Timfish

Cool! Besides the Ceti Alpha VI Sand Eel eggs (how did you get them past Star Fleet quarintine?) looks like at least four different sponges and either some tube worms of some kind or tunicates.

Here's a picture of the bubble in it's tank, side to side is 7 1/2': It's a 350 gallon I built in 2000 and moved everything from a 200 gallon set up in '94 or '95.

18 - 20 year old Bubble Coral. The central polyp (wherever it is) was purchased 18 - 20 years ago and last time it was measured the skeleton was 8 or 9 inches across.

It's worrisome when they do that. If it's refusing it's usual food you can try others but last time I had a Zebra do that it started again with it's usual food.

(Bio3), good to see your anemones are doing so well after your move! Also good example of how brainless clones can demonstrate differences in their preference for environmental conditions (I'm assuming all these are the same clone line).

Gotta talk to the powers that be about changing membership requirements! (Actually one reason I like cats is unlike spouses, significant others, children and dogs it's still legal to lock them up in a closet when I get tired of them whining ) It's funny (or sad) but BTA's have caused me a lot more grief and expense than all the other "pests" combined.

nvrEnuf, reading over your posts I don't see any thing wrong with what you're doing. Your comment "green and cyno are COMPLEETLY eradicated" makes me wonder if you may have dropped your nutrients to low (also tells me you're as good a speller as I am ). In all this low nutrient hype over the last few years it seems to have been forgotten our animals using Symbodinium spp dinoflagellates NEED nitrogenous compounds (ammonia and nitrates) and phosphates. I would check my nitrates and especially my phosphates, having phosphates too low will kill corals faster than too high. If I might add while it's easy to try to catagorize our corals into groups like "SPS" or "LPS" or "softies", etc., in reality these broad labels have absolutely no relevance to an animals husbandry requirements. Just looking at the distribution of the species in the Acropora genus we see individual species living in mutually exclusive environments, the ever popular Poccilopora damicornis is an "SPS" that is found in mangrove swamps. Beside making a plug for Delbeek and Sprungs "The Reef Aquarium" Vol III (now available on itunes) here's some additional research if you are interested: Clownfish benefit anemones: http://www.mendeley.com/research/effects-anemonefish-giant-sea-anemones-ammonium-uptake-zooxanthella-content-tissue-regeneration/ Phosphate requirements: http://jeb.biologists.org/content/214/16/2749.full

If you figure it out let me know so I can write a book on it. I think Sherita's observation of the similarities between anemones and cats is pretty dead on.

Are you saying I should read your posts!

Good to see you sponser ARC! Are you going to be at C4 again next year?

I'm voting mojano also but I'm guessing more on the appereance of the tenticles, it could be something else. If you have a BML super actinic the foot will glow green under the UV leds.

The vortecs do have an adjustment for wall thickness. I've never heard of anyone having problems with heat on an acrylic tank but I also don't know anyone who has it on 1/4". acrylic can be built thinner than is typically recommended but you will get noticable bowing, I would guess on your 55 if you measure the inside middle to middle it will be about 5/8" wider than at the sides when full of water.

Did it have a skeleton? Because if it is a fungia polyp and it's firmly attached what you have for lack of a better term is a "polyp bud" that will keep generating new polyps. It takes a year or longer for mine to grow and drop off but a new one forms with in about a week where the previous one detached. Don't try to break it off prematurely, they are very firmly attached until they are ready to drop off and you will break the polyp and potentially damage the "bud". Search for threads both JeeperTy and I have on Fungia's reproducing. If it doesn't have a skeleton it might be a mojano which you would want to get rid of immediately.

gently touch it with your finger to see if it has a skeleton. If it does it's probably a fungia polyp.

I don't see a problem with just one visit per week unless there is going to be a heat issue. One system I maintain because of scheduling issues often goes two weeks and even three weeks between any maintenance including top offs (no ATO) and just feeding pellets. I've had to use ATOs but most of my systems do very well without an ATO and just weekly top offs and maintenance and pellets in an autofeeder.

This is another area there's no agreement on. I've been happy with Caribsea's product. Why do you want to switch from a DSB to a mud refugium? People have their opinions but nobody has done a long term side by side comparison to see what the differences might be.

Sounds like you had fun figuring it out! I avoid setups like that as the biology in the system is going to require constant fiddling with the valves to keep it balanced. I don't know if you've tried this but an automatic siphon might be advantageous. Her's a video of one although the ones I've played with worked fine without using the "bell" shown in the video: You are right about the reef systems being systems that process high levels of nutrients. Many of the so called "SPS" are found in lagoons and Pocillopora damicornis is even quite at home in mangrove swamps. Most of the nutrients however come in on the tides with huge influxes of particulates and phyto and zooplankton. I'm sure you're familiar with Charles Delbeek, he points out in an article in the 2010 Nov/Dec issue of Coral "Our crystal clear aquaria do not come close to the nutrient loads that swirl around natural reefs." pg 127. One of the more surprising pieces of research I've seen is that marine mud deposits appear to be rich in calcium and magnesium carbonates that originate in the intestines of fish as part of fish's osmoregulatory process1 Combine that with some of the other advantages and there certainly is a good argument for using them. My own experience a refugium moderated the phosphates for 3 years in a 600 gallon system (also skimmerless) without needing partial replacement: 1http://www.pnas.org/content/108/10/3865 P.S. James, didn't realize this was you at first! Thinking back over a couple of our discussions on your tank I think I was probably one of the ones didn't recommend it.

I would like to nominate myself for top rat. I stopped using water resistant end caps a long time ago after finding them corroded and melted inside. A standard socket has far less material to melt and it's much easier to inspect the contacts and they are cheaper and easier to replace

Cool!

Yup. What's the ballast manufacterer? I've seen Workhorse balasts in some fixtures that will drive a wide array of bulbs and in some cases will run a different number of bulbs than the original fixture was set up with. Even a typical ballast for a four pin bulb can usually be used to run a small range of different wattages and may run PCs as well as T5s

Hard to say, could be a sponge of some kind or maybe an eggmass. Can you get clearer pictures?

The coral in the middle picture looks like it may have bleached out to me. That' usually caused by temperature but can also be caused by too intense light than the coral was used too. I'm guessing all of these corals are Euphylia sp. (which I would consider very good beginner corals) including the one that looks like it's got a "brown jelly" infection, how far off the water is your fixture and do you have any optics on your LEDs? When you tested ammonia was it right after a water change? Ammonia is not removed in RO so a 30% water change should give you about .2 -.3 ppm that will take a while to be consumed. With the coral that has the "brown jelly" infection be very carefull removing it as it has the potential of spreading easily. Best to syphon off the "jelly" first then remove it. You can try dipping the coral which from my experience has about a 1 in 3 chance of stopping the infection. This is brought on by stress which brings up another question of how long the corals have been in your tank?

Maybe I'm missing something but I've understood hyposaline to be brackish around 1.012 for the treatment of "ich" in a QT tank where the fish can be left indefinitely and freshwater dips completely different where the fish should only be left a few minutes. It's my understanding also that while freshwater dips may knock off some of the "ich" parasites adults that have burrowed into the skin are unaffected so at best it only gives temporary relief. Additionally there are some strains of "ich" that appear to be able to reproduce in hyposaline environments. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/fish http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa164

Nice!

I've seen pictures several times and Nilsen and Fossa demonstrated it on a really deep tank which looked pretty cool in Vol I of the series "The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium". Basicly what you want is a blue box behind the tank. They actually 'scaped it with dry coral skeletons. What I've been aprhensive is using one requires cleaning the back side of the tank as well but that would be much an issue with your setup.