reefman

Everyone else is probably scratching their head like me. What color was it before this? If I had to guess from the pictures, I would guess either brown slime disease, or the "speckels" are cyno or algae forming over parts that have died. Did you dip it before you put it in your tank? A little more information would be helpful too, like how long have you had it, what kind of lights you have it under, what your alk and other parameters are? It really hard to tell just from the picture. Stephen

Controlling their spread on an isolated rock is an open question, however I have found these spring up in completely weird places that aren't near the main rock. However, it might be because I moved my tank to our new house a little over a year ago. When we moved the tank and re-did the scape, I'm sure the rocks got mixed up, so its possible where I have seen it spring up were rocks that were originally touching the paly rock. I don't have any pictures, but they are basically a solid light blue/green (more blue than green) and a solid color. Stephen

I live in Cedar Park. If anyone wants any, they would need to contact me and set up some time to come by. I'm normally at home in the evenings and weekends, sometimes more often. Since I'm going back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off, I will probably be pretty busy the first part of the week. The main problem I have is although I have one or two smaller rock that they have grwon up on, the main colony is on a larger (6" - 8") that I have other stuff on. I plan to eventually pull that out when I get some rock to replace it, and cut the things i want to keep off it. In the meantime, I'm able to put smaller rocks on top of it, and within a couple of weeks the palys grow up on those. Like I said, I do have one or two smaller ones I could get rid of now. Stephen

For you guys wanting the Xenia, I have the same issue with light blue paly's. I am happy to give it away. I thought about selling it, because it is pretty - but I couldn't sell it knowing how invasive it is. It is very invasive. But, if anyone wants frags of it, let me know. If you were over at Gabriel's for his sale, I think he had some of it (Gabriel, please feel free to confirm or deny). Stephen

Let us know if you find anything else on training them besides the article I mentioned. Stephen

There is a lot of controversy about using UV. There are two major problems with them, if you get one that actually works (many are not really powerful enough to do much good), then you are killing beneficial things as well as the possibly bad things. The other issue is if a disease breaks out, and you are using UV, you are only killing the pathogens in the water column. Unfortunately most diseases don't work that way. They have a host (coral or fish). The UV is not killing any of those since they aren't in the water column. My advice would be there are a lot of other things just starting out that you could put your money into. It would be better to take that money and invest in higher quality equipment - skimmer, pumps, lightes, etc. (as Mark said, in the reef hobby you get what you pay for). Stephen

I'm guessing you shocked the coral going from T5 to MH and the MH has a much greater intensity. My suggestion would be to move the digi to the bottom of the tank, and if that is already where it is, then move it to a place the gets little or indirect lighting if/when it recovers. Since you still have polyps, it sounds like it still may. Stephen

I don't know about Anthias eating pods, but I do know they are very hard to keep. I have had 3 over the past 4 years, some longer than others, but none of them have survivied very long term (I did have one for about a year, however). From what I have read, Anthias have a very fast metabolism and is one of those fish that needs to be fed 3-4 times a day. As far as the Mandarins eating Roe, I tried this with the one I lost, and he never touched it. In fact, the size of the Roe seems to me to be too big for them to get in their mouths. go back and dig up the article posted here about raising baby Mandarins. In it he gives a pretty good description on how he trained his Mandarins to eat frozen food. Be aware he started with 3, and one of them didn't survivie the training. the other thing is that you will need to isolate the Mandarin while the training is going on. I am planning on trying this if I get another in the future, but again I think it would need to be done when you first get them. Stephen

KeeperoftheZoo, Scooter Blenny's and Six Line Wrasses compete for the pod population badly. I learned this the hard way with a beautiful male Mandy I had and lost because of it. All of the smaller wrasses will pick pods, but Six Lines are the worse, and you could probably have the other types of wrasses without too big a problem. Stephen

I agree with rainbody. I would like to feed less, but even when I cut back to once a day, every day, there seems to be a marked rise of aggression (or at least the "tension" level) going on in the tank. I have 3 tangs, so maybe that has something to do with it. Stephen

I feed the tank twice a day with my version of the Eric Bornemann fishy mix recipe (it has stuff mixed in for corals as well). In addition to that I try to feed strictly coral food after the lights go off at least once or twice a week. If it wouldn't screw my water parameters up, I would feed more. It is thoguht that smaller meals more often is better than a lot spaced out. Stephen

Unless its for Phosphate or Nitrates, I use Elos. For the other two, I use Deltec for Phosphates and Lamotte for Nitrates. Stephen

I would take out the Hydor immediately. I had issues with the first Hydor 2's. They started leaking in the magnent area. It almost caused a complete tank crash. I did a big water change and ran tons of carbon, and was able to save most things, although I did loose some stuff. Not saying you do all that immediately, but I would take out the Hydor and inspect it very closely, and maybe run it in a bucket for 24 hours to see if you get the cloudiness in there. Stephen

With the link of the product you gave as an example, how does the dimming take place? I have found that is important. As an example, IceCap sells a dimmable T5 ballast, but it only works with a certain controller (I forget the name, its not one I've heard of before). So at least from my experience, its not only a question of having the dimmable ballast, its having also the right controller mated with that ballast. I have a Profilux controller, and its my understanding I could get the dimming affect in two ways. One is with a specific brand of dimmable T5 ballast that would connect directly to the controller. The other way is to purchase one of GHL's "light sticks" that are controlled by the Profilux. These will do a sunrise, sunset, moonlight, and I believe a storm with lightning flashes (I'm still wondering if this last is actually a good thing. Something about intentionally scaring the fish with light flashes just seems counter-intuitive). I don't believe a single light stick does all four, however, but I do believe you can get one that does the sun up/sun down and moonlight. It's my understanding the sunrise and sunset starts off with red. But I would be interested as you about what colors you would do and in what order. Stephen

My 2 cents GHL Profilux. They are upgradeable, and can do everything (including measuring your indoor humidity - not that most of us would want or need this). Stephen

I already have one with my Profilux, I just need to sit down and get out the manual and calibrate it. Mine normally reads in the 400+ range, which I suspect is probably not right. Stephen

According to Chris Brightwell, an ORP monitor can be one of the most important parameters you monitor. After establishing what your normal range for ORP in your tank is, and dip in ORP is the first sign one or more of your other parameters is out of whack. The way he describes it in his book, is its like almost a "leading indicator" to use a stock market analogy. Stephen

I have a 1/3 hp Aqaunatik (sp?) on a 200 gal. I have 2x400W MH and am in the prcess of adding one more. I have used a chiller almost from the beginning - I think I got my first on for my 90 gal back then after the first 6 to 9 months. I consider them almost essential, especially for SPS and a lot of lights (although I see Mark disagrees), although I plan to use the fans as described above (at least in the sump area) to lessen the amount the chiller comes on and for the gas exchange. Stephen

Thanks for the offer. I have the 3 ballasts and everything else I need for the light rack I'm building, but would consider buying an extra as a spare if someone was selling one at a good price. I'll keep the the 25% discount in mind though, if I need to buy something new. Stephen

Don, And if you are getting rid of any 400W stuff, what would it be? I might be interested. Stephen

The priciple of vodka dosing is the same principle being used in the Zeo method (ZeoVit), NeoZeo (Brightwell), and System Refresh. They are all, including vodka, using a carbon source to grow the bacteria the eats the nitrate. Vodka is just another way of providing the carbon source. I have been using the NeoZeo method, and it seems to work. Others in the club are using or have used the ZeoVit and System Reefresh. I believe it works, however there is the other variable involved since I have been using it - that is the fact that I have also been doing water changes. So it could be argued that the water changes are the reason (at least in part, if not totally) for being able to get my Nitrates down. I am about to convert to a new product called NP Bio Pellets, which is basically vodka dosing in a solid pellet form. I am hoping this new product works as well, as I have tired of daily dosings of the Brightwell products. Hopefully others here that have been or are continuing to use it in the different forms will chime in with their views. Stephen

I agree will all of the above. I was getting RO/DI for $.20 a gal. I calculated what water would cost from my own unit, and figured in gas to/from where I was getting it from, and the RO/DI unit would pay for itself in 6 months. At one time, I calculated what saltwater was costing me (this was when I was still buying the RO at $.20 a gal). If I remember correctly it was costing $.50 a gal (with salt mix). Even at that, that is far below what you are paying at $1.25/gal, and its less than that now, because of the RO/DI unit. Stephen

You sure its not just tube worms? Stephen

I like to get the magazines for the ads and pictures, and I do see articles occasionally that have good or new content, but I would recommend paying the $25 to become a premium member to Reef Central (that way you can do searches). It's generally the first place I go to look. Marine Depot has a pretty decent forum as well, and there are others too. Stephen

Danny, PM sent... Stephen