Lexinverts

I think some established sand and rubble from a reputable tank would seed things much better than any in a bottle remedies, more diversity. I am not in your area but i am sure there is a nearby reefer to lend a hand with the sand, maybe Jeff at Cuttle Fish and Coral.

I guess it depends what your goal is. If you are in an emergency and need to cycle a tank quickly, like in setting up a quarantine tank because of an illness in your DT, or replacing a broken tank, etc... nothing cycles faster than Dr. Tim's. I keep a bottle on the shelf for such emergencies.

If you are setting up tank from scratch and going slowly (like you should), then, you're right, having some sand from an established tank is probably the best idea.

You can just use some live rock and a source of ammonia to get your tank going. If you want to supplement that, you can use Dr. Tim's "One and Only Live Nitrifying bacteria for cycling saltwater aquaria," which works better in my experience than a cupful of sand from an established tank.

Great question, Isaac!

I prefer SPS over LPS for a number of reasons:

1) SPS grows faster for me than any of my LPS.

2) All of my SPS colonies are propagated rather than wild collected, so they tend to be hardier for me than do my LPS colonies.

3) None of my SPS reach out and sting their near neighbors (with the exception of my Pocillopora damicornis) like a hammer will do.

4) It tends to be easier to frag SPS than LPS, in my experience.

-- I really enjoy zooanthids as well, for many of the above reasons.

Wow!

So, I was changing my filter media in my sump, and a bag of purigen came open somehow, blowing purigen all over my display tank. Ugh!

Anyone else ever do this? My corals don't seem bothered by it, but it is an unsightly mess...

Here's an update on my office tank. ORA Sour apple, green, and pink birdsnests are getting out of hand! The ORA sour apple grows about an inch per month in every direction.

Might need my TECO fix here soon.

Let me know if you get into a group buy. I'm in too.

I am insanely jealous!

Looking forward to it!

Nice looking tank. Nice mix of sps lps and softies. I love the mix of colors. How do you like your Red sea. I have always liked the look of them.

Is that an Oregon mummy eye or original mummy eye chalice?

Thank you. Yes, I do like my Red Sea tanks. They work very well. It was nice to have an all-in-one setup when I was starting out with saltwater, since I wasn't experienced enough to do the builds on a piece by piece basis.

It's an Oregon mummy eye. I also have an orginal mummy eye frag, and it is much more green under the same lighting.

Great lookin tank and 17 freshwater' date=' wow. Would be interested in seeing those too...[/quote']

 

Thanks all!

 

Most of my freshwater tanks are simple shrimp-breeding setups. But here's one that I enjoy. It's a 9 gallon Sulawesi shrimp cube.

 

Hello all:

I've been coming to a lot of the PNWMAS events over the last year, so I have met some of you. In addition to 17 freshwater systems, I'm running two 66 gallon Red Sea Max reef tanks. Here are a few pictures.

Thanks for the party, Garrett. Those new frags are looking nice in my tanks! It's always a treat to visit your store.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday!