fishface

It would always help to do a water change. "Dilution is the solution to pollution." Or in this case, I suggest that one or more of your corals were stressed and released something defensive into the water. Since the other corals are still sitting in it, I'd remove some with a water change. That's my first guess. Otherwise something you've just added is causing a stronger reaction than you've had before. Both scenarios have happened to me. As far as any creme or moisturisor, be certain that you don't stick your hands in the tank after applying these. Not good any reef inhabitants. FF

I have no doubt that Chris at Vienna is rather expensive. He helped me with Aquacultered LR that was great. I think that it was probably a little dense, but the stuff that was on it was great, including tunicates were really nice and it was already cured. For some key pieces that you can hand pick, I've never seen that opportunity. In an older post I recomended him because he helped early on. My Rio blew in my tank a few months after I started reefing and I was a newbie. I can still remember the burnt ozone smell in the air when I came home. So I had a serious emergency at 8:00 on a Tuesday night and called him just before he was closing and stayed he open for me. Chris prepped me with the the carbon, Neutriwater for a heavy water change and the (this was two years ago before the other lfs's except marine scene were selling sw) and all the necessary know how for this disaster. I was lucky and didn't even lose anything. So if he cost me an extra $20 on the stuf, that's nothing compared to losing your entire stock of inverts. As a reasonable statement, I think that we can agree that each LFS has it's own area of expertise. FF

I jsut re-read this, and your post on the 6th about having algea in your 180 leads me to think that your ro/di needs the tds content tested. In the mixing tank/tub/container, you can get a slight whitish film on the surface after 3 or 4 days. But it should be slight, and you can nearly eliminate that with a power head and that's it. If you are getting brown algea, then two points that were touched on come into play. 1. First, in general you shouldn't have the brown stuff. If you do get it, nothing should develop in to little floaters. Clean and dry the container and all piping and equipment that was in it, it ir it will serve to re-inoculate the new water each time you make a batch. 2. If you see that the main tank is also displaying an algae problem, your TDS may be high and it worth checking it. Your new water is not actually sterile, but it should not be able to allow much to grow in a short time. 3. Yes, light is a limiting factor, but if the mixing tank only gets indirect light you should not have anything grow into a bacterial (whitish) or algael colony that's large enough to float. Hope that helps. FF

YOu got PM

Phoenix Islands Protected Area

A general "Thanks" for the level headed views that have returned. Odd coincidence: I just gave Wildman a Rose BTA clone over the weekend. I decide to spare it the agony of trying to pry the gal off of the LR that it was sharing with it's twin. I split the rock since it was in the open, so I didn't cause a reefslide and easily managed it. The one that I kept just took a walk last night. I picked up the piece of LR to prop up a colony and saw this weird skinny black thing hanging down. It was a Borer clam.... Many thanks Eric!! FF

I'm game for carpooling, but it depends on what I have going on. Could be more kitchen stuff.... Dave

I was shocked at the news. I've read nearly every page, particularly the last 5. I would have expected Eric to stay way from the thread just to have a cooling off period. It's well known that as the Coral Wisperer, clearly corals are in his blood, so maybe he was conflicted and still felt the need to to stay plugged in. Who knows? None of us do. However, I do not recall him at any time asking anyone for their analysis. And I don't know if anyone has ever been to his house (anyone been?) and have seen the complete details of his setup (photos?). So after 12 pages and 119 posts, some from truly amateur Sherlocks out there, anyone would reach a breaking point. Personally, after the third poorly worded, poorly analyzed and poorly concluded post, I started feeling a bit surprised that some people didn't learn from the previous poster, and instead came up with something even nuttier. Sometimes kind words are best. I would have lost patience if it was me. I expected him to have closed the discusion much sooner. As for kicking him when he's down, that's particularly unfair play. I joined Wamas in time for the Nov 04 frag meeting at which he spoke. I had never fragged anything before, and when it came time for the frag workshop, I got to sit opposite him while he was chiseling away at something encrusted on a large piece of LR. I helped to steady the chunk, and it split open in half. You could have knocked me over with a Hawiian Feather Duster, but I had no idea that things actually lived inside the LR. And the amazing part: As he explained to me some facts about borer clams, Eric was looking at them with the same enthusiasm and wonder as I was, who has never seen that before in my life. Dave

The first concern is the fluctuation, not the actual temp. But corals will bleach in temps higher than 85 or so all depending on their orign. Anyway, another approach is to raise the minimum temp, so that at night it doesn't drop as much when the lights are off. I had a bleaching event the first 2 years in a row in the spring when I first didn't realize how the temp would creep up if the air temp was higher than 76 deg in the house. So the aircon now runs from April through Sept now. And disable the setback feature on the thermostat during the day or the corals will still roast. I moved my tanks to the basement and the overall cooler temp helps a lot. FF

Great pictures pco1998! I was there today with my 3 1/2 year old son and we had a great time! I have to say that I thought that most of the exhibits were excellent complete habitats and the Rain forests were first rate too. I do recommend to everyone to go there. However I was not impressed with the reef exhibits that much except one with large table acro and monti colonies. I was surprised that some coral heads appear to once have had some tissue loss. The coral exhibits were boring, but their overall size was impressive. If you knock the scale down to a home reef tank, I think many reefers out there are doing an impressive - and on a lower budget! You are welcome to visit our tanks and take some pictures. PM me when you are ready. Carribean Jake I live near each other. I'm in Herndon, he's just south in Floris. FF

Hi Ethan: Aside from the above comments about dosing too much...many aquarists are doing more frequent waer changes and that replaces any depleted naturally occuring elements. Also, if you only top off, you may kill the ionic balance after a few months, so removing and replacing saltwater has two benefits. That imbalance would impact your corals first though. However anemones can't survive by light alone. Since you've been hand feeding it, you can conclude that something about the water quality is killing it and it's also something that you can't/don't normally buy a test kit for. Next, lighting is very important: 1. Check your lighting. MH bulb have a rated life span and you should the date and arrange to replace the bulbs on schedule. And raise them them anytime you replace them because the newly intense bulbs will cause your corals and anemones to bleach. 2. You absolutely can NOT tell how the bulbs are doing by the visible light. No way, no how. The club has a par meter that you can borrow to rule out bulb output as a possibility. This measure the PAR-Photosynthetically Available Radiation instead of the visible spectrum. 3. I have two 250w pendants. One bulb showed an output of 1,180 the second one was putting out 150. And at the time, I was merely interested in comparing a 14k bulb with a 20k bulb for their output and had no idea that one was shot. **Other more experienced reefers have caused bleaching after a bulb replacement. I just did it even though I can raised my pendant, clearly not enough. I can say that I had a very sad anemone that recovered though, it was in a lower light tank and recovered after being moved to the ligh light tank. It took three months. Anyway that's a variety of information/experience and possibly anecdotal info. A good possible start is to replace 20% and then do to changes of 10% every 3 days. Or if others out there have a their own input to add. Good luck. FF

I'm the mud nut! I don't know if that would help here to address your problem, but it had a lot of benefits to me. I kept a 55 with a mud sump, skimmerless with 2 pair of marroon clowns, a kole tang, a blenny and an urchin, so it's low stocking. Also, mostly softies, with a large open brain, a meat coral and a small milli. But the tank was stable and has a lot of life, Halimeda that grew spontaneously, amphipods that pop up and ran around and copepod float in the dead spots in the corners. I can't necessarily attribute that to the mud, but this tank has had no maintence other than dosing calc -even evap replacement is automatic. I let the 260pcs light run past their life recently and the milli just died after 1 year. I suggest that you continue tweaking, but convert now. The Walt Smith is true marine mud. Secondly, they have a calcium -kind of a mud too. You spoon into tank or sump, but I only just started using it, so I have no info on that yet. Anyway, if you want mud, then I would make the change/addition now, then continue troubleshooting. And I believe that the mud take some time to kick in. So after the changeover, sit back for 2 weeks. Not for the tanks sake, just for your own head. FF

Hi there: I don't have your answer completely, but I want to do the same thing. Here's an excellent start for the details: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php I have been interested in the various posts that explain an inexpensive way to dose calcium too. This article goes even farther because it goes into further detail on how to create your own balanced additive. Reefers- can you recommend supply stores, either local or on the web where these can be bought? I was looking up sources for the PelaDow and Dowflake for calcium dosing on the net and tripped on the above article. Any thoughts/comments? Thanks Also, FWIW: You should visit Fins and Feathers for your next purchase...He's getting some beautiful clams in tomorrow, and has some great coral frags and colonies. FF

Hey Everyone: Sean always has great corals and has ordered specific ones for me in the past. Just beautiful. So go for the Tridacnids, but be warned, you'll find something else as well!!!! FF