Steve G

Keep in mind that many of these species will turn brown as adults when they lose their juvenile coloration. So you may see one specimen that has bright colors and another of the same species (or same fish months later) that is duller or brown.

I just started with Nori since I recently added a foxface (who seems rather carnivorous!) Is roasted ok? That's what I have in my house. Does it matter if it's old -- like several years old?

You can cycle a tank with fish food, table shrimp, and a variety of other things that are already dead. Many years ago I listened to an LFS salesman and cycled a tank with multiple damsels. I learned the hard way that they will just bully each other to death and leave you with one super-aggressive hard-to-catch fish that terrorizes your tank and makes it difficult to add tankmates.

So I have green star polyps (GSP) growing a bit out of control in my tank. They're beautiful, but once they encrust a rock it's hard to get them off. So as I started scraping one particular rock I decided to attach a scraping to the inside magnet on my algae scraper. I've already gotten a frag to grow out and cover part of a powerhead, providing a nice, natural disguise. What if I can get my magnet covered in this stuff? I have a tiny scraping with about 3 stars on it rubber banded on there now. I'll post back with photos to see if I can get the thing covered. Up until now I've had some tubeworms call the magnet home, but nothing really that could hide it altogether. I think that would be pretty cool looking to have it covered in GSP-- or would the jerky movements once a day be bad for the GSP colony? We'll see!

Bigger is better. As big as you can fit in your space. Longer is good but so is tall/deep (front-to-back). Why? 1. Water volume. The more water volume, the more stable is the system. 2. Footprint. More bottom area for a deep sand bed, if you use one. A deeper and larger sandbed provides more space for beneficial bacteria and microfauna. 3. Height. The taller it is, the more sand and water it will hold for a given footprint. Also, it means more total water volume both for the sump's usual water level and for the overflow capacity. You need to leave the sump empty enough (water level during normal operation) so that if your return pump stops for some reason (e.g. power outage), then the backflow from the main tank will fill up the sump but not overflow it. THere are calculators on reef central to help you figure this out. 4. Equipment. The larger the space, the more equipment you can pack in there (e.g. skimmer, heaters, monitor/controller probes, calcium reactor, fans, chiller, dosers, etc.) Don't forget to factor in space for your hands to clean and operate the equipment, including electrical panel and plumbing valves. 5. Algae growth. If you are using a compartment of your sump as a refugium with algae turf scrubber, you'll want a lot of space for macro-algae to grow out. Otherwise you're pruning too often. The only reason to limit the size of the sump is the physical space available to you. If your display tank is 30" high off the ground and your sump has to fit underneath, then you need to leave room for the sump tank as well as stuff hanging off/above the sump tank. So an 18" high sump is ok, but gives you 12" or less space above it for your hands, skimmer column, etc. Could get cramped. Similarly, people often are limited in that the sump has to fit inside the footprint of the display tank so it can be hidden inside a cabinet underneath. Check cabinet door clearance and well as support posts. You have to be able to get the sump in and out and to get your hands and equipment in there too. If room aesthetics don't matter, or your sump is remote (basement or separate fishroom) then you have more flexibility. Good luck.

Hung -- I have a 20g you can buy or trade for or you can get a 10g very cheap. If you have room for a 20g sump, then do it. I also have some glass baffles, but they may not fit. In any case, you just go to Lowes and have them cut the glass to your specs. Call the specific Lowes store first to make sure they will do it -- many but not all do. Measure the inside width of the tank as close as possible and take off something like 1/8 or 1/16 of an inch. Get more than you need, since they are cheap. Figure out what height you want based on some diagrams of bubble traps and section dividers available online on various forums. (marc levenson is a good source: "melev" or reef central). Stick it in there and silicone it and you're done. Glass-on-glass with silicone is the best method in my opinion. It's a very easy DIY project and satisfying. If you screw up, slice out the silicone with a razor and do over. EVen I did it, which is saying something. I can barely screw in a lightbulb.

I've been there a lot and made several livestock purchases. The place is dingy and reeks badly, but I suppose that's part of the charm. Their prices are not cheap, but reasonable. I think their customer service varies. They seem really friendly to other people in the store, but not me. Maybe it's because I always show up right before they close.

Thanks for helping me with the link , JFF. The only thing I have to say about this is to give it a caption: "Baked Algae On a Crossbar"

How do I post an image? I put it here: http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?act=...si&img=1942

I just want to add my review of saltwaterfish.com here. I ordered from them a few weeks ago and came away with very mixed feelings. Pros: - good selection and prices - flexibility on shipping date - good packaging of materials - easy to use website Cons - "Free" shipping costs $20. It's fine to charge for box and delivery, but don't insult us by calling it "free". - Small livestock. They say they don't guarantee the size, color, etc. but man, they pretty much sent me fry. No wonder they didn't survive. The inverts were tiny too. I bought a group of peppermint shrimp and realized that they were so small that they turned out to be "feeders" for my 4" anthias. Expensive feeders. That made me sad to send them to their death like that. - FINE PRINT. they have majorly covered their a$$es with a very stingy set of "guarantee" policies. Qualifying for money back is tricky because you have to email them immediately, within 2 hrs of the fedex delivery time. In my case, I had 3 fish die, one was DOA and the others croaked during and after acclimation, respectively. (I am an optimist, I almost went through the full acclimation with the DOA just in case, but he was decaying before my very eyes). You have to follow their procedures exactly, which I did, to get the credit, but to use the credit you have to buy ANOTHER $80 worth of livestock AND you have to pay another $20 of "free" shipping. And on top of all that, they don't guarantee the re-sent item! I think I'll cut my losses and find another vendor.

I'm deciding between a dual stage temp controller or an AC Jr. I noticed there was a group buy recently, so I know a bunch of you have the Aquacontroller. How are they working for you? Worth the money? Should I go low budget, with my current timers and just the dual stage for the fan/heaters, or should I get a real controller? Is there a danger of outgrowing the AC Jr.? Does the AC Jr. dominate the Reefkeeper, or should I research the models more? My main purpose is to control fans and heaters (if necessary I will add a chiller, but hope not to). I don't care about moon cycles and don't have a calcium reactor, so pH controlling is not an issue really. I suppose some powerhead controls would be nice. Thanks in advance.

How do you get free shipping? I tried to order and got a $10 shipping charge. By the way, the last time I responded to an amazing salt deal I ended up wiht three buckets of I/O salt that had low Mg and Ca! Useless for a reef and very disappointing. It took me so long to go through my existing supply and finally figure out that the new salt mix was bad (who tests their new water for Mg and Ca?) that it had been over a year since I ordered the salt and I forgot where I got it from. Still, I'd be willing to try again if it's Reef Crystals.

I'd like to add my amen to the thanks going out to club officers, organizers, speakers, volunteers, etc. I agree that it would be good to have more socializing time. Two speakers is a bit much. However, the quality of the speakers was so good, that I did not mind. Copps and Sprung were fantastic. If we do have two speakers in the future, it might be good to have one of them be a bit shorter, to give members some time to interact with the speaker and with each other. Fragging workshops or other kinds of demonstrations would be cool too. I really look forward to future meetings. Thanks again to the folks who give their time and energy to this club.

The nooB hat should have a nano tank with 3 tangs in it.

Christian scientist? Pray for the fin rot to heal? That approach hasn't been working for me so far. I would do a freshwater dip, but I don't think it's a parasite.

Since I don't live near an LFS, I want to stock up on some medications for fish, so I'm prepared for when fin rot or dropsy or a nasty parasite shows up. I have a healthy ocellaris that's eating well, but has a frayed dorsal fin. The only tankmate is a peaceful royal gramma who leaves him alone -- they have a 75g all to themselves, so I assume this is a bacterial infection. I'm thinking of melafix or furan 2 for treatment, but was going to stock up on a few emergency supplies while I'm at it. What do you all keep around for emergencies or what do you recommend as the must-have meds?

We're going to need large name tags at this meeting. Lots of shy people who won't post pics. Shouldn't this be in a members only forum, so you're showing your pic to club members and not the entire internets?

My quarantine tank is in use getting new fish ready for the display, but i have a percula ocellaris with slight fin rot (all behavior is normal and he's active and eating) so I'd like to give her some antibiotics. Can I hospitalize her in a 5 gal bucket? Will that be traumatic? Can I treat him for just a few days in there? I don't have room to set up another tank even if I wanted to. I think I can hide a bucket from my wife.

I have the opposite problem. I need to get star polyps from invading my whole tank. They don't come off the rock very easily.

Patience. When I need to trap a swimmer I feed him in or next to a large net every day for a week. Then, when he's good and comfortable with the net, on day 7 or so, I skip one feeding and then in the next feeding I spring the trap. Good luck.

I think they mark up dry goods about 100%. They offered to order me a light fixture for $1,000, the same one i can get shipped to my door for free for about $550. I guess if you're the retailer, it doesn't hurt to try. Someone might be that dumb or not have heard of the internets.

Mine bleached and I thought it was dead for weeks. Then it started coming back and now is brown and growing fast. (I think it was originally greenish or blue in dhoch's tank. I started with a tiny tiny frag).