dsoz

Ask Travis at Upscales. I think he had some in the past.

dsoz

Anemones like a hole to put their foot in. When I "plant" them in a hole in the light, they almost never move. They like to be fed, but "safety" in a hole is one of the most important qualities for a BTA.

That is a nice color that you have there. Hopefully it goes well for you.

dsoz

Yes it would make a ground but I am not sure if its legal or safe.

Thanks Brandon.

I was pretty sure it would ground (with a metal pipe, but not PVC). Legal is a little less of a worry, but safe is my big concern.

dsoz

I have a 29g tank that I could loan you. It has had copper in it before so it is no good for reefing but I have used it as a QT tank whenever I get a new fish.

I put a HOB filter and a heater in the tank. I usually don't light it, but I do have some PC lights that I could loan you that could be jury-rigged up to make some light (I think only the actinics still work, but it is something).

dsoz

My house does not have this problem (it was rewired by the electrician that owned it 30 years ago). But would properly attaching a bare 14 ga wire to a metal pipe that goes through the ground (water supply is what I am thinking) then run the wire to the receptacle that is ungrounded be enough to wire in a 3-prong GFCI receptacle? Would it meet code?

My mom-in-law's house has a mixture of grounded and ungrounded receptacles. There is one place in the house where it would be nice to have a 3-prong plug but there is no ground wire running there right now. I am trying to brain-storm easy solutions to the issue.

dsoz

The first looks like MRA. It was "named" by CA2OR for Mad Reefer Avatar. I guess MadReefer had a pic of them as his avatar and Eric liked them so he got a frag of them. The only other place that I have seen them is in a fish store in Eugene when I was down there visiting. I think I got 10 polyps for $8...

And the fourth one looks a little like "tubbs blues" that are not really colored up very much. :(

dsoz

unplug everything. Test the tank to see if you get shocked.

Plug in one thing at a time and keep testing in between. Find out what is causing the shock. My bet is a cheep powerhead or maybe the heater. There is a slight possibility that it is a ballast from the lights that is bad and causing high voltage to leak into the tank.

A safer way to test is to use a voltage probe. One lead in the ground and one lead in the tank. Then the probe tells you when there is voltage and not your pain...

dsoz

Sorry to hear about that...

When we bought our Honda civic we had LoJack installed just because of the theft issue that they have.

dsoz

I would say colonista snail. Harmless.

dsoz

That size would be probably $30-35 between club members. If you got it in a store it would probably be at least $60-100.

Nice pictures. Mine never get large enough to split like that... They always meet my knife before they do that. He he he...

dsoz

Are you against man-made rock? I have some that I made 18 months ago and is in a tank with salt water and fish to show that it supports life. $1 per lb. Let me know.

dsoz

karensroseanemones.net I think. If not, then google karens rose anemones. Read everything there at least three times!!!! A lot of good info. There is a part of the page that is about covering powerheads with a screen that you can buy at craft or fabric stores... I don't know what they call it, but is is a plastic grid with small holes. Check out Karen's page to get the idea.

+1 on waiting until AT LEAST 6 months!!!! Good luck

dsoz

nice. But those damsels will become problems later for you. You will want to remove them before you really get into corals. It will probably be a whole tank job. Take out all the rock. Put the rock and all but one inch of water into buckets, totes, tubs, tupperware, etc. Then catch the bugger fish. Put back all the stuff and never have it look as good as it used to... :(

There is a reason that the first part of the word dam-sel is... well this is a family friendly site so I won't print it.

Get yourself the obligatory pair of clowns (probably grown over in Vancouver by Barleycuda AKA Dave) and maybe a dwarf angel (some can be coral nippers so be careful), and another one or two fish (Lawnmower blenny is my favorite, but others like watchman gobies).

Otherwise, your tank looks great for a starting tank.

dsoz

not enough light, and not old enough tank (some say 6 months, others say no anemone for the first year!!!). It looks like you have a pair of false percs (could be true percs, but I did not look close enough). Neither true or false percs naturally host bubble tip anemones. They will accept BTAs as hosts, but it is mostly hit and miss. I have a pair of false percs that did not host anything for almost 18 months, then I finally got them to host in a frogspawn. Now they won't leave the coral alone, but only one colony, they won't go near any other colony of hammer/torch/frogspawn that I have in the tank.

You would do better to watch here for BTAs that go on sale from members. You know where it is coming from, very little shipping stress, and you can get a rose anemone for less than you would pay for the green one from Live Aquaria (let alone including shipping).

If you are interested in an anemone later, you should google Karensroseanemones.net and learn everything she has to say about anemones by heart. Most of it is really good, and none of it is completely bad.

dsoz

I have some concrete rock that is very porous (used salt in the mix). it has been sitting outside for more than a year in the rain, and then in freshwater to Kure it to a pH that is below 9 (just right for salt water). Some is even in saltwater with a fish in the tank swimming around.

Selling for $1.50/lb

notice the xenia and the GSM clown in this pic?

dsoz

I ordered from them, not the divers den but the regular live aquaria. I was happy with what I got and how it arrived. I was looking for something special and asked at all the local shops. They told me that they did not have it, and could not get it in stock so I ordered online.

dsoz

I have a glass cutting tool and experience cutting glass (I have made stained glass windows). I have even cut thick glass from a 55g tank. As long as the glass is not too thick, it should be easy to cut. You would need a scoring tool ($5 from home depot) and a straight edge. If you use a couple of padded clamps (cloth wrapped around clamps) to hold the straight edge in place while you score it is best. Then use a dowel or something like it (even a pencil) under the glass at the score mark and gently push down on each side until the score mark opens up. Most of the time it goes without a hitch. Sometimes you get it cracking where you don't want it to. :(

If you have a dremmel with a diamond bit it can be used to clean up any sharp edges when you are all done.

I would offer to help you cut it, but the next three weekends are booked solid for me, and evenings are hectic just getting everything done that I need to do. If you are not in a big hurry, maybe on a weekend sometime next month.

dsoz

I have small feather-duster worms that are overtaking my tank. If you want to come over you can give me $5 and pick out as many of the tubeworms as you want. They are great filter feeders, and kinda cool. They are not fancy colors or anything, just white, but will still pull back into their tube when disturbed. They are probably 1-2 mm in diameter and a couple of inches long each.

One warning, most of them are in a tank that has an algae problem, so they MIGHT bring algae along with them. If your tank has a nutrient problem (like mine does), then you would have an algae bloom. If your tank is low on nutrients then the algae should die off and you should have no problem.

Send me a PM if interested

dsoz

I agree, peanut worm. Good guy to have.

dsoz

Use a large insulated cooler for the fish. Insulation should keep the water temperature constant for several hours (at least) and close enough for fish comfort for up to a day or two. While you are driving the water movement should be enough to keep the water oxygenated. If you stop, throw a heater and powerhead (maybe even an airstone) in the cooler and it is a "tank on the go."

LR can be transported in rubbermaid totes as long as it stays underwater the life on the rock should not die-off and cause a new cycle.

Sand I would get new and throw out all but a couple of cups of the old sand. Use the cups of old sand as "starter" cultures for the benthic life.

Other options would be to ship corals to someone up here so that they can "babysit" them while you are moving and setting up your new tank.

You could stop at someone's house and drop off your livestock for a couple of weeks while you make sure that there is no cycle. Many of us would be willing to hold your fish for a couple of weeks. I know that I have a 2 x 40b prop system that only has two fish in it right now and a couple of fish would not put stress on the system at all for that time. You can come pick them up when you are sure that your system is running properly.

dsoz

When I add sodium carbonate (soda ash) I usually add the amount to about a gallon of RODI water before adding. Then there is no precipitation. The precipitation can actually LOWER your calcium levels. This is also how I top off my tank because I don't have an ATO.

I also add the calcium chloride to a gallon of water before adding it too, but it usually does not precipitate when added straight to the tank.

dsoz

Use a pair of tweezers. Grab the xenia as close to the base a possible and "peel" it off the palys. I have been able to peel xenia off many different substances including rock, glass, plastic, and other coral. If you do it right, you can get it all and it won't grow back. If you do it wrong (leave a small bit of flesh attached) then more xenia will grow from the small bit... Not bad, because once it get's big enough you can just pull it again.

dsoz

Some of that could be the calcium and carbonate (alkalinity) that dissolve when diluted enough, but will precipitate (turn solid) when concentrated. That is one of the reasons the directions say to add the salt to the water, not water to salt.

Adding salt to water starts with the salt greatly diluted and gradually increases the concentration of the ions so they dissolve properly.

Adding water to salt starts with the salt greatly concentrated then slowly decrease. There are many interactions at high concentrations that do not occur at lower concentrations, and most of those interactions tie up the calcium and carbonate ions so they are not useful to our animals right away. They can and do slowly dissolve in the aquarium (at the lower concentrations).

Even the brown and other colored chunks may be essential elements that have precipitated out because of the high concentrations. You may be removing some of the elements that are essential...

dsoz

Very nice explain job...

There are some details that are not exact, but the general idea is sound.

Don't forget that the carbonate is turned into carbonic acid at the same time that the calcium acetate is formed.

It does not "ionize the calcium molecules." A better way to say it would be "dissociates the calcium containing molecule making it soluble in water."

But only a chemist (or chemistry teacher) would know or care about the differences...

dsoz

those are sponges. (I only looked at the first picture).

Common in new tank setups, but usually don't last very long. Not harmful, and maybe good for extra filtration.

dsoz