Nyles

Mandrin is loving it, hes hanging out near the top of the tank, when the lights go out Im hoping he comes down for some munchies. The pods are everywhere at night. Sarah I need to get ahold of you, I had a couple small questions about my phyto cultures. Well I still got the damsel, hes hangin in the refugium till tomorrow. Now I just got to figure out what I want for fish. Im kinda thinking about a royal gramma. Right now I have in the 155 bowfront: Mandrin Lawnmower Blennie Blue tang Yellow tang Pearly Jawfish 6-line wrasse False Perc Copperband Butterfly Im hoping to get another tang but most the others are aggresive. Any suggestions? My idea is 1 larger fish or 2-3 smaller fish costing under $150 total.

OK the last 4 weeks I have been trying to catch a Blue Damsel. There was 2 others I easily caught but this guy wasn't going down without a fight. I tried all of the pro's ideas to no avail. Tried the 2 liter bottle, tried netting with food in it, tried turning the light off and flushing him out, and many other ways. Finally I went down to the good old Wal-Mart and picked up a 98 cent rubbermaid cotainer (clear) drilled a hole in the back to wire some food, drilled a hole in the top and a hale near the front lower latch and rigged up a fishline rig so I could yank on it and close the tub. It took me 4 days and he wouldn't go in, he knew there was food but wouldn't go in, I put my hand in to fix the trap (it was trying to float) and no kidding he went in just to make me mad, I moved my hand for the wire and he swam out, so I moved my hand in the tank again and sure enough he went right back in and I got him! Finally, I was getting worried the fish was smarter than me!!!! Well I just had to post, I can finally get some fish in there without him terrorizing them. Anyone want a Damsel? LOL (laugh)

Most distilled water comes now in the form of ro/di water from the manufacturers

fun fun... see you both later today... lol

My only concern is the hair algae starts, keep an eye on your ph04 because of this.

Also on my tank I have stopped doing monthly water changes and moved to weekly smaller changes, this has helped 100% to keep levels nice and low / untraceable

Your tests look good, offer is available anytime (ph04 test) ph is fine and so is your temp. If it was me I would test ph04 and make sure its kept to "0" and just be patient. Make sure your skimmer is working optimally (as you stated) and your water should look clear.

Check your phosphate levels, or pm me, I work in eugene and can bring my phosphate test in. As Miles said on another post, make sure you incoming water is crystal clear as well. Hope you get it sorted, if its a new tank it may subside naturally (how new is newish?). Can you post your test results?

well if you toothbrush them, make 100% sure you do it in a tub out of your tank, and dump the water you use. When you clean the algae you release algae spores that will gladly take over new places in your tank.

Yes your ph is very high, the wter changes will be good, Like I said run that skimmer really wet to help, and if you can run some phosban in a phos reactor till you feel comfortable. If the tank is as small as you say all you would need for phos is about 2 teaspoons, it sounds like not enough but I use about 1/4 cup in my 155 gallon.

Miles you have a tds meter? If so we need to meet at Seans sometime and I would like to to check my water out.

Well I recorded it and my 5 year old identified about 50% of the fish and about 90% of the coral... good lord.....DOH!

Thanks a million!

bump, I just filled mine completly, works fine..... Intersted what others are doing, but honestly I don't think it will matter. Did you check out that link?

but make sure your using a clean source of water (ro/di) and test it before dumping in. If you don't have any livestock (new tank cycle) I woun't worry just yet, let it cycle. As for temp your on the high side and try to keep at 79, but only because if you get in the 83's or higher you can start getting to the red zone for alot of corals.

as reefboy said this is how I got rid of mine, stepped up my water changes, and siphoned what I could, ran phosban, since it lasts about 2 months not 2 days, and run the skimmer really wet (this is key). It will take time, the rock has tried to absorb all that crap now you will kick the cycle in reverse, you will have to remove water to help do almost a tank "Cook" slowly removing wastes from the rock. If you can blow down the rocks with a powerhead first then siphon. It will take time and patience.

http://www.cnidarianreef.com/faq.cfm?FID=37

Sounds interesting enough, keep the camera handy. DOH!

did you say fire? (flame)

I use the blue :P

I made this page to give me a better "Visual" of all the things working together, it helps me understand whats going on a little better than all the numbers on a log book. Also giving me hints when my tank may be lurching towards a out of balance system. Anyhow this is based on RANDY HOLMES-FARLEY's book, and I have left a link for the zoning fixes here: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm I'm sure most of us are familiar but I still find it informative from time to time. Attached is my form I am thinking of filling out while testing as a replacement to a notebook log. Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks, and feel free to use if you wish. Nyles-

Simple airline is fine.

http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/reactor.html

Someone help us out here..... LOL Im in the preliminary stages of testing results.

Good starting point 1 bubble per second or 65-70 per minute on the conservative side. on the effluent Im "trying" a steady drip, almost a drizzle.... not there so I cant count but I would guess somewhere around 5-8 drip per second seems to get the ph nice and low.