gastone

IMO your parameters look fine. The SG is a bit disconcerting though. 1.028 is a tad high, however the swing arm is probably not the best way to go. Not that a hobbyist refractometer is ideal either, but they do seem to work fairly well. You can pick one up for under $40 (here's one for $20: http://cgi.ebay.com/Salinity-Refractometer...1QQcmdZViewItem ) Gotta love Hong Kong. As for the xenia, it can be hit or miss. For some people it thrives, for other it just wastes away. This goes for both new and experienced hobbyists alike. Mine pulses in lower flow. If it ends up in front of a powerhead I find that the flow is too much and pushes the stalks over. This doesn't inhibit growth at all, just limits the pulsing action. I would recommend that you try some mushrooms as well. They are pretty bulletproof and tolerable of different water conditions. FWIW a few years ago I had stopped checking my SG. It had crept up to 1.031. All corals, fish, anemones and clams were doing just fine. They can be quite adaptable, but stability is key. GL Garrett.

I always make my girlfriend buy me reef stuff for Christmas/b-days. Borneman's book is good, however my mastiff my trying to read it one day, got frustrated (darn latin) and ate it instead. I now have bits and pieces of it (literally).

Didn't read your entire post so I wasn't aware that the display was in hypo as well. Hopefully that will take care of the damsels, though I still believe that a SG of 1.009 is better suited. I'm sketched by the use of CU. I understand its effectiveness... just too many drawbacks IMO. Again, sorry for your loss. G.

Brian, why are you going to treat with both CU and hypo? For ich one or the other would probably suffice. If you do go the hypo route, lower your SG to 1.009, 1.011 is a bit high. You'll also want to treat the damsels as well as there is a good chance that they are also carrying the pathogen/parasite/what-have-you, even if they aren't showing signs of whatever caused the demise of your other fish. It would be a shame to treat new fish for 6 weeks(ish), get them happy and healthy, and then introduce them to the tank with the lowly disease ridden demon spawn. As for biological filtration, take a couple of sponge filters and toss them into your sump. They will seed with bacteria in short order. Then transfer that over to the quarantine tank. I just leave them in the sump so I have them whenever I need them. GL. Garrett.

Jamal what is your ph at? I'm surprised that it would be low running a kalk reactor. How much feed, how often is it engaging? Where is it dumping (specifically in relation to your phosphate media)? Garrett.

Jamal, I use IO and have been contemplating switching over to RC for the reasons you mentioned. It's probably six of one and half dozen of the other by the time you take into account adjusting each batch of newly mixed IO to get sufficient calcium and magnesium versus the RC which is pretty spot on out of the box. The way I figure it is that it saves me from buying more additives and spending more time ensuring that my levels are accurate. Just my thoughts. Garrett.

See my sig. I've got a 42 hex that I built an oversized canopy for to accommodate a 250W hallide and 2 24" t5s. I don't know where you are located, but I'm in Fredericksburg, VA. You are more than welcome to stop by and take a look. Garrett.

Here is a good source for info/care regarding corals: http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Corals-Sele...7068&sr=8-1 and another: http://www.amazon.com/Corals-World-Vol-Sli...7122&sr=1-5 I agree with Howard. Start with softies/LPS. For the time being avoid SPS, clams, anemones, non-photosynthetic corals. I'd wait for the tank to mature/stabilize before I tried any of these (at least 6 months - 1 year IMO). Avoid nepthea/capnella/kenya tree like the plague, even if someone is giving it away (and they will). Good luck. Garrett.

The guy who is selling this is a member of RC and club-zoa. He seems to be pretty stand up. He's got a story about how he acquired this challice from a local store. I don't think he has tried to mis-represent the piece at all IMO, a la the recent "tyree watermelon" that wasn't a tyree. It's just a coral that he owns that he's fragging and selling. I don't think it's particularly nice, but I would take a piece... I just wouldn't pay for it. That being said, a lot of people out there would pay a substantial amount of money for this piece. More power to him says I.

Lizzie, do you have any literature on saltwater aquariums? i'm sure there are quite a few good books out there, here is one that i enjoy and still reference from time to time: http://www.amazon.com/Conscientious-Marine...025/ref=ed_oe_p you might even be able to get your school library to pick it up. good luck. garrett.

3.5 meq/l = 9.8dkh meq/l x 2.8 yields dkh. I wouldn't be to concerned about alk in a fish only with softies set up. Natural sea water has a dkh around 7. Shoot for that and you'll be just fine IMO. Condys aren't natural hosters of any clownfish. That being said, who knows what will happen. I've got a epicystis crucifer (carribean rock anemone) that my fire saddleback used to host in. Here's a pic of them when the anemone was spawning. (the white "stuff" is sperm btw). Garrrett

Sean, glue the plug/disk down with epoxy. Do you have a pic of the frag now? Garrett.

Glue your frags down Garrett.

Daniel, I've got babies if you want some (1/8" +/-). These things reproduce like crazy in my tank. I find them everywhere at night. My variety stay small though and don't get any bigger than 1/4" or so. Garrett.

Or acclimate mollies and breed them.

If you can customize the white balance then I learned a good trick over on RC. Put one or two white coffee filters over the lens and shoot the tank while the lights are on. The transluscent filter will allow the light through so you get a fairly accurate white setting. Beats the heck out of dropping grey cards into the tank. Maybe Chris can chime in and educate us all. Garrett.

You know someone had to say it, used to keep FW in college. Kept an aggressive tank with 3 pirhannas and an electric cat. Got nailed by a pirhanna (about 3") on my pinky. Bled uncontrollably for hours. The cat nailed me as well. Just about peed my pants from that one. Garrett.

Are we talking aptasia or bubble algae?

James, I've got the aquamedic triple doser. Idea was to run top off and two part through it. I find that it works okay for top off (every 12 minutes it kicks on for 1 minute and change), but was quite difficult to dial in for the two part. Ergo, triple doser running top off only. Boo. Garrett.

Dan, do you have a spectral plot of that bulb? I looked around and couldn't find one. Thanks. Garrett.

Okay, I use XM 10k on a pfo magnetic just like you. Used to supplement with VHO super actinics, totally sucked. This is why: Spectral plot of xm 10k on M58 ballast Biggest spike is at 420 nm, same as true actinics lamps. So you are adding actinic supplementation to a bulb that has a fair amount of actinic. However like Raf said, using blue+ which are 450 nm bulbs compliments the xm 10ks very nicely. I think Raf hit this one dead on. Use the VHOs for dusk-dawn, have them cut off as soon as the halides kick on. You can overlap the blue+ with the actinics and that is a nice affect as well. Blah. Garrett. I keep going round and round myself, but I just don't see any other way to get awesome par and good coloration with the equiment that I've got. I've thought about dropping the whole system and switching over to just a 400w radium on an HQI ballast. Similar par, but darn it must suck to replace bulbs every 4 months. So for now I'll stick with the xm 10k's and T5 blue+...

Hmmmm.... good question. From Sanjay's site the ACs give off awesome par on the HQI (duh) and pretty good par on electronic ballast, but pretty poor on the magnetic. Silly Germans not appreciating archaic technology like magnetic ballasts. Garrett.

James, don't want to speak for Doug, but I think he runs 400s. To my knowledge the ushio 14k don't come in a 250. Boo for us. I've looked into the AC bulbs and the nice thing is that they are reported to last for 12 months+, helps to alleviate that $110 +/- price tag. Garrett.

Daniel that first fungia that you posted is sick. How is the tank coming? Garrett.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage...040_information IMO, yes.