caferacermike

Sorry guys, I've been working from 6:00am until 7:00pm every night this week, very unexpected.

You probably don't want one. The ones I've heard of seem to always take over the tank. They begin killing every snail, hermit, crab, and other shrimp before moving on to killing fish.

AH yes, octopus are poisonous. Who would have thought? I've got the Imax flick version of the fight. In that flick the shrimp wins. It clicks a few times and the octo decides to leave it alone.

Actually you want your chiller to run on the slower side, it's all about contact time. For a 75g I'd be shopping for a minimum of 1/4hp but would jump on a 1/3rd. The more it runs or the longer it runs to cool the tank, the higher your electric bill will be. Your return pump from your sump will generally suffice for the pump to the chiller. Most folks will run it from the sump to the chiller and then to the tank. The water always runs through the chiller, it comes on when needed. I've found spring and fall to be the times when I'd need a chiller most. It's that time when you don't run the house AC or heater. In the summer I've never needed a chiller due to the house staying cool.

If you have the ability to run a phosphate reactor full of carbon it will remove the tint.

I super glue tubing onto barbs. It lubricates to make it easier to install and then no metal parts in tank water to rust or corrode.

Not an answer but this is how I run my tank. 75g with 2x 250w halide and 2x 96w PC= 700w or about 10wpg. The schedule is different than most I've seen. My PC come on around noon. The halides come on around 4:30pm. The halides go off at 9:00pm. The PC actinics go off at 9:45pm. I don't even run a 12 hour period. I feel that the tank is lt enough during the morning just with the light in the house. Prefer not to "shock" anything by just turning on lights in a dark house.

Caulerpa, like the macro algae or something else? Grape macro grows really fast and tangs enjoy eating it.

Iheartmajano. It's sad that they look so cool.

Another negative point about the "3days" is that it is pointless unless followed by a huge water change, and most folks don't do that. Remember that dying algae becomes a food source for new algae and that in an attempt to survive the population will "spore" off into the water. Unless you remove all that excess nutrient and "algae seed" you are going to see the algae come right back, possibly even worse.

Causing stressful situations can and will cause anemones, mushrooms and some corals to split. It is an effort to rapidly reproduce in an effort to possibly stay alive. Kinda like 1 out of 3 might make it through the "stress".

Spirobranchus giganteus are freakin hot. To bad they tend to die off as their partner porites wither away. Not that the 2 are connected,but it is a shame to watch them slowly disappear.

Not to stray off topic but Starfire is correct to an extent. I had been posting the progress up to the point just before adding the octopus. But due to the negativity being displayed all over that site I quit participating. I was notified that when I posted that my octopus had arrived on this site, the Admin removed the post from the other site. Back on topic. I need to get some new pics up as the corals have been growing like crazy once I began feeding them on DT's and Reef Nutrition oyster eggs.

When I was trying to take shots of my tank I experimented with different colors of printer paper to help diffuse the flash so as not to white out my pics. My halides always ruin my pictures. I didn't read all of the article but another nice cheap trick on the tank photography I used was to make a picture periscope. Basically an acrylic box that I could place down into the water and take pictures through it. One box I had was really long with a divider in the middle instead of on one end. This was then placed over the coral through the water. The box would surround the coral and prevent currents from disrupting the picture.

Just wanted to toss around the idea that if you had a hook up on food for our meetings that I might like to have you help us or cater the ARC events. Not looking for anything super fancy but if you work at a unique pizza parlor or maybe a sandwich shop let me know. Otherwise I might just buy 10 boxes of Hot Pockets and the large box of Bagel Bites.

Did not see an update. My guess/experience is that it is a deteriorating area and may likely be the end of the stars life in the near future. My cukes will do a similar spot before falling apart. Keep us updated.

The only update I have at this point is the stupidity of members comments at http://maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=48739 . There are a few intelligent comments made by those that either read the entire thread or have dropped by for a visit. What a nice group of people that will judge without researching what they are commenting upon. Notice that the ones that claim this as "ridiculous" or "stupid" are those same individuals that will not comment on this forum, or at the very least ask questions to educate themselves before making open statements.

Oddysea is below the bottom of the barrel. It is complete junk. Their 175MH is a lie, it is 150w. The 6"x6" reflectors are even worse yet. They will not spread the light. You can squeeze Workhorse Fulham ballasts into the fixtures to replace the burned out PC set up. Be careful as Oddysea used to be Jebo, do an online search using "Jebo" or "Oddysea" and the word "fire" just for fun.

I've been slow to mention this but the last couple of weekends I've been going to San Antonio to pick up fish tanks. While I was down there I visited most of the shops. As always most were in wretched condition. B&B Aquatics was still a great place to shop, but the real stand out was Aquarium Designs. I was absolutely blown away. If you don't know the shop, they were burglarized last year. They moved a few spaces over and tripled the size of the store after the recovery. I was impressed by the pristine conditions of the tanks used for housing the fish. They have a unique approach to selling the fish. They are sold at eye level. An entire wall is dominated by small isolation tanks housing a few specimens in each. The coral tanks were spread out and the corals being housed were in excellent condition. My only complaint is the same as the last time I shopped there, be careful of the prices. Some are spectacular, like a 4" chunk of Superman Monti for $55, but some are a joke, like a rock with 12 red mushrooms for $150. Also some of the equipment is way overpriced, such as a 4oz can of PVC glue listed for $28. I'll end by saying that the livestock was extremely healthy and very diverse. If you are down that way I'd recommend you drop in.

Oh that water looks so much clearer without all the bubbles. So what are the plans for the tank?

I could drop by Fri night.

Plumbing is easy, give a shout if you need a hand.

What's a "webcam"?

As was said by TroypT. I lucked out one year and got there as they were clearing the shelves of the stuff, price was about $0.50 per jar that day. I bought a few. It's good stuff and you can't beat the price, I think it's $4 regular price.

Woohoo, it finally ate another pep shrimp. Seems to be about 1 a month.