Lee Stearns

Just a note Tim. I agree get the electrical probe in the tank. I did not see Phosphate reading- In my limited experience that is a major player with many of the SPS. I do not think that the Magnesium is an issue as the IO being balanced- it would take months before your water dropped to critical magnesium levels. Alk and PH are the next two things that I would work on making stable- Calcium every one pushes, but in reality I have found the sps will do well in the lower Calcium numbers- just not grow as fast. And last stay with it- just takes small tweaks and time. Regards, Lee

I can not believe you beat me out of the Achilles RockO- man get side tracked form the site for a couple of weeks and all of a sudden you are out of the loop- Hope he does well- Johnny is going to order another- hope it does as well as the one you picked up, Bob. Regards,

Not much of a reply but medium light medium flow- they are classified as a leather and do well just about anywhere except total darkness or in front of a maxi jet.

This guy from NoVa why isn't he a member with us?

I would try it once to just see what the hype was and see if there was some other variety of pods/mysis that could seed my system- but I would not think it would be a regular item that folks would normally buy. Pretty pricey for a normal food item as Howard said

HMMM- I have all four of my maxijets still running after two years. I have two on each side attached to a plexiglass strip that hangs down from the overflow box- you can not even see they are there. I pull one side up at a time and clean up about every 6-7 months. I will find one stopped sometimes, but they always clean up and go again- I have never broken an impellar or magnate on them- My experiece has been that the Maxijets are the most bullet proof of the submerible pumps that I have played with. My maxis are really there to keep me from having dead spots behind the rockwork. The SEO is for flow. It is rather constant like the Erik, et al have said.

I use 4 Maxijets totally behind the rock work on a natural wave strip- By far the cheapest route. But in an area where you have milli's or Acros- you need the more direct flow- I added the SEO 620 and it is OK but not great I would choose to upgrade even on my tank- I think the 1500's or 2600's would do the trick focused on the sections where these are growing, comonly in the upper part of the tank for lighting reasons. BTW- Great looking tank. Regards, Lee

:oops: :toilet: SOmbody found my chain

First of all not terribly legal I guess- second, most of that is sediment like mud from river wash- The tropical sand is really more crushed up coral that was built over generations - If you have ever dove or snorkeled one of the tropical islands you will note that there are parrot fish cruising the reefs- They eat the SPS corals, and their stomach digests the flesh and they poop out sand. Multiply this by years and years of coral growth and parrot fish predation, and wala... sand beaches that are fairly white and calcium based :D This may be why some of the Carrib tropical beaches are closing to the quick and easy buck of shipping an abundant resource literally from their shores- replacement is, while renewable, somewhat a matter of time measured in more than generations. That being said, there have to be some great little Atolls in the pacific that could supply the entire aquarium industry for decades.

My view on the main benefit was that the tropical carib sand was calcium based and allows a certain amount of buffer to stabilize the tank's alk- calcium raito. where as the silicate based besides for allowing more diatom growth was just a habitat for normal sand bed critters. It just makes sense to me to use the same base as nature uses, whetehr I know the exact chemical interactions taking place or not.

Welcome aboard NorBoo- I would hope you'd join in the fun- I came to WAMAS becuase I needed to find out where the best LFS were, where other folks did simple things like exchange sand and macro- and to ask questions face to face on this great hobby of mixed reef keeping. Hope to meet you at the upcomming members meeting on the 25th- Great opportunity to share and grin and greet- and esp exchange a few frags- Check it out and join at the meeting if you wish. The club will save you pleanty of dollars in exchanges, group buys, DIY projects and info to keep you from heading down the wrong path. Regards,

Steve, I don't think they are going to work on your new 65G I have a 54 corner they'd work on perfectly. Send them to me so you can upgrade with new lights for that new system!!

I have a radiant wrasse that is a model citizen - holds beatiful colors colors, not a jumper, just eats the baby and small snails that used to proliferate in my system

1/2 bag fits in a 5 gallon salt bucket.

I am like Chip- you name it and it is a death sentance. I had a friend name a yellow tang I had- within 6 months it was dead- Named it mr bubbles- not very original.

I have been stopping in at Wally's for over two years- they were very close on my way from work- I have tried on several occasions to get them to just post our meeting flyer with no luck. I can say thier Marine stock has improved significantly over time. They are far from the best priced or qurantined, and you must know what you are doing. Some sales folks in there will sell you anything with little regard for what can be kept together or stocked in a mixed reef or with regards to compatability. Until they can say WAMAS discount with a straight face, I will use them only for emegency convieniece supplies.

i have looked at several places and have not come across algae paste- Had to order online from brine shrimp direct.

Just tell me this isn't going to Bare bottomed- I know you have had several offers, butlet me know whenever you need moving help- Regards,

contact Grav on these boards he could tell them all they need to know informally-

Nice fish- No- one doesn't like cyclo-peze. Amazing fish this big even pay attention to it- But I have surgeons that still hit it out of preference.

hey I am still waiting for someones local tank to be bursting at the seams with this stuff-- guess I am patient or cheap-

I will do a double check on mine as well just to see if my numbers for IO come out in the same ball park- Thanks Chip Knew I was an IO fan for some reason.

WHat kind of water you using to top off? If its tap you could have built up copper or any know variety of compounds that we generally do not test for over a year. Copper is an invert killer. Also w/o any water changes your magnesium and other trace elements will deplete much more rapidly- I have access to 10 gallons or RO and 5 gallons of fresh SW you are welcome to if I am any closer than the rest of the offers. PM if you need to drop by. Available most of the week> I also have a Magnesium test kit. but do not have one for copper.

I have found in my true nano cube that I have at work the 13G version that I have a ricordia in it that is very bright green and pretty but has not grown one bit in two years- Most corals in a nano survive and look great but do not grow or propagate well- I have the same thing with many zoos that are in there- I believe I gave you the green skirted zoos- I brought several bags to give out. Not all zoos require the same light- the ones that are brownish seem to thrive in lower light, while some of the brighter require more light to multiply- though they will all pretty wel hold thier own in a nano- Capnella is the grow fast anywhere softie. Mushrooms may look like they are not thriving but they will open and close quite a bit depending on the light- too much and they will not grow too little and they will puff up real large and reach, or just float to a new location. With such a small volume many of these corals wil fight each other chemically- I would suggest some cabon to hopefully absorb some of the organics in the water- I know that devils hand is pretty potent against sps. You have a great start there just know that softies will do very well in there, but mixing in some sps raises by several orders of magnatude the stability and water maintenance difficulties.

MY 54 corner tank is running with two male and one female reidi- and one or the other male seems to be carrying about all the time- The female has grown considerably but is still smaller than the males. I have what many would consider too much flow but they are very happy and there are several spots that they can go hiding- often people wonder where the large males are- they hide and hunt well- so far I just have a ball of chaeto and grape calura growing in there with several soft corals, mushrooms, some zoos devils hand, singulara, capnella and colts. I have to second Bobs comments- raising the fry is extremely time consumming from all the threads at the sea horse web sights. I kept sea horses many years back when they were predominately wild caught and had to be fed live foods. What a huge difference now- captive bred is the only way to go- they thrive on frozen mysis but are thrilled to get small live grass shrimp or copepods- I add some copepoda nad see them hunting for says after wards searching every movement in any cranny.