KeeperOfTheZoo

OK.... lets see if I can post without weird half finished double posts. Might help if I stopped posting from my phone... I've been a little skeptical about the 'mushroom ate my fish' stories, but I've been hesitant to rule out possibilities. I even gave my banded serpent star a very good looking over the morning after. It's central disk didn't seem full enough to have consumed a fish. My working theory is that it jumped... possibly startled out of the tank by the dwarf angel I'd just added. After seeing the angel beat up on a couple chromis I wouldn't put it past her to have harassed the mandarin. She only looks cute and inoccent!!

Gonzo, will hairy mushrooms eat a mandarin? I have a rock of hairy mushrooms, the largest is about 5" across when fully opened. I had a beautiful, fat healthy juvenile manderin that disapeared without a trace one night. I suppose it's a mystery that will go unsolved. I'd read a post on another forum about hairy mushrooms eating a clown. I was a bit worried because my clown hosts in the mushrooms. Seems it is only a specific type of very large mushroom that can catch faster fish though. I worried about my mandy getting enough to eat in a 125g tank with a fuge for pod production. It was fat and growing till it disapeared. Some folks have managed to get mandarins to eat prepared/dead food (VWMike has one that does in a 29g biocube) then you can keep them in a smaller tank. That's the exception though.

Ok, well I guess I'll sit on my hands (after putting the scissors away) and see if the darn thing will split on it's own. I swear it's teasing me! Laura this is one I got from you, one of my first corals. It's grown so much and is so pretty! Richie, good to know they will survive cutting if my patience runs out. Right now it appears all parts are stuck on the rock. It looks like a tube instead of a round ric!

My green florida ricordea has been in the process of splitting for over a month. It is HUGE, has two mouths, occasionally ruffles up like it's working on actually splitting then quits. What is its deal? Should I cut it and force the split? How traumatic for it would that be?

Hi Chris, Welcome to the list! It's so nice to see yet another member that's kinda out in my neck of the woods. I live a bit N. East of Lampasas so not real close to Temple, but closer than most of Austin. There are a lot more people in and around Killeen than I imagined there would be when I first joined the forum. I think Versace (in Cove) had macros of different types and he has very neat tanks (worth going to see!). I have chaeto but I just gave a handful to Salt Dreams, it'll be another month or so before it grows out enough for me to give more away. If you haven't found some by then, or still need more, I'd be happy to give you some. Never feel silly about asking questions here. This is a great group of wonderfuly helpful people. Liz

Brat kids... Some of us old 30-somethings were morning people even in our party days! What kind of LPS do you have for sale? Won't be able to make it there this weekend but might by next weekend. Liz

No problem, just didn't want the poor guy to die for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Christian do you have live rock in your tank? The bioballs are acting as surface area for denitrification (biofiltration), right? If you have plenty of live rock in the tank and remove the balls slowly like you plan to I think you'll be fine. If in doubt remove them even slower and see how the tank reacts. I removed a lot of my sand bed (kinda the same concept.. removing a form of biofiltration) and I just did it real slow over a couple months and had no problems. I do have a lot of live rock though. When you get ready to add chaeto post to the list. Many folks give it away free. It was really nice to meet you yesterday by the way. Liz

Ah, poor little guy. I'll take him. I can put him in my sump with the big rotten gulf coast hermit that's already been banished there.

Pretty tank Richard! I'm impressed that your tank is doing so well and you're just now getting into checking all water parameters. Goes to show you don't have to be totally obsessive to grow out a nice tank. I need to practice that sort of reef keeping! LOL!

Thank you Mooric! I've got nooks and crannies for them to tuck into so how ever they come is great.

I built a couple PVC overflows for my tank. One for the display and one from my fuge to my sump. After about 4 months of use I'm having issues with both of them loosing siphon (the smaller one in my fuge more so than the big one in my tank). They worked perfectly at first, then just started failing and I'm not sure why! I suspect they need to be cleaned but the way mine are installed I can not easily remove either of them to clean them. I'm pitching them and getting a drilled sump/fuge and a standard overflow box for the main tank. I think if I had designed the one for the display to be taken off and cleaned that might have solved its problem. Yes, the flow is MUCH lower than advertised on the sites promoting building your own overflow. I drilled a small hole in the top of the overflow that carries water were it hangs over the edge of the tank then siliconed an air check valve in place. This lets you hook up airline tubing and suck out the air to start the siphon (which I've been having to do a lot of lately). You could also hook an aqualifter type pump up that way to suck air out if loss of siphon down the road becomes a problem. I had thought about doing that but I need more flow anyway so not gonna bother. Good work on your tank! Are you going to be at the Feb meeting? I'm about to have an empty 20g tank that I'm considering turning into a nano but I've read so much about how hard the nanos are to run that I'm a little scared to try it! Would love to chit chat about your tank. Liz

I would love some blue mushrooms Mooric! I'll be at the meeting tomorrow. I have a small (3 polyp) frag of yellow polyps. I also have some anthelia if anyone would like a cutting of that. It'll be loose, but it anchors and grows VERY quickly.

Keep resisting Bill unless there's a reason not to. I was fighting a full on phosphate battle and wanted to be fully armed. I'm the kinda gal that shoots a .44 magnum and likes it but has conceded to the fact that if I want to carry concealed I will need something smaller. Darn it. I digress... my phosphates were out of control thanks to the nasty nutrient problem I inherited when I bought my tank. Once everything is totally under control I'll cut back to the bare minimum of chemical stuff necessary to maintain proper params. Ideally I'd like to just rely on biofiltration but I think that's a ways down the road if it's even possible. Until then, I am considering buying stock in the company that makes phosguard!!

I'll second the evils of damsels. I know you got a yellowtail, what was the other damsel you got? Yea... I was checking out your fish. The yellowtails are cute when they are little but they will get mean eventually. I pulled an almost 4" yellowtail out of my tank and had to break down over 100lbs of rock to catch it. Stupid evil fish. Stupid me for not getting a fish trap. That said, if you want to keep an aggressive fish tank then go for it with the damsels. I had the yellowtail, 2 big sgt majors (damsels), 4 huge orbicular cardinals and an 18" snowflake eel. It was very much an agressive/predator tank but everyone got along and they were all pretty reef safe. It really just depends on what you want and what you like. I didn't want those fish because I couldn't add any pretty new ones so I rehomed them all. When you get confident that you won't kill fish, catch the damsels <if you don't want them> and take them to River City Aquatics in Austin. They will give you a little store credit for them and you can put it towards a nicer fish. I really like the folks at RCA. Here's something a little nicer than typical damsels but hardy and low cost (so it's less painful if it dies): http://www.liveaquar...+115&pcatid=115 I was gifted with a couple blue/green chromis and I think they are very pretty fish. Not exotic, but they have a subtle beauty. If you like clowns, they are typically tough little boogers. Some people don't like them. They can cop attitues. Mine bites me when I stick my hand too close to the hairy mushrooms she's hosting in but she's so darn cute I don't mind. Research on the clowns, some species are more agressive than others. I'm sure there are other good starter fish that you can put in your tank and leave in without worry about having to pull them later. Just read up on any fish you want to buy before you get it. Oh, I'm pretty sure if you buy fully cured rock, especially out of a running tank you won't throw yourself into a new cycle. I've added a few decent sized rocks to my tank directly from other tanks with no problems. If you buy uncured rock you will recycle your tank. Liz

Hey Bill, Like Ric said you can get them at Aquatek, I've gotten mine at RCA (I'm kinda an RCA junkie I think). Of the two the polyfilter is the better product in my opinion. It will absorb a variety of things from nitrates/phosphates to chemicals like copper and other metals. The pad will change colors and let you know what it's absorbed. On the bag it has a chart to tell you if it turned this color it absobed 'X'. The pure filters are kinda all in wonder things. Absorb trates and phates, has a layer of activated charcole, basic mechanical filtration. I get those when the polyfilters are out of stock. I keep mine in the baffles of my sump. I spaced the bubble trap/baffles about 1" apart when I built it. On one side I run phosguard in 2 plastic media containers (that I ripped off from a dual biowheel, they fit perfectly) and in the other I put the polyfilter. Doesn't inhibit water flow and all the water in my tank has to go through it so I figure it gets good exposure. I tell ya, the various media sure changes color so I know it's absorbing stuff. Yuck! Interesting point about the flake food and I've read that several times now. During the whole process I got 'real' fish (vs. the big ugle monsters my tank came with) and decided to feed them the good stuff. I've switched to all frozen foods and nori sheets for my tang and angel. Not sure if that helped or not. Forgot to add I also added a good skimmer! I'm constantly amazed at how much nasty stuff the skimmer sucks out. Liz

Eww creepy! I have some big ones but none that size. I'd probably just leave them if they aren't hurting anything. They are supposed to be good scavengers and I've read their populations are self limiting. I have a TON of little ones. I guess that means there's plenty for them to clean up in my tank. My only worry with them is that I'm going to pick up a rock and get stung someday. Liz

Do you have a phosphate test? Others with more experience can chime in but what I've read and experienced is that phosphates really feed cyano/red slime more so than any other nutrient in the tank. Nutrient export seems to be vital for controlling cyano growth combined with limiting import of nutrients into the system (ie- too much feeding, using non filtered water that is high in phosphates or anything else that lets nutrients build up).You need to figure out what the source of your problem is and then fix it, addind more CUC may not be the best fix. I just fought a major cyano battle with my tank due to nutrient build up. After most of it cleared up I had a little bit of a return outbreak and I did a 24 hour black out on the tank and it all disapeared! It's been several days now and there's no cyano at all. It took about 2 months to get rid of all the cyano. For export I used: - fuge with chaeto - phosguard (granular media, primarily absorbs phosphates, changes color when exhausted) - polyfilter (absorbs all kinds of nutrients changes color when exhausted) - pure filter pad (also absorb all kinds of stuff and has carbon with it) - weekly 15-20% water changes - limited feeding for the fish, went to every other day and fed lightly **24 hour black out** only after the problem was already in check. I think I had a slight return because I changed my lighting and started feeding the fish heavier. My tank is adjusting to my new lighting and I eased back on the food for my piggy fish again. I DO NOT think a black out will work long term if you have not already gotten the nutrients feeding the cyano in check. Liz

One toadstool spoken for!

Grr! I'm gonna have to miss this one too. GrimReefer reminded me the order was on... Both my little brothers hit me up for loans this week so my fishy play money is gone. I'm having to sit on my hands and not order to keep domestic peace in my household. I think my husband said something about a fish allowance and how it's been exceeded because of my brothers and...well... darn it sometimes I wish I'd been an only child. Hopefully there will be another group buy soon. I think I remember saying something like that just a few posts down. Liz

I've been using IO for a few months with mostly softies, my params stay very consistant. I do water changes every 2 weeks. The one time I tried red sea there was a ton of sludge at the bottom of my mix barrel. The various solids never would totally dissolve so I gave up. I don't know if I got a bad batch or what, never had that issue with IO. Liz

How much for the toadstools and what color are they? Ditto on the frogspawn. Need prices! Liz

Get a couple peppermint shrimp from Momma. They supposedly eat aiptasia and are a chemical free solution. That's one thing I haven't had to deal with yet, but getting the shrimp is a good excuse to go to Laura's house (she has all kinds of fun stuff)! If you haven't made it over there yet, she's right behind River City so would be easy for you to get to. Liz

Ok, well crud! I didn't realize I had to cut back that much. Poor little light shocked critters. Should I cut back now or just stick with it? Liz

All my zoas are loosing their colors!? They were fine, some even coloring up nicer than they were when I got them then I replaced my bulbs and over the last couple weeks all my colonies have started to fade to a tanish/brown color. I replaced 2 bulbs (everything was super happy, several zoas and palys turned brighter colors and I was excited to see things looking better than ever), then a couple weeks later replaced the second set of bulbs and ran them for a shorter time period for a bit hoping I wouldn't shock my corals. I have 4x96w PC lighting, nothing exciting. My old bulbs were *really* old though. Are my zoas just adjusting to the new bulbs? Will their colors come back? All water parameters are good, actually getting consistently better so I don't think that's it. The zoas are still healthy looking, open and several have added new babies. Actually now that I think about it, my mushrooms are kinda irritated too. Several detached and reatached in much lower light/shaded spots. They were at the very bottom of the tank to start with. I really didn't think I had enough light to upset the corals I have by getting new bulbs. The other corals I have are all happy, it's just the zoas and mushrooms. I hope they'll get over it! Liz