elbowdeep88

Great writeup. How long has it been retracted? Is it possible that the septa were bare before but you just didnt notice dt the PE? If the tissue is actually receeding obviously that isn't good but common with new acquisitions, and not necessarily an emergency. In my experience, too much light, too much flow, and low pH have most often caused issues for my bubbles. I had a tank where pH had fallen to 7.5 and all my Eyuphilla started receeding despite great feeding. If there was somehow physical damage (possibly caused by high flow/irritation/transportation) you may want to check for infection. If you consider this a possibility you could just shake it gently underwater to make it retract and pull it out of the water and sniff it. Dip if needed.

Ive got the pro three for work and like it a lot. Even handles lite video editing like a champ.

Cant say Ive ever seen a Euphyllia creep up the wall like that. Nice tank.

Agree w PK3. If the sun is hitting your garage it will likely be too extreem unless you put in a heat/ac unit for the garage. How hot was it in there yesterday when it was 98* outside?

Paul, I just got this out of office message. Are you secretly a big-wig in DC, or do you have a clone? In an attempt to relive my youth, I will be on a road trip with my wife through Friday, Jul 31st. Unlike my youth, I will be driving an SUV rather than my Corvette, I will have to stop on the hour for the bathroom, and there is no longer much hair for the wind to blow through. Dinner will be the early bird special instead of midnight, I will be sinking my teeth into polident rather than a steak, and I will be alseep by 8 rather than dancing the night away. In truth, we are off to see our new granddaughter, Vilolet, to which no youthful adventure could even come close to for fun or excitement.

Plenty of them are on tranship lists. LFS dont bring them in because of lack of demand and difficult/unknown/specialized care. Ill bet an established LFS like BRK could get you a nice assortment over a few weeks.

Awesome! Following along

Cant wait to buy your book so we can have an awesome DIY reference to pair with your methodologies/recommendations. Will it be out in time for Christmas?

I think it's less about trace and macro elements (the ones we measure) and more about disolved organics and microfauna (phyto and the like). On reefs, the food chain starts with the "dust" that makes the water cloudy or discolored at times. We sacrifice that for clarity and to help control the things we can measure-like nitrates.

Ask walt at seahorse conservancy

Ok I am just throwing this out there. Don't these "reproduce" primarily by fragmentation/regeneration? I think they have segments or something and if broken can grow a new worm. So since your feeding and water regimine is clearly working, what if you took out a scoop of worms and put them in the blender for less than a second and dumped them back in? Or just use a powerhead for water circ to promote fragmentation. I would think that these methods could increase your pop faster, like manual anemone splitting.

Wow awesome! How long have you had the bluestripes again? Maybe they liked your sandstorm afterall. Or the new LEDs. Or the hammer. Or cucumber. Or supermodel pinup in your workshop. Suppose it could be the foods too...

Isnt there a biologist on here who studies macro algaes? I thought I remember someone asking for scrapings for cell studies or something.

And the sandpaper

Do you ship them with the little corks on the horns?

Paul B?

Time of year also has a large effect on death rate. Snow delays flights in the winter. And the slightest delay in the summer can allow the water to get so hot. Heat is worse than cold for most of these critters (ex 60 is survivable short term, 100 isnt). Spring and fall are the best times to ship.

I am inclined to agree wholeheartedly Paul. Nature does it best. Another question: if we can assume that a fish from a LFS has been through all sorts of chemicals and rough handling in the shipping process and is likely no where close to optimal health, why don't they croak immediately upon introduction to your germ cesspool that has slowly built immunity in your fish? In other words, would it be better to start a new fish in "clean" water and slowly add in your tank water so that it can build its defenses back up? Or does it still have good immunity since it was probably in the ocean a few days/weeks prior?

Great perspective. That makes sense. Like allowing children to play in the mud vs sanitizing them every 2 seconds. "Sterile" kids don't seem to get sick often, but when they do it tends to be serious. So when you put in your natural water, is it 5 gal in a 150gal system once a year? Do you have a schedule or just a gallon or two every once in a while?

I will buy it for sure. Interested in your DIY but even more so in your natural philosophy to reefkeeping. The biological and ecological over chemical and mechanical manipulation approachs. So I hope there is an intro chapter that talks about that stuff. One thing Ive always wondered is how you feel comfortable tossing in so much stuff from local waters. I absolutely see the value in the microfauna and biodiversity, but you dont worry about pollutants or strange viruses or pathogens? I assume you scout out clean collection areas, but what about bad biologics? Does the difference in water temp help kill off bad stuff? But that would kill good stuff too? I like the idea of throwing in some rubble rock from the bay or atlantic, I see great potential for benefits...but what about that one off chance of disaster as a result?

Stunning tank. Cool videos. How are you doing with the 30" height?

I think it had very little to do with water params and a lot to do with the light. Maybe it came from an area of the sales tank that wasnt receiving much light (like near the edges-which are often deceptively dim) or the ric and hammer were just more tolerant. There are lots of recommendations as to how to best light acclimate corals without having to reduce total light in the tank, but if you get several new corals at once that might be easiest. Watch the other new corals and/or consider moving them down and toward dim areas. Sorry to hear-it looked nice. Good luck.

Hows it doing?

Hard to tell in the pic but to me it looks like the tissue has receded toward the edges. I've seen acans shrivle, but this reminds me of when scollys and cynarinas recede from the mouth outward and die. If this is the case, and it happened rapidly, it is often caused by flash frying w high light IME. Is that skeleton we see (the white at the center of the head)?

Is it just the big head w issues? Are the little ones showing same signs? Make aure you arent giving it too much light.