astroboy

I had quite a bit for at least a year which I simply couldn't get rid of by improving water quality. Of course, its probable the algae was snarfing up the NO3 and phosphates which accounted for the essentially zero readings. Eventually I pulled out as much as I could, raised the Mg to 1600 using Seachem's Mg mix, and it went away within a few weeks. I had a little hair algae that also vanished, possibly a coincidence. However, the overall health of my corals seems improved with elevated Mg. Over 3-4 months I let the Mg slip to 1100-1300 and the byopsis started coming back. Elevated the Mg and it was history again. One thought on reef central is that elevated Mg might work only for particular species of byopsis, since elevated Mg hasn't seemed to work for everyone and in any case no one really has a sound idea of how it works. However, as I said, all my corals seemed to perk up a bit more at 1600, lps and sps and toadstools, so I'd say give it a try. In my experience, once it starts growing on an sps the only cure is amputation...

I've had excellent luck with Eshopps overflow boxes. Is there any advantage to drilling as opposed to using those? (Note that the siphon/drain combination is basically self-regulating: no matter how much or how little water your pump moves from the sum, exactly that amount is removed by the overflow. Also, an overflow has no seals that might go bad someday.....)

I agree with all of the above, especially after the pasta at the benefit for the children with cancer. Just wish I'd been sober enough to give my wife the recipe. But I say do give Roozens a look, definitley. I've had some fantastic deals there. It ain't pretty, but I've gotten some real beauties at insane prices, fish and coral both. Jos will loosen up alot and tell you some good info if you chat him up a bit and he figures you have some notion of what you're talking about, or at least the desire to learn. He respects someone who takes the hobby (ie, the living creatures) seriously. That aspect about Jos is something which gets overlooked in WAMAS forums, I think, right???? . I've knocked them down on prices (non-unreasonably) from time to time. I do think Roozens gets a bad rap on the WAMAS forums, unjustly. You can buy an ich-infested hippo or post-mortem torch there as well as anywhere, if you're willing to play the fool, but you can also make out like a bandit. They have an amazing operation, solar heating, etc. which is not an uncomplicated thing when you figure in ground conduction, etc. . Anyone who's been there, I don't have to tell them that. Actually, if you stopped by with a twelve pack late in the afternoon who knows what would happen... (Not a bad idea for a WAMAS tank tour sort of thing, *in all seriousness*. I expect most people would be taking a taxi or ambulance home,when all was said and done. Something to consider.... Roozens is not the enemy, despite some posts, (come on, guys, consider their business model, and the fact you can play hardball with the owner. Are they aquaco or mr, coral? No. Can you still make out like a bandit? Maybe). Still not the same with Larry gone, though. Back in the day (2006) I got some fantastic corals from House of Trops for peanuts. Probably because the employees didn't know how to price things. By and large, they're still pleasant and helpful. Just don't take everything they say as canonical. That's what WAMAS is for (heh heh). Its gone downhill since then, I'm afraid, but they do stock the odd plumbing part which is hard to find elsewhere. Haven't seen a good coral for quite a while though, have to go to Roozens and take your chances for that. (CMAS-MD has some good info on Baltimore-area establishments which aren't too far from PG county). This might be questionable advice, but Seasave.net is near House of Trops. Gotten a few good specimens there, place is clean as you can ask for and well-lighted, but not a huge selection. Does no harm to stop by, though. Interesting notion on treating/curing fish with ich They might be on to something;does no harm, anyway . Don't agree with some other of their philosophy (eg, super glue, deep sand beds, salinity. but it seems to work for them, FWIW). If you' re ordering a strange and *expensive fish*, their prices are quite reasonable and their quarantine procedure I'm impressed with. Give 'em a look, anyway, does no harm. Just watch the salinity as you quarantine. (I should add that aquaco and BRK, and probably others I'm overlooking, take quarantine as seriously as you could ask for. Seasave actually claims to 'cure' ick, and they might be on to something.....) Always a treat to visit: mr.coral, and also aquaco in reston, even more so, I think. The drive to BRK from MD is worthwhile too, no question. To sum up: if you're in PG county, check out Roozens (or ScalesTropical Fish Warehouse is worth a look). Otherwise, skip PG or AA county. I have nothing but good things to say about BRK, aquaco, or exotic aquatics. I've gotten more good info from Sean at aquaco than other places, but perhaps that's because my hyperactive brain-damaged kids were destroying the place when no one else was around and he was desensitized enough from his own kids to be willing to chat (or so he said, gentleman that he is). Which is not to bad mouth other places, especially sponsors; those are just the ones I know well. I've lived in many other places to compare with , and nearly all of the places around DC have some real pros who are really decent guys running the show. I just wish I had enough $$$ to keep them all in business. We're very fortunate. I won't mention names, but I stopped by a few places in Montgomery county Saturday/Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago. The owner was minding the shop, with one or two really cute little girls on their lap or telling me all about the corals I happened to be looking at. I'm sure their dads puts in many many hours and I'm sure they miss their children while trying to make a living, alot. True for all the other WAMAS sponsors too, I'm sure. That sort of got me in the gut, dammit. Despite the putative trivial saving in $$$, of getting something half dead via FedEx with no advice, seeing the owners with their kids while working on a Saturday/Sunday afternoon has really brought it home to me that these are straight up guys we should keep in business. My job sucks, but at least I have weekends with my kids with no strings attached (at least for the moment). That's reason enough to help them out thru the hard times, and in the long run, it saves us all money too. They have the knowledge, and they'll cut you a deal if need be, and what more can you ask for?

OK, dumb question, perhaps, but..... I mix up my saltwater in a 55 gallon rubbermaid. To get the correct salinity, I often wind up topping it off to within an inch or two of the top. After a year, at the midpoints at the top I'm starting to see white strain lines. Uh oh. No big deal, if it ruptures, it all goes down the drain. That's not the case with the sump. So, two questions for wiser heads: 1: How far up from the top can you fill a rubbermaid, and have it not rupture within, say, 5 years? I'd like to have 20-24 inches of water in my sump, but have only 29" of vertical space... 2: Aren't there more rigid/heavy duty containers out there that would work better? I think this has been brought up in a forum before.....

I've gone from IO to Tropic Marin a few times with no problems, with no intermediate steps, at about 40% water changes. However, I suppose I do have pretty stout corals, maybe. Also, I've adjust pH, KH, MG, and Ca to very close to the same (optimal) levels. Given the nominal parameters for IO vs Tropic Marin, which are significant, I'd be sure to align these parameters with my tank water before switching brands. Can't do any harm.

I'm beginning to wonder about cyano...... See general tank parameters below..... Lights are four months old, (50-50 compacts), set up a remote deep sand bed both tanks 6-8 weeks ago, (18-20" deep, in 5-gallon buckets), don't overfeed, have siphoned cyano out again and again (in the 30 alot very occassionally in the 75). Moderate vodka dosing for three months, nitrates and phosphates undetectable now. Cause and effect? Coincidence? Not sure, but nitrates used to be 10-15, never trusted the phosphate readings. I'm a believer now. (But, my gut says its playing with fire until you find the correct level for your system. Read much, believe little, grasshopper). A few bubble algaea, tend to be quite short lived, both tanks. Have DIY reactors for BRS carbon and GFO which seems to work better than anything else I've tried. And they don't pay me to say that. Tank 1: 75 gallons, pure as the driven snow, and alot more heavily planted with alot more fish. But, ESB 100 skimmer, also, DIY GFO and carbon reactors with pretty high flow, that is, you can tell the media is in the mosh pit. Tanks 2: 30 gallons, bigger, deeper RSB, a few weeks younger, can't get rid of the cyano. Running two PM HOT skimmers rated at 50 gal each. Should be adequate, you'd think.... However, flow thru GFO and carbon isn't so high. Its stirred up, but just a bit. Using that BRS double hardness GFO (quite happy with) and Rox carbon from Bulk reef supply. Works great in the 75 at least. Should mention that the 30 has just a bit more more internal water movement than the 75 too. I'm thinking: 1: For carbon to really work, you really need to stir the stuff up, more than the video at BRS suggest, although I hesitate to disagree with them, since I think they know what they're doing. But... different tanks, different solutions, perhaps. I used to have it in media bags, worthless after a few days. That's the problem with Chemipure, which otherwise I loved. 2: Cyano is supposed to result from DOC. The twin PM's I have I think reduce the organics to say, 10 parts in a zillion, whether I'm running 1 (as I did for a year) or 2, or, I suspect, 20. That is to say, you get X amount of skimmate with 1, 2, or, I bet, 20 PM HOT skimmers. The ERS produces alot more skimmate. Even with the GFO and RSBD, and agitated carbon, I'm beginning to wonder if the bottom line isn't skimming, period As regards current: Just my observations: I have cyano growing in current that would take the chrome off a bumper hitch. Yeah, I believe you get more in dead areas, but the current ain't a cure. I've had OK luck with the antibiotics that kill cyano (eg, from Sean at Aquaco) and I think it can help you get ahead of the mess so you can do something about it, but as everyone says, just a bandaid.

"If he comes at you with a fist, you come at him with a bat. If he comes at you with a bat, you come at him with a knife. If he comes at you with a knife, you come at him with a gun". Wish I could sphell it like Sean OConnery in the Untoushables..... After my green (or whatever it was) crab ate three or four gobies and 3/4th of a clown I came after him with a heavy duty stainless steel thongs and a needle nose pliers. I had to move 30 lbs of life rock in my 75, but in the end I emerged victorious. The crab emerged in pieces. Had to be done, I'd do it all over again. "Without Remorse", like the Tom Clancy novel. I wonder how a mouse trap would have worked. It never fell for any of the bait in the maze traps I devised..... With the copper in the traps, probably not so well.... Never did see the animal go after coral, I will say that for him....

Beautiful photos! Just wish they coincided with my memories this weekend..... I recall one day about 15 years ago that was supposed to be completely wretched, but for three hours in the AM it was by a miracle 70 degrees and sunny and the blossoms with the lilac undertone were out, and I had the whole place pretty much to myself. Never, never forget it, my entire life. After this Sunday, the next time I go down I think I'll toss a fifth beforehand. On an empty stomach. Works well on the holiday dinners with the in-laws. Or much worse, my own family. Oh well, they deserve some credit for putting up with me, sober (them and me both). Seriously, I can't believe they shut down the whole city for what is honestly just a cartoon like the inaugural (not just obama, all of 'em), but for a miracle like the blossoms they leave every street open to every yahoo on a 30,000 dB motorcycle and SUV or 1950s car blasting out whatever drek the driver thinks is cool. Or people in cars just too lazy to get on the metro and walk half a mile. Yeah, I know. National security for the inaugurations. Its necessary, but its a shame to allow the blossoms to be ruined.

I finally thought to go to a hobby shop and get their opinion on what might work: Poly-Zap: a super super glue, and Insta-set: an accelerator, dries the glue instantly, you need to have this too. This stuff works great! I think it would probably glue any plastic-type material on the planet pretty well. I had tried a number of 2-part epoxies, Weld-on 16, silicone, and marine sealant, and every glue I could find, but none worked very well.

What salt mix was it?

I've been vodka dosing and my hunch and the consensus of people who answered my recent post "vodka, transparent slime, fused sand layers" are that my skimmers aren't up to the job for vodka dosing with my current setups. I've had one Precision Marine skimmer on my thirty gallon; it's rated for a 50 gallon tank (for what that's worth). I have an extra PM skimmer which I could use if it would do any good. (Or, I could just stop dosing). My question is about the characteristics of skimmers. Assuming that there's a reasonable match between your skimmer and bioload: Case 1: If you have X amount of bad stuff in your tank, your skimmer will remove 50% of it, so two skimmers will remove 100% of it. That is, your skimmer removes 50% of whatever bad stuff you have at any reasonable concentration. Case 2: Skimmers basically remove bad stuff down to say 10PPM, and that's it. That is, anything below 9PPM flies under the radar, regardless of how many of this particular type you're using. I'm sure its not an either-or case of Case 1 or Case 2, but I'd be interested to hear what people with some experience with this had to say.... Thanks,

I was wondering if anyone can tell me what's going on. I started vodka dosing two months ago on my 75 and 30 gallon tanks. Phosphates and nitrates are now unmeasureable. Used to have problems with slime algae but not anymore. Generally speaking, I'm pleased. At present I'm at 3.5ml per day for the 75, 1.75 for the 30. However, both tanks have a sort of greenish film (algae?) growing over most of the sandbed. It tends to fuse the sand into a layer about 1/4th of an inch thick. I can siphon it out, and it reappears in a few days. I've had a 20 inch deep remote sand bed running for about six weeks with the 75 and the problem is less than what I see in the 30. A little green algae will show up on the glass of both tanks, but I have to clean it off only every 3-4 days. My first thought is that the stuff growing on the sand would be what's on the glass but I'm not sure if that's the case. The stuff on the sand seems to show up more quickly than what's on the glass. Does anyone know what this stuff is? Could it be bacterial, like the transparent slime in the 30 I describe below? Is there some favored way of getting rid of it, and what causes it? I'm wondering if I shouldn't start running GFO although I did that in the past with not much effect on the slime algae, probably because I had more dissolved organics from the tank sand beds being released into the water than I thought. I'm wondering that instead of phosphates being the limiting factor in vodka dosing, perhaps my nitrates have gotten so low that dosing isn't able to take out all the phosphates. (It seems like the remote deep sand bed would amplify such a problem in the 75 but perhaps it hasn't been running long enough. As I understand it, an RDSB will remove nitrates and pretty much do zilch as regards phosphates and everything else). Does anyone have any ideas on this? Also, some sort of transparent slime accumulates on the rocks and solid surfaces (not glass) in the 30 (but none at all in the 75), also some stuff I would think was red slime algae except that it never shows up on the sand bed. I'd imagine this is bacteria from the dosing, which leads me to think that my skimmer isn't up to snuff. The skimmer is a Precision Marine, rated for a 50 gallon tanks, and they're supposed to be pretty good machines, though. With dosing, I collect maybe 100ml of really disgusting stuff every day or two on the 30. Without, probably 1/3rd of that. Anyway, if someone has some idea of what's going on I'd appreciate their insights, especially about starting to run GFO either with or without vodka, or vice versa. I'm adding an RDSB to the 30 gallon, since I figure it can't hurt. Thanks!

Tom, You had the following good advice in the "mag cloride or sulfate, what is the difference" thread..... Reef Central has a lot on the subject. The only brand that's been tested and which has Randy Holmes-Farley's approval is manufactured by Dead Sea Works. Either flakes or pellets are acceptable as long as it's from DSW. Other brands may have other impurities that have not been characterized so you take on the risk of the unknown with other sources. Of course, you can also get magnesium chloride from other sources, like bulkreefsupply.com.

This is good information to have, and I'll be able to use these seals for part of what I need to do, but I really need some kind of glue or sealant.... Thanks!

Hello. I'm putting together a DIY media reactor, using a plastic jar with a white lib. Specifically, a 1 liter jar of Seachem Reef Buffer. Its the usual plastic jar that just about every sort of media or carbon comes in. I'd like to glue some clear plastic or acrylic pipes to the lid, but nothing seems to work very well. I've used superglue, weld-on 16, a couple of two-part expoxies, and plastic cement. I haven't tried PCV cement yet. Does anyone know of a glue or epoxy that works reasonably well? Thanks!

Actually, Has anyone ever heard of an actual case where a tank came thru a floor/ceiling? Or is that more or less an urban myth??

I think it's supposed to be the change in salinity/specific gravity of the water. The bugs don't too very well with osmosis and they basically explode, so I've been told. No doubt pH plays a role too, but it's supposed to stress the fish more. However, I've wondered about that. Fish have impermeable skins, so unless they drink alot of fresh water during the dip it doesn't seem like any reasonable difference in pH would be that big a deal. Perhaps it interferes with the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the gills? If anyone is knowledgeable about this, I'd be interested to hear from some one who really knows.

As long as you're careful (temp and pH the same as what the fish as been acclimated to, and watch the fish for signs of distress) my guess/experience is that it does *slightly* more good than harm. My hunch is that a dip does kill bad things, and that it does no harm to a non-stressed fish in decent health. On the other hand, if the fish is already stressed or sick, a dip can be the straw that breaks the camel's back. What I do now is just leave them in quarantine at normal salinity for a month, same thing as what my display tanks have, with no dip, and when I move them to the display tanks I do a dip. Presumably, they're healthy and unstressed at that point. At least, I haven't lost any fish doing that..... Just my experience. I'd be interested to hear what other people have to say.

Oops. Typo. I got 200 gph as 210 ml/second also... I guess I'm not clear on this: I could have 65 ml going thru a pound of carbon each second, or a few grams. That's sort of comparing apples and oranges, isn't it?

Does anyone have any thoughts on what the optimal rate of water flow thru activated carbon might be? I was reading this article: www.pets-warehouse.com/carbon.htm, where someone does some actual tests on how much carbon should be used in a tank. There's one interesting paragraph on the second page: A popular canister filter for carbon use has a flow rate of 250 gallons per hour. Evidence suggests that adsorption rates decline when water moves past the carbon faster than 65 milliliters per minute, roughly one gallon per hour. Spotte recommends that no more than one tank volume be circulated through the carbon per day. Using Thiel

I'm tempted to buy a bag of Mag Flake, but I'm wondering what sort of quality control is used in making the stuff. Does anyone have any insights on this?? Since the epsom salts I get at the grocery store have directions for internal use (I assume by humans, since most animals can't read), I figure there can't be too much arsenic or fire retardant mixed up in it. But I'm paranoid that the quality control for the stuff you spread on sidewalks might not be so tight..... It seems like it would be possible to buy high quality mg cloride from a chemical supply company at a pretty good compromise between price and the occasional hitch-hiking carcinogen. Has anyone ever looked into this, that anyone knows of? Seems like a group buy for a couple hundred pounds of carbon might also be a good idea....

I'm wondering if anyone has an educated opinion on this. I have a 75 gallon, pretty much packed with corals and three medium tangs, nitrates usually around 10, have problems with bubble and slime algae. I'll admit I'm not too conscientious about water changes and I probably overfeed the fish a little. I have a deep sand bed, mostly 4 inches deep, but about 6-7 inches deep in the back. The bed has been at its present depth for about six months. It seems to me that assuming the anoxic layer in my tank is 2 inches thick, then I already have about the same volume of anoxic sand as would be provided by an RSBD like the one described here. Of course, that assumes a 4 inch DSB is deep enough to have such an anoxic zone. Is the (presumed) existing anoxic zone likely sufficient? Anyone have an idea on this? Is it likely I'd benefit from adding an RSDB? Thanx!

I should have said, does anyone have any idea of the chances of a galaxea recovering.... I take it they're fairly robust?

Hello. I have a galaxea that's been doing well for the past six months but in the past week enough of it has died off that about 20% of the skeleton is exposed. I think I dropped something on it. Does anyone have any experience with the chances of this type of coral recovering? Will new polyps over grow the bare spot? Thanks!

I got rid of mine by upping my Mg to 1550. Killed my bryopsis too. You can find alot of debate about this on the web, although I can't recall specific sites at the moment.