I will admit to buying a couple things from there......I have picked up a couple little nano type gobies from the frag tank in the hall and now this urchin.....they actually had a very nice, healthy looking red golden dwarf angel that had me tempted.....



might be sooner rather than later.....Ive been digging around a little because the reef safe with caution thing was bugging me...I must say there is surprisingly little about them on the net in relation to the aquarium..I found a thread on another forum where a guy said one of these urchins ate his blue linkia seastar......of course this is just on a forum and not anything solid but this may be the with caution part of the equation.... Ill keep digging....in the meantime Im nervous because I have a blue linkia in the tank:neutral:

so I finally made up my mind about skimming on the big tank......my original thought was to keep my BK mini 180 and get another skimmer rated for 200-300g...I was gonna do a vertex alpha cone 180......but after doing some reading, the general consensus is that one big skimmer, rated for your tank size is better than two small skimmers adding up to the size of the tank.....still not exactly sure why, but anyway, thats what the masses say, so it must be true right?.....Ive decided on and ordered a vertex alpha cone 300, rated for 600g http://www.vertexaquaristik.com/Prod.../Alpha300.aspx .....that ought to be enough of a beast for my needs.....I should get it at the end of this month:biggrin:

I had a conversation with a fellow last year that has some connections with some of the big name skimmer manufactures and long story short he told me that having a skimmer rated for double you water volume is needed.


What's your thoughts Dougster?

Oh ya...........that's one kick arse skimmer beast.

now see!!!.....I had a convo with a guy that distributes some of the higher end skimmers a couple years back and he said not to over rate the higher end skimmers.......dont you just loooove all the contradictory little tidbits in this hobby:lol:......the system will likely be around 400g if I do a small satellite tank like in V2......and I tend to stock my tanks a touch on the heavy side so.......

Skimmers are one of those things I just really don't understand because of all the contradictions.

apparently my math sucks and Im a little slow......30" tall stand......30" - 1 1/2" (steel frame tube)= 28 1/2"...... 28 1/2 - 3/4" (for plywood) = 27 3/4..... 27 3/4 - 1/2" (foam)= 27 1/4........27 1/4 - 1/2" (bottom pane of glass in the sump( Im assuming)) = 26 3/4...... vertex alpha 300 = 27"......:doh:.....not to mention the 1/2 of clearance needed to get the cup off.....:doh::doh:.......vertex isnt gonna fit.....order cancelled.....next size down for the vertex cones is rated at up to 300g.......gonna be too small for my needs......the thought briefly crossed my mind to go with a cheaper brand, but I knew I would likely regret that later......sooooo......I went with what was my dream skimmer for this tank.....ordered up a shorty BK SM300 rated for up to 750g......Im justifying it by telling myself that "one year down the road Im gonna be sorry and wish that I had spent the extra coin".....



.........*sigh*...........freakin urchins:neutral:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6118.jpg




I did a little trade with a fellow canreefer......I flipped him the birdsnest and he gave me the corky finger:mrgreen:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6123.jpg

It seems like your new urchin is getting in with the wrong crowd and following your old urchin's bad habits.

I lost a super nice frag from Snappy tonight ("lost" as in, it fell off where it was glued and I can't find it.) My only hope at this point IS one of the urchins finds it for me before it's a goner!!!

... I'll rehome your purplish urchin if his frag movin' ways is too much for ya :p

new urchin is grasshopper to the old sensei urchin.....he's learning from the best:neutral:


what kind of frag?......I learned my lesson in V1 not to put any frags where they can potentially fall behind the rockwork......lost two or three NICE frags before I clued in.....

if things had worked out to where you came over for those frags you may have ended up with my multicolour (sensei).....if I could find him that is.....

smore pics

strawberry shortcake
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6134.jpg

unknown Walt Smith wild acro
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6133.jpg


RCCR monti
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6132.jpg


tyree setosa
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6129.jpg



have you ever had one of those corals that every single person that has seen your tank has bugged you for a frag of???....."are you fragging that one?"......"well when you do frag it, keep me in mind"...... my most requested coral would be my granny.....recently someone was over picking up a frag and saw it.....he jokingly pushed me pretty hard to frag it and I didnt budge on my "Im not fragging it yet" stance.....I got a PM from said coral junkie this morning with an offer that I couldnt refuse( the gent at one point offered me his wife:surprise:..... (which I declined, for the record:mrgreen:).....so I fragged it today.....ended up with a couple frags....a larger one that will go to Mr. Pushy (j/k:mrgreen:)...and a smaller one that will need a place to call home.....problem is the list grew so long for this one, I cant remember who was at the top of it:redface:......someone in another thread said something about a frag auction.....that would be somewhat pretentious tho methinks (although fun)......anyway, I thought I would snap a pic of it before I snapped it up.....

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6124.jpg

I'll offer that other guys wife...
But i'll pay shipping

Holy mother of pearl!!! My goodness. That unknown wild Walt Smith is off the chart!!

you forgot about my begging so quickly Doug? :cry:

too funny Jon:lol:

thanks Tony......that one took off and grew like a bugger, right out of the gate.....which is kinda strange for my tank....


no I didnt forget mang......its just that your begging was fairly recent and like I said.....the requests have been going on for monthes......but I did frag the undata for ya:wink::mrgreen:




http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6128.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6127.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6125.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6135.jpg


and sometimes at the end of the rainbow monti there is a beautiful sunset monti:mrgreen:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6126.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6127.jpg



looks awesome!!!

mine turned green in the last few months!!!grrrrr what do you run your perams at Doug?

Thanks Larry.......

ummmmmm........I have know idea :noidea:......I havnt tested or dosed for Ca, Mg or DKH since I started the tank a year and a half ago......no KZ stuff.....just prodibio for the last couple monthes and regular W/Cs with H2Ocean

Seriously!! wow man, I just switched to H20 pro.....I think I should try the same thing :lol:

what percentage and how often are you doing water changes?

Lookin fab man. Just no more pics of the granny and I with time I'll forget :mrgreen:

Seriously!......not one drop of the big three......believe me, Im every bit as surprised as most people that the tank looks like it does with no dosing......my coral growth hasnt been impressive but 95% of it looks good

without doing the math, I do about 15% every two weeks-ish....20g on 130g



thanks Brett.......I dont know man, that would be like asking a parent not to take any more pics of their kids:razz:

critter pics......


sexy and maxi
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6137.jpg


porcelain and corky
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6136.jpg



and I know I shouldnt have because I'll be moving soonish, but I just couldnt resist.....they have always been one of my faves.....I didnt even know he was at the store until I fed the tank at the end of the day yesterday.....little bugger shot out of his hidey hole and took a piece of ocean fresh plankton that was almost as big as him......this is the worlds smaller and cutest ever starry blenny (maybe 1 1/2" big)

"peek-a-boo"
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6138.jpg

Love the Starry blenny, one of my faves too :mrgreen: So cute how you can see his little tassels on his head sticking out :biggrin:

wait til you see him in person.....and no, I will not catch him out and give him to you!:wink:.....just thought I would make the clear before you get here this w/e:razz:


unknown

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6142.jpg


rainbow stylophora

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6146.jpg


another unknown stag of some shape or description

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6144.jpg


sunrise (reverse sunset) monti

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6141.jpg



Wester's blue milli
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6143.jpg

so Ive been having a huge aptaisia problem lately.....Ive tried Kalk paste.....Ive tried aptaisia destroyer.......Ive tried a bug zapper.....all these things just seem to anger the pests and they come back with a vengeance.....I was out and about and popped in to a competitors store and they had a small CBB....I asked the gent to feed him and he ate some brine.....so I nervously took him home, wondering who of my crew would jump him in.....my powder blue tang was the first to start the harassment....he pestered the CBB for a couple days, then on the third day the PB seemed to have calmed down and the CBB was cruising around the tank acting normal.....I thought I was in the clear......wrong!.....then my yellow tang started to chase the CBB.....between the two tangs the CBB was stressed to the point of not eating and was starting to look thin.....I had to do something so heres what I came up with....

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6173.jpg


this was not an easy fix......I couldnt just slide on big piece of eggcrate in because of the euro-bracing on the tank and because of the rockwork....so I had to finagle three small pieces in and ziptie them together inside the tank....do you have any idea how hard that was???:twised:.....it took dang near an hour to do......there are some small openings at the bottom of the eggcrate where the smaller fish can get through but the big bullies cant.....Im not sure how long I will leave the divider in there.....I feel bad that my tangs are in a three foot tank atm but I need this CBB to fill in a bit and most of all start helping me with my nem issues....



another update.......back in V1 of the tank I got in on a group order from Ottawa Inverts and got a frag of yellow birdsnest......I loved this BN and it quickly became one of my favs in the tank.....I of course lost it in the big crash and have been trying to find a similar piece ever since.....I was recently over at another canreefers place buying some books he had for sale and I managed to convince him that his colony from the same OI order was big enough to frag.....he did so and I now have it back......thanks a tonne Scott!!!!.....you rock!!!

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6174.jpg



and a few more randoms

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6160.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6159.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6158.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6157.jpg

Wow...looks like it was a real PITA to get the egg crate in there....lol, well at least the CBB should have a stress free time pickin away the the little boogers. Not sure if it's the time of year or what, but I've been having the same problem the last few weeks.....I haven't seen an aptasia in my tank for a long time.......now poof! I found five, the aptasia X seems to work, but there have been a few resistant SOB's that keep coming back :twised:

Love the Birds Nest......that's high on my list of next purchase's

The first week with a new fish is the worst. Seems if they can get past that hazing then generally speaking it will get better. The eggcrate SHOULD help and ... well .. yeah, you can feel bad for the tangs but it's only for a few days, at least there's that.

Nice score on the yellow birdsnest .. I like these a lot. One day I might have to look for one myself as I've only been able to admire them in "other people's tanks".

And ... as an aside ... I thought of a new career for you: CNN ticker tape writer.

Every single post ...... comes out as one enormous run-on sentence ....... with no punctuation except ellipses ....... It's like reading one enormous stream of consciousness ..... which is an actual thing ..... google it someday ....... but it's no biggie ...... I've come to accept that your posts just kind of have a certain look and feel ....... and that lonely period character on the keyboard gets to get used an awful lot ........ in your FACE, comma key! ...... Coming up next on CNN ...... Robyn the cute anchor lady will flirt with the weather dude ....... and James Earl Jones will announce "THIS. IS. CNN." .... Don't turn that channel! ........

:pound:

ya it was a PITA.....royal PITA:lol:......Im sure that "Murphy's law" will kick in and the little bugger wont eat the little buggers:wink:....aptaisia are like la cucaracha, mang!:twised:



ya, I hope your right Tony.....I fear that once I open the gates the thrashing will resume.....please let me be wrong....

thanks guys......Im stoked to finally have a piece back.....

and I think Sean (xtreme) just posted some up for sale....not sure if its the same species or not, but......


Geez! First he gets "on" me about the content of my posts and now he gets "on" me about how I post. Is there any way of making this guy happy?:mrgreen:....... Im fully aware of the style(if you wanna call it that) of my posts.....I didnt (and dont) want my posts to look like every Harry, Dick and Tom's posts:wink:......


quiet you!:twised:

That's what I did when I added my moorish idol. After 10 days the purple tang was still aggressive Towards him.

Im hoping that my yellow isnt the exception to the rule....purples and sailfins are known for being the more aggressive of the zebrasoma tangs and yellow and scopas are supposed to be less aggressive......*sends vibes towards his yellow* "mellow yellow....mellow yellow":mrgreen:

after getting rid of the purple tang i ended up getting rid of both of my yellow tangs too in an effort to keep my moorish idol as happy as possible

well MIs are just about the biggest pussies that swim:razz:......CBs are a little more adept at holding their own.....I hope:neutral:


have you ever had an epiphany and think to yourself that you are so smart for thinking of that, only realize that you were actually stupid for not thinking of it before?.....finally figured out a way to keep my frags on my ghetto homemade frag rack

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6175.jpg


duh!.....why didnt I think of doing this years ago???? would have saved a few frags from getting lost behind the rocks....


I played with the settings on the camera a bit.....I think I may have finally nailed the color....

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6182.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6181.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6180.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6179.jpg


and the SS looked particularly shiny :biggrin:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6177.jpg

Haha, I used to have a frag rack just like that. You probably don't want to hear this but it totally didn't work for me. Urchins and fish and snails just find a way to knock over frags if they really put their minds to it.

But uh .. I'm sure yours will work fine. :p

Ya, I have a rack just like that. And a large snail that tips it almost daily...sigh

thanks guys, for turning my moment of brilliance into something dull and non-lustrous :lol:

That frag rack is genius!! I will have to keep that in mind when im in the need of one again.

and the SS looked particularly shiny :biggrin:

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6177.jpg[/quote]

Wow, Doug this is sweet!

Im not sure whether or not that is sarcasm:noidea:


thanks Brad.....its taking forever to do anything.....slooooooow grower:neutral:

Hey Doug,

With your regime you said that you don't get huge growth, but I was wondering if you had any before and after shots of some of your beautiful corals from when you first set up the new tank.

I think you said you've only been doing water changes with the H2o for a year?

I will do that!(like it's that hard to goad me into posting pics:mrgreen:)......later, when I have more time......Im in E-town visiting my Girly atm:wink:.....

but ya, water changes with H2Ocean only....no dosing (or testing for that matter)

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6181.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP6177.jpg[/quote]

I really like these two... What are the names of these acros? BTW, great shots!