FarmerTy

Hmmm, borrow with an intent to use it all may go against the definition of "borrowing" itself. I may not have anything left in that bottle for you to have back. If you are done with it, how about I give you a freshly dipped frag instead for it? I'll send you a link of some of my stuff. Thanks for the offer Eckreef! -Ty

My plan is to actually remove all of my coral (since most are still just frags because they were all transported from my nanocube), dip them individually, then put them in my new 125-gallon tank for quarantine. Then, bomb the old flatworm infested 60-gallon tank, skim wet, add carbon, and do large water changes like Eckreef suggested. A week later, bomb it again just in case some of those buggers or their larvae survived. Repeat process and then reintroduce all my corals again after a few weeks. I guess it helps to luckily have a 125gallon tank nearby that I can use for quarantine. I one day would like to start selling frags in the Austin community and I would feel quite irresponsible if I could not guarantee that my frags were pest free in every form of the word. I would go the organic route (6-lines and mandarins) but they would only limit the numbers, not eradicate them. Though I guess there is never a 100% guarantee but... I appreciate everyone's input on the flatworms. I'd give everyone +1 on karma points if I could. -Ty

Well, The flatworms finally caught me after avoiding them for 5 years now. Guess I was stocking my tank a little too quickly with all the lil' frags I was getting from everyone and I must have not dipped a frag properly and now they are introduced to my system. I wanted to see if anybody knew of a local source of Flatworm Exit or if I should go ahead and order one online. Thanks and wish me luck. -Ty

Thanks Mike for the awesome coral. Your tank is still one of the best looking tanks I've seen, always a joy. I forgot what the name of one of the pieces you sold me was! It's in the last picture of your first post, to the right of your green welso. Is it a neon green favite?

I target feed mine but different species take it and different one's will not accept the food. They have not split once for me but I solved that by putting a really sharp blade right down the middle of them. That'll show you who's boss! -Ty

PM'ed

Pm'ed for the koralia. Thanks.

Thanks Lou, the tank is awesome!

I'm running the coralvue e-ballast as well, though mine is not dimmable. I'm thinking of just using the 10k bulb I bought in the frag tank I am setting up since it is geared for growth and not aesthetics anyways. If it starts coloring up a little better down the line a switch may be in order in the display tank. Thanks for the headsup. I have an 8hr metal halide photoperiod and a total 12hr actinic schedule.

I ordered and tried the 10k reeflux for 2 days. Yellow really isn't my color since I'm a fan of the blue so I'm sticking with the 12k. I could imagine though longer term that you would get great growth with that bulb. -Ty

Hmmm, that's interesting Mike. I may have to look into the 20k's as well if they have a better PAR value than the 12k's. I'm just as curious if that is true and how it could be true.

Good ole' fashion super glue gel is what I use. just a dab at the bottom and put them in the small container for a bit and they'll attach eventually. Sometimes the superglue will deteriorate before the zoas attach... at that point, just do it again.

A simple $2 net is what I employ for rinsing off brine and mysid shrimp.

Yeah, the nitrates are pretty high, and I'm sure there is even more in your system though the uptake from the algae makes it seem less. I agree with MuddyBlue, just kick that skimmer into action for a bit and see how that helps out your system. Run it wet for awhile (more liquid skimmate, you just have to empty cup more often). Turn it off when you are feeding but kick it back up about an hour or so afterwards to remove unwanted nutrients. I would put the chaeto back in your system if it has been removed. For a system that size, I would imagine a lot of chaeto needed. I'm talking three to four good-sized handfuls of that stuff. I found it grows best with bulbs around the 7k range (yellowish bulb) as the regular halogen doesn't do much for it. There's always someone trimming that stuff on this forum so I'm sure people would be happy to donate. Put the light on a reverse cycle from your main lights (basically have it on at night, so when your main lights are on, it's off, and vice versa). Go with PBNJ, if you're feeding flake food, stop... and swap to pellets. If you're feeding with brine or mysis, rinse the food off before putting it in the tank. Do not put the water you defrosted the shrimp with into the tank. Those are long-term solutions. For the immediate problem of algae, I would pull out as much as you can by hand and possibly look into getting an urchin for a bit. The blue tux urchin I had mowed that stuff down like a lawnmower. I would sell you the one I have but it's being picked up tomorrow already. With the urchin clearing out the nuisance algae, that'll allow the chaeto to start dominating in your sump instead and since it is more efficient at uptake, will eventually out compete the nuisance algae. Then afterwards, pass along the urchin to the next reefer in need of hair algae removal. Lowering the light cycle for a couple of weeks would help too. I'd bump it down to like 4 hrs of bright white with an hour before and after of just actinics. Just keep an eye on your coral and make sure they are not suffereing too much from the shorter light cycle. PBNJ would be on to something else there with vacuuming the substrate. I don't really do it but I don't have a large population of fish to feed either. I wouldn't do it all the time since I like believe in time, the system will balance out but maybe a good cleaning every 6 months is in order if everything is out of whack. Give those a try and give it a little time, it took me 1 1/2 months to fully get rid of the tons of hair algae in my system after buying live rock from a FOWLR tank. But when the system did change over and the chaeto started taking over in my sump, the hair algae disappeared over one weekend. That is with weeks and weeks of pulling hair algae out every other day (nutrient export), shortening my light cycle, running the skimmer wet, a few very large water changes (50%), buying that urchin from a fellow ARCer, and the addition of 6 zebra turbo snails and a lawnmower blenny. The urchins and snails have moved on to the next reefer in need of algae control and the lawnmower blenny was just too entertaining to get rid of. Hope the information helps you out. Would like very much to see your system after all of this passes. Let me know if you have any specific questions on what I did to remove my hair algae problem. Good luck! -Ty

I don't think you have to start all over. I'm sure there will be a lot of opinions on what you should do to the tank that will help your decision. It would seem that you have a lot of nutrients in the tank and just recently added a form of export (the skimmer) other than water changes. I think that should help immensely. RJohn, what does your water change regiment consist of? How often? How many gallons? I'm not so sure about the crushed coral since I have only run tanks with sand in them. Do you have macro algae in your sump? What type of salt do you use? What is your lighting schedule? Did you buy your live rock dry? When's the last time you changed out your bulbs? Xenias are prolific in nitrate rich waters (semi-dirty water) so that is an indicator of higher than normal nitrate levels, including the growth of green and maroon algae (which i've only seen the maroon algae in fish-only tanks with high nutrient load---high nitrates, insufficient lighting). The coralline will not grow if out competed by hair algae and older bulbs tend to promote the growth of hair algae because of the change in spectrum. I don't speak as an expert but those are my observations. Hope it helps! -Ty

I'm all about my 12k Reeflux bulbs, great color when I combined with actinic supplementation. I'm assuming the 20k gives the look of my 12k without the need for the actinics. It is a pretty badass color and the corals IMO, love it. -Ty

I would like to buy this tank. PM'ed. -Ty

I would like to take the live rock off your hands as long as it is not base rock or tonga. PM'ed. Thanks. -Ty

If things fall through, I'll take this off your hands as soon as you have the time for me to come by and grab it. Thanks. -Ty

I like what you did Lamont. Looks like you'll get some pretty good circulation around the tank without any dead spots.

Out of curiosity, was just wondering what my fellow ARC'ers are using for their metal halide bulbs as well as any supplemental lighting involved. For instance, I'm a fan of the 250-watt 12k Reeflux bulb and supplement it with four 96-watt VHO super actinics for that nice smooth bluer look with a bit of pop from the actinics. What are you sporting and what have you tried? -Ty

Would it be much to ask for a Windows Mobile version for us Touch Pro2 users? I know nothing of programming or the amount of work it takes to program from one OS to another, but I just wanted to throw it out there. That way I can take my obsession with me at all times. Thanks! -Ty

The days of darkness I found was the most effective and also the most cost-effective. Good luck! Cyano is the pits!

I would like one. PM'ed. -Ty