thedude

The closest thing to a red tang I think of is the Lavender Tang. Very beautiful little fish! John

The device you are looking for is called a "Python" and hooks up to the sink and uses that water pressure to start a siphon. John

The water in Austin really varies from day to day as we've found. For instance, one of our clients is on a well directly tapped into the Edwards Aquifer. About 2 months ago a HUGE piece of earth fell into the aquifer (we're talking football field sized) and stirred up aeons of stuff. At that point, the incoming TDS was 999+ on the meter. To solve the problem we added several prefilters to the system and waited for the whole thing to calm down. Recently we learned that all DI resin is not created equal with certain formulas targeting certain molecules and different grades existing throughout. Going to a mixture of DI resins that all have a specific purpose really has improved our quality and eliminated strange diatom blooms. Silicate lab tested still came out high until our addition of filter chambers with specific silicate DI. If any of you are still interested in the topic at hand call up at the store and leave a message and I'd be happy to discuss it with you. Thanks, John PS: 0 TDS doesn't mean perfectly clean water

My only experience is that I see them on my list from time to time and they're EXPENSIVE for such a little fish. John

We also use algae free magnets both for maintenance and for our clients. One thing very important to mention is never leave your magnet in the tank as things will live and grow in it making it very easy to scratch the tank. John

Kris, I think the composition of your reef is really great and see a ton of potential for fine tuning the corals in the 'scape as they grow. The one negative that I can see is that I truly don't like your bulb combo as VHO "white" bulbs of any type always give out a pink glow (this goes for white, actinic white, 6500, all of them). I would stay with 2 actinic bulbs but move to T5 for the rest of the tank's lighting. An ATI Blue Plus would lend a nice blue look to the eye and color up corals while the ATI Aquablue Special would be a white bulb with the faintest hint of blue. One of my friends had the same setup as you and retrofitted 4 T5's to balance the look and couldn't be happier with the result. John

Food for thought... www.aquariumwatertesting.com You could test your RO/DI then your freshly mixed saltwater.

Are those picasso clowns I see Andrew?

Just FYI we also use 1 micron filters on all our RO/DI units. If you think about it, if the 1 micron filter becomes clogged quickly but not the 5 micron, the stuff getting through is hitting your more expensive RO membrane.

Fox just ran another news story on Qua telling how PETA is protesting the treatment of the animals inside. They voiced the same concerns we did about noise, etc. Benny (the manager of Qua) said that the allegations were ridiculous and that they had spent over $500 million dollars on making sure the sharks would be safe (I'd just like to laugh in his face on this one because we went out there). PETA also said they had reports of at least 3 sharks dying while Qua said only one shark has died and it died in transport. Sigh

The lights look like a good deal for $150 but the skimmer is worthless in my opinion. John

It should me noted that bryopsis is no laughing matter so do your research before commiting to these corals.

Option 3 is way more likely. Let's hope they lose so much money that no one else is encouraged to do something so irresponsible.

I thought we determined it was the new filter sock? Has it happened since then?

Joseph, Did you get these from [information redacted] ? John

Water quality will also cause the red streaking in yellow tangs along with improper diet. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...threadid=138705

James, Ever seen a full grown chips colony? Search the SPS forum on RC for one, it's incredible.

If I remember your picture correctly the outlet pipe was huge and went several feet up further than the height of the skimmer. If the water has to travel that high to exit the skimmer, you'll not only put extreme back pressure on the pump but you'll also raise the water level internally too high and flood the cup. Call me tomorrow James and I can walk you through gravity feeding the skimmer if you want. John

Ok so I'm still at the shop finishing putting up a box of corals Brian sent me from LA and don't know what time I'll be there in the morning. I still have a little prep work to do at the hospital and will call ya'll to find out where you are when I'm ready. John

Ok we can go to Brian Jackson's in the afternoon and Dallis and Marcus's after one.

Brian Jackson is in, waiting to hear on Dallis and Marcus's schedule for Saturday.

I talked to Brian a couple of weeks ago but will call tomorrow and confirm.

What about Brian Jackson's tank? It would be good to cram in between your place and the office.

Aaron, I think it makes sense to see the hospital tank before going into South Austin as it's on the way (51st and 35). So what is the schedule (with basic times)? John

I freaking HATE spiders. Nice to see you back Mike, your tank still doing well? John