PeeperKeeper

PM sent.

Would you want to trade a blue candy cane for some nuclear green candy cane?

I just got him today, so I know I should just be patient, but does anyone have one that "nests" back behind all the rocks or do they almost always find a spot out front to tend? When I let him loose, he sat on a rock for a few minutes, then hid behind the rocks. I know he's doing something back there because the sand is all stirred up so the water looks cloudy, but I haven't seen him since he ducked behind the rocks. There is the slight possibility that the sand is stirred up because he and my new Flame Hawk are fighting back there, but I doubt it because I have been seeing the hawk off and on.

I've been wanting a sand sifting goby for a while to keep the detritus and cyano from accumulating on the sand in front. I'm just hoping he's not going to decide to just tend the sand behind the rocks so I won't ever see him.

You'll be surprise how hardy the PT is.....ours was about the size of a silver dollar and the rest of our tangs were already 4" to 5"....he held his own.

That's the same thing Prof told me about the PT so that's good. Not that I doubted him, but it's good to hear it from multiple sources. I really don't want to spend a bunch of money on a fish that just ends up in the skimmer.

What do you guys think about the Atlantic Blue Tang compared to the PT? I don't know if I've seen an Atlantic Blue "in real life," but they would serve my purpose of representing the cooler end of the color scale. Are they as striking "IRL" as a PT? Are they as tough/hardy?

I was surprised the Hawk killed my Firefish rather than the Wrasse I put in just 10 minutes or so before he went in, but the Wrasse has been fine. On the bright side, I think adding a couple more fish has stirred things up so that even the Flame Angel and Mandarin have been out more often.

Okay, I got a red fin wrasse and a flame hawk. I've wanted a flame hawk for a long time, even though I know they can get mean. I like the way they perch on top of a rock and the way their little eyes look around. I thought the fish I already had in the tank would be safe, but unfortunately the first night the flame hawk killed my firefish. Dang bully. Luckily he's left the cardinals, Mandarin and flame angel alone. If he had killed my Mandarin, I would have taken every rock out of the tank to get him out and squash him under my foot. Okay, maybe not, but I would have been P****d.

So now I have an overabundance of orange fish. So the next thing I want to get is a Purple Tang. I know the flame hawk will be a problem with new fish, but do you think I will have a problem with a PT or do you think it will be able to take care of itself? Same question on if I were to get a largish sandsifter goby (golden eye or blue spot or something like that).

I've been stung too many times picking up a rock to want them, I don't care how much they eat.

I haven't heard anything from the PM I sent. I asked the same question about the plumbing. I won't need a stand though.

It's just not safe to use such a variable substance in a contained system that is as sensitive as our saltwater tanks can be.

Liz

I think this says it all. Subsea's beautiful tank aside, most of us end up having more problems in the long run if we don't use RO/DI. Even if you go to the trouble of obtaining a water quality report on your source, who's to say the water will be the same each time you use it?

I do trust the public water supply for my own consumption and that of my family. I think it's silly that so many people insist on buying bottled drinking water or doing the heavy filtration for regular drinking water. I will buy it for the convenience of being able to grab a bottle of water and go, but at home or restaurants I just drink tap. That being said, I don't trust it for my tank for the reason Liz stated above. The organisms are far more sensitive with their little delicate bodies than I am to small impurities and the system is contained so what may be a small amount of something going in can concentrate to higher levels as you keep adding it.

Also, the problems people tend to have from water quality are sometimes slow to evolve and hard to determine the cause of. Bad stuff soaks into the rock, then slowly leeches out of it for a long time after you start using RO/DI.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm actually not a big clown fan myself. Well, that's not really true. I like them, but haven't had good luck with them. I wanted to get perculas because of the whole Nemo thing, but whenever I got one, they seemed to get ich easily and didn't make it. This was YEARS ago, probably when Finding Nemo first came out. So I probably could get one now and it would be fine, but I would also have to get an anem, which I don't really think I have room for.

I am a big wrasse fan though, so I'm leaning heavily toward a fairy or flasher wrasse as well as my dream of having a Leopard. I may make a separate post about them over in Reefkeeping.

I didn't know triggers were reef safe. Really?

I'm also interested in a tang. I'll have to call Prof.

PM sent

I've never heard of a mushroom eating a fish. Do you have a link to the post? I've got a lot of fuzzy mushrooms in my tank (as you saw when you came by the office) and never thought they were in any way dangerous for fish, but I don't have clowns.

My 75G reef tank is in the waiting room of my office and patients are complaining that I don't have enough fish. My response is always, "yeah, but look at all the cool corals!" There are actually 5 fish in it (a Flame Angel, a pair of PJ Cardinals, a firefish and a beautiful fat Mandarin) but they all hide a lot except the firefish. I want something pretty that will stay out front, get along with everyone and not mess with my reef. I'm open to suggestions (even if you don't have one, you can post what you think would fit the bill).

What I would really like most would be a Leopard Wrasse, preferably a female bipartitus, but I would need to increase the depth of my sand bed if I get one. I'd love to find one that's been in someone's tank because I understand the hardest thing about Leopards is finding one that can adapt to tank life.

I've got lots of soft corals like bright red mushrooms, pink or green zoas, some really great fuzzy shrooms, pumping pom pom xenia, yellow polyps and GSP I would be willing to trade, or if it's something just right I'll pay cash. I'm just starting some SPS, so I don't have any of that ready to frag yet.

Here's a shot of part of my tank:

Yeah, I was thinking you should drain it all and do a 100% change. If you do a bunch of 20% changes, you still don't get everything out.

I know, what a pain. But better than the pain of dealing with rampant algae, etc. I think RCA stays open pretty late, so maybe you could get by there after work.

The other reason to do it is that some of those chemicals will leech into the rock and then slowly leech back out again, making it really hard to get rid of.

Honestly, I think I would change it. I think tap water usually has a lot of phosphates in it, which can cause major headaches with algae. You'll probably have a diatom bloom (brown scum) either way, but it will be much worse with tap. It might not be a problem for you at all, but then again, it might kick off so many problems that you get a really rocky start with your new tank.

Is that that homebrew store next to Aquatek?

That's an interesting article. So are you really thinking of trying to breed them? Have you raised fish in the past?

I've read in several posts here that Prof is a good source for low priced live rock and dry rock. I haven't looked at his rock myself, but I know he's a good guy.

I might have to have some of those Hawaiian zoas. PMing.

Actually, now that you say that, Dave I think that was the idea. It's been so long ago, I don't remember exactly, but it seems like someone told me a specific amount of time to wait between treatments.

Like I said, it's been years and I haven't seen a FW since.

I don't regularly use a maintenance company but on the few occasions I have, I've been happiest with Ty Stout over at Clear Aquarium. 512 633-5430. He does a good job and always follows up to see if I need anything else.

I had to use the flatworm exit several years ago, and my experience was similar to yours as far as how amazingly quickly it worked. However, I think I did have to repeat the treatment a while later. I didn't have as many delicate corals at the time as you do, so I didn't have any die off, but I do remember my GSP was mad for a long time. It wasn't nearly as bad with the second treatment.

I agree with the others as far as just keep skimming, filtering with carbon and changing water til you come out the other side. Good luck!

Yellow polyp/pink zoa rock sold. Thanks Liz!

You guys are just spoilin' your fish. Make 'em work for it, put on a show, chase that food around a bit!

Fish need exercise too. They don't need to just sit around and get stuff handed to them!

If you still have the Monti's, I may have to take them off your hands (or off your frag rack). Not sure if I want the red or the undata.

sending PM.

edit: Oops, just saw you had already sold the red one. I may still come by to look at the undata.

**** you both. I won't be able to stop by Lone Star Bakery till tomorrow.... (of course I have an in with Linda )

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