FloridaBoy

I'll take it.  Will PM details

Any of these still available?  I'd love one if so.

I'll take the rest!  (New tank)

After much careful measuring, I went with the Tunze. Unfortunately, the Cadlights and Hydor were just a smidge too big to fit. Supposed to arrive Friday!

Thanks everyone.

Looking to add a skimmer to my 24 gallon JBJ Nanocube. I need it to fit inside the built-in refugium. I recently built a custom stand and hood to house my LED lights, so head space should not be a problem. All suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

My experience has been that the Red Macro's tend to take longer to acclimate than Green Macro's. Also, they like less light (at least in my tanks). You might try moving it into a slightly shaded area of the tank for a few weeks and see if it recovers.

Downsizing and going back to a nano-cube. Below equipment is all less than a year old.

40 Gallon Breeder, excellent condition. $50 SOLD!

Fluval Canister filter for 40g tank. $50 SOLD!

BML 24" LED 14000k light with manual Dimmer. $125 SOLD!

OR Everything for $200

Cash or PayPal

Here is a picture of the cleaned setup. (the light normally lives inside the hood, but I took everything apart for cleaning.

Recently upgraded to a 40 gallon tank, and I'm looking for frags to grow out the tank and a BTA or similar to host my two clownfish. Poor things have adopted a rock. Tank is to be predominately softies (Shrooms, zoa's, palys, etc) and some LPS. No SPS - I've kinda got a laid back personality

Thanks - Steve

Hi Clark,

I'm a self described cheapskate, and I also have bought quite a few small frags to grow out my tank with, many from RCA. I have not lost any of them so far.

You did not mention your acclimation process for the frags. Personally, I think the lighting over their small frag tanks is dimmer than my tank, so I acclimate my frags over a period of 1-2 weeks to increasing light levels. Pretty much all new frags go on the bottom of my tank for at least a week, then I start moving them to their final locations once they look recovered and happy. In my opinion, this reduces the shock of having to adapt to a different light intensity on top of the recent stresses of being fragged, shipped to the LFS, acclimating to the LFS, then moving again to my tank.

I'll take the Green Implosions! PM

Most were taken at 20X and 40X power. Was too lazy to get the oil out for the 100X objective. Got a few cool video's that I might post later. I was using the very precise method of focusing, then holding my iPhone up to the eyepiece to take the picture LOL! If I play with it much more, I'll have to make an adapter to fit over the eyepiece as it was very hard to hold the phone exactly right to get the picture. But I had fun

As a long term experiment I'm going to put a slide in the tank for several weeks where I hope to get a bacterial mat and some coraline algae to grow on it. That will look pretty cool under the scope I think. Probably have to dig out some stains to see everything.

I was bored tonight, so I dusted off the microscope, grabbed a pipette, and started playing. As I have not cleaned the glass for a few days, I decided to investigate the teeny tiny itty bitty white spots on the glass.

Spots

Some are Hydroid Jellyfish

Some are Copepods

What's that stuff on my Macro?

Film / dust on Sargassum

Film Close Up - I think I know where my Ca is going! Looks like mineral crystal of some type.

Sucked up some gunk from my filter floss:

It Moves! Diatoms, Rotifers, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta, ...

Just picked up a yellow Ric from RCA last weekend. It's really yellow and makes my little 'shroom garden pop.

IO is what I've had inconsistant readings with. I'm starting to think I just got a bad bag, and or mixing small quantities magnifies any inconsistent distribution of components within the bag. (Yes, notice the use of the word "bag" - small timer here!). Because I had such a small tank, I was only mixing up small portions (2.5 gal) at a time. If you go through all the responses, everyone who has had good results with IO seem to mix a large batch at a time. I may start mixing bigger batches to keep on hand.

Thanks everyone for your input - it's been really helpfull. I think we can consider the poll closed.

Steve

At the risk of inciting riots and fisticuffs, I am asking for opinions on a very delicate subject:

I've had some problems with inconsistency with the salt mix I've been using and have been thinking of switching brands. I'm getting irregular Ca, and Alk reading each time I mix a batch, and my LPS are not really happy with the results. So I'd like to take a poll to try to get a consensus on what brands you guys and gals have had the most success with.

I'm currently using Brand X, and I mix 5 - 10 gallons at a time using RO/DI water. I have Softies and LPS in my tank, which is pretty much a lagoon biotope. The LPS are not happy. Zoas, Palys, and 'Shrooms are doing fine.

Seriously, I really do want your opinions!

Thanks - Steve

I've moved aquariums between Florida and Texas twice. Just bought a couple of coolers, put everyone in the coolers, and ran a heater / airstone each night they were in the coolers. Kept everyone alive 5 days in the back of a U-haul this way once. And bonus! After everyone is moved into their new tank, you can bleach the coolers out and can keep your beer cold in them too.

A couple of updates. Everything really seems to be liking the new lights! And I did some minor rearranging.

Also, the buyer for my old nano-cube never showed, so I decided to put it into the man cave and make it my quarantine tank. Took the top off and hooked it up to the mood LED lights in the garage.

But, being as I have to start cycling the old/new tank from scratch again, I'm thinking about getting some more live rock for the 40g and curing it in the nano as it cycles. Anyone have any luck buying either from Drs. Foster/Smith or Gulf Live Rock?

Once again, Planeden to the rescue! Pics below:

New Tank and Residents

New computer desk took the place of the old tank. Man Cave #2 almost complete (Kids took over Man Cave #1!). Now just need a tv and PS4......

Sold!

Well, it's been another week and I've made good progress. Got my water parameters back on track (thanks Planeden - good article). Picked up my BML 14K fixture yesterday and installed. Can't say enough how awesome that fixture is. Really makes all the colors pop, great shimmer, and silent! Anyway, moved all the live rock, corals, CUC and fish over Friday night. Did some aquascaping Saturday morning. Everything is looking good so far! The Corals seem to really love the BML light. They opened right up within minutes after being transferred over. And Bonus! Found a mushroom I though had disappeared months ago and thought had been eaten. Got lots of room for new additions now! Can't wait to check out the For Sale threads

(Would post a pic, but can't figure out how to add photos to this thread. Gonna add some to my gallery)

Broke down the biocube and gave it a good cleaning. New post in the equipment sale section.

Just upgraded to a 40 gallon, and need the room for a desk. Everything works, all original parts. Comes with stand, hood, filters, and pump. Gave it a good cleaning today - so it's squeeky clean and ready to use. Successfully used as both a fresh and saltwater tank. $50, Cash.

After moving everyone to new tank.

Before the move.

I decided to upgrade from my 24g biocube to a 40g breeder. The 'cube is starting to get crowded! Bought the tank at Petco's after Christmas $1/gal sale - great price. Slowly been setting it up. Specs as follows:

Substrate: Crushed Coral Arrogonite + some sand bed and filter floss from biocube to kickstart biofilter

Live Rock

New Rock (Limestone + drill = free holey rock)

Custom in-tank sump with Eheim compact 240 gph pump.

BML 14K 36 LED light (Arrives tomorrow - Yea!)

100W Eheim Jager Heater

The plan was to move the inhabitants, live rock, and most of the sand bed to the new tank this weekend. Have had the tank running for about 3 weeks now. It ran through the expected minicycle. A couple of hermits, a snail, and a Molly been in the tank a week now and appear to be happy.

So here is the problem. The pH had been low (7.9), so I added some buffer over a few days to correct (8.4 by aquavitro). The water is now cloudy with what I suspect is precipitated calcium, and the pH has fallen again. Picked up a new Red Sea Pro test kit and got the following abysmally low readings: Ca 100 ppm, KH 3.6, Mg 600 ppm. Tested my Nanocube and got similar results. I'm using Instant Ocean Reef crystals and RO/DI water.

Any suggestions on how to correct the water? I'm also thinking of switching to a different brand of salt - you guys have any favorites?

New tank - beer bottle used for scale

DIY Rock

Custom sump

Yes, running carbon. Water parameters are good. Temp and salenity good. Everything else doing fine: zoas, palys, shrooms, acan.

No, no brown mucus. I've been watching it closely. Its just completely contracted into the skeleton. I've been able to coax it out slightly by spot feeding it a couple of times, but now that doesnt work.