stevil

I'm not doing anything actively to keep those things up other than water changes (which I've also been neglectful on this summer). Up until July I was doing 5 gallon changes at least every 2-3 weeks, but often weekly. I didn't do anything in Aug/Sept until a few days ago (5 gallons). I haven't worried too much about calcium since my tank has mostly just been fish with a couple of easy softies. However, I do want to 'step-it-up' in the next month or two and start getting into SPSs, but obviously want to make sure I have my water parameters under control first AND am measuring the right things (like calcium). Nearly everything I have is now in my sig. Attached is my water log for all the tests I've done. It's a .csv file, I had to change the extension to upload. ReefConWLAll.txt

No, I don't drip kalk or have a calcium reactor.

Date Time PH Temp 9/9/2006 10:50 7.8 80.1 9/9/2006 14:48 7.8 80.2 9/9/2006 17:39 7.86 80.5 9/9/2006 18:56 7.89 80.3 9/9/2006 20:09 7.87 80.3 9/9/2006 22:37 7.77 80.3 9/10/2006 7:19 7.73 80 9/10/2006 8:12 7.74 80 9/10/2006 9:31 7.73 80 9/10/2006 9:45 7.72 80 9/10/2006 10:18 7.71 80 9/10/2006 10:58 7.7 80.1 9/10/2006 11:37 7.72 80.1 9/10/2006 12:28 7.71 80.1 9/10/2006 12:50 7.72 80.2 My VHO's run from 10 to 10 (actinc and 50/50) and my T5's run from 2-9 (actinc and 50/50). Until the beginning of summer, my pH was a consistant 8.2 (weekly/monthly testing at various times of day with a FasTest kit). I have not been very good over this summer doing my tests. It wasn't until the other day that I did one and noticed my pH had dropped. Then I decided to get a pH monitor so I could get easier and more frequent updates.

I've been doing some research on my bubble tip anemone, as it is not doing so good. It led me to look into the symbiotic relationship between zooxanthellae and the anemone (and also coral). I came across this presentation/paper that I found to be pretty educational on a couple of topics; the coral/zooxanthellae symbiosis; global warming and bleaching; and how some reefs (to include corals, and other zooxanthellae dependant life) can be revitalized. Maybe there is some hope for the longevity of reefs after all... http://www.science.org.au/events/frontiers2005/vanoppen.htm

My tank has been up for about 10 months. 90 gal, ~150lbs live rock, some zoo's, soft corals and about 5 fish.

I'm looking to do something similar. I've been using a FasTest kit, which has been ok, but today I picked up a Pinpoint pH monitor along with a calcium test. After carefully calibrating the monitor my pH reads 7.8 My readings pH: 7.8 (measured in dark sump, but lights have been on in tank for 3 hours) Temp: 80.2 Salinity 1.020 (yes, I want to get that up) Alkalinity: 2 meq/L (SeaTest kit) Calcium: 320 (Salifert kit) What are the recommendations in this case? I plan to add saltwater instead of plain RO/DI to get my salinity back up. I am also thinking that adding some baking soda to my water addition will increase the alkalinity and also help with pH?

Can you manually focus? I find that my autofocus on my Canon Rebel XT will sometimes focus on the glass rather than the subject in the tank.

I inject vinegar into mine. I think having a needle to inject them with whatever is key. Not to say that I've completely eliminated mine though, but they have not ever gotten out of control. There also is a nudibranch that will eat them. The downside is the nudibranches die once there is no aptasia to eat.

http://www.reefchili.com/ -> here.

Inna - it sounds like you are running what I'd consider the critical life support. What I meant by "circulation and surface tension for gas exchange", is exactly what you think it is. Good circulation for your water and as long as you are getting ripples on the surface of your water you're getting good gas exchange. That has nothing to do with charging your batteries faster though... just about the health of your tank while on battery mode. If you already have 3 marine batteries, it might be a fairly cheap upgrade to convert it to a DIY system, that way you could have your own charger of choice, and pick one that will charge faster.

Get a different charger! Some chargers will allow you to charge at different rates. Supposedly charging slower is better than faster, but if you are experience fluxuating power I'd imagine you'd want to have your batteries charged up as fast as you can. mine has three settings, but after a power failure unfortunately it defaults to the slowest charge mode. Is this one of the DIY backup systems everyone built earlier this summer? Are you running everything off of it or just critical life-support? I can run a mag 9 for 18 hours with just a single high-capacity battery. From the research I've done, circulation and surface tension for gas exchange are the critical items. Since my sump return does both, that's all I have hooked up to the battery backup. In the wintertime I'll add a heater, but that will likely be it.

I have a Rebel XT with the stock lens and a EF-S 17-85MM f4-5.6 IS USM. I haven't taken a ton of close-up/macro pictures of my tank, but you can see a few at my gallery. All the metadata for those shots is up there so you can see the f-stop, zoom length, iso etc... I think the closest you can get to the subject with that lens (physical distance from lens to subject) is ~1.2 feet. I compensate by zooming. The best example is probably this one. You can get a 60mm EF-S macro lens for about $380. This one won't have the 1.4x multiplier issue as Canon's EF-S lenses are designed to compensate for the smaller "film"/sensor area. Since it's a special macro lens, you can take pictures from as close as 4" from the subject. And, I think it goes without saying - a tripod is key.

I have a ton too. Mine mostly live in my sandbed, and will even pull and eat whole pellets of food (about 1-3MM in diameter).

Thanks for the heads up! This link will take you to the page for updates on the above graphic.

Here are two poor pictures of one of the "feet" it definitely crawls and eats like a turbo snail.

Cool. Thanks everyone. I have Turbo's, Astraea and, Nassarius snails in the tank. I've noticed what look like 2 turbo snail "feet" with no shells crawling around, and I also saw a few days ago a tiny Astraea or Turbo snail crawling on the glass (about 1/4" across).

Anyone have any idea what this is? I noticed it tonight. I don't think it was there yesterday. It is towards the top of the front of my tank, and is about 2 inches wide.

I think even wal-mart has "kid-safe" GFCI powerstrips. I don't think they are explicitly labeld as GFCI, but they are. I got a great black & decker powerstrip from home-depo that has waterproof plug covers and an extension cord with a GFCI plug on it.

Hey man - I'll help. I would have helped last time, but I was on vacation...

Are you open today (Jul 4)?

I accidentally left my container of DT Phytoplankton out overnight after feeding my fish... I have normally kept it in my refrigerator. Is it dead? Still safe to use?

Duh... ok - thank's all. that was an obvious solution.... I guess I was overthinking... time to go drink beer.