Derry

Birdsnest will RTN faster than any other coral I've owned. Like Steve said, your colony is doing great one day, receding the next and dead the following. I've gotten to the point that whenever I see any recession on my birdsnest, I AGGRESSIVELY trim in an attempt to save the rest of the colony. I just recently had a beautiful pink colony bigger that was between softball and volleyball size when it started receeding from a spot near the center. Despite some serious hack-and-slash, I'm down to a central colony about the size of a tennis ball, and two child colonies that are approaching raquetballs in diameter. I don't know if some temp fluctuations at the time made it susceptible to a bacterial infection, or if it got big enough to inhibit flow in the center. Either way, this all happened in the same tank with acros, montis, milles and even a Ponape birdsnest literally three inches away that were totally unaffected.

Posted by the guys at Advanced Aquarist - video of a clutch of O. vulgaris hatching at the Steinhart Aquarium. VERY cool!

I've got some grape caulerpa you're welcome to. PM me if you're interested.

Derry

I've got two of those already...

If the clown knows how to host in an anemone, I'm interested.

I'll take him! BTW, your PM box is full.

Ugh - I don't even want to THINK about the price tag on something like that!

Check this out - a white tang! It's actually a yellow tang that has no yellow. Really cool-looking fish since white is such an uncommon color .

Running it at as a small stream only prolongs the time period before it stops flowing altogether. I'm going to try adding a stronger pump to see if that makes a difference.

That's where the light meter comes in. If you take a reading off of the old bulbs, then a reading off of the new bulbs, you can calculate the difference to figure out how many layers of netting to use. Of course, I figured all of this out AFTER installing my new bulbs. I put on five layers in an effort to play it safe, then pulled a layer off every five days. Took almost a month, and probably overly conservative, but I didn't have any coral trouble. I'll be more accurate in my layering next go-round.

I bought my lux meter off of eBay for $20. Reducing the photoperiod doesn't work as well b/c it doesn't reduce the intensity of the lighting. You can get a sunburn in only 30 mins at midday in July, right? Same with your coral - sunscreen works better than trying to guess when to get out of the sun before you get lobsterized.

Can you elaborate on the vapor locking for me?

Had several different people recommend the AquaLifter, but I think Hydro might be onto something. Looks like my next tactic is upgrading the pump that feeds the reactor.

Use deer/bird screen. I ran some tests with a lux meter awhile back, and here's what I found regarding the light reducing effects of some common materials:

• solar screen (40%)
• egg crate (15-25%, depending on the angle of incidence)
• deer/bird netting (5%)

By layering bird netting , you can get the light blocking you need to start the acclimation, then remove a layer every 3-5 days to gradually allow more light through to the tank. You can find it for 10-15$ a roll in the outdoor section of HD or Lowe's.

Pump is rated for 30" of height, and it's well below that. The user's manual on the reactor doesn't recommend a specific pump.

Ok, this is really starting to bug the crap out of me. I posted about this awhile back, and I've tried several of the recommendations, but I STILL can't get the drip rate from my calcium reactor to stay consistent. Here's the breakdown:

• Knopp C reactor
• Milwaukee CO2 controller
• AquaLifter pump feeding the reactor
• Pre-filter on the feed pump intake
• Needle valve between the pre-filter and the AquaLifter

What on earth could the problem be? I've got the needle valve on the input side of the reactor, so calcium buildup on the needle valve can't be it. I've got a prefilter before the needle valve, so detritus buildup on the needle valve shouldn't be the problem. I've checked for calcium buildup clogging the outflow line, but that's not it. I'll set the drip rate at 2/sec before going to bed, and the next morning my drip rate is ZERO again.

So much for set-and-forget,

Derry

Have you tried the SPS forum on Reef Central?

Anybody know where to buy scalpels locally? I need to cut some GSPs off of a rock.

PM sent.

Thanks, Hydro, but I picked some up last night. Besides, if I buy some duncans from you, then I'll want a little of this, and a small frag of that, and next thing I know, I'm out half my paycheck.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not familiar with the SeaChem product Derek mentioned. However, I used BRS' two-part dosing kit for years to good effect. It's affordable and easy.

If you mouse over the pics, the image's file name contains the name(s) of the zoas in the pic.

Pics as requested. The purple and teal palys is my best pic of this zoa, but I have lots of them available. The lighter zoas behind the gorilla nipples are a natural color morph that developed as the gorilla nipple colony spread.

I can upload some this evening. I'll focus on the ones that aren't readily identifiable.

I just had a big chunk of Joker-type palys break loose. Probably 15 or more dime-sized polyps with a green mouth, purple disc and green skirts. I've got more Eye of Ra, AOG, Green Bay Packers and an unidentified teal/green paly than I know what to do with. I've also got some dragon's breath, gorilla nipples and orange bam-bams that are readily fraggable. Whatcha in the mood for?