DaJMasta

I've always liked acan lords. The two smaller frags have the best color IMO, but I think that's just cause the red and white ones you see around more. That said, I've got some red and white ones which really look awesome,.

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade.... but they could be just bleached. There are white zoas around, but they're typically small, all white, and non photosynthetic.... so they're hard to keep alive (see those sponges with zoas encrusted). All said, they do look cool. If they are bleached, maybe they'll color up to look better!

That's a nice setup. I've been considering getting a UPS for the powerheads/heaters for my system. Anything in there can live through a few days without light, but without circulation or heat is definitely another matter. That said, I don't have a huge amount of funds to spare or a huge amount of livestock, there are other options for the short term as long as I'm around and since I'm not stocking too heavily I have a little bit of breathing room. Since my pumps and heaters are fairly low power, a decent sized computer UPS could probably power them for quite some time. Actually what I fear more is the loss of my apartment's AC. That could easily be several days long and I really don't have anything good to combat that. Even with the lights off and large size fans blowing in the top, neither tank could survive a couple of days of Austin's summer heat I'm afraid. The ice cubes are a good idea, but with my small tanks it would be a continuous activity to monitor the temperature with them.

Hasn't yet happened to either of mine... On the inside, does it look like any of the connections from the power cord to the board are damaged or loose? Is there any scorch marks on the board? Does flipping it to the other mode help? Any evidence of water being in there? Does it power on with the pump disconnected (could be a short in the pump)? I don't think it has an internal fuse, so I doubt it would be that....

Not sure how well shipping would work, but for a few choice pieces it's definitely an option. Everything in your tank now has been overnighted at least once and made it safely +1 to the LFSs being able to take care of you. There's also the usual internet suspects if you want variety or are on a very tight budget. We've even got local custom tank builders, professional tank care services, and cherry-pick coral importers among other things within a half hour or so of the center of the city. Not as sure about the frag swaps though. Lots of activity in the livestock and trade forums for smaller scale stuff, and more than a few members with extensive frag tanks, but otherwise it seems to be mostly the frag swap meetings. I don't know of many others at least.

Have you considered a UV sterilizer? Do you have cleaner shrimp or fish (not a cleaner wrasse, but something that exhibits cleaner behavior)? I've always heard that tangs are particularly bad with parasitic diseases and without those 'extras' or a FOWLR tank treated with ich meds, it can be incredibly difficult to keep them long term.

I've heard of people having them for more than a month, seems like they're pretty hardy little critters. If you're really looking for long term shrimp though, a lot of places (at least online) sell saltwater feeder shrimp. I think Aquatek gets some stock of them every now and then too.

Well this morning he's still alive. I found him sort of upside down, but I think he just started to climb and rolled back, since he's got no spines on his back he's got no mobility there. I turned him over and put some more sea weed under him, and he's certainly still alive - really does look bad though.... but the closer you get to his mouth the more like a normal healthy urchin he looks like. I don't know if he ate much of anything overnight, he certainly didn't make it through the piece placed under him, but I don't think he's had a huge appetite for at least a day or so. He definitely needed it when I first found him without spines, but since I don't think he's been eating a whole lot more than usual. The fact that he's still alive gives me hope, but he's definitely in rough shape.

I've had a halloween urchin in my 24G tank for a couple of months now. I never had much algae growth in the display (the tank is still a bit on the new side), so I've been feeding the urchin pieces of dried seaweed. I think I'm averaging about 2-3 pieces per week at maybe 6-8 square inches per piece as the feeding schedule, and up until two days ago he seemed to be doing just great. Well the urchin took a very sudden turn for the worse, loosing almost all of his spines overnight, but he's not dead and I've been trying to nurse him back by putting extra food under him and checking up on him every few hours. It's been 2 days since he lost all of the spikes and he's showing reasonable activity. His body is showing more signs of distress than yesterday, but there's much more of a response from the spines he does have (on the bottom near the mouth) and he's faster to reorient himself when moved. For symptoms that seemed like a death knell, he's been continuing on like a champ. I don't know what caused the initial problem though.... none of the parameters had changed suddenly then, no ammonia, less nitrates than even a week before, though they're still around 10ppm so I'm working to bring them down. I noticed that he tried to eat a new merman's shaving brush plant I added the day before, though it's a calcareous algae, but I haven't found any information saying that would be particularly bad. There was even food in the tank from the day before when the problem occurred, so I'm baffled as to what actually happened. Regardless, my actual question is how much do these guys eat? Was my 12-24 square inches of nori a week too little for a 2.5" or so bodied urchin? Even if supplemented with a bit of algae from the rocks/glass/wherever he finds it? I don't think water parameters or temperature was to blame, could it have been an infection? The prognosis is somewhat grim, loosing spines quickly is a known bad sign for urchins, and today I noticed some tube feet on the sides of the body with no spines have deteriorated and there's even a bit of paleness on the outside of his body now.... but I'm trying to keep him as happy as possible. None of the tank mates should have messed with him, I specifically went a peaceful tank route, but even better nothing has tried to pick at him since the incident. Is there some kind of treatment that I can give him to help any? I haven't really seen invert treatments around because I don't suspect that we know all that well how to treat them, but should I be trying to shade him or something as well? Maybe a different kind of food? For what it's worth, he was never one to hide much, only going into the shadows a bit during the time he was healthy. He was usually cruising around the glass and picking up frags and such to move them around.

If you're going to do it make sure the GPH of your return line is pretty high or add a second pump, you will loose a lot of pressure after adding it, even with relatively small holes in the spray bar. Also consider the fitting, use either a Y or a T, the Y (in at the base out at the top) would give you a more even distribution while the T (in on the left out on the right and bottom) will give you more pressure on one line. A T in on the bottom and out on the sides will only reduce the GPH of the system. All considered though, it is much easier and maybe even cheaper to get a cheap koralia nano or koralia 1 and just aim it back there.

When I was dealing with it in my 7.5G the crabs in the CUC did the most noticeable work. Hermits and mithrax crabs, combined with your normal snail CUC did a huge amount to get rid of mine, then it was just a matter of starting with the RODI in my case to keep it away. Also are you running the fuge lights on a timer? If so try 24 hours a day for more nutrient absorption.

Not all jellies have the same requirements, there are some which don't need round tanks and some which probably should. There are some that do well in captivity and some that most certainly don't. There are a number of relative constants though, including: They need low flow and intakes MUST be protected. Round tanks are recommended because they can get caught and injured on any corner, there are ways of doing this without a round tank though. They need high lighting, they are photosynthetic after all. They need live food, I think I usually hear about using enriched brine. Any corals or tankmates have to be docile and soft/without hard edges. Other than that, you really just have to find a jelly that's well suited to aquarium life. Something that will live in tropical waters, something that isn't an extremely active swimmer, etc. I don't know much about them but i've seen a few successful tanks which aren't the thousand dollar in-wall monsters that are used in commercial aquariums and such. Look at some people's tanks who have kept them, I know there's a couple on nano-reef.com which I've seen, a cube aquarium was one and I think the spherical biorb was another, but it can be done somewhat less extravagantly than the extremely expensive option if you've got it planned out well.

I've never seen a hermit eat a macro. They will climb all over things (rocks, algae, gorgonians, tunicates, the back wall, etc.) but I've never seen them eat most of it. They're probably after the particulate it collects and the fact that it's a new place to go.

+1 on the dual actinic. The 14K phoenixes are great for color, and they seem to emphasize the reds more than the greens while still bringing out the blue coloration. They are by no means truly blue bulbs and some people say that various 20k rated bulbs aren't as blue as the 14k phoenixes. I think going with the extra actinic gives you better coverage with an actinic only lighting option and more pop on your greens. If you have a controller and are interested in simulating a day's light cycle better though, going one actinic and one 10k would give you a good sunrise/sunset lighting mode. Your acclimation method sounds good to me, I would probably up the hours before lowering the height, but I can't say that I have any evidence to back that up. Since it's 2x150s and not 250s, there's probably not a huge risk of bleaching everything out so long as the tank is at least 18" or so deep. If you have the option to move lower light corals then certainly do so though, and remember that each MH will make a sort of 'hot spot' of it's own as well. There's also the option of using the old bulbs (if they're still going and have 6+ months on them) as sort of MH acclimation bulbs, doing the start of the acclimation, then swapping one by one to the phoenixes - could be just another way to gradually up the lighting.

I think mine was around 165 when tested a couple months ago. If you're on city water it's pretty good, but the quality of the pipes in your building and the newness of the feeders that get it to you play into things quite a bit.

If you can keep it fed Sexy shrimp are good, a fire shrimp may be a bit on the large side but could be a good choice. For fish you have only a few options, and while inverts get large sometimes they don't contribute too heavily to bio load. I'd look for some mini brittle stars to add in, then maybe a clown goby, green clown goby, redspot goby..... something small. A twinspot blenny could be a good option too, hard to say. A crinoid lobster maybe? If you've got the lights to support SPS, I'd go with an acro or pocillopora or something and a companion commensal crab - they've got tons of personality and there are some that are colorful and get to be more than 1/2" or so If you're just looking for movement, maybe it's time to add some more softies and make sure the powerhead is on, you're not going to get a ton of livestock into a pico but with a nice spread of corals you can get a look of coolness out of it. Just brainstorming from looking at other tanks.... porcelain crab boxer crab NOT xenia (unless you want a xenia coral the size and shape of a picotope) ricordea mini carpet nem

There's also a number of mods for those hoods and a few ways to get higher flow fans in there without cutting extra holes.... and a few with cutting holes..... so there are sub-chiller options as well. I don't know how nanotuners does it, but perhaps it already came with a fan upgrade as part of the retro kit. You can also do a little bit of air cooling off the rear chambers, since they're exposed. Looks pretty sweet so far though.

Agreed, they grow quite slowly and they don't actively encrust. I think they will conform to the spaces under them and will grow over obstacles, but it won't try to glue itself down. P.S. Be careful of the sweeper tentacles!

250W MH with a 14k bulb (I <3 my phoenix) Just suspend it a bit above the tank (10"+) and heat won't be much of an issue and it should have no problem fully covering the tank with light. Then you also get the shimmer and better PAR penetration at depth. EDIT: that being said, a 250W MH is NOT suitable for a 16G. The 150W could be, but it may not be quite enough for the deep 37G if you want more than low light corals on the sandbed.

Probably.... maybe not in the long term because the size is so small. If you picked just one it would definitely work. Maybe go for a smaller variety for the second goby? The clown goby is pretty good for pretty much down to the small end of pico aquariums, but the watchman can get bigger. I would suggest a yashia goby and a pistol shrimp if you're looking at gobies and want something interesting Oh yeah, nanoreefs.com is where I go for most of my nano specific info. Specifically, this thread should help: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=74703

Have an urchin? What other livestock? There are some critters that eat coralline, so if you had a HH on something or added one for another reason that could be the answer. If it's turning white and going away instead of just going away, then yeah it sounds like it's either starved for calcium or there has been a recent increase in light. Something like changing a bulb could probably do that too.

I went with the more sugar sized stuff in both my tanks, having some grain size variance is good for replicating natural conditions and pod populations, but I get the impression that the 'special grade' stuff will settle to be a layer of crushed coral with sugar sand below, just too much of a grain size difference for me. If you are interested in running DSB, the grain sizes MUST be on the smaller size, over 1.5mm or so won't cut it and I think the best sizes are 1mm and smaller.

Fire worm, probably good. http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchworms.html

That pico should come with a basic filter, as do most of its competitors. For a fuge I would consider looking into getting an AC50/AC70 filter and modding it into a fuge - saves you the work for the overflow and all that but keeps the desktop only footprint. Don't know if you have a tank already, but a BC12 would probably be a good option on the large end, I've got a 7.5G built with a Mr. Aqua tank from fosters and smith (or was it marine depot...) and they have small sized bow front, rectangle, and cube aquariums that are rimless and the shipping seems fairly reasonable. Those are all spending money options though, which isn't always the best.