gastone

I'm sure BRK or F&F could order them for you, but if you are looking for them immediately you may want to try Roozens Nursery. Just over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in MD. G.

Watts per gallon isn't something commonly used these days. What with different reflector efficiency, bulb design, and spectral output, it just isn't very applicable IMO. I used to use 380w VHO over my 30g tank. About 13wpg. I have since switched out two of those lamps for 2-39w T5 overdriven to say 50(ish) watts and on icecap reflectors. Giving me a total of 290w or under 10wpg. My tank is much, much brighter now. I'll be pulling out the VHOs very soon and replacing them with 2 more overdriven t5 lamps for a total of around 200w and I expect the tank to be even brighter still. If your goal is to just grow coralline algae, you'll be fine with 2 t-5 lamps IMO. For a nice look I would go with an ATI aquablue and and ATI blueplus lamps. Would be nice and crisp with just a taste of blue. The fish would even look better under this lighting that your current normal output flourescent. You would even be able to keep some corals (when, I repeat when (not if) you get the itch). Later you could always add in more T5 bulbs or halide, or whatever. But if you just want to grow coralline (for now) 2-T5s would more than suffice. G.

Pop, shmop. I'll let others tell you about that one. If you are going with just T5 (sorry that I assumed PCs as those are the only bulbs I could recall that came in 460nm) then it is a whole different ballgame. Depending upon how many lights you have on your tank, what types of corals you have and are planning to have, what ballast you are using, and what color spectrum you are trying to achieve, should dictate which bulb combo to go with. Now things get really screwy. Last one then I'm done. On my 30g tank (which is mostly for frag growout, but which will be converted to a zoanthid/LPS tank) I currently use this combo: 2x39W T5 (Aquablue and Blue+) and 190W VHO actinic. I am in the process of switching over to all T5 lamps (as of this Monday... hopefully) and my new combo will be (front to back) blue+, UVL SA, pro color, blue+. Not hot as far as par, but the zoas and LPS don't need outrageous par. The blue+ and SA will showcase the greens and blues in the tank, and the pro color will showcase the reds, oranges and yellows. In this case I'll be utilizing bothe 420 (SA) and 450 (blue+) with more 450, 'cause I like them better. Garrett. Mike, most hobby 10k lamps (most) spike at 420nm. The best complement for these is 450 (or 460 if that's your thing) lamps. G.

I've got to respond before James pre-disagrees with me. The application is different. First off I'm assuming that you are talking PCs here. I don't use too many PC lamps, but if we keep it to just wavelength it shouldn't matter. First off, you probably want a good balance of 420nm and 460nm(450nm for us T5 users) on your tank. 420nm is what us reefkeepers call true actinic. Very far to the left on the color spectrum This is quite purple in appearance. 460nm (again, 450nm for me) is much more blue in the spectrum. In this graph the blue is what I currently use, the red is what I will be switching over to as soon as I get ahold of the appropriate ballast. So my current halide lamp spikes at 420nm and has very little output in the 450nm range. A few years ago when I added actinics they were VHO superactinics (many view these are the "real deal" 420nm actinic lamps). The problem was they were supplementing what I already had, which is 420nm. I could hardly tell when they were on. I switched over to T5 ATI blue+ lamps (450nm spikes) and the results are dramatic. I now have a much more "complete" spectral output. The results are astonishing. Nice, crisp white. Everything looks good. In the near future I'm switching over to radium halide lamps (the red graph). These on the other hand spike at 450nm and have very little 420nm output. So I'll be switching back over to true actinic (420), for the best complement. Truthfully I'll be adding both 420 and 450 by tacking on another 2-T5 lamps to the setup. But if I only could do it one way with the radiums it would be true actinics. How'd we do? G.

You're picking this up much faster than I ever did. Absolutely correct. Garrett.

PCs aren't my thing. I think they are great on small systems, ie 10 gallons, but on a large tank there are better options IMO. How about overdriving what you already have? Handy at all? http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz...ing&spell=1 Cheaply I would say you could get a couple of workhorse ballasts , some endcaps (I may even have some extras laying around) and a couple of normal output lamps. Viola. Even better I would say do the ballast (workhorse 5 should do) and go with 2 t5 lights. Endcaps and standoffs will run you about $30, the ballast is about $25 and the lamps are about $20 per. So for right around $100 you could do a nice little t5 system that would do exactly what you want now, look great, and also allow you to add some corals... when you get to that point... and you will get to that point. Garrett.

http://greyseasaquatics.com/

James, I'm not a big fan of glueing softies (save for zoanthids). Maybe I should add some rubble then. But I think I'll just try to give them a chance to re-form before I mess with their environment too much. I also hacked (and I mean seriously hacked) at some ricordia floridas yesterday. We'll see how they come out. G.

I don't know James, never done it before. I think they could just as easily attach to the sides of the tupperware??? G.

Chip, thanks. I was searching youtube for fragging and I came across your BTA videos. My hero and inspiration. G. Rik, if they make it the first one is yours. Here are pics from this morning. This one is coming along nicely. It looks to be starting to close up: This one the guts are clearly visible, but it doesn't look too bad: It's only been 15 hours give or take, but I am quite hopeful. More progression pics (good or bad) to follow. G.

James, I just read about them being halfed, nothing else. I think people are so loathe to try it that they go with the least (imagine that) invasive measures to propagate. G.

So, the history first: Picked this coral up sometime in 06 from Atlantis Aquarium down in Richmond. I probably shouldn't have purchased a fairly expensive red yuma, especially knowing their track record in captivity, and the fact that I didn't have any experience with yumas anyway. But I had done a fair bit of research beforehand and I figured, what the hey, it's only money. So purchase I did. I got it home to find that there was a baby underneath the mother. After a few days in my tank the baby was no more. However the mother survived. Never grew any, never dropped any babies. The good news is that it's a survivor and therefore a good specimen for captive propagation. The bad new... never chopped one up before. After a bit of research i decided to go with a bi-lateral cutting as opposed to a pedal laceration. Which is to say, cut it down down the middle as opposed to cutting its foot off. I had to resort to having my gf take pictures. Mostly she took pics of my hands and not so much of the actual cutting, but we'll see what we can do: First the coral pre-slice: With requisite tool(s): Here I am a little weary of where to stick my knife in (btw I'm really not that pale... really): Alright, enough contemplation - just do it already: I inserted the knife into the mouth and down through the cutting board. I then pulled the knife towards me to complete the first cut. The yuma was spun around and the knife was then re-inserted to the mouth to finish the process: (nice pic of the hands... told ya so) And viola: So now they are in a tupperware container back in the tank with some mesh tied over them so they don't float away. I'll probably squirt water at the cut edges using a pippette or syringe a few times daily to prevent against bacterial infections. Garrett.

IMO I wouldn't use a large pump to feed the fuge/frag tank. Something in the area of 1-2 hundred GPH. As JM said, you want to give the algae an opportunity to do its job, which is to absorb nutrients in the water column. If the water is only there for a second or two before it gets whisked away, minimal absorption takes place. So turnover should be minimal. Flow on the other hand is a different story. If my memory serves me correctly Calfo said that 20x tank circulation in the fuge. I use a 100g stock tank with about 45-50 gallons (guestimate) allocated for the fuge. I use a modded maxijet 900 for circulation. Keeps detritus from settling, blah, blah. As far as cordoning off a section for the frag tank, I don't see a prob. I would probably put some baffles in to keep the macro from infesting your frags though. From your first post I think either the 2nd or 3rd diagram would be a good start. Garrett.

Not much but.... : http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/hcs3/index.php

In your final diagram you are pumping the water from your sump into the refugium, which overflows back into the sump which is then pumped up into the display. Why not just run the overflow from the fuge directly to the display? This way the pods aren't subjected to another pump and the you are only paying to pump the water once. garrett.

Chris, done. The frags are fairly small. 3/4" square give or take. In my display I've got this right underneath a hallide. It gets blasted. The frags are under (old) T5 lighting and aren't as bright. This cyphastrea likes the high life... I mean light. G.

Bob, I'll replace them for you with some from the mother colony. Garrett.

hydroid jellyfish?? http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Cnidarians/Hydr...0677hydroid.jpg harmless IMO. G.

Oh yeah, we meant to tell you that we've changed things up a bit. Instead of sending the money to WAMAS you should paypal me directly at: Hah. garrett.

Dave, I likey astreopora. I've got this one from Miguel at Fragglereef: in my tank the polyps are bright green, but the purple hasn't quite come on yet. It's more of a lime green with faint purple highlights... kinda like ghost flames on an old rod. BTW, when I say the cloves are babies, I ain't lying. We are talking 1/8" diameter. The mother colony is at least 1/2" G

Dave, I'll take a frag of those cat eyes off of your hands. Garrett.

Looks to be some species of chiton. http://images.google.com/images?q=chiton&a...es&ct=title my invertebrate taxonomy skills suck though so I can't say I know which one. G.

Do you have LR in the fuge? Lots of time the LR comes pre-packaged with algae, hence unkown green stuff in our displays. Generally speaking, the algae that we seed the fuge with (chaeto, caulerpa, et al) out competes the other stuff for localized nutrients, this is why the other stuff isn't as visible in the refugium. G.

Yep, heard decent things about the IO kit as well. Anything but salifert these days which is a shame. For years there were top notch hobbyist grade kits. Now... boo. I read it through a couple of days ago. He seemed to waiver back and forth about getting it done for somewhere between a few hundred and 15 grand. Maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part that it would cost a few hundred. G.

James, the API alk test are very comparable (accuray wise) to the ELOS... at a fraction of the cost. Dave, did you see that link that I posted on the DIY forum about the guy on RC who was putting together an automatic titrator to test alk at least daily, if not two or three times per. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...hreadid=1073780 Amazing, and he says that it might be something that he can put together for a few hundred dollars. Pricey, but absolutely rockin'. G.