Daisy82

I started feeding sinking pellets a couple of days ago, and my crabs mobbed them as soon as they hit the sand - they looked very hungry. I'm betting they ate the snail and conch alive (what a way to go ) because they weren't getting enough grub. There have been no more snail deaths - in fact, more babies have popped up ....... and the circle of life continues.

Wow - good to know. I always felt like I might be overfeeding, but it sounds like that may not be the case.

I will try that

No more dead snails - I ran some fresh carbon just in case. I can't imagine the snails going hungry - there's plenty of algae on the tank walls. Is that enough for them?

This is a good thread! Maybe it will prevent a few disasters. Had a close call last week - a hose popped off the return pump, and it was spewing water a foot high. Fortunately the pump was in the middle of the sump so it was all contained, but just a few inches and it could have been a soggy situation!

I just found a small piece of metal (hose connector) that had popped off and was rusting in the sump - could this be the cause?

Just the stuff to raise PH....

Ok, I will check that

Not big swings at all - just a couple of clicks too low one time.

Well, I lost a conch two days ago, and just noticed a large turbo snail dead on the sand with 5 crabs (red leg and blue leg and one unidentified) going at him like they're at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I'm worried that there's something wrong with my tank. Or have my crabs developed a taste for escargot? Details: 65 gal set up for two months, used water and some live sand from an established tank. Have 15 gal sump with skimmer and carbon to filter. I use RO water to top off. Tested two days ago after the conch died - nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia were normal. PH was just a little bit low, so I put some PH up in the sump. Salinity is at 1.025. Temp is at 80F. A couple of times my sump has gotten too low, which made the pump spew air into the tank for a few hours. There are quite a few baby snails in the tank, and there is algae growing on some of the glass that they feed on. I have been wondering if I'm not feeding enough (could the snails be starving?) - lately my Yellow Watchman Goby has been alot bolder with trying to get the food, and my serpent star has been emerging for a little while while the lights are on (unusual). I have a tang, the goby, two shrimp and the starfish - I feed a cube of frozen shrimp or some flakes every evening. Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you guys think.

I have an Eheim if you're still looking. What sort of corals do you have?

Well, I've asked two different people and I've gotten two very different answers. So..... what do you guys think? I have t5s (2 18k, 2 actinic) on my 65 gal. Livestock = mushrooms, a leather, a pagoda, and some assorted polyps. Also a few fish and shrimp. How long should the lights be left on? Should the actinics come on first? I would appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks! Nice meeting you.

Interested! PM sent.

Nice meeting you too! Hope you get your sump up and running soon.

A member PM'd me first thing this morning and he's on his way to pick it up - I'll be sure to contact you in order, in case it doesn't get sold.

Koralia 1 power head for sale - 15.00 takes it.

Nice meeting you, Don. Awesome tanks!!

Would like the remaining Koralia - PM sent

Gone.

Pending

Approx. 50 lbs of live sand left over from setting up my tank. Fine, but not sugar sand. This stuff came from a really nice, healthy reef tank. 20.00 Also willing to trade for a power head.

Yup, the water is basically falling out the bottom of the tank. I was talking with someone at a lfs and he told me to fit a PVC pipe to raise the level of the drain. Problem should be solved!

Ok, thank you for the tips!

Arg! That plumbing was a bear to rig up. I don't have any valves. The return pump has 3/4" tubing, and the drain looks like a little over 1". I measured and it's a little over 5 feet of tubing the water has to go through. I have about 10 in of slack - would cutting that off help anything? Thanks for the link. I checked it out, but I'm not sure what to do with the info on head loss - any suggestions on what kind of pump to get, and how powerful it should be? (GPH)