bues0022

Manassas/Bristow/Gainesville people - can I borrow an auto feeder for a week? I grabbed my auto feeder yesterday, set it up to test it because I’m going to be gone for 7 days starting Saturday. Good thing I tested it. It’s toast, and I don’t have enough time to order a new one. Can I borrow one for a couple days? Or, is there someplace local I could go pick one up (that won’t cost an arm and a leg)?

Besides the mandarins - I'm a little concerned about that many different species of anemones in such a small tank. Perhaps you might get a bit more lucky, but I've known people to have issues with just having an LTA and BTA in the same tank. The theory that is tossed around is some kind of biological warfare between them. I'm still on the fence if the different species of nems are actively putting out chemicals to attack one-another, but I've seen/read more cases of problems with multi-nem species tanks than peace (problems especially seem to happen with a LTA in the mix). Condy's are also not a natural host anemone, and have been known to be fish eaters in some people's tanks - but then again a Haddoni is a "host" nem and I've seen one eat a clownfish. Why are you trying for so many different species of anemone's? If this is your first go at any anemone I would strongly suggest starting with a single species (BTA in my opinion). Of the four you say you want, it's a fairly forgiving species, host anemone for some species, readily available via propagation, and comes in a variety of colors. Make sure to protect your overflows and powerheads. LTA's can be a good anemone, but are harder than BTA's - especially during acclimation to your tank. Sebae's are more difficult still, and I'm not a big fan of Condy's - they don't associate with any clownfish, pack a potent sting, and is known to wander around.

Bubble tips are natural host anemone's for Maroon Clownfish. In this case your tank size has far less to do with success, but rather the natural pairing of host nem and fish species. Outside of the natural pairing, success is individualistic. I've had some percs host in BTA's, and I've had different pairs of percs completely ignore the exact same BTA. I've had some fish that were great with a Haddoni anemone I had once, then the same Haddoni eat one of them (fish was not sick). (moral of that story: green stripped haddoni's pack a nasty sting: be careful!). If your goal is to have your clownfish host in your anemone, about the only way to stack this extremely strongly in your favor is to switch either your anemone or your fish for a natural pairing. Otherwise, regard them as the separate species they are and be OK with the possibility of your fish diving tail deep into the tentacles.

Not white. Lavender. I put it down on the sand bed under light shade in the corner. I didn’t realize it can take so long to color back up. Thanks for the help!

For the light power, I’m running the mode that looks like a bell curve, starting it I think at 11am or noon, and it ends completely at 10pm. I didn’t change any of the settings other than the time, and I’m not at home right now to connect in to see the exact power schedule. As far as paremeters go, I’m not really sure right now. I’m coming back after years off and my test kits were toast. I haven’t gotten anymore, and because of that I’ve been doing a lot of water changes to keep nutrients down. I’m running a filter sock to catch crud, and skimming rather wet. Other corals look happy (blasto, candy cane, birds nest, zoas), and inverts are doing well also. I’m really leaning towards thinking I just bleached the snot out of it the first two weeks I had it up high, but I’m just not sure how long it’ll take for color to start coming back. I can find a lightly shaded corner to put it in with even lower light than where it’s at right now though.

I have a problem with a newish frag of Devil’s Eye Favia. It’s supposedto be dark purple with red eyes, but it’s been bleaching to a light lavender color. I have Radion LED on a 30 cube. I originally put the coral a little over half-way up facing directly up. About 2 weeks ago I moved it down because it was looking lighter, and now it just keeps getting lighter, even though I have it nearly in the bottom and half under an overhang. It gets medium flow most of the day. I’ve never had a favia before....will it take several weeks to begin darkening up? Maybe still needs even less light? Thoughts?

Yup. I know chad. I just moved from MN actually!

I just want a pair in my tank. I’ve had good luck in the past with getting from a local breeder, as I could get two from different batches to help make sure I get less fighting. Ordering a pair from LA or even finding two at any LFS would most likely end up with two the same size. This leads to fighting and not good outcomes. I want one big and one small. This gives much better results.

Are there any Orchid Dottyback breeders around the area? They are on my stocking list and I'd like to start lining up a pair. Thanks!

Thank you everyone for the welcome and tips on the traffic in the area. I'll definitely admit it's going to be rough figuring out where to find a place to live with the appearance that mine and my wife's jobs might be some distance apart. I'll definitely be keeping your thoughts in consideration with respect to job prospects.

I'm actually from the Minneapolis area, but my wife went to school in the Chicagoland area, so that's how I met Mitch and got to be good friends with him. He's got some unbelievably good looking fish, IMHO. Not being from the area, I'm nervous about crossing bridges to get to/from work. I've heard stories about the traffic getting across them. Is the 495 bridge all that bad? (living Va, work Md?) I've had ideas tossing around my head the past few years for NPS, and how to do some auto-feeders and nutrient management. It might be a fun challenge to tackle!

Hello all! I'm jumping the gun a little, but I'll be moving to the area late summer/early fall and wanted to start plugging in to this group a bit. A little bit about my previous tanks: I had a reef tank going for around 5 years, but I tore it down a couple years ago due to several moves and birth of my second child. After my wife and I move, I'll be looking to set back up again. My reef tanks before were mixed: 58 gallon Oceanic mostly SPS side-by-side with a 30 cube softy tank, all plumbed together with a common fuge. Needless to say, moving such a setup proved difficult! I also used to nerd out with different clownfish and anemone relationships and figuring out the nuances of keeping everyone happy. I'm not entirely certain yet what I'm aiming at with my next tank, but I'm thinking of doing something a little different than a mixed reef. Maybe use the 30 cube as NPS, or garden eels, horses, or something else that's just a little off-the-beaten path. I'm sure I'll have clownfish - one of my best friends is a fantastic breeder out of Chicago - Mitch May with Booyah's Clowns. Like I said, we'll be moving due to my wife's job, but I'm desperately searching for one myself. My background: Ph.D. in mechanical engineering with a biomedical device design focus. I've worked at St. Jude Medical/Abbott for about 7 years. We're looking at being in an area from Chantilly to McLean, so if anyone could help me network for a job I would be most appreciative! (shameless self-plug....) I'll have to search my home computer when I get back home tonight, I don't have any images of my old reef here at work. In any case, I'm excited to start getting to know you guys, and get my tank back up and running again after the move!