thedude

If the tissue is dissolving and the actual mat stinks, then the colony is dying... otherwise it's in shock mode (which as Robert said can last a couple of weeks). Windowscreen or eggcrate would shield the GSP from the high light and as Robert said, they do like flow. John

Here are my thoughts- I've heard alot of good things about the Radium bulbs but every good thing I've read is on a magnetic ballast, and the bulb is being overdriven. On the T5's- I think you'll lose alot of color switching the T5 bulbs out. No metal halide bulbs over the spike at 420 that a true actinic flourescent bulb can add. And if I may... why didn't you like both the 10 and 12k's?

I run at 78-79 and didn't think it was possible for them to reproduce in display. Would love to see a picture but this is really interesting stuff Robert. Imagine a refugium connected to a brine shrimp "rearer". Everyday, the babies float out and your tank is fed natural food!

From what I've always understood, artemia live in much colder, much saltier water than what we normally run in a reef tank. I think we keep the holding tanks of them at around 65-70, with almost no flow, and a salinity of 1.030 and the little things are so dirty, they end up dying eventually anyway. Are you absolutely positive that they're artemia and not some kind of mysid shrimp? Very interesting! John

A reefkeeping event with appetizers and beer... that sound like the perfect meeting place! This means that I really do have to write up a presentation soon confused5.gif John

An update from me on the System Reefresh: I'm just starting week 6 in this system and this is when results should become immediately apparent. On with the pros and cons; Pros- * Water CRYSTAL clear * Increased growth in most corals * Deeper more intense color in most corals * Skimmate not nearly as "chunky" now, smells different, looks different and is completely uniform in texture. * Has not affected clams, coco worms, fish or LPS Cons- * Time consuming, tank must be dosed two different times, before lights on and after lights off * Zoos did not like the stripped clean water * Strange whispy algae continues to proliferate in the tank on any plastic surface (this could be the only source of phosphate available in the tank) * Encrusting Monti's did not like the extra light and water quality and have demonstrating varying stages of STN * One acro (blue selago) slowly STN'd for unknown reasons. The colony was healthy three months previous and came from a captive frag

Great looking change Robert! I'm really surprised at how much brighter the Phoenix bulb looks and I'm sure you growth will go crazy. The Phoenix bulbs have over double the PAR value of the 20k giessemans. John

Pease Park is right near me at Lamar and 24th... totally not my style though. First I like normal golf way more than frisbee golf and second, not my scene what with the hippies and what not. John

Greens could be any type of marine algae such as the kind we grow in our refugiums or Nori sushi paper. Formula 2 is a marine herbivore specific food that includes plant material.

Yeah 5 of them and they sold before I could get one. Hopefully we'll have more Friday. John

At this point and on this tank, yes. Would this system be very economical on a 400 gallon tank? Absolutely not, but what IS economical for a tank that size anyway. At the rate I'm dosing this stuff, it will probably last another year or so. This puts the price at under 10 dollars a month. I spend more on supplements and carbon monthly so I feel that this isn't too costly. The downside is that on a large tank, you would have to buy a new kit every three months or so, making it much less cost effective. Another very important thing to remember is that if I do decide to stop dosing at some point, I have to ween my tank off the "steroids" persay. Corals do not like rapid changes in water chemistry so to get off the juice, I'd have to gradually reduce the dosing amount until my tank was drug free. While I've been dosing I've had to clean the glass less often so that's another plus as my time is worth its weight in gold dontknow.gif

Anyone have any ideas on meeting places? I know that DFWMAS sometimes has meetings in churches, hotels, etc...

Which bulb did you decide to go with Robert?

So here we are at week five and I'm still liking this filtration/feeding method. The frag that suffered damage while I was on vacation continued to worsen so I snapped it off and the base is recovering nicely. Fish still look good, corals still look good and are growing, and the skimmer continues to churn out some funky looking and smelling skimmate. I do still have some whispy algae so I don't think this would be a great alternative for dealing with bryopsis.

Make sure you're feeding that foxface plenty of greens and even formula 2. It should equal about 70% of their diet. Also, anemonefish (like your clowns) are actually omnivores and will benefit from the greens as well. John

As per and email from David the Coralvue guy, the 12k is out for DE. FWIW

Ok I've run the Giesseman 20k DE bulb as well. I noticed a nice blue color with a small hint of white and excellent coral color. However, I also noticed absolutely no growth for 8 months and a huge spectrum shift on the bulb at 6 months. I think I'd recommend three different bulbs to try. The first would be the Phoenix 14k (Chinese made version of the very expensive Aquaconnect 14k) as it is very blue and also gives good growth. The Hamilton 14k would be my second choice as it also is a very good 14k bulb but I do like the Phoenix bulb more. The final suggestion would be the Reeflux 12k as this bulb would show you growth that absolutely blows the giesseman out of the water. It's white with a good hint of blue but definitely brighter and less blue than the Giesseman. Fishypets runs 2 400w 12k reefluxs on his tank and I really like the color. John

Awesome thanks Joe! I'll let you guys in as we get closer to a meeting place and date. John

Question for all of you... anyone own a projector we could use at the meeting or know of a way to get one? John

Awesome glad to hear it Andrew!

Garlic, frozen food, and if that doesn't work try live brine to at least get them eating something. H20 Life makes a product called mini mysis which is perfectly sized for those gobies.

Anyone else have anything else to contribute? Would like go to a meeting on saltwater nutrition and would you like an all inclusive food mix? John

A little insight as to why this food mix is superior to others. First off, this is an all inclusive mix, we mix everything for everybody. No need anymore to crack cubes of a, b, and c daily only one thing to feed! Second and most important, could I live on military k rations for the rest of my life? Probably.... but I sure as heck don't want to and neither do your fish! There is no one food available for fish that offers every single thing a wild fish in the ocean needs. A little teaser of what I'll probably include in this mix: -Fresh squid, clam, mussel, octopus, flounder -Packaged mysis, enriched brine, halfshell clams, slatwater food mix, formula 1, fomula 2 -Cyclopeeze, DT's phytoplankton, Rotifers, if i decide to be expensive Oyster Eggs -Roe fish eggs -Zoe, Zoecon, V2 Vitamin supplements -Macro Algae -Garlic -Misc Flake and Pellet Food -Reef Roids I'm sure I'm forgetting something but that is the bulk of our food mixture.

This taken directly off the MAAST website at: http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpB...ewtopic&t=17956 "Everyone, I am a member of Maast and Marsh (in Houston). Last year for Marsh, my wife and I sponsored a BBQ and Collection trip to Port Aransas. We did all the BBQ and hosted the collection at the jetties. Well, this year we are trying to combine this with Maast for a dual group trip. The dates for the event will be the weekend of the 14th, 15th and 16th of July. What we are trying to do is have some kind of informal gathering on Friday night as people begin to arrive. Then, we are trying to get something like a trip to the CC Aquarium or a trip to the Marine Institute (PA) for Sat am. We will have the BBQ Sat afternoon from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm with a little mingling and conversation. We will then at 8:00 pm start towards the jetties. We are trying to make arrangements for discounted hotel/motel rates for those interested. This could be one of the best events of the summer, so I hope that everyone attends. As information becomes more available, we will post it. If anyone has any suggestions, options or questions, please feel free to post here and we will answer as soon as possible. Also. in the near future, we will be having a "Design the T-shirt Contest" for this event. Details to come but the winner will receive a free T-shirt, Collecting net, bucket/lid and air pump. This should be a GREAT Event, so please plan to attend. Smooth Reefin' Steve" This is information on what we can collect: http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=...iewtopic&t=8347 They would like you to sign up at the MARSH website so that they have a head count of how many people are going. For questions, simply sign up on www.maast.org for free and ask away! This is the registration form on MARSH (again signup for free you bums!) http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=...nt_Registration I'm sure Steve (who is a member on MAAST, MARSH, AND ARC) would answer any questions as well fish.gif -Super Moderator

How about a make a sticky in the meetings section for all to see glasses10.gif