ringwurm

Looks good.

I like to cover 2 sides of the QT with something black and put a few pieces of pvc so the fish have a place to hide.

Well I'm still alive. I ended up smashing the aiptasia into my arm for several seconds while I will cleaning out part of the sump. I didn't notice until I took my arm out and it started tingling/stinging. I have this little red mark that almost looks like a burn the inside of my arm now. It still tingles this morning.

I called poison control last night just to make sure (gotta love anxiety issues) and the funny thing was it was her 2nd call of the evening for anenome stings. lol She said it should be ok and to wash the area in as hot of water as you can stand for 30-60 min. The hot water is suppose to help get the toxins out.

ya. I missed one in the sump and stung my arm.

Can Aiptasia sting harm people?

What kind of salt are you using?

I was using oceanpure and was having very similar results. My boron levels were really high and magnesium levels were really low. I'm in the process of switching salts right now to see if it makes things better.

I feed two or three times a day. Just keep the meals small if you want to feed often.

I'm thinking someone should make a bunch of frag mags so I can have some!

wow. great pictures.

Can you explain the whole frag hanging on the side wall thing?

Ryan from Advanced hooked me up with some magnesium to dose and also scored me a small frag of some baby blue digi he had. Thanks Ryan!

I also picked up a new colony from Coral Reef Pet center this weekend. The store is looking good. I'll try to get another pic once it adjusts to the new tank.

Greg

The tank has been doing so-so. I've had a bunch of coral RTN on me for unknown reasons. I ended up testing my boron levels and they were 17ppm! ouch. I'm in the process of switching salts which appears to be helping. I'm also dosing magnesium since my levels were a bit low.

Here are a few updated pictures of the setup.

The new tanks are setup and ready for plumbing.

Existing frag tank. I still have a few chunks of rock in the tank that I will be moving into the main display.

I've now taken over a whole stall in the garage. lol. My wife is thrilled. I'm going to encase the whole area in pvc/plastic like a greenhouse when the weather starts to cool down.

The kalk reactor is finally up and running. It is cycling for 10 min every 3 hrs. If you ever get a chance to buy a aquarium controller look at the neptune AC3. It is extremely easy to use and is rock solid. Coding the pump to cycle is one simple line in the program.

I moved the calc reator off the floor so the kalk reactor doesn't get lonely. Actually the main reason is to keep the sump splatter off the co2 tank. The only downside was I needed a bigger feed pump to get the water up to the reactor.

I have a new shelf for the phyto and rotifer cultures to live. I also hooked up a utility sink so I don't have to go back and forth to the utility room when i need to use the sink.

I even took time to organize my test kits. lol

Greg

Click below image for video

I'm setting up the 36" tank w/ the tek T5 hood. How high over the tank should I mount the T5's?

Anyone have pics of their setup?

Greg

CA - 380

ALK - 8

How do you dose magnesium (daily/weekly?) and do you carry it?

I tested my Magnesium levels tonight and they are at 1170. It says normal seawater is between 1300-1500.

What levels does everyone else run at?

Does anyone dose magnesium?

Paint isn't as easy to remove as the plastic colored paper. I used the blue/black plastic roll paper from petco.

Could you use caps next time. It is hard to read when its all lowercase.

You can start with a few pounds of live rock. The main thing you are after is a starter source of bacteria to start the cycle. A few pounds of live rock will have plenty of goodies in it to get you rolling. Hand-made rocks are fine as long as they have cured long enough. I have not made any myself but I think it takes them a few weeks to a month before they are safe to put in a tank.

I already have a nice frag tank.

proposed plan for the setup:

Since I already have a frag tank I think I'm going to use the large tank for a pair of Clarkii clowns in hopes they will start laying eggs. I will use the smaller cube (and the other tanks i have laying around) to raise the babies.

Off to home depot for supplies.

I will be in the market for a breeding pair of clarkii clowns if anyone has seen any around. I will also need a nice LTA for them to host in.

I have found a lot of good information on breeding over at http://www.rareclownfish.com. I also have a few books coming. Do any of our local members have any experience breeding clowns?

Greg

I'm not sure if they still have them but Costco had gloves in the cleaning section. You get a zillion gloves for 6 or 7 bucks.

Are they this kind?

http://cgi.ebay.com/500-x-YELLOW-PLASTIC-CASTLE-TEES_W0QQitemZ320025909249QQihZ011QQcategoryZ18931QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ShippingPayment

Are they local?

A question for all you zoa fraggers.

How do you protect yourself from palytoxin? Are you even worried about it?

After reading quite a few different articles I decided against keeping/propagating zoas.

I guess I could never get past the whole. "Onset of Symptoms: Rapid, with death occurring within minutes." part.

http://www.cbwinfo.com/Biological/Toxins/Palytoxin.html

RC Article

http://www.reefcentral.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=158730&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

Greg

Does anyone have any running cultures that I could get starts from?

or do any of the LFS carry culture disks?

Greg

I guess I will chime in here.

I was very excited to join the club last year but soon realized it was not what I expected. The meetings are just an excuse to goto a fish store to get things at a discount. I have not been to a meeting that was actually worth my time (besides the livestock). Nothing is discussed that the average member cares about and definately nothing educational. I would actually be embarrased to bring a visitor to one of our meetings because nothing happens at them.

I almost didn't renew my membership but decided to for the LFS discounts and the aquarium trip. I guess you have to take it for what its worth unless you are willing to put out the effort to change things at the top level.

My suggestions for meetints would be:

Have a scheduled meeting. Have a start, middle and end.

Have planned topics.

Have members give talks.

Have sponsors give talks.

Explain a product.

Talk about a fish or coral.

If you provide a meeting agenda people can be prepared to speak or ask questions.

------

My suggestions for the club in general:

The club should have several goals. Long term and short term. Make the club have a purpose.

short terms:

- have the club be a source of something to the hobby.

- propogation of a certain coral that we would make available to other clubs

- breeding of fish or invert

Long Term:

How to help the hobby via knowledge xfer.

Have specific goal for people to work towards.

Greg

Either sponsors should be able to respond in all forums or we need a general sponsors forum.