gdwats

Rapid gill movement

Ya that little damsel was having a hard time breathing (rapid gill movments) so I threw in some flow. I am having a really hard time keeping the water quality high enough for my little blue so I am either going to re-home him or buy a larger nano' date=' but that would not make the wife happy (wife)LOL. I really like the pico though its nice to have a tank in the kitchen (naughty)[/quote']

 

That can also be indicative of high nitrates, the gills flapping?

Pretty small tank for a hippo, hope you have room somewhere else for when he gets big. My tank is 90 gallons, and I could tell my royal blue tang needed more space, and I was forced to take him in to an LFS. My tank is 4 feet long, I think they need about 6 feet to be happy.

Greg

These are Neon green:

Sorry, missed the Green Part. Mine is the pink.

Here is my bird-nest from stick to crystalline entity. I sometimes "accidentally" frag it. Is this what you are looking for? I'm in Vancouver, WA.

Greg

I doubt your pH of 7.9 reading. Also, you might want to drip a little Kalkwasser in the evenings to better raise alkalinity and pH semi-quickly. The free hydroxides will also help precipitate phosphates, actually increasing your skimmers performance, along with other benefits. Just don't overdo it, and don't try to use it to "raise" your calcium levels, there are better ways for that. As far as Super dKH buffer, I have used it in the past and found it took an awful lot to do any permanent good. Anyway, that is just my 2 (maybe 3) cents worth...

I had one that grew like a mushroom (terrestrial), I'd swear it was dropping spores!lol. But, seriously, I never fragged it, but it grew a lot of young ones. In the end I gave it to my old boss. It needed a Hefty garbage can to transport, as it would not fit in a 5 gallon bucket. Man, it grew really big. Right now I only have the finger leathers at home I am going to sell. There are 2 Leathers, a bunch of GSP and a large amount of Pavona coral encrusted and spiring (my new word for growing upwards into a spire) all on a large live rock.

I just rinse and go for it as well. However, If I had any lotion on my hands or arms I would either wash it off with ANY soap, rinse well and dive in, or do it another time. Watch for BP oil slicks on surface, and be ready with carbon if you get organics in there, but it is really not that big of a problem, especially with larger tanks with overflows and sumps. My 2 cents.

Greg

Being in this hobby inevitably seems to spawn this thought, or ones like it. The hobby is great fun, and if only everyone knew how cool it was, more would jump in...I think. Then there would be a bigger market. I started a saltwater business myself and it is barely showing profits, and the marketing is hard as well. Take a deep breath, contemplate and as was suggested above, networking with some construction/designers would be a good idea. Getting noticed is difficult, even in this small niche.

Greg

My favorite green mushroom...Yuma Ricordea:

Yep Those would be hairy mushrooms. I have bunches of those. My goodness don't they stink out of water? Although not dead or dying they smell really bad when you take them out of water. I'm not sure what they smell like underwater, as I tried it once and almost drowned. My tanks do not stink though, and I have no carbon. Go figure?

Greg

I would like to sell some chaeto. I have plenty. I am asking $10 for a qt. sized Ziploc bagful. Shipping is of course $4.95

Greg

Is that the Crystal Sea mix? I didn't recognize it when you said what it was however when you mentioned where it came from I knew right away. Nothing personal but it is the only salt I know of offhand that I will never use again and the only one I will advise others to avoid. I had two problems with it. First is that it required constant dosing to get the levels to stay where they need to be and second is that it is very inconsistent from box to box.

Wow. I had the opposite effect when switching. Go figure. At least you did not heed my ill advice, which is very easy to come by. It just worked for me.

Yeah the ammonia was at 1.5 mg/l last night salinity at 1.025' date=' temp 79 and nitrite .3 mg/l. After dome of the comments and issues I think I am gonna change salt just want to know what a good quality salt is and who in portland stocks what. The instant ocean stuff didn't dissolve very well either. Even with a mag 7 and 2 power heads running.[/quote']

 

If you are in Portland Oregon, you can try some of the MEI salt from Seahorse Aquarium Supply on Columbia Blvd. and I think 21st. st. Just east of MLK Blvd. They only sell it in 150 gallon makeups but it is really worth the switch. It isn't the fanciest saltwater place around, but they sell the best salt I've come across in mei. You could call woody and talk to him about it. You may pm me for the number if you'd like or just look him up. Sometimes you do need to let it sit a couple of days before it is ready though. Great stuff!

Greg

Yes, IO makes up at 350ppm Ca and recommends using tap water for an extra 100ppm Ca for reef tanks. They are insane to have that on the label and target reef tank owners as customers. I have never understood why they don't manufacture it at 450 ppm and suggest ro-di water. Always has said that on the label, which should be enough to say steer clear if you don't want to be supplementing.

I did not expect that.

gdwats' date=' if instant ocean loses buffering capacity what salt is recommended? What do others use?[/quote']

 

Actually, I think the majority do use IO, but when alkalinity problems arise that is always my first question. I use a salt called mei myself, not sure if you know it. But there are a lot of good polls on this subject and you can see that coral-life, Inst Ocean(reef crystals usually), Red Sea and Kent marine crystals are usually in the mix along with others. I didn't mean to bash IO or anything, I just wouldn't recommend it for long term exclusive use in most cases. All cases are different though as you no doubt have/will discover. With instant ocean I would also get some kind of 2-part buffer system, there a a few good ones out there. I would say avoid the KM Super dKH buffer though, it is not really very effective.

Instant Ocean is also known to loose alkalinity or buffer capacity as it sits even in a jug. I would try changing salts.

Remember that the most important thing to remember when adding a starfish, or any invertebrate for that matter, is to acclimate them very slowly. They are hypersensitive to changes in salinity. More so than to temperature or pH. Starfish also like a pretty old established tank. The simplest of the life forms are the hardest to keep! (nono)

Greg

And BTW, I also agree with the person above, 6.9 is unlikely a true reading. I wouldn't trust a meter, but if you really want to know where your pH is at, you should pick up one of the cheap little titration (drop wise) type test kits. I'm not sure a tank of water full of aragonite can even maintain a reading of 6.9 as the substrate should begin to buffer up from there...weird. (rock2)

I still need to get down to your place one of these days. I was talking to Reefit and he was saying some great things about what you've got.

 

 

 

So after I run it through the wash machine with just bleach and let it air dry do you have to rinse it more to get any of the bleach out? Or is it ok to just put it back into the tank. I ran it on sanitze with just bleach.

Hi. That is exactly how i wash my socks too. Except yes, I do rinse them after the bleach, let them air dry and they are good to go. No rinsing after dried. 2-3 days swaps are a great cycle, so have a few on hand so you only wash them all at once once every couple of weeks.

Hi folks,

I have just signed up here after hearing about this site from TRT. I have been a reef enthusiast for a little over 13 yr. Right now I have a 90 gallon reef and 60 gal refugium with a 30 gallon sump. I was unaware for all this time there was a PNW site! I have spent most my time at reef sanctuary, 3reef and such. Glad I found ya.

Greg