Austinvines

I have some chaeto that is ready for harvesting (several handfulls) if anyone is interested.

What a lot of great ideas. I just inverted a pyrex and corningware ceramic casserole and it is working ok. I think a trip to HD is in order. My kiddos will not allow the pilfering of their lego blocks just yet Thank you for the offer of help Robert. I will take you up on it if I crap out on the other ideas. Have a great Fourth

So I took advantage of the ER skimmer sale on marine depot and bought the cs-80 for my 75g. The sump that Ace made me has the water level at 13.75" and the ER needs between 7-9" IIRC. I looked around my house for something that would work in a pinch but the footprint with the gate valve mod is probably more than 10"x10" and the pump and bottom of the skimmer need to be on the same plane. Do you know of anyone in town who could fabricate a 4-5" acrylic stand or can you think of something else that would work instead? Is this something that is fairly easily DIY'd? I have no experience with acrylic or plexiglass (except for 7th grade shop ) but so long as I don't need to buy tons of single task tools, I'm willing to learn. Thanks Dylan

I agree with siphoning and do it fairly regularly since I have a terrible cyano outbreak that has come back after days of 10g water changes on my 75g system. I just added a phosban reactor and used the entire package of phosban that is suitable for a 150g tank and will see what this gets me. I have added flow but haven't really noticed a difference. My lights (vho) are 6 weeks old and are on for 12 hours each day. My only conclusion is that it is related to how much food I give the fish and corals. Since I am so new at this, I keep thinking that think my fish are on the brink of death - so what do I do? Make sure they are happy and feed them lots of small meals when they are probably just suffering from indegestion in the first place. If phosban, a new skimmer and lessend feedings doesn't clear it up, I am prepared to call DefCon 2 and release the chemical weapons. cwm21.gif

This topic for the frag swap/meetings sounds great. I have 4-5 different frozen foods in my freezer and it would be nice to have one uber-food on hand that could be supplemented with treats occassionaly. Count me in. I can't make the collection trip to the Gulf though.

I am amazed at how many people have problems with this fish! THanks for the suggestion, Cindy. I am going to try and fatten him back up with something and we really enjoy him in the tank. The way he swims is unique - like a dragon at Chinese New Year and he has lots of character.

The LMB came with the tank and was probably there for 2 years. Since you saw what the tank looked like and how much rock was in it, I think it is safe to assume he had plenty of algae to munch on. Do you think my removing 60#s of rock has caused this, John? Maybe someone with a bigger tank and higher rock load would like him? I am not looking to get rid of him, but if he is going to die unless he moves to a better tank, then that is what should happen. How to catch the sucker though... Dylan

Updates on the tank: I am a terrible diagnostician. The purple tang is healthy; swimming and grazing happily. I think she was actually agro at me by constantly trying to take her picture. The lawnmower blenny is my latest issue since he doesn't eat too much and is getting skinny- getting cleaned often by the skunk cleaner shrimp. So... my tank is still healthy (knock wood) and the animals are still happy. I am keeping my fingers crossed but so far, so good.

Well, I spent an hour watching the tank and was surprised by a few things. The LMB did graze on some nori that I have rubberbanded to some LR in the tank. I am actually starting to prefer this over the clip. The other blenny in the tank, supposedly a Molly Miller that looks nothing like the species of the same name available from Live Aquaria, will literally ride the 1/4 sheet of nori like a magic carpet and chew right at the clip until it breaks apart and floats through the tank. Rubberbanding to the rock limits this greatly and makes the sheet stay around much longer. Almost 6 hours since I put it in and there is still enough to munch on. The other thing about the LMB I noticed was that he goes in for a cleaning from the skunk cleaners often. They work him over well, including the gill area, until he has had enough and he swims off, only to return 15-30 minutes later. I am still a little jumpy about an ick outbreak but trying to see lesions on a LMB is more than a little difficult. For those fish that utilize the cleaners in your tank, is it a regular occurrence? You have a good amount of flow, Robert. I am not very happy with the number of PHs (4) and their placement, in my tank. I am starting to follow the maxijet mod thread on RC and think that 2 MJ1200s modded with the shroud on a wave maker would be a poor man's Tunze until those nano streams come out. The shrouds would increase the flow in each mj1200 from 400g/hr to over 2000g/hr if the creators are to be believed. I think a new skimmer is first on my list of priorities since the HOT skimmer I do have is only rated for a 60g tank and I am running almost 100g with the new sump. Euro-reef CS-80 or ASM G3, both would have the gate valve mod. The ER is $50 cheaper but the G3 is rated for a larger tank. I am going to have this tank for at least 2 years so it's not like I am going to be upgrading in the near future... Boy, talk about thread drift...

Well I have now left the back glass completely available to him. I thought he would eat frozen but don't know and will have to watch him. So Robert, you are feeding heavy which I do a fair amount of but also have to deal with phosphates/nitrates. Do you run phosban 24/7?

My LMB is losing weight. He isn't emaciated but is thinning out from when I first started the tank a month ago. I removed 60# of rock when I set the tank up and have other algae eaters so maybe there isn't enough of the micro he likes? I see some algae on some rocks but others are totally clean. I just dropped some formula 2 flakes and he didn't eat any. He won't eat nori either. I will watch him tonight at dinner to see if he eats some frozen food. He was getting a good cleaning from the cleaner shrimp last night and swims around well but I don't like the look of a thin fish. Any ideas on food that he might like or other feeding techniques? Dylan

From what I read before deciding on a point and shoot (Canon A610), the D70 is a feature rich, high quality dSLR for the enthusiast or beginner. A great website is dpreview.com if you haven't been on it. Reviews, forums for your camera. All kinds of goodness. Thanks for your help this weekend. I have quieted down the stockman but it still "chugs" and ejects big, fat, splashy bubbles into the sump. That beer/glass of vino is definitely still available Dylan

Ok so I am at a crossroads. The first spot seemed to be going away but now I just noticed 3 others. No other fish seems infected. I have a light/lid for the 20l and just picked up a penguin 20g filter at RCA this afternoon. The biowheel is rubberbanded to a chunk of LR in my sump. I have the filter from the 10g powerfilter and around 10 bioballs in the sump as well. I have two options I guess. 1) wait it out. This seems hard to do since the outbreak appears to be advancing, albeit not plague proportions yet. I know removing 20g of water plus the rock to get at the fish, and I would remove them all, would be very stressful. I care for all of my pets and don't want to kill one or more through action or inaction. Obviously, the biowheel is not going to be ready for 10 to 14 days but I don't mind doing constant water changes (what would be needed? Just let the ammonia levels determine the amount?) When is it time to move them into the QT tank? If I see another fish with spots, I would think that is the time. How about just on the tang? If she continues to eat let it go longer than if she stops eating? I have several frozen foods - marine and freshwater mysis, Formula 2 and Mega Marine Algae. I have flake Form 2, Kent's garlic extreme drops and nori sheets. All fish have been eating well but I would say that the tang has been a little more reserved than normal. 2) Start the QT tank tonight or in the a.m. I would pump 20g out of the main 75 display tank into the QT. I have 20g of water jugs I could fill and then remove rock until I could net the fish and drop them into the qt where I have 7 different pvc joints, couplings and elbows waiting. If I waited until tomorrow, I would probably do a freshwater dip and then treat with copper (cupramine?- whatever seachem's copper is) and hyposalinity. Or would just the hypo salinity be better? That is what I know now. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

So my purple tang has one visible spot on its nose. Not flashing, and eats, swims and acts ok. I just put in a filter from a 10g power filter in the sump 5 days ago and while it is browning up, it is still fairly clean looking. I also have a 20l that I just bought but don't have a filter or lights for it. The other fish seem ok. Should I treat with garlic for long enough to get the 20L up and running or should I just move the tang into the 10g now and hope that the filter will be able to grow enough bacteria to not kill the tang with ammonia? Also, any ideas on how to catch a sick fish in a 75g?

While I wasn't looking for Southdown, the only playsand I have ever seen at the Brodie HD was the Quick-crete and I was looking three years ago for my kids' sandbox.

I bought 2 or 3 emeralds from SWF.com a while back. It took a while before I saw any of them, but one has definitely gotten over his shyness and he really is cool to watch. Oh mine isn't shy. I mean, he doesn't run around the sand bed with the lights on but he can be easily seen munching the coralline If he becomes a problem child I will take your advice and see if some one wants him. I will say that the coralline grows back quickly and he hasn't attacked my softies yet so maybe he can continue to stay. Thanks though.

John, Don't you have a plane to catch? That is committment for you - or addiction, one or the other. Will Michael accept a return on LS for non health related reasons? I would think not but who knows. He is very cool to watch and so long as he keeps away from the zoas and softies I will let him go.

I sought a biological alternative to rid my tank of bubble algae that came with the tank. The levels of cyano in my tank are finally starting to decline now that I have my nitrate levels somewhat in check and added two new MJ1200's (thanks for the tip on where to get them Robert). Since I saved money on the MJ's, I went to AA and picked up a smallish emerald crab. She accimlated fine to the tank and immediately started munching on what I thought was green hair algae (my next bloom after the receeding of the cyano). I noticed last night that my coralline covered rocks had white chips taken out of them in places and then saw the crab picking off pieces and shoving them into its mouth. It has not as of yet started going after the bubble algae. I figure it has two weeks and then I will trap her and either send her to the sump or take her back if that is allowed. Is sump living a decent way to exist? Oooh, I just thought that I leave my fuge light on 24/7. That probably won't be very nice... Assuming it is going to continue to munch my lovely pink coralline, what is the best way to trap the crab? Thanks Dylan

I am down for ceriths and nassarius and maybe some dwarf blue hermits. Probably 20 of each.

Ok. I am resolved to cut down on the feeding then. A clip of nori at daybreak and then the regular nightime ritual. Also, I just received a Hanna atc TDS meter that I got off of Ebay for $15 shipped and it says that the "Glacier Water" RO that is available at local grocery stores is at 72ppm while my City of Austin water is at 145. A little better I guess but not good enough. I am going to RCA today and get 25 gallons of straight DI and try and set up my RO/DI filter that came with the tank (it is a coralife I think). Thanks again Dylan

Whoa. Would you really feed a tang only three times a week? I am new to this but I thought more regular smaller feedings were better than larger irregular. Am I doing regular large feedings? Thanks!

Brief history. Tank was running for two years before 3 weeks ago when I bought it from its owner, moved it 250 miles, ditched the sand bed and 60# of rock, added new aragonite and did a 50% mud change on the miracle mud filter - 24" long, 10" wide tank with 3 sections: 1) overflow with bioballs. These are mostly submerged and may keep the splashing from the overflow to a minimum. I have a Precision Marine HOT skimmer in this section. 2) The second section is the mud/macro section. It is the largest section by far. The "miracle" mud is about 2 inches deep and it came with chaeto as the macro. It is illuminated at least 12h/day by a 6500k cf bulb that I saw on Melevs site. I have a piece of LR in this section as well. This section leads to an overflow baffle which leads down, through more chaeto-covered bioballs (covered by small pieces of the chaeto that break off the main bunch), into 3) the return section which stays fairly clear that houses a mag7. Here is a picture of my tank 3 weeks ago I have 7 fish. Most are small sized currently. Pair of oc. clowns, 2 blennys, a purple tang, a flame angel and a 6 line wrasse. The fish were being fed Formula 2 flake, nori and cyclopeeze (rarely). I have no idea what a small pinch means (I cook and a pinch of salt to me is 1.5 teaspoons and know it isn't that much) and I started measuring my feedings. Morning: 1/8 t Dainichi Marine pellet; 1/8 t Dainichi Marine Herbavore pellet; a 2x3 piece of nori. Evening: Alternate between 1/2 cube of frozen mysis (either the larger freshwater variety or the tiny marine variety) and a 1/4t of the Dainichi and a pinch of the F1 (prob 1/16th tsp?) Is this too much? They seem to finish in about five minutes but some will hit the ground. I also have a large brittle star, 5 peppermint shrimp and 2 skunk cleaners with around 35 dwarf blues (from very small to medium), 15 ceriths and 15 nassarius and prob 4-5 turbos. The two dwarf hermits that were in the tank when I got it immediately killed the two new snails when they arrived and someone thought that they could have been starving (or perhaps outgrowing their shells). I feed with all pumps on and the fish like to eat it out of the column. I tried with the pump and PHs off but the fish seemed confused and the bubble coral started spewing zooxanth, so I don't want to do that again. Maybe turn off the main but leave the PHs on? I have a serious cyano outbreak and nitrates are at around 30ppm after 2 days of 10g water changes each day. I have been advised to just keep up with WCs and let the tank break-in but the red slime with bubbles underneath it is not pleasant to look at. I use RO water for my waterchanges and topoff. I just got a TDS meter that I will use on the RO water I get to see if that could be an issue. Thanks for the tips

Thanks for the offer, Robert! I shudder to think how much work getting them captured again would be, but if I am deparate, I will take you up on it for certain.

Move a 75g rr this weekend. Rock out of water for 6 hours. Has ecosystem filter and I change 50% of the miracle mud (not nec a believer but didn't want to deal with a big change right after the move). Advice was to put fish in tank asap. Has about 75 pounds LR. Fish were great and still looking out (eating) but now ammonia is at least .35. Taking sample into LFS later this morning for a full test but what do I do now? Stocked with purp tang, flame angel, 2 blennies, 2 clown and a 6line. Anything to be done besides moving the fish (which would be a problem since I have no qt set up).

Nitrox, eh? That seems like quite the process. I am going to try a little more low-tech by moving the fish into a 96 qt cooler with two battery powered airstones. The large bubble coral colony will go into a smaller cooler with another bubblerand I will try to wedge it in a bit so that it doesn't get rolled around on the trek. The live rock will go into trash bags with damp newspaper in layers and I will do the same with the large GSP colonies as I understand that they are next to impossible to kill anyway. I will try to save as much of the oold tank water as possible but will be ditching the sand. I have 30g of SW ready to go at my house and may add another 10g just to be sure. The Dude has agreed to help me with setting it up so as I am getting back into town I will get him headed toward my house where we will hopefully get the tank in place, with rock and water in a hour or so and be able to add the fish and corals back in at that point. Thanks for the advice