lowsingle

Why not buy a ballast that can run either? The icecap ballasts and other electronic ballasts can run both SE and DE bulbs (except for the xm bulbs). The fixtures are cheap and easy to wire yourself. If it were me, I would buy the icecap 250 ballast and run DE at 10K and your two PC's would be actinics. I think this would be a good combination of color and growth for hard corals. If you want to run softies, you may have some trouble with that level of intensity in lighting. I've been there, I use to have a 26 bow front tank with a 250 MH (SE) and two 32 Watt PCs. It can be done, just watch the temp in the tank. cheers, Darren

I would check and monitor your alk and pH levels. How low does the pH drop overnight? good luck, Darren

Exotic aquatics is pretty good and it is by far the best place in the region to purchase corals (in variety and staff expertise), but the Marine Scene has better quality fish. EA doesn't quarintine their fish nor are they dated on the tank (sometimes you can get an arrival date from one of the staff, but not always). This definitely gives MS a clear advantage in fish quality IMO. Cheers, Darren

Dr. Mac had excellent corals...I hope his store opens soon!!

Check your alkailinity levels, generally the red slime algae blooms when the alk of your tank is low. The algae grows quickly, so your Phosphate and nitrate levels will remain real low reguardless. I suggest dosing alk (I'm sure it will be low--in fact the algae produces so much O2 that it will continue to lower the alk of the tank) and if that doesn't work try using Ultralife Red Slime remover. I have used it in the past on my reef and it has cleared up the tank in 2 days with no apparent side effects (this after doing 25% water changes with RO/DI weekly and dosing alk. for over a month with little improvement). Basically, it is an antibiotic, so you don't won't to overdose and wipe out all of the bacteria in your tank. good luck, Darren

I would like to pick up a blue-tipped green monti. I plan on stocking up some new SPS's for my upgraded tank (so a variety would be nice). cheers, Darren Any cured LR for sale?