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pez

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About pez

  • Birthday 05/05/1969

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    http://www.cyberreefguru.com
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Reefer (7/13)

  1. Hello everyone. It's nice to see WAMAS doing so well after this many years. Hosting MACNA for the second time is a great honor. I'm cleaning out my garage and it's time to finally get rid of the last reef component I have laying around. Free to a good home - dual, 400W MH setup. PFO ballast, dual 96 watt PC actinic lamps; DIY everything else. I fired everything up this morning and except for one of the fans it all works, but there is no warranty so caveat emptor. Please shoot me an email cyberreefguru at gmail dot com; PM will work but no guarantees you'll be first in line. I posted some pictures I took shortly after I took it off the tank. It looks the same with the exception of 10+ years of dust and debris. http://www.cyberrailguru.com/pix/index.php?/category/35 If there are no takers, it will go on the street later this week. -Tom
  2. pez

    AquaDom

    Anyone heard of the AquaDom? Seems like WAMAS needs a trip to Berlin... http://fogonazos.blogspot.com/2007/01/aqua...ylindrical.html
  3. You should not *need* to add any supplements to new mixed salt water (except maybe for calcium for salts like IO). Also, regardless of the pH of RO water, it holds little to no buffering capacity, so a smallest amount of baking soda will cause a large change in pH. Please remember, baking soda causes a short term drop in pH, and a long term gain. Tweaking followed by immediate testing will yield erroneous results. Finally, if you want to tweak the chemistry of your water, use a balanced additive such as B-Ionic or Kalkwasser. That will ensure your calcium and alkalinity will remain balanced. Avoid the use of pure buffers (e.g. Baking Soda) or calcium supplements unless you know what you're doing and can manage the side effects (no implication that you don't know what you're doing, just trying to give advice) -Tom
  4. I have a full hood with 2 400 watt MH and dual 96 watt PCs for sale if you're interested. Probably overkill for a 55, but you could switch out the ballast for a 250 and upgrade tanks later. You will want to do that anyway - it's part of life as a reefer. -Tom
  5. Cleaner shrimp have a relatively short life span (compared to corals and fish). However, they do hide when molting. All things accounted, I'd say the CBS had a nice lunch (or dinner). -Tom
  6. For cooling purposes, fans are far more efficient at pushing air than pulling it. As such, you should have both fans (if you really need two) push air into the hood and vent out through an appropriate opening. 0.02. -Tom
  7. Be advised that the shrimp will not limit themselves to aiptasia. Any cnidarian is subject to harvest once the aiptasia are no longer a viable food source. Other information: http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpesta.../aiptasia_p.htm -Tom
  8. What salt are you using? High levels of Mg can contribute to false high dKH readings. Thus, more water changes might contribute to the problem rather than resolving it. Oh, if it's not broken, don't fix it. What makes you think 15dKH is bad? I personally would strive for 4meq/L, but if it's working for you, why "fix" it? -Tom
  9. I hate to disagree with Grav, but I don't see it as cut and dry. In theory they add biodiversity by providing a refuge for otherwise high value targets (e.g., things that will get eaten quickly). However, my fuge doesn't seem to have much growing in it that isn't in the main tank somewhere. Perhaps there are more copepods, isopods, etc. because of the fuge, but my testing hasn't bore that out. I've done it both ways and have found little clear benefit to having one. My current system has a fuge and I disconnected it for 6 months to see what would happen. My tank looked no different, better or worse, with or without the fuge. If the fuge is on a reverse schedule for lighting, it will help buffer the pH if you have a lot of plant material. However, if your alkalinity is good and you're dosing kalkwasser, the argument is somewhat less compelling. The best reason for one, IMHO, is added volume and a place to put things when you need to. It's great to "banish" unknown crabs to the fuge and see what they do in there. Safer than letting them run amock in your display tank and trying to find them after your corals start to disappear. Factoring in the added plumbing and extra stuff, I'm not sure the benfits out weigh the complexity. It's your call. 0.02. -Tom
  10. pez

    ID Please

    I don't think your picture is GSP. There has been some reclassification going on in that area, so I don't know what the current scientific name is. Sugar is probably right with the pachyclavularia or briareum. Might be Erythropodium as well. I had some in my tank for a while and it took over. Seemed to like high levels of iodine. Since it reproduced sexually a number of times, Eric Borneman is now the proud owner of it. As for the "frog spawn", both hammer corals and frag spawn are Euphyllia of some type. Looks like you have E. divsa or some hybrid between E. Divsa and E. ancora. -Tom
  11. pez

    Algae Problem

    As noted above, it sounds like Cynobacteria to me. Please provide some additional information: 1) What kind of lamps do you have (e.g., FL, MH, VHO, PC)? 2) How old are your lamps? 3) How often do you feed? 4) What do you feed? 5) Do you use supplements? If so, what, how much, how often? 6) What brand of salt are you using? 7) Where do you get your water (e.g., RO, tap, TWP, etc.) Answering these questions will help us help you. Also, give this a read: http://www.cyberreefguru.com/general/cyno.html -Tom
  12. Is anyone else concerned about the "anemone" that is growing from the LR? Sounds like it might be aiptasia? -Tom
  13. pez

    unkown thing

    They are sponges of a sort. Steve Tyree has done some writing about them if you're interested (google cryptic sponge). They shouldn't kill anything. I suspect something else is a foot with respect to your clavuria. After the plankton in your tank has subsided, they will stop growing or reach a steady state. -Tom
  14. Reef tanks are not unstable without filters, skimmers, etc. The killer is lack of oxygen due to a lack of circulation. The same can be said about real reefs - fortunately, a power outtage doesn't affec them . LR and LS go anoxic very quickly without circulation. That, in turn, can start releasing noxious gases, which kills fish and corals. Once something dies, it's a downhill spiral that is very difficult to recover from. Assuming the temperature doesn't drop dramatically, your tank should be able to withstand a couple of hours with little or no circulation. More than that, and you're facing a serious problem. You can run any pump from a UPS *if* the UPS outputs a true sine wave verses a chopped sine wave. Some pumps will not work without a true sine wave (e.g., most powerheads), but some pumps will. Unless you buy a UPS specifically designed to output a true sine wave, you're not going to get one. A number of years ago a company was selling UPSs designed for reef tanks. I don't know if their still in business. Their prices were a bit higher than APC and the like, but they could run just about anything your tank has to offer. Any time the power goes out, I connect 1 close-loop pump to the UPS on my computer. It lasts for about 30 minutes, which is better than nothing. (gen-x pumps run from "normal" computer UPSs) Oh, one last thing, during a power outtage, disable your CO2 system if you have one. You don't need to drive the pH down any more than it will already be once the power comes back on. -Tom
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