kmacc05

On some of the live rock we just got for setting up the new tank, I noticed there is a group of at least 3 skeletons that appear to be from fungias. I know some people have had luck with a dead fungia spawning more babies off of the skeleton. Is it possible for these few to start sprouting little ones in the future?

There are at least 3 right there behind the stylophora and I know of one other on the opposite side of the rock.

It would be awesome! I couldn't imagine having that size of project.

on second note, I'm not sure ponape is what I got. It is a birdsnest though. It doesn't look anything like the pics I'm seeing

@Bio, what are the measurements of the 750?

I also got a frag of this a few weeks ago and didn't think it was doing so well. So I kept an eye on it and positioning it in different places. Three days ago, my roommate and I broke everything down and did a full rescape of the rock work and coral. The frag broke off of the plug when it dropped and has since been sitting in the crushed coral until I get more super glue to reglue it to the frag plug. It is about 24'' from the light and around 18'' from the water surface. The light is an AI Vega and gets to a max of 65% white and 75% blue, for about 5 hours. I don't know what the par is. I don't know what my phosphates are at, but all other parms are where they need to be. I'd have to say that in the last three days since it has been on the bottom, it is looking much much better than before. Polyp extension is way better. It never lost complete color, but the greenish teal color faded a bit. But now it is more vibrant and especially at night it fluoresces more. I also noticed better, more pinkish if you will, base tissue color.

All other SPS have been doing great, so it was bothering me not knowing why this one wasn't doing well.

I like what Juice said about it being a low light SPS. I will rethink where it is placed when I get new glue.

I'll try to take some pics when I get home.

A friend is supposed to be letting me borrow his SLR since I lost mine, and I will be taking a bunch of shots of all corals. So I might wait til then to take some good photos of it.

I'm going to be setting up a 75g here soon and was thinking about and yellow eye kole, and a yellow tang, both babies would do alright in that size.

I'd love to have a 10-12ft long by 4-6ft wide setup with lots of rock islands and arches and fill it full of anthias, chromis, and tangs.

That would be pretty awesome!!

I plan on looking into reviews of them.

thanks for all the info guys! Very helpful

I'm going to stick to the, tangs = big tanks

funny how the RC guide has the hippo tang at 240 gallons at 8 feet. That's quite different from aquacon.

Also regarding Bio's statement, is aquacon not a reputable site? I know the 20 gallon tang thing is bad info, but are they known for being untrustworthy?

That seems to be the general consensus on tangs. I remember reading somewhere that they average in the wild around 25 miles a day!!!! 6 ft seems even too small to try and recreate that amount of swimming room.

It sucks that there are sites out there like this misleading people into thinking they are doing good in buying a baby tang. I was at AD the other day and they had several hippo tangs no bigger than 2" but I know better than that.

First off, this is not a post to start any kind of debate or argument. Just looking for info. I've seen how this can turn into a sore subject quickly on other forums.

My roommate and I have been researching like crazy on all different subjects, and the other night he came across something that seems to go against what I have learned regarding tangs as a whole. I have learned that to safely keep tang, there needs to be a minimum of 120 gallons for a lot of swimming room, algae and territory. 75 gallons or more for some of the smaller, less active ones.

I know many people will put a baby tang in a small tank, wait until it grows and then get rid of it. I don't feel comfortable with this, because I want the fish to always be happy. Not happy at the beginning and then stressed out because it's too big and doesn't have enough room. And then the thought of catching it down the road just sucks IMO.

So, this website seems to think that Blue Hippo Tangs require a 20 gallon or larger tank. Most other tangs on the site seem to have the usual bigger tank size requirements. Is this just because you can purchase these at such a small size when they are babies? I couldn't imagine a full grown Blue Hippo Tang being happy in a 20 or so gallon tank.

http://www.aquacon.com/Surgeonfish_saltwaterfish.html

I know there is a lot of debate out there about tangs and with the "tang police" and yadda yadda. But, I would like opinions from those knowledgeable of tangs, not people that have jumped on the band wagon of "you shouldn't have a tang because that's what I've heard" BS.

Thanks in advance for any info.

FWIW I used the ai sol on my previous 55 gallon and I have a vega on my new 34. Before I went with the vega, I used a kessil 150. Was nice but didn't like the fact that you have to hook those to something like an apex. The sol had lightning storms without cloud cover and the Vega has cloud cover. The vega also has green and red spectrum. I don't think it does any good. Just spotlights red and green spots on the rock. But I've heard you can buy replacement pucks to customize the vega. I would've liked to go with radion, but they are wayyyy too proud of them. HTH

I have the AI Vega with about a 2:1 blue to white ratio via the controller. (and that changes throughout the day) I noticed they had the Kessil maxed out on both channels. So I would assume that would be a 1:1 there, correct? I don't want to change my lighting settings to try and match the color it was at the store. More of a question to see if this has happened to anyone else, or if anyone had any other info on maxi minis. If it stays all green, that's fine too. I know some fish change colors when they are startled or sleeping/hiding. My foxface used to camo into the rocks. And now, I've noticed my mandarin and tail spot blenny both also camo at night to blend in and hide. So I figured the carpet anemone was doing the same.

On another note, aren't BTAs classified as quad color anemones? They can range anywhere from green to red, or pink and yellow even. And they will change under different parameters. So, maybe this one is doing the same and it just is a lightly reviewed subject?

stress is what I'm hoping. I sure liked the coloring it had at the store. It was under some kessils. It still looks awesome. Just worried about it since it is my first carpet anemone.

I am the owner of a new Maxi mini carpet anemone. I have been really intrigued by them lately.

My question is....

Can they change colors? In the tank at the store, it was about 4.5'' diameter and had brilliant greens mixed with different shades of orange and yellow. Now that it has been in my tank, it seems to be just green. No other colors besides the mouth and foot area. It's also still kind of closed up like it is getting used to the new home.

But then I started thinking. I walked away when I pointed out which maxi mini I wanted and when she went in to grab it. So now part of my mind is thinking she grabbed the wrong one. But then the other side of my brain is telling me that it is just a color change because of the new tank. Plus, the other minis in the tank were all the standard or more common colored, red mixed with dull green.

I tried looking it up, but wasn't able to find much on the subject. So, anyone here knowledgeable on maxi minis? I really hope she grabbed the right one. I'm pretty sure she did. It's just got me thinking. You all know how that can be.

Anyway, thanks in advance!

how new is the tank? From what I have learned (and experienced) new systems will produce a lot of micro bubbles until they form the slime or coating of nastiness on the inside. On my first setup, the brand new HOB skimmer made micro bubbles like crazy for the first 4-5 weeks. Then one day they magically stopped. Hope this helps

new skimmer* not new systems

wow, I just browsed over their website real quick. The kits are not as much as I expected. Might have to rethink this hobby

I have always wanted to brew my own! But am way too lazy to wait for the final product. My buddies do a pretty good amber ale. When the tank looses that "brand new, I have to play with this now" feeling, brewing might be a future hobby.

I started with dead rock, and added the critters I wanted in my rock. Tube worms, bristle worms, pods, tunicates, sponges. etc. You can find many of the common filter feeders and rock inhabitants for sale as 'seed medium'. I.e. Steve Tyree sells sponge rocks for seeding cryptic zones, etc.. Even though I started with dead rock, I still managed to find a few hitch hikers that survived the dry-out phase of the rock. (Gorilla crabs, elbow crabs) I also still have to deal with pests introduced to my tank via frags. Even though I dip religiously, and have a pretty strict QT process (not a 30 day process mind you) I still ended up with some flatworms in one tank. Nothing a little FWE couldn't fix. T he big problem with dry rock curing is phosphate removal, which is much easier than it sounds. Some over-complicate the process of rock curing, and then turn around and introduce a pest via a rushed frag purchase... However, my pico was run entirely on RealReef Rock, and I never had a single pest in the tank. Buying things like RealReef and Dry Rock are only beneficial to keeping a pest free environment, if you follow a good QT and dipping regimen. The density of real reef rock is pretty thick and heavy. It's somewhat porous, but nothing like Tukani/Pukani dry rock. To me it always felt more like someone cast some rock shapes with ceramic mix and kitty litter... I also had higher nitrates with real reef, than with pukani/tukani. This may be due to the fact that its nowhere near as porous as the others mentioned.

This! In my last 55g (also my first system) I used the real reef rock. Not to mention it took somewhere in the 5-7 weeks time period to cycle the tank, I also could never get my nitrates down to a comfortable level. With the tank I just set up, I went with real Tukani live rock. It is the same price as the expensive man made stuff (which I think is BS) and from what I have learned, with the actual live rock, the cycle period is cut dramatically. This system only took around 6 days to cycle and my tests have been perfect since! As far as filtration, I am using Rowa Phos and Purigen in the media basket after the skimmer in my 34 gallon all in one.

That's my two cents, but I think a lot of people go the real reef rock route early on not knowing the benefits of actual live rock.

edit: I also would have some sort of nitrites in tests pop up often with the real reef rock.

no,not slimy. Just a lot of micro bubbles coming from the return lock line, then getting blown by the powerhead to various spots in the tank. Some float up and get trapped under some of the "plating" corals. Also on some of the LPS polyps.

So, my tank had some temp issues and some of the fish started showing signs of what I assume was ich. I bought some Herbtana to boost their immune systems (I read and found out that Herbtana doesn't seem to cure or kill ich, but it has done well for the fish) and that has resulted in micro bubbles from hell, but also better fish health. All signs of infection are gone.

Well, from the micro bubbles, bigger bubbles keep forming on the bottom side of the monti cap. I keep blasting them out with turkey baster, but they come back faster than I can keep up with. Will these bubbles hurt the monti? They are also accumulating under the chalices and a few polyps on my acans. I only plan on using the medication for a few more days, followed by carbon and some water changes to remove the meds and also the micro bubbles.

thank you!! Yeah, the tank is awesome! I love it

wow, thanks. I'll be saving that for a read later.

The tape Idea also works great for cactus and removing needles from your pets paws.

oh yeah, I have used it for several other applications. Just didn't ever think I would get stuck by something in the tank.

Bristleworms are also called fireworms. Do you have the usual gray and orange ones or a nastier version? Did you see them?

I don't know. I never saw anything on any rock. My hand just started burning like I had fiberglass in it.

The only type of worm I have seen from anything in my tank came from a lobo. My roommate and I were cutting a chunk of old skeleton off of the bottom of the lobo, and these black worms started squirming out of the rock. It was crazy as hell. We later found out that they were feather duster/tube worms of some sort. Put it back in the water and the fans opened up. Out of the water, they looked very creepy.

When I was setting up my new tank, I was moving the live rock around and noticed little yellow fibers sticking out of my hand all over. Almost like fiberglass. I thought to myself, "why the hell would fiberglass be in the rock?"

My right hand was covered in it and it was starting to sting and be very discomforting. So I washed my hands and messed with getting all these fibers out for what seemed like forever. Finally got them out and sort of forgot about posting to see what it could have been. I didn't see any evidence of fiberglass floating in the water or anything, so it just slipped my mind.

I just stumbled onto this youtube video and thought it was very interesting. I assume the rock I was handling had bristle worms in them and they stung me, leaving their bristles in my skin? I did not know this could happen.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting, so I figured I would share.

thank you. Those pics came from my phone believe it or not. I can't wait to get a new DSLR