Krux

The decrease in bioball use is directly proportional to the efficiency of protein skimmers... as they became more and more efficient at removing waste before it could break down, the need for the extra nitrogen conversion "real estate" went away, and could be met simply with in tank or sump live rock. This is not to say that they can't be used, only that technology has allowed us in many cases to leapfrog past that means of achieving the same end result. Alternately, people developed a more effecient refugium technique, which used natural (as opposed to mechanical) means of nutrient export, which again allowed for the removal of the balls. There is little documented evidence of bioballs being an actual hindrance, but by utilizing more modern techniques anecdotal evidence (in the form of low nitrates in systems lacking them) points to situations where they are not beneficial. There are a lot of ways to lower nitrates... space, time, and budget will ultimately dictate the best way for your system to meet these goals.

you just need to seal it in with a fresh bead of silicone.

yep like i said, cheaper to buy new rocks than new livestock

my suggestions would be smaller photos, and not repeating the same one 3 times wish i had some stuff to trade with you, nice stuff

As a funny observation, seems a lot of threads turn into every zoo in ca2or's tank threads saw it on rc too

i know 3 things: 1. BBQ 2. Blazers 3. Montipora

that was my first guess, really depends on how much it grows branches, if it stays massive or mixed plating/branching altasepta would be a good contender

anecdotally, bleach needs to be countered with vinegar, then baking soda... bleach is a base so baking soda won't do much to it. alternately a good rinse and a few days in the sun will evaporate it out

could be a number of things... M. altasepta, M. spongedes could even be a species of poncillipora... little early to tell

the first one looks like one of the giant zoas, the scientific name escapes me right now

Between this and the skimmers for sale thread, in my opinion you are running a side business, and are simply using this board as a way to generate income. The fact that you are acting as a middleman for another company to use this site to get rid of goods doesn't change the practice of what you are doing. He gets work done and pays you in goods, then you come here and sell the goods for profit... it is pretty transparent to me, maybe you don't gather what you are doing, but you may guess by the queries of other community members that folks have caught on. Prices are good, and I am sure someone could use a good deal, but there really isn't a way you could describe this practice to change the circumstances. The fact that your warehouse is your living room, and your wife is your sales manager telling you to unload your merchandise doesn't change what's happening in my opinion.

I observed aforementioned fixture at his home, it is in great condition.

someone mentioned silicone, indeed it can leach into the silicone over time, but if you get new stuff and lay a fresh bead after a VERY thorough cleaning it will lock it in fairly well. With no biological activity in the silicone, transfer back to the water will me minimal if at all.

27 of those were mine, the cat was sitting on the refresh button :P

it looks like this i have seen it all over at stores doubles as filter floss for a prefilter for your sump, i wish they would make socks out of it

thats the one i was thinking of bob, or a deltec if you want to spend crazy money for the same technology

aptly named peppermint

and the originator of the ridiculous egotistical zoanthid naming craze... not very often a pioneer effects the destruction of their passion

the issue with common copper test kits is they are in ppm, and are designed to show you how much to dose for treatment, they do not in general test low level which is what you need to have to determine trace poisoning. Get the most precise kit you can, adn then do the math and multiply the reagents to change the scale.

Crabs if i recall are not as sensitive as snails... use snails as your canary

I am not sure on your total system volume, but in lieu of loading up with a ton of live rock, you may also want to investigate a nitrate reactor or vodka and sugar dosing regimen to work on your nitrates

100 parts per billion is completely lethal to inverts, 10 ppb begins killing them off... and most test kits are not going to be fine enough for you to detect some, but know if it is under that level. inverts dying to copper poisoning, particularly snails under rock work could definitely be the source of phosphates and nitrates, so in a round about way the algae outbreak could be linked...

I would say then that you will be struggling until you change the rocks... it could be something else, but that is a glaring issue to me. In the long run, new rock is cheaper than constantly buying replacement corals

Copper is a heavy metal, and thus will not be readily absorbed by carbon. You need to run a product such as cuprisorb if there is copper in the tank. was it just the tank that had copper treated in it, or was it also the rocks and substrate? it could leach out of the rocks for years if those are also tainted. IMHO you have too many filtration processes removing things that are likely not the root of the problem. Adding more and more will not allow you to narrow down the issue.