Lighting?

I have a 15 gallon, 24x12x12, anyone have any suggestions on an led under $150 that could handle most corals... Maybe an evergrow 165 watt with wifi control?

Raising Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

Hi everyone,

Today I picked up a Cleaner Shrimp from LFS and I noticed it is laying eggs. I searched a bit and everyone says it is almost impossible to raise the babies, but since I like challenges I would like to give it a try. I can set up a 5 gal tank with a bubble filter and scoop out the babies from the main tank once they come out. The thing is, where can I find the live food they require? Do I have to hatch them, or can I buy from a store?

Thanks,
Dimos

Hammer Coral frag

Is there something wrong with my frag or is this how it looks at night. Have had it for a week now.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Some friendly advise on my tank please!

I just got back into the hobby after 8 years in the military and to top it off this is my first new tank from startup. I would like just general info on if my equipment list and livestock looks ok and also my BTA is hiding behind rock in the back of my tank upside down?

Type of Anemone

Can someone tell me what type of Anemone this is. The fish store isn't very well informed about their fish. Or reef life.

Attached Thumbnails

 

My Tank, Equipment, ETC...

Equipment:
BioCube LED 32
InTank refuge and media tray
Coralife Nano Skimmer
Hydor 565 nano, 240 nano, and wave timer
InTank refuge LED light on timer (opposite of Tank)
Running filter floss, Purigen, and charcoal (Media Tray)
coral skeletons and chaeto algae (Refuge Tray)
Heater and skimmer in chamber 1
Thermometer probe in chamber 3

Livestock:
30 pounds Live Rock 2 chromis
25 lb Live Sand 2 Da'vinci Clowns
5 turbos 1 Green Bubble tip anemone
10 hermits 1 Diamond Goby
2 sand snails 1 FireFish Goby
2 star snails 1 Peppermint Shrimp
5 corinth snails

Corals:
Green Star Polyp (frag)
Pulsing Xenia (frag)

Trigger Systems: EARN 10x REWARDS!

Trigger Systems: EARN 10x REWARDS!

Earn 10% back on Trigger Systems for a limited time!

Get a full-featured sump with cool color accents along with matching dosing containers and an ATO reservoir :thumbsup:

TRT Content on IE 11...

So, I recently switch to IE because of issues with home and work and now the TRT daily page has at least one thread whose content is ajar. The post appears in the Topic header or the fact that a thread has multiple pages looks like HTML code...weird.

Monday Monday......

Good *orning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY *ONDAY! Thomas's English *uffins and an assort*ent of jellies to go with our coffee and pink *ilk for eye openers this *orning. So is the new puppy a 'sleep all nighter' George, or do you Folks have puppyitice? We had a great night last night.....s*all in co*parison to so*e of our shindigs but big on enjoy*ent. Only had 6 Folks, down fro* the 20'ish we had last week. Had ribs, sweet sausages, and venison on the grill. The pool was refreshing, though cooled off fro* the cooler evenings we've been having as of late, but didn't deter folks fro* splashing. Left our 'yard' stereo out in the rain last week, so ain't worth a hoot any *ore, so drug the guitars out early, including the plug in ones with the fancy a*p that bring out the 60's surf beat well.....Perhaps there wasn't any BTO, or 50's *alt shop cd's last night, but CCR, and the Stones were sounding good! Hope all survived their weekends and have fond *e*ories of it, and all the best,
Hack

foxface color changed to brown above spine?

His color has changed along his back is almost always seems to be darker? I am not sure why? He does change color at night but during the day his back is brown above his spine. His first few days the color was yellow but now has changed to the brown above his spine. He also will just rock back and forth and flick his spines up and down over and over again I have no clue why no fish are bothering him. I feed him sea weed and he has plenty of alage to grave on I also feed mysis shrimp and flake food but he does not take much interest in the flakes. Could the color be from new fish I added and him just showing dominance or adjusting no one seems to bother him and all my parameters are good. I have been slacking on water changes but will start doing them weekly or every other week now. Is very strange and color happened even before cut so I am confused he is new in the been in the tank about 3 and half weeks now. Any help would be much appreciated.

Nitrate

I need some suggestions on how to get my nitrate down. Its probably coming from my water or the brand of salt i use. For about two weeks now i have been using seachem prime which says it detoxifies nitrate and i added a small pieces of nitrate blocking media to my filter. My parameters for my tank are 8.2 ph, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 40ppm nitrate. My tank has been established about 5 months. I have 3 fish 2 stars 2 emerald crabs and 2 anemone. I found a ro/di system on amazon for $50 but til i can get it is there anything i can do to get rid of the nitrate.

Trochus snails not moving but still alive ?

So i added 5 trochus snails to my 30g tank on saturday around 11am .. its now technically monday lol 1.30am .. and they are pretty much still in the same spot .. ive pulled a few of them out to check if there dead but there alive .. are they going to kick the bucket or what ? .. if there going to die id much rather just remove them and chuck em to avoid causing an ammonia spike, they were drip acclimated for around 30 min since my salinity was so close to my lfs .. and there is diatoms everywhere for them to eat .. should i leave them or get them out in a day or two ?, im pretty sure they should be cruising around the tank a majority of the time right ?, or is this there usual behaviour .. sucks there not doing anything from what i could gather onl8ne trochus snails are meant to be great at eating algae and can flip themselves over etc

Advice on Corals

So I think im ready for corals as my tank is stabilising. I'd like to hear what are some good soft and lps corals to start with, how to maintain and put them into the tank. Thank :)

Happy birthday to TrickyTangTrainer on 7/30!

And here's the Official TRT Chorus® to sing....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOOO YOUUUUUUU!!!

Beautiful Sunday.....

Good morning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY SUNDAY! After yesterdays storms past through and the stars began to pop out last night on an inky black sky, and today is promising to be gorgeous.....sunny and in the lower 80's. Buttermilk waffles and scrambled eggs to go with our coffee and pink milk for eye openers. Well George.......tell us all about Gunther.....a real 'face licker', a hugger, a cuddler? We have another 'Family day' at church today.....on occasion we have a pot luck after church so folks can get together an fellowship over a meal. So me and Hack will be there running the show today, so we'll be a little latter than normal before we commence our Sunday activities. No BIG shindigs planned because of the Family day thing, but no anything else planned either, with brings us to 'I haven't a clue'. Hope all are safe and well, and have lots of opportunities to do something really cool today,
Hack

New growth on live rock

Hi i am new to this forum and looking for a little help, please can anyone help identify this hitch hiker that's growing on my live rock, I thought maybe zoa ??

Thanks in advance

Attached Thumbnails

 

Lighting?

Any ever heard of the Lumini Asta 20? It as good reviews on Amazon.

IM Fusion 20

Hey guys I am back! Since I have been on I moved from VA to CA and just getting settle down with my new job and new apartment.

My wife gave me the green light to start my new tank in my new home (since we cant get a dog :()

This tank is going to be a 20 gallon - SPS dominant tank. Reason why I am going that size is due to the fact my leasing office has a 30 gallon restriction and my wife compromised on that size XD

I will be using a IM Fusion 20, not sure if I will go with the LFS and get taxed or buy one online for the same price but with free shipping and no tax XD But for sure I will be getting the tank Thursday.

I already bought the stand from walmart, its a pretty nice and sturdy stand build for 20/29. That is already in the spot that I want it.

I already have my hydra 26 from my 40 and 75 build that I will be using and still deciding if I will be using one or two. If I decided to go two I will probably use only 30-50% of the intensity.

For my equipment list, I am looking at:

ATO
Skimmer
Heater
Carbon/GFO
Powerhead - more likely the Jebao for being cost effective
and upgrading the return for more power, *grunts like Tim Allen*
Hydra 26 light mount and power cable (kinda lost them in the move *slaps head*)

Very small tubular white growths

hello all! I am hoping to learn some more about my new salt water 30 gal tank. I have been cycling water for about a week now and have noticed very small, but numerous white/translucent tubular growths. Can anyone identify what I am talking about? Thanks!

Black spot on rocks

My tank is sbout 2 to 3 months running. I have alot of great coraline on thevfront of my ricks but noticed today a black spot on the back of a rock. Then a few more spots. Any ideas whst it is?

Attached Thumbnails

   

Very small clear/white tubular growths

Hi all, I am very new to the salt water tanks and have been cycling a new 30 gallon tank. I looked in my tank today and noticed very small clear white tubular growths on my chunck of live rock. Any suggestions as to what it can be? Is it something to keep or to try and get rid of? Sorry these arw the best pictures I can get.

Attached Thumbnails

   

How many Current Eflux pumps on BC29?

Hi all,

I currently have two Hydor 425 gph circulation pumps and a MJ1200 return pump on my BC29. I like the Current Eflux circulation pumps and want to upgrade, however, the smallest size is 660 gph. Would one at full power be better than having two with reduced power on my Biocube?

Thanks

HOB skimmer for sale

Reef octopus BH-1000 for sale. Good working order. Got an in sump skimmer no longer need this one. $100 will ship for free.

Attached Thumbnails

   

New-ish 40b

Hello, I have a 40b with a sump, skimmer, black box led, heater, a small powerhead, dry rock, and a full stock. And, I messed up and I am restarting the tank. And since I don't want to make the same mistakes again, so I want the help of the TRT members to help me set up my tank. And I have a couple questions. First, I have a yasha goby pistol shrimp pair that will be moved to this new tank, how many pounds of live sand do I need. Second, how much flow do I need? I have a koralia smart controller that I don't have power heads for. How many powerheads do I need? And where should I place them? Also have anyone ever used instant ocean bio-spera to start their cycle? And does anyone have a suggestion for a CHEAP ato, I tried to make one and It didn't work out.

Bigger is better!

So over the summer I decided all my tanks needed an upgrade. Right now I'm in the process of transitioning my 10 gallon nano reef tank to a 30 gallon. I've had the 10 gallon for a year. So far what i did is put old filter media in the 30's filtration system to boost the cycle. I put my 1 percula clown, fire goby and skunk shrimp in the tank after two weeks. It's been about a month and during the month I did my weekly water changes, the water I took out of the 10 gallon reef tank I then put into the 30. Now both tanks have the same salinity of 1.024, the temperature is at 78° for both as well and my water parameters are on point. How much longer should I continue doing this to then transfer my corals into the 30? I have a hammer coral frag that was one head when I purchased it and has now split into two heads. I have a Duncan that also grew an extra head and I also have some zoas and clove polyps. I'm not new to the hobby, but I am very new to corals, they're doing so well and I don't want to stress them out. Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

New 60 gallon setup

I just recently purchased a tank from someone. It came with the 60 gallon tank, stand, canopy, HOB octopus skimmer, canister filter, heaters, LED light bar, and power heads. Now I know the canister filter is a problem waiting to happen so i'm not going to use that. I also have a 20 gal tank that I'm wanting to turn into a sump. I've looked at some DIY videos and it seems easy and very inexpensive. What return pump would be ideal for this setup? Plumbing?
I'm thinking of doing about 60lbs or so of live rock and about a 4 inch deep sand bed for the main tank. I'll be using premixed salt water from the LFS here as well. Once I get the sand in and the rocks setup as well as the sump, where should I go from there? I'm new to the hobby and would like to get some opinions and advice. I've noticed a lot of you on here know you're stuff very well.

Saturday

Morning everyone! Coffee and breakfast buffet is on the table,this is some place! Up early so it's not to quiet for Heidi to hear others make sounds which then she'll bark. Where ten minutes away from the breeder and 10:30 or so is the time she asked all of us to come, and to bring our appetite, So we have time to burn! Enjoy the day all

RIP Flatlander

I was saddened to read on another forum that Doug Lowery AKA Flatlander passed away yesterday. Doug was one of my mentors back before TRT and RC came about.

Got bristleworms?

Caught a big one tonight!

Attached Thumbnails

 

New Hanna TDS Monitors / Tester

Is your RODI water really near zero TDS?
It's best practice to monitor the water in your storage reservoir to make sure contamination, TDS, or unwanted particles don't get added back into your aquarium.
The following meters are both designed specifically for low TDS environments and feature automatic temperature compensation - both which greatly improve testing accuracy.
Check out our blog post blog.premiumaquatics.com for more information about best practices to test your RO/DI water.
http://ift.tt/2uGjf8f
http://ift.tt/2vRm1pM

Black Egg Crate 2' x 2'
We use egg crate all time in the store, from holding frags, to building custom shelving in the tanks or skimmer stands. Black is idea because it looks nice and grows or hides algae better. We get so many request that we finally decided to start selling it direct. Our Black Egg crate is made in USA. You can buy just 1 piece, or save with our 2 lot pricing. We also have Scratch and Dent available for lower cost as well.
http://ift.tt/2i6LEw5

Puratek ATO with Water Pump
CLOSEOUT, Reg 229.99, SALE $179.99
These are very high quality ATO units that include everything you need including the 12vDC pump. They are a high end item and just not selling fast enough, so take advantage and save 50 bucks. While supplies last. We also have Non-intrusive Level sensors available as well.
http://ift.tt/2iHlBzs
http://ift.tt/2vRh3cF

Bubble Magus G7 & G9 Protein Skimmmers
CLOSEOUT SALE - LIMITED QTY
Bubble Magus is discontinuing these 2 models, we have very limited supply, act quick to save 30% OFF.
http://ift.tt/2uGuBtf

SENEYE Magnet Mount Slide Holder
SENENE's seneye device magenetic holder is designed to hold your seneye USB device securely in place using powerful neodymium magets. The arrows on the front give an indication of where the device will see itself as "out of water" allowing you to position is to alert you if the water level drops.
http://ift.tt/2gOd6Ci

35% OFF JBJ Slimline LED Fixtures
From 16" to 48", 4 sizes to choose from
Ends 7/31/2017 11:59pm at Midnight.
http://ift.tt/2rp2FJl

20% OFF RedSea Test Kits & Additives
All RedSea Test Kits, Additives, Filter media on sale.
EXTENDED - Ends 7/31/2017 11:59pm at Midnight.
http://ift.tt/2uDNt9Q

25% OFF Vertex Reactors
Save 25% OFF Vertex Media reactors this month.
Ends 7/31/2017 11:59pm at Midnight.
http://ift.tt/2jsQ6Va

Xtreme Aquatics Marine Nano Food
"Not just for nano tanks"
Xtreme nano is a specially made food that is perfect for raising small fish. It has over a 50% protein content in a .5mm pellet. So if you are a breeder, or just have some really young fish that need bulked up, this is an excellent choice. It's also great to feed LPS corals, they'll love the extra protein.
http://ift.tt/2u6bXv8

2 NEW PRODUCTS - HM DIGITAL
The FLM-3 is a consumer flow meter perfect for under the sink monitoring of the flow that has passed through your filtration (RO/DI) system.
TRM-1: Triple In-Line TDS Monitor The TRM-1 is a unique monitor offering the user 3 points of contact during the filtration process. This TDS monitor allows for checking TDS levels at 3 points, such as with DI/RO (deionization / reverse osmosis), or multiple points in an RO system, and more.
http://ift.tt/2uDKONu

20% OFF
AquaticLife Mini 115 Protein Skimmer
20% OFF AquaticLife Mini 115 Protein Skimmer
This sale ends 7/31/17 11:59pm at Midnight.
http://ift.tt/2iWQ2BP

48% OFF
Euroquatics T5 LED's
While supplies last, 48% off all remaining inventory.
http://ift.tt/2cuy4T9

ATI SunPower: PAR Values, Color Combos, and LED Comparison

temporary lighting

one of my two radion g3's shut down two days ago and had to be sent off for repair how long can a tank go with minimal lighting? my tank is a mixed 90 gallon and currently i have the single radion over the middle of the tank pretty high but obviously its not a long term solution. I may be just worrying too much but should i look for another light for temporary as the broken radion will not be back for a couple weeks thanks

A few questions

So ive had my 20 gal up for around 5 months and my tank seems to be starting to mature and have less algae outbreaks etc. so am i ready for corals, and if so what corals should I get. Thanks :)

A fine Friday

Waiting for the plane to head home.

Working in Vermont till the end of the year and Hack and I will have something in common. Propellers.

Glad the rocks are done. Some engines need maintainance and my gym has to be put together.

Have a good day TRT. Someone else with a kitchen will have to make coffee.

Instant Ocean bunched up into a rock - is it still good?

Please help. Today I am mixing saltwater for my tank and the first 2 buckets were easy - no off readings and no trouble. The salt wasn't in a rock or anything. This new box though, was almost completely made into a rock. I figured I would try it and now all the readings with my hydrometer are off and the salt isn't dissolving very well. Is this salt still good, or is it bad and a waste of my time? Thank you!

In honor of Shark Week

Why there aren't any great white sharks in captivity
http://ift.tt/2tHigSB

New shark species glows in the dark, weighs about 2 pounds and has a huge nose
http://ift.tt/2tHih97

Selling Ecotech Radion Pros Gen 3 Light Fixture

Bought a new cube tank when I moved and no longer need the two Gen 3 fixtures to light it so I am selling one.

Works perfectly, no issues and no cosmetic problems.

contact me for further questions or pictures etc.

Price is $400 firm. I live in Adairsville about 45 minutes from Atlanta GA

4234320104

gabrieltrujillo @ southern. edu

(no spaces)

Selling Ecotech Radion Pros Gen 3 Light Fixture

I recently bought a cubed tank that just needed one so I am selling the other fixture. The craigslist link is here:

http://ift.tt/2tNEC8Q

Price is $400 firm Nothing wrong with it is in perfect working condition. Comes with everything that came with it in the original box.

Thanks,

-Gabriel

Newbie needs help

Hello all, just brought our first marine tank and dived straight in at the deep end! It's a secondhand tank, purchased all set up and running, corals, fish & liverock. We had a fish matinance guy move the tank for us on Monday, its all in place and looks beautiful. Problem Is when we tested all the waters yesterday we had some high readings. Matinance guy popped back today at our request and said by eye everything looks healthy and normal, told us to do little but often water changes to reduce our nitrate, here's our readings -
Salinity - 1026
Calcium - 450
Magnesium - 1400
P.H - 8.04
Ammonia - 0.00
Phosphate - 0.05
KH - 60
Nitrite - 0.08
Nitrate - 40

Is there anything else we can do to reduce the nitrate? We just went and purchased a nitrate reactor so hopefully that will help.

The tanks it a redsea reefer 450, heater/chiller at 26.5, sump skimmer and all the equipment..

Thanks in advanced for any replies :)

Brackish fish, stay or go?

Hi everyone---I'm new and have had my tank cycling and solid for nearly 7 weeks- it's a 90 with 3 large canister filters on it. I cycled with six mollies and they are all doing well, I also grabbed 2 small green scats, a mono, 2 small black tip shark cats from my brackish too.... lastly, I have a scooter "blenny" (I learned it's not a blenny at all apparently) and a Firefish.. then some inverts.. so....I'm ready for some 'real' marine fish with the colors that come with them and need to know what can/should stay and what I can return or put in the brackish tank...everyone has been doing well together without incident for about three weeks..... So...what should stay, go and what wonderful colorful and peaceful beauties can I start to add and in what order... Thanks and looking forward to responses and wisdom... Dave

Well hello Thursday!

Good morning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY THURSDAY! Not particularly complaining, but this week seems to be going by fairly quickly.....which is GOOD! Heading for the low 80's under cloudy skies here at the shore. Having some cinnamon raisin toast to go with our coffee and pink milk this morning.....miss those giant farm house breakfasts of the colder months, but the heat takes away the appetite. Wound up be relatively quiet around here last night, and by time the Family returned from checking on Pop, they found me drifting off on the couch, so the movie got postponed till a latter date. Sometimes sleep is fun. Hope all have one of them days that your just jumping up and down on the inside to get started, and all the best,:blob:
Hack

Ro/di and Tank Water Problems

Ok guys,

So I've been MIA for several years now. I've been busy with house remodels job changes and life in general. I started up a 93g cube about 1.5 years ago and am having problems I can't figure out.


I'll start with the RO/DI issues.... Ever since I have moved to my new house I'm having issues with my rodi system. I am on a driven point in the country. My di resin completely changes colors within about 100g of filtered water. I probably should calibrate my TDS meter, but here are my readings as of now:

Tap water tds: 20
After ro membrane: 3
After di resin: 2
I also measured my product and waste water and in 30 seconds I had 1 cup of waste water and 1/4 cup of filtered water.

And in case someone needs my tap water parameters:
ph 5.99
Alkalinity: 24 mg/L
Hardness: 32 mg/L

Details of Tank:

93g Marineland Cube w/ ghost overflow
SRO XP 2000 SS
MP 40
Radion Gen 3 @ 35%
Tunze return pump (don't remember which size off hand)
Apex
shallow sand bed

Some current tank parameters:
PH 8.26
Alk 8.2 dkh
Salinity 1.025
Calcium 400

When I first started the tank up for about 4-6 months after start up it was doing great. I used water and rocks from an established tank to get the tank cycled. I had coral growth, coraline spreading, etc. Eventually this all came to a halt. For the last year I have had zero growth. Most of my corals have lost all color (one birdsnest has kept its color but hasn't grown) and either browned out or bleached out. For a short while my zoas were growing and spreading decently but have since started to melt away. Also during the first 6 months or so I was having to dose 2 part to keep up with demand. However, since the time when everything started to tank I have not had to dose anything at all and my alkalinity has been maintaining around 8.6. For a while however, I could not get my alkalinity down. It was around 10 and I was only doing water changes and no dosing.

At this point I am out of ideas and am unable to diagnose my problems. Any ideas from anyone? Ultimately I am looking to figure out why my ro/di is changing color so fast and why my tank is doing so poorly and having alkalinty issues. Sorry for the long read and thanks in advance!

Mini carpet anemone

I have a mini carpet anemone that ive had for about a week and a half. When first placed in the tank it stay on top of a rock where it got plenty of light and flow after about 4 days it had climbed under a ledge of the rock where it gets little to no light and medium flow because the ledge blocks some. My concern is everything i have read says these guys need high light. Even though he still looks fine opens up wide at feeding then shrivels a little after no color change and no signs of not doing good is he going to be ok there or should I try to get him to move.

Downsizing?

Ok, so I have a 90 gallon reef tank, with only a few fish. I am wishing to down size to a 15 gallon setup. This is my plan... New live sand, new lr (old pieces are way too big). Fill new tank 70% old water, 30% new water. Wait a week and move fish to new tank. Anyone see any problems, have any advice?

Hi Forum!

I'm newbie ,my name john , nice to miss all forum

fish with cut what to do?

So today my trouble making foxface had another issue. I noticed a cut on his side it goes across his gill in a line. It is small doesn't appear to be deep or go into his skin. Seems more like scratch. What should I do approaching this any help is much appreciated thanks.

Need help with lighting on a 20gallon long

Hello everyone,
I have a rather simple question on whether or not this type of lighting would work on my 20-gallon long nano tank. also, i currently can not post a link due to not having posted more than 5 times. I will try to include the information as much as I can. so I have been looking at these lights on eBay

"New E27 LED Spectrum Coral Reef Plant Grow Light PAR38/PAR30 Fish Tank Aquarium"

different lighting types such as:
36w (12LED PAR38)
45w (15LED PaR38)
54w (18LED PAR38)

This is some of the description information.
Socket Type: E27
-Voltage: AC 85-265V
-Housing Material: High-Quality Aluminum
-Beam Angle:120 degree
-Recommended Lighting Time:8~9 hours
-Body Material: Aluminum
-Certification:CE & RoHS



LED Qty Type Wattage Voltage Blue:Cold White:Purple/UV
9 PCS PAR38 27W 85-265V 3:3:3
12 PCS PAR38 36W 85-265V 4:4:4
15 PCS PAR38 45W 85-265V 5:5:5
18 PCS PAR38 54W 85-265V 6:6:6

Any thing will help! thank you!

Misc Equipment FS/FT

Checking here first to see if anyone local is looking for equipment before I post it elsewhere. This is extra equipment I have no use for. I will post pictures later. I am also open to trades for SPS & LPS (acans, blastos, etc.).

- Apex classic controller with temp probe, pH probe, breakout box & WiFi adapter: $300
- Skimz Monzster SM161 internal skimmer: $170.00
- Ecotech Vortech MP10QD: $150.00
- Tunze Osmolator ATO: $80.00
- (2) 250W HQI Pendants w/ ballasts: $80.00 for both
- BRS deluxe reactor w/ MJ1200: $40.00
- Sicci Syncra 2 pump: $35.00
- Jebao RW-8 powerhead: $30
- More items to be added

It's a trap!

IT'S A TRAP!

Robert Catches A Wrasse With The Aqua Medic Fish Trap!

Newer 90 Gallon FO Tank

Hi everyone---I'm new and have had my tank cycling and solid for nearly 7 weeks- it's a 90 with 3 large canister filters on it. I cycled with six mollies and they are all doing well, I also grabbed 2 small green scats, a mono, 2 small black tip shark cats from my brackish too.... lastly, I have a scooter "blenny" (I learned it's not a blenny at all apparently) and a Firefish.. then some inverts.. so....I'm ready for some 'real' marine fish with the colors that come with them and need to know what can/should stay and what I can return or put in the brackish tank...everyone has been doing well together without incident for about three weeks..... So...what should stay, go and what wonderful colorful and peaceful beauties can I start to add and in what order... Thanks and looking forward to responses and wisdom... Dave

Temperature Gauge

Just a friendly reminder to not always trust a thermometer.

I have a stick on thermometer on the far side of my tank just to see how the temp changes from side to side. It was reading a bit high but I figured the sun was hitting it or something.

My digital thermometer is currently reading 75 degrees. When putting my hand over and in the water I thought it felt warm. Dummy me decided to trust the thermometer.

Two weeks go by and I'm having to turn up my heaters because the tank is dropping temp to 73/74-ish (which is the temp of my house). I'm still thinking, man this tank has never had issues with heating up - especially in summer obv.

Ordered a new thermometer and installed it last night - EIGHTY-EIGHT degrees y'all. I was like, well no wonder I've been losing some of my softies.

So I'm slowly bringing it back down to normal.

Just a reminder that the equipment we check every day could be our bane! :eek:

Chemi-Pure in Two Little Fishies Reactor

When I bought my TLF HOB Phosban Reactor - I saw people tumbling Chemi-Pure Elite in it with no issues.
The first pump I had (Maxi-Jet 600) tumbled fine but over time lost power. So I bought the MJ-1200.
This thing is noisy as all get out - I've seen some people already say it's noisy.
It's strong and I expected it to be but even when pretty constrained it is throwing the little red tiny tiny "beads" of the chemi-pure into my tank.

I have the red plate, the black sponge and added a blue filter foam circle to it AND recently bought Reactor Screens to put on either side of the red plate.

The beads are still getting out. I've restricted the flow obviously but those beads are still flying.

A- will this mean that my tank is going to have issues with Phosphates because I can't remove the red beads IN the tank?

Sometimes I can get them when I'm siphoning my sand but not every single one.

B- Should I move to a different phosphate pellet or something instead?

Thanks

FS: Lights,pumps and more

I upgraded and down graded some of my equipment and am selling off a few items I'm not using. My LFS will give me a store credit for these items but figured I'd see if anyone needs them.

I will ship if buyer pays shipping cost.

Iwaki MD-70RLT (japenese model) $200
93 Gallon Cube Stand $150
Rapid LED SOLDERLESS 75G TANK DIMMABLE KIT with moonlights (I had these on my 75G, 93 Cube and 120G) $250
3 Jeabo PP8's (used only for 3 months) $35 each

Attached Thumbnails

     

     

It's Wednesday time again

Good morning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Remaining cooler here at the shore for another couple of days, with today once again only in the 70's. SOOOOOO NICE to work in! Buttermilk waffles in honor of the cooler temps to go with our coffee and pink milk.
We had an unscheduled mid-week shindig manifest it's self last night.....some of Jen's Family is down from the Poconos, who brought Friends, and then once folks see a few extra cars at our place, and smell the grill as well as the bonfire.....well, that's how it starts.:cool: Probably had a dozen or so fine Folks stop by for some vitals and some laughs. Folks often bring something to share, and her Sister brought a ham, shank in. :confused: Hmmmmmm, yeah, I can do that! Found a new item to put in the rotation at our get to gethers. Had some steaks, pork chops, hot dogs, and ham. Had rained throughout the day, and the night before, so the bonfire took a bit of coxing, but we got it. And didn't take much encouragement to turn it into a pool party neither....Nate had a great time with cousins and a few new Friends, and there seemed to have been a 'water gun' sniper in the midst as of post time unidentified.:rolleyes: Well long enough, so hope all have a wonderful start to their middle of the week, and all the best,
Hack

How long can I go without power???

Hey guys and gals! Got a good question for you EXPERIENCED reefers! No offense to newbies.

Okay...so I have a 90 gallon I have had for a while...per the usual I bought a $400 3600KW generator to run the bad boy if power goes out. Like a responsible hardcore reefer I have a YouTube channel and even have a step by step Youtube video I made so that if the power ever does go out I can let my pet sitter watch it and even a dumb monkey can figure it out!

Question is this...while I have a back up battery pack for my pumps AND heater I wanted to know what you guys think of this. (by the way toss those eco tech battery packs folks...go buy you a computer back up battery pack, you can pay a tad bit extra, they come on automatically when the power goes out...they are bigger but LAST WAYYYY LONGER than the eco tech ones...thats just a money deal folks!)

Okay situational report. 90 gallon reef tank, 2 Sicce Voyagers 1200 GPH, 7 fish (scissortail dart, tanak pygmy wrasse, pink skunk clown, tomini tang, bi color chromis, blue assessor and swales basslet), power goes out at 6 PM, battery back up comes on for 6 hours, now its 12 AM, pet sitter comes over at 5 PM next day, fish are dead? Sand bed is also 2" at the deepest point as well meant to say that. Comments ready set go!

Why I am confident running a Jebao DP-4 dosing pump

First off I have to say that running a dosing pump for Calcium and Alkalinity has been one of the best moves that I have made for my SPS corals. This is going to be a long post, but I think that it is valuable for anyone dosing to read.

When I started to dose, I began by simple adding a small amount (about 25 ml) every morning. This was a great way to get into dosing and learning how to test my levels of KH and Ca. After about a few months of dosing by hand I began to consider dosing pumps, and found a large range in price. From what I had read I did not want to rely on any of the cheaper dosing pumps as they have been known to fail and destroy whole tanks. For the record, any dosing pump can fail and take out your whole tank if you don’t have the right precautions. It took me about a year before I decided to go for the dosing pump.

After doing a large amount of reading on all the options, I found that although the likelihood of a more expensive dosing pump failing was much lower, it was still possible and I couldn’t have that. I decided on the Jebao DP-4 that I picked up for about 70$ on amazon, mainly due to financial reasons, and I can upgrade in the future. Now that I had my new pump I had to decide how I would set it up to create a system of redundancies to limit the risk of a tank crashing failure. As a Mechanical Engineer, one of my jobs is Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA). This works by looking at all the possible failures, even multiple at the same time and finding out how a system will respond, then finding solutions to avoid these problems.
Take my auto top off for instance, I have a float valve (failsafe 1) on my auto top off pump. (My ATO also has 3 switches (failsafe 2), and the reservoir is also smaller than the volume left in my sump when the return turns off, so that’s a third failsafe on that system). To take it to the next level if the pump runs continuously for more than 2 minutes it sets an error on the Apex and is turned off until I log into to check it out. (4th failsafe) To create a redundant system for dosing I came up with this list of possible failures of the pump (if you can come up with more please share):

1. Syphon from dosing tank to sump
2. Pump stuck on
3. Pump stuck off or incorrect flow

Ill address each of these problems and how my system has created redundancies to prevent a failure from turning into a disaster. I will say that most of these failsafes rely on my APEX controller, the best investment I have ever made for my reef.

1. Syphon from dosing tank to sump

This one is easy.

a. Make sure that the dosing pump that you have has more than one roller in contact all of the time. This will make sure that the tube is always pinched. For most designs this only requires 3 rollers.

b. Locate your reservoir below the water level of the sump chamber / tank that you are dosing.

2. Pump stuck on

This is the dreaded one. I don’t care if you spend 600$ on a dosing pump it can still happen.

a. The first line of defense against this failure is to limit the amount that could potentially be dosed if you have a failure. I do this by having 500 ml dosing reservoirs that I fill to about 250ml about one a week. To make these I purchased rubbing alcohol bottles for about 1$ a piece and modified them by gluing a piece of hard airline tube into their top and adding volume marks on the side. If one of my pumps was to stick on it will only dump a maximum of a weeks’ worth of solution into the tank, for Ca I can live with that and my corals can too. When it comes to KH that would mean about a 3 dKH rise, which is a lot for the tank, but it would probably survive. That’s where failsafe 2 and the apex come in.

b. I had to figure out a way for the apex to determine if too much KH dosing solution made its way to the tank so that it could shut off the outlet for the dosing pump. The only monitor that I have for this is pH, and the apex programing will not allow testing for pH change so I had to develop my own setup using apex outlets. I have currently set up my apex to turn off the dosing pump outlet if I have more than a .2 pH rise in less than a minute. I will go into the pH monitor in another post, but I have tested it and it will sense any dose over 20 ml KH solution at once to the sump chamber right after the pH probe. (This is where I dose, right before the return. That means the dose has to travel through the display before reaching the pH probe.)

3. Pump stuck off or incorrect flow

a. A pump that sticks in the off state or the flow drifts from its calibration will have less impact but will still create problems. My solution for this is the dosing containers. By using small containers, I can monitor my dosing solution consumption down to about 10 ml and daily when I check my tank. I have gotten a feel for how fast they go down and in what ratio to each other. Every day I look at them and see that they are where they should be. If I had it connected to the gallon dosing reservoirs I have no idea how much is being used daily, just that it is slowly going down over the month.

Conclusions

Any dosing pump can fail and kill your reef if the proper precautions are not taken. I believe that anyone who is dosing with a pump should limit the volume of their dosing reservoirs to limit this problem. Only keep enough solution in the reservoir that you would be “comfortable” dosing all at one. If you are one of the lucky ones who has an Apex, set up a failsafe there such as the pH monitor, or come up with something new. If you don’t want to go to the advanced pH rate change monitor, just set it up so if your pH goes over a certain value that is above of its normal range it turns off the dosing pump.

I can say that I am confident in my Jebao dosing pump and will happily run it until it fails, or I have the money to splurge on a nicer pump.

Attached Thumbnails

     

Neptune Apex pH rate of change monitoring

Many of you are probably frustrated that your 700$ apex controller does not have the ability to monitor the rate of change of your sensors. Or maybe you never thought about it but it sounds cool now. I decided to develop a system to monitor the rate of change of pH and turn off my dosing pump if it changes more than .15 dKH per minute. This allows me to run a dosing pump without the fear of the dreaded KH overdose killing my reef.
How did I do it you may ask? Ill explain. I will be using pH for this example, but it could be done with any analog input to the apex.

In order to monitor the rate of change of pH you need to first create what I call pH zones. I have zones to cover the range from 7.8 to 8.55, but this may be a little excessive. This “zone” is just a virtual outlet that is on if the pH is in a certain range. I have included an example of my code bellow. As long as the pH is between 8.10 and 8.15 this outlet in the example is on. The min time statement makes sure this outlet stays on for one minute after the pH leaves the range ( drops below 8.10 or above 8.15).

Outlet: Ph_8.10-8.15

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If pH > 8.09 Then ON
If pH > 8.15 Then OFF
Min Time 001:00 Then ON

So as my pH changes, there is always one virtual outlet pH zone on, sometimes 2 for a minute when it goes from one to the next. This is normal operation, but if I have a rapid pH change, more than .15 in less than a minute, then there will be 3 or more pH zones in the on state. This is where the next set of outlets comes in.

Outlet: pH_Up_8.15

Fallback OFF
Set ON
If Outlet Ph_8.05-8.10 = OFF Then OFF
If Outlet Ph_8.15-8.20 = OFF Then OFF
Min Time 002:00 Then ON

This virtual outlet monitors if there are two pH zones active that are not directly next to each other. This outlet, pH_Up_8.15 will be set if the pH goes from let’s say 8.08 to 8.18 or 8.05 to 8.20 in less than one minute.
The final outlet monitors all the pH_Up outlets and if one of them is on, it set a pH_Spike outlet on. This outlet can then be monitored in the dosing pump outlet, as well as the alarm outlets so if a pH spike occurs, it will shut down the pump and send me an email.

Outlet: pH_Spike

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Outlet pH_Up_7.90 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_7.95 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_8.05 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_8.10 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_8.15 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_8.20 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_8.25 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_8.30 = ON Then ON
If Outlet Ph_Up_8.35 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_8.40 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_8.45 = ON Then ON
If Outlet pH_Up_8.50 = ON Then ON
If Outlet Ph_High = ON Then ON
Min Time 999:00 Then ON

I first tested this system for a week of hand dosing before installing my dosing pump. I found that if I dosed anything more than 20 ml (90 gallon total system volume) of ESV bionic Carbonate in the sump chamber downstream of the pH probe, (dose has to travel through the return, then the display to get to back to the sump and the pH probe in the previous chamber) then it sets of the pH_Spike outlet. Every now and then if I need to make a KH adjustment ill test the system by dosing 25 ml to the sump return chamber and the system sets an alarm within 20 seconds.

This method can be used for more than just pH but that’s all I care to use it for right now. I don’t have ORP or Salinity monitor and there’s no reason I can see to do it for the temperature.
In all this system monitors from 7.80 to 8.55 and uses 30 virtual outlets. I think that the range is a little excessive as my tank usually is in the range of 7.85 to 8.2 depending on the number of people staying in the rental bellow me. (10 CO2 machines downstairs really effects my pH when I must have the windows closed and the AC on to keep the tank cool!)

Let me know what you think and if you have any recommendations for improvement.

Check out my thread on why I am confident with my Jabeo dosing pump using this system here: (to be added)

Newbie here! Need help identifying frags

Hello everybody I finally broke down and made an account I've been a guest for the past year or so just reading through the forums and gaining Knowledge from your guys's input thank you so much for the wealth of information getting me started in this Hobby now with that being said I went to the local Petco today and bought my first 3 Frags the person there was very unknowledgeable and couldn't tell me what they were can anybody help identify these three frags are they LPS SPS do they require any special food or care any information would be great thank you for taking the time to respond.

Attached Thumbnails

     

Veiws on dosing Calcium and Alk

Ok, I have seen several people here getting their parameters twisted around backwards and upside down dosing for Calcium and Alk.

The Question is when do you think it is necessary to dose, what should you dose, and what should you know before you start.
By when is it necessary I am referring to stocking.
What, as in one part, two part, other things besides Calc. and alk.

I don't dose anything, and have had to read up on dosing calc. due to people having problems with their parameters while dosing.
How about some of you who do chiming in and enlightening us.

Newbie here

hi my name is Gabi I am new here nice to meet you all :D

Emerald crab eating corals

All of a sudden my emerald crab is showing way too much interest in my corals. Not sure if he is eating them or picking stuff off them. This morning he had a death grip on my golden yellow polyp.....I recently introduced new corals and that seemed to be triggering the issue. Previously he ignored the corals.....Do I need to get rid of him or is he just cleaning them. I am new to the coral thing. 30L tank

Heat wave over Tuesday

Good morning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY TUESDAY! With some serious thunder boomers passing through last night our temps have been lowered. Only in the low to mid 70's here for a day or so before settling into the 80's for awhile. Chance of showers today complete the changed weather pattern around here. Got a box of Honey buns to go with our coffee and pink milk to get the eyes opened today, but my Family when they awaken will be heading to Golden Coral for their breakfast buffet. So there's options! Work slowing down to just a low-busy, rather than a high-nutty......nearing that time slot when folks can begin to ponder burning a couple vacation days.....hmmmmmmmm? Hope all have all the best lined up today, and plenty of time to enjoy it,
Hack

Pink "thing" amidst my mushrooms and palys.

can anyone ID this pink tube/trumpet looking thing? Its behind the clown and the palys.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Coral available

Not sure if this is the place to do this but have 4 or 5 pieces of coral id like to sell cheap. Im on long island in NY if anyone is interested.

Torch
Hammers
Galaxea

ALk and CAL problems

Hey guys! Long time no hear right haha. K, anyways...so I have a year an a half old 90 gallon reef tank. O were to begin...well I never feed my corals until about 3 months ago and started using reef nutrition phyto feast, aqua vitro fuel and reef chili!...so I run 3 dosing pumps, there the BRS drews dosing pumps, which are the BRS top of the line brand. I run 3 commercial timers...Apollo eco plus digital timers. Sooooo I thought I had my timers dialed in really well...for like 2 months they were on point! I even left (in the military) for 3 weeks, came back and were BAM right on the #s!!! Well...like I said I started to feed...the tank came alieve bc I'v never feed my corals before...sooooo now my levels started to creep up, I will also add my water changes have been less frequent bc my bio pellets are mature and kicking ass. Nitrates stay around 2 to 5. Going back my levels have been creeping up, NOT MAG just ALK AND CAL. So I backed down the dosage times. Seems logical right...I checked back like a week and a half later and the ALK had raised to 9.8...which is a bit too high for my liking and the CAL I cant quite read but the water starts to turn colors at the end of 500..so its probably 510...maybe 520. And this was after I backed the dosing times down!!! So for now I have cut off both ALK and CAL timers to let the levels fall naturally...and I'll be honest...I'm a bit concered about the CAL being so high. I will also add that a little before I started feeding my corals I had always kept mainly LPS, softies, an alien eye, and procllipora...well right around that time I added 2 acan frags and a birdsnest...so I thought for sure they would consume ALK and CAL...well apparently the FRAGS are not...need some help guys...this had me scratching my head. I have NOT changed salts, not changed salienty, nothing!!! PH is fine...seems to be 8.1ish...maybe 8.0 its an ELOS test kit...and I'm using Red Sea test kits, I even used a Salferit CAL test kit and I got really close to the same readings...what the heck right! AND MAG has been the exact same for probably 4 months now...1400.

Sea Swirl Adaptations

Anyone have any experience with modifying a sea swirl?

I bought a 3/4" and am considering adding as eductor but didn't know if that would add some type of resistance to the motor and perhaps shorten the life of the motor. Or, considered extending the output pipe so that it basically reaches near the bottom of the tank to stir things up from side to side. But again, didn't know if this addition would put more stress on motor?

Any thoughts or personal experiences?

Gha problem!

So I've had my 29 gallon reef up for about 8 months now and it's been doing great my corals are growing great but as of recently I've had a bit of green hair algae growing on the rocks, I just installed a skimmer which has only been running for a few days so hopefully that helps and a have 10 snails in there (margarita and astera). What else can I add to help get rid of this? I was thinking one turbo snail. Are there any sort of additives I can dose that will help? All of my parameters are in check also. I will attach some pictures.

Attached Thumbnails

   

protein skimmer

I have a 30 gal tank that has been established about 3 mos. now. I dont have a protein skimmer and was wondering do i need one. I have never had any of the build up that i read these things prevent so besides the added benefit of oxygen is on necessary.

PH low how to fix it

So my ph tested at 7.8 today what can I do to bring it back up?

New to Reef from Freshwater

Hi, I am Synaria. I am a total nub. I have always kept freshwater but recently decided to make a change and go reef. So far I only have the 65g Aquarium, some old corals/dry rock from a friend, some sand/crushed coral (75 lbs of it) and an Idea of the filter I want. I'm not going slow because of price, I have that, I want to make sure I do this right and have very few if none, casualties during the setup. I welcome your suggestions and advice as well as any questions you might have for me. Thanks ~ Syn

Aquatic Life: Earn 10% Back!

Starfish

Hey guys, just spotted this starfish this morning, can anyone let me know what it is and if it's reef safe please:)

Attached Thumbnails

 

*iserable start to *onday

Morning everyone. Been up with body aches and shivering all night. No way am I getting stuck in seat 17D in an ERJ-145.

Not touching anything. Someone else will have to handle the food and the coffee.

Sad Day

My first post. Had Marine velvet, killed all my poor fish accept a clown that's barely hanging on, a firefish and a yellow tang that is/was a jerk. Pour one out for my 6 lost fish and yes for now on QUARANTINE

Water

Hello all I am new to salt water world and was wonering how to go about filling a 125 gallon tank with new water. I see ro di systems for sale that only put out 50 gallons a day. With that output it would take a week to fill. What would be a good practical way to get bulk water.

Injured Pygmy angelfish

I think my angelfish got startled when I was cleaning tank and scraped himself against rocks. Is there anything I can do to help him. Eating and swimming fine. Just looks nasty!

Attached Thumbnails

 

ID Help - Pink Fleshy Growth?

Hi All,

I tried googling but can't really find a picture that matches what I have in my tank. Any help with ID is appreciated. This looks almost like the fleshy tentacles of my pink frogspawn but I know it's not it (there's no head, mouth, skeleton, etc.. just this pink "branch" growing).

There's no discernable hard stalk or support structure, just this soft bubbly fleshing thing that's attached to my rock.

Picture attached.

Setup: 20G Saltwater Coral tank, all parameters are normal. have a 20-head torch green torch, 4-head orange frogspawn. a colony of various zoas, 2 clowns, and 1 royal gramma. Lighting - 2 AI prime @ 50% 16k light.

Attached Thumbnails

 

foxface with fin rot

So my foxface has fin rot. I heard you can use medications in reef tanks as long as you bond it with food and direct feed. I need help with what medications work best and what is the best method for direct feeding. The Fin rot is just starting his fins are a darker shade almost brown and are shredded. This is occurring on his pectoral fins only so far. I have only 1 mushroom coral and a anemone so any recommendations with this and the medications. I have and purigen and I am thinking about picking up carbon to soak up anything that leaches into water while direct feeding. Any help is much appreciated thank you.

Long nose hawkfish acting weird

All of a sudden my long nose hawkfish is acting weird. Afraid he is dying. Had 2 other fish die but think it was because of the store I bought them from. The hawkfish I have had for awhile. Water parameters are fine. Tank is established 30 gallon with coral. He isn't moving much and when he does he is swimming crazy all over the tank. He is eating ok. He is hanging out by the overflow..pressed against it but he can move

The Problems of Having Healthy Fish

The problem of having healthy fish and inverts.





Most of us, or rather “all” of us want healthy fish and invertebrates so this may sound odd. But just as there are problems having sickly fish, there are other "problems” having healthy animals.


I will explain.


Fish that are not in the best health present few problems, except for their affinity to become sick and die. After the fish dies, the problems with that fish go away except for the money we paid for it.


But healthy fish have their own problems. First of all the healthier a fish is, the higher it can jump just like an athlete who is fat and out of shape probably won't compete in the high jump at the next Olympics. I lose most of my fish to jumping out. I am not sure if they are very happy or excited to see me but when I feed them, they seem to jump more. I was out in my boat today and it is almost 100 degrees so I left the front panel on my tank, which is built into a wall, open to get more air in. I found one of my flasher wrasses on the carpet.


I probably lose a fish a month to jumping out even though I try very hard to block every possible exit route; healthy fish always find a new one.


Even if they don’t make it to the carpet, I find them on the lights or sometimes I don’t find them until years later tucked inside a crack in the wall under my tank (which is in a dark closet)


Healthy fish are also always spawning, building a nest or looking for a mate. Fish are not like us and will mate with any fish of the opposite sex no matter their social standing, taste in clothes or looks. When I was dating I was particular in certain ways and the girl had to at least have her eyes where they should be and have a pulse and not eat with her feet. That was about the extent of my criteria. Fish don’t seem to care.


But for us, mating fish have problems. Mating fish will always bite you when you stick your hand in the tank and they have no fear that you are 7,000 times bigger than they are. I got into quite a few fights over girls when I was younger, but if the guy was a lot bigger, tougher, stronger or had scary tattoos, I let him have her. I did call to apologize to her later though as I am a Gentleman.


Another problem with some mating fish is that they only want to lay their eggs on your prized SPS corals and their eggs always kill the coral in that place. The fact that they can’t lay their eggs on a coral that died last week is beyond me. Cute little fish like clown gobies can, and do kill large pieces of acropora, not on purpose of course but by laying eggs all over them. That is the reason I have no more acropora. But I have clown gobies which are a lot cheaper than acropora. Clown gobies don’t seem to care how much you paid for that acropora and it seems the more you paid, the larger egg masses they lay.


The other problem with mating fish is that we get all excited to find the eggs that we go out and buy a tank to raise the babies, then we order rotifers, green water to feed the rotifers, brine shrimp eggs. Nets, lights, air pumps medications, close up lenses for our cameras, microscopes etc. The fry usually die and we carry all that stuff outside for our next garage sale.


Healthy fish are normally immune fish and healthy, immune fish usually live forever. If you don’t really like that fish, you can be stuck with it for eternity. I bought a fireclown 26 years ago. I don’t even like clownfish and bought it as a baby because I thought it was a flame hawkfish. I found out later it was a fireclown. Have you ever even seen a fireclown? Not the best looking clownfish. I think I have seen two of them in my life and I bought the other one as a birthday present for my other one. Not that I want anything to happen to them but they never die. The interesting, colorful, rare fish I get jump out, but the fireclowns have been with me for over a quarter of a century and all they do is spawn. Almost every day they spawn. I mean, don’t they ever get tired of each other! It’s the same thing 5 or 6 times a week. OK I am a little jealous, but Jees!


Do my banded pipefish live for 26 years? No, how about my Marine Betta? Um, no. Ruby Red Dragonettes, Not hardly, but fireclowns, forget about it. I think if I laid one in the street and had a school bus full of high school seniors that just came back from a hot dog eating contest run them over twice, they would spawn on the asphalt.


Healthy fish are also strong fish and can, and do carry corals and rocks all over your tank, usually to the back where you can't find it.
I can't buy small frags unless I tie them to a cinder black because at least one of my fish will carry it away to the nether regions of my tank where it becomes lunch for my Godzilla Bristleworms which are also, unfortunately very healthy.


You can see her devil eggs above her. That, and all my acropora became history because of her and her boyfriend.



Spawning, Spawning, Spawning, That's all they do.

Kinda early Sunday

Good morning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY SUNDAY! It's muggy for this time of the morning.....that smidge of rain we got in the over night didn't do much to remove it, and it's just evaporating and making it feel worse. Yep, but it's summer, and this is far better than an ice pack on the back from a slip on the icy steps. Thinking some Thomas's English muffins with an assortment of jellies wouldn't heat the house too much to go with our coffee and pink milk. Got church this morning, but Hack is at a sleepless over, and the Mrs. is staying home to head over to Pop's for his morning 'care'.....so I'll be going solo. Got some grass to cut when I do get home, and will be just in time for the heat of the day. But needs to be done because I understand we'll have a larger than usual crowd today....the pool probably has something to do with it. And on a sad note, I woke this morning to discover our Green Mandarin didn't survive his mini vacation.....He jumped over night, and landed on a bucket of freshly made Reef Crystals. BUT, I had the bucket covered with a towel to keeps the dogs from drinking it, so he was left high and dry. Sniffle.......
Well I hope all have some scathingly marvelous plans for their day, and a chance latter to tell us about them, and all the best,
Hack

Long tentacle anemone

Weird but my long tentacle anemone has disappeared. It has been on the same rock for three weeks now. I go to the store today and an hour later its gone. I can't even find the pink ball it goes into when the tentacles aren't out. I only have a 30 gal tank it has only 4 pcs of decent size live rock as far as fish i have two damsels a coral beauty angel two emerald crabs and a sand sifting star. I can see all around my tank and i don't see it. Dont see it jumping out but yes i have a lid on my tank. Don't see why or how but did something eat it and if so that fast or did something else happen. I would hate to disassemble my tank to find it

fresh saltwater mix wierd problems ?

so i left around 50 litres of saltwater to mix overnight in a tub being circulated by a return pump, now in the morning its still cloudy ?, also i turned the powerhead off 5 or 6 hrs ago and its still cloudy .. but the main thing thats making me unsure about using it is im using my refractometer and i am not getting any reading at all the chart is all white .. what the ? .. has anyone had this happen before ?:help::confused: im planning on checking my MG/CA/ALK and if they all checkout ok ill add it but if not i may have to turf it ? .. sucks cause i used up pretty much the last 1/3 of my salt bucket making this mix for a large water change today after the cycle finished and ive only got enough salt left for a small change next weekend till i get paid again and can pickup another bucket, any ideas guys ? got me stumped as to why im not getting a reading at all .. cant find anything on google about it at all seems nobody has had this problem ? ..

Reef stocking

Hi All,
Question about stocking:

I'm looking to add some stock to my tank.
I have a 94 gallon corner, bow front.
About 75lbs of LR.
6 peppermint shrimp
2 cleaner shrimp
3 blue/green chromis
2 ocellaris clowns
2 ignitus anthias
numerous snails
3 kenya trees, some zoas and a sinularia

I am interested in getting an ORA® Captive-Bred Sunrise Dottyback, also known as the Sunrise Pseudochromis or Blue Flavivertex Dottyback, and a Kole Tang also. Any thoughts? Also a pom pom coral.

Is this aiptsia ?

It looks different from what I know.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Trying to identify coral

I got a free coral frag anyone know what it is?

Attached Thumbnails

 

A sweltering seashore Saturday

Good morning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY SATURDAY! A sea breeze, the smell of coconut oil, the sounds of the 'Laughing Gulls', and the feel of a heat wave which all brings the tourists a flocking towards where I'm going to be for at least half of my Saturday. Will be over at work in case any 'Night in Venice' folks need assistance getting their boats to the parade. Getting them back to dock afterwards is on them, and the marine police for them that had 'too much fun'. Got some nice cold fruit to have with our coffee and pink milk this morning, cantaloupes and watermelon. Will only be in the low 90's today around here, so will feel like a cooling down day afer as hot as the past couple have been at work. Jen has one of her sisters and kids coming down for a week from the Poconos to stay with us/Pop, so there'll be a few more at our Sunday shindig this weekend. Hope all have groovy stuff planned for their weekend, and enough time to squeeze it all in,
Hack

First aquarium and first post. What's on my live rock

I just got some live rock in my first saltwater aquarium. I started everything today, and some interesting stuff is popping up. Can anyone tell me what it is or what it could be? Thank you

Attached Images

	IMG_2405.jpg (59.8 KB)
	IMG_2401.jpg (68.2 KB)
	IMG_2398.jpg (97.7 KB)
	IMG_2402.jpg (92.2 KB)

adding more chromis to tank is it too much?

So I was wondering if I could add 2 more blue green chromis. So far I have a snowflake moray 2 pj cardinals, 2 ocerillas clowns and a foxface, 1 blue green chromis. If I added 1 or 2 more chromis would it be too much bio load I also wanted to add a tang. Would the new chromis if similar size to the one small one I had for a few days be a problem with him and is this too much bio load with the tang. The tank is well established and is around a 100 gallons with around 90 lbs of live rock and a very deep sand bed like 4-6 inches. Keep in mind I do not have a sump.

Please help with my drawing

Hi friends! First day , first time registered in a forum and new to the hobby. With several book rentals and Google tasking, I have taken on the task of learning saltwater aquarium operations and concepts. And now I call on some help with plumbing setup.
The size tank I like is :
24"×24"×18" (41 gallons)

I also like the :
Center plumbing concealment tower (tank display will be on an island bar top, in my home).

Also, I want to double my order? why you ask? Because everything great comes in pairs?!!! One tank named Display Main (DM) & the other Display Refugium (DR). I wasn't too fond of growth happening inside of a cabinet and besides after much learning [and more to go] I realized this refugium is easily at the heart of the entire operation.
And, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." - Johnny, Dirty Dancing.
So, to add to my thought up design I would like for DM and DR to be next to each other 9"apart and at same height. With all my research and YouTube'n I have only seen a few examples where different heights are used for a gravity fed system.
I made a drawing depicting my understanding of how I want things to work.??? I need your guy's critique on plumbing , design flaws to help get my idea working.

Oh! And one more thing [and many more on future topics?] if I do have the DR tank next to DM tank during regular daylight hours, alternating lighting between tanks, 9"apart, will I constantly be battling a pH problem?

Thanks for all your help??

Attached Thumbnails

 

What type of alage/ bacteria

So just need help identifying this alage.. I thought it might have been diatoms, but it's not dusty like I've heard it described as. When i disturb the sand bed it wants to clump together with the sand. Now it's starting to get a few long hairs coming off of it. So far I don't see any airbubbles.. I'm really hoping it's not dinos that would be horrible. Please let me know what you think it is!!! Thanks

Attached Thumbnails

 

A toasty seashore Friday

Good morning TRT Friends, and....HAPPY, dripping in sweat FRIDAY! Running out of light fare for our morning offerings in this heat wave, but pulling out the reserve....a box of nice cold Ring Dings to go with our coffee and pink milk.....will even be switching from coffee during my 1/2 hour drive into work this morning to ice tea. Had a bag of cold Italian subs to munch on pool side last night after work, then a visit to the local custard stand to top the evening off....POWER TO THE SUMMER! :cool: We have 'Night in Venice' going on tomorrow night in Ocean City, ("N.J., not the other one."), so it's turning 'stupid' at work again.....'Oh, can we have our boat for Saturday'.......3 bent struts, 2 totaled props, 1 bent shaft...NO! :rolleyes: Right near the century mark for today around here, and only 1/2 the day will be below deck.....HOPEFULLY. Hope all are safe and well, and good things heading for ya, all the best,
Hack

Kenya tree question

Do these inflate and deflate. Just purchased a tiny 2 inch one at the lfs and when i got it home it was shrunk down. Still an hour in the tank and ssme shrunken size.

my 65g reef

65 gallon drilled tank. 80 lbs live sand. around 80 lbs rock.
2 165w mars aqua led black boxes
eshoppes rs75 3rd generation sump/fuge with an oddesea skimmer danner mag7 return.
2 800 gph power heads
current livestock;
2 ocellaris clowns
orange spotted shrimp goby
fire shrimp
pistol shrimp
10 hermits
5 troucus snails
2 Mexican turbos
10 astrea snails
pulsing xenia, gsp, pink hammers, frogspawn, green hammers, some zoas, and favites[IMG][IMG][/IMG][/IMG]

10% OFF Precision Marine Sumps + other savings up to 48%

l