TheGooseWhisperer

i dont know squat about Ca reactors, but it sure looks nice:) Another excellent DIY project from Ryan! Sidenote: anyone have a link to a good DIY skimmer? Cheap and simple would be the key...it wouldn't need to be the most powerful/efficient, just "good". Something on the order of a 150-250g system...

Heya and welcome. Stuff always hitchhikes in on frags, but I would guess that would be a really slow way to get coraline growth and the other benficial critters dsoz is speaking of. Maybe get a few pounds of quality LR to seed with? Sounds like you have a good plan overall...cant wait to see the progress.

you misspelled "splinter" sorry, I couldn't resist (laugh) Everyone has their own ideal. This is a community and as such the board is likely to do what they feel is best for the community. There are obviously strong opinions on both sides of the topic so perhaps for the time being sellers should make an effort to specify one way or the other (if they care that is).

A green clown goby was the first to show ich and was dead in 2 days...next to catch it was my female perc clown, then the male, then a yellow clown goby. The female died pretty fast and then the YCG went. I thought the male was going to pull through when the cloudiness lessened and he started behaving a bit more normally, but then he was gone when I got home from work 2 days later. At that point I thought it was all over...the Potter's accepted cleanings from the cleaner shrimp and was eating and behaving well so I thought it would pull through...I was wrong again...he went from appearing normal to dead in 2 days. I thought the watchman was a goner for sure, but hes held strong the longest. And he does sift the crushed coral through his gills too...sometimes he gets a piece thats too big though and he has to just spit it out:p If he doesn't make it I will definitely get another one. While we are talking about ich...I was going to wait 4 weeks after the outbreak is over to get a new fish...or should I wait longer?

IMO sponsors are members of this community just like the rest of us. If the seller wants to let something go cheap because they think in is going to go in a display tank and stay there forever then they can state that in the sale and try to enforce it themselves. Most likely the seller wants the cash and isn't so concerned about where the item ends up. The reality is we ALL have the ability to snatch up good deals and resell them...you don't have to have a storefront to sell a coral, tank, pump etc. so while being idealistic about this situation might make you feel better it just isn't realistic. Sully most likely helped El Salv out...I have a hard time envisioning the typical hobbyist buying a complete setup. Seems like most of the hobbyists like to build up a system themselves, but thats just my impression of the situation.

Right now I only have one fish remaining from my ich breakout (well, the Potter's never actually showed signs of ich, but went from behaving normal to hiding in a cave breathing fast to dead in about 36-48 hrs). The watchman goby has a white patch (about the size of his dorsal fin) on his side that has not changed in over a week now and hes behaving normal. I've been trying to avoid stirring up too much gunk lately because I'm worried about stressing the system and contributing to the goby's death. I did get an emerald crab (just cuz I like them) and I have about 6 blue/red legged hermits. Most of the detritus at this point is actually from my cleanup crew:p So I guess its more processed than fish poop would be. I've changed from a 20% WC every week to every 2 weeks. I also, increased my circulation from a MJ900 and MJ1200 on a wave-maker to just having both of them on all the time. Side-note: when i increased the circulation I noticed almost overnight thin strands on a large portion of the glass...from what I've read people have said it is bacteria or the result of increased bacterial activity. I just took it as a rebalancing of the system after I made a change and dont plan on doing anything about it. Sound good? I also took off the overflow box from the HOB skimmer so that I can continue running the skimmer through out a WC (when there is the most stuff suspended in the water column). While the tank was finishing the cycle and for the next month or so I was having issues with an "oil-slick" on the surface and the overflow box on the skimmer helped with that...now that problem is gone so I thought removing the box would be better for the long term health of the tank. At this point I think I'm with Kris...it will balance out in time. Nitrates read zero, but I have minimal fish load and don't feed much right now. My shrooms are much larger then they have ever been and one of my zoa frags has really come alive lately...a couple weeks ago the surface would be about half polyp and half rock...now you can barely see the rock surface with the polyps opening up much larger than they had before. Frogspawn and toadstool also seems perfectly happy. So while I feel like there is more detritus then there should be, all the livestock appears very healthy. I just stir up a bit of gunk during WCs and will continue to do such. Maybe I'll toss in one of those nesarius snails sometime, but I dont see going through changing the substrate or adding any other livestock. Things might change when I start restocking fish, but I'm going to do it much slower this time.

I really like the design and layout of your stand and canopy. The attachment of the canopy to the uprights coming off the stand is really nice and ties everything together well to make one clean package. In the ATO pics you can see sand and LR in the tank...any livestock yet? if not how 'bout a FTS just to see the aquascaping?

Is someone still planning on making a video of the fragging? I would be happy to send some blank DVD's in exchange for a copy.

spectra...how long did the color change take to occur? Thats the mainly what I was asking.

...and a new cottage industry is born:p I flipped through a back issue and read an article about dosing your tank with vodka (organic carbon source)...sounds like fun, but I'm sure it would turn into a "2 for me, one for the tank" adventure (laugh) The pics backed it up tough...SPS color was significantly better with no other changes in parameters or equipment.

Separate but related question. If one were to grow SPS under T5's in a frag tank and then move them over into a display lit by MH...would the color change be instant? that is, does the coral have the pigments naturally and the lighting pics them up and shows them off differently? OR do the corals produce different pigments/combinations of pigments in response to different lighting. I dont have anything to contribute to this thread in terms of pics, but I am very interested because the SPS bug is nipping at my heels:p

I like the 2 islands concept of aquascaping that you are going for downhill. It sounds like you want to build up the left side to match the right side...I personally would argue against this. I think the "islands" appeal is lost when they are too symmetrical. My vision for a larger tank would be one massive island taking up around 2/3 of one side with a smaller island on the remaining area. The right side is nice and built up with good height...I would take a few pieces off the left side (off the top and the base in the middle) and fill in around the GSP toward the overflow box. If you look at the third pic in Andy's evolution removing a rock from under the overflow box and placing it on top of the pile on the left would pretty much do what I'm thinking. That's just MY dream though:p Great idea for a thread...i'm excited to see more. Now that I look again, downhill, I really really like that big branch that is running through the left side...kinda looks like a waterfall or lava flow...very nice touch!

Was just pokin around the net and came across this article on how to regenerate DI resin. It seems pretty simple and uses common items. Please be safe though...strong acids and bases dont feel nice on the flesh...or taste very good:p http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-09/nftt/index.php

Yea, I didnt see him at all for the first 2 weeks, even during feedings. Now he's out and about and will sit still even as I approach the tank. I was in the kitchen watching the tank from a distance a couple days ago and I saw him scoot around and check out the back side of the big rock his cave is under...I'm sure if I confronted him about it he would deny the adventure though(laugh)

I just picked up a frag of those from Jay:) they were lookin pretty scary by the time I got them home and mounted, but the next morning they had relaxed a bit already. I'm excited to see how they will be doing in a couple weeks! I split it up into 3 pieces so I'll have something to trade for a different zoa frag...I'm still missing some blue from my color pallet:p

Mini hijack in progress... Just wanted to ask a question about return pumps. Can these pumps be "throttled down" either electronically or with a ball valve? Or is it easier on the pump to do something like run a "T" off the return line and put half of the output directly back into the sump. I'm asking cuz I'm already thinking of making my first upgrading out of the 29g and it might be wise to just get a larger return pump now for the second upgrade that will surely come in a couple years:p

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=601201 There ya go mate:) Step-by-step instructions with pictures to boot! I was about to do it myself, but i've got pods by the bucket load in the tank already and I actually think I want to run the water a little more nutrient rich for my softies so decided against doing macro algae at the present time. http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~action~view~idProduct~ES53122~idCategory~FILTFIPCNI~category~9in_Units-Power_Compact-Fixtures-Lighting-Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies~vendor~.html ^ is a pretty good light for the AC70 if you dont want to put together something yourself. If I ever did this mod I would paint the back of the tank black and run the light on the AC70 at night or 24hrs/day depending on how well the macro grows. Are those sponges reproducing at all or do you just have a couple of them? If you ever want to part with them let me know...for some strange reason I like odd little things like that:p

typical clownfish...give them a RBTA and they will cuddle up to a frogspawn:p Looks nice! How long have you had this going? Did you do any kind of HOB fuge mod? If not the AC70 fuge conversion would probably replace your pod tank. What are the little purple things in the middle down front by the green striped shrooms? From the pic they look kinda like grapes...are they sponges?

Care to expand on this? Also, what are folks feeding their zoas (if anything)? I have pod's in the tank and no fish that will eat...how significant of a food source do you think this is?

I have heard it briefly mentioned that you can frag zoas that have long stalks (like around an inch) by cutting off the stalk and using cotton thread and a needle to string the tops and tie them onto a piece of LR. Has anyone tried this? I'm guessing the stem would sprout a new top...is this true? Thanks for the feedback...

"Encase them in two-part epoxy resin to keep the salt water off of them." yep this does the trick...you can even include additives to give it some color if you want:)

OK, thanks for the feedback on the lighting. I was pretty sure of it myself from keeping a good eye on the tank and seeing which shrooms were doing the best. I'll move things around to maximize placement in partially shaded areas. So I *tried* the rubber band thing (after searching the house for 20 minutes to find one:p)...The problem was that the rock the shroom is on is tiny..as in less than 10% of the surface is exposed with the feet of the 3 shrooms covering the rest. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it made the rock such a pain in the butt to hold onto that about all I did was severely piss off the shrooms:( It also didnt help that the only rubber band I could find was pretty heavy duty. So i'm gunna give this guy some time to recoup and take a scalpel it later. In the mean time I did manage to chip off the little shroom that was completely shaded under the other 2 and gave it a new home on its own.

I get "file not found" and when i save link as...the file i get is 0 bytes

I was watching some videos on fraggin shrooms and in a couple of them the people cut the stalk of the shroom and then halve or quarter the cap. In this scenario... Does the base pop up a new cap? If not, does the base end up decaying away (seems like this would be pretty bad for the tank)? The shroom i would want to frag is attached to a small rock that is easy to move so I could flip it over or try to peel it off if these methods are better. What fraction of the cap segments will survive and make a new shroom? How long do the cap pieces need to "recover"...one video put the pieces in a dish with large grain crushed coral, covered it with netting and placed it in a grow out/propagation tank...how long does it need to stay in that format before placing back on the rock work in the display tank? I'm asking because I dont have a prop tank and want to know how long I would have a plastic tub in the back corner of my display tank:p I have a red shroom thats pushing 4 inches across and while its nice I dont actually care for having one big shroom like that in a small tank like mine (only 29g). I would rather have 3-5 smaller ones covering the same area. My last question is just a general shroom question. I have a 150W 20k XM halide (8 hrs/day) and 2x 75W (24") VHO actinics (11 hr/day) on a standard 29g (30long x 12 wide x 15 deep iirc)...the "happiest" shrooms seem to be the ones that are more on the shaded side. In fact, 2 shrooms in the middle of the tank jumped ship and settled on the bottom of the tank...one of them is fuller now and one of them has been less full since the move. Is this my imagination or do shrooms actually prefer lower light? img for reference...you should be able to find 3 of the 4 shroom frags...4th one is on the far left and is barely visable from this angle.