caferacermike

I just drop them in the tank and one of the octopus will usually eat them within a day or so.......... Or was that not what you meant by feeding them?

I thought that Sicce was the pump to have? Wasn't the the one coming on the Bubbleking skimmers when they came out?

No, about an hour ago. I uploaded them 5 minutes after taking them. It's been out for the entire week. I tossed in a frozen clam, thawed, the other night and it took notice but I did not see it eat any of the clam. That doesn't mean that it didn't but that I did not witness it. I plan to stop and get some peppermint shrimp on the way home tomorrow.

Some pics of the new addition blue ring. This one seems to never hide.

Ah but for our second, third, and whatever floored reef keepers that choose not to have a large enough sump to catch their overflow get what they deserve. I know that is some harsh language and all but well........ It's true. Even more so if you live in a second floor apartment. There is this weird little thing that some of us believe in called "responsibility". If you are living in a dwelling that you do not own and choose to have a tank, then it is your utmost responsibility to make absolutely sure that you will not do any damage to that place of residence, especially so if you might possibly cause harm, or injury, to another innocent person or being below you. I wouldn't shed a single tear for a thread from a second floor dweller that told a story about how their 240g tank was plumbed into a 20g sump and when they lost power, they drained 40g of water into the apartment below and that now the management is suing them for damages as well as the people below. If I lived below that person and they allowed their tank to overflow into my apartment, I'd be out for them. I'd have zero compassion for their loss or troubles. I guess I'll sum it up like this and then not say anymore, we need to stop applying bandaids and quick fixes to our problems rather than treat the original source of the problem. Don't cry to us that your stand is to small to put a good sized sump within it, instead buy another stand. Don't rely upon a mechanical "gadget" as a mechanical device can fail. And then what? Are you really going to tell the Judge in your Civil Suit that you should not have to pay for the damages to the apartment and the other Tenants belongings because your "check valve" failed, thereby releasing you from fault?

Does Lowe's cut 1/4"? When HDepot used to do it they only cut 1/8" pane glass. Binswanger on Burnet near 183/Research can also cut it.

I bought pretty corals, not "LE" corals. I may own a coral that has been told to me that it was an LE but I will never tell anyone that it supposedly came from LE stock. To me, unless I bought it directly from the source, it is no longer LE. I cannot guarantee that you directly bought your piece from Tyree or any other place. That is why I just don't care about names. I try to use scientific names when possible.

I'll try and help a touch as I am backflow certified, meaning I have the ability and engineering certification to legally test backflow preventers and check valves. You can use them on your tank but I would not recommend it. With some very simple math you can easily design a sump large enough to hold any back siphoned water within it. The problem quickly arises when folks cheap out and buy a 20g sump for their 240g tank. I generally believe that your sump should at a minimum be 1/4th the size of your tank. The problems with using check valves are numerous. First they rob flow. You must have a high volume pump that can handle a little back pressure. If you plan to use a check valve you are limited to using a "swing check" only. Spring checks will rob your flow and will buzz constantly as they try to fight the pressure of the pump. A swing check may "clack" around as pressures fluctuate. If you buy a swing check, buy the clear one from Marine Depot. Also since they are extremely restrictive buy one that is one pipe size larger than the pipe it will connect to and bush it back down. This way the area through the throat will still be the same internal diameter as the pipe in the system. Another huge problem I've seen dwells upon the fact that if you are relying upon a check valve, then it will fail you at some time. Think about all the tiny little creatures that we benefit from in our tanks. How many baby snails will be traveling within the piping? What happens when you lose power and a snail shell is caught in the clapper of the check valve? It will leak by. Another thing is that we add a lot of calcium to our tanks. Being that I've helped tear down close to 50 tanks over the past couple of years, I'll say that many of them had mineral deposits on the inside of the piping. This means that the sealing area of the check valve could easily become blocked with hard calcium deposits or other minerals. Again preventing a good seal and a leak back condition. I've also encountered check valves that have frozen in place over time. Meaning that after a few years of not being serviced they won't close. So with all of that in mind you might see why I say "just buy the right sized sump". I've never had a sump overflow once properly designed and set up.

Holy sickness. I checked out "E-Masco/Kilz" in web-searches, and Rob, you got your answer directly from the manufacturer. Do we do enough painting projects to get them as a sponsor?

Chances are that your carpet got it. I once hosted a very large carpet anemone and lost about 6 nice fish to it before trading it away.

The huge drawback to the pig tail versions is that they tend to be very finicky. This is advice directly from someone that MUST use them all the time everyday at my chosen construction profession. So yes this is "professional" advice. We find that they tend to pop from turning on simple devices such as a task light or drill. I believe that Chris was saying that was the problem he was having with his "portable" GFCI before wiring up a permanent GFCI. BTW, if anyone wants a high quality GFCI wall outlet I have several BIN commercial grade units that I would be willing to give away 1 per person, just send me a PM.

But what makes yours different from any other? I mean the ocean is frickin hugemongous. How did you receive your frag? How can we be assured that yours is the ONLY one like it in the world? What happens if I order up some wholesale chalice from my supplier and there is a piece EXACTLY like yours? Do I have to give it to you for fear of patent or trademark infringement? Maybe you could give us some background information about how you were diving in some exotic hard to reach place and brought back a piece of this coral, narrowly avoiding Somali Pirates and therefor you can pretty much guarantee us all that nobody else will be collecting it. Oh and buying only LE corals with the main reason being so that you can resell them back unto other hobbyist for more money is a really lame reason to collect corals, just my opinion. I believe in keeping prices low enough that we can all enjoy the hobby together. I really liked how Fishypets practically gave away his frags so that in the event of a tank meltdown other hobbyists would be able to help restock his tank at a later time.

It's a nice piece but honestly the whole name a coral just cause I have it is bogus. Sorry but that's my opinion. I don't even like the idea of "LE" corals but at least if they are sold honestly, they are generally sixth generation frags that were grown out by one person. It's the time and investment that counts. Remember when Joseph LEE would go tot Aquatek and buy a coral and the next week frags of it were being sold everywhere with his name and "LE" on it?

I had uploaded it to "the other site" and it was removed when they did a big upgrade about a year ago. Mr. Jackson says it's still available, as are all the old pics, if I ask him to look for it. I had it stored on another PC that died.

Andrew you got it right. There will soon be 3 dwarf octos in the tank. The teeny one was still alive about 2 nights back when I saw it had a hermit stuck to the side of the rocks. KaceyJ I don't know why it is that I never liked spiders. I was hoping you'd have brought some out to the last meeting. If you were to use the way back machine and go back say 12 years, I was dealing in reptiles. We'd get them in wholesale and kept all the local shops well supplied. Basically did it so we had access to the really good stuff. I'd come back from shows all the time with spiders. Toss in a few crickets or mice and watch them do their thing. I just couldn't ever get into it. Little Reef, they are not but probably should be. I think one of the main difficulties in making them illegal is that it's hard to know if you got one. My supply told me that they are regular hitch hikers on the live rock that come in. When they find a couple they quarantine them away for weirdos like myself. My Vendor has told me that he would prefer not to sell one to anyone else. He chose to sell them to me because of the time and energy I've put into the hobby and he felt certain that I would be willing to take the necessary precautions and that I full knew and understood what I was getting myself into.

If you saw the shed I built, I have one extra panel of the siding I used to build it. It is a cedar product to help resist rot and bugs. It's more like ultra heavy cardboard then chip board. They sell new for just about $20 at Home Depot plus tax. I'll sell the extra for $12 or trade for a bundle of your leftover shingles. They come pre primed and ready to go.

If i recall correctly, Peps are also called "veined shrimp". This is due to the red "veins" lined all over their bodies. There are several similar looking shrimp and the most definitely not a pep has distinct white lines all over the body. The body should be pale to pink and the red lines should be well developed.

Wow what an expensive meal. I don't think I've ever even treated myself to meal this expensive. Both fish died as did my acanthurus Bariene tang. It ate the Bariene first but couldn't keep it down so it then went after the Sohal. All in all this "meal" set me back $150 for the Sohal, $130 for the angler, and $219 for the Bariene. Remember when I wanted to sell my other angler? I mentioned all that then. Since that anemone looks so cool I figured I'd add a pic of it since you can see it in the background of the above picture. A picture of the Efflo I got from Aquadome It was all brown with some dead spots on it when I got it. This is a pic about 2 weeks after putting it in the tank. It's all actinic light as I took it late at night just messing around. It was about 4" across when I got it and it's now about 6".

This tank has become very interesting. About 2 weeks ago Prof and I ordered a ton of corals. At about 1:30am I opened a bag with a large coral in it and nearly peed myself when something in the bag shot off. Corals don't move that fast. After a couple of minutes of searching a teeny octopus was found in the corner of the bag. That one was placed within the tank and it quickly captured and ate my 2 hermits. Something finally ate the emerald crab. I was just alerted that I have another blue ring waiting for me at the airport. Thanks go out to that Vendor for looking out for my best interests. Didn't even know I needed another one, LOL. I'll just have to see how the get along and post more pics. That pic is from about 3 weeks back and I just found it on my camera while looking for something else.

Just noticed that it was 5g in 5 hours, not 1 hour. If you read several of the RO websites such as the FAQ on Buckeye, you'll see that several factors can cause your RO system to put out well below the stated amount. Things like water pressure, water temperature, and most importantly what your water is made up of can affect the output. I think I recall reading that if a filter is rated for 75g a day in perfect conditions that the average home can expect to see between 50-60g of water a day. I noticed a huge drop off of production when I move2d from Austin to Round Rock. When I lived in downtown Austin I was about 2 miles from the treatment plant right along the river. My pressure was near 110psi, the water was ultra clean to begin with, and soft. When I moved to Round Rock our initial TDS tripled, the PSI dropped to 80, and I noticed that the hard water and deposits severely impacted the production.

I found a happy mix between using BOTH peppermint shrimp and Kalk paste to get rid of an almost overnight outbreak of aptasia. I'd say I went from having about 4 to about 200 in about 2 weeks at one point. I first used the Kalk to knock em back. It worked great. However after about 3 weeks I began to see little ones popping up again. Not sure if they were left overs or so small I couldn't see them the first time. So I added 12 peppermint shrimp to my 75g. I did not see them doing much work after about 10 days. Knowing that they tend not to eat the full sized adults, I nuked em all back with the Kalk. By morning I found the peppermint shrimp all over the melting aptasia. Within a couple of days it was all cleared up.

I had an older Vortech, the kind that was in and out of the tank. I hated it. It kept falling apart and while the pump was still spinning it would blow dust everywhere. I hated having to fish it out about once every other day. It only lasted 3 weeks.

Heck yeah Reef Newbie. I was just about to go through all that and you beat me to it. Still to this day I cannot fathom why folks are always surprised by this.

On this page here, http://www.tunze.com/149.html?&L=1&amp...r_tunzeprod_pi1[predid]=-infoxunter016 Tunze recommends placing the wavebox in the longitudinal axis (length wise in normal speak). "Can the Wavebox be integrated in the decoration completely ? For perfect wave formation and circular current, we recommend positioning the water outlet in direction of the longitudinal axis of the aquarium. The decoration, such as corals, should be located at least 50 cm (19 in.) away from the water outlet." Not sure why the page does not open directly but you can find the information by clicking on "stream pumps" and then "waveboxes".

Interesting Gabe. The Tunze site explains all about the resonance concept and how the fact is that a longer tank produces a better wave. I've seen it first hand. The 8'' tank at Kingfish can produce about a 4-5" tall wave and on my 4' tank I can only produce a 1.5" wave. I was quoted that on my 7' tank I should be able to reproduce a 4" wave and if I'm not careful I could cause it to overflow right on out of the tank.