barderer

yeah looks like your tank is indeed cycling. The cycle can establish its self really fast depending on how you setup your tank. If you have lot of cured live rock then the cycle is pretty much already up. You can add fish but just remember to do things slowly so the culture can catch up to the new load.

You can skip many days. I keep my fish on a really low feeding schedule. I usually feed the reef fish every three days. My puffer tank every other day. One time I went on vacation, my friend was supposed to feed the fish...he forgot and the fish didn't eat for 7 days. When I came back I thought I was going to see some distressed fish. They were just fine. The meat eating fish can go a long time without meals. The veggie guys are the ones that need to be fed more regularly. Not a good idea to let a tang,for example, go without food for a long time. The long and short of it is, keep your fish lean and your tank shall look supreme.

I have done it. But like most accounts I did not conduct the dosing in a scientifically valid, controlled setting. It seemed to really help reduce algae problems though, and the water was crystal clear. It basically is the same idea of algae fix. You keep a artificially high level of bacteria in the tank that consume the nutrients that alage and other things would normally be using. Then you skim out the bacteria, thus exporting the nutrients. It seems to work. Good skimming is required.

I love leopard wrasse. But they are soooo hard to care for.

I will loan you mine as well if your can't close on those offers. Although I question how good the red sea kit is.

new macro looks good. thanks Derry

I have Halymenia , with no pests. Bring buy some of the Caulerpa you get from Gonzo and I will give you a handful of Halymenia. Nick

Efrain, you are in for a major effort trying to raise those suckers.

usually this time of year its a temp change. Xenia is very sensitive to temp changes.

is he skinny and starving? If so, he is gone unless you tube feed him.

if you want to give it a real "plastic" look I would not sand the wood, but instead put a layer of bondo or a plastic based cement over the surface. Then sand it smooth. Then paint it. When done it will look like the OG plastic.

so your laptop and your AC3 are on the same network. Meaning the first 3 numbers of their ips are the same? 192.168.1.*. And you can ping smtp-server.... from your laptop but not the AC3? Btw you don't need to open any ports on your router to connect to an external server. The only reason to would want to do that is to open up a port for a service you run. Like your AC3 web interface. You will need to register with a dynamic domain update service to keep your changing dynamically assigned TW ip in snyc with your domain name as well.

does the AC3 have a console where you can see if you can ping the smtp server. When you said you telneted to it, from where? Is there a log file the controller generates? Click of that email test and see what the log file says.

you have to be on the time warner network to use their smtp server. I am assuming your AC3 is wired to your router then router to your cable modem. If so then it should work. If not then maybe your AC3 is not getting a valid ip and is not even on your routers subnet.

dang, tate let me know when you want to frag it.

the port a jetty is your best bet. Let us know what you find. Its pretty random.

ah it just makes them that much cooler.

If you want an acrylic overflow box that will fit in chamber 1 I can probably help you with that. Do you not want to use a traditional overflow box on your tank?

That is a nice solenoid. I would use that in conjunction with a off the shelf $20 micro controller dev board and a couple a DC gate /120 VAC relays. Then you could program the micro controller to know last time the tank was dosed and for how long. Because you know the flow rate your could then determine the amount of water dosed per cycle and maintain a rolling average of the amount of water dosed. You would then have a nice statistic on the evaporation rate of your tank over time. Your switch algorithm could then detect abnormal dose times and override the float switch etc. Don't buy the aquarium specific micro controllers. the are limited, 3x in cost, and not nearly as fun as the generic ones! Might be a over kill but working with micro controllers is so much fun!

doktor, which LED build are you doing? Start a thread on that.

ah bummer Hamp, Are you moving permanently or just for a few months?

There are two types that usually eat aiptasia Lysmata wurdemanni and Lysmata Hochi. Lysmata californica and Lysmata Rafa are often sold but have not been known to eat aiptasia. When buying peps you have to be good at identification. Here is a good resource Nick

xenia is VERY sensitive to sudden drops in temperature.

wow that guy got the acan bug bad. That must of cost him a small fortune.