fishface

I hav eonly been doing this for a year, and in Jan I setup a second tank to move a pair of maroon clowns into, since the female was dumping anything new (frags and small corals, naturally) head first into the sand. I modified a 20 long and added mud, culearpa which is temporary and some Cheato. And a handfull of grudge from the ReefTank and a pair of Seabunnies to add their relentless spawning to the water column. They are all over the place now. It my case, I wanted to use mud because it has a greater positive impact on stability, and adds trace elements back into the tank. The Eco website states that you should NOT use a DSB when you setup a refuguim with their mud. I'm using the Carib sea mud, but I don't have a DSB, and when I did this, I had the choice since I was setting the tank up from scratch. I think the Eco wesite list faq's and recomendations on how to implement their system. FF

I met Krish too, and went on Saturday afternoon. I don't Know if the original Sarco was still there, when you visited but it was big enough to be housed in a public aquarium. He moved it into it's OWN 45 Hex because it's just that big. And dropping colonies left and right. I just got one from Khim that I placed in a second tank. Read up on the Sarcophytons. They can bruise from being handled, but I've have to move a 1 yr old one around a bit without any damage. 1. They develope a shiny mucose layer and shed it. Mine does it around every 14 days. 2. They use this layer to collect particles of food and bacteria, and this is part of their feeding strategy. 3. A little extra current helps them shed this. 4. They are fleshier than other softiew, but mine alters its size periodically appearing to grow nearly 20%. 5. Laying down for more than 1/2 day or a day might be a bad sign, but mine repeatedly stands up like nothing happened. 6. Remember to do a water change when adding a stressed softie to your tank. ** Krish's colonies had longer polyps than any I've seen. I won't say that I have a lot of experience propagating them or anything, just that this looked either extremely healthy, or slighty different to what is usually in the stores, so I had to take one. I hope that helps a little. They seems to have more "moods" than many other softies. I think that it will be fine since you have kept softies. FF

Fenner and Calfo recommend that you can skip feedings for up to a week if you go away on vacation. They feel it a better alternative than having well meaning friend or neighbor dumping a ton of food into your tank while you are gone. So don't worry, and use that when planning the next time you go away... 1. Make sure you add a heater into the main tank if one isn't in there. 2. Silicone: Read the labels. Carefully. You want: a. 100% silicone. Anyting less will harden in a few months and split. b. You done want anything formulated with the Mildew retardant. FF

A few thoughts: Plan ahead so that you have enough room total in tubs or buckets for the livestock and L/R because you don't want the corals to bang into each other. Keep softies separately because they'll exude toxins into the water when stressed and the close quarters will then stress anything that was fine. Pump the remaining water into as many NEW trash cans as you need to empty the tank. You'll need a friend to help hold the hose while you are working so that you don't have water all over the place even with the tarp. And buy enough cheap clear hose at Lowes so that you can pump the water back into the tank from wherever the trash cans are sitting, instead of dragging full cans of water around the house. That's a real pain otherwise. -FF Sure you don't want to setup an External Sump while you're at it?!?!

You need to find out why this is only happening to your tank, and not everyone elses. Secondly, a water change is going to dilute any water quality problems and make it healthier for the livestock. So maybe the water change process needs adjusting. Are you disturbing the sand bed during the change? Proper RO water has nothing that could cause an ammonia spike. How are you filtering the water? If you aren't working at this problem aggressively with people online or with a LFS in your area then you have some aspects to your approach that you have to look at: 1. Whatever problem you have may not be corrected by moving things into another setup. And... 2. You can't just assume that all will work out when you get the tank that you prefer to have. 3. You are caring for these animals, and it's not a responsible view to think that you'll just replace whatever dies, and do nothing for the current occupants until the next tank is setup. 4. If you have a bigger tank, it will probably require just as much maintenance as this one requires. The related expenses are certaily greater. 5. If you are not taking the time to research and solve a small problem, you will have a lot more on the line with a bigger tank, and a lot more to lose then. FF

Try the Reefkeeping.com and WetWebMedia. FF

Did you add anything to the water like a water conditioner? They will cause that to happen. If you didn't, then review the settings. You may have to just back off on the flow until you determine the cause. Try to figure out what might have changed. It might be so obvious that you are missing it. If it worked fine for a while, then look for where something has changed. In the meantime, be sure to do water changes every few day until you work out the skimmer problem. Very important! FF

You might be getting another tank, but it's not a good idea to kill what you have. If you equipment can't handle the tank, then at least do regular, frequent water changes to improve the water conditions until the new tank become a reality. FF

Sorry I can't help, but on the other hand I just got back from Hawaii last month. Xeon, where are you headed? If possible, spend a morning at the Waikiki Aquarium. Not large like the Baltimore, but really nice, and you might see a really nice clam tank that was being re-setup. Someone stole the 7 juvinile clams. After it hit the news, they broke back in and returned them. You might even run into Charles Delkbeek, as I had.... Best of luck with the Tank Jarosh! FF

Count me in Jake FF

Call Mike at the Reef Tank. You can drill a tank on your own, but I wouldn't recommend it. People have actually used dremels to drill bulkheads, but it's not worth the risk. I drilled a hole in a 20 gal tank/sump for topping of using a small spade bit from Lowes. I had Mike do the 55 main tank though. Mike has experience and a diamond keyhole bit, cooling fluid and darn. For 15 bucks or whatever, let him handle the problem for you. Call ahead. Besides, you're going to have to add something to the tank to celebrate once you move! You'd be in the right place. FF

Here's the link to the section on the Seaclone: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/seacloneskimfaqs.htm FF

www.wetwebmedia.com is a very helpful site if you haven't been there yet. Fenner, Calfo and many others are the moderators (and possibly the owners). The rest of the staff is nationwide. That helps when issues come up and they often can make recommendation of places nearby. Steve Pro, who spoke at our last meeting is also a frequent contributor. In addition, it appears that the e-tailers that sponsor their site have to pass muster on products and knowledge. The format is that they paste emailed questions and responses into their site to give a wealth of knowledge. They cover every aspect of Marine care, and it's also helpful to know others are having frustration with the same issues... In the end, if you can't find a good resolution, you will be able to pickup on recomended replacements for the skimmer that you are unhappy with. P.S. If you don't have a sump, that's a good direction to consider now if you are making changes. They increase water volume, are a good place to put skimmers and other equipment, and maybe later on in a later stage you might use it as a refugium. FF

Tangster, that's just what I suggested. Forget Pressure gauges and roomates walking patterns, the whole lot. My new filters have been in use for three weeks, and are already darker than the ones that I pulled. I stopped into store over the weekend and the guy repeated to me that there is a whole lot of junk in the tap water during this season. Often the simplest solution is the one that's overlooked. FF

Following up on my previous post. The new first-stage filter turned brown in three weeks because there is so much junk in the water! FF

Excellent website Howard, great recomendation! First off, I'm in mourning because I lost my Rose BTA, a real beauty. I moved a mated pair of Maroon Clowns out of my display 75 to a 55 so that the Lady Gold Bar would not be able to dump my WAMAS frags and flip corals into the sand head first. I was sad to do so. So moved Rosie from under a 250w hqi to 210w Compact fluorescent. She just never liked it and stayed hidden, finally died after 2 1/2 months. I thought that she would adjust and recover. Even thought she was under a net deficit of energy I expected her to eventually head towards the light. I have a Green BTA that went through much worse. I finally decided to move her back on Monday, but found that she was necrotic. (Bummer, got that off my chest) However I have a Green BTA clone from a friend (now hosting a Clarkii pair (WAMAS again). One of the first things that I added to my tank, it survived a RIO attack and subsequent bleaching the night I had it over a year ago. My first reef, and my first screw up. I thought it was dead so I bought Rosie. 3 months it appeared out of nowhere and nested next to Rosie! I didn

So then what has happened is that you've proven an old saying wrong. You really can give a Fish a Bath?

About a year and a half ago, a friend was over and we were running and re-routing electrical stuff in my kitchen prior to a full renov. At the end of the day we were kind of goofy, and he was walking around with the inductive current tester. After testing the Wives, the cats, and some inanimate objects he held it to my 75 gal Freshwater Tank and the thing goes wild. We isolated the leak to one of two identical canister filters. I bought the ground probe the next day. (My Reef tank arrived a few months after that experience). So the probe is really helpful preventative maintenance for the time when an item become slightly degraded but not leaking enough to trip something.

Nice "find" Clownfish4, and an awesome tank. I hope that he has a lot of friends available when he need to move it one day! And a small crane would help. FF

I just went through the same problem roughly 10 days ago. I've been running this ro/di for 7 months and suddenly the output dropped to zero right causing me to panic right before I was leaving for a week in Hawaii. Great time by the way! I stopped in to the guy in Centerville, and he told me that the water company had done something (springtime flush) or other and that his filters were gunked up too and had just changed them. I replaced the both filters, and the output is back to normal. Your solution be the simplest one. You are likely on a different water system, but it's worth a try. P.S. The filter cartridges looked okay to me in the lighting in my basement. Outside, they looked like H-E-double hocky sticks. FF

I'm still a newbie but: If they are not acting right, it's down to the 2 basics, water quality and lighting. If you aren't sure, at least do a water change, and and run carbon as you would for other corals to pull out undesireables. If that doesn't do it, and least you've eliminated a possible cause. If you have any soft corals that are stressed, they may be putting out terpenes. If so dilution and filtration will help. FF

I am having the same problem. I moved a large Rose BTA to a different tank along with the Maroon clowns that it was hosting. It is the same wattage roughly, but the main tank has MH, and new home has compact flourescent. Anyway, to your issue, I've only been doing this for a year, and Chris at Vienna arquarium is very knowledgeable. The prices are high, but for the times that you need in-depth help and experience, he's very good. His take was that sometimes the BTA's kind of go dormant when disturbed. The advice offered was to leave it alone and let it adjust and it will come around one it's own. I left a small Green BTA untouched in the main tank, it's also been acting the same way for three weeks after the move, like it was moping. I doubt there's anything in the literature on that... But Green one has just bounced back, so I hope the RBTA will also return to it's happy self soon. I hope yours does too. FF

Hi All: Here an important 2 cents about this. The Rio's are known for failing (so I'm repeating a common tale) and that smell is the coil in the motor heating up and melting. The coil is encased in an epoxy, and once it melts through the epoxy, the COPPER will then be exposed and contaminate your TANK. No joke, and everyone knows how Marine beings handle being exposed to copper. Most things go within a day or two. Besides, if you can smell it, realize that the water has first absorbed some of the particles of either the epoxy, or worse, copper, so you are the last in the chain to know. When it happened to me, the guy in Vienna recommended a partial water change and run carbon to pull out contaminants. I was lucky, and nothing died so I caught it in time. I'd suggest to you that anyone is better off replace a pump for $80- $120 than to risk killing everying in their ecosystem that they've been nurturing and growing. A couple of posts here have been close calls. A search on the web will reveal some heavy losses. Good luck.

Hi all. I bought a nice Galaxia from them 2 weeks ago. Talking with another WAMAS member and he said that they can be tricky, and often don't last. Any suggestions, helpful advice or personal experience to offer? Thanks FF

Hi Keyoke, (Howard too), et al: Offering my 25 cents to suggest that you visit the Reef tank for hole drilling and excellent analysis/help. I called them up looking to get a 55 drilled to I can move a pair of Gold Band Maroon Clowns to it. Mike was very helpful, and also asked questions and analyzed the flow for my 75 rather than just listening to my one issue. He determined that the single drain is not enough flow based upon gph. This is something I would not have figured out, and just assumed what I had was correct. I've only have had Freshwater fish until this year, and I've learned in the last 10 months that you can get a lot of misguided advice, particularly if the person you talk to is not really listening or asking you good questions. To the point, I discussed with him dropping my sump into my basement because: A. You will find that there's not enough room to easily work on most supporting reef equipment if it's stuffed in the the stand, so take over an adjecent closet or go down into the basement. B. The pumps, drain and even some MH ballasts make noise, so in your living room or wherever, the noise factors build up. My wife quickly agreed to a sump in the basement because of this. C. If your interest takes off, you can be more flexible later and change your setup for LPS or SPS later. It's then an easy decision that would be based upon your wants, not logistics/space. And FYI- as for the sump solution: Mike suggested buying a drinking trough and showed me one that they use at The Reeftank. My 100 sump was $60 bucks at Southern states, comes plumbed with a 1 1/4 in bulkhead. Regards, Fishface