Recent content by Timfish

Patience. I had tanks for about 4 years and was always messing with them to "fix things". Had to move to a town about an hour and a half away but wasn't able to move my systems right away. For six months I was only able to swing by on weekends to check on them and about the middle of the 2nd...

Interesting! This mantis showed up after a year. So far it's only been seen this one time. One curious thing is there's a coral banded shrimp that's been cohabiting for about a year now. I'm guessing it's a Neogonodactylus wennerae mantis shrimp. Funny that a big mithrax crab has caused...

Here's the system at 1 year old. Haven't been able to count all 14 damsels I added initially but I am consistantly counting 10 - 12. Haven't lost any other fish.

Have you considered AFR, All For Reef?

Not exactly, there's a manufacture date on the back of the controller under the serial number.

Best photosynthesis and hightest protein content is at 38 PSU. But most aquarists keep it around 35 or 36 and they will live at 32. Check the the pad on your magfloat very carefully under bright light (reading glasses help me) and scrap it gently with a finger nail. Sand almost always has...

Merry Christmas and Happy new Year everyone!

Generally, different colors indicates different photobiologies and concurrent differences in immune responses. I'd be looking at water chemistry and shifts in microbial stuff. If you didn't do an Aquabiomics test some time ago as a benchmark I'd still suggest getting one done to help get an...

And if you want to go down a rabbit hole . . . ;) Feldman's work at Penn State Granular Activated Carbon Pt 1 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/1/aafeature1 Granular Activated Carbon Pt 2 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/2/aafeature1 Total Organic Carbon Pt 1...

Simple answer: Do your water changes. do not carbon dose Keep pH 7.6 - 8.4 (7.9 to 8.3 is preffered) Alkalinity 7-9 dKH Calcium > 380 mg/l PO4 .03 mg/l to .3 mg/l Nitrate <5 mg/l Don't bother with a skimmer or with filter socks/rollers Do not use algae scrubbers Keep nuisance alga to a minimum...

Fish were avoiding them. They are also actively swimming so eggs can be ruled out. Possibly larva of some kind, including snails. I suspect, since they showed up in mass at the surface within minutes of the pumps being turned off, a spawning aggregation an organism taking advantage calm...

I was doing maintenance on a system when this stuff showed up. It's a nice surprise to have something spawn or hatch out just would like to know what it is. 😕 They're pretty tiny, maybe 200 microns (1/5 mm) if I had to guess. With a magnifying lens they were really round, flattened on one...

Impressive! :D(y) Be careful making changes too quick. It's acclimated to an old established system and maybe the worst thing to do is try to really clean it well.

For sumps and grow out tanks use whatever will fit your needs. Here's a video of one of my setups using custom refuguims along with heavy duty totes for cryptic refugiums (FYI most totes are too flimsy to safely use especially as totes get brittle as they age).

Here's a list and video of some of the "old" reef animals in one of my systems: Purple Tang - 1995 (rehomed 4 times) (See the link to my oldest one). Yellow Tang - 2002 (rehomed 4 times. )Sinularia foliata, Green Finger, 1997 (documented sp. very rare). Green & Orange Zoas - 1996...