NonSequitur

How long has the tank been set up? I'm concerned that you're seeing any nitrites at all, since those usually drop to 0 once the tank is fully cycled.

The first thing that comes to mind is the chemistry of the new water. Did you test to make sure the salinity and pH of the old and new water matched (or at least were close)? I've seen (as well as heard anecdotal reports) that the mixing instructions on salt mixes tend to be inconsistent. It is also possible that the salinity and pH of your tank water had shifted due to evaporation, top offs, etc. to not match the specs of newly mixed water, and that could be causing stress. Also, when you mixed the new water, did you let it sit (or, better yet, circulate) after mixing and adding dechlorinator, or did you use it immediately? If you didn't let it "age" it's possible that the dechlorinator didn't have a chance to fully neutralize the chlorine before being added, and I've heard that freshly mixed saltwater tends to be somewhat irritating if used immediately after mixing, but I'm sure opinions on that vary.

I'd love to take some of the red flame if you still have it, but I won't be back into town until tomorrow. If nobody else claims it and you think it can keep until then, that would be great, but if not I understand.

I can't wait to get back into town to post some of the pics I took. My daughter fell in love with your naso tang.. "he loved having his picture taken!" and is now begging me for one. She got some suprisingly good pictures with the camera on her DSi.

I've seen it a few places, but here are two that mention the possibility: Advanced Aquarist and Wet Web Media. And here's a post on nano-reef.com with pictures (I think you might have to join the site to see them): Nano-reef post I don't think it's particularly common, but apparently it can happen.

Oh wow.. gulf coast ecosystems has all sorts of nice products. Once they get the photosynthetic gorgonians back in stock I'll definitely have to pick some up.

That would be Tito's: Tito's Vodka Cited for Water Pollution

The only one I've tried is garlic xtreme from aquatek.. I bought it as a way to try and coax my mandarin onto frozen food.. it didn't work, but the rest of the fish just attack anything I soak in it. It was pricey, so I'll probably try one of the extracts from HEB when I run out, which seems like it'll be a good while.

My rabbitfish absolutely loves caulerpa, even the grape caulerpa that someone told me was the dreaded racemosa. He completely devoured every speck of it in my display (hitchhiked in on some LR), and every bit I tranfer in for him from my 12g that I'm currently using to grow macro for him.

I've noticed trochus snails eating it (or at least disturbing it so it isn't settled on the rocks) in my small tank, and had a fuzzy chiton that seemed to eat quite a bit of it off of a stubborn spot on the rocks in my big tank (had a k2 pointed directly at the spot and it wouldn't clear up). I haven't had the trochus snails for 24 hours yet, though, so I don't know how well they will do long term, and the chiton has a relatively small patrol area (I've only seen him on two of the rocks in the tank and never on the sand). This is just anecdotal, and I'm not suggesting either of these animals will totally control cyano, particularly a bad infestation of it, but it might be worth looking into a chiton to help with particularly stubborn spots.

I'd love to take one if you still have them.

Right now I'm running 2x175w SPS 14k lamps with no actinic supplementation. I thought about adding t5 actinics (no room in my hood for t12), but I decided to do away with the hood and switch to pendants. I like the look pretty well, better than the ushio 10k lamps that I started with, but I didn't run the ushios long enough to compare coral growth. When it's time to replace the lamps I'll probably go with the iwasaki aqua2 lamps, which are advertised at 15k but supposedly have a higher PAR rating than most 14-15ks.

Thanks Garrett! It was good meeting you, and the rock looks great.. haven't put it in the tank yet, but I took it home, added a pump and heater to the bucket to keep it alive, going to arrange it tonight.

Do you still have some, or did I miss out?

Is the sand gone as well? I could use some if you still have any.

I'm in as well.. If possible it would be best to get someone central to accept the delivery, since they don't guarantee overnight shipping to Cedar Park or Georgetown.

I'll be there as well. I have a decent digital camera, but just can't seem to get decent shots of my tank. Looking forward to learning!

PM Sent

Yep, I freaked out the first time I saw this, after reading so many stories of anemones self destructing in a tank I panicked, but he was back to normal an hour or so later.

I took the i-10 route through ft stockton once.. not a bad drive, and as Mark said, the speed limit is 85 much of the way once you get out in the boonies. I don't remember if we took I-25, but when we went we spent a night in Roswell and saw the UFO museum, which was rather underwhelming, but the drive between Roswell and Albuquerque was gorgeous!

Meanwhile, the purple pincushion urchin I got from Christian is making himself at home as well, pretending to be a nori clip:

Hey now! Quit giving him ideas!

It's definitely helpful to be able to reach behind, particularly if you're going open top or if you're using a hood that is open in the back.. I've had to rescue several fish that jumped during acclimation, overshot the water, and ended up on the floor behind the stand. Alternately, if you want more room to work without it looking silly, I've seen some setups where they put a bookshelf or cabinet beside the tank that can hide the space between tank and wall, but can be moved out of the way easily if you need to get into that space.