Steve G

Drill, baby, drill.

They were showing this film on the flight to the UK last week but I was dead tired and fell asleep. I wish I hadn't zonked though. It looked interesting. There was a Nat'l Geographic Series called Shark Week that rocks. I have been watching that with my son on DVD rented from the library. It was on about 4 DVDs each with 4 segments that were 1/2 hour to an hour I think. Watch those and you'll get the basic picture: 1. Most sharks are tiny things and harmless to humans. 2. The big cool sharks are difficult to find and film, but VERY cool to watch when you do. 3. "Man-eating" sharks (bulls, tigers, and whites) are really just man-tasting. They only do damage by accident. They can't help it if they have sharp teeth and poor eyesight (and we look like seals). 4. Sharks have no predators except man, who cruelly catches them, cuts off their fins, and discards their carcasses -- horrific. I've only been in the water with sharks twice, but my close-up with a black-tipped reef shark was a moment I will treasure forever, a real treat. They are beautiful animals.

Hey, can someone help my wife? I am in the UK for work and she called me at 4 AM my time and I have not been successful at talking her through this problem with the reef tank. I am desparate to catch a few hours sleep and want to give her a resource since I'll be out of communication for most of the time until I return to DC on Tuesday PM. The problem is simple. I think the wire that powers the float switch and pump for hte autotopoff (which I labelled "auto topoff" for her) came unplugged. So the water level in the evaporation chamber in the sump fell to the point where the return pump (which I labelled "Eheim") started running dry and making lots of noise, which caught her attention. I tried to just tell her to plug it all back in and let it self-correct. But she made it sound like there was a leak in the return plumbing (a drip coming out of ht ereturn going into the SCWD that I have plumbed coming out of the Eheim). So I told her to unplug the return pump and the auto topoff altogether. I also told her how to break the siphon from the two return outlets in the main tank so the main tank water level wouldn't fall very much (and cause the display tank's powerheads to suck air and freak her out). Now the main tank is cut off from the sump. I told her to move one of the heaters to the main tank. I hope that should hold until I come back home on Tuesday night. I have an AC III with temp and Ph probe in the sump but hopefully that won't mess anything up. Can someone please volunteer to backstop me since I will be cut off from internet and phone (and I want a few hours of sleep!) I just need someone to email her and give her your phone number and be available to talk. I don't think an in-person visit will be necessary. Just someone with more patience than I have right now. (I am cranky and she was impatient and we did not communicate well!) Any volunteers out there? Just respond to this post, then copy the text of this message in an email with your offer of phone support to Mrs. Steve G at mjmodi@hotmail.com. I will owe you big time. (Don't quote this part but I was cranky because I stayed up til 2 AM watching the NFL playoff games in a pub in York and I was desparately trying to get a few hours to sleep this off before my meetings first thing in the AM). Huge thanks in advance to anyone who can help out.

Tagging along. I missed your thread over the summer so belated welcome to wamas from another DC reefer. --steve

From that angle the sailfin looked like a siganus doliatus or similar siganus but the color pattern is Sailfin.

Awesome. What kind of rabbitfish is that?

Sorry for your loss, bro. It's never easy flushing a pet, or watching one suffer.

Chaeto is the easiest macro-algae to prune. Why not pull it out and toss the excess?

I wasn't sure if my pistol shrimp was still alive. I hadn't seen it since I introduced it and its companion watchman goby into the tank two weeks ago. The watchman goby turned up dead of unknown causes after one week. That same sad day I saw some bright red front claws of the pistol lying on the sand, claws which looked more like pieces of a corpse than the clear molting I'm used to seeing from peppermint shrimps. No evidence of a burrow. No mounds of sand other than those created by my new powerheads. But tpday I was reaching blind into a spot near the back glass where the goby was last seen alive and SNAP I got a little flick on my fingertip as I heard the sound. It was not at all as dramatic as what I expected -- a warning shot maybe? Anyway, there was no visible injury on my fingertip. As usual in these situations, the scrape on the back of my hand from yanking it out of the tank suddenly was the only damage. Do I have this right? It was a pistol shrimp attack, meaning my little guy is still alive? I wonder if I'll ever see him with my eyes.

There are major debate threads on reefcentral. BB is all the rage for SPS dominated tanks that require high flow. Anyway, my take on the whole debate is that you want BB if you want your tank to be primary a staghorn forest and otherwise if you want a natural reef environment with cleanup crew, fish, etc. then a sandbed of some kind is a must. I have a DSB and am moving into more SPS and upgraded my flow. I just installed a new, more powerful powerhead and am experiencing major dislocations of the sections of the sandbed. I hope I don't get a tank crash from released stuff that was trapped down there!

I too am wondering if I am mandarin-worthy (75g up 3 years with a fuge). I think you're good to go as long as you are also careful not to have or obtain too many other tank inhabitants that compete for microfauna. No bird wrasses, etc.

Group Buy!

If you scuba at 770 meters depth you have bigger problems than a stinging monster. I'm more afraid of their cousins, the Portugese Man O' War, which give you a nasty little sting while you're trying to body surf or even jog down the beach.

Lights of America fluorescent fixture from Home Depot. Not sure how many watts, but not too many. Chaeto grows like a weed. I saw an LFS selling it for $10/bag and I almost fell out of my chair, except I was standing up. I throw away large fistfulls every week.

Sorry to hijack, but Jason, how much beer do you need to fix my disaster of a re-reaquascape? First attempt Second attempt Neilan, If you want to come to DC for some free corals, I have kenya tree, xenia, and green metallic mushrooms.

I would recommend putting your location in the title of your post. THanks.

I bid whatever DaveS wants plus $1. That's a valuable fish.

Man, I've been there before, more times and in worse ways than I want to convey. I got a PTSD panic attack just reading your post. Wait til it is FULLY dried before doing anything. That could take weeks while the brown spots form. Don't fix it too soon. Then use generous layers of Kilz. Good luck, bro.

Exactly! You have to go zen and just let the fish peck you and not react.

Yes, but you'll have to, um, turn off your tank lights and room lights and simulate 2,500-meter depth water pressure. And I think it won't take Marine One flake food. Otherwise, you're good to go. Group buy, anyone?

I saw the pistol shrimp/goby combo. It was cool. I took photos and videos too, but (a) there were too many kids in the way and (b) someone already posted good shots. Seriously, aren't people worried that the clam will have the clownfish for lunch?

I was there on Sunday with my son. I took about a dozen pics and a video. Have not uploaded yet but it was a truly beautiful tank. Nothing like a two-month old heavily stocked and nicely aquascaped bowfront reef tank. One huge clam, a goby-shrimp pair, assorted SPS corals, large brittle stars, and a nice assortment of fish. Very busy. The tank is asking for a call from the Tang police. I was going to post the pics and submit them as my TOTM entry (which if you've seen my 75g algae farm you would know is a joke).

Recently I had to take apart my entire reef to extract a fish so I thought I'd be clever and use the opportunity to re-do the aquascape and build a platform to get the rocks up off the substrate. I have a deep sand bed in my main display (75g). Here's the "before" picture (yeah, I have an algae problem) So I built this crude platform out of 1/2" PVC parts and set it all up. Problem is, it looks terrible. See my photos and please make suggestions. Obviously I could re-do and lower the platform a couple of inches. I thought it would sink all the way down but it did not. I capped off the structure before submerging it, not wanting stuff to get trapped in there. Was that a bad idea? The tried acrylic rods. Would something overgrow them or will they be permanently visible? Should I just give up and stack the rock on the sand again? How bad is it to have several inches of rock submerged? It's not like I'm short on rock. I have even more (mostly rubble) in the sumpfugium. I have a whole Picasa album if you want to see all the pics.

Condolences. I hate that feeling when you first see it, confirming your fears, and your heart sinks. Whether it's a jumper or a powerhead disaster or a slow death from disease. It's never easy to see a pet die and hard not to feel responsible. In our hobby it comes with the territory, I guess.

Funny I just bought a ton of PVC parts and plan to start this project this weekend to coincide with the re-aquascaping made necessary by my two-hour hunt to chase down and catch a blenny I traded away. I look forward to hearing about others' experiences. I was going to make a platform using 1/2" diameter. Hope that will work.