ohaverd

ya he's doing amazingly now, my new foxface even taught him how to eat off a seaweed clip! Thanks for all the advice everyone.

nice, I didnt see that guy when I went, I must have missed him... When you get him nice and acclimated post us a pic!

ya I thought of that too Dave, what the schematic doesn't show is the ridiculously messy closed loop system, its got four returns all run off of a dart. I've all ready got this thing complicated as heck, I'm trying to find the cheapest/safe/easiest solution, without my wife going bat crap crazy on me for buying another pump. isn't it just as dangerous if you used a pump to get the water from the sump to the frag tank? It still has to have an overflow back to the sump. if the overflow gets clogged, the pump will just keep filling the frag tank up until the sump is empty. I think I will drill the return on the frag tank and use a standard box overflow. hmm, maybe drill two holes, one that is higher than the other incase the lower one gets clogged?

ya that's what I'm afraid of, though I did run an eshoppes overflow for over a year, and they are pretty well made. I never had a problem with it, but you are right. If it got clogged with something, it would cause a flood.

Well whataya know... the little booger started eating yesterday, and did it again today! I noticed a more "garlicy" smelling chunk of Jan's food then normal yesterday, so when I dumped it in, he started pulling pieces into his mouth and spitting it out, and then started eating some of the pieces. And today he just went nuts and ate a lot! woot! for Jan's food!

quick question about the schematic above. I am thinking about adding the frag tank "red" like this... Does anyone have theirs setup like this using only gravity? That way I don't have to buy another return pump. What do you guys suggest?

I think everything seems pretty doable, but I'd go with Jan's reef blend instead of the Chef from Belgium... I hear she chooses her mysis the exact same way.

Wow, just realized how much of a D-bag I sounded on that post... No disrespect to mechanics, I was merely referencing the earlier posts in this thread.

155, they were about 3" long. they looked healthy too, and were eating whatever was floating in the tank. I was in casual business attire and accidently left my government laniard around my neck. maybe go in there with a mechanic shirt and get it for 100 lol.

Finally broke down and took the trip there yesterday during lunch. Just as previously stated... Dirty, but a great selection of fish. They have 3 purple tangs right now but I'm still not letting myself buy one yet. I made myself a promise not to buy an expensive fish until my tank is at least a year old.

Ya I feed Jan's Reef Blend. It sends the Kole Eye into a feeding frenzy but just keeps swimming up and down. I think the only thing that is keeping this guy alive is the unusal amounts of liverock and algae that are in my tank, I'm the wierdo that built the "reef cave" out of foam rock walls... I think I might have to go with Zygote2k on this one, he is just not aclimating to captive life. This marks the first fish from LA that is a dud for me.

I've had this thing running with a mag 24 for about 24 hours and talk about a beast... wow. Now I just gotta figure out how to lesson the fibration/noise from this big frickin pump, any thoughts? I was thinking cutting up some rubber tube and making a square for the pump to sit on.

update on this guy... He is still not eating anything I put in the tank. Even with Jan's Natural Reef Blend, he goes nuts when I put it in and starts swimming around like a crazy basta'd but I dont actually see any food go into his mouth. I guess he's getting food from his grazing or he'd be dead by now. and for the record I've tried feeding with the pumps off, pumps on... I put flakes at the top to get the clowns out of the way and nuthin. Tried the seaweed on the rock with rubberband and he could care less. Ah well, I am going to add a brown tang soon, maybe he'll show him the ropes...

woe... I've always dosed in the sump where the return pump is... this isnt good?

Assuming that your ammonia/nitrates/phosphates are all good... what is your PH at? I had a hard time with dynos and hair algae for the first 6 months of my first tank until I slowly raised my PH to 8.4-8.6 via kalk dosing. Then it all went away. Of course I am not doing SPS yet other than some hardy birds nest, so I dont know if the higher PH would be good for them.

Ya I love my cleaner shrimp, but I cant for the life of me let them touch me. It probably has something to do with my fear of spiders. their little legs are too similar. yeeikes...

I didn't sleep much last night either... but I don't know if its excitement for my first meeting, or my 8 month pregnant wife kicking me in the back and complaining about being uncomfortable all night long . hmm, either way should be an interesting drive from Dumfries.

Bought him about a week ago... He was really shy the first couple of days, but has since come out to the open and is really a beautiful fish. The only thing that has me baffled is that he wont eat anything I put in the tank. I feed frozen Mysis and krill, and flakes... oh and he wont touch the seaweed clip either. He is however looking very healthy, roaming around the tank and nipping at all the live rock constantly, he tries to eat the hair algae too, but some of it proves to be too hard to pull off. So my question is, is he getting enough nutrition by pecking at the rocks all day? Or am I supposed to be feeding something else?

thanks for the input guys. I've gone with a mag 24.. gonna see how that works out.

What pump do you use? What pump do you recommend? And what is the bare minimum GPH pump you would use on it? thanks for any input.

I'm an X navy photographer, now Graphic designer. Honestly cameras these days do a lot of the work for you, it is all up too you how much you want to get into the customization of the camera... The easiest way to improve a beginners photography is perspective... try to find a new way to shoot the same shot thats been shot a million times. Learn what framing, leading lines and balance is. I have yet to really get into reef tank photography, but that is mostly because I don't have a macro lens or a good acrylic view box. As far as showing you the bells and whistles of the camera itself... I would be lost as I havent really paid attention to that since the D1X and thats about 8 or so years ago.

I've yet to have a "bad" experience with any of our LFS... My only complaint is that I have to drag my family around for a couple of hours round trip to get to one of them... But its fun and we make a day of it. BRK, AO, IC/AA, and Petland were all good experiences. I'm slowly moving down the list of our vendors to try them all out.

I'm of course talking about colt corals... sinners... Seriously though. All my parameters are good, my colt looked awesome, the only thing I changed was I added a bag of pods and a mix of about 80 small snails. then the next day it is shriveled up, and there are a few snails on the base of it. I've read through a quick google search that some have been known to shrink for a week or two and then be fine again. Thoughts?

I have an interesting vinegar story... About a month ago my entire family was sick and I had been just waiting to get it myself. So sure enough I ended up getting a REALLY bad sore throat, I mean I could barely eat it hurt so bad. Then my skimmer was releasing a little too much air bubbles so I figured it was time to do my 6 month vinegar soak over night. I put the skimmer in a bucket and was hovering above it when I turned it on and poured the vinegar in... As the bubbles starting forming in the cone while I was hoving a foot or two above it my throat started burning like I had swallowed acid! I had to run out of the room, it felt like chemical attack training in boot camp all over again. Then... about an hour later I noticed something... My sore throat was gone! And it hasnt been back since. So I'm probably just oblivious and vinegar has been a long used at ome remedy for sore throats and I just didnt know it... but i'm probably the first to use a skimmer to get it done. The OP also reminded me of all those terrible stories from when I was younger and me and my friends used to chew tobacco... alot of mistaken coke cans filled with spit... YUCK!