mogurnda

Why not just buy fiberglass window screen?

I posted a build thread somewhere over 10 years ago, but the thread and photo host have since disappeared. At some point I should resurrect it, with improvements upon version 1.

I use a reactor on one system, and a doser on the other. Pluses and minuses to both. The Ca reactor has been great on the 90 with SPS, because I have been essentially been able to ignore it after I got the flow and pH optimized. Keeping a small bag of dolomite {=Ca(MgCO3)2} in the chamber helps keep Mg up. If it is properly tuned, Ca and alkalinity remain stable and optimized. The only expenses are refilling the CO2 cylinder and refilling the medium chambers (I use a DIY two-stage reactor) once or twice a year. I like the dosing pump for the ability to change the rate of addition to match desired levels. Is one parameter too high or too low? Increase or decrease the rate of addition by punching a few buttons. This has worked great on my office slug system, where demand is low and I also want to dose nitrate for the macroalgae.

I will remember that during the next equipment failure or pest invasion.

Sorry about the hugeness of the photo. I am blaming it on TapaTalk. The other highlight was collecting fish in a polluted stream to look at the effects of plastics on growth rates. Vacationing with ecologists is great fun.

In CA for a few days on family business, and escaped to the birch aquarium. Fun place with some excellent tanks and a wonderful seahorse section. I wish I could have shot some decent photos of the flamboyant cuttlefish, they were amazing, but am traveling light with just a cell phone camera. A bit pricey but worth the trip.

Glad to help. Some mornings I get it right. They are basically everywhere, including vents and trenches. If you went to Rock Creek Park right now and grabbed a handful of wet moss, there is a good chance you would find some.

Looks like a tardigrade (water bear) to me.

You need to convince them they need an RO system in the break room for their tea. Sucks to have to lug the water. Our ancient still broke last month, and I am getting tired of hauling water from home.

I can see why you like this tank so much. Simple, but has a lot of coolness.

I have seen the same thing. Sometimes it grows so fast I'm pulling half out weekly, others it just sits there collecting glop. I could list a dozen or so variables, but, as with anything in a reef aquarium, I have never systematically separated them. I am currently in a major growth phase, but can't tell you if it's because I added some fresh plants from the Gulf, or because I am dosing vinegar as a carbon source, or because I am wearing a tinfoil hat (which must be grounded to be effective, by the way). Lighting, NO3 and PO4 (currently about 5 and undetectable, respectively) seem to be less important, as long as they are within a fairly broad acceptable range. My opinion is that, because it is growing asexually, it will peter out after a while and needs new blood.

Nope. Convict gobies are not really gobies, and do not construct the kind of burrow a snapping shrimp wants. Once they mature, they basically dig out all of the sand under your rockwork, and leave piles everywhere. The next day, they will decide to put all the sand somewhere else. This is not the kind of environment a snapping shrimp wants. Also, they rapidly grow to at least a foot long. Don't get me wrong, I love my engineers, but you have to be prepared to let them rearrange the sandbed in the way that suits them.

Photographic proof!

Next you're going to tell me that Tridacna clams don't trap divers.

Ryan, not Evan. Not sure where that came from. Will do.

Just checking back in to thank Evan for going to all the trouble to meet up and hand off a bag-o-slugs. I took them back to the office, shot a few photos and put them in one of the tanks in the hatchery. What I can say is that they are definitely a species of Elysia. Yaaay! Below are a few photos that I took before releasing them. They are small (~7 mm), have big heads, white dots, and stubby rhinophores (the tentacle-things on the head). Rummaging through various slug web sites, especially the Sea Slug Forum, my best guess would be E. serca or E. flava from the western Atlantic, or maybe E. obtusa if it is a Pacific species. I would still love to know how they arrived in your tank. You didn't get any macroalgae for a fuge or anything like that? They have a smorgasbord of algae to choose from. We'll see how they do. Thanks again. PS. Marco's right, the corals in the background look awesome.

I was going to say Loch Ness Monster. Did it ask for $3.50?

"Salt Creep and Rusty Legs" could be the name of the first reefing blues song.

Definitely not. It eats free-living small organisms. Here is a video of them hunting in one of my tanks. https://youtu.be/jghSpnzs9u8

I would love to get a few. Are they eating hair algae?

Predatory flatworm. Not a threat to anything it can't fit in its mouth.

Based on the mouth, parapodia, color, and general shape, they look like a species of Elysia. You don't have any macroalgae in the system? Can you post a bigger photo?

It was indeed easy. Thanks, for the advice. In case you were wondering, Glasscages still uses the same wonderful workmanship. Lots of bubbles in the cement.

Looks like a chiton to me. Harmless grazing mollusc.

Thanks, guys. The tank should be waiting for me when I get home. Sounds like the key is to take it slow and keep it cool.