Marty

I know a very interested middle school science teacher that wants to get involved. How do I make it happen?? mc

In addition to pulling the bioballs, you can add some sand directly to the crushed coral you have. Do it slowly, say 1/4" at a time and use the technique Michael suggested with the PVC tube. Add it to the top of the cc and it will settle between the grains eventually. Get some nassarius snails and maybe a conch or two to stir things up too. With an established 75g, you probably can get by with one 50lb bag of Southdown (or whatever it's called now) sand from HD. mc

I've got the 4" Icecap variable speed fan. A little more money, but it's proven, works well, and it's already wired with a plug. Very quiet and moves a lot of air. Mine is almost always running as fast as it will go and it's not really noticable. My tank is in our family room with the tv and it's not a problem. mc

Do you do them? YES!! How often? monthly (usually!) How much water do you change? 15-20g for a ~140g system Do you mix up a lot of saltwater and store it somewhere? No, I filter and mix water change s/w when I need it. I keep make-up (f/w) water, but not water change water. What do you store it in? big rubbermaid container What is your method for getting the old water out of the aquarium, and the new water in? I use a powerhead and a length of rubber hose that fits over the outflow of the powerhead and a bucket. Reverse the process for the new water. Finally, how is it working for you? works great, highly recommend it, if not mandate it!

This would be a great place to post a synopsis of the new tank set-up that Steve has. Especially with "Nemo" probably coming out on DVD for Christmas...

I agree with areefer. That is basically the way I had my wiring run for my tank in the new addition. I had the home run wire run to a 20A breaker. At the tank wall, I had it split into two sockets with a GFCI on each. That's plenty for my 120g. The plug for a 20A is the same. A 220V does have a different plug, but a 20A 110V is the same. I run the following with it: 2 Mag 7's (one return & one for the skimmer) 3 powerheads 1 Icecap 660 w/4 X 110w VHO's 1 PFO dual 250w MH ballast 2 150w heaters 1 Icecap 4" fan Never had a circuit or GFCI pop. mc

Well, I lost my beautiful yellow leather and I now have a hair algae outbreak. Looks like I lost more than I can see. Doing lots of water changes and running carbon. We'll see how long this takes....

Our power (Fairfax City) went out about 5pm. Flashed on about 9:30 for a half hour. Then came on again about 1am. Then went out about 3am. Then came back on again around 6am. I sloshed some water around and poured several buckets several times from the sump into the tank to get some manual circulation. Who knows if it helped or not. All my fish made it (so far). Polyps and shrooms were out, not sure about anything else. I'll see when I get home. mc

How big is the powder blue tang? How old is it? What do you want for it? Where are you located? mc

I'm in Fairfax City.

Don't use cooked shrimp. It should be raw. The frozen cleaner you have may or may not be palatable for it. You can try it though. Make sure it's at room or water temperature. I usually soak the shrimp (or whatever) in tank water and some selcon for 10-15 minutes. This gets the food at or close to the tank temperature. I've heard mixed reviews about selcon and anemones, but I figure it doesn't hurt and I pour the soaking water into the tank anyway.

Try feeding it something substantial like a chunk of raw fish or a shrimp. I feed my BTA 2-3 shrimp a week. I wouldn't worry about the peppermints. If they get too close and bug it too much, they'll become lunch. Has it settled down and become attached somewhere? If not, it may not be healthy and that may be why the shrimp are picking at it. Where did you get it?

3-4 squirts of nultivitamins for children I have a question about this ingredient. I know my kids vitamins contain aspartamine (nutrasweet) and many other colors and fillers. Is this a wise thing to be putting into a fishtank food mix? mc

Lowes in Sterling has 96 gallon trash bins on wheels with a hinged lid for $87. They're about 3 or 3 1/2 feet square.

Be very careful what you treat the tank with. I'd run carbon, but don't put any antibiotics or other chemicals in there. Also do a water change or two. Treating the tank "just in case" for one fish could kill a lot more than one fish is worth. As far as a replacement, that could be tough depending on how big she is. I've got a really large clarkii that refuses to accept a mate. She's killed two already and I've given up trying. Not sure how aggressive gold stripes are, but you may be better off selling or trading the single for a mated pair. mc

My Mag 7 got really noisy and when I finally took it apart, the impeller shaft was broken. A new impeller (as I see you're doing) did the trick. FYI, I run it in sump. mc

Michael, I agree with Tamie, Capt. Slades. Snapper, I'm jealous. If you're looking for really nice pristine diving, Belize will be great. I'm not sure what if any damage remains after the hurricane that blew through there a year or two ago. Bonaire is also very good diving. If you want to do a liveaboard, Saba is ringed with an undersea park. There's nothing to do top side, but the diving is fantastic and must be done by boat. Another local shop is in Fair City Mall (corner of pickett and 236) Sea Ventures. They also do repairs and run trips.

You may pay a little more, but you can get stainless steel tools at several places including SCUBA supply shops or marine supply shops. You probably can get stainless fishing pliers at Sports Authority or Galyans. West Marine has several pliers either for boats or fishing for $20-50. They're durable and rust resistent. mc

You got a couple hours? There are tons of 'hot spots' in the Caribbean. Depends on what, if anything, else you want to do and what type of diving you want to do. Belize is very nice, a little remote, but great diving. Aruba, Bonaire, Turks & Caicos, Caymans, all great spots too. Aruba has a lot of other stuff to do besides diving. Bonaire is nice 'cause you can do tons of shore diving and save the time and expense of doing all boat dives. Turks & Caicos are kinda remote with not much else to do but dive and sit on the beach. The Caymans can be nice if you stay on Grand Cayman. But if you go to Little Cayman or Brac, dive or do very little else. The Bahamas have good diving, not great, but good. They're close, cheap and there's lots of top side stuff to do. You can get better diving in the out islands, it's more remote and less to do top side. If you don't want to go international, the Keys have some really good diving too. Cancun and Cozumel have great diving, but it's almost exclusively drift diving. Cancun has tons of top side stuff to do, Cozumel, a little less, but still fun. I could go on and on, but that should give you enough to think about. mc

If you're a little flexible on the size, 75g and 90g tanks are relatively common. They're available used here and in the paper on a regular basis. Welcome aboard. mc

There were 3+ pallets at the Fx Circle HD in the outside area.

There was a show on last night on PBS that I stumbled upon. It was regarding captive strains of caulerpa and it's introduction into the wild. Here's a link to the page that talks about it. I'm not sure when it will be rebroadcast, but I highly recommend everyone try to catch. Also check out the "Links & Books" page. It has some really good resources for this topic. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/algae/ mc

1) shop vac 2) dehumidifier I also agree with the carpet cleaner. We've got one of the portable vacuum type ones. I've used it a couple times.... Depending on the carpet, you really don't need to clean it, just suck all the water out then use a dehumidifier or fan.

I agree with Michael on this, strap on the tool belt and have at it. 4" is definitely too low. You could try to raise the hood you have, but it probably would look better just building a new one. You'll need much more cooling with the MH's than with the PC's. How do you like those Icecap fans? You may be able to keep them since they're variable, they'll just run faster. If you raise the hood, you can get the 4" fans instead also. Let me know when you plan on having the building party. :: mc

Yeah, that does happen, but if you clean it regularly, it'll last several years, at least that's what I've found with the Icecaps.