DaJMasta

Judging from the recommended ranges for SPS and the wavebox (which makes a huge difference in effective flow), you're probably covered already provided your powerheads are clean. I don't have experience with tanks this size, but from what I understand that's probably adequate to keep SPS happy as a general amount, of course some locations being better than others depending on flow patterns.

Is there a problem you're noticing?

Ahahaha those will be tough to beat!

Mine has been wearing a pair of green zoas for almost a month now. He's also picked up and worn a patch of turf algae (the same stuff I've watched him eat), some misc shells, and one of the planted macroalgaes. Not exactly sure how this stuff is supposed to be camouflage when he's climbing on the glass, but whatever.

Check the measurements. I believe it will fit in most 24 and 29G AIO setups in the second chamber - it's designed for that kind of thing after all - but I know intank sells different collection cups to fit in tighter spaces.

I've heard nothing but good things about the 9002's performance, however you have to be sure it will fit in your AIO chamber and you have to be willing to spend for it.

I had been running on just water changes in my 24G, but the water didn't stay clean enough for SPS, so I ended up trying the much cheaper AquaticLife Mini Skimmer 115 after reading some positive reviews of it. I will add my own positive review, with a qualifier: It pulls out gunk just fine and is easy to adjust, just get the water level to the base of the cone with the pump on. With minor flucuations in water height even with an ATO the pull does vary somewhat, but it has definitely improved my tank and after only a couple of days made the water noticably clearer - enough so that the corals lost some color and needed to reacclimate to the light.

That all said, it doesn't pull the sludge skimmate you will get off a better skimmer. If you set it low enough, you won't get much of anything taken out, and the adjustment point that mine seems to like means 3-5 days before it fills the cup and sort of a dark tea color of skimmate. Still nasty stuff, still stuff I wanted out of my tank, but not the jet black gunk a better skimmer would pull out. I've had it since july and haven't successfully adjusted it to get a thicker skimmate yet.

That looks really nice. Once you get some seed rock in there and some coralline and other things start to make their homes on it you won't be able to tell at all that it's not a real rock face. Really it's difficult to tell now, but the life and little extra covering will make the illusion complete!

I've got a saddled blenny who has lived in my 24G tank since the spring, but who needs to go for a change of livestock. Lots of personality and good color, but he picks on small docile fish (scared my geometric pygmy hawk into a hole a few months back) and goes after anemone shrimp, which I really would like to keep. He's an omnivore, eating the pellets I feed the tank but also seen nipping at GHA. Maybe 2-2.5" long or so, here's a pic to show what he looks like, maybe slightly more red/orange than the picture:

Looking to trade for something.... A peaceful fish like a cardinal or small goby, a frag of something interesting, an anemone shrimp, or something that would do well in a peaceful nano tank - make me an offer.

My schedule is a bit awkward, but we can set up some time to meet and swap, I'm in north central austin (on lamar, top of the numbered streets) and since I don't have a car I'd only be able to meet as far away as say aquatek or central market.

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

I'd say Notospermus tricuspidatus.

Get ready to buy a chiller tho. I bet that much light over a 30 would heat it up in no time.

Personally, I'd go with 1x150 and you'll be fine growing most corals.

By the time you become an SPS junkie, you'll want a bigger tank anyways.

This.

I've got a 150W over my 24G and with the skimmer running it almost needs a chiller.... almost.

A single 150W will let you grow some fine SPS in the top half of the tank, plenty of light for that, two would probably give you good growth on the sandbed - but that comes with requirements to shade lower light corals if you want to add them. With 300W over a 30G tank plus the heat from the pump and skimmer, I doubt you'd be able to get away with air cooling very well and you'd want to ventilate each MH well. Heat would be my first concern, but it's enough light to bleach things if they're too high up or if they need less than extreme amounts of light.

NPS gorgs really need to be in a NPS tank... High flow and suspended food pretty much constantly (I've seen 4-7 feedings a day), which means heavy filtration equipment at the very least.

If you want to try to keep it though, try supplementing what you're feeding with phyto and a meaty very fine food, like oyster feast or some of the smaller coral blend foods.

If you're willing to meet me somewhere in austin I'd be interested in the forest fire digi, the unknown yellow acro, and the ora bottlebrush. I don't have a way to get to roundrock, otherwise I'd certainly pay you a visit

I will verify the tailspot's safety, and add lawnmower to the list.

Any herbivore blenny should be fine, maybe they can be irritants but I would say most blennies don't even eat meat. That said, the info I see says the blue and gold is a herbivore, you sure it's not damage from irritation or damage from skirmishes with other tankmates?

EDIT: Apparently what's commonly called the blue and gold blenny is different from the combtooth blenny. Combtooth blennies make up quite a number of species and are larger and not necessarily herbivores. Make sure the ID is correct and you've actually got a combtooth.

I doubt you'd be able to get rid of them all, but there's a chance - a natural starfish predator the harlequin shrimp. If you have other starfish or critters with tube feet I doubt they'd be a good idea (they eat the tube feet), and I'm not exactly sure whether they eat brittle stars.... but with a little research you should be able to tell. A lot of people don't keep them because their diet is only starfish, but it could help solve your problem.

That said, I don't know for sure whether it would work. There are chemical options like a copper based ich treatment, but that will essentially kill any mobile invertebrate and could be bad for corals, so it is by no means a reasonable option. If you can't keep the numbers down I'd gladly take a few - I have some regular sized brittle stars but none of the mini ones.

I got my two at RCA and they were the first fish in the tank and survived since then including a move (though that's just under 5 months now I think).

No secret to acclimating, I don't think I even used the drip method. They haven't jumped. I feed the tank maybe 4 times a week with a varied diet.

Generally, the available chromis are tank raised and are extremely hearty. What parameters are you running? Specifically: salinity, pH, temperature.

I wish you luck on the tank, but that is rather heavy stocking and I'd be lying if I said I thought everyone in the tank would make it.

I would reconsider the airline though, all that bubbling will end up splattering a lot of salt and organics (like a skimmer) on whatever is on top of or beside your tank. If you go with a power head of some sort, you get the increased air to water interface that you get with the bubbler (at least, if the tank surface doesn't have a skin), but you also get some more circulation around the rock, which reduces debris collection somewhat and makes better use of your rock as a biological filter.

What I've read and what I think reefpets was saying is that they are roughly equivalent in output to a pair of ATI Blue Actinic bulbs in the size of the unit. So the 48" would be about PAR equivalent to two 48" actinic T5 bulbs - I only have nanos so I'm not sure of the wattage that would be. I've also heard these units use 3W LEDs, if that helps your conversions at all. With LEDs vs. T5s though, you'd be getting a bit more downward penetration of the light (they are well focused with built in reflectors) and they are point light sources so you'd be seeing a similar ripple effect as you get with metal halides.

I'm a little interested in the 15" 50/50 for my 7.5G..... but I don't think I can justify the cost at the moment. Oh well.

It will keep them alive but they probably won't be fully colored. If they're in the top half or so of the tank they should do just fine, the bottom half may be a little low for some types of zoas, especially if the bulbs are old.

Big enough to fit your equipment is all that you need,

-1. Bad advice.

You must account for water back siphon in the event of a power failure. If you only have a sump that can handle your equipment and nothing else, be prepared to flood your house.

Well I didn't mean ignore that.... It's a good point though.

At Fry's in the computer case section they have a dual cold-cathode setup with power cable for $7. It works great, and you can get them in white, red, or blue. The emit no noticeable heat and are completely enclosed in acrylic, so water tight.

Just make sure the inverter doesn't get exposed to salt water

I use a little encased dual LED moonlight for my 24G. It's not really bright, but it has pretty good water penetration and it does just fine for a low level night time lighting. Because it's small I just leave it on 24/7.

Evidently they're discontinued? I don't know.... nice blue color and a shimmer effect in a package small enough to fit on the arm supporting my metal halide:

http://www.marinedepot.com/Current_USA_Lunar_Light_Moon_White_Moon_Light_Moon_Light_Fixtures_for_Aquariums-Current_USA-CU01650-FILTFIML-CU01650-2-vi.html

Big enough to fit your equipment is all that you need, that said having extra system capacity is a benefit and having space for a refugium or other goodies down there is always good. So you only need one that will fit your equipment, but I would recommend the largest standard sized tank that fits under your 55g. Standard sized tank just so that it's cheaper. If you're going with a premade sump of some sort, I'd get one with a lot of capacity.

Well there's an eShopps 75G HOB skimmer that I briefly looked at in my looking around. It uses a siphon tube and the pump and skimmer is both external, however the pipes that go into the tank are something like 6-6.5" apart, which at least for my nano cube didn't align well with the back compartments and the clip on light I'm using - it could fare better with a proper hood because it leaves the back open.

For that kind of money, I think you could do better. Like the Tunze 9002 if that will fit in the jbj.

For at least 3x as much I've also heard great things about the Remora and the 9002, but the price tags are similar. Not sure how the remora would work with the lid though, as it's HOB.

I haven't received mine yet, but I'm running a 24g nano cube and I'm going to put an AquaticLife Mini Skimmer 115 into the first chamber of mine. If you're interested I'll have some info on it soonish, but it seems like the reviews I've read are fairly positive. I've heard the tunze is a bit quicker to skim, a bit easier to adjust, and quieter (to some), but at 3x the cost I figured I would try the well rated alternative first. For your skimmer particularly, I think the general consensus by reviewers is that it does work, but it doesn't pull a whole lot of gunk.

Sweet!

this is gonna be a nice order...cant wait. Theres gonna be alot of NICE coral coming to Texas.

mine is better than yours!

oh wait, its the same thing...

You'll still get first dibs on which frag when it arrives.........

Sent the money, also I'm in for that WYSIWYG duncan polyp if it's still available.

Please note the delivery day is now THURSDAY AUG 2ND.

I didn't check my calendar to see that I have an event on Wednesday night so everyone would have to pick up by 4p.

Thursday's the 5th, monday's the 2nd