stevil

I've had a large toadstool in my tank for several months and it has done very well. Always exending daily. The past 4-5 days however it has not extended at all. There are no visible signs of deterioration or disease, but it does look a tiny bit deflated. Should I be concerned? Anything that I should do? I had a new torch coral near it (6+ inches away), that has since died. The torch was added to the tank about 4-5 days before the toadstool stopped extending.

I'm bringing a big box of assorted stuff - bulkheads, pvc joins, filter socks, kent and seachem additives. I'll find a place to leave it - please help yourself. I'd appreciate any softies or easy corals in return.

I had at least two different egg deposits several weeks ago. Pic of one of them here: http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=9169&hl= I have two baby turbo snails now. Pretty cool.

Yeah, I spent a few reading more thoroughly through wet-web-media (beyond the FAQs), including all those articles. Since a new tank is not in the immediate future, I think I'll be looking to unload one or two of them. Now I have to figure out which one it will be .

Chip - No, I am not replacing all evaporation with kalk. I have an auto-top-off unit, but didn't want to be overdosing kalk accidentally, so the kalk drip is separate. I need to add about 1-2 gallons of top-off water a day on average. Dave - I guess I missed your advice on the tablespoons v teaspoons. I'm following the directions on my Kent kalk - 1/2-2 tsp per gallon max. So - basically increase the dosage (saturation) and the frequency of addition?

I've been dripping Kalk for about a month now. 1 gallon a week. I've done 2 gallons of RO/DI and kalk, and 2 gallons where I mixed 30ml of vinegar in with the kalk prior to adding the RO/DI. I'm using the maximum recommended dose - 2 tsp per gallon. I've only seen a moderate rise in my pH, calcium is about the same, and alkalinity is decreasing (all tests attached, rename from .txt to .csv). Should I be dripping more frequently? ReefConWL.txt

I haven't moved the rock significantly, but plan to do so prior to putting the Yellow back in.

I purchased edwardj's Sailfin and Purple tang, acclimated them and added them last night to my tank after lights out. My existing Yellow tang was not very welcoming and immediately and relentlessly started to chase them away and thrash at them with his tail. The Sailfin and the Purple get along great and have made no aggressive moves towards the Yellow (they swim away and avoid him). I pulled out the Yellow and stuck him him my my sump for the time-being. I'm hoping that if the Sailfin and Purple can establish some presense, I can move the Yellow back to the display tank after doing some movement of the rock, and they will peacefully co-exist. All three tangs are about the same size. Am I on a fools errand though? I've read mixed results on wet-web media about mixing tangs.

X10 is sketchy... I wouldn't trust it for your critical life support systems. We have some switches installed in our house to control lights and they mysteriously go on and off. Plus, there are times when I know a signal is sent and the switches do not respond. There are filters you can get, but there's always the chance that an errant signal will be generated in your electrical system that the X10 devices will interpret as an X10 command, or worse, your neighbors could have it and then commands can get sent from their devices over the air to your components.

Was this what you were working on when I came to pick up the TDS meter? You've got a pretty cool setup going. I'm envious!

Welcome Brian! Absolutely recommend both of those books. They are tremendously helpful (and will continue to be). Ask lots and lots and lots of questions and reflect on the answers before jumping into anything. You're going to get a ton of input (some may be conflicting), but take that as a cue to do your own research.

My Zoos, mushrooms and Kenya tree are all doing excellent under 2 strips of T5's and 2 Strips of VHOs on a 90 gallon. I've just done regular water changes. No additives whatsoever. Until a few weeks ago I never even bothered to measure my calcium. I have only started to worry about calcium as I want to get more into the stoney corals and have just started to drip kalk.

Can anyone qualify this a bit better? I have visible swarms of pods, up to 1/8" all throughout my live rock, in a ball of chaeto in my display tank, and even a colony in my corner overflow. I have a ton of tiny tube-worms, spaghetti worms, and many other things I can't identify in my rock and sand. I really want some mandarins, but don't want them to starve.

I wonder if this could be used with some modification.

Good input everyone. I like the idea of the Heniochus Diphreutes - I wasn't sure if those would be a good idea or not. The cleaner gobies instead of the wrasse is also an excellent suggestion. The tang police won't get after me for 3 tangs in a 90? I really like all the powdered tangs. My yellow tang is definitely the boss of the tank today - he's about 3.5-4" long.

One of our favorite restuaraunts - Meze - is on 18th somewhere between U & Columbia. There's a ton of cool places there: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...016995,0.028925

So I thought I should do a bit more planning about my fish in my tank. I've had a general idea on the ones that I've acquired so far, but it's been a bit random (and in some cases impulsive). My tank is a 90 gallon reef that has been established for about a year. I don't have a ton of corals in it yet, but am slowly starting to add. Therefore, I want make sure my fish additions are reef safe. I'm not interested in having aggressive fish (in this tank... maybe in a separate one in the future). I do have a very nice and thriving community of copepods and amphipods. Here's what I currently have 1 Lawnmower Blenny 2 Firefish (paired) 2 Clownfish (Ocellaris (False)) 1 Yellow Tang 1 Yellow Watchman Goby 1 Tiger Pistol Shrimp (paired w/ the Goby) 1 Peppermint Shrimp 2 Serpent Starfish 1 rose bubble tip anemone These are some fish that I'm thinking would be cool to add (definitely not all of them, but some selection) Royal Gramma Sailfin Tang (Pacific, not Red Sea) 4-Wheel Drive Goby Jawfish Mandarin (pair) Marine Betta Cuban Hogfish Blue Hippo Tang Cleaner Wrasse (blue or Hawaiian) Fourline wrasse Midas Blenny Any thoughts on these fish, any recommendations?

I have one from that seller. It won't do 100GPD with household water pressure. I'm satisfied with it though. I don't think the one you are linking to comes with a storage tank, which I think is essential. It's funny he's totally dropped his price from when I purchased mine, but way increased his shipping charges. Sneaky. Also, make sure the RO membrane is of quality. I forget exactly how they are rated, but there is a threshold of how "pure" the water is compared to the pressure it's required to be under compared to how much it can produce. An RO unit is ALL about the RO membrane. See my comments in an older thread: http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?show...amp;hl=osmosis# If everything shows up with no issues, then I don't think you'll have a problem. If you need any customer service of any kind... well, good luck. If you are expecting to produce 100 gallons of RO water in 24 hours, you won't be able to, at least not by leaving the unit on. Without the back-pressure it doesn't produce as quickly in my experience.

Is the Sailfin Tang a Red Sea or Indonesian one?

Anyone have these in their sump? Can you comment on the pros/cons? Thinking this would be a really easy way to divide up my sump with maximum flexibility.

Here is the website of who we use: http://allfriendspetcare.com/. The sitter that we've always had is Tina. Not an aquarium pro, but definitely competent and wants to make sure she understands all of the aspects. I wrote out a page of instructions and then walked her through the daily and weekly routine on her initial visit to check everything out.

James' would be a good deal. I have 2 T5's and 2 VHOs on my 90 gallon and basically have everything you've listed. It's all doing well.

I do the same thing as Dave (except for the whole on-line bit). A pet sitter is definitely worth the piece of mind. Ours costs $12 or $15 for a half hour and she feeds our cockatiel, cleans his cage, plays with him, waters plants, feeds our saltwater tank, cleans the skimmer, feeds our betta and cleans the bowl and gets the mail. Ours might be the exception, but she even borrowed our cockatiel books to learn how to better interact with him. Then, I ask for a couple of members to be on emergency standby - just in case (luckily I've never need them). It's an added level of security and definitely worth it considering the investment. I can give you a name if you'd like.

Dave - Thanks a bunch. I'm going to start with one of theseDIY drippers, but it also looks like there's been some long-standing interest in kalk reactor build party so, hopefully we can get coordinated on that.

This gives new meaning to an integrated sump...