Mike Mays

Thanks all for the great guidance. I may suck it up and go to a 12K or 14K and then if I want, try the 20K next year.

It was time to replace my bulbs and I thought I might like it more blue, so got a 20K from RCA. My welso and my red brain are not happy with the new lights. Is this normal? How long should I give them to adjust be for panicking and getting another 10K?

OUCH, WARM WATER BAAAAAD!!!! Hopefully not too bad. When I went to hang seaweed last night, my water felt way warm. I went and checked the thermometer and the tank was at 89 degrees! I quick went out to check the chiller and it wasn't running. Apparently, when we had the power glitches Monday night, my chiller had reconfigured the set point. The temp was set for 220 degrees! Thank God it only cools the water! I reset the temperature on the chiller control panel to 80 and all is well again. My corals still look stressed today. I checked my chemistry and all levels are good. I am doing a water changed tonight, hoping that all will come back to life. Fingers crossed everyone!

PM Sent.

Just noticed this guy on the top rocks. Pretty cool how much like a Christmas tree he looks!

Man, I am going to try to make this meeting. I won't have any frags, still too new, but can't wait to see all of you and meet more of you!

New addition! four-legged star. I don't know what flavor of star fish it is, but he sure moves about the tank. On the glass, on the rocks, on the sand. He's big too. about 8" from one leg to the opposite leg!

I am keeping calcium spot on at 450ppm

Here's a link to a picture of Devil's Hand http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+2856+646&pcatid=646

I posted in reef keeping as well, but want to keep it with the chronicle of my tank build too. My fighting conch has cracks in his shell. Nothing has fallen on him (that I know of) and there hasn't been any rearrangement in the tank either. Weird huh?

Hey gang, My conch was cruisin' along the bottom and I noticed that it looked like he might have been scrappin! Check out the cracks in his shell. Is this a normal occurrence?

Yep, the fighting is over and all are getting along fine.

I have read that. The big nasty that I posted last fall has not been seen since I got the malenaurus wrasse. I have a picture of mine posted earlier. It's kind of light grey, with two blue spots aligned vertically in front of a lyre-shaped tail. It's a very active fish. I think I have approx. 150 lbs. of rock. I only had maybe 30lbs. of it live to start. I ordered some dead rock and bought some from Prof. Then it was just time, time, time. Now 7 months later, I have pods and coraline and all sorts of other life going on!

Here's most of my fish: This is a nice group shot of several of the fish. Here's the new hippo and the yellow tangs My ellusive melanaurus wrasse and the ever present cleaner wrasse The baby of the tank. This red coris wrasse hangs out in one corner of the tank most of the time. Given that it is the smallest residents, it's not surprising. Here's a shot of the female skunk in one of the rose BTAs. All taken with my iPhone.

I got it at RCA and it has doubled in size in less than six months. I'm wondering, how do they reproduce? I haven't seen where anyone "frags" these guys. Any idea how they multiply?

Update. Just added a nice hippo tang from Josh. Thanks bud! When I got home, the bucket was pretty cold, so I used my spare heater to warm the water a bit. Then waited until he started to move around. He's in the tank, hiding in the rocks right now. I'll get a picture of him soon!

That's the brain, right? Yes it's pretty mesmerizing.

Full tank view Green bubble tip anenome Candycane Acan (Christmas gift from son), green ricordea, Mellow (the yellow tang), Cleaner wrasse that loves to get in the way, below Mellow is a beautiful patch of zoas - blue center green outside This brain has doubled in size over the past six months Marlin is the original inhabitant of the tank. He's seen many come and go. He pretty much stays on this side of the tank Not sure what kind of palys these are, but I love the mint green color and they have spread to other areas in the tank. These two Rose bubbletips just split a week ago. The pair of skunk clowns love them! The montipora on the right has tripled in size since I got it at the ARC meeting at Kevin Locklear's house (October I think?). Just below the Montipora on the left you can see a nice patch of star polyps. This maxima has the most beautiful blue flesh. The mushroom rock has sent many 'shrooms forth to populate other areas of the tank. This pair of cleaner shrimp have provided snacks in the form of shrimp spawn a couple of times. These two patches of zoas have been covering the rocks at the top of the tank. So current fish and such are as follows: Maroon Clown (Marlin) Yellow Tang (Mellow) Lavender Tang Melanaurus Wrasse Juvenile Red Coris Wrasse (looks like a clown right now) Pair of Skunk Clowns (Pinky and Yes Dear) Fighting Conch Emerald Crab Pair of Cleaner shrimp 3 peppermint shrimp All pictures taken with my iPhone Enjoy!

Argh! I've been remiss on keeping up on all the goings on here at the ARC. Sorry I missed today's meeting. Is there a way to get a premium membership w/o going to a meeting? maybe the ol' fashioned snail mail? I'll be taking some pics of my tank here tomorrow. A lot has changed!

I will be there

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Mr. Cob. I was close to scrapping the whole idea a couple of times over the past month.

Well, it's been awhile since my last update. Things have been crazy! I'm now down to my maroon clown, lavender tang, yellow tang and a melanurus fairy wrasse. I believe I've been hit with a parasitic or bacteria outbreak in my fish. the fish that died (a pair of anthiases, foxface rabbitfish, Flame Angel, Green Mandarinfish, pair of banggai cardinals). Each time a fish died, they went from being aparently fine (good color, activity and eating) to very pale and lethargic, almost overnight. The latest loss was a percula clown. Just like the flame angel, the perc had good color activity and appetite and all of a sudden, I found it on the bottom of the tank almost totally bleached out. Each and every water check proved to be spot on (I even took samples to the lfg to verify). I noticed yesterday that the lavender tang was swimming somewhat sporadically and it looked like he was trying to scratch himself on the sides with his pectoral fins. (Funny I call him "him". I don't know if it is a he or she). I did some research and got some Rally Ruby Reef to dose the tank and some Metronidazole to add to the food. Hopefully I can knock whatever this out and quit killing fish. It is a bit $$$ expensive. Kenny (my son) frag'd a nice variety of zoas and small colony of star pollups and a couple of red mushrooms. One of the zoa colonies was on like a branchy looking rock/coral skeleton and there was a bonus! A small clam that went easily missed due to it being covered in coraline. it's about the size of a large marble. I will post some pictures as soon as I find the battery charger for my camera!

Dude, post the pics of the fish!

cool. thanks for the info mike. I'll add that to my weekly ritual.

no offense taken on your comment, C Lo, my wife went to the fish store and brought home many of the new guys. Hopefully, we won't lose any more and then can add another in a month or so.