thedude

Crosshatch triggers are a fairly deepwater fish from Hawaii and are an extremely pricey fish. As James said, they're often really hard to get acclimated to captivity.

I'm assuming I get to experience the fun of that mirror?

Karen,

Like others have said, the water at that place when we tested it was just plain terrible. All your algae problems are stemming from your source water and any supplements or additives would simply be a waste of money. Look into the RO/DI units that Gabriel is recommending or at the least, get some 5 gallon jugs from Walmart and fill them at your LFS of choice. RO/DI water usually runs between $.20-$.25 a gallon and with a few water changes and time, your algae problem should dissapear.

Good luck and at least you have a definitive source for your problem algae!

John

Same Deltec as yours Andrew, just stretched. AP851

Just to chime in, diatom algae is comprised of 90% silicate molecules, therefore your problem is probably silicate and not phosphate. What kind of water are you using, and what kind of salt? Silicate isn't normally a mineral added with food and comes from your source water or salt.

John

Derasa's are a sand dwelling clam in the wild and they shouldn't stick their foot to anything, unlike a crocea or maxima. Make sure that nothing it bothering the clams mantle or foot and check your water parameters.

Also as several people have mentioned, you're on the edge of how much light the clam will need.

John

Looks like a stylophora to me.

It doesn't have the right branch structure or polyps to be a birdsnest (seriatopora hystrix) but could possibly be seriatopora stellata? The fact that the coralites are spread out lead my to believe it isn't a pocillopora.

Stylophora subseriata gets my vote http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/95/57.../subseriata.htm

For reference:

Pocillopora: http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/95/58.../damicornis.htm

Birdsnest: http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/95/57...ora/hystrix.htm

Seriatopora stellata: http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/95/57...ra/stellata.htm

John

Another frag swap eh?

In all honesty, the last one was the second one we've had and it was a HUGE success, but I think frag swaps need to be far apart so that people can actually grow some good frags (bi-yearly?).

I also think that the next place we do it in, needs to be BIG. Marcus and Dallas's place was great but it was way too crowded and I think we'd all benefit from more room to show the wares off (possibly in a hotel convention room or the likes).

Anyway, I saw we start gearing towards a frag swap in Oct/Nov/Dec and get some ideas going as to a venue.

John

Supplementation seems like a pretty good topic to me. I spent countless dollars throwing all kinds of chemicals into my tank that didn't do a whole lot.

Thanks again Gabe for hosting the meeting. Your tank's progress over the last few months was truly incredible and I can't wait to see it grown in after another six!

John

I'm not saying it doesn't trap particulate, it most definitely does. The reason for a filter sock in Clint's sump (now Andrew's) was to cut down noise and bubbles. Anything after that was a plus.

I would have to agree with the other guys here that as long as you have a spare, the maintenance to clean a filter sock is way less than the maintenance to shop vac a sump.

John

The sock in your sump is there not really to catch particulate, but to eliminate noise and bubbles from the overflow. If those aren't problems, you don't need the filter sock.

John

Although his venture is private, he has a great camera and I'll hound him continuously for pics. This is his home site!

Unfortunately it won't be open to the public and I can't tell you where it is. Matt (the owner) discussed it with several people and the general consensus was, if you aren't going to sell direct to the public, the public should not know where it is.

As for what he's going to grow, I'll get Matt to hop on here and talk to ya'll about it. I'm REAL excited because this thing is very very clean and has the potential to do anything he can dream of.

Again with the meeting question, the answer is most likely no. As for the hiring question, I'll refer to him but if you really are interested, PM me and I'll get you two talking.

John

http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/0/0/0/index.htm

My personal favorite

Just vacuum the sandbed (ala freshwater gravel siphon) and you shouldn't have any problems with detritus accumulating.

James,

We use the magnets from algae free with great success (the same company that makes the easy blade attachment). The only magnet they make that I don't like is the big boy Great White as it sinks and is heavy as hell.

For the 110 I would go with the Hammerhead size. The piranha is kind of wimpy and the tiger shark is seriously strong (too strong for your tank long term). http://www.aquariumcleaner.com/products.html

The other really cool thing about them is that they sell replacement felt and the scratchy side kits so that the magnet is pretty much good forever.

John

I personally feel that if you have the option to purchase an already reef ready tank go that route. I'd had a tank drilled and had standard overflows on tanks and the standard overflow is a nice addition to begin with.

I also agree with the guys above that if you do have a tank that isn't reef ready it would be much easier to get it drilled then save yourself the headache of messing with an external overflow.

John

I'm posting this for a customer of ours.

He has a 350 gallon reef with a foxface rabbit (6"+) that has grown too aggressive for his tank. Any reasonable offer to take this fish to a large tank will not be refused.

John

For what it's worth, clownfish have been coming in really crappy recently. They usually go through phases where for 6 months you get really strong ones, 3 months of death, then the cycle repeats. This is unfortunately a cycle of death in our case.

The clowns seem to have some kind of disease that takes hold of an otherwise fine looking specimen and kills quick. I went through 6 clowns last week and all of them were dead in about 10 days while other fish did fine.

Joe,

I feel bad that I haven't complemented you on your tank yet as I've been loving your photographs. Beautiful use of soft corals and a really really unique and gorgeous tank.

Again, Nogtastic

John

If it catches fire, it probably doesn't belong in a reef tank haha

That coralife timer used to have a problem catching on fire, therefore I don't trust it farther than I can throw it.

The answer is yes and I do. Sand sifting cucumbers in large reefs do wonders but you need ALOT of sand for them to live long term. Would a serpent star please you more? I really do believe those guys help a tank alot.

John

Booooooo! He'll keep your sandbed nice and white and eat any leftover food.