chatfouz

but arnt some fish going to not be comfortable without some sort of fine substrate? or is that only a few?

a fingers length (middle) about 3 inches? it depends if you are counting the tail curled which is most of the time or uncurled.. one is black with yellow stripes, the other is black with white stripes.

there is black sand. and im sure you could find black rocks.

i go back to school on the fourth. its getting to the point where they need a home. it would end up as a OBO.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/3958...tal-halide.html this is the guide i found on the subject. thanks for pointing out the major flaw. but honestly i do believe there is always another way. trouble is just figureing it out.

the bubls are 50$ a 10$ fixture. right there thats dirt cheap comparably. ballast? i believe already the deal works as is? i guess i dont understand why a new ballast is required. the utility light you can plug in and light comes out. why if you replace the light is the balast needed? mabye i dont get how the ballast works.

i plan to make my own stand for the next tank i am goign to drag down to my dorm room. cinderblocks and wood. what i am not sure is do i need to use 4x4 or 2x4. cinderblocks as legs, then wood across the top for tank to sit on. i know i have to keep it real level. its a 30 gal long. 36". so its not a huge amount of water or length. but i do NOT want 2x4 to snap and crash. am i being over paranoid by thinking i have to use 4x4?

now i know metal halides are the lights you want. they are super expensive but the power they put out is crazy. the fixtures on the petwebsites are crazy expensive. i thought there must be a way around it. i saw at walmart they sell utility work flood lights for 10$. its a metal halide light, 500watts. will this not work?? i mean cut off the legs and handles and you have a bright orange metal halide light! and sure i bet the bulb is the wrong spectrum or what not but that can be replaced. and that surely must cost less than 200$ if so then right there its a metal halide light for a fraction of the cost. sure it doesnt have a fish brand maker but does that matter? i must be missing something could it really be that easy?

i still have two ponies. H comes: tiger tailed seahorse. very cute trained on frozen food. anyone interested in horses?

just to clarify, that was because i was watching lost. i have now watched nearly 3 seasons in 10 days. Has anyone done planted tanks? i have a 30 gal long and i am looking for lights, substrate, co2 bottle, regulator, needle valve, etc. planted tank equipment.

does anyone ever doen planted tanks and no longer? co2 bottle, regulators, needle valves, selonoids, ph meters, or even extra lights? i have a 30 gal long that i could use some light on.

if anyone wants pieces liek rock or filters etc i just need to reak it down.

i hsould rewrite this. now that its not 2 in the morning. 30 gal tank with 30 gal sump. 2 H. comes seahorses Assorted Corals ~70 lbs LR ~20 lbs LS Macro Algee 6 Mangrove Plants Equipment -Light -Filters -Skimmer -Heater -Food i even have all the buckets needed to move everything in one load the whole thing right here askin 350

I realize it is not the time in my life to really be able to keep healthy salt tanks. just too unstable. moving etc. so in the best intrest of my horses i have to give them up. if i dont have ponies i dont have a reason for salt... here is what i have. 2 female H. Comes horses, if you know anything about seahorses, tiger tails are somewhat difficult to come by. assortment of corals, ok honestly i only took the corals because it was kinda pretty. what i know i have is xenia, zoo, a rock that looks like it has pinkish "yellow star polyp" but they reced into this pink mass that grows on the rocks. some wierd purple thing that sticks out green 5 blade thingies. yea im ganna figure out exactly what i have. oh and some kenya tree coral. i have a pep in there, a handfull of snails and hermits. handfull of dragons breath algee, and a bunch of others that i dont know what they are technically called. mabye 60 lbs of lr? i know it fills nearly 2 5 gal buckets. there is an oyster on one of the rocks. the tank is 2 30 gal in an over under, the bottom is a sump with a little clown in it. i have a skimmer that comes with it. and half a dozen mangrove trees. im selling the whole deal. even the buckets to fill the tank with. the only thing i cant sell is the filter. but i have others that i will give instead, some 30 gal HoB. i know its not great for sump but its not that much to diy... drill a hole then get a return pump. the system runs really clean and has been set up for some time. and as far as the lights i somehow left those in the dorm so the soonest i can get those to you is on the week of the fourth. so if you dont mind waiting a little bit. ill deliver those myself as far as georgetown afterward, save you the inconvience.. im not sure how much to ask honestly. but it is tank, substrate, corals, plants, fish, filters, skimmer, heater, buckets to move, lights, and stand, background... the whole thing. me it cost to put together around 700, so i really dont know what is fair and i dont now how to put a price on my ponies... i know yall are fair people and if this sounds intereseting to you pm me or call 512 809 2348. the only warning i have is that they are delicate fish and really are not recomended to have any tankmates or wild fish in the system dispite what LFS will tell you. they are the slowet moving fish in the ocean and even the most "docile" of fish quickly can become as terrorizing as damsels. however they do eat frozen food so a bit of mysis shrimp is all these little girls take. if you have never tried or wanted to try seahorses here they are.

he is doing just fine. eating well. still not used to the set up too much but he hasnt eally been anyplace stable for long so i understand

one is just life in college, sometimes when somehow i have 5 test in a week i hardly get a chance to feed them. much less remember that hey today i forgot to check salinity, or wc, or clean the skimmer. but the bigger is the breaks. for holidays i have to pack and move them. tanks and fish are not designed to be "moved" much less moved and stored in a bucket for a week or whole systems like this holiday break. and every 3 months a move happens. that means the tank is basically always cycling to some degree...

are there other clubs like this for austin? like for planted tanks or fresh water? or it just us salties that congregate virtually?

so im looking at my ponies now and im starting to really concider if i have to give up on my ponies for the time being. in the move i think i just lost a seahorse. now im down to half of what i started with only a few months ago. so i dont think this college dorm llife is stable enough to maintain these seahrses. im thinking i may have to leave the be for the time being. i may look at sellling them. this saltwater and moving the tanks. it just doesnt seem so honestly doable with this dorm living. i may have to try something that will do ok with less "stable" conditions. especially since im starting to apply to work abroad next year and this summer. my family doesnt have a clue how to deal with saltwater. so i;d have to give them up anyway near may. if i reallly care about em i should do in thier best interest and not risk them the dorm conditions. i have 2 comes, some coral, 50lbs of rock, 20lbs of sand, lots of macro, and a handfull of little crabs and snails.

welcome!

ok this may sound odd buti am not sure if i lost a seahorse. she was wiggling around under all the macro algee. i thought abye she got pushed under it. so i moved it and she stoped movin too uch. now she litterlally looks like a dead horse, no movement and just is floatin along the sand? did me moving her shock her into death? or could she be in like a coma? im ganna let her sit here for an hour see if she recovers. good lord at this rate im loosing one every 3 months. i dont know what about this move killed her. everyone else is doing just fine. eating just fine. she was doing fine then the moment i move the algee off her she stopped moving... ill see what happens.

i moved the tank and the sand bed was thrown up. how long should i wait before stuff goes baack in? so far its been 24 hours. i know i have to wait for stuff to settle. im goign to go test the water for the ammonia etc but for the hydrogen sulfide. how long does that take to disolve\settle\disapate?

if you want you could always buy a larger one and break it off into many smaller pieces and place around the tank. the sponge wont like it but it should recover well enough. just dont expose it to air. or buy a few different ones and break off what you want. then return the rest...

i think i would be more than happy to chip in.

ok, so the porus and stuff on it makes sense. which is which? what are porus on what scale? as far as stuff on them, is one more likely to have something on it that others, or just more suprises? and someone said shape? what are they known for? ive only ever bought rubble or bits that come with coral.

i have a plug of xenia that is not doing so terribly well in my tank. i know it is not the most wanted deal, but in a good quality tank supposedly it should do well. i just cant seem to keep it alive. all my other corals are doing just fine...