civicsit

It would probably work out that if you bought a good used computer you would only have to add some RAM and maybe an external hard drive later.

I have the koralia 2 in my 30g, and love it. They are so easy to position and the flow is nice and indirect, so it goes all over the tank. I think that the only down side would be the magnet, like chewie said. They don't just randomly fall off, but if you go to reposition it, you have to hold the magnet too so that it doesn't come off. I still say yay for the koralia, although I have seen that you can get some pretty crazy flow out of a modded nanostream. But the koralia's are a lot less expensive

I just had a couple of questions about clownfish behavior: Does the male clown of a pair normally flash or raise their front dorsal fin or spikes at the female of the pair? Or does this just happen when the pair are establishing their sex and dominance? Also is it the male or female of the pair that normally hosts in the anemone or whatever it is and keeps the other out, or do they both host? And does it depend on the species of clown to what behaviors they exhibit? The reason I am asking is because I have a young pair of pink skunk clowns, and was wondering about some of their behaviors. I have had them for about 2 weeks, when I got them they were about the same size, but now one clown is visibly bigger than the other. The bigger clown is more dominant over the other, but the smaller one still flashes his front dorsal fin at the other. They seem to be doing well though and always keep close together in the tank. Thanks (rock2)

I am looking for a Macrodactyla doreensis (Corkscrew, Long Tentacle Anemone, or LTA). I have read that they are one of the prefered hosts for pink skunk clowns and stay relatively small. So let me know if you have one, or have seen one. Thanks.

The main thing that helps in running photoshop and similar programs is RAM memory. I would probably recommend a min of 1 gig and preferably have 2 gig or more. That way you can have multiple photos and programs open at the same time. I good video card is a good idea, probably at least a 128mb and a 256mb would be better. Since your doing photo editing I would say that you would need a lot of storage space, so you might want a hard drive of 200 gigs or more, depending on how much your doing. You can always get an external one later if you need more. I've seen 1 terabyte hard drives at costco . A good processor is always a must in any computer. In a desktop I really don't think that it matters that much what you get as long as it is not a celeron. Celerons suck and will kill your computer in the end. A dual core would be nice but is not necessary. Most people will probably have their own opinion as to which kind of processor is the best (AMD, intel, etc.), but I don't think it really matters that much as long as you don't get a baseline processor. Also, I think that a dvd burner might be a good idea. My dad does a lot of photography and has to burn a lot of cd's of photos for people, it just depends on what you think you will be doing. You could try going to the different manufactures websites and building the computers to compare prices, and also look on craigslist to see if you can find one that fits your criterea. Anyways, I hope this helps. Let me know if you need to know anything else.

I think that the salinity depends on what they are keeping, and each person has their own opinion. I think that a fish only should be lower, like around 1.019-1.020, but a reef tank does better at around 1.024-1.026. The lower salinity helps with the fish only tanks to keep parasites at bay, but the corals need the higher salinity to thrive. Again, this is JMO.

Nice info, and thanks for sharing. Do you or anyone else know about oceanpure pro? I use it so I was just wondering. Thanks.

prices for parting everything out have been dropped ... the tank needs to go

Well, I finally decided to do a tank thread. I have been in the hobby for only a year, so I'm still quite inexperienced. I started with a 15H and a 10g refugium/sump. After a little bit I decided that I didn't like the dimensions of the 15H, so I moved to a 20L. I like the 20L, it gives the look of a big tank in a small package. I upgraded my lights and started to keep more sps and not too long ago started to get some acro's. My tank has been doing pretty good with no real big set-backs (besides a little heat damage over the summer) and I would have probably just kept with the 20L and let the corals grow until I move next year after I finish college. This is where it took an unexpected turn. My girlfriend has always been kind of interested in my tank, but didn't really care all that much. But lately she has taken more of an interest in it and decided that she wants to buy corals for it. I was getting to where I was running out of room in my 20L since I wanted room for the corals to grow, so she suggested that I look into a bigger tank. We found a 30g oceanic cube for sale in the classifieds (thanks krux) and ended up getting it. Here are some pics of the cube I got and my 20L before the move. This is what I bought for the plumbing, a SCWD (switching current wave director) and two outputs to hook up to it. So this is where the hard part comes in. I had to move everything from my 20L into the 30 cube and redo the plumbing. I just finished the move today (it took me about 12 hours to do everything), and got the cube set up. I used a big plastic tub for my live rock and had two small tubberware containers for the fish and corals. I had a lot of salt water mixed up and had some extra RO/DI water in case I needed to mix more. Everything actually ended up going pretty smoothly and all of the inhabitants seem to be content. The polyps on my acro's were even extended out and my pink skunk pair were swimming around. Here are a couple pics of the cube in it's new location. It is still little hazy, so hopefully that will clear up overnight. (rock2) Here is a shot of my pair of pink skunk clowns. I just got them a couple of weeks ago. One is deffinetly more aggresive and is starting to get larger than the other one. I want to get an anemone host for them. BTW what anemone would you suggest considering that they are pink skunks and I have a 30g? The 30g cube is a lot bigger than my 20L (AGA 20L only hold about 18g of water) so I am going to need to get more rock. My mound of rock looks pretty puny right now. So what do you think? Any suggestions or comments? Enjoy, (drinking) Karl

yea i just took some ... its now officially taken down and pretty much ready to go (need to do something w/ gravel) the lights flip up so you can get into the tank easily.

the lights retail new ~$86 penguin 200 bio wheel filter retails ~$50 (this would also work for a refugium for a smaller tank) if someone's intersted in things seperately tank + stand + lights - $100 or lights (30")- $60 (will also fit on a 20L) or tank+stand - $50 filter - $20 heater - $15 aquarium ornaments/decorations & rocks - $10 (for all of it) gravel substrate - free if purchase something else

You could try the mesh impeller mod to create finer bubbles.

Maybe you could try a lawnmower blenny for the hair algae, and a tang for the rest?

Are they both true percs? or is one of them a onyx? Nice video, I can't wait until I can get my skunks to spawn.

reduced - $140 obo

Yea, I would love to hear about it too. I would like to get one or two for my tank as well.

I'm assuming this is your 55 gal? I think that upgrading your hydors would be the best bet for increasing flow without causing sand issues since the hydors have such indirect flow. I have a hydor 2 in my 20L and love it, so do my corals, but I mostly have sps with a few big frogspawn colonies and a few small zoos. If you wanted to direct the flow away from the sand, you could place the hydors in the front bottom corners and direct them to the back top corners or at your rock. Also, on your return, you could put in a SCWD and split it into two outputs, one on each side of the tank, to give it more of a natural flow. I don't really think that this would help out with the cyno, but I think it is supposed to help your corals grow better since it is more like a natural reef. I'm sure you have, but have you gotten your phosphates checked? May be a factor for the cyno. (Or is it not since cyno is called a bacteria and not an algae? Sorry just got a sudden thought)

30.5"W x 20.5"H x 12.5"D ... i guess you could call it a 40H

if anyone's interested please contact my gf ... you can make an offer ... call (310) 365-5175 will consider breaking up the setup if someone's interested in only part of it.

Thanks for the great frogspawn! They both have expanded out and look awsome! Thanks, Karl

Thanks for the replies. I looked on the reef nutrition site and the coral reef pet center is a retailer, so I could probably just get it from there. Plus I'm going to be in Salem tomorrow, so it works out. Thanks again, Karl

Clams need MH lighting and I think that they might the same as corals in the way that they will grow better under 10k, but will have better color under 20k. It depends on how deep your tank is for how much you need, the deeper the tank, the more light you need.

Does anyone have pods that I would be able to have or buy so that I can reseed my tank/refugium? I would be willing to collect them myself if need be. I had a big pod population in my tank when I started it, but then they all disappeared a while ago, and I'm not sure why. Thanks, Karl

40 gal freshwater setup including: odyssea compact flourescent light fixture with 2, 65W bulbs (one is acintinc) & moonlight leds -- lights would work for keeping soft corals if used for saltwater penguin biowheel 200, (works on tanks up to 50 gal) 40 gal tank & stand 150 watt heater substrate (small gravel) some plants aquarium ornaments - some rocks, colliesium with air bubble connection, and ceramic castle the lights and filter are just over a year old $160 for everything PM or email- rosecat04@sbcglobal.net