thedude

I think we'll have a for sure ID when it begins to grow out a little more. If it tables, it's an A. cytherea and if it keeps a typical baseball shape like most acro colonies, it will be the A. vermiculata. John Great picture btw Mike.

I'm going to go with Acropora vermiculata due to the really interesting corallite structure. Mike, can you get a really good macro shot of the corallites? This is a great site FYI for ID help http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/0/0/0/index.htm

The typical fluidized filter most notably the phosban reactors increase the efficiency of the carbon by something like 200%. That's a TON and if at all possible, run the media in one of those reactors. I don't have the space for the phosban reactor and run it in a bag in my sump's drip tray and it works just fine. John

Mike, Just an FYI but in the pictures you've posted (especially the picture of the two croceas side by side, top down) the clam on the left seems to be very very distressed. He's gaping severely and almost looks like there is a piece of rock or something inside his mouth. John

I don't see why not? Except that your large fish (rabbit, green coris, etc...) might find them tasty. As long as you added them at night they should be absolutely fine.

If a single CELL of aptasia remains on the rock, they will come back. There is no way to completely git rid of them permanantly but with the addition of berghia and peppermint shrimp we can keep them to an almost zero number.

Just to clarify, they are not orange nudibranchs you're dealing with I believe. I think what you are referring to is the reddish orange flatworm. They are a predator and can smother a coral with their numbers jumping into the thousands. Flatworm Exit is reef safe but the chemicals the flatworms release are very dangerous. The best method is to actively suck them out of your reef daily for clost to 2 weeks then follow the directions on the chemical. The chemical praziquantel is another viable option to eradicate them. John

When I say we, I mean Austin Aquariums. Instar is south texas requiring a drive but UPS ground shipping would get them to you easy and cheap. A specialized predator like these nudibranchs are out of reach for most aquarists to keep. It just isn't feasible to keep them alive for long. John

They aren't readily available and die often in captivity. We've had berghia's before and they almost always sit in our tanks as I feed them every aptasia I can find, while they slowly starve to death. The velvet nudibranch only eats flatworms and we don't stock them because they also have a horrible death rate in captivity with no lasting food supply. The velvet nudibranch is definitely something that needs to be left in the ocean IMO and there is a local guy who raises berghia. His handle is Instar on MAAST. John

Chances are pretty low that both bulbs are defective. I think like Robert said that the initial burn takes a higher charge than most of the other bulbs. Keep trying and let us know what happens.

I do as well

All, These are the best bulbs I've used so far but Coralvue is having some consistency issues. The bulbs are supposed to be a crisp white with a blue tint when burned in but many people running more than one are reporting different colors between bulbs and most notably, a gross pink hue. David from Coralvue is replacing the bulbs that are defective. David's contact info is below: His contact info as at coralvue.com. http://www.coralvue.com/contact.html Vue Technology LLC Phone: (985)781-9078 Toll Free: (866) 277-9078 Fax: (985)781-9081 Just a little FYI for all those not entirely pleased by their bulb. Clint you might want to look at this if your bulbs are at all pink. It also seems to have occured after they switched to the new blue boxes with reeflux stamped all over them. When I received my bulb it was in a plain white box with almost no label showing what it was. John

The only person I can think of is Polkster at Coral Reef Bazaar

Does anyone know of a store in Austin that will fill up C02 tanks on a Saturday? Mine ran out and I don't want to have to wait until Monday to bring it back online. John

Yeah I've heard the larger maximas are coming in from Tahiti as well which has an iffy rate of success. Is it possible to get 2 inch pretty maximas? I have no problem feeding them and babying them to a little larger size. John

Jim, I know that back in the day you were the clam god. Is there anyway to get maximas in right now, even if they're on the small side? I think everyone would be real interested in a group buy and the such and I've always had great luck dealing with Barry at Clamsdirect. John

Haha shut it Clint. Steve, I've heard that the old adage "you get what you pay for" applies to glasscages. Any thoughts?

Does anyone have any suggestions for a custom glass tank? I just got a quote from Aquariums for You out of New Jersey and it was PRICEY. A 36x24x24 starphire tank is going to run me... $1783.63 Again any suggestions? John

A couple large problems to consider; First, the reason a place like exoticreefs is so successful is their coral farmers. Every farmer that they have is a world class reefer that most of the SPS community know and respect. Hard to say, but I'm afraid none of our tanks come even close to that of SniperSPS's beautiful aquarium. The second reason most other frag sites like Atlantis Aquariums and Frag Farmer are successful is because they have access to all the premium acros coming in from overseas. We just don't have that same ability here in landlocked Austin. If someone came forward and said they knew such and such coral gatherer on Vanuatu, then it would be a different story. The third reason is that once a frag goes "LE", how long would it take to acquire a piece of that coral, then propogate it enough to sell? I mean the oregon blue tort CRAWLS along to grow and the true purple monster is even slower. I'd have to think that you'd have a much easier time "financing as you go" by selling on frags.org, reefcentral, or best of all locally. I think having a collective frag bank locally would be a great idea but nationwide? When I say collective frag bank, I mean a directory, linking each person with what they have growing currently and the asked price. Then there is the caveat, what if one person gives terrible frags and (god forbid) spreads red bugs unknowingly cross country? Haha and then the obvious reason is that we only have 35 members and all of them are by no means active on the site. I do like the idea however of a local frag directory so that if you are looking for a specific coral, you can check to see if it is to be found locally. This way, the money goes immediately back to our local reefing community and not to LA. Just my 2 cents, John

That will all depend on if there is actually enough interest to make it happen. The discount isn't that great anyway but I do plan on stocking them at AA.

MAN do I want to skip this exam! I'll definitely be calling the second i get out of the test to see if ya'll are still hanging out. John

The micron size is a little big for SPS (150-200 microns) but they definitely illicit a feeding response. I think at the very least, the response would be worth feeding them. Seriously look at the System Reef-resh! The whole point of the system is to break wastes into coral usable bi-products and feed SPS both bacteria and amino acids. I recently read a study by Eric B that said SPS corals took almost 70% of their feeding energy from bacteria! John

All, This group order will involve no livestock lol. I received a sample of the new food "Reef Roids" from the company Polyp Lab and was very impressed with the result. I'm proposing a group order if there is enough interest for the product. Polyp Labs also manufactures a probiotic filtration/feeding method for reef tanks that I am also interested in trying. The website for the company is www.polyplab.com and the distributor for the US is www.finsreef.com The pricing is as follows: Reef Roids 4oz - $19.99 System Refresh Total System - $154 The discount breakdown follows: Reef Roids For 24 to 47 units there is a 15% discount plus free shipping. For 48+ there is a 20% discount plus free shipping. System Refresh 5+ complete units are 15% off and free shipping, 10+ units are 20% off and free shipping. Is anyone interested in these products? John Order at Present: Thedude - 2 Reef Roids, 1 System Reefresh

Yeah I just don't see my Chemistry professor going for that... he'd way rather teach me the laws of thermodynamics than actually do something fun/interesting.

Unfortunately, I have an exam that day from, you guessed it, 2-5 pm. Looks like I'll have to miss the meeting. John