MadReefer

I was just suggesting an antivirus that will work, not something to fix the problem. I was hoping CA2OR would chime in and help fix it, and he has so I'll leave it be.

It's the refugium. Time will also help. My tank is at about 6 months old and I'm seeing less and less algae on my glass.

In Utah we are lucky to have a source of free oolite sand. It is super fine and works great for a DSB. I put about 4 inches in my display and I really like the way it is working. Before I had a goby it didn't stir up into the water. I don't really mind the little bit that does fly around the tank from time to time so I would use it again and again. It's a good soft sand for gobies and would be soft on a ray's belly as well. It is just like the oolite sand you can buy in bags. For people who don't like the way it can fly around the tank, a remote DSB would be the best use for oolite.

-You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

This is a great one for reef keeping.

I always liked EQ better than WoW. To me it always seemed to be a more complete experience. EQ used to be more challenging also, and I liked it that way. They have softened EQ to compete with WoW.

From what I've read (I say this because I could be wrong), anemones should not move around at all if they are happy, unless it is new or just split.

So the first thing you want to do is check water quality and make sure it has enough light.

How old is your tank? Anemones don't always do well in new tanks. It is best to wait 6-12 months before adding one.

API, RedSea, and Seachem are all I have used and they have worked great.

EVERYONE should know that ANY test kit can be bad. Someone on the WMAS site recently was talking about how his API test was so far off. He had assumed that Salifert was better because it costs more. After testing with multiple other test kiits, the API was right on and the Salifert was off. Higher cost doesn't equal better product.

I'll buy cheap and compare results with other test kits. Any test that works well and is well taken care of should give many great results. But if it does not test well, I would take it back to where I purchased it and demand a refund.

Yes it is a fungia. Its tentacles seem too long though. Maybe I'm not treating it right?

I really like the zoas. I've been growing all these for over a year and they have really responded well to the 180, especially the last few months.

Some updated pics. I still haven't done a water change. SG has dropped to 1.024 over the last 5.5 months from 1.0255. Fish and corals are growing fast.

Here is a picture that shows the surface skimming of the coast to coast.

These next two photos show why buying a used tank can suck.

The algae in the sump has stopped growing but I don't think it's an issue because nuisance algae is not growing in the display.

I don't know what to make of the way this short tentacle plate coral is looking. The tentacles are showing much more than I thought they would.

Sorry to hear that Eric.

I could get you a job in Salt Lake, but you wouldn't be making what you want for 6-12 months.

Macro algae can out compete it if used properly, without side effects.

My aqua c remora does this naturally. It's a tiny cup but sometimes I don't dump it and it almost stops skimming because the hole gest clogged. It makes me even more lazy because I really should dummp it daily. I should go dump it now.

I did for a while but it is now off. Just when I had a new tank with new fish I thought it might help the fish battle ich. It is now off so that it doesn't kill pods and such.

Refugium: I know a lot of you use them but... the data is mixed. Here are some thoughts

1. SPS tanks, in the wild you generally don't see seaweed beds near SPS reefs. SPS prefers clean water, very clean water. While there are always exceptions if you use nature as an example you would not have a refugium on your SPS display
   
2. LPS/Softy tanks, While it is true that you will at times find seaweed in proximity to these corals you will not usually find massive beds for the simple reason that algae usually takes over any real estate that it can and they put off too much nutrients for the coral to thrive
   

Before i begin also keep in mind that seaweed in refugiums will at time go sexual and pollute your tank with nasty white stuff, it also has the same problem as bioballs where it will catch and keep detrius.

The argument that seaweed and refugiums remove nutrients is not totally true. it is simply another method of converting nutrients to something else. There have been studies done in nature to see how the nutrient conversion works and they actually found that the seaweed beds actually output more nutriens into the water than they remove. Considering they convert light and nutrients into growth this is not far fetched. As soon as the seaweed begins to grow it also has die off which simply puts the nutrients back in the water.

So if you keep a refugium be sure to trim your seaweed on a very regular basis. it may not blow up on you right away, but in the end there are more effective methods.

I think you should rethink this. The ocean is very big and the water moves around a lot. I thought I read somewhere that algae makes up most of the life mass in the ocean. Also, a refugium is a great source of food for SPS.

I have removed pounds of chaeto from my fuge in the five months my 180 has been setup. I wish I had a bigger refugium. My skimmer is tiny for my tank and I overfeed. Still, if I could, I would first increase the size of my fuge before my skimmer. My tank does not have an algae problem and my nitrates and phosphates are next to zero. I have not done a water change. Trust chaeto, it works.

Most people seem to need major problems before they will act. I guess it's human nature. I hope that we can use our brains to overcome that and never see major problems.

With new fish, I over feed for a week or two.

Climate change is natural sure. But if you think that all us humans are not impacting the world with the way we live, please research for yourself.

There are a lot of people who don't think for themself. All they do is listen to and repeat what their favorite radio/internet/tv station tells them.

UT2004 is still my favorite game of all time but I haven't been gaming much lately. I used to play Everquest and Everquest 2 but they waste too much time, just too much fun. UT3 is pretty cool but it doesn't get my heart racing like UT2004 on modded servers.

I'll probably play Diablo 3 when it comes out.

The earth is finite and humans are causing major impact. I don't care what you call it but if humans want to be on earth in 100-200 years from now, something has to change. War, disease, drought, etc. might solve the problem if we humans don't pull our head out of our @$$ and do it in a more pleasant way.

180g tank with 3 medium tangs, foxface, 2 swallowtail angels, 3 O. clowns, sixline, rainford goby, and 6 chromis. I feed a little heavy. My skimmer is weak. I trust algae and mangroves to do most the work.

It has been running almost 6 months and I have yet to do a water change. I'm wondering if I want to do 20% every 3 months, 6 months, or just once a year.

I have a mix of SPS, LPS, softy, and zoas that are all growing nicely.

I have about 3" of very fine sand in my display. I still have pretty good flow but it does limit how high I can take the flow. That is the only negative that I consider and I will always have a DSB in my tanks. Remote DSBs work well also.

Nice looking tank!

 

I want some of your grandis palys want to do a trade? I got some nuke greens, african blues or tubbs blues all fragged and ready to go

Thanks

I will be fragging them in the next month or few. Maybe we can work out something, I'm in Utah so it will have to be shipped.