Recent content by Desolas

That's an interesting theory, the first thing that popped into my head, which is probably an ignorant statement would be; are they located near one another in the wild? I would think that would be the first prerequisite for any mimicking to happen. They do look pretty similar, I have never...

Smaller pieces of food will get taken and processed faster than larger, so anything that is <5mm should suffice. I just use my hands myself, it's the most accurate way IMO. Like already said, any krill, shrimp, meaty seafood should be taken readily. If it was pre-frozen shrimp I would not use...

What are you feeding it, and how often? If fed well, a BTA doesn't require a lot of light, just some. While they get a lot of energy from their zooxanthellae, it is mostly sugars and of little real substance. They get most of their energy from food, so if your feeding it well it won't need to...

I've had Green Brittle Stars eat my Xenia as well, just as you describe. I think they learn that its food, and they will suck it down to a stump. I've also had them attempt to eat Zoos, small leathers, and sponges. I think they will attempt to eat any soft coral that is small enough to suck...

Well, that has got to be the longest URL to a single picture I've ever seen. :) Looks good! I like the cave you've got going to the middle left, very nice the way you've done your aquascaping. Once it gets really overgrown I think it will look very nice. Good rock height, not too tall but...

I've noticed the same thing. One thing I do to attempt to silence the noise is isolate my pumps with rubber. I hard plumb a lot of my stuff, but I connect the pumps to the hard line with rubber hose, and I keep all submerged pumps on neoprene mats. I actually helps cut down the noise some...

Name: Wes Briscoe Image Title: Worms Repent! Equipment: Nikon Coolpix 2500 Location: Seattle, WA :)

It all depends on how you'd like to plumb it. It's personal preference. In my setup I did not put bulkheads on the sump, why the added expense? Yes it looks nicer, but it isn't needed. My flex PVC lines just run into the top of the sump and go to the bottom. I use a cable tie to keep them...

Nothing to worry about, you probably got a CO2 bubble or something that cause a rush of water, or a large air bubble in the bottom which will stir up the media and cause it to cloud. As long as you still have physical media in the reactor it is fine, it's just the effluent is now going to have...

The buffer part of that system effects your alkalinity, it buffers it. So stop using it for awhile and just add the calcium for now and keep your calcium up and let the alkalinity fall into line. No worries at all.

That's high. What are you using to suppliment your alk and ca? I would tone it down a little and let your alkalinity drop, 19 dkh (7 meq/l) is high; but not excessive IMO. I would bring it down to 12 dkh (4.2 meq/l) this is still well higher than NSW but will help the calcification process...

The things you did not touch on that may make a difference is the specific gravity and temperature, also the swing of both. If your sg is swinging or your temp is daily it will cause harm. So like what EmilyB said, your water parameters may just not be stable enough. I've personally noticed...

I agree there, or the Blueline 10K's are more blue, or real blue when used with the Blueline ballast. They look more like Ushio's with actinic supplimentation.

They are pretty much worthless in a saltwater applicaiton. With the prefilter they will last a little while, but the amount of gunk in the water causes the mechanism to become stuck very quickly, within a month or two it will stop sweeping; for some people even faster than that.

I use a tripod for some of the pictures. Most of those pics were taken with a tripod, except for the over head shots and the clown fish/anemone shot. I use the timer to take the shot unless trying to shoot a fish. It's a poor man's remote shutter switch, I hit the button, wait 10 seconds, and...