for info.

Lightening plesiosaur would be cool, if it doesn't get aggressive. I always wanted lightening clowns, but they are too mean.

Very cool.

That makes sense. Thanks.

RIP fishy.

I don't know of any reefers in my immediate area, or whose schedule would match up with mine. There was a time that I went to a past WAMAS member's house to show her with a refractometer how insanely high her salinity was. She was just using a hydrometer and her livestock was dying. She's not in the hobby anymore. The closest LFS is one I wouldn't trust with anything that has to do with livestock survival. I only ever go there on rare occasions if I need some piece of something or gadget, because they have a lot stuff that most places don't sell.

I calibrated the new one and used it. Tank water 37ppt and new mix 38ppt. I'll have to get out some buckets because the Brute is completely filled with no room for fresh water. How bad is it for the tank water to be at 37? I'll slowly adjust it, but I don't know how long it has been high.

So, the new one is here, giving me a way to evaluate the old one. The one on top is the new one. The one on the bottom - which you can see has a gap - is the old one. They both have the second hinged black piece. On the new one, both the black piece and the clear piece move freely and fall into coordinated place so the clear piece can lay flat with ease. However, on the old one, the hinges on both pieces are stiff and make the pieces stick in positions that cause the clear piece to not lay flat unless I fiddle around with it .... I'm sure the time spent to do the fiddling, the fiddling itself, and the piece not always laying flat are affecting the samples and the reading of the samples. I'm wondering if I can loosen the hinges up using vinegar or alcohol. I could try WD40, but I'm worried about using something toxic like that on an aquarium tool. I'm in a hurry to calibrate and use the new one, but both the tool and the fluid are super cold from sitting outside of the door. Oh, the directions say to calibrate with distilled water.

Sorry, I guess I just wasn't seeing the picture correctly.

If I'm seeing the picture correctly, it looks to me like a cosmetic thing that won't cause a problem other than looking imperfect.

What kind of paint should be used? It would be nice to have it match my stand color, which is kind of an odd shade of blue.

One time I forgot about the discount, but they were nice and gave it to me as a refund when I contacted them about it. I've had great customer service from AWI over the years.

Thanks for the response, Tom. It may be the cover not laying flat every time. The cover isnt hinged directly to the body, it is hinged to another piece that is hinged to the body, which complicates any laying flat issue. I don't think I've dropped it, but can't be sure. The one I ordered says it is for marine, sea water, aquarium. I don't know about the one I'm already using, which doesn't have a brand name on it (I either bought it from a DC MACNA vendor or someone brought it to MACNA for me, because a few days earlier I dropped the previous one into my Brute full of water). I read a lot of stuff the last couple days about using RO/DI water being bad. I usually use calibration fluid but can't find it anywhere. 2 new astrea snails died recently, which I'm worried is the result of salinity being off. They could have died because astreas can't flip themselves (both were on the sand when found dead), or could have been unhealthy when I got them. Corals seem okay except for some palys that started having issues after a lighting change that made them umbrella, so I moved them but now they shrunken and thinned out.... could be the lighting or could be salinity, or both, or maybe something unknown.