DaJMasta

Thanks for the interest, but they've got a new home now. Now to clean out the tanks.

I've got these 8 corals as well as a lattice cardinal and a green banded goby, if you can house all of them they are yours for free. I need to take down my tank this afternoon and this is what's left after the sale. Pickup would be best before 1pm, otherwise we'd have to work something out before 6.

Well I wouldn't go that far. I recently used a stainless steel screwdriver in mine... just had to wash it with soap and water then rinse a bunch of times to be sure any grease was off, then really make sure it's stainless. The thing with pliers is that there's lubricant where the two halves meet that won't come off with a simple wash... and if it does come off the pliers will seize up.

I would stay away from pliers, the oil used to lubricate them can't be cleaned off before you put it in the tank and will come off in the tank at least a little. to get mine off I've used a screwdriver on a few bits that have a suitable space to pry, otherwise remove it from the aquarium and use a hammer. If you just leave it be, it may take a while but things will grow over it and you can use the old plugs as places to put new ones, so it will eventually be covered up.

I think I was second in line when michael was selling it, would it be possible to have it delivered (I've got no car)? I could throw in a few extra dollars or a frag or something from the tank I'm clearing out now.

I've heard people mention moonlights are useful because they help stimulate breeding cycles... but in a home aquarium I doubt there's much difference with or without. Having some lights on after dark is really just so you can see things., and with LEDs, if they're too high power they could break the proper day/night cycle for some corals.

Just remember that 1 inch under means about an inch of your display tank WILL end up in the sump in the event of an outage - so be sure the sump has enough capacity. I prefer a pair of small holes near the water line. That way if one clogs (algae, snails, etc) you're still good and not too much of the display is siphoned into the sump.

That just gives you the link to the main page, which is not functional. I think part of the reason people keep tanks at lower temps is to prevent things like power outages from being as immediate problems in terms of tank temperatures and because a lot of critters we keep are used to deeper depths which are cooler in the wild. Really unless you're specifically aiming for a biotope and have done your research, you're going to have species ranging from a bunch of different temperature areas under the umbrella of tropical water temperatures. There will be some creatures from the shallows where it's warmer, some from the deep where it's cooler, some from farther from the equator or in a normally towards-equator current that are used to cooler temps, and so on. The important thing is that there is always some fluctuation in temperatures so they should be fine in a decent range, but knowing approximate limits of what can be tolerated, I would keep it a degree or two on the cool side - I usually aim for 78F. Basically, if equipment fails (chiller, AC, whatever), here in Austin the odds are the temp will start to rise, and it seems like the critters we keep are more sensitive to high temperatures (like 82-83 for long term and 85+ for extremely short term) than they are to a few degree colder ones (after all, they're usually fine after airmail transit). I think this is because in the wild the water temperatures really never get past the low 80s, but with cooler currents and winter months, they get down easily to the mid 70s or below. It's less of a concern for people with large tanks - at least in terms of the power outage thing.

It's true, but the solana is fairly deep too... so long as the optics aren't too tight you could probably get away with a sol, just don't expect LPS in the top half of the tank. Though, if you've got it set up to be dimmable it could be just fine. In my experience many low-light corals actually can tolerate a good amount of light if they're acclimated to it or just out of the intense areas. I've had a 150W MH and now 63W of LED over my 24G tank which contains mushrooms, a maze brain, and some lower light zoas and things... but keeping them on or near the sandbed, or just out of the center of the tank or partially shaded by rockwork keeps them happy enough.

FYI, that has been 'coming soon' for quite some time now. 36W of LED over your tank (since it say's it's half a sol) would be enough to meet your requirements, but the SPS and higher light corals would probably have to be under the fixture and closer to the top.

Do the shrimp come out? They can be somewhat wary, but if you can get them out in the open just put the net behind them and your finger in front - their natural reflex is to back up quickly to avoid the finger and into your net. They're also not as quick as fish, so they shoudln't be able to get out before you scoop them up. Works the same way with a cup, but it's riskier because water doesn't flow through it.

What was your salinity before the water change? 1.021 is a little low, but if you were running 1.025 or higher the sudden change in salinity of the water change could definitely do it. Also was the water you used already heated? If you have a big loss immediately after a water change, it's usually an indicator of bad water chemistry going in. Occasionally it could be stirring up something or killing something in the cleaning process before the change, and sometimes it's a coincidence.

I hear you can grow xenia in with your chaeto as a nutrient removal system

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/harlequinshrimp.html

I agree. Mostly I said the PAR bulbs would be a better choice because the intensity of lensed PAR38s for your mains will be greater than most MH setups or really any T5 setup short of a really excessive amount of bulbs. It's really difficult to compete with intensity against Crees or equivalents running at 1A+ with optics - with coverage or overall output - sure - but the area under the spot of the PAR38s won't be all that affected by stunners simply because of the difference in intensity... just like 2 or 3 T5 actinics would give a nice blue hue to the tank but the spots under the PAR38s would still be 15-16k (by my estimate, at least). If you're not using the stunners with the mains, they would be an excellent choice for even coverage and color configuration (there's lots of options and they will give a much less spotlight-y diffused look)... but using high powered PAR38s as the mains I just don't think they'd be able to compete.

Out of curiosity, do they really do anything? I know the stunners don't use optics, but LEDs are very directional light sources on their own, how much difference do the reflectors really make other than keeping the spread a little reigned in? In this case, because your LEDs will be so high over the tank, I would opt for a different actinic supplementation method: PAR30s or PAR38s. Get some all blue bulbs and mount them up with the PAR38s. Because the stunners use LEDs on a lower intensity level than the ones in the PAR bulbs and because they don't use optics, they will not get good depth penetration from that distance and you'll end up having to buy more of them because the effect of each will be minimal. Because you can select the LED configuration exactly, I would suggest something like BoostLED's PAR30s.

All sold, thanks!

Odd... My PM box says I'm only 8% in Another person asked about the skimmer yesterday, but if that doesn't work out I'll try to PM you (if that's working!)

Once more! At the lower price of $30, this is one of the cheapest skimmers you can buy. It should outperform the cheap stock skimmers you can get for nanos, and while it doesn't pull the darkest skimmate - the day after I removed it from my tank (I installed the new tunze, but needed a replacement part to make it start) I saw an algae bloom (film, diatoms, and GHA) suddenly without any feedin (it was doing it's job!). Also the other things are as much as you want to pay for them. They were $1 each, I would give you them for free, but I won't go bending my schedule to hand them off in that case

That was supposed to say "wee bit"... would make more sense that way. Anyways, a bump to the top cause it's still on my table.

Also check for nudis - they'd be little white hairy things probably in the affected area. If not, corals can regrow around a live skeleton even if the flesh is gone (still bone white), but with time the skeleton will stop being viable and the tissue will no longer regrow over it.

There are plenty of people who have used various sized plastic containers for frag tanks and such without too many problems (at least in the short term). Make sure you get something reinforced or it won't be able to take the weight of the water (especially if the tank is high). Most of the ones used in LFSs and the like are the higher quality Rubbermaid Stock Tanks, those huge black plastic bins with drains built in. They do make them in 50G sizes, but I'm not sure where you could get them locally. That said if you're looking for a fry tank.... just look around on craigslist or go to a thrift store or something. You can get a used reasonably sized glass tank for cheap, and it should look nicer, make cleaning easier, etc.

Only a wee it remains, my kitchen table is getting cleaner!

Once more to the top. Got most stuff sold, but added the skimmer and still have the freshwater bits and the AC fuge.