extreme_tooth_decay

I never wait more than 2 minutes.

I could never get chaeto to grow. Caulerpa grew like crazy, after which I could never measure my nitrates. And I fed the caulepa by the handfull from my fuge to my tangs. I had a skimmer, but it rarely produced anything. It was a huge fuge.

Nature never ceases to amaze me. Evolution is an amazing thing.

A bargain at 1/10 the price!

Very cool fish. Makes me miss my old puffer.

Man, especially sorry to hear about your cowfish. He was great. I did see a 10 incher down at That Fish Place a while back. He was a scrawled, not a longhorn, but still very cool.

I've always thought of distilled (with carbon) as being more pure than RO (with carbon). I like the fact that the water is actually boiled in the process, and filters, which can get pretty nasty are not used. I'd use distilled if I could make or buy it as cheap as RO. As to spring water, while better than tap water, I would not use it. I've read the labels and/or company purity statements and pretty much concluded they have no standards at all. That water is not purified. Some bottled waters which are not spring water do a good job, though, like Aquafina. Here is a link showing a chart for a couple spring waters purity. LINK Note the wide ranges of values for a single product (81-260 TDS!?)

What kind of stealth heater was it?

Sorry to hear it. I've heard a lot of tales online about shell disease and bad molts killing them. I've had mine a few years...I don't know what is going on with him, he seems sluggish and weak. He may be on his way out as well. In my experience, once any inhabitant of my tank starts looking bad, they never recover.

If there is no light, algae, live rock, etc...then I would think he will die. You could just give him a small chunk of shrimp or fish probably once a week.

The tooth used to take people's unwanted crustaceans and make videos of my mantis shrimp destroying them, but I don't really do that any more. My mantis seems to have entered an old age or possibly sickness phase where he doesn't really do an exciting job of it anymore. Contact davelin, he might be interested. I'd be interested in his vid also. -tooth

I've seen them at Roozen's several times...give them a call and try to talk to Jos to find out if they have them before making a long trip.

Mine was submitted by me Location: my tank Camera: cyber shot Subject: my diamond and mandarin gobies

You could have used all the extra cash you saved getting your electrical panel replaced. Or, you could have gotten Chip out in his WAMAS thong.

Sorry to hear it. It has always seemed to me that even some of "hard and fast" rules in this hobby are just guidelines, and individual fish/corals are, well, individuals...

yikes

Arsenic is in our bodies, the air, water, smoke, dirt, etc, etc, etc. I found this article interesting: LINK "Despite its notoriety as a deadly poison, arsenic is an essential trace element for some animals, and maybe even for humans, although the necessary intake may be as low as 0.01 mg/day." The question is, how much arsenic is in a stink bug? How many stink bugs would I need to eat to get a fatal dose, compared to how much city water I would have to drink?

Yep, that place is awesome. I go there a couple times a year. Stock up on salt, frozen food, and anything else I need. I've gotten 4 buckets of oceanic salt there for $99 more than one time as one example.

Nice...if you would have woken up 4 seconds earlier you would have seen the cricket on your nose.

I'm just the messenger. FYI: If you wake up in the middle of the night, and the mantis shrimp is sitting on your nose, threatening you, you may change your tune. I usually keep some crabs on hand near the bed just to be ready for such an eventuality.

+1 For me, I drip acclimate, then when I think the fish is ready, I move him to a small bucket or bag with pure tank water (get him out of the mix of store water/my water) for a couple minutes, and then out of that one and into another one. Then, I put him in a net, and pour tank water through it to wash him, then put him in. All to wash off as much store water as possible. Can't get it all, but I try to get as much as I can.