Higher Thinking

Alkalinity will always be the nutrient that is consumed fastest. Then calcium, then magnesium.

My bad, sometimes I'm slow on things. I didn't want to come right out and say, "Hey man, you better be joking because if you're not, you're definitely a weirdo." I just thought I'd play it a bit safer Anyway, it's good that your tank is working out.

Any specific questions?

Which Reef Octopus skimmer is it? The 3000 number is just the pump, right? That pump is on several models.

Late Christmas present from my parents. Super pumped to drop this sometime in the near future. For my wife on the other hand, they went a different route.

I don't get why the light in the garage is messing with your sleep. Maybe I'm missing something. I run the reverse light cycle as well for my macro. I had to cover the light because it would overflow into the living room and into the bedroom.

So this tank is in your bedroom? How is it all setup?

That's a really dope idea. I might have to give this a shot. It seemed more likely than any issue with lighting because I would imagine the clam would just expose more mantle if there was insufficient light, verse deteriorating the mantle. Thanks! You have always been very noble. Thanks for offering such a tremendous opportunity. Do you take sugar and cream?

Yeah this meeting is definitely going to be legit. Hearing from a nationally recognized authority on salt and fresh water aquariums is no small thing. Make sure you're there! Plus, free frags?! Whoop whoop!

Yikes! How'd that turn out? My lame mistakes are trying to ever use a hydrometer and sea clone skimmer.

You're probably right. I always swap the two in my memory.

So I've been running my Radion lights pretty high and unfortunately I think I've had some negative fading on my corals because it's too bright. Anyway, I decided to reduce me lighting and the post couple weeks the corals have actually colored up more. However, I've noticed some problems with a couple clams. They seem to have little nips taken out of them. I have no idea if this could be related to sudden reduction in lighting or maybe some other issue. I do have a green canary blenny which I've never seen nipping, but they are a possibility. The clams are always open and photo receptive. 75 gal with custom sump Kh: 8.9 Cal: 440 PO4: .04 Lighting is Gen 3 pro. Hanging about 8 inches off the water. Maxima is on top of rock work (about 18"away from light) and squamosa is on the substrate. Lighting used to be 80% overall with whites and blues at 100. After reading a bunch of other lighting graphs from people, I've reduced it to 70% overall with blues at 100 and whites at only 40. So whites went from 80% to 28% (.7x40). I can't get a shot of the maxima, but here's one of the squamosa. You can see how the front edge of the mantle is chipped at two places. Thoughts?

I was hanging out at the Premium Aquarium the other day (where else would one go during their free time in Salem?) and talking with Garrett. He informed me that the T. Maxima 'Teardrop' that I got from Douglas was actually a different species of clam that had recently been identified. I was pretty surprised to learn this information so I did some research. Turns out scientists moved forward to defining two new species of clams: Noae and Ningaloo. These were previously identified as variant or cryptic species of the Maxima. The craziest part is that an individual actually identified the Noae as a separate species from Maxima in 1798. Yeah....SEVENTEEN 98. It only took the scientific community 216 years to jump on board with that guy's identification. Anyway, pumped to know that my Teardrop Maxima is actually a Tridacna Noae. Check out this article. There is a lot of scientific information and testing numbers, but it's still very readable. There is some excellent information about distinguishing the two of them. 62rbz124-135.pdf

Those are good ideas everyone. Certainly something to look forward to!! If only been in the hobby a real brief time compared to everyone else, but the continuous development of ideas and technology is amazing.

It's one of those fandangled gizmos for the Neptune Apex whatchamacallit.

Worst thing: putting a gallon or two on the carpet. Not the worst, but it's an apartment. Best: Upgrading to the 75 from the 40b.

I was doing some reading earlier on Stuber's Stag. If you're not familiar with it it was the first documented Acropora actually kept alive in captivity. It happened sometime in the mid 80's. I guess the guy got it on a piece of live rock and it just sprouted up and kept growing. Anyway, that got me thinking. What do you think are going to be the huge developments in the next decade or two? Maybe something about not doing water changes or maybe doing more water changes? New developments in salt mixes? What do you think we will be able to do that we cannot do now? It's pretty crazy how far this for hobby has come in only a couple of decades and it's even crazier to think about where it can be in a couple decades in the future. What are your thoughts?

Everything you mentioned definitely makes a lot of sense regarding hard metals accumulating in rocks. That seems reasonable. However, like your question presupposes, if they can test for both free floating and complex, they both would have to be in the water column. This of course means they could be removed with water changes. Considering everything you wrote about accumulation in sand/rock (which again, I agree with) you would only detect that with a sample of the sand or scraping out some live rock. Right? At least that's how I see it. It only follows that if items are isn't in a water sample, they could be removed by water changes because they're in the water column. The rock and sand is a different story.

This idea doesn't really make sense. In order to be able to test for these metals, we would have to be able to test them from the water sample. If they are not suspended in a water column, then how are they coming up in the water test? If we can pull them out in the water and test for them, then obviously we can pull them out with water changes. There's no science to this assumption, but it is just how I logically look at the situation.

Yes you've got the jist of the herbie. Whether you run the emergency with a slight trickle or just keep the water level in between is personal preference. I ran a poll several months ago and it was about 50/50. Check you tube for some videos of people doing it if you want more insight. I don't think you would want to "y" your main siphon because I don't think it'd siphon correctly. I don't know though. You could just have the emergency dump into the tank. That's how mine is set up. That way when water starts dribbling over the top, I would hear it and know something was up. You can see the emergency pipe hanging down here: As long as the emergency dumps into the sump, it doesn't matter where.

Welcome. You'll have a lot of fun filling that bad boy up with coral. Look forward to the build thread.

I think it works. I'm not positive on it though, because I haven't checked them out much. When deciding which way I was going to go, my research led me to the two I listed. Whether the durso is silent (which would be great if it was, I just don't know) it still leaves you with no emergency drain. What happens if that clogs? Yikes! If anything I'd run the durso and use the other line as an emergency stand pipe and run the return over the back. I'd be terrified to run only one pipe outta my DT.

You really got to read up on Herbie or Bean Animal style overflows. They're the main way to go unless you want your tank to sound like a toilet all day with gurgling and flushing water. These two overflow styles make your system dead silent and they require a specific flow (the reason why you would restrict the flow). It's definitely necessary to restrict the flow. From the looks of your setup, you have two holes. In that case, you'll have to run your return over the top unless you want to drill another hole. A Herbie requires two down-spouts and the Bean Animal requires three. Herbies are pretty popular. The way you have it setup now you don't have a safety overflow spout.

Please do yourself a HUGE favor. Use a gate valve for your downward flow. I've never used those ball valves for a sump, but from what I've heard, they can be a nightmare. Treat yourself to an extra fifteen bucks and buy a gate valve. Your setup and future adjustments will literally be a snap. If you go the ball valve route, setting and adjusting will prove very difficult. Just my opinion after reading through many posts.