firecrackerbob

ahhh.. that explains it, i was really trying to figure that out!!! thats a great idea... might have to do that next time

is that just the glass bare bottom or did you put down plastic? hard to tell from the pic, but your tank looks awsome BTW

So I know this is an old thread of mine, but I thought I would add some updates for anyone here who might run across this stuff. My final verdict is in- there is only one thing that eats this stuff- turbo snails from the pacific ( which Dr Macs just so happens to sell). Here is a thread from the Delaware reef club that I have been writing for a while ( I moved closer to De from Annapolis a few years ago) that has some great links on the stuff and more details about my experience with fighting this stuff. http://delreefclub.org/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=28&topic=9046.0

hehe... when i was writing the above it crossed my mind that Paul B wouldnt bother with that...lol. the only reason I do is because I bought a ph probe fairly early on. all i have to do is press a button and get a readout. im too lazy to do much more. its nice to know with my kalk dosing though.

tech- sure- I have a 75 rr, with T5 and 2x250 MH running over it. Im currently skimming and running GFO as algaes are getting a little out of controll. before recently though I just ran cheato for about 2yrs. I really dont check any of my parameters other than PH. over years of expereince, ive found if my PH is good then *most* other parameters tend to fall in line. im currently running at a PH of about 8.2. I dont dose any supplements, or really do any water changes. I just top off with kalk water. lately I have been dosing vinegar as well, again, to work on the algae issue. with that said, I have no fish in the tank right now as they all got wiped out by this spring. im more of a coral guy anyway, so at this point I really dont care if I have fish in there or not. might try some clowns again this winter though... as far as the corals that are doing well-zoos, toadstools, sinularias, colt, frogspawns, finger leathers, encrusting gorgonian and gsp. Shrooms in my tank dont seem to be flourising. my cabbage corals dont seem to be growing. ive never been able to grow xenia for some reason. i even have a coplue of old sps frags from way back that are slowly growing out. my tank is slowly being taken ove by neon green sinularia. small ends keep getting pulled into powerheads and get fragged off then reattach reandomly in the tank. so far its looking pretty cool, but I will eventually have to trim them back.

FWIW, when I started in the hobby I had all sorts of mixed corals. when my SPS was doing well and had pristine water, my softies and LPS seemed to suffer. as time went on and I no longer had time to keep great conditions ( kids, commute...) along with numerous moves, I got out of SPS. now all I have is LPS and softies. I only do a water change once a year or so and the corals are growing like crazy. I like the Paul B methods of hands off management. I try to keep the tank only clean enough to keep problem algaes from overrunning, anything better seems to slow the coral growth in my tank... just my .02

I swore I wouldnt get into another one of these, but... heres my reasons for disliking LED 1) I think they look like crap. LED is getting better looking to be fair, but personally HM/actinic-VHO or MH/T5 always looks better to me. in fact, whenver I see a tank with LED my first thought is wow that tank would look so much better with different lights. 2) I dispute the cost savings. in this area too LED is getting better, but I think the claim that has been made that you will save $10,000 if you switch to LED is bunk. 3)I dont want to deal with any coral acclimation issues. in other words it aint broke and nothing needs fixing. let me be clear that I think LED can work just fine. if you like the way they look good for you. I wont say that I will NEVER run them, but I will say I would probably leave the hobby if it was my only choice.

I dont want to sound creepy or anything, but after about 10yrs in the hobby and reading many of Pauls awsome posts, I always kinda wondered what you looked like. Thank you Paul for your many years of contributions to the hobby!

2lbs is a huge volume of gas. im not surprised by the graph. just out of curiosity, is your house newer (better insulated/sealed) or older? also, how close is your tank to the sink you dropped the ice into?

yea, test kit is probably spent.... are you topping off with RO or tap water?

havent tried that one, but just ordered from 1000bulbs- color was a little off from advertised, but their 20k looks pretty good(more like 14k at best), but still a good buy IMHO

Ive been in the aquarium hobby for my whole life (though not as long as PauB), and can say that there is no one simple answer. it depends on your system, how heavily stocked your tank is, what kind of filtration you use, ect, etc.... BUT, I would say this in general- if you want to do a top of the line SPS tank you probably should be doing some regular water changes. Like at least a 50% once a month. If you want to do a Softie/LPS tank(depending on your exact corals), you are probably better off doing fewer water changes. as for me, I have two young kids and a million other responsibilities. I am currently running a softie\LPS tank and dont do water changes. my corals look great and are growing like weeds... just depends on how you want to look at it...

heh... dont worry, I rarely hear about people getting it. I have no clue how it ended up in my tank. pulling by hand keeps it in check, butnothing seems to want to eat it, so it never really goes away... I noticed when I stopped dosing iron (for my fuge) that its growth was severly hampered...

For thse who havent seen red hair algea heres a couple of pics: http://www.marineaquariumsa.com/showthread.php?t=13813 this stuff is the devil... ive tried it all. believe me, ive been in this hobby for about 10yrs and dealt with it all, but this stuff never seems to go away...

thanks, Ive heard good things about sea hares... maybe I will finally give one a shot!

So its time to reorder my CUC. My tank has become recently infested with Green hair algae and has always had a problem with red hair algae. Ive found that the standard mix of red legs, blue legs, astrea, scarlets and nerites does pretty good for everything except red hair algae... Does anyone have any ideas for combating RHA !?!?! some have reccomended sea hares or lettuce nudis, but ive never tried.....

all i can say here is wow.... guess its time to stock up. As if I didnt have enough to think about with the maryland gun bans on Oct 1....

I love em all too!!! I would say this, if you want an sps tank than I would stay away from all or most of these. that said, if you like a softie or LPS tank (like me) go for it... but everyones results may vary... interesting about the coming bans... does anyone have a link to the final list?

im cycling a second tank right now- its just getting topped off when needed and I threw some cheato in there with a grow light over it... I havent and wont check levels till all the funk in there dies off- probably 2mo or so... but thats just how i roll.

Im gonna briefly chime in here- ive wasted too many hours debating this on forums to care about changing peoples minds at this point, but I will say this- I'm a chemical engineer with access to Agilent 1200 series LC\mass spec and GC\mass spec. I purchased a el-cheapo ebay RODI system from aquasafe systems for 100$. Out of the box my TDS was zero. I took a sample in of tap water, RO water, and RODI water and ran it on LC\mass spec and GC\mass spec. The RODI water showed only one peak (which I attributed to the resin) that was much beyond the limit of detection of the instrument. Ive posed this question numerous times with very weak responses- If I cannot get a impurity beyond the LOD of my instruments why would I buy a more expensive RODI unit? My system has been in service for over 10yrs with no problems providing both drinking and aquarium water. People can spend what they want and fall for the gimmicks of RODI sales companies if they want, but I have yet to see them provide any science to back their claims. As for me, I would recommend the el-cheapo to anyone… Out

thanks!... yea thats about what I thought from your thread that you posted. I decided for the price I would give both the 14K and 20K a shot. Im switching back from pure t5 to t5/MH. I have XM 10K over top but always used VHO actinic and T5 blue plus to blue it up a little from the yellow... im hoping that one of these bulbs will do about that without suplementation.

Sweet! thanks for the replies!!! this is why I love this forum!

Its time to get some new MH bulbs... saw this a while back and have thought about giving them a try... anyone have any experince? http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/8023/MHS-02502404.html

thanks for the replies everyone! yes, I should have been more specific- I am mainly just talking about the common blue\green. though I have tried reef cromis ( I think they were called) before as well. Ive tried them in a 20, numerous times in a 55 and currently bought a couple for my 75. within two days one croaked. the other seems very happy. I have had similar experiences to most of you I guess... it has just alway seemed strange to me! Ive kept damsels, clowns, and dottybacks for years without problems... ive always wanted to have a school of them, but such is life I suppose...too bad damsels behave the way they do, I would gladly get them again if they werent so obnoxious

Ive had tanks for about 10yrs now. ive had ups and downs with the hobby, times when the tank looekd better than others, fish that have lived for months and fish that have lived for many years... one thing seems to remain constant though- chromis dont seem to do well in my tanks... as in they usually die within 2mo of putting them in... what the heck am I missing here? I know thats pretty general, but any thoughts?