astroboy

Does anyone know of fairly reliable and inexpensive pump that moves 1-2 GPH? Thanks, Mark

I glued mine to a flat rock which I buried under the sand: nice and stable platform. Oddly enough, it's a bit off the and but that doesn't seem to bother it. Although I don't recommend doing that experiment.

I've been in PVAS for a year and I had that distinct impression, that there's no decent store in NoVa. No one in that club seems to buy anything from an LFS; certain members run small hobby-businesses out of their basements and that's about it. You can get some pretty nice fish that way, though, for cheap. There were a few places buy they've all shut down in the past few years. I suppose it's hard to make a profit when high-ticket freshwater fish are rather rare. I've been to alot of PVAS club auctions and seen fish I"d use for bait go for alot of money. On the other hand, when I see an expensive coral or marine fish it's a real looker. I guess the only person who will write a big check for a freshwater fish is a hobbyist who's basically a zoologist. There nearest place I know of is House of Tropicals south of Baltimore which is OK for freshwater. Six or seven years ago you could pick up a nice coral there from time to time but based on my visits over the past 3-4 years their saltwater section has really gone downhill.

Does anyone know of a decent freshwater fish store in NoVA? Thanks!

I do all that. I have an Avast skimmer rated for 300 gallons on a 90 gallon tank, switch out the GFO once a month lately, carbon every two weeks. Fuge has a remote DSB and cheato. Brighter lights might help with the chaeto. I don't have any fish in the tank so the food input is minimal... The only thing I can think of is that the tank has been set up for only four months, using live rock and sand from a 29 gallon I had had set up for three years (never with any hair algae problems...). I also used "live" rock from a 75 gallon I had had, which crashed when I unsuccessfully tried to move it to a different house. I put that rock into a cooler for three years and reused it in the current set up four months ago. It seemed to be clean but I wonder if there wasn't still some residue on in that the hair algae is feasting on. That's the only thing I can think of, anyway, that is causing this problem. I didn't move corals into the tank until it had cycled for six weeks, if it even cycled at all. Ammonia and nitirites were always zero.

I have a hair algae problem and in the past month I've bought three sea hares to deal with it, and all have died within 24 hours. I acclimated for 1 hour, 2 hours, and then five hours, made no difference. My water parameters are good. However, a few years back to kill off bryopsis I upped my Mg to 1650 and since it worked great and the corals and fish didn't seem to mind a bit, I've kept it there since. Does anyone know if that level of Mg would be toxic to sea hares? There's a vague remark on wetwebmedia that high Mg might be toxic to snails, and so it's possible sea hares might have trouble. Now that I think of it, of, say, a dozen snails I buy, two die within a few days and six die within a month or two, leaving just a few survivors that live for at least a year.

I have a hair algae problem. Can anyone tell where where to buy sea hares or lettuce nudibranches locally? Or online? If anyone has a suggestion as to what critter I might buy to eat this stuff I'd appreciate it. I'm running GFO, have done big water changes, have brand new MH/actinic lights that I run 6 hours max, and have no fish, so very little feeding. An Avast skimmer which sucks up alot of junk. Chaeto in the sump. Mg is at 1600. This is a pretty new tank, up and running for four months. I've put a black sheet over the tank for 5 days at a time and the darkness does knock the algae down to some degree but it keeps coming back better and stronger than before. I'm pretty much at my wit's end.... Thanks, Mark

I'm not sure if this has any bearing or not, but it's an interesting story that I think raises some interesting points, so please bear with me. When I moved this summer I took the rock out of my 29 gallon, leaving three clowns and a six line wrasse and corals in the tank. Had 2-3" of sand (mud) which I left undisturbed. Everything did fine during the two months I set up my 90 gallon. So, I moved corals and fish (and a big wad of chaeto) to the 90, where they did very well. A few weeks later I bought a really nice looking powder blue tang from a very reputable source, and put it and a few corals from another good source in the 29 (using it as a QT), which still had the sand in it. I had left the protein skimmer running and aside from some hair algae things seemed to be OK. The corals did fine but in 24-36 hours the PBT had a bumpy skin with very small white spots, smaller than any ich white spots I've ever seen. After three days the spots and bumps went away and the fish looked and acted like a champ, but a week later they returned and the PBT died within 12 hours. The store I bought it from said they'd had the PBT for at least three weeks and it had been 100% healthy and I'm sure that was the absolute truth. I figured that the PBT had picked up some disease that had been latent in the 29 for two years, although 24-36 hours didn't seem like a very long time for anything (ich, velvet, brooklynella) to appear, nor did the really small white spots, followed by a mucus like slime right at the end, really look like those diseases. Bob Fenner does mention some parasite often seen in tangs that lurks in tanks which can hang around for years, but which usually isn't lethal or even really serious, but does show up within a day or so. I can't recall what it's called. I thought that might be it. Still, you'd think a 2 year old disease-free display tank would be a decent QT..... Anyway, I figured the PBT had been infected from something latent in the 29 and was now in the 90, so I decided to let the 90 lie fallow for a couple of months. Of course, it's possible the PBT picked up something in 24 hours from the corals I'd bought, but that's a really short time and I've talked to some knowledgeable LSH owners who have told me that it's rather unusual for fish diseases to be found in exclusively coral tanks. Of course, there might be other LFS owners who would disagree with this, and neither of the owners I talked to claimed this was gospel, so please don't read anything deep into that statement!!!! All I'm saying is that I figured my PBT was infected by my QT ex-display tank and not by the corals I bought (so quickly). So, I managed to catch the clowns and put them back into the 29 which had been their home two weeks before, and in 24 hours they had swollen cloudy eyes and were covered with slime, and all died overnight. Rather sad, since I'd had them for two years. I hope they didn't suffer too much. On the other hand, the six line wrasse I couldn't catch so I had to leave it in the 90. After 10 days I devised a fish trap and caught it and put it into a sterile tank. It looked (and still looks, two weeks later) as healthy as a horse, even though I had moved the corals from the 29 QT into the 90 during the week the PBT had been looking good. So, it would seem that 1) there was something in the 29 that killed the PBT and clowns, even though it had been a good display tank for two years, and 2) no diseases were carried by the corals I bought (or else the wrasse would have been infected). It's possible the PBT was a carrier and got sick from the stress of a new tank, but then the 'germs' would have been on the corals I transferred to the 90 when it looked OK. This all sounds like Koch's Postulates on pathology, which is the only thing I recall from high school biology. Possibly the wrasse has some immunity, but when you add it all up I don't think a disease was the problem. Steve and Vince from Quantum Reefs told me some time ago that PBTs exposed to low pH (say, 7,8-9, I think ) will exhibit bumps with very small white spot, which I had completeIy forgotten, otherwise, perhaps I would have avoided this whole sad scenario. I suppose that's a result of some sort of osmotic skin trauma, but that's just an ignorant guess. It sure sounds like that's what my PBT had, anyway. You would think that clowns would be more resistant to just about everything than a PBT, but something in the 29 killed them. The only thing I can think of is that some sort of pathogen or toxin really ramped up with the low pH (or vice versa) and killed both the clowns and PBT. What it could have been, I have no idea. It seems strange that a tank where clowns had done well for two years could have turned toxic somehow in 2-3 weeks, (but didn't hurt the corals, apparently) but that appears to have been the case. Possibly, the rather deep (and old) sand bed had a sulfur dioxide burp, but it seems like that would have killed the corals. It's all a bit of a mystery. Unfortunately, during the move I lost my pH meter so I don't know what the pH in the QT or display tanks was. All I can say is that the corals looked pretty good, so my guess is that it couldn't have been much under 7.6-8, say. So, does anyone have any experiences or insights into what might have happened? As I said, it would seem that conventional illnesses, such as ich, velvet, or brooklynella, were at work. Is it possible that a tank from which rock, fish, corals and chaeto have been removed would be so unstabilzed in some way that it would be lethal to a hardy species like clowns? My point, after this long winded discussion, is that the problem that lutz123 saw with his clowns sounds alot like what killed mine. I think my experiences have (probably) ruled out ich/velvet/brooklynella infection, but it seems possible that bad pH (??), which might well occur in a small tank and which might have occurred in my 29, in the absence of fish, corals/chaeto, might give rise to pathogens or toxins which are really bad news for fish, but not necessarily for corals.

I misspoke. I agree that it would be a bad idea to have any upward pressure on the bottom pane of glass...

I'll bet WAMAS members who know about these things will ask who's the manufacturer of the tank. Also, do you have the tank sitting on a sheet of styrofoam or wall insulation, something that will compress a bit under alot of weight? Most experienced aquarists would tell you that in the long run even a top quality tank sitting on an uneven surface will spring (a catastrophic) leak at the worst possible time. Having a tank on a styrofoam or some other compressible surface avoids that. Also, tends to reduce the noise from pumps or fans a bit....

I bought a powder blue tang a couple of weeks ago from a reputable source who claimed they had the fish in their tanks for three weeks and it looked great the whole time. When I bought it, it did look fine and I've had excellent luck with this source before, for corals and fish. I put it into a quarantine tank, which used to be my display tank so it has about two inches of substrate in it and a few chunks of live rock and a a few snails. My point is that the QT is hardly a sterile box, but I did have clowns and six line wrasses in it for over a year without any signs of trouble. After 36 hours the tang had a bumpy skin and very small white dots. In my experience, the dots were much smaller than what one normally sees with ich. After 48 hours, the dots and bumps went away, and the fish looked great, but they returned five days later and the fish was dead within a day. My question is, was it possible that the fish got infected with ich (or velvet?) from my QT? As I understand it, it wouldn't be possible for either disease to show up in less than two days after the fish was initially infected. I'm guessing that the fish was infected when I bought it but was doing OK, and the stress of moving caused the infection to break out. Still, that would mean that the stress kicked the somewhat dormant ich or velvet into the stage where it enters the trophont stage almost overnight.... Is that possible? Any recommendations on how long I should let the QT lie fallow, assuming the disease actually was ich or velvet? Thanks

Hello, I just finished setting up a 90 gallon. I have 2 250W Hamilton 14K bulbs and two actinic T5's about four inches above the water surface. Since I'm renting, I really don't want to make holes in the ceiling to suspend the fixture above the tank. I have LPS (bubble, torches, frogspawn, fox, hammer, and wellsophyillia) in the bottom half of the tank. Is that too much light for them? Right now I have window screen material underneath the light fixture which cuts down the light intensity perhaps 30%. However, it seems to cut down on the 'ripple' effect you get with metal halides and I'd just as soon get rid of it at some point. I should add, all the corals were in a 29 gallon with 130W of compact fluorescent for two years, so I can well imagine it will take a while for them to get acclimated to the MH. Any thoughts on 1) will the LPS utlimately be OK in the lower half of the tank, and 2) how to go about acclimating? Thanks! Mark

I need a submerisible pump for water changes, to move water from from my basement mixing tank to the first floor. I've been using an Eheim 1260 but I need to use that pump as a return pump on my new tank. Does anyone have any recommendations for pump with a 12 foot+ head? Since I won't be using it often I'm looking more for low price rather and quiet & reliable. Thanks!

I recall Julian Sprung mentioning at a WAMAS meeting a year or two ago that he put old sand and alot of live rock from one tank into a new one, and the new one didn't cycle at all. Am I correct in that? I'm setting up a 90 gallon and for a number of reasons I'm hoping that with alot of live sand and more or less live rock from my 30 gallon I won't have to wait 90 days....

Ditto.

I'm setting up a 90 gallon and I have an old MH fixture that I'll be using for the next year, two 250 watt 14K bulbs, 2 T5 actinics. At this point I have only LPS corals which have been under 130 watts in a 29 gallon tank. I'm told the MH will probably be too bright. Since I'm renting the place I'm in knocking some holes in the walls or ceiling to raise the MHs isn't an option. Is there some reasonably easy way to run MH bulbs so that they're dimmer? I've read one can switch out ballasts, but that's more complicated than I want to get. Or, what would be a good way to shield the bulbs? I was thinking a couple thicknesses of glass might do the trick but I'm not sure how that would affect the color. Thanks, Mark

Thanks. I filled one of the new canisters with GFO without sponges and rinsed it a few times, and no pellets seemed to escape. So I'm guessing the sponges are for carbon only...

I need to buy some powerheads for a new tank and I was going to get a couple of maxi jets, which have worked OK for me in the past, but I read the online reviews and alot of people are making the claim that the newer maxijets, which are made in China, instead of Italy, are complete junk. A major problem is that the impeller blades break off after very little use, which obviously is an amazingly bad quality control issue. I was just wondering, does anyone in the club have any experience with the new maxi jets? Thanks, Mark

I have to move this summer, so I need to move my densely planted 29 gallon tank. I have an unused 55 gallon that I'd like to move the corals into. However, I'd like to use dead live rock for the 55 and just move a little of the live sand and a few pieces of live rock from the 29 into the 55. (I'm thinking about turning the 29 into a clown anenome tank). My worry is about cycling. Julian Sprung mentioned moving a tank with old sand and rock and it didn't cycle at all, which seems reasonable. However, the vast majority of stuff in my 55 will be dead, but with 17 corals and 6 small fish. I was thinking about running a hang on filter like a Penguin or Emperor off the 29 for a few weeks, and then running that on the 55 for a few weeks. Questions: 1) Will this work, does anyone have any thoughts? 2) Any ideas on how long it takes, say, a quart of live sand to populate say 10 quarts of sterile sand, so that it actually does some filtering? Thanks! Mark

I lived in Wisconsin when he was building this, and according to a reef hobbyist who knew him, the first time he set up a large tank he did all the wiring himself and burned down his house. However, his wife let him put a tank in the new house.

Hello, I bought one of the new BRS canisters for their carbon/GFO reactor. According to some reviews on the BRS site, you can run the BRS GFO without using sponges. Since I can't get the GFO to tumble with sponges, that's interesting. I've posted a question to the BRS site three times about this, but it doesn't show up. Is there anyone in WAMAS who knows if its possible to run the high density BRS GFO pellets in their reactor with the new canister without sponges? Thanx!

I have a 75 gallon I'll be taking down soon which has some scratches I'd like to buff or polish out, if that's possible. The scratches are deep enough that you can barely feel them with your fingernail, if you're careful. Does anyone have any experience or insight with this. Thanks, Mark

I might not have been clear on this: I had both pumps hooked up in series. When the 2500 was off, the Eheim pumped water like a champ. When the 2500 was on, and the Eheim was also on, the volume of flow dropped greatly. The second pump impeded flow very little when it was turned off.

Here are the results from the experiment: The first pump was the Eheim 1260, which fed into the Ocean Runner 2500 through a three foot hose. As it happened, the Eheim all by itself had enough power to pump water from the basement into the aquarium, when the 2500 was turned off. As soon as I turned on the 2500, the flow volume dropped dramatically, like, to 10% of what it was with the 2500 turned off. I tried it three or four times, same results each time. I would have thought there would have been at least a small improvement.... Apparently, there's some sort of back pressure thing going on. Perhaps the forced input from the Eheim made the impeller on the 2500 spin backwards. What I'm thinking is that with these pumps the impellers are going to spin at a certain rate, X, which is probably some multiple of 60 Hz. If there's a big head or some other impedance, I'm guessing the impellers still spin at the same rate, but the flow becomes sort of chaotic. Rather than all the water moving out of the pump, perhaps it just sort of sloshes around. After all, you can put your thumb over the output from a pump and it seems to still spin at the same rate. Perhaps someone out there knows what actually happens. Anyway, if the impeller is set to spin at a certain rate, when water is forced into it, the impeller might act as a brake, since its only going to spin at X revolutions per second, no matter what. Possibly, results would be different with the weaker pump feeding into the stronger pump. I'll set that up in a few days and see what happens.