wreck

Lee, Good luck, just let me know when you need some rotifers and greenwater. Rick

Congratulations, if you have spawning clownfish it means you have made a stable and comfortable home for them. I have been raising Tomato Clownfish since my pair started spawning this past summer. You should see the male clown constantly tending and protecting the eggs, he will fan and sometimes look like he is biting the eggs to keep the water circulated around the eggs. The male will also try to keep any curious tankmates away from the eggs, the female may also help. I recommend reading Joyce Wilkerson's "Clownfishes" book, I used the information to successfully rear two spawns. You will need live rotifers and greenwater to feed the hatched larvae for the first 10-15 days. I have some I can give you to start your cultures, you'll want to get that going ASAP so you're ready when the eggs hatch in 7-10 days. PM me if you're interested in the rotifers. Good Luck. Rick "Wreck"

I went to help Dano yesterday and we fixed the leak, at least it wasn't leaking when I left. We took the silicone off that he had put on in an attempt to stop the leak, removed the overflow tube, checked the gasket, cleaned the tank seat area, reinstalled the overflow and tightened the locknut(under the tank). I think all it needed was for the nut to be tightened a bit, it was pretty loose when I got there. Wreck

Looks great. What type of filtration are you running? I would recommend getting a sump/refugium as soon as you can. Then you'll be able to put the heater in it and probably lose a couple of the powerheads once you get a good return flow going. Keep up the good work. If you want some baby Tomato clowns I still have plenty available. Wreck

Dano, I'm also in Bethesda. I always glad to help out fellow Bethesda members. PM or call me 301-602-9721. Rick "Wreck"

If you use black airline tubing you won't have algae growth in the line. I have a CPR overflow also, I like the low profile of the overflow box but don't like the fact that air builds up in it. I don't have an aqualifter so I tried hooking up a Maxijet with the air line hooked up to the CPR, it didn't pull the air out well if at all. I did a mod that I had done to my CPR skimmer and it works great, pulls out any air buildup very quickly. Here's a link to the mod: http://www.cpraquatic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2875 Wreck

Looks good, looks like a nice home for the baby clownfish. Rick

When I built my hood, I placed door stop wood 1 and 1/2" up from the bottom of the hood on the inside so it rested on the lip of the tank and then the tank trim was covered. I think you could just use some thicker wood like 1" x 1", which is actually only 3/4 inches thick. If the inside width of the hood will be 61" and the tank is 60" you'll also want to put some wood to take up the 1/2" gap you'll have on each side so the hood can't slide side to side. Wreck

How about a pair of 13 week old Tomato Clowns to grow with your son? I have some as a congratulations gift if you want them. Wreck

The fry should eat the tiny pods if there are enough of them in the water. They probably won't have the nutritional value equal to rotifers fed with greenwater but you could always try gutloading the pods by putting them in a cup of water for a while before feeding the fry. If you ever get in the situation where you need rotifers or greenwater just let me know. My rotifer and greenwater cultures aren't quite up to par just yet but will be very soon. Wreck

i keep my 55 at 78-80 night/day temp. I have a 175MH and 4x65w pc with no chiller, but a big fan to blow hot air out of the canopy. I think you could get away without a chiller if you have enough ventilation to keep the heat in the canopy down. Whatever temperature you choose to keep you tank, you want to keep it constant without much temperature shift. "Wreck"

Simulating the Lunar cycle with moonlights is supposed to help trigger breeding in fish and spawning of corals. My clownfish did start laying eggs a few months after I added moonlights to my tank, but I can't specifically attribute it to the moonlights. I bought a string of 20 blue LED moonlights off Ebay for $20, probably not the best moonlights but looks pretty at night. Wreck

What specific type of phytoplankton is DT? I looked on their site but I didn't see them state it. I don't really get the clean phyto idea, maybe they are comparing it to other commercially produced phytoplankton which contain a lot of contaminants. When I culture greenwater, I just put some greenwater in sterilized saltwater in a bottle, put in an airline, and put it in front of a light, no contaminants but I guess some use some kind of fertilizer to accelerate growth especially commercially. Wreck

I'm pretty sure he was joking, but I walked right into it. Anyways, here's a link to the mod: http://www.cpraquatic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2875 I did this mod on my CPR cyclone sump/filter with the built-in skimmer. Wreck

I've read that phytoplankton is good for feeding a reef tank but don't know if many people do it. I feed my tank a mix of rotifers and greenwater(Nannochloropsis, I believe) that I've been culturing for my baby clownfish a couple of times a week. I think my T. Gigas clam likes it. Wreck

darn...you got me good.. I'll remember that

I got a starter kit from www.rotifer.com, good information on culturing there also. I used a 5 gallon bucket to culture rotifers for my Tomato clown larvae and also cultured "green water" to feed the rotifers. I would offer you some rotifers but my culture seems to have crashed, I'm trying to bring it back now. all you'll need is some starter rotifers, some green water, and a coffee filter or fine micron mesh. Maybe someone here can set you up when you're ready. Are your clownfish laying eggs? Wreck

Jason, I think you can buy them at most LFS. I had some straight airline couplers that i just cut one end off. Have you heard of or tried this mod yet? Wreck

No recommendations but I did a mod to my cpr cyclone sump skimmer that will work with any cpr backpak or skimmer that uses maxi jets with the venturi attachment. You remove the venturi with airline that sticks in the input, drill a hole in the side of the inflow just big enough to put a airline nipple, attach the airline to the nipple, adjust bubbles. This mod made the skimmer work 4X better. I also did this mod to a maxi-jet that was attached to a CPR overflow to pull out any air buildup. I'm sure a lot of people have heard of this but just wanted to make sure. Wreck

How about a scribble rabbitfish? I picked one up from Beltway Bandit when he broke down his tank. I thought my big 4" female Tomato Clown was going to terrorize him, but they get along great and they're like best buddies now. The rabbitfish has very interesting yellow mazelike lines on it's sides,yellow fins, and also eats algae, but I've been told the dorsal fins are somewhat venomous. Wreck

I'll try to get some pics but my aquarium photography skills are lacking. Do the pics from the site not look like Supermans? I just saw blue and red and thought of Superman's suit. Wreck

I just received my first order from Sonny at Mr. Coral. After reading the reviews here I wanted to give Mr. Coral the benefit of doubt and try for myself. I placed an order for some Candy Apple Pink Zoas which were on Halloween special usually $39.95 for only $19.95 and also used the $10 first order credit. I thought, cool, $40 worth of Zoas for only $10 with free shipping. Mr. Coral (Sonny) emailed me and said he couldn't ship a $10 order, he would lose money. I was a little pissed because it didn't say anything about a minimum order to qualify for free shipping but I understood where he was coming from, nobody is in business to lose money. I asked what would be the minimum order he would ship to me and he said $25. It sounded fair so I asked if he could add $20 worth of Superman Zoas, he said no problem and even gave me the sale price even though the sale had ended. Today the package came on time just as he said, it was nicely packed in a styrofoam lined box and a heat pack. The Supermans about 40 polyps were on a rock and the pinks about 20 polyps were on a frag disc. I think I got a great deal and I'm very happy with my purchase. I'm sure I'll use Mr. Coral again in the future and I'll be sure to make a trip up to Frederick to see his new store. Thanks Mr. Coral. Rick "Wreck"

You want to try to get Nitrates and Phosphates to 0, testing for both will give you an idea if your efforts are having an effect. Tests may read lower than actual levels because the algae is using up some to grow. I keep my tank at a constant 79 degrees and salinity at 1.024(measured with a refractometer). 75 sounds low to me but it might be helping to keep the algae growth down. What's your light cycle? Cutting it back slowly will help to slow algae growth. If you have any prefilters, floss, filter socks, etc. clean them out or change them often. You didn't mention any cleanup crew, you'll want some snails and hermit crabs to help clean up any uneaten food. Good luck. Wreck

8.3 is what I shoot for also. My tank ph peaks around 8.4 just before lights out, I autodrip Kalk at night to offset ph swing. i think it's time I added a Kalkstirrer, that baby Grey Seas one looks perfect for my 55. a ph monitor makes tracking ph a breeze. Rick "Wreck"

By your descriptions it fits into the mold of the bigger one being the female(bigger, more aggressive, territorial) and the smaller one being a male (smaller and more docile) or still a juvenile. I just checked in Joyce Wilkerson's "Clownfishes" ( a great book if you're interested in breeding clownfish) and she states that once a clownfish becomes female she cannot revert back to being a male but a male can become a female. I would watch them carefully and if they fight a lot wthout the smaller one running away or submitting they may be both females. Wreck