Chad

Stomatella snails are awesome by the way... With a bonus that they reproduce prolifically in aquariums A couple of weeks ago I was watching my tank after the lights had gone out and was lucky enough to witness a mass spawning of them. At more or less the same time they all climbed to high points on the rocks, stood almost upright (hard to believe a snail could support themselves with such a small portion of their foot on the rock) and emitted cloudy spurts into the water column. It was cool

I like asterina stars, although I have occasionally seen them increase to pretty large populations. There is also information the linkia stars eat them, I saw some pictures of this a few months back on RC. Likely there are several different species, each with their own dietary needs (some that dine on coral), but I have not had a problem with them in any of my tanks or the tanks that I have maintained (in fact, I wish I had more of them in my current tank!), perhaps I have been luck to get the happy detrivore versions!

haha, that sounds like what I do take 100 shots to get 1-2 decent ones!! No problem, it gives me an excuse to play even though my pics are usually not anywhere near those a decent photographer takes!

I dont think I am on the same stage as some of the other folks around! But I will play anyway! Taken by me in my 60 gallon DT with a P&S Cannon SD850. Yellow sun coral.

haha, happy Easter to you too!

Ok, I know the obvious answer of get a new camera (Im working on it, but I probably wont get around to it until later this year)... At the moment I have a cannon SD850 (decent point and shoot) and I was curious if anyone is taking good actinic pictures without a DSLR, and what settings they are using. Thanks!

It may be the same thing, just a small cylindrical sanding bit

I have used course garnet sanding bits on a dremel to sand glass to a larger hole. This works, but go REALLY slowly, lubricate with water it if possible, and wear safetly goggles.

Various things (certain fish, crabs, shrimp, etc.) eat them, or when stressed, they can leave their tubes. They are able to make another one, but IME, when they leave their tubes they are usually done for.

haha, I dont know, let me go do a Topeka search on it...

In general, organic nutrients are those that have carbon based molocules (carbohydrates, proteins, sugars etc.) attached to them. Inorganic nutrients are those without carbon based molocules (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, silicate, etc.).

I read that link that Jan posted, it is about clams in general (the picture of clam anatomy doesn

Great picture!! Congratulations!

I think there is a clarification to be made here, tridacnid clams are different from other clams because of their zooxanthellae. If tridacnids do not reduce nitrate and ammonia, why would commercial aquaculture methods add it to growout systems? Most clams are not that different from other organisms we add to our tanks in terms of food goes in ammonia goes out to be dealt with. However, the zooxanthellae processes the inorganic nitrate and ammonia (ammonia preferentially). Yes, the clam produces ammonia, but the zooxanthellae uses some of it. It is a question of out vs. in, tridacnids (with their zooxanthellae) use more nitrate and ammonia than they produce (which is why we so often hear that tridacnids greater than 2" need to be fed... as a side note, the tridacnids are not born with zooxanthellae, they need up ingest it, hence feeding smaller clams). What I am not sure of is how many clams would be necessary to effectively reduce nitrate in a home aquarium. I would venture to guess the number to be more than most of us keep; however, I agree that it is just another benefit to having these beautiful organisms in our system. Here are some sources that state this: http://www.sciencedi...ae03b46a3c3f873 http://animal-world....ms/tridacna.htm http://etd.fcla.edu/...12200/alo_m.pdf

Either July 10 or 31, I dont think the date has been finalized yet :D Im still driving out there this Saturday though if anyone wants to go

I agree with Sikryd I would go with Vortechs. PHs pros More efficient, usually and more flow for the size cons can be bulky CL pros Can be made to be almost invisible to the total setup cons not very efficient, generally energy hogs.

Here are a couple that I have, though the sand and vortech may not be useful in the end. Hamilton reefstar 250w MH with ballast Sand and vortech

Now I am extra excited to go this weekend!!

Hi Bob, glad to see you here!

On your live rock quality question, IMO, the highest quality live rock is in the ocean a day or two before you get it or someone elses tank for more than a couple of years. This drastically reduces the die-off when you put it in your tank. There are a couple of good suppliers like this out there (tampa bay saltwater is one of them but there are a few others as well). A disadvantage of getting rock this way, though, is that you will probably have some pests arrive on the rock that you will have to deal with (the worst of which is probably mantis shrimp).

You are right that DT's wont work for starting a culture, but it is because it is multiple types of phyto (three) that are mixed together prior to bottling. However, it is a live product.

I use phyto every day and have tried a bunch of different types. I think the best is phycapure (ordered from Dr. Rhoades at livecopepods.com), although it is a bit expensive at $100 for 4 16 oz packages. DTs is my backup, is available locally at most of the LFS, and is a little bit cheaper (usually $45 for 32 oz). DTs is also more concentrated than the phycapure so it lasts longer because you dont need as much. Phycapure is one of the few that has T. iso, Pavlova and Rhodamonas, if that is important for you. For your clam, though, DTs will work just fine and would be my recommendation.

That is wonderful news! I had heard a snippet a few months back that this was pending, it is great!

looks like it is cool, cant wait to see what the sketchup images translated into!

^I second this... it seems some zoas exhibit a feeding response for particular sized food. You could try isolating the zoa with the top of a 2 liter bottle covering the zoa and experimenting with different foods.