Sikryd

I HATE looking at corals online sometimes!!! Merry Xmas to me though - I have been looking for a NICE Scoly - This one I call Bleeding Apple Sunrise Its awesome how it is both a bleeding apple and another scoly. First one I have ever seen like it.

Thanks - Nope. All I have is the DM porites as far as hard corals go (I'd don't see how it made it through the heater breakage?!?!) I haven't had time to run around and pick stuff up. With a daughter on the way, I've been busy finishing the basement and getting things ready for her. It has also helped re-allocated my $ too I plan on picking things up here and there, but nothing like the collection I had before. Mainly just stuff from buddies and other reefers I know. That, and I'll only be keeping 1/10th of the SPS I had before (100+) - too much crap to keep track of!

To "feel" pain there has to be a brain attached to interpret the electrical sensations sent out by the nervous system.

Khanh - I had had my best luck by putting the new fish in a specimen container inside the tank for a couple days to house the new fish. Now for an achillies that might not be possible unless you can find something big enough. What usually happens is they will "fight" throught the plexi and finally get tired of not being able to beat each other up. With that being said, I haven't tried it with two of the most dominant tangs of the same shape. If it was me, I would add it like I do with the specimen container if possible. Then re-aquascape somewhat, and add at night. OR - if it is possible to catch the powder blue, I would pull him out for a couple days, re-aquascape, then add them together on the same night. All of these seem like a lot of work, but both of those tangs are known to be bullheaded and fight for territory. The achilles also doesn't have the best captivity rate. Not to mention the price. So I would spend a lot of time figuring out how to best do it even if it meant a lot of work. BTW - I am JEALOUS as can be!!!! I can't wait for the new tank. I'll be adding an Achilles as the first new fish in it Good luck Chad PS I have 150g stock tank if you want to borrow it to get them used to each other. You can put eggcrate in the middle so they can't fight each other but can see each other at least. You can also use it to house them together while you re-aquascape and get them ready to put in at the same time.

I figured it has been a while so I'd add some pics of my fishies. The only Flame Wrasse I have left. He eats out of my hand and won't stop checking out the camera to get a good picture! Pink Margin This is the best looking Tang I have had! It has peach in its fins. The contrast makes him our favorite! Lubbocks Saying Hi Here are a couple pictures I got of corals when I was getting the fish pictures - BGM or something- (I'd have to flip it over to check what I wrote on the frag disc) PPE Gold Dust Soprano style - They've been neglected in the shade and in a corner. I just moved them up into some light today Los Clementines/Florida Gators - I thought I lost this when the heater broke. I found it today on a frag plug that fell off my rack! Woohoo - from the sound of it, I'm the only one that has one that survived from when they came in. It'll be nice to see how it looks in a month or two. (Bad picture since it is partially shaded - I don't want to shock it) I just noticed there is a 2nd polyp on the right side ))) __________________

+1

I cut an acrylic cover and painted it black. Pictures are in my tank build thread.

Do you have any pictures or a link to the RC Thread?

Just ask the pharmacy at CVS for diabetic needles - thats what I did

I've had mixed results. I think a lot of the time it is just that I "tended" to them vs. leaving them in the same spot, ect.

I missed seeing those - Thanks Chris!

So are the prices though

Tank is looking awesome!

^^^^ +1 Coraline also sucks up a lot of calcium

The first picture.

Sweet DIY! Great par readings. It'll be nice to see the progress of LED's in the hobby to the point where there are some REALLY slick looking lighting setups that provide the same spectrum and growth of MH's. Its guys like you doing this stuff on the side to come up with other viable options...

I have a maxijet in mine and turn it on if I add kalk to the topoff.

+1 - After I lost all my sps due to the heater breakage, I cut dosing brightwells (same concept) and my LPS/Zoas are growing great! (water is "dirtier) Natural control of nutrient export seems to work a lot better for me than chemclean and the like. I have a little algae now that I never had since I stopped dosing. So I assume once I resume dosing the algae will go away.

+1 It should get bright light blue tips too.

Glad to hear things are at least looking up. Hopefully all turns out well. I guess you wouldn't recommend doing business with them again? lol Good luck, It'll be nice to see it come in and be perfect.

My nitrates were ~20 when I had SPS (prior to the heater breakage that caused ALL of their demise :( ) ORP is in the same range as yours. NO's in that range I would think would be less of an issue I would think, but who knows. Like you said this hobby is a mystery sometimes. What one person does in their tank and the results they get, can be totally different in another IDENTICAL tank and setup. Just par for the course in this hobby. It'll be nice to see what changes you make and where it gets you. Everything I have read on LN systems is to keep the ALK in the 7-8ish range though, but who knows really since there are VERY, VERY true ULN's out there, and even when they are done right the results differ. I also don't like the stability issues some people seem to have, so I have been running a partial brightwell system. With the new tank, I'll probably ditch it altogether since I don't see any super distinguishing results that can justify the costs. Not to mention it will be one less thing I will have to maintain or dose. I'll have to check out RC (I don't get on there much), to see what they have to say on there. I assume you put a thread up there too?

Your parameters are exactly the same as mine are btw - except for my alk has always been in the 7-8 range. The bright blues on my tenius's were usually what people commented on, so I am assuming that would be a good place to start.

I've been doing Brightwells MB and Fuel I wouldn't imagine you would have "burnt" tips if it has been kept at 12. Just like a lot of guys have good results running their alk in that range with decent-good coloration. The burnt tips usually won't happen if it has been kept that high. I forget where I read it, but there was an article on ULN systems and running alk on the lower scale for some reason. I'm just guessing that might have something to do with your lack of vibrance in your blues. I don't run a calcium reactor or kalk so I can't really give you any good personal experience on the best way to lower the alk.

Alkalinity that high running any kind of LN system will cause the tips to burn and the blues to not come out as much. 10 to 1 says that if you lower your alk to the 8-9ish range you should have better luck. I highly doubt that you will have much if any changes to your blues from the photoperiod. Photoinibition happens a lot sooner (3-4 hours is sometimes enough) than people think. Just because a coral is in light for a long duration, doesn't mean that it is as intense as our lights, or that they use it all. That and I would check your par levels. When I had lower par levels (<300) my blues weren't as nice and vibrant as when I had them in >400 par. It'll be interesting to see how you get them to come back since I had some of the same issues awhile back and solved it using potassium, although my levels where low already, and my alk was in the recommended 7-9 range using LN (ie. vodka/brightwells)

How are you liking the lighting you have on it now? I'm trying to figure out what will work good on my custom. Still undecided on size till I get the basement finished, but something like 48"x36"x24" (180g) I'm wondering if your lighting setup would work on it?