WDLV

I'll second that. I love the front on shot. Nice looking tank. Keep up the good work!

I would be concerned about the heavy breathing. A few things come to mind... Ick - Usually the first place paracites attach are the gills followed by heavy breathing. Brooklynella - typically found with clownfish but not impossible for other fish to succumb. Ammonia burn - Some fish that come to you have it from the shipping bag but more often it comes from the current tank. Imagine inhaling chlorine gas. It kind of has the same effect on a fish's gills. Given that your system is new and you're overstocking (in my opinion) you may have created another nitrogen cycle with the overzealous addition of new fish and/or decompisition of dead fish. I would re-test the water and also check the date on your test kit to be sure it's not old and faulty. Also make sure you feed lightly for about the first week. Amyloodinium - This like the others effect the gills first. Looks like Ick on steroids.

I have a great deal of respect for those who can keep a nano tank successfully. The chemistry alone is like balancing a ball bearing on the tip of a pen. I think that people tend to overstock their tanks. That the general recommendations are a bit high. I think this is the case with you. In that size tank I would not add more than one pair of small fish (like ocellaris clowns). I think the stress of being in tight quarters is killing your fish. Chromis IMHO are a species that should be kept in large numbers in an even larger tank. Pistol shrimp are a little too similar to mantis shrimp for my liking. I would never keep one in a tank with fish I particularly cared about. I think your pistol shrimp and goby are the best thing you have going. If they are still alive I would stop with them and maybe add a few small shrimps. Another possibility is that it could be that you have a disease in the tank that has not been able to die before you add the next fish. Hope that helps.

Some have poisonous spikes but I think the majority just hurt like crazy. I've been stuck several times by the purple long spine variety. I still like them though. I'd take it off your hands if you don't like them.

Well, I'd try figuring out what kind of fish live in the mountain lakes. I've seen them in my MYSIS before too.

I've used 55 gallon drums that had caramel coloring in them. I scrubbed them out with a nylon brush, let pure bleach sit on the heavily concentrated areas then soaked the whole thing in bleach water for a couple days. After that I rinsed them several times. You can also use hydrogen peroxide to bleach out any stains or smells. As long as the substance they held is non-toxic (preferably food grade) you can re-use them for aquaria.

I have seen it happen. At least that was my conclusion. I had an algae blenny once that was hired for a particularly tough job in one of my sumps. He put a huge dent in the problem and died with an extremely destended abdomin. I assume he ate himself to death.

I have to preface my answer by asking.... What size tank? There are as many ways to run a tank right are there are successful reefers. That said, here's my rule of thumb on bulb types.... It doesn't really matter what you use as long as you match the wattage from bulb type to bulb type and replace them as indicated. I do not know about T-5 bulbs personally because I have not owned them. I have however noticed that many of the people I have known who have switched to them were very excited about the switch and were very happy initially. Unfortunately the common trend was that they have either gone to something else or have left the hobby entirely. I don't know if there's any correlation between these two factors. What I do know from personal use of N.O. bulbs, PC bulbs, VHO bulbs and halides is that regardless of the type of flourescent you use, they need to be changed about every six months. Halides last 10 months to a year and have a lot more wattage per bulb. For me, halides have been the way to go because to run flourescents, I needed to buy twice as many bulbs and replace them twice as often to maintain the same wattage over my tank. I used to have a 65 gallon Oceanic RR tank with three 96W PC bulbs. I was very happy with the performance of the bulbs but if I had it to do again, I would simply use one 250W MH bulb.

I have seen them kept under N.O. bulbs.... Usually it has more to do with the depth of your system, clarity of your water and the distance from the bulb than the type of bulb you use. I say try it. If the nem doesn't thrive, you can either sell the nem or upgrade your lighting rig.

This is kind of a broad statement but it does cover the gist of what you're asking. I've been reefing for about 11 years and been working with medical electronics, pneumatics, hydraulics and robotics for about eight. What I have learned is: - Redundancy can save your butt. Don't have one circulation pump, one light timer, one closed loop etc. Get two or more. That $20,000 worth of prized fish and coral can be wiped out in a matter of hours from a full sized heater that got stuck in the on position. More often than not, they fail "ON." If one of three smaller heaters fails on, you have time to catch it. - Use float valves instead of float switches. Solenoids get dirty and leak and electrical contacts get dirty with carbon and fail over time. Float valves usually fail by not providing water. Which to me is far preferable. It's the difference between saying "gee, the sump level looks low" and saying OMG, what happened!" - Do not use a method of kalk dosing or top off that would allow a free flow in your tank if there were a sump leak. (I use a LiterMeterIII.) Paristaltic pumps usually fail when the tubing fails. In which case they stop providing kalk to your system. - Don't put all your eggs in one basket. IE: i think aqua controllers have their place but I do not believe that aqua controllers are the way to go for every feature of your system. Control each device or at the least, every system individually. It might cost more but you're far less likely to come home from vacation with a glass box full of rotting sludge. If a timer fails on one of your lights, your corals will probably bleach in that section of the tank, but if the aquacontroller that controls your pH, top off, lights, heaters chiller, pumps, Ca Reactor and your whatchamagiggy fails, what happens then? You'd better hope grandma or whomever is watching your house notices fast and knows what to do about it. Essentially, "the more complex the system, the more likely it is to fail" don't put all your eggs in one basket and remember that "Murphy" is not your friend. Don't tempt her.

Petco seems to be particularly bad. I shop there for cheap equipment, but that's it. The fish have looked bad as a general rule. I will say this though, they have been looking much better in the last couple months at my local store. I don't know if this from all the negative publicity that's been floating around or if it's just a fluke specific to this one store. I have been through a lot of diferent approaches. Right now I use a 10 gallon, a Whisper EX45, a flower pot and a 50W heater on my quarrantine tanks, which often become the permanent residents of my clown or damsel pairs. I use this over-sized filter instead of the smaller versions because they pick up all the detritus in the tank. I use hypo (1.009) for the first few weeks and medicate only if something is awry. I have a 40 breeder for larger specamins. If I want to quarrantine a really large/delicate fish I can use a 100 gallon rubbermaid stock tank. When quarrantining two clowns together and one is particularly aggressive I put another flower pot in the opposite corner. If that does not work I separate them.

For the record, I think WAMAS is an excellent club with a lot of top-notch membership. Not my first choice, but that's strictly due to it's geographic location. I happen to live in the Baltimore area and most of you are not that close to me. I just figured if I was being talked about in public here at WAMAS I might as well make an appearance. I sincerely hope that those of you who would judge me would do so based on individual dealings rather than the opinions of a few individuals. I have no intention of making a mockery of this forum, it's officers or policies and I do have the utmost respect for your membership here based on past experience. In keeping with the supposed direction of the thread, WELCOME (back) TO WAMAS PHILLIP!!!

I agree. Instigating, encouraging or re-igniting, a nasty forum fight is always among the top reasons to patronize an aquarium club! Good stuff Chip. Keep up the good work. Oh, and never forget to keep loyal to your clique. Wouldn

What

I would go upward of 20 times the tank volume per hour. With that much rock you will have more of a tendancy toward detritus buildup. So, the higher the better IMO

I've heard of the hyposalinity treatments over long durations, what is this hyper salinity treatment? ie: What is the recommended SG and duration for such a treatment and what types of problems has it been recommended for?

Good point Johann.

I personally know a person who did have a problem. He called the airline and got the OK but when he showed for the flight, they turned him away. To make a long story short, he had to ship them to his new home several states away. To be on the safe side you may want to call two times and talk to different people to see if the answer changes. I personally prefer smuggling.... Much more exciting that way! B)

Oddly enough I found the scrap of paper with the website by chance last night. The site was www.northeastaquatics.com However when I tried to use it, it was down. I bought an A. Leucokranos from them at MACNA and wanted to find another so he'd have a buddy to play with. Anyone know of another reliable source for one?

Can anyone give me the contact information for the vendor from NJ that was located in booth 50 (I think) at the conference? I have misplaced the web site and forgotten the name. Thanks in advance. Walt

Hello WAMAS! Ken is correct. Neither I nor anyone I have communicated with up here has been able to find the Type III White Portland Cement. Some have looked for months. One guy has relatives that work for Lehigh Cement in PA and still can't get it. I am aware that it is relatively easy to find Type III Grey and Type II White, but this is to me and some others not as desirable. The Grey isn't as nice looking and the type II White isn't low alkalinity. If someone knows a source for this product that does not involve driving all over creation or wants to buy a bag from our joint purchase, please feel free to post on the CMAS link that Tim provided above. Happy reefkeeping! Walt Tim, Thanks for posting the link.