ReefMon

They should look into a glass terrarium from www.glasscages.com . The 48x24x12 for $110 sounds like a perfect fit. They can cheep it out with a Rubbermaid storage container until they can afford a proper tank.

I think Lowes carries some schedule 80 PVC (gray), if not you'll need to go to a commercial plumbing store like Thomas Summerville or online at McMaster Carr http://www.mcmaster.com HTH

I know of Slipper Lobsters but never heard of a slipper fish. Can you ask the LFS for the scientific name?

The sea star I'm referring to is the white burring ones (like this http://www.marinedepotlive.com/1304394.html ), they will clean out a sandbed in a matter of days.

A sudden bloom of cloudy water and red slime algae is not sounding very good. The water can be cloudy due to a few things... Calcium precipitation storm (are you adding any additives?), bacteria bloom (how long has the tank been set up? What & how much are you feeding?) are the first 2 that come to mind. As for getting red slime that fast, it sounds like something is seriously out of wack. Please list all your parameterizes and system specs so we can help figure out what's happening. You need to be very careful with distilled water, as some are made using copper distilling tubing. Check with your LFS or find a local hobbyist who can sell/give you RO/DI water. Glenn

White sand stars are notorious for decimating sand beds. If you're running a live sand bed you may want to reconsider. Brittle Stars are way cool, as Craig mentioned, just avoid the green's.

Looks sweet! Great job!:D So, you ready to build me a 750+ now?

Nate, Any chance for a better photo? As it could be just about anything looking at that photo...

I agree it's a better way to run a low nutrient system, but I also agree on the aesthetics and diversity of a deep sand bed. tng The bottom line with the bare bottom, or starboard (plastic cutting board bottom) is you can crank the flow/current levels up to keep all detritus from settling. The basic argument with deep sand beds is there is no final consumer of the wastes and it will accumulate in the bed until it's eventually returned to the water column. The pros to the DSB is the plankton added to the system, providing a natural food source to the invert inhabitants of the system. Unfortunately I agree with both sides on this argument. The best option may be to run a shallow crushed coral bed and a remote DSB.

You need to try to make it once every day or so. Salinity swings are very stressful on the fish. Also, have your salinity meter checked against a refractometer or conductivity meter, as the swing arms are notoriously inaccurate. One question I don't see is how long ago was the rock added to the tank?

Acropora ID mini-class

I'd say it was real tough decision choosing between WAMAS and Acropora Anonymous!

Here's the report: Preliminary Report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy - Governors' Draft And the Coral Reef Section: Chapter 21: Preserving Coral Reefs and Other Coral Communities

Personally I would go with a 10K (maybe XM for the par) and switch to 2 full actinic VHO's for your blue. IMO, switching to 20K's is like cutting your wattage/intensity in half.

Someone will be outside the Wheaton Station @ 1:30

Who all will be needing a from/to the Metro to tomorrows meeting?

Well what are you waiting for, get over there and give us a full review! Don't forget to plug the club for us while you're at it

If you are, please add me to the "I want some" list! :p

I keep my 180 78-80 in the winter and 80-83 in the summer (chiller). My multi system runs 79-81 winter and 81-85 summer (no chiller). When I see 84-85 I kill the halides, as 86 is as close to the edge as I want to get! I'm hoping on getting my chiller outside and seriously thinking about venting the hood outside, as 3x400W + VHO's seriously impact the temp of the entire house.

I do think Rich (AquariaUSA) will have some SCWD's for sale at the meeting on Saturday.

Try this for starters: DIY Phyto, Brine & Rotifer

Any idea where in Italy this is? I'll be in Rome & Chianti for a few weeks this summer, and would really like to do something reef related. Or any other aquarium related sites to see, as i don't think I can talk the clan in to doing a road trip to Monaco

I've been thinking it may be easier to do a continuous tank tour schedule. Instead of lumping them all together over a couple of months, do 1 day a month every month. One of the reasons I found it difficult to get to the CMAS tours is they are all lumped together in a time of year that has all sorts of other obligations competing for my time. It also has the advantage of getting more beginners to see tanks before they set theirs up. One of the driving forces in starting the club was so many of us set up our tanks with out ever really seeing one outside of a LFS. Just a thought Glenn

Actually it makes me quite furious! Thanks for the offer Rich, I'm certain we will be taking you up on it!

Probably the best for your system (LPS, Soft's and Clams) would be a Kalk reactor and a dosing pump. The CA Reactors are great, but IMO it's better start with the Kalk and add the CO2 reactor if you cant keep your Alk/Ca levels high enough. The added bonus is that the dosing pump will automate your top off so you can leave on trips in relative comfort knowing your salinity will stay constant. There are some real nice units for a couple hundred dollars, or you can DIY for much, much less. HTH Glenn R