Lee Stearns

I am within 10 minutes of both Grav and Bob and am willing to help- If you are goiing by the Reef Tank then we are all in that vicinity- That would give you a trip to a pretty good coral store that gives decent advice- and a couple of us could probably drop by with different sand or macro algea to get your fuge started. I am sure any one of us would be happy to detour by our house to show you our setups- Hey Bob shake the pods out of the carpet and I will be by to pick up the little guys for feeding. :D

when you get rolling feel free to do some duty free shopping in my tank. I have a couple of the battery operated air stones, but this has renewed my desire to get out an pick up an inverter.

I think the real issue is cost and then not changing what you are using with each new buy of salt- I use IO as it was widely available and reasonable in quantity. So I will stay with it just to keep the system a bit more stable- lots of horror stories about changing salt mixes with too large of a water change- same stories about light changes- Right Chip?

Come on chip- I know the odds of the heater kicking in in the basement even in the winter are slim- but you do not have at least one heater in there? Yes the lights are great heating sources- too great for many tanks. I keep two in the sump but move one back and forth between the sump and my new saltwater makeup container when i am curing a new batch of water to change out. The ones in the sump have almost nevre kicked on- which is why Chip is saying once you have your system tweaked you may not need them at all-

If you have the time - I would watch the local for sale board in the members only section and buy a used set up- you will certainlly save a lot of money. many can come with skimmers pumps lighting and some even stocked. If you watch long enough every size tank and set imaginable comes through there. 90 and 120s come up every so often- only if you want a stranger size for some reason like a 150 high or something will you not see it come up. If you want to design your own flow, sump ect then a new set up is the way- just know you will pay retail for each peice- New aquariums- many buy from glass cages- if you are in a hurry to set up while the feeling can be appreciated - you are probably in the wrong hobby. Nothing good happens fast in the reef hobby. Welcome aboard, you will find lots of folks willing to help out with your questions or support with some frags or trades when the tank is mature enough. Regards,

Jeff, you asked whether I had read the thread when you were at the house last night- I just got around to opening it here at work- what a pleasure- and almost had to pick myself off the floor- I bet you scare your kids with bedtime stories that just don't end. Regards, Lee

I run a couple of Mags - If it is getting hot look at getting the impellar replaced as it is dragging on you. The MAG 7 is a bit more notorious than the 5,12 or 18 for wearing thier impellars out.

If all you need is advice then there are several members here that answer most emails with thier best opinion on reef keeping- thre are several members that have had tanks in the 20 year range and have weathered the changes in philosophy and equipment that have occurred through all that time. Know that there are certain basics to reef keeping chemistry and do and dont's with live stock, but mixed reef keeping from that point on is more art than science. If you learn hands on better than via the webb then there may be a member that can become a friend who drops by from time to time- esp if you need some assistance. That is why your location ws asked- most of us put it in our avatar to make it easy to see who lives near you. Welcome to the club- Regards,

Eddi-- I was hoping you would chime in here- One note The banded coral shrimp have got to be paired when you buy them- otherwise they will fight to the death if you just pick out singles to add to your tank-

Double post- sorry

Majano is only on small step above meaning easier than bubble algae to get rid of-Aptasia is a peice of cake compared to majano- It is persistant and can take numerous needle hits with what ever you are injecting- must be persistant because if you let it move to a hidey spot that you can not see there will be three of four of them in a month - they up and move just when you think you have a bead on their location after thier last injection. Of course the inevitable conclusion is: yea- I showed that Majono who is master reefer- only to see him imerge in numbers a couple wof weeks later in various spots- They do seem to need a bit more light than aptasia though.

I can give you some easy soft corals as well when you are ready- zoanthids, colt, green tree

I have the HD lights of America-6500 K light in the plasctic casing over my fuge has been running off cycle for a year- I think it does great for macro algea- No problems yet. regards,

kool I have got to get this posting pics down--

If it is in the area- I would be happy to attend as well depending on the time- These smaller events seem to be much more fun and informative - there is more chance to talk to folks than at the normal meetings. Keep me posted- Thanks,

they are primarily sponge eaters which is why they do not do well in captivity- I have had them when I used to live in Hawaii- if you can get one eating they will do ok- but there are few that make the transition as adults from wild to aquarium.

steve have you already set the tank up? HWne you are ready I always have a colt coral- green tree and yellow colony that you can pick up whenever you are ready- They are easy soft corals.

hey this is one I am staying out of except to chuckle at Howard and his heading for early kdney stones! I drink the RO/DI side myself. I do not think Grav has a clue that if there is greater built up stuff, then you might be more sucetible to kidney stiones- earlier than later. Harumph- His TDS meter says is actually less in his waste water than his incoming tap then maybe we are doing something good- That being siad, we live in the kidney stone belt- with a fair amount of calcium in the water already. Now philisophically I do not see my waste water going down the sewer as waste- I would divert it to the lawn in a minute during a dry spell, which would be a fairly simple matter of adding a bit of line to the discharge and running it out the window near by- But in the bigger picture energy and matter are neither created nor destroyed- You are sending to the waste treatment and eventually to the ground water , rivers, etc. cleaner water than is coming into your pipe to begin with, The sediment and carbon filters take out the cloramide and other stuff- Sooo- reefers are helping clean up the world- How is that for spin---

Most of your wrasses are supposed to love them. I have only seen one or two in my tanks ever- but have usually had a wrasse of some type in there.

I think the water changes slows the process down- It is the bacteria in the water column that attaches to the fine particles suspended that finally settles the tank storm.

I always picked the pods off the sponge to put where I wanteed them-doooh! I never thought just to rotate two sponges between the fuge and the main tank- I do know that if you feed Phyto they will climb seriously in numbers- within about a week. I do use the small rubble pile method in one section of the tank.

I have two that I rotate around from one tank to the fuge to the main tank and back- they are heavy grazers- and can clean an area of coraline algae as well.

many times they will hatch esp if you leave that area around them on the glass with film algea alone- They grow but seems some things predate them- esp wrasses- It is very rare for them to make it all the way to adult stage- esp if you have a few hermits of any kind in the tank.

yep expect a split- Papa

Man they shipped in far worse conditions- As long as they are not fighting and have a couple of hidey places- They should do fine for a few days. I was going to say double check your readings on the PH- Most often it is not reading right when it looks out of the orinary. On the 10 G with the fish- this is one of the very few times I would check my amonia. I would also be very carefull it amount of waterchanges in it- 1 gallon is a lot in a 10 gallon tank-