fishface

I happen to think that Maroon clownfish are great! The key, as with any animal is to undstand their behavior and you can therefore work with it. They grow large, and no one should have let you add it to a 12g tank. You should plan on a moving to bigger tank later or trading her in. I recall that you have a bigger tank in the process... Putting that point in the past, you should always research the fish, clam, coral or critter before buy them. And until you have a trust built with you local store, don't take anything home until they have proven that they have the experience needed and won't steer you wrong. Never buy on impulse either. The Gold Bars have a lot of personality, however they guard their territory and their host with great seriousness. You will be surprised at their strength and the size of things they can move if it is placed in their territory or seems "wrong" to them. In the end though, consider that she is only doing what thousands of years of evolution has come to. So let her arrange things the way she want them, because in any case, you are responsible for the care, well-being and "happiness" of this creature. Good luck. FF

I just bought a Tek t-5 hood. I know that the number of bulbs adds up, but there are two posittive outcomes on bulb replacement: 1. You can stagger the bulb replacement so that you don't shock your tank the way a single source replacement would - I have pendants on a second tank so at least I have options. If it's in a hood, you don't have that control.So that's a key win. 2. By staggering the replacement, you spread out set the overall expenditure. That seems like a double win to me. And if a specific bulb is on special you can buy 1 or 2 to have in advance, a benefit in case one mysteriously blows. FF

Howard, Well um, Yikes...!?!

I understand completely. I made a similar mistake a few months back and brought home a pair a wild-caught Seahorses. One died within the week, reason unknown. The second one I kept by itself in my 'fuge for nearly 5 months. Aside from the critters in the 'fuge, I periodically enriched brine shrimp and bought live shrimp at great expense. He died recently but looked okay, so I don't have a cause of death. And I have a second tank that I was about to move it to. I should not have bought those fish thinking that it would be fine. A captive bred pair would have been more sensible and responsible in the long or even short term. And I sort of kick myself. So each time I'm looking at a fish or coral, that experience is right in the forefront of my mind when looking at it. Furthermore, I research it first on the web about whatever I want to buy first so I don't rely on one persons word or experience. Hey, one time on-line I bought a purple "algea-eating nudibranch" based on the salesman's word. No such thing. Eats Atlantic sponge. It lasted about 5 days. FF

I would also suggest a T5 fixture: 1. You'll have less of a heat issue. My other tank is now in the basement to offset heat issues 2. The T5's may actually have better penetration. That's what seems to be the case. 3. I visited dhoch, and his tank demonstrates that! Check the other recently posted question for details and peoples purchases. JMAquarium had left this link for us to drool over. But check the whole posting.http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...an&pagenumber=1 I bought the same Tek Light for my 2nd 75, and I only found out now that it doesn't have a plastic shield. I haven't set it up yet, but I don't believe that the endcaps are waterproof so I'll need a shield. You should include one. It does cut light transmission by 10% though. Premium Aquatics was extremely helpful otherwise. The bulbs were shipped separately and all arrived broken. They had another box on the way- even though I hadn't even checked them and 2 weeks had gone by. But regarding the MH, you'll need 2 units to cover your tank properly. The T5s will more evenly light the tank from end to end. FF

FWIW, you sound as of you do have a good setup with enough light, and the right flow. But you may have heat problems from the lamps and evaporation problems. 1. Make sure that your temp isn't swinging high during the day. I've had that happen (twice, dammit!) last year and then I forgot and it happened again this year because in the summer the avg temp in the house was around 75. --Because I was supposedly saving money and energy by having the air cond. set-back during the day. Bleached many bulletproof corals. Now that it's winter, you're probably fine but that still alot of watts on a 55g. If it a pendant instead of a canopy, that would help a bit. Mine open and I still roasted 'em. Doh. 2. Make sure you have an auto top-off, or keeping the water level proper and the salinity constant will become a burden. Otherwise, sounds great! FF

That's the main point really! Your flow within the tank is the most important area to consider. And if you intend to have macro in the sump or mud, you want very slow flow. There's a chart that does show pipe diameters and their flow rates for you to refer to if you want. But that's a great tank. Where'd you get it? Looks like glass cages. In the overflow glass FF P.S. JM's comment is a good one, I'm going to tee my flow off to improve pump life.

Fishy-style?!?

JM: I have the Knop-C, considered to be a classic by some, and many people swear by them - only 'cause they bought them. I found that the effluent output control (it's like a screw-on spray nozzle) clogged all the time. I finally switched to a Guest ball valve and that will just clog later probably. I had a lot of trial and error in finally dialing it in, but we've now had a meeting of minds and it's fine. I think that any type that you buy or make will have a period like this in that you might get frustrated getting it dialed in. I also teed a 1/4" line off my in-sump skimmer pump to force feed it because the passive syphon method kept stopping. Why it kept happening to me - no idea. I bought the Knop because of the many positive opinions. I saw your setup, and since you are capable, you probably should do a DYI unit when time permits. In that regard, if I chose to do one, I would also make it with like the Knop with a tall column to keep the co2 in contact with the media longer, rather than a wide column. The reason bought a unit is because with all of the different designs and opinions I didn't want to find myself re-inventing the wheel last in Feb. One notable difference in the various designs is how efficient they are with CO2, and I didn't wish to DIY and create an "inefficient design". The Knops are recongnised for their efficiency. And any reactor must be selected for the calcium draw on it. For one Acro, you probably don't need a Deltec. For a 120 heavily stocked with Monti capps, my Knop wouldn't keep up by itself. FF

Hey Doug: Re-read the link here from WWmedia. It's not the actual solution but it explains how hyposalinity would work in exploding inverts. While there may not be a guarantee that you would see them, I realize that the seconday benefit is that you literally can pay better attention to it, and might find something sooner than later. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/quarinverts.htm These two links address your issue: The first might have your actual pest. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/...ature/index.php http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rs/index.php It also describes how to place them so that you can most likely see something (if it is the kind of pest that drop off. The quarentine process described by Geofloors would assist here. Meanwhile, in the first article, if show the red flatworms that I have in my 'fuge, so this is nearly as bad. Good luck, and may the force be with us. Dave

Yeeooow!! I read every single post in the thread. Every. One. In the last question, someone asked him how long he's been at this, and he says it's just 2 years. Man, although there were no "before" pics, the results are astounding. 2 years! FF

I had a number of things to do today, and never got them done. I headed over to the auction thinking that I would drop off some things for sale, say hi to new and old faces and then leave to try to get some items done. I figured I'd literally donate and leave. I ended up staying throught the entire event and even stayed and talked with JM for 40 minutes afterwards. I cheerfully and grossly overpaid for, among other things, a "Mystery Monti" digi, which in all likelihood will be a doody brown. Never did I expect to have such a great time with a terrific bunch of people. The bidding was a scene in itself with Jean-Marie raising nearly everyone's last bid for them... I'm more than proud at the amount of money that was raised, and JM is the one that made it happen. I am looking forward to seeing many or even all of you in Jan at the Food party. Regards and Happy Holidays from Fishface and Family, Dave

I was searching WetWebMedia, because I've just had my first red worm outbreak. Okay, my tank has the worms. Anyway, one person lowered their sality to 1.012. Calfo said that it's likely everything including inverts and cops would be severely knocked by this. Did you try a search there?

Ya gonna have name tags, or do we get tatooed on our foreheads...?

I would go with the natural approach as stated by the people above. Ich has a cycle, so if you intend to "treat the water" with a medication then you have to make sure that you are actively treating the tank completely thru the duration of the cycle so that the dormant cycsts that hatch can be killed while free swimming. Neither Medication nor UV can't affect the ich while is cyst form. I had a scare with a fish that had a few spots back in May and I bought a UV sterilizer in a panic and did some last minute research before taking it out of the box and returned it instead. The UV will kill nearly everything thing that floats past it, so I decided not to follow that course - Although I might have done it on a temporary basis if the ich was worse. If you do buy one, I suggest that you go with the one that spirals the water flow internally around the bulb. P.S. This was stated, but theoretically all of your fish are carrying ich, and it will appear when their immune systems are depressed. So even if you quarantined them, a bare tank will still harbor the cysts somewhere so realistically you are just trying not to seed your display tank with a sick fish. You want to keep proper parms. Whenever you are in doubt, and if a fish or coral is stressed, do a water change to dilute any problem. This will help the fish to recover on it's own or to respond to treatment. FWIW

Since you've probably planned that it will take some time for the stragglers to arrive and unload... what time is the actual "Going once", Going twice, Sold!" part to take place?

I also have some Fresh Water stuff: Anyone need river gravel for a Freshwater Tank? Gravel (Red River) enough for a 40 Gravel (natural) enough for a 30 gal tank. Misc standard working flourescent lights and glass for 10/20/30 gal tanks. * There's probably a full hood in there too for a 20 or 30. * And I think a dual bulb 48" inch fixture.

Also, I will bring a Helios CF 2x54w that the ballast died but the fixtures are fine. Maybe a few other items that are useful for DYI or whatever. I have a gift for the little one too, but I won't be able to stay long. Fishface

I will be there too. I was expecting that there would be some non-fish things for auctions too because of the nature of this. 1. I have one or two new items for a 3-5 year old. Are these permissible? 2. Can we bring gifts for the 13 month old? FF

(all rights and whatever else that should be reserved) Happy Thanksgiving 11/24/05 I put a 30lb. turkey in my 10 gal. aquarium. My lights are on 12hrs. a day. My skimmer is working fine and I haven't changed my maintenance schedule at all. Water parameters. were fine. This morning the water was a little cloudy and my ammonia was through the roof. I've been feeding good foods too. PLEASE HELP!!!! I don't know what could have caused this. Happy Thanksgiving folks! - Josh <Heeee! And to you and yours. BobF>

Welcome Kragon: I'm orginally from Plainview, LI, and moved down here 5 years ago. At MACNA, I sat and had dinner with the Long Island Reef Association, and met a great bunch of people. Were you in LIRA? FF

FYI, in general silicone doesn't bond plastic to glass well. It isn't really load bearing. For the overflow, it's acceptable, but not great, and still can leak. This is just gossip, but I talked with Glass cages at MCNA, and they only sell a glass overflow because they had reliability trouble with the acrylic over the years. Anyone else see their tanks there? They mentioned that a major manufacturer is changing over to glass overflows too for the same reason. So if you're going to fix something...I'd look to doing it the best way possible. FF

That's got to be amazing.

I recall reading that within the same species, the heavier flow promote a denser, thicker morph. Lower flow, the opposite. Now that I won the $100,000 question, where can I get one? FF

And yet another beleted happy birthday wish..... FF