Boret

Acropora Desalwii Acropora Hoeksemai Mint Acropora Rosaria Acropora Natusa Acropora Secale Acropora Lovelli Acropora Robusta

Isn't it 30 gallons? Very impressive nonetheless!!

Unless you have something specific that you want to kill, i wouldn't take corals out of your tank to dip them. If they are doing ok and you have no STN/RTN (slow-rapid tissue necrosis) just let them be.

Coming along nicely!! Good job. If you can, I would make sure that I can got closer than 14" from the water. At least try to have it so it can go 10". I have my 400 9" above the water and I get these PAR numbers: 1" below water surface 750 10" below water surface 500 20" at bottom 250

Mine grow up in the refugium. I have thousands of Snail eggs all over the place, and I can see the tiny ones in the fuge where there are no predators. I am pretty sure my wrasse and a few other predatorial fish are enjoying the "scargott" daily! Let me know what your research turns out... i would be interested. Almon is putting together a "Breeding" group. Maybe we can add snails to the mix.

darn it!!! I also get 11dKH with API KH test kit.

That is still high dKH for what I want.... it is supposed to give you ~7.5dKH @ 1.025... are you adding kalk or trace elements? I need to measure mine. I just did a batch yesterday, I will measure today to see the dKH reading I get.

No pictures?? Come on, we love pictures!!!

The NeoMarine gives out a "weird" smell (not bad just different from the smell you get with new saltwater made with RC or IO) but it mixes fast in the water and doesn't leave any residue.

I am with trockafella on this one. For fluorescence POP there is nothing that even comes close to T12 VHO UV Lighting Co. Super Actinics. The fact that a 24" VHO will provide 75 watts its also important. I had a 4' fixture in my old 55 with 2 250W MH and 2 48" 54w T5 for Blue supplementation. I never got a good blue color out of those. Sunny_X at RC won TOTM with just T5s in his tank. If you have a good Fixture with individual reflectors and can find the right combination of T5 bulbs (there many different types now a days -- Blue +, Actinic, Fiji Purple, etc...) then you can probably achieve fantastic colors. For me, as far as I have seen, and keeping in mind my limited knowledge, nothing beats Radium 20k + VHO Super Actinic.

If you find the body for less than $500 you can get the kit lens for $99 HERE with free shipping

Now I have to share my secrets!!!??? HERE $599

So... you selling your XSI JM?

LOL I know... I was just messing with you. I am giving it a try because its on SALE, otherwise Ill probably slowly move back to IO just for the convenience and price. RC has the salt posted at 12 dKH, but I know a lot of people (including myself) who have received batches up near 14 dKH. There has been some talk on Reef Central on the quality and numbers out of the latest batches of RC. Not as consistent as in the past. I am also adding bacteria (MB7), vitamin C (too help a few zoas from melting) and will be dosing carbon (vodka -- going really slow) in my system, and I need to be around 8-9 dKH, which I wasn't with RC to avoid burn tips in SPS. I am a bit affraid of changing actually. So I have been doing 1% water changes daily with the new salt for a week, instead of a single 10% one. I will report as soon as I have put a considerable amount of the new salt in the tank.

Make sure the aqua lifter doesn't have to move water up too many feet or it won't work and also make sure you control siphon, so the kalk water doesn't go back into your RODI water. I use the aqua lifter with my Calcium reactor that its on 24/7, and I use a MJ400 with a valve, a reducer from 5/8" to 1/4" and anti-siphoning check valve for for the Kalk Reactor.

I just got the Brightwell NeoMarine salt (for the ridiculous price of $50 for 160gl bucket ---> Audible ) and will report how it does. I am switching away from Reef Crystals because of very high Alk values (in the 13-14s) and too much brown residue left over when making new salt water. I will probably end up with IO like everybody else, as I already dose Kalk and Calcium. I could not rely on the trace elements out of the salt anyway as I only replace less than 10% every 2 week, not enough to compensate for the consumption from my corals and clams.

The only time my cameras go airborne is when the produce blue pictures of my tank!!!! Just the possibility to shoot 170 continuous pics of the T1i vs the 53 of the XSi might be a good thing for you. But not worth the extra expense. The quality of the LCD on Live View for Tripod Shots together with the extra pixels to crop and get closer shots I think make the T1i a better option I think. The Video in DSLRs is not ready for the use you make of it. I think the only time I can see getting the XSi over the T1i (for me) is a used XSi vs a new T1i, then the difference in $ is more than $174. I could consider a used XSI for $400 or less. That gives me $300 for an extra lens, battery and misc equip for the same $ than a new T1i with the kit lens.

..and I thought that size and money didn't matter...

Thanks, and you're welcome about the feeder Guy. How did they work out for you? I think the Eheim is far superior than the other one.

I don't know if you can consider this one advice for newbies but I would never have a reef tank without a Controller even if it is just the $99 Reefkeeper. (I personally prefer a controller with at least both temp and pH probes like the Ac Jr.)

No problem Mike, I am glad this thread is helping several people. Right now I am between the Canon XSI and the Canon T1i and the Nikon D5000. I have no idea on Underwater photography and I have not researched that. I have used both a Sony Alpha350 (very nice camera for the $$) and a Nikon D40 (also very nice). Seeing that Nikon was coming up with the D3000 I dismissed the D40. Once I realized that the D3000 didn't have Live View I narrow it down to the Nikon D5000, Canon XSI and Canon T1i. This article gives you a fast comparison on both. But basically from what I have read, if you own an XSI is not worth it to buy a T1i, but if you are buying a DSLR for the first time then the T1i is a better deal. Nikon lenses are more expensive than Canon's (as far as I can see online) but not that important to me as I will probably only add a 50mm lens and maybe a macro. I find the Nikon more comfortable in my hand than the Canon that has a narrower grip, but the Canon has better specs than the Nikon. For $600 I can get the Canon XSI with the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens. $700 if I add the 50mm 1.8f II "Nifty Fifty" lens. For $774 I can get the Canon t1i with the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens. $884 if I add the "Nifty Fifty" For $745 I can get the Nikon D5000 w/ 18-55mm VR Lens. $884 if I add the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens So right now, for me the question is: Is HD Video, Digic iV processor, triple LCD resolution and 3 extra megapixel worth $174 bucks difference between XSI and T1i? I think so. At the same price, do you get the same out of the D5000 vs the T1i? The T1i beats the D5000 by a hair on most reviews. And basically on things that are not huge for pros, but interesting for newbies like me. Canon has better Live View (faster focus) and a better implementation on the Video recording as it can autofocus while recording video, plus you can snap pics without stopping the video. But there is one thing that might make the Nikon a better video recorder for aquarium: Canon actually varies ISO settings along with auto exposure every time your video's lighting changes dramatically and you can't change it to manual, Nikon gives you more control. One option is to get a cheaper DSLR and buy a Camcorder. Another thing to keep in mind is resale value. The XSI will depreciate more than the t1i, even though resale value in camera bodies is horrible, the money is in the lenses. For those of you looking into video out of the camera most of the review praise the Panasonic Lumix GH1 as the best implementation. Might be worth a look.

Thanks guys! The ricordea garden is definitely not my idea, I am copying it from Robz's old 90 gal tank. Hunter, these are the same rics I got from coralmorphologic.com, I did get a new ric though that is not in those pictures, a very nice Pink Yuma, pricey but beautiful!!

Thanks man!! What are you doing up this early?? Well... almost 7am, I guess is not that early anymore. Had a tough day yesterday and went to sleep at 10pm got up at 5am... I am going to be tired today. I am getting the new ballast, the Vertex that I won online, today. Can't wait to try it out vs my current elec. Icecap ballast.

Picture Update:

Just put your hand in front of the modded MJ, touching the plastic so you block the intake of water (as it is running on reverse) and it will change direction. Most of the time this happens if there are close to the bottom or the side of a container. They move a lot of water so they need space around it to take on all that water. See if that helps. If you are ready to trash it Ill take it