Stu

I used black sand on a ricordea garden nano I kept a few years ago. It looked amazing at first and really made the corals pop. Over time, though, pieces of live rock, detritus, hermit shells, epoxy from frags, and basically any small pieces of rubble (which were usually white, grayish, or coralline purple) would accumulate on the sand. It became a real pain to keep it clean. I would only do it if you know you're going to be dedicated enough to pick or siphon those little bits off on a regular basis.

Bruce, your tank seems to have good flow, but I will echo lack of flow as a culprit. I have seen acro colonies RTN starting at the base if flow is limited in that area.

Not sure about fish, but I think a 10 gal. is a perfect tank for a zoa/yuma/ricordea garden. In a tank that small, once everything fills in, it will look like a big colorful blanket. A smaller version of this tank comes to mind: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/totm/index.php

That's a great idea. Mine is a dual meter. I never really saw the use of the first reading (other than to inform me of the fact that my tap water has a lot of TDS). It's still going to be filtered out, just a matter of how often the media/filters are used up. Any idea what a reasonable TDS level is post-membrane, but pre-DI?

I have an inline TDS meter and go by that reading, but I was just curious about the rapid color change compared with the last one I used. I was a little worried that the membrane wasn't operating optimally and the DI resin was working overtime to make up for it (hence the quicker color change).

I recently purchased some color-changing DI resin from Bulk Reef Supply. The color (and I would guess effective "lifetime") of this stuff seems to be changing very quickly. My RO unit is not plumbed into my water line. Due to lack of storage space, I run it with a faucet/spigot adapter and fill up 5 gal. jugs. The previous color changing resin I had changed color slowly, and it lasted for a number of months. So far, I have made about 50 gallons or less with this stuff, and the color-changing line is already about 1/3 of the way up the cartridge. Is this normal? I just replaced the prefilter and carbon filter in the first 2 stages, and the membrane is only about 6 months old with relatively light use.

I think 1/4" is the best for all but the smallest fish (trimma gobies, etc). It keeps fish in and allows light in as well. Check out Bulk Reef Supply. They carry the mesh and DIY kits for an entire screen lid.

Very easy to make. Just get the screen kit at Home Depot; it's cheap. I got white and spray painted the whole thing black before installing the mesh. The only thing you should need is a hacksaw and some sort of splining tool to push the screen into the frame. For me, it was easy to use a flathead screwdriver.

I figured some type of milli was a prime candidate. Only problem is this space is about 1/2way up the tank, and millis have traditionally done better up at the top for me. What about cyphastrea?

I have a spot on my rockwork that is unavoidably right in front of my Vortech MP20. The rock is about 6" away. While the Vortech does a good job of sending out a wide and intermittent flow pattern, this area still receives a LOT of flow. Rather than just keeping the rock bare, I'd like to put a piece of SPS there that may do alright. Anyone have any SPS that has done well right in front of a powerhead (keeping in mind that the flow is pretty direct and uni-directional)?

Does anyone know if there is a central database/website, etc. that details the lighting/flow requirements of various corals, particularly SPS? I'm in the process of restocking my tank and I want to make sure I place high light SPS at the highest points in my tank and lower-light SPS at lower points to bring out the best color and growth. Most commercial sites like liveaquaria seem to not be very specific, and basically just say that all SPS are high light without going into much detail about how "high light" they are. Besides checking message boards and doing Google searches, is there somewhere I can find this info in one location? For example, milli vs. tenuis, encrusting monti vs. plating monti, pocillopora vs. stylophora, etc.

This may or may not be what you're looking for, but I mounted one of these to the back of my stand in order to minimize power strip clutter: http://www.amazon.com/American-DJ-PC-100A-Channel-Lighted/dp/B0002GL50Q While my hardware requiring automation is plugged into my DC8, everything else is plugged into the DJ strip. It has a low profile and the lighted switches are very convenient for on/off applications like pumping water change h20 into the tank. I got mine at the Guitar Center at 7 Corners in Falls Church.

Welcome!

Thanks for the offer Steve. I lost a softball-sized colony of tri color that I got from you as a frag a while ago I forgot to mention in my initial post that I believe I may have had a reaction to palytoxin similar to what you experienced (okay, my lung didn't collapse!). When I was first assessing the damage, I walked over to the tank and (probably stupidly) took a sniff to see how foul the water was. Within about 10 minutes my throat began to swell up and feel very sore. Over the next two days, I experienced very flu-like symptoms (chills, congestion, sore throat). My dog was also acting very weak and lethargic. It may just be a coincidence, but the fact that these symptoms occurred right after inhaling what i think were either ammonia fumes or some remnant of palytoxin seems like it may have been more than coincidence.

Bob, Your sunset monti was one of the nicest corals in the tank. BRIGHT orange and neon green polyps. That piece was gorgeous. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been really impressed with the resilience of my tank. After the initial water changes and basically getting the dead stuff out, I have noticed one thing in particular: chaeto growth in the refugium has exploded. I have been taking out a handful every couple of days. I believe it's sucking up nutrients at a very high rate, and has taken my tank from a cesspool to a clean system (the initial algal bloom is gone and parameters are back to normal) very quickly. I also can't count out the value of my skimmer and water changes, but I think nutrient export via the chaeto has been key in getting this under control.

Back siphoning wasn't the issue, as I made sure the outlet was zip tied on above the sump (I was worried about the same problem you mentioned). In other good news, it appears a few phoenixes are rising from the ashes. Looks like my grandis palys and a few little zoos made it. I imagine they expelled most or all of their zooxanthellae, so it will probably take a while for them to color back up. But encouraging nonetheless!

Thanks for all the kind words and offers to help, guys. If I can find one silver lining in this, it's that I have a fresh canvas for coral placement. I custom made my rockwork with the intent of showcasing just a handful of nice coral colonies (minimizing clutter). Over time, I got away from this (as many obsessed reefkeepers do) and found myself picking up "just one more frag" again and again. As a result, a lot of my SPS was growing into each other and crowding the tank. Hopefully this will allow me to re-implement this original vision.

Everyone who has been in the hobby long enough seems to have a defining tank horror story when Murphy's Law finally catches up. I got my story two weeks ago when I came home from a long Christmas vacation. I left for Florida on Dec. 16th, after having triple checked all my equipment, cleaning the tank spotless, and making sure all the fish/coral were fat and happy. I have two roommates, and both seemingly knew enough to get by for the 2 1/2 weeks that I would be gone. So I checked in every couple of days to make sure all was well, and got good reports. One roommate was feeding the fish every other day, and when he left for Christmas, the other took up where he left off. I checked in with him every other day or so, and heard that all was well. The last time I checked with him was the night before I came home. "Yeah, the glass looks pretty grimy, but everything seems fine. I've been feeding the fish a pinch of flakes like you said every other day." I thought to myself, "Okay, I'm sure there's a good deal of regular slime algae on the glass after 2 weeks without a mag float scrubbing. No problem. Glad the tank made it through a relatively long period away." Next day, 10 PM, after a long drive up I-95. I walked up the stairs to my bedroom, eager to check on the tank. About halfway up, I noticed the strong smell of something akin to a mangrove swamp. I walked in, and have literally never seen anything like it. The water level was a good 3 or 4 inches below the overflow, the SPS colonies at the very top of the tank were bleach white and out of the water. The parts that were submerged were also dead but covered in algae. My derasa clam was a shell with a big pile of mush inside; my beautiful mystery wrasse, flame hawk, percula clown, and yellowtail damsel were rotting on the sandbed. Long strings of mucous coming out of snail shells and sloughing off LPS skeletons. My entire tank was dead. Everything. I looked at the top off container, and it was nearly full of water. I'm pretty sure the top off failed somewhere about halfway through my vacation, and water just didn't get to the display tank. Once water wasn't getting to the display tank, I'm not sure if everything froze (with the heater being in the sump) or fouled from hypersalinity with all the evaporation. What still baffles me is that my roommate continued to feed the tank while fish and inverts decomposed on the bottom of the tank. Ironically, the part that upsets me the most is not the loss of the "name brand" corals. Those are all replaceable. It's those one-of-a-kind random pieces picked up over the years that I doubt I will ever be able to find again. That, and seeing a dead colony that was grown from a 1/2" frag. So besides a little post-mortem venting, I am writing this to reinforce two things: 1. Tank automation can and will fail at some point, regardless of how many backups are in place Which leads me to my next point... 2. ASK SOMEONE FROM THE CLUB TO WATCH YOUR TANK. If I had simply asked one of the many great people who I have met through WAMAS to check on the tank, none of this would have happened. I had read similar stories before, never really thinking it would happen. Never did I imagine that a tank filled with a cloud of microbubbles or the nastiest ammonia smell you can imagine would be disregarded as normal. WAMAS members know how to operate skimmers, pumps, top offs, etc. In my case, all it would have taken was the flip of a switch to re-engage the top off. In my experience, the greatest part of WAMAS has been the generosity of its members and people's willingness to help. Make sure before you leave town to get someone to keep an eye on your prized possession. **The tank crash was actually not a total loss. Five brave blue-leg hermits toughed it out (and have been happily feasting on the resulting algal bloom)

Hunter, if you have room, I find it's best to put a heater in a baffle/bubble trap because the water level never drops below the top of the last spillover piece of acrylic/glass. If you leave it in the last chamber, you always have to worry about water level fluctuation.

I'll echo other people's comments on how nice all the open space looks. Love the canyon/passthrough look too. Once the cap and the acros plate out into the space, it'll look really dramatic. It reminds me of the canyon look from Oregon Reef: http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_aquascaping.htm

I got a new ph probe from BRS, and I'm wondering about installation. When people say that ph probes have to stay wet, does that mean that I will be okay for the 2 seconds it takes to take the wrapping off and put it in my sump? Is there some special process to this?

Excuse my ignorance, but is the cloudy water an indicator of a bacterial bloom?

I was under the impression that the pellets were white. What is causing the pink color in the picture?

I'll take the zoa rock if not spoken for. Tried to PM, but your inbox is full.

I was going to use refillable cartridges that DI resin usually goes in. Was going to put more porous sponges in to allow for good flow. I also saw a similar DIY on RC using some sort of plastic mesh, cut in a circle. I figured that with the media cartridges, water would be forced up through the cartridge and there would be enough tumbling. I don't want to spend 7 bucks a pop plus shipping on these, so I may have to temporarily borrow my DI cartridge out of my RO unit, empty the resin, and see if it will work with GFO or carbon. Also, I checked and the holes are either 3/8" or 1/2", not 1/4". I wouldn't be going to all this trouble if I didn't have all of this stuff on hand (with the exception of the media cartridges), but it appears that I already have everything else and it's worth a shot. If it doesn't work, I'll just get the BRS one and be a little bit smarter when it comes to DIY.