astroboy

The probe is only a few weeks old. The meter itself where the probe connects to is very slightly corroded. I'll see if I can clean that up and it if makes a difference. I recalibrated with some brand new solution, it seems to be working OK for now....

I have a question about GFCIs, the kind that plugs into the wall, but is not mounted inside the wall itself. I have one plugged into an extension cord that has only one outlet. The wall outlet itself is behind a bookshelf and pretty much impossible to get at. It seems to be that since the cord has only a single outlet the GFCI would still work OK but I've read where this is supposed to not be the case. From what I've read the GFCI is supposed to be first, so to speak (plugged into the wall socket) and the extension cord second (connected to the GFCI), although in these posts its not clear if the extension cord has multiple outlets, ie, a power strip, in which case I can see where a GFCI plugged into one of the outlets obviously is not going to give you any protection for the other outlets in the strip. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Any ideas on how reliable? I calibrated mine the best I could (calibration solutions 7.01 and 10.01) and it says my tank has a pH of 7.65, which is possible, I suppose, except that the vivosun pencil pH meter I have says it's 8.1, so a difference of 0.45. The vivosun gave readings on the calibration solutions of 7.2 and 10.2. I did the measurements/calibrations with two different sets of solutions. So, something is wrong. The solutions, which came in sealed packets, were three years old. Do those go bad after a while? Anyway, does anyone have an opinion on the American Marine meter? I used to have another one years ago and I never got measurements that I trusted. If the $15 pen meters work just as well I'm greatly tempted to toss it.

I'll turn off all the current in the tank and put brine shrimp on it. They disappear eventually but I haven't seen the coral actually ingest anything. It doesn't do anything with tiny bits of fish..... I have a couple of clowns but they never go near the elegances. I don't have any shrimp or snails. There's no direct flow. I haven't seen any filaments. I'll read upon ECS. I'm greatly tempted to toss it before it infects (if that's the word for it) the other two elegances. I had a couple of elegances about 10 years ago, never was able to keep them alive. Got a couple of Aussie elegances in 2010 (with the same clowns), in 2021 they went from great to dead in about three months. I hadn't added anything to the tank for years so I don't think infection could have been a problem. Looking back, the ballasts on my MH fixture failed soon after and I wonder if that didn't result in some sort of bad output from the bulbs. I've never heard anyone claim ballasts could do that but I suppose it's possible. I lost two other corals I'd had fo years at that time also. Couldn't get new ballasts of the same sort and the fixture was 20 years old and really showing its age so rather than experiment I decided to get LEDs.

Thanks very much! Current parameters: pH 8.11 Temp: 78 Alk : 7.38 PO4: .03 N03: 2.3 Mg: 1200 Ca: 430 Salinity 35 ppt A week ago I measured the TDS from my RODI water and it was at 7 ppm. I think now it had been that way for three or four months although right before I put in new media (still waiting on an RO membrane) the parameters were about the same. I did have a fair amount of algae on the glass and some of the corals looked a little bit stressed so I think the water quality was not as good as I thought it was. Right now, the TDS from the RODI reads zero and after a 90% water change the corals that looked a bit droopy are perking up. This particular elegance is at the top of a 90 gallon with 300W Maxspect LED lights and I've wondered if that might too bright, however, the other elegances next to it look fine. The club PAR meter arrived yesterday so I'll do measurements with that. Current is fairly low, enough to move the polyps but not much more than that. I've had the coral that's doing badly about three months. The other two nearly that long

I bought an elegance three months ago that's been going downhill to the point where the polyps are basically non-existent. The mouths are still there. I'm not sure what's wrong since I have two other elegances that are doing fine although I recently discovered my water quality wasn't all that great which I think damaged the elegance. I've since corrected that but the polyps are still non-existent. For whatever reason it seems the elegance is starving.. I was thinking about using a toothpick to push small bits of food into the mouths. Has anyone ever tried this? Any recommendations on what elegances in that condition might like to eat?

Welcome back!

I have three tickets with a camping spot for the yearly observing session the Northern VA Astronomy Club has at Spruce Knob, WVa, Friday August 18 - Sunday August 21. This is a really great time for kids and adults with lectures on astronomy, bird watching, geology, etc. There are good activities for kids. During the nights hundreds of telescopes are set up and people are happy to let people have a look at any number of objects in the night sky. Spruce Knob is one of the darkest night skies east of the Mississippi, the Milky Way is clear as a bell and stars down to about the 7th magnitude are visible. August is a good time for observing since the direction towards the center of the galaxy is above the horizon which translates into great views of dozens celestial objects such as nebulae and globular clusters. The Andromeda galaxy is plainly visible. Day trips include things ranging from caving to the Cass Mountain Railroad, a steam engine up to the top of the mountains one valley over with a magnificent view of the Green Bank Observatory (radio telescopes). The AHSP has been great times for me and my kids but we can't make it this year. Information is at the website below: https://www.ahsp.org The tickets and camping slot total $245. Asking $150. Thanks, Mark

Thanks for the advice folks. I'm going to give various a try.

The pump is in the stand. I've considered running it from the basement but long story short that's basically impossible. Thanks for your recommendation, I'll read on it them.

I need to get a new return pump for my 90 gallon. I'd like to get one that's really quiet. I've read that DC pumps are quiet and use less energy so I'm inclined to get one of those. Does anyone have any reccommendations?

A month ago I used chemiclean on my tank, two doses, per instructions, 20% water change in between. A couple days later the foaming was still out of control so I did an 80% water change which helped some. I haven't had such problems with chemiclean in the past. A week after the last water change I mounted some corals with epoxy and a few days later did another 80% change. I also did charcoal for a week, changed that, then put new charcoal in a few days ago. The problem is a huge amount micro bubbles going into the tank. The skimmer doesn't really foam, just a lot of small bubbles in the water with a half inch of weak foam at the top. I've never had this problem before: after a few days and moderate water changes the skimmer foam is back to normal, for both chemiclean and epoxy. I'm really starting to wonder what the problem is. Checked the air hose to the pump, that looked fine. Has anyone had this problem? Or does anyone have an idea of what's going on?

Thanks. The heads died a few years ago, I think because the MH lights were going bad after just a few months (?). It would make for more complete coverage, so to speak, if I get tissue growing on them but not a big deal at all. I was thinking that for sexual reproduction new corals have to start from basically nothing and perhaps could regenerate. I remember a few years back Doug Arthur table sawed anemones in half and they did OK, just wondered if anyone had ever tried something like that with LPS like bubbles.

I should have been more clear. Is it possible to snip of a piece of the actual tissue (no skeleton) and superglue it, etc. I'll post a picture this evening. Thanks.

I've got a bubble coral with six heads, two of which have died. Is it possible to snip a bit of the living coral and superglue or rubber band it to the skeleton heads? And have it live, that's sort of important...

Free: I have an old Hamilton MH fixture that sits on top of the tank. Four feet long, I've had it on my 90 for years. 250W bulbs, need to be replaced. Also has two slots for high output CFs, they're not working right now, possibly the ballast is bad. It has a fan in it which keeps it quite cool but lately it's turning over too slowly. That can easily be replaced if need be. Requires Hamilton MH bulbs, or, at least, I've never gotten it to work with any other kind. Not the prettiest thing but it's adequate. Rather than fool with the CFs and fan I finally decided to go with LEDs and I'm hoping someone new to the hobby would like to have it.

The LPS of mt 90 gallon have grown so far out that i lost two elegance over time to the shade and possibly changes in current. I have two more corals not doing well for the same reason. I'm going to take out as much of the LPS (mostly Hammers) so that it won't be shading the bottom front of the tank. I'll be selling those as some poin. Id like to add some live rock to the tank. Two rocks will sit more or less on top of existing rocks so there should be no trouble there, but i want to attached a longish light rock to a 'cliff' to make a sort of balcony. What is the best way to use epoxy to join rock underwater? Ive been using the standard expoxies, like Two Little Fishes, coating both sides of the epoxy with superglued This works well on land, on water its only so so. I don't think it would work well for the cliff, especially if I did it underwater using my present expoxy-glue combo. Are there expoxies out there that once you apply they stick to anything and harden like rock in few minutes? Underwater ???? Thanks, Mrk

Hello, I need to get new lights for my 90 gallon tank. Mostly LPS but I have a few SPS in the central part. I'm thinking about getting a Maxspect Razor R5 but I'm not sure if the 200W or 300W would be better. Does anyone have any experience with these fixtures? Thanks, Mark

Six or seven years ago I ran into someone with a Wamas hat or T-shirt at the Northern VA Astronomy Club Almost Heaven Star Party (about 300 people go up to Spruce Knob for a long weekend for observing, lectures, hikes, etc., great fun). It turned out he was one of the original members of WAMAS, was very surprised to hear it was still in business.... Didn't catch his name....

I'd like to reduce the noise from my protein skimmer pump to zero. I'm tempted to cover all of it with Loctite Site Foam, seems like that would cut down on the noise a lot. There might be problems with it getting hot but since the core where the magnet is would still be immersed I don't think that would happen. What I worry about is the foam breaking down, or simply being toxic, and killing my entire tank. Just wondering, has anyone ever tried something like this? Does anyone who knows something about chemistry have an opinion? Loctite TITE FOAM Big Gaps 12 oz. Insulating Foam Sealant-2378565 - The Home Depot.pdf

Thanks. That's what I've read, I was hoping someone had had better luck. I guess it won't hurt to give superglue a try but I won't be holding my breath.

An elegance that I've had for five years detached itself from its shell today. From what I can read there's no hope. Does anyone know of anyone having success reattaching it with superglue?

An elegance I've had for five years detached itself from its shell. Apparently this happens sometimes and from what I've read there's no hope for it. Has anyone heard of reattaching an elegance to its shell with superglue and having it work?

Does anyone have an opinion on Reef Roids?

Three or four years ago the Chesapeake Cichlid Club had a speaker on using rock wool in a way analogous to how a DSB is supposed to work. There have been some big studies in Europe on this for sewage treatment, seems to work great. The basic idea is that you get a much bigger anareobic zone with a rock wool sump sort of thing than you do with a DSB. Also, flow volume is more easily controlled. I'll see if I can find the articles, there are a couple of PhD dissertations on the sewage treatment aspect of this. It seems you can get nitrates down to zero fairly easily. There were a few saltwater people at the talk. They were fascinated by this; the freshwater people not so much at all. You can do it with freshwater systems but it seems to be easier with saltwater. I tried it. I had two problems. 1) I was using a 5 gallon bucket, I think you need something like 30 gallons for it to really work. 2) I was too cheap to get a peristaltic pump, you need a turnover of 6-10 hours and I was doing more than that. In the end, I just didn't have the space for the set up. I never had much luck with a DSB in my display tank. I've since gone bare bottom and I'm much happier with the results.