victoly

+3 better non actinic pictures !

you got it dude. not gonna be super complex IMO. just buy the speedwaves cable here: http://www.reefangel.com/order.aspx Then you splice the cables to an ethernet cable, with up to two per VSP port. Ecotech better be running scared.

well thats a big win either way. having to test and dose after a WC is a big old pain in the *** that I'd like to mitigate as best I can.

I'm experimenting with Ty on this one, but I'll be hacking together apex compatible cables for those with frags

Interesting ! I can echo that I do get kind of a tan precipitate in my bucket. I vinegared it out yesterday. I guess I'll put my mixer on a timer !

I know you're not going to want to hear this, but those check valves are prone to failure over time :(you might be best off, at some point, not now when you're frustrated with it) get a check valve with union valves on either side for easy cleaning and replacement. sorry to hear you're having a rough go, I know it sucks.

Huh, that's weird. I've always mixed overnight.

The austin aquarium ? I advocate a fishless cycle if you're not gonna plunk down a bunch of live rock in the tank. It's just easier and less likely to result in the unnecessary death of an animal.

so i think i solved what was going on here. bottom line is, don't trust calibrating your refractometer with RODI (like the manufacturer recommends!). I bought 35 ppt reference solution, and with a refractometer calibrated with RODI, i was reading like 33 ppt! It all made sense too, at 0.5 cups per gallon of mix, i was having to dilute to get to what I thought was 35 ppt, but was in reality much lower, which led to my very low stats. I haven't checked a fresh batch yet to see what alk/mg/ca are, but I bet they are closer to correct.

That and a CBS would have a hell of a time getting into the PS' burrow. Good luck with # 2

If you see a tall guy named Ben Johnson, tell him that I sent you to rip out his trachea.

Yeah, very plausible. The pistol is going to be in a burrow 99% of the time. I think the CBS just got him because he was already in bad shape.

Oh no ! You know what I've started doing with good success ? Skipping the lengthy acclimation. 15 minutes max with a 50% dilution for fish and 2 50% dilutions with inverts. Corals just get temp

Great choices.

There are two variants, the regular and the ULR "ultra low range" which gets down to parts per billion. Here's a link to discussion: http://reefcentral.com/forums//showthread.php?t=1880402 The ULR measures phosphorus and not phosphate directly, so you multiply your reading by 3 to get phosphate. The accuracy is 0.015 for the ULR meter. accuracy of 0.02 ppm is pretty common for most kits.

Thanks, but unfortunately I'm not one for deep enough sand beds. In fact I have only a thin layer of CC as a bed. Still, I have to agree with you! A paired Pistol Shrimp and Goby are fascinating and provide endless hours of entertainment. Shane has one in his DT at FishyBusiness and it's so much fun to just sit there and watch them! You're in Oak Hill, correct? Any chance of grabbing lunch sometime and talking fish? I'm half way between Oak Hill and DS. Absolutely! I work a little bit futher into town (manchaca/71) but there are so many good places to eat around here I'm always game. With respect to the goby, you definitely don't have to pair them. Mine haven't even found eachother yet. The shrimp is busily fortifying a bunker and the yasha chills in the back area of the tank until feeding time. I',m more keen on the look of the goby than the shrimp personally, but the behavior is certainly very cool.

great post! look forward to seeing the evolution.

looks great! well done!

alkalinity is also absent from your parameter. Temperature, salinity, alkalinity and ammonia are kind of the big 4 that can piss off your tank in a hurry. If I had to guess, I'd say in order of likelyhood, it's probably 1) temperature 2) salinity 3) alkalinity. Due to the relative newness of your tank, ammonia is also a possibility.

snowballin yall

"good" water parameters are subjective. what are they right now and what were they the previous time you tested?

orelay

so we're left with like 3 or 4 posts?

Chipp, I added this one recently , but a yasha goby (and pistol shrimp if you dont mind some sand work) is by far the coolest fish I've ever had.

Yeah. Unless I'm missing something, if your power goes out, your tank will drain to the hole in the back of the tank. Also, you lose the surface skimming advantage of an overflow with teeth.