FarmerTy

Welcome to the club!

That's it "guts". They'll expel it when ticked. I don't know much of their mannerisms but seeing how only one is doing that, it seems to be not anything environmental and probably has to do with it about to split like everyone has mentioned.

Absorbs nutrients... Look up refugiums for more info on the subject Tom.

When the cleanest water in the house is reserved for the fish tank only...

Thanks Kim! Nah, usually a gradual drop is no issue. Though I could see a bit of stress in the frag tank and that's why I tested for Ca.

Sadly, I don't think there's one thing I could have done different other than let it sit at the LFS first to see if their mouths were damaged in shipping prior to taking them home. I started antibiotics since day 1 without even any signs of an infection but they still succumbed to it. Butterflies... What are you gonna do? I say that as one might actually make it though a large portion of his upper lip eroded. I hear it can grow back so hopefully he pulls through. On the brightside, better in my QT than in my DT. Last thing I wanted to introduce is a flesheating bacteria in my tank!

I don't like this guy... [emoji16]

I've had success with the Caribses Special Reef Grade sand. Not to big, not too fine. You just need to rinse it like crazy as it has a lot of fine particles in it.

I don't believe it. I'll need you to hold a newspaper with today's date on it and take a picture. [emoji12] Congrats bud!

Yes, they just filter feed and are harmless. Not sure if that's really it since it's hard to see in the video though.

Welcome to the club! Only bit of advice is to take things slow. Saltwater has a way of making you pay otherwise.

Red fan worm?

There are 2 brute trash cans in the garage but not an ounce of trash in either one of them.

Well, how about old water exported out of the system and new saltwater imported, instead of water changes? Does it sting less?How about running old water out my garden hose reactor and new water in from my brute trash can reactor? How about calling it "new water dosing"?

If you can keep that echinata and dragon acro in the background, you can keep a turaki. All about the same as far as sensitivity is concerned. It's only because it's a mariculture that it'll be a little tougher as they have to acclimate to tank conditions and lighting as well.

Never had one but I heard their care is similar to the acropora echinata. Low light, medium flow.

Naturally, I figured you'd be the first heckler! [emoji36] I had a good run of two years with no water changes. Now I'll have an asterisk by my name if I ever win a reefing championship. [emoji12]

So, had some humbling experiences the last couple of days. 1) Somehow allowed both my frag tank and my DT drop in calcium levels significantly. We're talking 350 ppm and 370 ppm, respectively. 2) Overdosed Mg in my DT and now my snails are paying the price. I'm at 1800 ppm and trying to slowly lower it to 1500 ppm by doing water changes and turning off my CaRX as it also supplements Mg in my system. 3) Yes, you read it right. I'm doing water changes! I feel so dirty... [emoji15] 4) Had 3 beautiful pyramid butterflies in QT that were handpicked by a fellow reefer. I know they have a tendency to get bacterial infections on their mouths which cause them to rot away. Some believe because of transport in the bag, that they run into the bags and damage their mouth parts, allowing the bacterial infections to set in. Well, I got the 3 beautiful specimens, immediately started a bacterial treatment prophalytically, and even got them eating pellets by the first day. Then the rot sets in, I threw two other antiobiotics at it to see if anything would help, one dies, the other is on its way out, and I'm still not in the clear with the last. Wow, that was fun. [emoji53]

Ahhh, gotcha, you were talking about Mg the whole way. I use the combined Mg as well when needed.

I'm confused, what do you mean?

He looks more like the giant unicolor red fireworm in the video than the bicolor, smaller worms in the video you posted?

Great wrap up on denitrification Bfrench! Ideal DSBs are at minimum 4" but I believe 6" is ideal. The less you disturb the lower layers, the better it will perform. The main methods of removing nitrates are macro algae, algae turf scrubbers, carbon dosing (biopellets, vodka, vinegar, etc), sulphur denitators, and regular water changes. I personally employ biopellets combined with a large skimmer. Keep in mind for water changes, nitrate removal is directly proportional to the percent of water removed. If you do a 50% water change, you will have reduced your nitrate level 50% as well. Please don't go out and do 50% water changes. [emoji4] Shallow sandbeds give you more surface area to perform nitrification, an aerobic process that converts ammonia/nitrite to nitrate. Otherwise, it's there only for aesthetics and a refuge for sand dwelling creatures such as pods and also for certain species of wrasses to sleep in at night. If you use aragonite sand, it can act as a calcium buffer in the more acidic zones of the sandbed. The eggcrate is just personal preference whether you feel it'll have any impact in your system. If you go the route of a DSB, it may be a moot point.

Pyramid butterflies are my favorite! Dibs on the tuxedo urchins!

I would say those are hammers Tom and not frogspawn. Do you have a picture of them more extended?

That guy looks more like a bristleworm... it has the bicolor body, Bobcat.