Truckin

I would like five. PM sent.

Lookin good! But, what's that first one?

I have a couple of peppermint shrimp that don't seem very interested in eating aptasia. I have had good results with Aptasia-X applied on each aptasia.

Hi Mark, I would suggest being cautious about pest control. Many pesticides are toxic (often affecting the nervous system) and persistent. That's how they kill bugs. Way this, being around dogs, aquariums and humans. Regardless of whether the pesticide has been approved by the EPA (or not), it does not take much education, knowledge of biochemistry, or ethics to become a pesticide applicator. I used to work for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and I could tell many stories about the misuse of chemicals in the environment. Having said all of this, what to do? If possible, try to identify the specific insect or pest that is causing the problem. Do not try to nuke 'em and kill everything. Educate yourself about the pest and possible controls - some are relatively benign. I think the library has relevant books, and the internet should be able to help. As an example, my wife was able to order through the internet a "bait" for wood ants that stopped the queen ant from producing more ants in the colony. (And, yes, wood ants are different than termites.) I think I saw an advertisement for a pest control company in Austin that claimed to use "natural" or "biological" controls, or something like that. I suppose they should be in the Yellow Pages. Anyway, consider it, and good luck. Roy

PM sent on Metallic Green Polyps.

Okay everybody - have a laugh - here's the dumbass question of the year: Has anyone tried using chewing gum to attach a coral mount to a live rock in the aquarium? Here's my story. I have placed some coral mounts (with frags) temporarily on a live rock to see how well the location works. Some of the mounts have been knocked over by a crab or snail. Since I was not ready to glue the mounts down permanently, I was trying to think of something that would hold steady against a crab or snail nudging it, and yet not be too hard to break loose if I needed to move the mount somewhere else. Then the light came on. Why not use chewing gum? Has anyone tried this? Is there a good solution out there? Okay, now, have another laugh.

Hi Dena If I understand what you have left, I would like: 4. Orange skirts with almost a hot pink center. I have 1 frag of 6 for $15 8. Steve's Hybrid Euph - 1 head $10 Let me know, and I can meet you at RCA Roy

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Interested.

Out of curiosity, did you move the tank with everything in it? Could give us a brief description of your process in the move?

McDonalds works for me. Name a time. Roy Buchanan 918-1247

Hi all, I just ordered Devils Armor, Mohawk, Prowlers and Super Sunflower for a total of $96.29 paid. Let me know how to make the pickup. Thanks. Roy Buchanan

I have had good results using Aptasia X.

Oops. Looks like I managed to upload this twice, and I can't figure out how to delete the second one. I hope working with GFCIs goes better than this.

I just installed a couple GFCI outlets a few days ago. (By the way, as I understand it, they protect against grounding problems. They are not circuit breakers which trip when the circuit is overloaded. They are useful when water might be around, such as in the bathroom, or near aquariums, etc.) I got them at Lowes, but I'm sure Home Depot and other hardware places carry them. The package has minimal instructions. First, plug a lamp into the old outlet and turn it on. Then turn off your circuit breakers one at a time to find the one that makes your lamp go out. Mark this circuit breaker so you can find it easily. Leave the circuit breaker off, and unscrew the outlet cover, and outlet screws holding it in the metal box in the wall. Pull the outlet out of the wall so you can get to the screws holding the wires. Assuming it has two cables (each with two wires) and a separate ground wire, disconnect the two wires of one cable. Plug your lamp in and turn the circuit breaker on. If the lamp comes on, you have disconnected the load cable, which goes on to another outlet. If the lamp does not go on, you have disconnected the line cable, which provides electricity from the circuit breaker to the outlet. The replacement GCFI outlet should be marked for line and load, and you just move the appropriate wires from the old outlet to the GFCI. Being alternating current, for a given cable, it doesn't really matter which is right or left. But do not mix the wires from the load cable with the line cable. (It just trips the main circuit breaker probably for the whole house. Be sure you know where this is, and it may be on the outside of the house separate from the breaker box for each local circuit. And don't do this at night unless you want extra fun.) Finally, move the ground wire to the GFCI outlet. If you only have one cable (two wires) and a ground, that one is easy - this is the end of the circuit and the cable is a line. Just move the wires from the old outlet to the appropriate match on the GFCI. If your outlet has three cables (six wires) and the ground, it just means that one of the cables is wired in common with your line cable, and it goes off in another direction providing power to another outlet. My new GFCI outlet, for the line part, had four holes in the back (two for line in, two for line out, where you can place the bare wires and tighten with side screws to hold them). It also had holes in back and also side screws for the load cable. If you make mistakes, be sure you have the circuit breaker off before you go moving wires around. You can test the circuit with the lamp to make sure the electricity is off before you touch any wires. Follow the instructions that come with the GFCI box. If you burn your house down or electrocute yourself, I didn't write this. A licensed electrician might be cheaper (and faster).

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Thanks for the Cheato. That's a good looking aquarium you have.

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From looking at your photo, I'm pretty sure I have the same thing in my tank, and I have had the same question - good or bad? These little buggers are scattered throughout my live rocks and easily retract into a hole. Mine do not have any color, but the center is white. I vote for the Corynactis since the Pseudocorynactis are larger. For the moment, I'm not doing anything - just watching. I have not found any information to determine if they are good or bad. If you find a definitive answer, please post it.

A few thoughts, and I will try to simplify a bit (I used to do a lot of photography): In low light, an automatic camera will select a slow shutter speed to get more light onto the sensor (or film) which captures the image. This leads to shaky pictures if the camera is hand held. Consider using a tripod to hold the camera steady for low light levels (most anything other than bright sunlight or without flash), and a shutter release cable that screws into the camera's shutter button. These can help to steady the camera for sharper pictures. They can both be found for cheap, Craigs List or eBay for instance. Also, to get more light in, an automatic camera may enlarge the lens opening (big lens opening = small f-stop number and vice-versa). Without getting into a lengthy discussion, a small lens opening (large f-stop number) will give your photos more depth of field (where the image is in focus from near to far). When you do macro photography, the depth of field becomes less the closer you focus on something. Some cameras (& all light meters) will show combinations of shutter speed and lens opening that all supposedly work for a given scene. Again, for macro photography, choose a small lens opening (big number f-stop) with its corresponding slow shutter speed. Then use the tripod and shutter release cable to accommodate the slow shutter speed. (Or, depending on your camera, you could choose a slow shutter speed for something stationary and let the camera select the corresponding lens opening.) Finally, check the instructions to see if the camera has a built-in macro mode. I have a slightly-better-than-cheap digital camera that has a macro mode that can be switched on and off. If your camera has a macro mode, then you do not need an additional macro lens (unless you want to spend big bucks and take professional pictures, probably with a different camera). If you go the macro lens route, you might check to see if your camera will accept a macro adapter that screws over the front of your regular lens. This would be a cheaper alternative, if available. I hope this was helpful, and I didn't talk too much. Good luck, and have fun.

Can anyone help identify this critter? I tried a photo, but the critters are small and did not show up against the LR. They look something like an anemone, about 1/4" to 1/2" across, and they each live in a different hole in the LR. The arms (tentacles ?) appear to be in 3 or 4 concentric circles about 1/4" to 1/2". The arms are clear, but they have an almost-white knob on the tip. In the middle of the critter is a small, light-colored, rectangular thing sticking up. On occasion the critter retracts into the LR hole. Any ideas? I had aptasia once before, but this looks different. Also, is this a bad guy? Thanks.

PM sent on 65W 30 inch fixture.

Does anyone know a source for pickling lime (calcium hydroxide) in Austin? (Yes, the kind used to make pickles for eating.) The book, The Coral Reef Aquarium by Ron Shimek, Ph.D., discusses the benefits of Kalkwasser and that it can be made as a saturated solution of pickling lime in water. It also mentions that pickling lime is way cheaper than other sources of calcium hydroxide. By the way, this is a pretty good book for newbies like me.

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