jamesbuf

it really is amazing all the different forms of life that our little systems can support. Too cool.

thanks man. No need to go into great detail. Was just curious what else you had in there. looking good

wow, so you have your porcupine in with inverts? I added one and he went right to town on my ceriths and nassarius snails. Ended up trading him back in.

I've been fine with my green and rose BTAs and also my purple long tentacle. My riteri is another story. I was adjusting a piece of liverock that had fallen when my forearm started to sting. I turned around and noticed a couple tentacles from the riteri stuck to my forearm. It wasn't too bad though. That area was just a little tender and itchy for a few hours. Definitly surprised me though. There's actually alot of things in our tanks that can hurt us, we should all be using gloves. Oh well.

I've heard rumors about your setup Chip. Definitly looks well thoughout and organized....at least compared to mine. To ensure a decent pod population in the main tank, I also use one of those plastic betta display things that suction-cup to the inside of the tank. Like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/keep-BETTA-fighting-fi...tem280087421844 I've got it over on the top back left and have grape caulerpa growing in it. It has slits on the bottom that the algae grows out of to feed the tangs, and I have it just below the water level so it also grows out the top. I still have to thin out the algae from time to time, and I see plenty of pods when I do so. Its funny too, my cleaner wrasse loves to swim near the top and bottom waiting for unexpecting pods to come out. Stalks them. So do my 2 dwarf angels. I definitly attibute it to my success in keeping the cleaner wrasse. He been with me now for close to year. Very fat and healthy. Strangly enough, it also eats flakes and nori too. Only one I've ever had that has done so. I would definitly recommend this makeshift internal fuge to those who don't have the room for a separate tank to use as a refugium. Its what I'll be using once I downsize to just my 42gal hexagon.

I don't use the main return pump for running water through the UV sterilizer. It has its own dedicated pump, a Mag7. I also use a sponge prefilter on the Mag7 that feeds the sterilizer so detritus doesn't clogg the inside of the UV tubing. This also prevents any baby snails and other live creatures from being pulled into pump. I just make sure to clean the sponge every week or so. Also, my sump is just a sump, with just some pieces of extra liverock in it. No macroalgae or sand. I have a 3rd tank which is my remoted DSB/refugium that has hundreds, if not thousands, of pods and microfauna. UV sterilizers do restrict live in your tank........the pests that you don't want growing! It hasn't negatively affected any of the life that I WANT to grow, if anything, its helped the good stuff prosper. Anyone who has a problem keeping microfauna alive probably just needs to rethink how they have there plumbing setup. UV sterilizers work on proven scientific principles. Enough UV exposure causes degredation of DNA, the building block of life.

No worries man. Let your stuff grow out then frag it. No need to bother it while its trying to establish itself and grow. Definitly keep us posted with pics.

They definitly look neon green. Once it grows out I might have to nag you for a small frag.

UV sterilizers work, plain and simple. Just make sure to get one that is strong enough. You gotta make sure the flow through the unit is slow enough to kill parasites, not just algae. Freefloating algae is killed at much higher flow rates as opposed to parasites. Many of the units out there don't make that distinction in their descriptions when you do your research. Check this chart out: http://www.aquaultraviolet.com/instructions/UVsizing.pdf The 90,000 microns/cm is what you need to attain to kill parasites. The chart shows a 25watt sterilizer with 400gph going through it would work great. I have the 57 watt one and I could run 1000pgh through it and still be effective. I only have it hooked up to a Mag7 and I'm had no problems for quite some time now. Trust me, you will not regret this purchase.

get one of these: http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/product/pr....itemKey=210851 or http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/product/pr....itemKey=210890 I had ich problems and lost hundreds of dollars in fish, I found a 57watt aqua sterilizer on sale and haven't had any issues since. Well worth the investment. I thought about it this way, I lost about $400 in fish during one of my outbreaks, so that is how I justified the cost. Best of luck battling your issues

Very nice. Like Dave said, just sit back and watch the the growth. You should definitly see good growth with the light setup you have. If those are green star polyps at the top of the tank, I would move them and make them their separate island on the bottom. Once they establish themselves, they grow like crazy and will take over. Definitly don't want it near those sps.

with a 190gal, you'll be fine.

Less wattage, more flow.....brilliant!!!!

PC lights also go bad way quicker than T5s. I'm pretty sure T5s have close to 3 times the bulb life, needing only be replace every 1.5 years or so. PC wont even come close to a year. Once bulbs start to get old, the spectrum of light that comes out changes to the kind of light that promotes nuisance algaes. Once nuisance algae starts to grow, it is a pain in the a$$ to get rid of. Just make sure you start off with a tang if your tank is big enough. The liverock is important because its your filter system, having bacteria that will break down your fish's waste products. Without the liverock, the waste will build up and kill said fish. Its not that we have anything against PC lights, its just that they are old technology and the experienced hobbyists on this site know enough to not recommend them. Some local fish stores may recommend them to make a sale, but we make no profit whatsoever off the advice we give. We just want you to be successful, that all. I got into the hobby many many years ago and had a FOWLR tank. Having triggers, puffers, and other aggressive fish was cool and I loved giving them feeders. But I came to realize that you are severely limited in what you can put in the tank with aggressive fish. I got tired of going to the local fish stores and realizing I couldn't buy 90% of the livestock, which is why I switched. There are many different way to have a successful saltwater tank, you just gotta find out what floats your boat. And also realize that your tastes may change, as has happened with many other members here. I myself am on my third skimmer, if I had just listened to the advice of the members on wamas, I would've saved the money of buying the first two skimmers.

They do make 60" T5 bulbs and 70" VHO, so if you go 125gallon I would go with these. If you're just going to do fish right now, then I would just do 2-4 retrofit T5 or VHO. Then down the road when you want to start housing corals, you can just add in 2-3 retro Metal Halides depending on tank size of course. And just use the existing retrofit T5 or VHO for your actinic bulbs.

I gotta agree with everyone here. Completely changed how my tank looked once I switched to a RO/DI filter. A must have if you wish to be successful in this hobby.

First rule in this hobby, nothing good happens fast. Usually the only thing fast thing that happens are disasters. I'm sure plenty of people will tell you the same. Gotta go pass out, this site is freaking addictive.

welcome to the club. Feel free to ask as many question as you need, but do remember that there is a search option that can be used. When I first joined I spent days just reading through the old posts. Probably helped save me hundreds of dollars, not just from the good advice, but learning from others mistakes. Joining wamas has still been the best $20 I've spent in this hobby.

The first, and last time, I went to House of Tropicals they wanted $50 for a small frag of yellow polyps. Maybe 8 polyps. They were trying to sell male blue jaw triggers for $110 each. You can get a pair cheaper than that at BRK or F&F. The last straw was finding cerith snails for $6 each. I walked out after seeing that. The staff consisted of what seemed to be a pack of 15 year olds with little knowledge of the hobby. They did seem to have good prices on their freshwater inventory and their food. I hope it doesn't seem like I'm bashing, just giving as much detail as I can remember and being as honest as possible.

what kind of anemone is that?

cut all the lights off, in the tank and the surrounding area so its pitch black, and come back in 2 hours to catch them while they're docile. Thats what I did last Saturday and it took about 5 seconds to catch my Sohal. Easier than rearranging the tank.

I don't know why everyone complains about zenia. I have 2 separate stalks in my tank and they don't grow worth a darn. Go figure

Don't do that. I think its pretty freaking sweet. Let it ride out and see what happens. If I were closer, I'd trade you in a heartbeat

yet another uncalled for comment from Arlo. Do you have cabin fever today or something? What is up with all the negativity? I know you are new to this club, I for one would like to say that we as a group frown upon comments like yours.

I disagree with this statement. It would be different if there was no one in the store when he was knocking. I'm sure many of the employees know him and I'm sure he has spent plenty of money there in the past. If he saw employees, and they saw him, and they didn't even have the courtesy to come over to see what was wrong, that it rediculous and poor customer service. If someone stands outside the store for an extended period of time hoping to get someone's attention, its obvious they aren't there to buy gravel or flakefood, its obviously an emergency and needs help. Jake is handling it much better than I would have. After spending hundreds of dollars in an expensive hobby, they owe it to me to at least come over and see what is wrong. I would have had some choice words with them the next day when they were open. I don't care what store this happened at. The scenerio is what pissed me off, and it does qualify as an exceptionally bad experience and should have been told to the group. This is a tough industry and I've seen plenty of fish stores come and go in my lifetime. Building track records like this doesn't bode well for stores because there are always other stores to go to.