sen5241b

What kind of snails spawned?

Because gas is so high a lot of "high-end specialty retailers" are getting hit hard. My wine store's stock looks like its down by a third. Others like Godiva chocolates and etc. are getting hit too. It stands to reason that with gas so high this is the kind of thing people will cut back on. Restaurants are getting hit hard for the same reason. ("Low end specialty retailers" like Payless shoes may actually do better in the current economic situation.) Also, consider that unemployment has jumped in the last year.

Was in one LFS Sunday and their stock looked like it was down well over 50% since my previous visit there. Was in another LFS today and the stock looked like it was down 50% and I could tell the guy was hurting. He had that look like "please buy something". Marine tanks cost bucks and it is an expensive hobby. I think the tanking economy (pun intended) has had its effect. No doubt, tank snobs will become even more annoying: "what do you mean you don't have a $600 chiller?! what's the matter with you!?" (I had this discussion on another forum and the story across the country is the same.)

In retrospect, triage was the way to go. I just finished the third water change at 20% a little while ago and just minutes later the snails, featherdusters, hermits, etc. began moving around. Some were dead. My noob mistake was thinking that taking the heater out of the water for only a few seconds would not cause it to crack --it did. (Yes, the copper was probably part of the problem but the water stank of burnt plastic.) Also, in retrospect (for any chemical pollutant problem with the tank) the first water change should have been 40 or 50% instead of several 20% changes. Oh yeah --it was a Visi-therm.

My heater busted open and the skimmer was going crazy. There was a burnt plastic smell coming from the tank. (part of the tank is made of plastic). I did two 20% water changes. The skimmer was taking out the burnt crap whatever it is. Trouble is all my inverts are dying off. The fish are fine. Anybody know if there is some chemical in those heaters?

Wicked sick! A cat will solve that problem.

You add what? volkga?

Articles on salt mixes that I found very disturbing: read more ... This article on toxic metals in well known salt mixes with bar graphs: read more ... The best is apparently Aqua Craft Bio-Sea MarineMix but I'll be darn if I can find it in the DC area.

I've heard a 5 min fresh water dip will cause the ich to drop off right away but of course when you put the tang back in the infected tank new ich will reattach. Some have argued the stress of the dip has its downside.

I know someone who put replacement sand n their tank not too long ago and it introduced marine velvet disease and wiped out the fish in his tank. Could it be something in the sand? (It wouldn't have to be something big or visible in the sand to cause a trate spike.)

They're going to set up a big new exhibit on the oceans for next September including an 1800 and 1500 G tanks http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080424/ap_on_...RJOnuUp66n737YB

The reef may be coming back but the article said there were a lot of corals that didn't some back.

Assume I ask the LFS to put extra water in the bag and keep the temperature around 70 something, how long can a fish last in one of those bags? (I may get some fish outside the DC area.)

The biocube 29 stock pump is 316 GPH. Chemipure comes in a nylon bag. I'm rinsing it a lot and wrapping it in polyester. I gotta say, although I've heard many wear by chemi-pure, it just looks like plain old carbon to me.

I've heard many people swear by chemi-pure which is supposedly super carbon. The directions say "rinse lightly". I rinsed it a lot and put it in my tank. The tank clouds up and my filter floss turns black. I change it once an hour for some time. Anyone had a similar experience using this stuff? I'm thinking you need to rinse the H-E-double hocky sticks out of it and wrap it in filter floss.

Consider 6 to 7 watts per gallon if you want advanced corals or anemones.

I have the biocube 29G and its good. I paid $250 with discount at superpets. The red sea cube for about the same size is better but cost more, approx. $800. The red sea has (and the oceanic biocube doesn't) a hinged hood, skimmer, ceramic filter, heater, 2 heads for better flow, and a couple other things.