wreck

Looks like red gracilaria(spelling?), nice macro algae from what I can tell from photo.

You should become a WAMAS member...then you can view the "for sale" board which often has liverock for sale locally at a fraction of the cost of LFS or internet stores. There is some liverock listed for sale right now. Good Luck

Thanks for the welcome back, it's good to be back

Hey all, some of you may remember me, I'm back to the club after being away for over a year and recently restarted my 55 reef tank. I just want to say hi. I'd like to have frogspawn, hammer, candy cane and zoas in this tank. I'll be stocking it slowly and trolling the For Sale section. If anyone remembers getting any corals or any of the tomato clowns I bred, I'd love to get some of that in my tank again. I'm willing to pay for it, not asking for handouts. Thanks WAMAS is great. Rick "Wreck"

You can count me in, sounds like fun

If you can see the eyes, the eggs are about to hatch. I successfully raised a couple of batches of Tomato clowns, I learned everything I needed to know from the book "Clownfishes" by Joyce Wilkerson. It's definitely a lot of work but very cool to see the littles guys grow. Wreck

I picked up two fresh cut RBTAs, one for myself the other for Toastireefs, from you in April '08 I believe, you were just setting up your new anemone farm. Mine have split multiple times, currently six in my 55. Wreck

LR= Live Rock

do you test the PH, salinity, and ALK of the new water before you add it to your tank? That always a good idea. Also test your ALK, calcium, and magnesium levels in your tank. I had low Ph before I tested for magnesium, mag levels will drop with use of Kalk. Do you use Kalk or a calcium reactor? Wreck

I hope you figure this out, I'll be tagging along to see what happens. You've got to figure out why your nitrates are up. Too much chaeto in the fuge? Detritus trapped somewhere? filter socks and media clean? Just some ideas. good luck. Wreck

yeah, what he said.. Are you using a refractometer? Just be sure your measurement is correct.

I had to do a search to make sure my memory was correct and found this article:sturgeon in the Potomac

he looks cool, it's wild to think that sturgeons used to thrive and spawn in the Potomac River.

They look good, I'd love a sun coral but don't know where to get them. With all the extra food in your tank the brisleworms will be able to thrive, you need to limit the amount of food that gets uneaten by your corals. How often do sun corals need to be fed? Maybe try to make some sort of feeding cone you place over the sun coral and squirt the food in so the food gets eaten by the coral and not blown all over your tank. Maybe cut the top off a soda bottle and drill a hole in the cap just big enough for the end of the turkey baster, just something I thought of as I was reading the post so I don't know how well it will work but it sounded like a good idea. Good luck, let me know if you want to get rid of one of your frags. Wreck

When you click on the link Amazon has it listed for $393, am I missing something?

I got tired of priming the fluval 104 that i use to run phosphate remover and carbon. The impeller would get stuck and not start up sometimes if the power went out and then I would have to remove the filter and try to get it going again, big pain in the neck. After the recent power outages, I had to pull the filter out and decided to try something. I fitted a Maxijet 600 to the input line and removed the impeller to unrestrict any flow. I reinstalled it , plugged it in and got just the right flow, guess I won't have to buy that phosphate reactor after all. Wreck

It's good you finally caught your mistake, we learn from our and others mistakes. 60 PSI input pressure is for maximum efficiency, I think over 40 PSI and under 80 PSI (what my guage says) is a good operating range, so at 55 PSI I think you're fine. I'm not sure if restricting the waste output with a needle valve is the correct way to way increase pressure but I guess that's the same as what a restrictor valve does. If the last 3 stages you were actually filtering through included the DI resin stage, you'll probably want to replace the DI resin and the other filters for that matter. If your tank looks healthy except for the brown algae then I think you're ok, maybe just increase your water changes for a while. You should test your output water with a TDS meter and make sure it's reading 0 TDS. You can get prefilters and refillable DI cartridges and resin at Bulkreefsupply.com or airwaterice.com for a third the price of disposable DI cartridges. Good luck. Wreck

Chip, PM me your address I'll put something in the mail for you.

I feel very lucky, thanks. The color looks great on all four anemones, just like the earlier pics.

My original RBTA has split again, I now have four. Is this normal or should I be worried that something is stressing them to split? Everything else is looking good. Wreck

if you do replace the bulb, 6700k is best for macro growth from what i've heard.

Thanks, I just noticed the other thread, I hope I can make it...never been to BRK or a social. Wreck

When is this Social going to happen?

Did you make sure the impeller is spinning freely on the shaft, sometimes calcium deposits can get between the impeller shaft and impeller. To clean the shaft, pull the rubber ends off the impeller shaft and slide the impeller off, soak it all in vinegar for a while.

The air that comes out of those compressors usual contains some oil but I might be wrong but they are only supposed to run for a maximum of 10 minutes at a time and then need to cool for a while. When my power went out for a few hours I hooked up a small(325GPH) 12 volt boat bilge pump, pretty much like a powerhead, I had around to an old motorcycle battery. The battery only had a partial charge and it powered the pump for hours. I'm now keeping a battery charged up in case of power outtages. Since I'm using stuff I already have sitting around, toatl cost is $0.