FarmerTy

Brian did something similar but with for an external skimmer. http://www.austinreefclub.com/index.php?/topic/26503-Next-Level-H2O Post #108.

Frame, did you smell too much ocean air in Hawaii? Those things get to the size of a dinner plate! Kim has a 4' tank! [emoji14]

Yeah, I knew the chevrons were but I can't believe I overlooked the kole for so long and didn't realize it was a bristletooth. I'm almost baffled by the oversight... Or should I say embarrassed. [emoji53]

Yeah, I was surprised when I put a large tube of superglue on there and it said it shipped free. It was only $20 for the order so always worth a try to see if it ships free.

I find the best deals on eBay for frag plugs and discs... though I usually buy in bulk.

RobR has it covered! Interesting, I never realized a Kole tang was a bristletooth... you learn something new every day!

I've never had a kole tang but that's the 3rd instance this month I've heard about them attacking smaller non-tang fishes... interesting. I'm currently in love with this guy... white-tail bristletooth tang. Too bad my tang collection is finalized! http://www.nyaquatic.com/white-tail-bristletooth-tang-3-4/

Well I'm stumped. Any ability to ask the previous owner of similar issues?

I say any bristletooth tang will work and they'll work the rocks all day long. A kole tang would be a nice alternative as well for that size tank.

Fat boy duncans! They open up about 2" across usually.

Just a quick video to celebrate tomorrow. What's happening tomorrow you may ask? It's 76 days fallow, that's what's happening! My fish get to live in a reef again and not in a tub!

Wittle? He's almost 2.5" across! Okay, maybe that is little for an urchin but big for a tuxedo urchin.

Alright, thank you for humoring me. If I had a guess as to an explanation, here's my best guess. 1) Your low-range kit read it correctly and your nitrates probably really are at 6-8ppm. Since the limit of the low-range is 4ppm, the sample will look like its screaming hot. 2) You tested using the high-range dilution and potentially grabbed 15ml of tank water and 1ml of RO/DI water by accident. Just a guess here but only explanation I have for the super hot sample of 64ppm. 3) You then retested immediately and got 6-8ppm on the high-range which corroborates with the low-range test kit result. Quick thought, sometimes it takes a bit for the nitrate level to register, at least for me it did when I was messing around with nitrate dosing as well. Call it a latent interaction with the biology of the tank but sometimes I would have a much higher nitrate reading a couple days after I dosed. Perhaps you are seeing something similar with the 6-8ppm of nitrate you are reading now? Again, just all theories. I could totally be barking up the wrong tree.

Urchin wasn't the biggest fan of my chopstick aquascaping technique. He went all Godzilla on it... he's just lucky the building didn't come crashing down on him!

Sorry Brooks, I'm old and senile and it's late so I'm a little slow with following. Let me know if this is the sequence of events: 1) Tested with low-range (screaming hot sample above 4ppm upper limit of test) 2) Tested with high-range (screaming hot sample which matched best with 64ppm) 3) Retested high-range (sample read 6-8 ppm)

So you got the dark purple with the high-range kit? Did you repeat the test immediately when you got the 64ppm to confirm that the test was not contaminated or skewed? I'd say if you got 8-10 ppm the second time on the high-range kit, that sounds like it's working fine to me. Keep in mind that you are personally diluting the sample and even a couple drops difference while doing the dilution can cause the nitrate level to shift up or down with the variance.

Can you explain exactly how you got the 2-3ppm of nitrates result? Like how much tank water did you use and how much RO water did you dilute it with?For the high-range, the same question. That'll help in potentially diagnosing if the kit is bad. Following the instructions on the Red Sea kit. 16ml of tank water, add reagents in, wait for results. It was testing consistently and I assume accurately for days. Then suddenly, it spikes to "64ppm?" For high range, I diluted 1ml of tank water into 15ml of RODI. Seems correct in your methodology. Sorry for having to ask but I just wanted to make sure you had followed the instructions correctly. So you read 64 ppm on the high-range test? Did you get a screaming hot sample on your low-range and that's what caused you to run the high range test?

Can you explain exactly how you got the 2-3ppm of nitrates result? Like how much tank water did you use and how much RO water did you dilute it with? For the high-range, the same question. That'll help in potentially diagnosing if the kit is bad.

Here's an example I found.

It's just a terrible photo but it looks like the hard white shelled worms with red fans. I have some in my sump as well.

Oh yeah, those usually won't go nuts in your tank.

Credit card will work just fine. They'll rebuild any tubes that get destroyed. If it's the common brown tube with white fans feather duster, be careful, they can go plague like in the DT without a predator.

You could always put some foam around the intake of the pump and see if that eliminates the bubbles.

im pretty sure its chalicies... like cook-ies... ya that sounds right Who's got chalice cookies for sale? now thats a good idea for the next meetingYou bring the chalice cookies and I'll bring some sea cucumber milk to dip them in!

with all pumps off except the return then yes Are you seeing the skimmer bubbles make it all the way to your return chamber in the sump? Is there a cascading effect from the chamber prior to the return chamber that may be causing bubbles?