hammondegge

remember sundra, sponsership is free right now. right andrew?

john, i cannot think of a better location right now. i do not have the facilities at my house. i will keep thinking though

i am watching john icon_rr.gif

north of mcneil and south of anderson mill on 183n. just east of 183 on Roxie. it is a small store but they have the right stuff they should be a sponsor andrew. i did not talk to them about it though

i finally made it up there today. desperatly needed some salt. they are very nice people with reasonable prices. well stocked in everyday reef items. also the only store that i know of in austin that is stocking Tropic Marin Pro. they offer a 15% Maast discount bringing the salt cost down to $59. i will return soon.

i agree. it would be best to stop and identify what is wrong before adding any more animals. try some more thorough testing at a different store. Am, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ph, Salinity. also make note of temp, temp swings (right before lights go off at night and right before lights come on in the morning). same thing with Ph, try to see how far your values are swinging from PM to AM before the lights come on in the morning.

john, that is a great idea! would we do this in the AA classroom?

thanks for getting all of this together andrew. this is the first time that i have been a part of an Austin Reef gathering, and as far as i am concerned it would not have happened without you. sorry we did not have a chance to talk. i am looking forward to the next meeting. perhaps at a LFS and by July i may be ready to host one. and of course big props to Clint. Awsome tank!!!! thanks again robert

hey nate, welcome! blob7.gif

i dont know of any local supply for all of that dustin. i would suggest ordering it all thru www.hellolights.com its all in the DIY section. the fans dont reguire much wiring. they are all 12volt with transformers. just cut a hole and screw them in. i have all the tools that you will need to fab your hood. let me know if you need help. robert

you're sooo hooked blob7.gif love10.gif laughing9.gif it's good to have company robert

how do you acclimate corals john?

i just noticed that one of our site sponsors. www.auto-topoff.com sells LED moonlights. very reasonably priced.

thanks for your generousity dustin. the slimer and efflo look great!

laughing11.gif laughing9.gif sad3.gif Michael? Michael is the author of the book. i'm Robert. and EJ it sounds like you are off to a really great start. someone as considerate as yourself is sure to be successful. i have never even thought of returning containers, but that surely wouuld be a better way of recycling them. your crab may make a great pet. might as well see if he is a PITA first, before the long ride back home robert

those are georgeous joe. i want to see what you decided on keeping happy2.gif

oh, and a Lawnmower blenny is a great starter fish/cleaner fish. Bonus is 'lots of personality'. http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11_03/pr...f202b9d6d9f3f66

The lighting fixture looks like it's designed to fit directly on to the top of the tank, but I'm concerned about the salt water getting up into the contacts. Should it go on top of the glass instead? typically this would cause a heat problem, but with a 20w light you can set it on the glass Is there some kind of lighting I can add to be able to observe night-time behavior? Blue LEDs - make your own, or you can buy them set up, called moonlights The filter hangs on the back of the tank. Where is the best place to have the intake/outflow of the filter? what ever looks best The only way I've thought of to evaluate the water flow through the tank is to drop some food flakes in and watch how they move. Overall, the flow throughout the tank looks okay to me, but I'm not a fish. additional flow is best added with powerheads - maxijets would be good for your setup. since you will not have corals then you really only need enough flow to keep algaes down and to keep detritus off the bottom so the filter can pick it up. I'm not doing anything to monitor minerals like calcium or magnesium. Is this important, given my goals (no corals or anything ambitious like that)? just monitor PH and nitrate for your set up Based on my reading, I'm wondering if I should separate the crab and the fish. Evidently, these crabs get *huge*. (The pic I cited earlier says that the crab in that pic is nearly as big as the photographer's fist!) And they have a reputation for not working and playing well with others. So I'm thinking it might be best to give him his own tank. I've also read that these crabs climb seawalls and whatnot, so I'm thinking it would be nice for him if he had some dry ground to wander around if the mood strikes him. So I'm thinking that perhaps I should get a frog-type tank (long, relatively low, relatively small) and give him an area with water with a sandy bottom and an area of land. I'm not sure if he'd like a companion and I'm also not sure where I will find shells big enough for him as he grows. Or am I just being entirely silly about this? If I put him in his own tank, would it be a good idea to add it to the circulation of the main tank? I'm thinking that way he could feed partially on the floaties from the main tank (pre-filtering) and then the water would go from him tank to the filtering system and back to the main tank. If I understand things, this would essentially be a sump? OTOH, I'm looking for an immediate solution to get us through until we move and more long-term solutions could wait until after the move, assuming everyone survives. i got rid of my gulf hermits - LFS - they did not bother any fish but they were too big and kept knocking things over. blue leg hermits work a lot better And I'm thinking how to stock the 29 gallon tank. The damselfish, obviously. I understand that damselfish like to be around other damsels, but not too many other damsels. Or are there some types of damsels who prefer not to see anyone else who looks like them? If so, how can I find out which is true for the neon velvet damsel? In addition to that, I'm thinking I want some kind of (fish) cleaner fish because it just seems like a good idea. I'm considering a neon goby (I just like the neon blue on a dark background, I guess). I want somebody to help keep the inside of the glass clean, which I think would mean snails (and might add to the importance of segregating the hermit). And somebody to see to sand stirring/maintenance (especially if I segregate the hermit). consider what fish you really want before adding any more damsels. damsels can be aggressive and may preclude the addition of more interesting and passive fish. read up a lot on fish compatibility The tank is still cycling, of course, so there's no urgency here, but I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks for taking the time to read all this. here are some links for reading and consultation www.wetwebmedia.com www.reefkeeping.com www.advancedaquarist.com www.melevsreef.com read as much as you can and take your time. post all your questions to this site and you will get good advice. a good starter book is "The New Marine Aquarium" - Michael S. Paletta Welcome to ARC and to the obsession laughing9.gif

Welcome to ARC y'all

thanks clint and mike, i will grab some from both of you. maybe on tuesday, is anytime tuesday good for you?

thanks mike, i definitly will. are you going to be around the house on tuesday. plz pm your address.

ok dustin, i can swing by monday morning. lmk what i need to know. i'll bring you something. john, i am interested in others too. i wouldnt mind a few of these from different strains. if you can hook me up that'd be kewl.

sorry dustin. it is i who does not know so much about the coral id. thats why i asked you if it looked different than the pic. there is know way that i would distrust you. sorry for the misunderstanding. i would love to buy a frag of that if it is ready. lmk and i will come by before the tank moves. it does look like a slimer in the more recent photo. robert

hey dustin, are you sure that's an acro, looks like a digitata. perhaps it is just blurry. do the coralites stand out from the coral? this is the one that TexasTodd has in SA the coralites look different

thanks dustin, i'll check it out.