caferacermike

Dave I feel your pain. I almost got out of the hobby after having 2 major issues, back to back and caused from one another. First was a huge a hair algae outbreak I got when getting frags from another reefer. I did not knwo that the tank was a complete mess as another friend picked them up for me. I tried most everything to rid the tank of algae. For several months I ran a large Ozone reactor in my skimmer. After I moved I hooked the ozone reactor up same as always and in the morning every fish and every coral was DEAD. The house smelled horrible and my tank was a mess. After the meltdown I figured who cares right? I'm trying to set up a 400g tank anyways. Work on that. So for about 3 months I left the lights off. I kept working on the new tank tearing up and rebuilding my home to fit it. After that 3 months I decided to buy some anglers I had my eye on. I dropped them in and turned the lights on. After 3 months of not feeding, strong skimming, no lights some snails and lots of hermits, I still had all that hair algae. Well guess what, I find out my foundation on the house was falling apart and I had to stop playing with the new tank. I then understood that for awhile I'd have to refocus on the 75g tank. So I ordered several large cleanup crews and added a few large tangs, kole eye and a yellow mimic tang. Nothing would work at all. However, I JUST WON THE BATTLE. Here is what I did. I emptied my sump all the way out and then used a wet vac to make it squeaky clean. Then I added 20 mangrove pods to the refugium. I then hooked up my Euroreef CS12-5-RC skimmer rated for a 1,200g tank (see my skimmer pics in another thread). I made up plenty of salt water and drained my tank down to about 6" of water (mind you I still had the anglers) and used the wet vac to remove all the sand from the tank. I then placed the sand in a 100g tank I had around and then put my Euroreef RS 180. The sand was only about an inch thick in that tank. I constantly kept in stirred for a couple of days. I had filled the tank back up with fresh salt water after removing the sand. After about 1 week I drained the tank back down to about 6" again and replaced the sand. I also removed the rock work for a few minutes and pulled/scrubbed as much as algae as possible, then put it back. By now I did not want to just dry the rock out in the yard as I had some mushrooms and zoas come back, plus I had hoped to keep as much bacteria and "critters" as possible. For the following week I ran 2 Tunze 6060 powerheads about an inch above the sand bed. Literally for a week you could not see into the tank as it was a complete white out of sand. Then one day I came home and I noticed a strange thing. Sure all the sand was still floating around in total sand storm, but I could see between the particles of sand. I then shut the powerheads off and in about 2 hours the water was so clear it hurt my eyes. I pulled about 25 gallons (is truth) of gunk from my skimmer in 2 weeks. As of today, about 1 month after I started, I have almost zero algae. I spent about $800 before doing all of this. No matter what critter I added or other methods I tried, nothing worked. One thing that does help is kalk paste. Just like putting it on aptasia, smearing it on like frosting seems to cause hair algae to weaken and die off. Just make sure you have a skimmer tweaked to pull the excess nutrients from the dying algae out of the water so it does not feed the rest of the algae. Oh yeah it was not easy. Very frustrating. Wanna borrow that skimmer.

Haven't updated cause there is nothing to report. It found a little hole in the rock and never moves. It seems to have eaten 1 peppermint shrimp. I do toss in a couple of ghost shrimp in every few days, maybe it's eating them. I don't think it's eaten any snails, hermit crabs or the emerald crab I tossed. I tried frozen clams the other night it was still there in the morning. At least I can peek in the hole and keep tabs on it. I was hoping it would get bored sooner or later.

I've got a mounted blue mushroom you are welcome to. I'm sure I could break off 1 or 2 heads of several zoas. Wish I had a tiny green/yellow cucumber for that tank. I even have some nice red macro algae that grows in very small clumps. Ooh want some black sand for that tank? I've got plenty to fill a pico left over from when I filled my biocube.

Yeah I'm sure that number is not correct. Dave is a friend of mine and if I remember it was more like $3 lb unless you bought a few pounds and then he came down a bit. But I don't work for him so just send him a pm asking him for $3 dead rock and see what he says. He also has live rock available but I'm not sure what he would ask for it. Also has plenty of lights, RO units, frags and other stuff.

I don't have anything disturbing my fuge. Actually it sits high above my sump line so it just skims through an overflow and back into the sump. I do get a small amount of build up in my return pump chamber as it sits still.

looks like Cmanning is hinting at feeding, I'm right along with him. Feed all my similar corals with rotifers or cyclops. Melt them down and suck them up with a syringe. I still my tank for about 5 minutes by unplugging my pumps. Once the water has stilled, I then squirt a little food onto all of the corals. Then let the water stay still for about 30 more minutes until I turn everything back on. I've heard that little iodine (some say iodide is better yet, Seachem), otherwise known as Lugols, will help with color and with prevention of infections of their delicate flesh.

State Parks generally have nice facilities for both showers and restrooms. So I see some folks are interested. Has anyone thought about trying to nail down a time period? I don't have kiddos, or any actual responsibilities, so my idea of a time frame is generally not the same as most folks. I was thinking early June, maybe after the schools let out? Personally I'd really like to try sometime around the end of April but the weather might be cooler than most would like. As much as I'd like to go camping, it seems that the vibe so far has been "hotel". The Tarpon Inn is quite nice and does have a good website. You might check it out and let me know what you think. I'd be renting the "fisherman's room" myself. The Tarpon does have a meeting room so a potluck would not be out of the question.

It was this one here that got my attention, the one were give incorrect information as fact. The natural balance of seawater should be no different be it a 3g pico, a 12g nano, or a 400g reef. I'm sorry if you feel different. If it was meant to be different they would make tank size specific salt and they do not. Wherever there is a market for a manufacturer to exploit, they most certainly will. Oh and BTW, I keep not only large reef tanks and freshwater species specific tanks but I have almost always kept a nano running as well. Never did I mean to make you feel unwelcome. I was adding to your "blog" and pointing out an inaccuracy that you stated and also backed up what 2 other members were saying. When you flat out refuse the help of an experienced reefer (GKarshens has had some wonderful setups) and then scoff him away with statements like those above, you open the door to criticism.

Well Gabe I'll tell you how this fellow had 700ppm of calcium in his tank. We all know that you can only saturate a solution so far until things begin to change or drop out. Salt water is no different. Most of us are now realizing that keeping an eye on our magnesium levels can be very important. It wasn't really as well known or talked about a couple of years back. When your CA is sky high like that it is generally 1 of 2 things. The first is that you've caused lesser binding minerals to drop out of the solution. Think of calcium as being the bully and squeezes the magnesium out of solution, kind of like how aptasia start to multiply and kill of all surrounding corals. Of course we all know this is not good for the tank. The other CA problem is that you can change the chemical properties of the calcium itself. It becomes chelated with other ions in the water and becomes totally unusable. This morning I cannot remember the exact name but it changes from something like calcium hydroxide to calcium hydroxate (FYI, don't hold me to those exact names, for reference I made it up). This solution can actually become toxic in the water both due to the fact that other important ions are missing and that this new formula can begin to suffocate creatures in the tank. When I first started dosing B-Ionic I was having good luck with it so I started using more and more. Sure enough I went into several shops with my "sample" water and showed 760ppm. I thought I was the best reef keeper in the world. It wasn't until about 4 months later that I went to a Seachem rep demonstration and he began to explain the way that the minerals and ions bind in solution that the light went off in my head. I bought more sophisticated test kits and sure enough my mag and strontium levels were very low. I contacted some very respectable reef keepers to explain what I found. I was told that I would not be able to "add" mag or anything else to the water as it was already super saturated with "stuff". I was told to begin doing 50% water changes every other day for about 2 weeks until my levels all came back to "normal sea levels". Once I did that I got my CA back to 420, my KH at 12, and the rest of my levels began to normalize as well. From that point on I slowed the pace of my B-Ionic to what I compared to with my weekly testing (just as Hamp pointed out). But Gabe it doesn't matter. As was pointed out we are not experts with the nano's. This guy is an expert so there isn't much we could ever tell him that would matter. So I always say, let it slide and create it's own problems. My only question is why on Earth would anyone want an SPS dominated tiny nano with fast growing corals? It won't be long at all until all the expensive SPS grow into each other and begin killing themselves off. Seems kind of defeatist to me. I'd want them to grow as slowly as possible and keep them trimmed to a discipline of that of a Japanese Bonsai keeper.

Hey welcome to the hobby. I figure I'd go ahead and say hi to ya. So your buying from Animal Wonders. The stories I've heard about the shop would have sent me on a short road trip to Darby's in New Braunsfel or the Aquadome in S. Austin. The couple of dollars you spend on gas will both be made up with cheaper prices and much better quality and selection. B&B Aquatics in SA is their best shop. Aquarium designs in SA isn't to bad compared to where you shop now. Heck you might even try Polly's Pets in New Braunsfel and N. SA. I always try to advise people to not just buy live rock at $7 or so a lb when if you shop wisely you can generally find comparable pieces of rock covered in corals for the same price as the rock itself. Mushrooms are a good example. How many times have we seen a 5blb piece of rock completely covered in mushrooms or zoa for $30? Talk to Prof (Dave) on this forum about rock and sand, he should be able to get you squared away for much less money. So by now you've already heard that you've taken things a bit quickly. However all is not lost. You've happened to have bought about the most resilient salt water creatures available. Thankfully you haven't ran out and bought yourself a couple of mandarin gobies, a Rhinopius, blue ribbon eel, or other such fish. Personally I feel that your fish are going to be survivors. You haven't mentioned anything about how your tank is set up for filtration, lights, or even pictures. You should start yourself a tank thread in the forums.

well ever since I put up a post about wanting to go to Port A last weekend I've been getting PM's and phone calls asking all kinds of questions. I realized that most folks wouldn't be able to drop everything and run down there with me, that's why it's time to start talking about planning a community trip down there. I asked our Admin for permission as to whether it would be a good idea to put together an ARC only even to the coast, he endorsed the idea. There are plenty of other groups that go down there in the summer as well but the difference is that everything is preplanned around 1 persons wants and wishes. My plan was to have everyone on this forum pitch ideas that could be agreed upon or voted upon to make this "our" collection trip. So what would you want from your trip/experience to the coast to include? Some ideas I've had would include the customary bonfires on both nights. I'd like to stay at the Tarpon Inn if we had enough guests, however in today's economic mix camping would be great as well. I believe that we could all cozy up at Mustang Island. I might be able to put together a deep sea fishing trip for around $800-1000 for a handful of people if they wanted. I'm not a diver but I've heard there are some nice places but you need a boat to get there. How about a potluck dinner instead of a catered event, this way we all participate. I was thinking it might be fun to have a white elephant gift exchange. You know you bring some old junk with you, wrap it in newspaper (or extra fancy if you want), we assign it a number and hand out raffle tickets to each item. That should bring in a few laughs. Why you ask? Because our local coastline has a bountiful mix of odd and strange that work in our tanks. Of course the 2 stand outs are peppermint shrimp and rock anemones however we've got all kinds of things from frogfish, rays, damsels, minnows, crabs, nudis, cucumbers, snails, shrimp, anglers, lookdown threadfins, triggers, pipe fish, sea horse, and much more. While most of the critters are not suited for a big budget reef tank, they do make awesome specimens for a 50g "local waters" tank. And who doesn't like getting together to talk of their success, failures, triumphs, victories, losses, and just generally swap lies? I've seen some folks come down to cast fish in the surf, I personally had a great time riding my kayaks in the surf, I spent time lying on the beach flying a kite. The reasons are endless. When? Whenever we decide would be good for the community. The weather can be unpredictable before June. I've gone camping many a May only to have the nights drop off to near freezing temperatures. The holidays would be packed. What about going twice? Once at the end of spring and once in the fall? Doesn't matter so long as we agree. So come on and let me know what you think. Your opinion matters on this trip.

Wednesday. I'm threatening to still go to the coast Monday. I'll send you my number when I get back.

I'll give you $10 for it. I probably shouldn't but hey you only live once or twice right? Have you caught it yet? I'm leaving for the coast in the morning. If you travel south in the morning I'll be here til 10.

Alright CoolBreeze, ill friend is feeling better. He said we are going Monday around 10-11ish. You in?

You were just in the wrong section at Fry's. They sell all sizes of replacement fans. Most are around $8. Some will come with a third wire. Don't worry about it. That's the speed control for a PC. The plugs will still work, just the third wire won't line up. If I remember they sell them directly across from all the motherboards that are right next to the power supplies.

Iheartseventyfivegallontanks.

ALWAYS REMOVE EVERYTHING TO BARE TANK!! I know everyone will argue this because hey once they moved a tank with 3" of sand in it and it did not break. But hey WTF are you gonna do at 8:00pm on a Sunday night when you go to move the tank and sure 'nuff you crack the bottom? You've already spent enough money and stress on everything up to this point, why risk it? You break that tank and you are SOL. I'd much rather disturb the sand bed and rinse all that algae feeding detritus out of the sand and skim out the crud than break a tank any day.

Argh, they are the only ones that refuse to open up in my octonano. I've only seen one open about half way, it's super pink. That's the one I'm hoping you are looking for. Still I'd prefer if you wanted to come by and grab them as I don't think they will spread quickly in my tank. My other zoa and mushrooms are going gangbusters. So if you ever want to come by and get them, let me know.

Cause once when I was a wee lad I was asked to go out my friends 32' sailboat in Lake Michigan. Being that we were both avid fisherman at the time we stocked up on some additional gear. We normally did not fish with live minnows but it was suggested to us. We put a 10g tank, with about 4 dozen minnows, on the dining table below and went up on deck ready to do some fishing. Well his Dad got us just about out of the piers when bad weather struck. The waves rolling in from the lake were about 5' tall and all we could do was ride through them head on. Sure enough the tank slid off and broke all over the place. The smell of those minnows took months to go away. I'm sure you'd be better prepared but hey, you never know. Here is what I'd attempt, some credit would be need to be sent towards the Asian fish keepers I know. They tend to prefer keeping wet/dry filters above the tank and allow the water to drain back into the tank. So maybe have a special acrylic tank made up at Tenecor that was near the same dimensions as a 75g tank but make it about 34" deep (that's about as deep as you can possibly reach with your arm). Then have yourself a corner overflow made up that is the same as a 75g. This way you can keep the water level the same as a 75g tank but have plenty of room for water to move to in case of pitch and yaw. Epoxy all of the rock work in place so it cannot move and keep simple corals that won't be affected much in case of heavy waves. Plus you probably don't want calcium reactors, and dosing eqpt all over the place. I'd then attempt to figure out a way to put a skimmer inside the tank up high enough where it would be out of sight. Have a pump in the overflow box push water up to a small recirculating skimmer and then pass it through a bubble chamber at the other end of the tank so micro bubbles could be removed. Then use internal streams like Tunze or Vortech for flow. Have it built in so that a canopy covers up all the extra space and makes it look like a nice 60-75g tank. Wouldn't it be cool if you didn't need a wavebox because the water in the tank pitched at the same rate as the boat?

Wow really? I heard that the MAAST outing was a total let down this year. Ever Since Steve, BigBird, began dictating not 1, not 2, not even 3, but yes 4, 4 saltwater forums that his summer event went bust. About 2 years ago was the best one they had at Tarpon Inn. I heard they couldn't even fill the rooms at a smaller place, and that everyone hated the hotel. Not to mention the fun they had when the police showed up at 3:00am waking most of the hotel, that is those that weren't already awake due to the fighting in the rooms. This is why I prefer just running down there whenever, without making it a huge 4 forum awkward event. Had a blast renting a house down there 2 months ago and fishing from my 400' private pier. But yeah if it was a local, ARC type event, I'd totally help put it together.

Your choice of MSR MuthaHubba or Walrus Zoid2.0 tent, REI inflating mats, sleeping bags, folding chair, Petromax lanterns, 5g buckets, portable air bubblers, seines, dip nets, Pelican submersible dive lights, and 6 vegetarian MRE's with heat pouches. And seriously FP, do they even have 5 star hotels in PA?

Dang, camping partner got ill last night. rumor is we should be gone tonight or tomorrow morning. Hoping to get dozens of peppermint shrimp.

Actually a rip off. You'd have been better off buying Kalk. you can continue to use Kalk in your top-off water to increase your CA and raise PH. You just mix some clean RO water with the Kalk powder to make a thick paste. Suck this up in a turkey baster or, better yet, a syringe without a needle on the end. Same as the commercial remedies, push some out right over the mouth of the anemone. Next morning, no aptasia. Then watch the tank for about 2 months and continue nuking any small offspring that were to small to see during the first dosing. Generally Joe's Juice and Aptasia X tend to be nothing more than Kalk paste made ready to use or some sort of light acid such as lime juice.

And will sometimes have odd dimensions that help them support the weight. IE: they may not come as a typical 125g set up because they are to long and narrow, but may come as a 220 because they are long, low, and wide.

Tiny fish hook on thread or ultralight fish line. Seriously. File the barb down so that you can easily remove the hook. Carefully bait a silverside and don't let the eel swallow the hook. Another method with eels is to catch them like alligator gar. Thread a length of yarn through the mouth of the silverside and out one of the gills. Leave the yarn long enough to use it like you are fishing. When the eel begins eating the fish it's teeth will temporarily tangle within the fibers. Quickly and gently pull the eel up and out, then remove the yarn from it's teeth.