Crab Rangoon

Have you set up the nano yet? I'd love to see it with those AI lights on

I would give priority to someone that knows me and trusts that the credit is legit (that would save me from having to go to RCA)

I can vouch for him trading the rock in on Sunday, I saw it happen

In - and definitely willing to split shipping with someone in South Austin or near River City, if they're getting small stuff. My shipping is $8-9 if going solo.

Sorry, while there may often be a homebrew approach to almost anything/everything - this is no more a miracle/discovery than some dude making a thread about his $5 used-to-be-a-bottle-but-now-it's-a-protein-skimmer answer to everyone's 'overpriced cone skimmers.'

(referring to the RC link, not this thread)

That being said.. do I feel like maybe I wasted any money, or could have been cheaper about my personal nitrate reactor?

No way! I feel like I got the best of both worlds, and achieved a very quality solution for a very affordable price.. I've got a Two Little Fishies PhosBan 550 reactor & one liter of Warner Marine ekoBAK pellets - both of which I feel are quality products from brands I trust. This combo will cost the average person about $120 + S/H, and will allow for anywhere between 12-18 months of handling a heavily stocked 150-200gal aquarium.

Besides the fact that it's a set & forget solution that I don't have to truly monitor or maintenance.. I do it because I don't want to mess with anything in my system on the regular. The more things I can set up and have maintain themselves, be automated, or just help me keep my hands out of the tank - the better! Throwing rice in a baggie, cleaning it out and replacing it at least 1-2x a week would have never been an option I'd consider, but for any who ARE considering it, please allow for more time & many more guinea pigs to pass by before you put it to use.

Finally, for the sake of people on the board here giving this a shot: PLEASE be aware that rice is no different from a piece of produce in the sense that farmers are using chemicals/pesticides on their crops. I would never personally eat rice/produce that wasn't well washed, and I typically opt for organic sources in the first place. I would strongly suggest that if this were to be put to the test, you were to wash your rice very well (if you don't wash the rice you cook & eat already, shame on you!) and hopefully use an organic crop.

is that smallest/front-most piece one of the AAF rainbow pieces?

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade.... but they could be just bleached.

Na, not bleached, we got those in on Sunday from a friend of mine - he has a plump colony of them in his tank, and brings a 1-3 plugs of them by every few weeks. They've been growing under an 8-lamp TekLight for a long time now, so rest assured that while color may vary based upon your lighting, these aren't bleached

I had a major ich outbreak because I introduced too many fish into the system at the same time.

Which were the new fish introduced after the transition into the 185? I didn't realize you'd already been introducing things.

Also, regarding the Bellus pair - when you get closer to wanting to make the move on them, let Jake at RCA know to keep an eye out for you. Bellus pairs have been very off & on lately, so it might take a couple weeks to source some that are already paired, and introduce them simultaneously.

I've seen them selling for $50 and feel that is a much more appropriate price. Even people on the ORA site are saying that $50 has been an average price.

I agree with you Mike - yet for the first week or so that these were available, many resellers were actually selling them for $75-100/ea, and getting it

Is the N03 metered in PPM or PPB? I didn't realize that it was going to be another of their "ultra low" range, so I'm on the fence.

A possible GB would be good, as these will be rather difficult to get a hold of due to ORA limiting stores to a maximum of 2 Mandarins per order.

BTW the fish ship too small to tell a definite difference between males & females. Just food for thought for any hoping to try for a pair.

Count me in - I can hold off on my filter socks for this.

Any GB going on for BRS this month? All I need are filter socks, and no matter how many/few I get it's still $10 for shipping :\ was hoping to go in on it with someone.

I hate to be a naysayer, as it's entirely possible that by some sort of accident the power could go out for a whole day, or more. But I can't honestly imagine it happening for days on end, as stated. I've lived here for 20+ years and not once had my power go out for more than a few hours - THANKFULLY! In a power outage concerning my livestock's well-being, I'd have to just borrow one of our generators from my workplace, though.

Lee! Long time no see, man. I'm glad I caught this post, I'll gladly pick up

3.) Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes by Scott Michael - $15

10.) Angelfishes and Butterflyfishes by Allen - $10

If I don't hear back from you here today, I'll try to call you later this evening or tomorrow.

Sat around noon to Aquadome

Dang, that's across the street from my house. I'd love to know the next time you're running up to town and are fraggable - I definitely caught the thread a day too late. I could meet you at the Dome if you wanted, or if you come up on a Sunday you know I'll be at River City

On the QT tank I was planning to use cupramine and follow the instructions. I was also going to raise the temp to 82 and change 50% of the water everyday with fresh salwater adding cupramine as needed, anything else that I need to know?

Let me start with referencing a post from John Coppolino who might as well be an F'n wizard at successfully keeping fish - if you haven't read up on him, followed his tanks/expeditions/experience, there is a LOT of insightful stuff to read.

This complex of tangs within Acanthurus... the goldrim, achilles, and powder blue to name a few, falls victim regularly to that "dump and hope approach" I mention... these fish come in very stressed, usually in a weakened state with little fat reserves left... combine this with their tiny scaled thin skin, and they very often succumb to ich and other maladies... again it comes back to proper QT... people may buy one of these fish with it being seemingly free or free of ich in a store or through the mail... this is because most every fish system in the industry runs copper, ozone, UV, or something else that treats for this parasite... when we dump this fish into our reef tank in this weakened state if there is any ich present on the fish or in our system it attacks the fish in its weakened state... ich itself is not that bad, but to a fish like this in a bad state it will often put it over the edge...

Ich is very easy to treat for in QT with cupramine or other copper products. I only take my fish out of QT not only when they're disease free, but when they're fully adapted with their fat reserves restored... this benefits fish like this tremendously, as they are much more resistant to ich when they are settled in and fat and happy... putting the fish to marinate in this copper treated water in its weakened state allows it to adapt without the threat of ich. By adding the fish after that to the stressful environment that is our reef tanks results in a much higher success rate... with some fish I even place them in a transition tank hooked up to my large system... this introduces them to the water environment of my reef system without the stress of the "herd" in the display... if they take on something from there they go back into QT...

This is not the "easy way"... many people have the attitude that they'll just keep trying until one lives... which is unfortunate... we all have killed fish, but we have the moral obligation to learn from our mistakes and correct accordingly... I have a collection of rare tangs... some one of a kind... that I will share later this week... and again using the methods above you have the MOST control over the life of the fish... the "tang police" jump on so many people for keeping tangs in small tanks, when there are thousands of tangs that die as a result of this for every one that will outgrow a system...

You can read the entire post, and much more about his QT banter starting about here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13954917#post13954917 & http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13940800&postcount=115

Typically the most sound/efficient way to maintain the QT is to fill it with water from your display, and when doing water-changes, continue using water from your display tank. This will in turn make for very small but frequent changes on your DT - but ensures that the water you're using in the QT is definitely mixed & primed beyond necessity. I also see no reason to use standard salinity in the QT - running a mild hyposalinity is easier as you'll be mixing less saltwater per water-change (say a 2:1 or 3:1 saltwater:RO/DI ratio), and will be just-as-good if not better for QTing & medicating a fish. I would maintain it with Cupramine for sure, but you don't have to stop there.. You could go the extra mile and run Formalin, or Prazi - and once the fish is readily feeding, you could also soak the food in some Metronidazol as a preventive for 3-4 days; but this is more than some people will want to mess with :shrug:

Oh, and make sure you don't put the QT on the floor it'll compound the PITA-factor of removing the water for water-changes due to zero gravity feed for a hose, and I don't recommend using a pump to do it (just personal preference). Hope that helps!

...the next morning it went from no signs of ich to completely devastated by it which was strange to me..

Coming from someone who's had ich on 95% of the fish I've introduced to my current tank, I can say that ich is MOST prominent in the morning. The only time any of my affected specimens "look bad" is bright & early in the morning. By the time I get home from work they've had 4 feedings & have been swimming around for 9-10 hours, and have cleared up to very minor/minimal ich coverage.

i try and get the fish when they are still in the bags when they get the order in.

they seem to do better to me, instead of being acclimated a couple times in the same week.

This is absolutely true, and I don't (currently) really flinch when my fish have ich, as 99% of the fish I get are very finicky - if not difficult - fish. This is true of tangs, too, and while it's suggested to add many of them early on, before allowing any dominance to set in - you're much better off quarantining before adding to a display.

I get 99.9% of all my fish directly from the shipping box, while I know this isn't an option available to everyone, it's certainly the easiest on the fish. My method is to acclimate the fish to the tank from the shipping bag, and introduce it to my refugium - which I use more as a QT than a fuge. I'm obviously not quarantining effectively for viruses/disease this way, but I'm definitely able to let the fish get it's wits about it as it finishes adjusting to my water parameters, and I can focus on feeding it. Only once I've had a QT fish taking well to at least two kinds of food, and typically pretty warmed up to the net/syringe as it's food source, do I introduce it to the aquarium.

Introducing new additions directly to the display is a lot more risky for the health of the new fish, more than the health of your current fish. A new specimen can suffer in the DT since it's not in the pecking order of your current fish come feeding time - and will often be a bit crypic/less active, and won't feel confident about picking up food quite yet.

I'm taking it one step further, and am going to rig a clear box up so that I may introduce the new specimen to the aquarium without letting any aggression play out. After being seen by the current fish for 2-3 days like that, I'll feel even more confident about it's journey into my tank being a safe one without issues. Hope that helps, and that your next Tangs pull through better!

Only flashes I ever looked at were the AlienBees B800, and the White Lightning X1600.

I'm with you there on the lenses - I had the 50mm f/1.8 and was extremely unimpressed with it, primarily with the cheap feel and the horrible balance it had with the heavy camera body. After I sold it, I'd planned to get another Canon 50mm, one better - til I read the reviews on the Sigma in comparison. The 100mm 2.8 is a GREAT aquarium lens but is also seemingly capable of doing some portraits too.

Luckliy.. the 5D Mk2 bodies can be had for under $2000 now in the 2nd hand market I mean, you may not be shopping used ones, but as it's all I could ever hope for, and all I wind up looking at - haha.

Like I said, only two of the lights are turned on here. I'll tinker more tonight and see if there's anyway for me to use all 6 lamps and have a pic turn out, but so far I've tried and none of them are satisfactory.

Hopefully some will be in town next week

I really like the cube alot, lets see a pic of the whole tank!

How are you mounting the lighting? How many watts does it draw? I complained about LED efficiency for growing corals before on a thread but I think they are great for a fish only tank....except the cost! How much did you spend? I've noticed that the fastest coraline growth I've witnessed was with PC lights, how is the growth with the LED?

Are you making waves with the MP40?

Thanks I'm working on the full tank & lighting rig shots right now, I should be able to post em before dinner.

I have a 36x36 panel of plywood that I've mounted the light tracks & Stunner Strips to. We branched a pair of 1x2" planks across 3 studs in the ceiling, at the front and back of the tank - then I installed hooks into the planks and have the plywood hung with Sunlight Supply Pro-Grip suspension kit for easy raising & lowering at each corner.

I'll find out soon enough about the coral colors and growth I couldn't tell you anything about the coraline algae, though - I've only had the lights mounted since last Friday! All said & done, until I have some corals truly DEMANDING this much light.. this is absolute overkill. On a daily basis, I run only 2 of my PAR38's, and that would truly be enough if I were to stay FOWLER I will eventually re-aim and angle my lighting based upon where I'm mounting corals, and I might end up not even using all 6 after all.

The PAR38's run about $100/ea if ordering 5+, and I've got about $100 thrown in all together for the plywood, track lighting, suspension kits, and acrylic panels to house the lighting.

I can indeed make waves with the MP40, but most of the time I have it on a more energy conscious setting. I also moved the unit further towards the corner where my auto-feeder sits, so the waves aren't as prominent as they were when the unit was centered on the back wall. After introducing a handful of coral, I'll probably change the settings again, and relocate it as necessary.

Who's FTS? That group of anemones in the tank is nuts.

Are the 3rd and 4th pics of yours, and only the blue one © is available?

Its a PITA to have to change lenses to get a shot. I'd rather just grab my other body and shoot with two cameras.

I know what you mean - most of the time I take my camera out, I only bring it with one lens because I don't want the distraction of swapping lenses.. Only other lenses I was really thinking to pick up for the Canon were the Sigma 24mm f/1.8, Sigma 50mm f/1.4, and the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro IS. I personally stick to primes, aside from my super wide angle.

Do you use any remote or hotshoe flashes currently, or no?

Luckily, you could purchase a pair of 40D + 50D bodies for less than the price of a 5D Mk2 but I've yet to know someone to go 5D Mk2 and turn back to anything else, ever.. Only way I'd short myself & opt for the 7D rather than 5D Mk2 is if I were spending significantly less.

40D... but I'm looking at the 7D or the 5D mk2, I haven't decided yet.

Hah - we're in the exact same boat, then. I got the 40D last Fall, and was sure I'd be set, no more considering upgrades..

Then I decided I needed HD video with the versatility of interchangeable lenses so before fully splurging on another Canon body to accommodate this, I picked up a PEN E-P1 to play with.

What other lenses are in your kit? My Canon gear is down to just the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 + Sigma 10-20mm f/4 now.