PeeperKeeper

I'll take a dozen glazed. You can deliver them to my office at Parmer and Mopac...

Bumping to show the price reduction. See note at the top of the first post.

I've been wondering the same thing, Carrie. I've never regretted getting my refractometer to measure salinity because I hated using the ones with the clear plastic thingy that were so dependent on whether or not you filled it just right. The refractometer has made water changes so much easier since it only needs a couple of drops to measure, so I'm leaning toward getting a pH probe too. Here are a couple I came up with on a quick Google. I'd love comments from others on likes/dislikes. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4482 http://www.marinedepot.com/Hanna_Instruments_Waterproof_pH_Tester_with_Replaceable_Electrode_Single_Item_Monitors_Controllers_for_Saltwater_Aquariums-Hanna_Instruments-HN1131-FITEMOID-vi.html http://www.aquacave.com/pinpoint-ph-monitorbr-by-american-marine-1571.html There are so many different kinds. I've seen gauges, monitors, and controllers. I assume gauges you just use when you want to know, monitors stay in the tank continually and give you play by play and controllers add something to raise or lower it if it gets out of range.

Bump. I'm in the office today until about 2pm and tomorrow from 8:30 (could come in early if needed) til about 2pm then I'll be gone (away from computer too) until after New Years. On the yellow polyp/pink zoa I zapped some of the yellows that were mixing into the zoas with some supersaturated saline because they seemed to be crowding out the zoas. There are still a lot of both on the rock. Also, on the rock with the red shrooms and xenia I noticed there is also one pink zoa on the back.

Edit 1/11/10: During the holidays I was so busy that I hardly could have found time to meet with someone who wanted to buy, so I priced them a kinda high. Now I'm back to the routine so I'm dropping the prices. I'll be in my office every weekday, usually from 8:30am-2pm except Wed. and Thurs I stay til 7pm but leave for lunch. Call me at my office (339-2020) or PM me and I'll give you my mobile phone number to arrange pick up. These are all pretty good size colonies on medium sized rocks. Yellow polyps mixed with pink zoas. There are at least 30 zoas and probably over 50 yelow polyps. $30 $20 *SOLD Red mushrooms (probably 8-10 heads) a couple of pumping xenia and 2 pink zoas. $35 $25 10 heads of Red mushrooms and at least 1 green mushroom (not shown in pic) $35 $25 This particular rock is not for sale, but it's a better pic of what the pink zoas look like and I do have a small frag of the same green paly's as are in this pic which is for sale. The frag has about 7 heads on it and it is $20 $10. If anyone can ID the green paly's, let me know. They're nice and bright. I was thinking of calling them PacMan if they don't already have a name because they have a little pacman shape on them, but that one might be taken. The tank is in my office, which is Parmer Eye Care in the HEB shopping center at Parmer and Mopac. The office phone number is 512 339-2020 but if you PM me your phone number I will give you my mobile number, which is a better way to reach me to arrange pick up. The office will be open Tuesday, Wednesday and even in the morning on Thursday (Christmas Eve). Closed Friday-Sunday of course. Then the week between Christmas and New Years I will only be here Monday and Tuesday until 2pm. After New Years we'll go back to normal business hours (8-6 M-F, and 8-7 Wed. and Thurs).

I would put the corals in bags like they are normally shipped to the LFS in, and pack them in the bags in a styrofoam ice chest. Aren't they usually in the bags for 24 hours when they are shipped? I think I've heard that they sometimes supersaturate those bags with oxygen, but I don't think that's always the case. I could be wrong about the oxygen thing. Would that affect the pH?

Good luck with your treatment. Is Acro absolutely the only thing red bugs live on? I only have one piece of acro, but I've also got some birdsnest, rainbow monti and a couple other SPS. I didn't dip the acro I've got, but I will from now on. Can you tell me how to do the dip? It's Lugol's that you use, right? How do you mix it?

Watchman gobies can get kinda big IMHO for a nano, and I think the chromis are a type of damsel and subject to the same aggression issues mentioned above. I love the little Clown Gobies though, and Percs are so cute. Have you thought about a firefish? Of the 6 fish in my tank, the firefish is the only one who is always out front instead of hiding, and he always stays in the same spot so he doesn't seem to need much room. If I had a nano, I would make most of the coral in it zoas. I'd get all different colors: pink, blue, green, orange, etc. Good luck! It'll be fun stocking your tank, but make sure you're patient and don't introduce more than one or at the most two new organisms at a time so your bacterial bed can keep up.

Chris, is the 2 part from BRS a better deal than the one they refill at Aquatek for (I think) $3.99? I believe the brand is DT's.

Oh, and GSP might not be a bad idea. It is generally tough as far as surviving, but it can also act as kind of a canary in the mine because it will tend to close up if something isn't right. With a small tank, the challenge is that things change much faster. Concentrations of different chemicals can spike suddenly because there's not much water to dilute them. I mean think about a fish pooping in a thimble versus a the same fish pooping in a swimming pool. Also the temperature can change quickly because of the low volume, same is true of pH, calcium, etc. So if you notice one of your corals refusing to open or anything looking different, that would be a signal to check everything right away. Back on the small vs large tank conversation, the smaller tank can be more expensive in the long run because when you lose an inhabitant, whether it's a coral or fish, snail, etc. it can crash the whole thing because one dead organism can muck up all the water. So then you find yourself replacing everything in it, whereas on a larger tank it wouldn't have been an issue. So try to hold back on adding any more living things for a while, whether it's a fish, a snail or a coral. I know it's hard, especially in the beginning when you just can't wait to have all these cool things in the tank, but you have to go really really slow with that size tank. Each time you add something new, your itty bitty bacterial bed has to grow to meet the new demand of that organism.

Don't I see some more inhabitants in there? I see some zoas and is that some type of SPS on the bottom? Don't forget that corals are animals even though they don't move. How is your water chemistry? Has the Ammonia and Nitrites had their spike and gone to zero? How are your nitrates? pH? Doing such a small tank, you'll need to keep an EXTREMELY close watch on those levels, especially here in the beginning and especially if you're going to do corals.

Thanks all. Everything is sold.

The hood is SOLD and has been picked up. I think the lights are also SOLD to capty99, but we still need to arrange pick up. Thanks all! ~Sundra

Bump. I have two people interested in the hood, but the complete T5 light set up is still available for $75. Please post here and PM me your phone number.

oops.

When I read that line, I kinda thought the author was saying it tongue-in-cheek. It does seem unlikely that a coral would be able to aim that way. I knew cobras could, but corals didn't evolve around that many things with eyes and mouths, aside from the fact that they would have to learn to re-calibrate their aim according to the difference between water and air.

ooooh I think it looks cool. So how much are they? I just saw links for where to buy, not how much.

That's what makes me angry. Terrible shame about the tank (BTW, I think it was 1500 gallons, not dollars. ) but she not only has her kid bouncing around the vehicle without a seatbelt but doesn't even care to make sure he's okay!

You know, I didn't know about the "hate" that was out there about AA, but I had my own problem with Mike after just the first or second time I went there. I can't remember exactly what it was about, but I remember leaving there furious and swearing never to return. It was a beautiful store, but what a horrible businessperson! I like ARC, Fishy Biz and Aquatek about equally and try to get to all three whenever I have a chance. I haven't been to Rockin Reefs but love the name and want to go see what Mama's got. Until this thread, I didn't know about Austin Aqua Farms but it sounds like I need to check them out too! I used to frequent Partner's when Tim owned it (about 8-10 years ago) and Gallery but haven't been to Partner's much since it changed owners and while I go in Gallery every once in a while, I don't usually find anything to buy unless I'm just there for something like a thermometer or some snails.

PM sent to fru.

I have a complete used T5 setup for a pair of 36" bulbs, including Work Horse 5 solid state ballast, endcaps with standoffs, 36" T5 Actinic 03 bulbs, parabolic reflectors and power cord. I looked up the individual pieces and found that it would cost about $150 if you bought all of them new online not including shipping, so I am asking $75. The bulbs have about 3 months of use. I also have a black wooden hood for a standard 75G (or 90G? I think they are the same length and width, just taller) with a set of fans mounted on it. The light set up above (with 2 - 36" T5's) used to be mounted on this hood, along with another set of 4 - 48" T5's for a total of 6 bulbs across the whole top. I'd like to get $20 for the hood with the fans but if you want both lights and hood, I'll make you a deal. Here are some pics: Hood (Sorry, a little dusty): 36" T5 Bulbs and reflectors: Ballast: Endcaps: Hood closed: Post here or PM me if interested. I will try really hard to make sure I check for PM's here every day.

Thanks Zara! That's a very helpful tip. I'll have to keep a closer watch on my xenia for that.

This may not be the stupidEST thing I've done, but I've done it so often that it gets a cumulative high rank on the stupid list. Doing a water change, I start taking water out either without turning off the main pump or the auto top off pump so I'm halfway through siphoning into a 5 Gal bucket and the top off starts dumping fresh water into the sump, or the sump pump starts sucking air. So I'm struggling to hold the top of the siphon in the tank, and keep the bottom of it in the bucket while stretching to reach under the tank to switch off the pumps. Why do I do this to myself?

I was just looking at the ap store for tank maintenance aps and came across (I guess) the one you have, Mark. Is it called iReef or something like that? Works only with the Digital Aquatics ReefKeeper Elite (RKE) controller, right? I had Aquaria, but it doesn't have a place to list tank inhabitants or even notes. Just water tests and a fish compatibility database. There's a new one called Aquarium Buddy that I just got. I wanted to be able to record the date when I get new fish and corals and this one does that as well as water tests and other notes where you can list events like getting a new piece of equipment or moving the tank or just water changes and supplement additions. I'm surprised there aren't more reef tank maintenance aps for the iPhone. I mean with 85,000+ aps, you'd think there'd be lots.

Yeah chark, salt water is SO much easier to clean up when it spills across the living room.