lmeyer

I'll cut you slack on it, I was rotfl at that. Of course I didn't know the correct pronunciation either. Did I mention that I'm ready to go home?

Yes, but he didn't tell you that the stand and canopy are going to be made out of titanium. Can you tell that I'm ready to go home for the day?

I stopped in on Tuesday night to check them out. I wouldn't even have known about them if it wasn't for the WAMAS forum. They had a good but not overwhelming selection of fish. The coral selection is still a bit limited. I would call it a very good start for livestock. Equipment selection seemed to be standard, some good basic equipment, but nothing high end or out of the ordinary. I really liked their frozen food selection, a wide range of products from brands that I like. Where they really stood out was in customer service. I was browsing, not really planning on buying. I was asked by two different employees if they could help me/show me anything. Done very well, no pressure, and very friendly. One of my pet peeves is going into a store like this and being ignored by the staff. I was thinking about testing their knowledge a little bit, but there proved to be no need. A third employee came out, it was Scott711, who I already knew. He introduced me to the other two guys, cbashaw and 123gadgets. Can't beat having three WAMAS members working the store, all of whom have strong reputations. It was a real pleasure meeting them and we had a nice chat. I wound up buying some food. I couldn't find my WAMAS card, but since Scott knew me through WAMAS, they gave me the generous WAMAS discount. I'll be going back when I'm ready to buy again. I look forward to seeing how it grows over time and am thrilled to find a store that has such a strong staff.

Someday I will have my new tank. The tank will showcase my frogspawn and hammer corals as the centerpieces. I asked Roger Vitko of Tunze USA for his recommendations. I was planning on using two Tunze 6100s in opposite corners, creating a wave motion with the 7095 controller. Roger recommended that I use two Tunze 6000s with the 7095 and a Tunze wavemaker instead. He said that in his experience Euphilliads (sp?) tend to do poorly with the flow of 6100s and do better with the 6000s. I am designing with only the 6000s, but plan to make it possible to add the wavemaker in the future if I feel it is necessary.

I would be a little concerned about the Mandarin in a 55. Make sure you have enough rock and a good source of pods. You also might want to make sure you don't have other fish competing with the mandarin for the same food source. I think the six-line would be a direct competitor. Not sure about any others. The other option is to try to find a mandarin that takes frozen food (I've heard there are some that have been trained to do so).

I'm no expert, so I'll defer to others, but a word of caution on this. From what I have read, you might want to consider the anemone carefully first. Clown fish do not need an anemone to thrive, I keep a clown and no anemone. My impression is that anemone do better in well established tanks, I wouldn't be inclined to put one in a brand new set up. Also, many people do not recommend keeping corals with an anemone. The problem as I understand it is that anemone can be very mobile and often wind up moving around and stinging corals to death in tanks. I'm not saying that you shouldn't get one, many people in this group are very successful with them and they are beautiful creatures. Just be aware that they are challenging to keep and may severely limit your stocking plan.

Step 1 - Do some research. I'm not trying to be a wise guy, but research in advance pays off big in this hobby. Check out websites, read books, talk to people here, etc. Your post is a good start. Step 2 - Decide what you want to keep. Do you want just fish? Metal Halide (MH) Lights, Reverse Osmosis (RO) filters , and calcium reactors probably aren't necessary. Do you want soft corals? Probably want the RO filters, still don't really need MH lights or the calcium reactor. Do you want SPS corals? Then RO filters, strong lights (not necessarily MH), and calcium reactors are items you should research more. Do you want a mix of all of the above? Welcome to the obsession, it can be done, but even more planning is required. Step 3 - Design the system around the inhabitants you plan to keep. Yes, even more research. Step 4 - Buy some basic test kits (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). You will need this for step 5. Also buy thermometer and tool for testing specific gravity (swing arm, float, or refractometer). If you are planning on keeping hard corals, buy test kits for calcium and alkalinity as well. Step 5 - Set up and cycle your tank. You can start this now. It takes a while for your tank to cycle. If you don't know what I'm talking about, see step 1. Take advantage of this time to do steps 1 - 3. Step 6 - Keep an eye out for extra equipment that you might like. Lots of it shows up for sale on this site (in the member only section). You can save a lot of money buying it here instead of new (hint for non-members). Step 7 - SLOWLY start adding livestock. Just because your tank has cycled doesn't mean you can add 100 fish. The bacteria levels adjust to the existing load, throwing a bunch of new fish into a tank creates a huge stress that the tank is unlikely to be able to handle. Take your time and things will go much more smoothly. Step 8 - ENJOY

I can't go to the Oct meeting, but I'll try to find someone to take some sand for me. Raf? Scott? Riley? If you're going to the meeting can I drop some sand off w/ you to deliver?

All you scientist types give me a headache. You would have to dumb it down way more than that for my kind. I was a poly-sci major and just missed being an American History teacher. Anything more complex than reading a thermometer is a stretch.

Wish I could help you, I'm out of commission this weekend. Would like to help sometime down the road, always glad to see other members in our part of the world!

Thanks, that makes more sense. Also is shown in the link that Dave supplied.

Not to hijack the thread, but... I have read that there is a limit to how high you can push calcium and alkalinity simultaneously. Reading http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm indicates that if you try to push both too high you can get a "sudden precipitation of carbonates (the alkalinity falls/crashes)". I don't remember seeing an exact ratio like the one supplied. Can you steer me in the right direction? Also, that ratio doesn't sound right to me. The same post lists the desired ranges for calcium and alkalinity that I am used to seeing, 350-450 ppm Ca and 8-12 dKH Alk. To convert dkH to meq/L , divide by 2.8. 12 dkH Alk = 4.2857142857143 meq/L. This would equal about 85 ppm Ca by the ratio listed. Am I missing something? Back to the main point of the thread, the fact that the monitor can't be used continuously does it for me. I use the SeaChem calcium test and it is pretty easy to use and the color change is obvious. By the time I get out the probe (probably have to re-calibrate) take the reading, properly clean the probe, and put it away, I might as well just do my manual test. Add in the cost of the monitor (and probably replacement probe costs periodically) and its really not a hard choice for me.

You would think that they are close together, but not really. Annapolis Junction is around 32 and the BW parkway. Closest communities that I am familiar with are Columbia and Ellicott City. I wouldn't recommend Northern Virginia, the commute would be pretty long although people do it.

Also, you have to know where/when to look and be patient while looking. I used to see pods in my display tank, I don't see so many anymore (blame the mandarin). They are still there if I look hard enough. Now if I look in the refugium among the macro, I see quite a few. Mini brittle stars live in the crevices/holes in the live rock. Again, I don't see any in the display tank although they are no doubt there. If I turn off the return pump from my sump and watch the live rock in the sump, they start coming out of the rock. Something about the die down of current must be a trigger for them to come out to feed. You have to look carefully, they are really small and hard to spot at first. I have another kind of mini star which I haven't seen in a long time. I'm guessing if I scooped some sand out of the refugium and sifted through it I would find some. The shrimp I don't know about, I would love to get a breeding population going, but have never seen them to date. Maybe I'll get some by trading sand at the next meeting. What I'm trying to say is that it is probably (hopefully) there. Just keep looking!!!

Not much you can do right now. Xenia is funny, it thrives like a weed in some tanks, fails in others. A couple of things that I've heard but have no proof on: it will fail if PH drops much below 8.0 or if the temp drops much below 78 (you are okay on both at the moment). It has only been a few days, so it needs some time to adjust. The only thing that worries me is the youth of your tank. I would double check the specific gravity, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels. If those are all still acceptable then I would just keep an eye on it. If things don't look better in about a week or it starts taking a drastic turn for the worse, you could consider moving it to a different location in the tank. I believe Raf had it about half way up his tank and it was under T5s, we can try to guess what that light would compare to in your tank. I doubt that is an issue though. I believe you had PCs on the tank and I don't think it is at all likely that you are giving it too much light.

I guess one of these days I should buy a real TDS meter. I have the Kent Marine RO Monitor. I should put that in the product reviews as a waste of money. It is battery operated. You put the probe into your water, press a button and it gives you a red light if your TDS is above "acceptable" limits or a green light if it is acceptable. The Kent Marine definition of acceptable: Factory default is below 200. Unit can be set to 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, or 500. You don't get a number, just whether or not TDS is below that value.

IMO that is high flow for your application. A MJ1200 puts out nearly 300 GPH (15 x volume). I have one in my 20 gallon tank and it seems like high flow to me. Depending on the purpose of your fuge, you will probably want to have lower flow than that.

Let us know if you find anyone. I did talk to NAGA about buffing out my tank about a year ago. We were never able to connect to make it happen. I don't know of anyone else who does it.

True, Howard, but my scratches are always interior. And in really hard to reach areas. If I had a glass tank I don't think I would have the issue at all. Just dreaming of the day when I can replace my acrylic...

Same question as Doug. I've heard of this, too, but never seen it. I checked the instruction manual for the MRC calcium reactor. It says, "Do not drop the PH below 6.5. This low PH could turn your reactor media into 'mush' or 'mud'."

Howard, I agree, lets not point fingers here or elsewhere on this. We don't know what really happened nor can we. I have not had the good fortune to hear him speak, but I feel a debt of gratitude to him. When it came time to start over from my own tank crash, his books were incredibly helpful. To this day, I consult Borneman, Tullock, and Calfo before making any additions to my tank. Echoing your statement, "this is WAMAS, NOT SPRINGER!", I wonder what we as WAMAS can do for Borneman. I see incredibly generosity on this forum, helping strangers move tanks, get set up with frags, recover from disaster. Is there anybody at WAMAS who actually knows him and can make an overture of help when (if) he is ready to start over? Isn't that truely in the spirit of WAMAS? Larry

Found this site which agrees with your thought not to frag: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=795&PN=25 Will try to check Calfo's book tonight when I get home.

The poll so far looks like we'll be keeping the date. Unfortunately for me, I made plans to meet some friends out of town that weekend just hours before the announcement came out. For anyone on the fence, the last social at the zoo was a blast. The whole family had a really good time. I highly recommend going!

I've been looking at similar issues and have come back to the Tunze for my design. If you are willing to shut down your closed loop and replace it with two Tunze 6060s the initial cost is more than made up for over time in energy savings. Two 6060s cost about $275 and run at 11 Watts each. Your ampmaster 3000 runs at 150W. Assuming you are planning about 4 MJ 1200s to supplement the ampmaster, you are at 230W. At the .0647/KWH rate I'm paying, the Tunze would cost $117 less/year to run. You break even in about two years and save money from that point onward. Question is, will two 6060s be sufficient? I haven't used the Tunze Streams, so I really don't know. You could ask others here and/or post a message to Tunze USA on the RC forum.

They are probably overpriced, but I use the Won Brothers Pro-Heat II Titanium heaters. They don't break (like glass heaters can) and they give you a digital readout of the water temp. You can usually find them for well below retail on e-bay.