Robb in Austin

Great update! I'm curious about your, er, uhmmmm, ahhhh, 'acquisitions'; those pics are obviously under heavy blue spectrum lighting. Or at least via your phone which skews heavily towards blue. Are those colors representative of full spectrum lighting that most of us run? In other words; do they really look that insane IRL? Also; did you see Mark?

I'll give you $65 for it. Edit: Seriously? 2006?! How many are on it now?!

Filters stuffed with filter floss, filter socks on your drain line if your tank is drilled, vacuuming.

Yep. Some type of green paly. Can be good or bad depending on your view of green palys. I'd recommend moving them away from any other rock lest they take over all your rock.

Another ARC old timer is a year older. Not that he'll see this but... Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday buddy!

Who has kept anthias, what species, and what's your insight? I'm looking into adding some to my tank but keep reading somewhat conflicting reports on what species is best. I'm leaning towards dispar or lyretail as good options but would like local first hand reports. Edit to add current inhabitants: sailfin tang, naso tang, splendid dottyback, pair of Clarkii clowns, six line, starry blenny, one spot foxface, and a blue eyed cardinal.

Sponges. Good to have.

PM sent

Since this topic comes up from time to time, I figured I'd start a thread about it. Basic collecting can be done on the beaches and jetty. On the beaches, just grab clumps of sea weed that is floating in the ocean and see what is hiding in there. On the jetty, go out at night, all the way to the end (it's about a 1/4 mile hike). You'll need head lamps, sturdy shoes (no flip flops) as the rock can be wet and it's uneven, a small to medium fish net (like we use in our tanks), a bucket with an air stone. You should get a SW fishing licence but you can take your chances without. Shine your light down in between the rocks and scoop up what you can. A head lamp with a red light option is a good idea. Here's a link to a bunch of threads on Port A: http://tinyurl.com/m5t6oxk

Holy cow! Nice monti.

Standard.

Dry rock becomes live rock in the end. The benefit to DR is it's pest free (aiptasia, bad crabs, etc), usually cheaper, you can play with your aqua scraping outside the tank, usually environmentally friendly. Downside is it will take a bit longer to cycle the tank, and you have to wait for it to get covered in coralline algae. Like I said before, unless you can get all the LR you need locally (saves on shipping) I think you'd be better off with DR.

I'm curious why you didn't go local for the BML light.

I think it's too new to know for sure. I have a piece in my nano and it looks great. But; it costs more than 'real' live rock. If you are starting a new tank and are dead set on using live rock right from the start, buy it locally (lfs or someone taking a tank down). You can usually get it cheaper than buying on line/shipping. In fact, someone recently posted about selling live rock.

Everyone has ordered from live aquaria. No problems. I think most people would tell you that if you are ordering rock on line, it should be dead. Saves on cost ( lighter, cheaper base price), no nasty hitch hikers, and you'll get a cycle using live rock due to die off anyways (although it will be shorter).

Text incoming

Dunno. I never asked it to. You should buy it and find out.

Yes. It creates waves without requiring the forces of a nearby moon or wind energy!

Back on the market. $150 obo

Drop something into a net, scoop him out when he goes in after it. Or, if you're lucky enough to have a shrimp that likes cleaning your hand, put food in your hand and grab him.