MrSexyShrimp

Thanks all for your replies! Luckily it's a nano (Solana 34 gallon) with 1 fish, and 1 cleaner shrimp and a bunch of LPS. Fancy stuff like a Radion and Tunze ATO. Yeah that's the fear. We'll see! Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I'm really not expecting much money at all. Probably less than I paid for just the Radion light ($400 not including the mount). I have no delusions of making 1/10 of what I put in. I'm purposefully not looking at my receipts because I don't want to know.

Hi everyone, I've been going through a tumultuous period at my work leading up to a re-org. Luckily I'm not losing my job, but it was the wake-up call I needed. Quietly I'm going to do what I need to do in the next few months to prepare my condo for sale and move to the other coast. This isn't my final "getting out of the hobby and selling everything" thread, but I'd like your advice to know how to best do that. My ideal scenario is not to sell everything piecemeal --- I live in Logan Circle (D.C.) and in my experience most of you hobbyists live in suburban VA, and it can be a pain to coordinate. I'd really like to sell my (limited) livestock and equipment all together and help out someone new to the hobby, like so many of you did for me. With MACNA coming up I figured this might be a good week? A lot of people are going to be in D.C. anyway. I'm prioritizing convenience over making the maximum amount of dollars. I will donate whatever money I make to a 501© charity that deals with protecting / restoring coral reefs. (Open to suggestions.) Am I being realistic? I haven't been paying much attention to the WAMAS site lately, I've been too busy coding to meet deadlines at work.

I've been traveling and dealing with a re-org at work. Sorry :-\ Nothing to report, really. Tailspot blenny is great, sexy shrimps are great. The green slimer is mostly dead but hanging on for dear life. Duncans, acans, torch coral, pectinia all growing. Orange montis growing, purply montis both died. Hermit crab that was initially the size of a grain of rice is now a huge destructive monster that knocks everything over, but I like him.

what is even happening. i am so lost.

I prefer to have a built-in digital TDS meter but of course that costs extra $$

Pretty cool that I happened to catch this on video. Unfortunately my blenny decided to investigate what all the fuss was about and interrupted the snail. I saw about 5 puffs of "smoke" (either eggs or sperm, I guess) before I grabbed my camera. The stomatella's entire body was inflated and only attached to the rock by the end of the foot... I had no idea it was even my stomatella snail until after it was all over. Here's the link to the video: https://vid.me/vfMh

I've been running my 34 gallon nano since late summer. Started w/ dry rock. No coralline growth on them at all. No dosing/supplements. Just water changes with Reef Crystals. A few frags I purchased came with some coralline on the frag plugs, but I saw no growth, and in a few places, the coralline patches seemed to shrink. Mostly LPS, but also 1 acropora frag and some small montipora frags. My situation was similar to yours. I only have 1 small tailspot blenny in the entire tank. Bio load so low I didn't have to do much in the way of water changes. So I didn't. During the Black Friday sale week I ordered a Ca/Alk/Mg test kit, a Hannah Alk checker, and a BRS kalk/mg/ca/alk starter package. Tested night of Dec 2 -- first time doing these tests, so I don't fully trust my numbers. Red Sea tests for Ca / Mg came back normal. Red Sea test for alk was ~8.4dKh but I'm pretty sure I messed it up. Ran the Hannah checker twice-- 117 (6.55dKh) the first time, 139 (7.78dKh) the second time. (Point is, alk was definitely on the low end.) Dec 3 I made a half-strength batch of Kalkwasser (1 teaspoon per gallon instead of 2), and poured it into my ATO reservoir, which was already about 1/3 full. So this kalkwasser was definitely less than half-strength. Anyway around Dec 15 ( < 2 weeks later) i saw a rather large purple dot of coralline on my starboard bottom. A few days later I saw more dark green and purple dots all over the tank. So it seems my coralline was inhibited by low alk. I know your alk is much higher than mine was, but that's what did it for me. tldr-- No coralline growth. Added kalk to ATO top offs, coralline starts growing in under 2 weeks.

UV sterilizer arrived last night. It had every indication of being a cheap made-in-China type product. I gave it roughly 50/50 odds of working vs. electrocuting me. Anyway I ran it over night and it worked! It's meant for a much larger tank, so it's a little noisy and it puts out a lot of flow which ticked off my duncans, but everything else is doing well. Took it out, will run it again if needed.

There was an Amazon lightning deal for a $25 UV sterilizer just now. Score!

From my water change yesterday. Time to suck it up and order a cheap UV sterilizer I guess. I don't like the idea of dosing AlgaeFix longterm. Also, anyone know what kind of algae this is? I've never seen it before, but it looks like 'sea lettuce.' I saved it in case it turns out to be beneficial. No idea how it hitchhiked into my tank.

The cloudiness actually got MUCH worse when I did a WC to 'correct' it the first time FWIW. Am making up a new bucket of SW right now. Thnx.

The Red Sea alk test, which I'm almost positive I did incorrectly, said ~8.4dKh. Hanna test 1 -- 117ppm = 6.55 dKh Hanna test take 2 -- 139 ppm = 7.78 dKh pH (API) in the AM is ~7.8 which is a touch low, about 8 in the evenings. This autumn I was opening my windows at night which helped, but it's getting too cold for that now. Will re-run the Red Sea Ca/Mg/Alk tests today in the daylight. Should be easier to see colors.

TL;DR: Something is definitely off. SPS not thriving. I had my major cloudiness issue which I posted about. Used Algaefix, which fixed it in 2 doses, but now I'm seeing a light haze again. I don't want to have to keep dosing Algaefix. It's not a permanent solution. Sometime during the cloudy haze period, my green slimer acro frag turned brown. Polyp extension was fairly good before, even when my yellow clown goby (since rehomed) was nipping at polyps. Polyp extension is pathetic right now. Only seem to be extended at ALL on the top side of the coral. The three small "nubs" started bleaching at base where the "nub" meets the main "branch" of the frag. Over a few days each nub bleached completely bottom up. When I was cleaning my tank, I accidentally bumped the smallest bleached nub and it broke off. I went to pick it up and it crumbled between my fingers with hardly much pressure. Makes me think something chemical. Like how bones dissolve in acid. Sunset monti growing, no problems. My purple monti, no growth in the 3 months-ish I've had it, but PE isn't great. My other purple monti bleached when the cloudiness cleared up because I didn't turn down my lights. It's barely hanging on, not improving at all. GSP putting on noticeable growth. Mild but observable growth on other LPS and on red macroalgaes. This week I started getting the classic diatom film, despite it not showing up at all during my first two months. Only have 1 fish (tailspot blenny), feed her a very very small pinch of dried algae flakes every other day. Sexy shrimp, hermit crabs and nassarius snails get maybe 4 tiny sinking shrimp pellets. Figured I needed to start testing to see what's wrong. Can't hurt right

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Gather around to see a truly perplexing sight! Marvel at the young man with a degree in biology who can't get a consistent alkalinity reading using a simple Hanna checker. sigh

I use Photoshop professionally for work on a daily basis, and both Photoshop and Lightroom from the hobby perspective. (And also Illustrator.) Photoshop is IMO quite a bit harder to learn. It's better for turning photographs into artistic compositions. I have no idea what Photoshop Elements entails. I've only ever used the full version. Lightroom is very powerful and you can still make your photographs look strikingly different... but they're still going to look like photographs. It's specifically geared towards photos, whereas Photoshop covers a wide range of styles and tools. I use Lightroom for most of my DSLR photography. (It also helps you organize your photos.) Masking is much better in Photoshop, but the retouching in Lightroom is still pretty good.

Looks perfect for a flock of sexy shrimp!

What about putting the wavemaker and ATO on timers so they're not running at the same time?

i am my friend's auto-feeder. he leaves a key for me at the concierge desk. cost: free :-\

The problem with so many of the soft corals is they can grow too fast and become invasive: clove polyps, green star polyps, certain lines of mushrooms, xenia... I really like ricordeas, they're not typically thought of as invasive. Zoas / palys but plz use protection. Also, toadstools / leathers. I had some green sinularia once that was very pretty and very hardy. Clowns will host in about anything (they're not so bright) but certain easy-to-maintain LPS will give you that "anemone" doppleganger effect: frogspawn, torch, duncans

How I should never not be feeding her

Two doses of Algaefix cleared up the tank cloudiness. Maybe even one would have been enough. Green slimer sps turned brown and has some bleached nubs. One purple monti faded to a light pink and has been moved lower down. Think it might die. The other purple monti seems unchanged, and all of the orange montis are noticeably growing. :: shrug :: Fire fern has put on lots of new branches. My oldest acans are growing new heads. The new acan frags I got at the fall meeting were fresh cuts and have all healed and look much fluffier. Duncan coral might have 2 new heads but it has so many it's tough to keep track. Torch coral, blue/green/purple pectinia, meteor shower coral all unchanged. Orange ricordea has been in the process of splitting since I got it at the fall meeting. I think it's given up and is content to live its life as a conjoined twin. GSP glued to the back wall is growing. Tailspot blenny has an amazing personality and is doing well as the sole fish.

Second dose of Algaefix was administered Saturday morning. Tank was already pretty clear when I added the second dose. This morning (Sunday) tank looks clear. It's amazing what I've been missing due to the cloudiness. My fire fern macroalgae has put on a lot of new branches. Some of them are bright red (whereas the older parts of the macroalgae are maroon-purple). Some of the acans are growing new heads, and I think I might have two new duncan heads. Thanks for the help! Here is a link to the ReefCentral Algaefix mega-thread for anyone else interested. It might take me a couple of days to get through it. Good idea about the lights. I considered moving it down, but it's epoxied in place and I don't want to stress it further. The fading monti (was a deep purple, now a light pink) was moved down but it might be too far gone. Weirdly the other montis are noticeably growing.

On Thursday morning I added 1 dose of Algaefix. Left the skimmer running bc instructions didn't indicate otherwise. Friday morning tank water is much clearer. Not perfect but a lot better. One of my montiporas looks really faded but the others look fine. I can see the green slimer SPS much better now, there's a second nub with some bleaching on the underside of the branch. The "flesh" of the SPS for lack of a better word is brown, but the polyps are still neon green, not super extended. LPS, softies, tailspot blenny, sexy shrimp, snails all seem to be doing fine. I have the same concerns.

oh i almost forgot, these sites helped me find the best deal http://www.nikonpricewatch.com/ http://www.canonpricewatch.com/ Canon and Nikon both have Minimum Advertised Price rules for their resellers, so they'll be a lot of confusing deals that include free extras and rebates but overall prices on new gear will be pretty competitive

Bc lenses are more important in the long run. The body is the gateway drug into the world of lenses, which is rather locked down. As Brad mentioned before, there are adapters but those are not ideal. If you're on a budget, should you spend more money on the lens or on the camera? Should you get a better camera body today and wait for a better lens later, or should you get the lens you want today and wait for a better body? Easy and timeless answer: always put your money into your lenses. This is because lenses have far more to do with picture quality and ease of use, and because lenses retain their monetary and photographic value indefinitely while camera bodies become worth little in a few years. http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/lens-or-camera.htm I love my D3300, Ken Rockwell recommends it also. Last time I checked, the entry level Canon lagged a little bit behind the entry level Nikon, but both brands are really good and you'll find professionals using both. If you have good friends/family who have bought into one system, I'd go with that one so you can borrow their lenses and equipment. Either way I'd stick to one of the entry level (~$500) models: The reason guys like me pay more for fancier cameras isn't for better pictures; it's for more controls and options that let us few who actually know how to use all these controls to get to them faster. The D3300 has the same adjustments, just that you'll more often have to use a menu to set them instead of a knob or button. If you shoot all day every day as I do, it's worth it, otherwise, there's no reason to pay more since most people have no idea what these other settings do. http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm Heres what Wirecutter had to say about the two Canons you mentioned, this was written a while ago, so prices have come down: The Canon T5i is more of a direct comparison model to the D3300 in size and price. It has an MSRP of $850, but will generally set you back $700, slightly above the $650 that Nikon asks for the D3300. It shares the same crummy image sensor as the SL1, which the D3300 handily beats, as well as the fewer shots per battery charge. But it does have a hinged touchscreen and more cross type AF points. But once the D3300 starts to drop below MSRP, it’ll get even cheaper, and the Nikon really does take substantially better photos. The Canon T5 is just dreadful. Canon has taken the same mediocre image sensor its been using since 2011’s T3i or thereabouts, slapped it into a case with a processor that’s a couple of years old, a super low-res 460,000 dot LCD display, a mediocre AF system, a max burst rate of 3 fps, and a top ISO of 6400. Yeah, the MSRP of $550 is low, but that’s the same street price as the Canon SL1, which is a much better Canon camera, and definitely not worth the $100 savings over the D3300. But you know what? We bet this thing is going to be in every Black Friday sale this year, and will probably move like gangbusters. If you really want, you can still pick up a Canon T3i for a song if you look around, and it’s actually got better specs than the T5 thanks to a higher-res screen and faster burst. If you want a cheap Canon SLR with years old systems, just buy that and save your money. Wirecutter on d3200 vs d3300: While the Nikon D3300 has a new sensor from the D3200, there’s been almost no discernable improvement in image quality between the two—which isn’t a big deal, since they’re both still better than the competition. tldr i'm an amateur who did lots of research before buying my camera, feel free to take it or leave it, lots of v good opinions in this thread