zotzer

I looked at your tank thread and saw the awesome pics....fantastic! I did kind of fall off the earth. The (now-not-so) little black @$%#& invasion proved to be quite a busy bee and needing a great deal of attention. She's awfully pretty though, so she's forgiven! LOL Tracy

Thanks, guys! Tracy

Great pics, Forrest! How fun! LOL Tracy

Steve, Yep....remora pro, and cpr hob fuge on a reverse light schedule. You'll see that the kenya tree (although shriveled in the pic) is still going strong, and that little piece of pulsing xenia on the LR I bought from you is an entire colony now. Who'd have thunk when I came and bought this tank and LR from you that it would turn out this nice, huh? LOL I really do love it!! Tracy

Boys and their "toys". Those things creep me out! Tracy

Well, it's been a long long time since I've updated this thread. Tank is still going, in spite of great laziness on my part. You will see that I've got a patch of turf algae in the center/right, and that all of the gorgeous purple coralline on the back wall is now gone. That's what you get when a new puppy comes into the house and you get lazy with water changes. The green monti and brown monti digi have obviously been sucking up all of the calcium that does find its way into the tank. I'll have to link to my last FTS somehow so people can see side-by-side how they've grown. The Royal Gramma became a fish chip after carpet surfing some time ago, and the saddest news of all....Spot, while not discovered on the rug, disappeared one day never to be seen again. His disappearance may have been one reason I got a bit lazy with the tank. I can hardly bear to take care of it sometimes, without his comical little presence. One of these days, I'll have to get a new one. Anyway, without further ado...here she is: Tracy edit: wow, hard to believe that this was the most recent prior FTS. Over a year ago....really??!! Wow how time flies! Hmmm, seems like the tank has really grown into itself, huh?

ROFL....so much for *that* idea! T

Sounds like you've been hanging over at Reef Central. Watch out for some dude named Demon who recommends that anything less than two Koralia 4's will be inadequate flow for your tank. ROFL Love the rock and the nice open aquascape, and I bet the goby/shrimp will be lots of fun to watch. Welcome, and just remember to have fun and enjoy!! Tracy

The Solana is a beautiful tank. Welcome back!! Tracy

they are kwaaaazy alright! Very nice!! Tracy

I'm so bummed to have missed it. Was striken with that bug that's been going around. YUCK! I thought I'd avoided it, but no such luck. I have a light here that I was supposed to bring for Doug/Dave/school tank donation. Maybe we can arrange to meet elsewhere. Just send me a PM. Tracy

I got mine from Dr. Fosters and Smith. They were a good price to begin with, but I also use a site called mrrebates.com, and will be getting 10% cash back as well. Tracy

The legs are very very solid on the pro...they run the whole width of the fixture and can adjust in and out on a slider rail. I really like my pro, although I FUBARd some of my corals with the extra light. It does not really have individual reflectors. It's one big reflector, but it is bent around each lamp. The fans are MUCH quieter than on the old 4-lamp model, and are on the same power cord as the lamps (saving two electrical outlets) Tracy

Can't help on the LPS IDs but I'd LOVE a frag of that blue shroom!!! Tracy

The Secretary of State is a woman. I vote for keeping school open! LOL

My power (Ashburn) went off around 10:30 this morning. The auto-air pump was on when I left to head into the office. Not much more I could do other than hope it didn't stay out too long. Heading home now..... Tracy

I've kept media in there practically since I've had it. I have an older model though, where the return pipe goes almost all the way to the bottom of the chamber. Sounds like you had a really rotten day! Be careful on that ice outside!!! Tracy

Are you sure it's meant to hold a skimmer? Looks like water comes in on the left, fuge is in the middle, and the right would hold a pump to push the water back out. Tracy

Temp is spot-on 80 degrees, and has been for some time. I check it multiple times per day, now that I have an accurate measuring device (cheapo $2 glass thermometer! LOL) Tracy

Funny you say that, Bob. I had planned to take some photos yesterday, but came home to the tank looking like pure H-E-double hocky sticks, and the skimmer about to overflow (had just emptied it out earlier in the morning when I did my weekly water change). Still haven't figured out what in the heck happened, but suspect it was adding re-charged purigen back into the system. I'd tried once before to recharge it and the tank reacted badly (thought it may have been a cause for losing my candy canes), so I assumed I hadn't gotten all of the chlorine out. I recharged it once again, doubling up on the prime dechlorinator dosage and the length of time it was in there, soaking it for another whole day in RO/DI just to be safe. Zero clues based on my water chemistry tests yesterday either. Here were the symptoms: -ALL mushrooms in the tank were shriveled up (with the exception of the ricorea, which all looked perfectly normal) - Kenya Tree and Xenia were all slouched over and miserable looking - most zoa polyps closed - GSP was very "thin", but the polyps that were out were completely extended...just that about half the colony hadn't opened at all, but not in any one area - SPS all had full PE and looked completely normal - fish all fine and acting normal - Snails motoring around just fine - Anemone perfectly normal Today, about 24 hours after removing the Purigen -Xenia, Kenya Tree and GSP back to normal - SPS still all normal - Zoas are more open, but some colonies still closed, and others partly closed...some more than others - Mushrooms are about 1/3 of their usual selves, if that - Skimmer production back to normal - Fish, Snails, Anemone all normal I am totally stumped! I mean...what irritates the hardiest corals in the tank (mushrooms and zoas) and doesn't affect the SPS and anemone at all???? Tracy

Not sure about the "reasonable price" part, but I know MS carries it. Tracy

Oh Bob, Are those pesky terrorists after you again? Tracy

yep...that's the place! T

I wouldn't hesitate to shop at any of those three (MS, BRK, F&F) and DO. You can find quality goods and livestock at all three, and while prices range across the board, equally good deals as well. There is another shop in Leesburg (can't remember the name). I was only in there once and was not overly impressed. Tracy