Nano_Steve

Double post.

Trim and decorative doors are always going to be your big ticket items. Something like that would cost around 200 in raw materials and about 10 hours of labor to complete. I charge $18 an hour so you're looking at a grand total of around $380-400 for stand and canopy combo like that. Often times folks find it cheaper to buy stands from manufacturer's like that since they have the mass-production facilities at their disposal so really fancy pieces like that from an individual like myself are going to be more costly due to labor for just 1 guy whereas the companies can have 3 or 4 guys pump something like that out in an hour or two and spend half the cost. Let me know if you're still interested in having me build you something. The one good thing about having me do it is I don't charge for design as long as you agree to hire me for construction, so you get EXACTLY what you want no matter what! -Steve

I have the tools and know-how to build you one. Let me know if you're interested in having me build you a custom one, my rates are reasonable. Thanks, Steve

Did you use live rock from a previously established tank or were you cycling new rock? It sounds like cyanobacteria and it's a natural cycling process if it's newly cycling rock. I'd leave it alone and allow it to do it's own cycling if it were my tank. I always leave it and it goes away naturally after a few days to a couple weeks.

I've got a brand new bottle of Aiptasia-X that I use very sparingly since I only have a 16gallon to worry about. If you would like, I'd loan you the bottle and you can use it to get rid of what you've got. It does a really excellent job! Just in case you go the chemical route. =) -Steve

How much did you pay for that setup? I'm in the process of building a woodworking shop and when I saw those at Aquatek it went on my list of things to make and sell for some extra cash! Really neat! Think you might ever change it into a pico lemme know! -Steve

I'll go in on a group purchase if you find a place for less than $3 a snail. I love these things and they do a pretty good job of cleaning up while looking really neat! -Steve

If you're looking to get rid of some of them I will definitely take a few to start some in my tank! I have very few sponges in my tank and would love to add a bit of diversity. Lemme know, Steve

Aquatek has a few Harlequin shrimp for sale and I'm actually thinking about buying one and having him clean out my tank. Would anyone be interested in going in on a copay with me and then once each of our tanks is cleaned of stars we can just move him to the other tank? Maybe have a community Harlequin we can all just pass around? Just an idea. -Steve

In terms of cleanup crews I usually got with a 1 snail for every 3 gallons of water rule. But some would say that is too many. I prefer not to have to manually clean my tank all the time and while cycling, your rock is going to get quite filthy during the first couple of months. Afterwards you can always sell any snails you do not want to keep or give them to others who are just beginning their new tanks. After cycling, you could probably go to a 1 snail per 5-8 gallon rule, but like Gkarshen said about surface area, it's really more based on how many rocks you want. My numbers are coming from my original idea of 2-3 lbs of liverock per gallon for a reeftank. Gees, and also you have to take into account how many fish and what kind you are going to have, whether you will have fish that will pick at the liverock and help keep it clean like butterflies and wrasses and also any sandsifters like gobies. I'd suggest getting at least 10 astreas for that setup once you've got some nice liverock in there....and maybe some nassarius....and maybe some....see the problem? -Steve

Hey Eric, Glad to see that light is finally getting used! It looks great! Texas holey rock is fine to use in a sw tank but be prepared for it to cycle before putting any livestock. The rock around here is calcareous so you will have some extra calcium and I've heard that it helps buffer the water also but don't quote me on that. I've also heard of folks having problems with it so you might want to be careful and read up more on it. As for the bubbler, it isn't going to hurt anything but I prefer not to have small bubbles floating around all the time in the tank, it takes away from the visual imo. I would recommend at least 1lb. of liverock per gallon if you plan on having fish and corals but if you want to do a reef tank then i would go with 2lbs./gallon or more. Also, in such a small volume of water, make sure to do plenty of research on what kind of fish you can have. I would definitely not recommend anything like tangs or groupers in a tank that size but you could certainly have some chromis or clowns or blennies or any other small fish depending on their tank size requirements. Don't overstock your tank, it will just stress out your fish and eventually they will die, I think most of us have learned that the hard way. I would make a list of fish you would like to keep and maybe post it on here and see what others think would be the best options for your tank! I'd chime in for sure! It's looking great so far! Good luck!!! -Steve

I will be taking them out as often as I find them also. Let me know if I should try to keep them alive in my sump if you'd like them. Thanks for this thread! My gf and I thought they were really neat and I never had any problems in the past but after doing some more research into them this explains alot of problems I had with some montiporas I had in the past. There are series of photos of these things mowing montis down!!! -Steve

is the ricordia all green or is it brown/green? if it's all green ill take it. -Steve

If you are using rocks that have not been used in a previous tank then you will need to wait quite awhile (usually a month, sometimes upwards of two months) to let the rock fully 'cure.' If you do this you will also need to get some 'seeding rock' from someone with an established tank and put at least a moderate piece of liverock from an established tank in order to seed the curing rock. If you want to skip this step and make the wait considerably less (to about a week or two) then wait for someone to sell some liverock from their existing tank. The rock is the most important factor in your new tank imo after water quality. The healthier and more abundant in life the rock is, the more diverse and established your tank will become and it will help to maintain water parameters as bacteria, algae, and microlife begin to thrive. Patience definitely is a must in this hobby, I've learned that over the years the hard way, and the slower you take to setup your tank and the better planned you make it the better! Good luck!!! -Steve

RODI = Reverse Osmosis De-Ionized in otherwords seriously clean water! LFS = Local Fish Store like River City Aquatics, Aquatek, Amazonia, Aquadome, etc. around town. I would say to get the liverock and sand and put them into the tank however you would like it to look (aquascaping) and then fill it up with the new saltwater! -Steve

Firstly, WELCOME!!! There are plenty of folks here with lots of great info and willing to be helpful. The first suggestion I would make to you is that if you plan on having corals in your tank I would recommend completely draining the tank and filling it with saltwater made from RODI water bought either at an LFS or using an RODI unit. Tap water has alot of trace elements and minerals that can be harmful to corals (and fish sometimes) even after dechlorination. Second suggestion is to find someone with some live rock and live sand and get that culturing and allow the short cycles to do their thing and get your water levels all evened out. And definitely good luck! It's always such a great experience to finally dive into saltwater, there is ALOT of info out there to learn and use so get ready for some reading! Haha! -Steve

Well aside from the obvious problems of your sucky picture taking skills, your crappy camera, and all that algae everywhere I would say they look like soft coral polyps of some type. Do you have any xenia in your tank? I've seen xenia polyps that look pretty similar to those. -Steve PS I'm totally joking about the stuff at the beginning

Check River City Aquatics. Last time I was there Jake had some Chaeto as well as Grape and a few other macros. He had a really cool one I had never seen before that looked like green tumbleweed almost like Chaeto but really super thick stems! -Steve

Sounds great! Lemme know when/where I can pop by to take a look and help you out with your tank's plumbing and we'll go from there! -Steve

I have a 3/4" ball valve that's been glued into a system, but I could easily cut it out and reglue it since I don't use it anymore.

Jboy, I'm interested in the ones on the right for sure. If you have a small frag of those for sale I'd like some. Azcummins, definitely let me know. I've got all the tools needed for plumbing jobs and everything else so we can take a look at your setup sometime this week.

Hey all, My tank is finally stable for the past 2 weeks and I'm interested in starting to put some softies into my tank. I'm interested in any and all zoanthids and ricordias at this time. Let me know if you have any frags for sale or trade for some woodworking, plumbing, or electrical work on your tank! Thanks, Steve

I'd recommend changing your White Balance and also using a lower ISO to get crisper images. If you use a lower ISO in manual I think it might take it out of image stabilizer though and you might want to use a tripod in that case. Try using 80 ISO and see if you like the difference and change the White Balance to an outdoor setting since the lights on our tanks are so bright! Great shots! -Steve

Aquatek had a bunch last time I went there on Thursday. They're selling them for $10 each which isn't too bad a price. I'm sold on Aiptasia X though, if you get a chance to try that stuff out it works miracles imo. -Steve

I've tried alot of natural controls like peppermint shrimp and kalkwasser injections and in my experience a product called Aiptasia X works the best, hands down. You can pick it up for about $15 but over the life of a tank it will definitely pay for itself in getting rid of these things...I hate aiptasia... -Steve