Origami

Yeah, I found the link also and read it through. Odd how the one half lived so long (months!) before fading. I'll tell you, though, it was really something watching Doug cut that RBTA this past weekend. The evolution of this thread got me searching for more information today so now I'm learning that what I saw this weekend seems to be limited to just a few types and doesn't apply to all.

There was a cool demo of fragging anemones at the last quarterly meeting. It looked simple enough. It was done on a clean cutting board using a scalpel. The key point was to make sure that, when you divided up the anemone that you cut through the mouth and the stomach, leaving a portion of those features on each segment. The anemone, over the course of hours, curls back on itself to re-form and initiate healing of the mouth and stomach. Never done it myself but, as I said, it looked like pretty straightforward surgery. Do you know the species/genus of your anemone? See here (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/carpetanemones.htm) for an identification guide.

Beth, I'm going to give you a call. I will be in the Ft. Belvoir area on Monday morning and would like to drop the 125 gallon container and RO/DI system off with you that morning. I'd do it after my meeting, but I doubt seriously that I can go where I need to on-post with a large liquid container like this in the back of my van (I think it would raise too many eyebrows, you know?). Anyway, this will give you time to begin making the RO/DI water for the tank which we should be able to set on Tuesday. Talk to you soon! Tom

Happy to help out, Craig. No reimbursment necessary. A frag or two would be nice but is certainly not necessary. I'll help out because I'd like the kids at the school to have this experience.

Davelin, it's a long haul but I'll do it for you. I'll send a PM. Give me a call. Tom

Yes, you could feed a couple of times in the evenings, several hours apart. Watch out for overfeeding, though. I'm still wrestling with that. Gotta watch those phosphates! Like others here, I start my lighting later (noon) with the MH coming on at 2 PM. For me, this is a compromise schedule supporting weekday (when I get home later in the day) and weekend (when I'm really wanting to watch the tank earlier in the day) viewing.

LOL! I felt the same way. What a relief it was when it expanded again. It really is amazing how much smaller they can get when they shrink down!

Albatross, what source are you using for your water? If it is diatom algae (and it sure looks like it), silicates in your water may be playing into its prolifieration. I know that my tap water here in Ashburn is pretty high in silicates so I invested in an RO/DI setup from airwaterice.com. This seems to be working as I've never had a diatom bloom since setting the tank up in late August (fingers still crossed!).

I've got two in my tank - a flower and a condy. The condy regularly shrinks down to nearly nothing (and it's pretty big when fully expanded, too!). I've read that this is just one way that they expel waste from their bodies. Anyway, while your RBTA is probably adjusting to stress, if it's like my condy, you'll see that it cycles like this rather regularly.

Hi Marcia, nice meeting you the other day (at the WAMAS fall meeting, that is). I was the other newbie that sat down with you for a moment.... I run my actinics for 12 hours, bracketed around 8 hours of running my HQI MH in full array. Moonlights are on for the 12 hours in opposition to the actinics. No issues with cyano in the display though I do have some starting to show up in the sump where I run low wattage 5000K CF lighting 24/7.

Hey there! Hope your move goes smoothly and welcome!

Of course, you won't have any room in your sump but that's beside the point when it's a question of manhood.

Both HD and Lowe's should carry 1/4" acrylic in addition to the very thin (1/16"?) stuff. At least, mine do. That's how I built the baffles for my sump recently.

Ah, terrific NAGA! Maybe I don't need exactly a car full, though. I think I'd like to get a good quantity from you, if I could, and maybe mess around this winter with trying to fab and cure some rock. Where are you anyway?

So you're saying that I should take my first trip to BRK then, eh? Sort of a pilgrimage?

Thanks, John. So, just how long would a 5 gallon bucket last? Understand that I'm new to this and the few kalk reactors that I've seen either in-person or in pictures look to be pretty modest in size. I've got to imagine that a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff is a lot. Any thoughts on kalk reactors? DIY or buy? Know of a good DIY design? What about a simple kalk drip? Thanks also for your experiences with the different brands. Looks like I'll research it a bit and see if I can find any significant difference that might account for the different observations you had.

Thanks. But a 5 gallon bucket? That sounds like it would last me FOREVER. LOL. So, no big plastic fabricators in our area that would be a good source of shavings? I'll definitely see if I can't get some questions out to Almon.

Anybody out there know of a ready local source of food-grade pickling lime for making my own kalkwasser? I've not checked my local grocer's shelves but think I'd be in for an adventure as there aren't probably too many people involved in canning here in the big-city 'burbs. Second, and eat your hearts out: My wife likes our first tank and is asking me to set up a second! Anyways, I'm thinking (for this one) about making my own rock - that aragocrete stuff written about at GARF. The recipe calls for using plastic shavings as a lightweight filler. Anybody have a good local source of the stuff?

Having no definitive response, I've put the CF's on a 1-year maintenance replacement cycle and the HQI's on a 6-month cycle.... for now, at least.

Dollars to donuts their hiding in the rockwork. I didn't see my Peppermint Shrimp for a week after putting them in my tank. I thought they had died, actually. But everyday, there I was, looking over the tank with a flashlight peering into this corner and that crevice... one day, I came across some long antennae deep into a hollow between a couple of rocks, low on the sandbed. And there they were, happy and healthy. I have to guess that yours are doing the same. That's my guess at least (though I've not been doing this much longer than you).

LOL. I see what you mean now. I'm not really using a sock like you have there. Instead, it's more like a paint strainer and it also has a tie at the top, so I can tie the top off against the down tube, trapping debris inside the strainer. So far, it seems to work alright.

Eric Borneman doesn't think so. He claims it's one of those lasting myths. See http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/eb/index.php I like the bubble trap because there's greater clarity to be gained. However, it doesn't appear that there's any major risk associated with microbubbles.

Second sump picture.... It's hard to see it, but I subdivided the first 8-1/2 inch section of the sump into a high-water area of about 3-inches or so (the first compartment). That left about 8-inches in that section for a small footprint skimmer in this, the second compartment. The high water area ensures that my heaters (2x 250W), which are fairly long, can fit submerged. Coincidentally, it also allows me to hang my HOB skimmer (a CPR BakPak 2R) over the side with the intake and pump in the first compartment, and the outlet emptying into the second compartment. Anyway, water cascades over the first wall, dropping about 3 inches into the second compartment. It exits the second compartment by going under another wall, into a bubble trap made up of 4 total walls. Under, over, under, and over... before coming to the refugium section (only about 7-1/2 inches or so long). That left about 6 inches or so for the last compartment, which is where the pump (a Rio 2100) sits to take the water back to the display tank. As you can see by the photos, I decided to try using egg crate to top off the last divider, instead of cutting notches in the plexiglas (I had some egg crate left over, so it seemed like something I could try). Of the 20 gallon capacity, I have about 12 in the sump during normal operations, leaving about 8 gallons of room to protect from overflows, should power fail. The way things are set up, this provides more than enough protection right now (I tried it. Better safe than sorry.).

Bob, I'm not sure just what you mean. You mean don't fully submerge the filter sock? I'll tell you, initially I did just that, but air would get trapped a the top of the sock and would bubble out, making a lot of noise and creating some splashing. I raised the sock some so that the top is above the water line and it seems to allow the air to release in a more controlled fashion. By the way, this filter sock is more like a fine mesh strainer rather than a felt-like sock. Jason, I'm going to attach some pics to this post. I'm sorry that I didn't get pics of the sump before I installed it. I've had to take two pictures to show you what I've done thus far with the setup. You can also see why I had to go with a 20H tank instead of a conventional 20: Because of the way I built the stand (with a center brace), there was no way of getting a conventional 36" 20 gallon into the space I'd built. Live and learn.

I drip acclimate in the sump, floating the bag there so that it reaches tank temp while taking the drip from the display tank up above. Periodically, I have to empty some of the water out of the bag, but it's pretty much on autopilot otherwise. Seems to work well that way.