Lexinverts

I have not had good success getting clams from Diver's Den. They have a great "stay alive" guarantee, however.

With a 38 gallon tank, you probably have about 30-ish gallons of water volume after you correct for the volume of the live rock and substrate. If you did a 5 gallon water change once per week, that would be about 17% of your water volume. If you are worried about nutrient levels in your system, this would be a better choice in my opinion. The reason that people often carbon dose is because they have systems of 100+ gallons and it is not feasible or cost effective to remove nutrients via water changes. The problem with carbon dosing is that it requires very close attention to detail and it is easy to overdo it and stress out or kill everything in your tank. I tried carbon dosing in my two 66 gallon Red Sea systems for about 10 months, and it was a lot of work and did not benefit my corals. I really tried to make it work. I added a medical grade peristaltic pump to my systems, and for a while I was testing my nitrates 2 or 3 times every day. The difficult thing is keeping your nitrates high enough to provide your corals with enough nitrogen to grow when you are carbon dosing. It's a razor's edge between too much and too little---at least it was in my systems. As soon as I turned off the pump, my corals stared to recover. Some people on the forum have had good success with carbon dosing, but these folks usually have large systems, and it is probably easier to prevent over dosing in large system. So, I would strongly recommend that you try something else to reduce nutrients, like regular water changes.

Thanks for the pictures! Wish I could have made it.

It has been ages since I updated this thread. Ever since I switched to LEDs in my home RSM250 system, I haven't been able to get a halfway decent shot. I finally got some of those amber filters from Barrierreef, and here are the results. It makes the tank look a little too yellow, so maybe I need to go with a lighter amber. As you can see, I really like Gonioporas! Bring on the LPS growout! As for the SPS, it has been a slow climb back up from my tank crash this summer. Finally, everything is thriving, from Zoas to SPS.

Steve came to the Scott Fellman talk a year ago. In the talk Scott referred to Steve's system as one of the all-time greatest tanks in reef-keeping. I wish I had a chance to see it. Apparently Steve lost it all in a catastrophic crash caused by skimmer overflow and then, in an emergency fix, replacing the lost water with tap water and a bad batch of dechlorinator.

Those A.R.I.D. setups are $1,500, plus they are too big for your RSM250. I've been thinking about trying one of these guys for one of my RSM250s. I wonder if you could use Chaeto with them? I know some people worry about buildup of toxins that can come from other types of algae. I'd like to try this instead of GFO, which I find to be messy and annoying. http://www.santa-monica.cc/HOG1x-Hang-On-Glass-UAS-Upflow-Algae-Scrubber-with-Green-Grabber-surface-and-Xtra-LEDs--1-Cube-feeding-per-day--MAGNET-VERSION_p_38.html

Are you getting a new tank, Son?

My goodness, Holly! How many tanks are you running now? You must have come through with a really nice Valentine's Day gift for your husband.

I'm really looking forward to this one!

Whoa! That's a long time to be gone from your system. Glad it still looks good!

It's ok, Jorge. Nobody liked my video either.

It's a wild acro that I got from Ocean in a Box during the party bus trip. Huge polyp extension on that one.

Do you mean phosphate is .02-1 or do you really mean 2-10? I've heard of some people having success with high phosphate, but that is a little higher than I would expect.

I think it really depends on your individual system, and what you have found works for you. I'm using the Triton Method, which discourages water changes. However, I don't have a place to attach a macroalgae refugium / scrubber to my system (which is in my dining room, so space is limited) and macro is an important part of nutrient control in the Triton Method. So, after trying several different things, like carbon dosing, etc..., which only stressed my system, I have gone back to performing a 10% water change every week. If I stop the water changes, I end up with STN on my acros after about 5 weeks. (I think that I might have phosphate leaching from my live rock, which is causing me problems if I don't keep removing water on a regular basis--even though I am using GFO too.) So, my point is, whatever the theoretical argument for or against water changes may be given your chosen method of coral husbandry, you just need to try out different things and see what works for your system, since there are other variables specific to your system that can have an impact.

High Ca is not something I worry about. It is much less of an issue than high alk. As an example, Unique Corals shared that their Ca got above 600 sometimes, and they don't worry about it.

I got back from my trip to a tank with some dinos, but all of the coral are doing well. It is encrusting down the side of the plug now, and is starting to lengthen in the branches. It's got really nice color.

I'm in the Denver airport. Lots of orange gear being worn here!

Share the love!

That sounds pretty cool. Do you know what par you have it under, Cody?

I've had a similar experience. I ended up with a new RSM250 with a scratch on the outside front glass that I didn't notice until I had the lights turned on and the thing filled with water. Red Sea Texas sent me a brand new tank, no questions asked. That's how I ended with two RSM250 systems!

Wow. That is a beautiful piece, Son. You get such fast growth in your system!

Ok, will do. Andy

Thanks for posting this, Holly. One comment: It seems that the choice of Meet-and-greet locations and the topics do not necessarily need to be mutually exclusive in the poll. We could have a presentation on a particular topic at a fish store or at a member's house. I wanted to pick more than 3!

That's a bummer, Jeremy. I'm out of town this week, so who knows what I will find in my tank when I return. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I think it would be a great idea, John. Isn't he part of Reefgen also?