FarmerTy

I see that both Makena and I have the creativity of a block of wood when it comes to screen names. [emoji30]

Thanks for the poke! Life sometimes takes a hold of me and doesn't let go! I'll hopefully be installing my UV sterilizer today after work so I'll snap some good pictures.

One of my best friends has moderate anxiety. I think for your sake, it's beneficial to see if there are any free programs for counseling after a tramautic event such as yours Makena. I'd be happy to lend an ear anyday, just know that I'm no Dr. Phil. I feel though that focusing on things you enjoy, such as your saltwater tank, would be very beneficial... and with time, perhaps you slowly transition back to enjoying your hobby with fellow reef nerds and talking tank again. I wish you well in your journey and I have faith that you can feel more yourself as time goes on.

I think there was an anonymous vote on the club banning me from making any more videos. [emoji22] I'll try to sneak one on here though.... shhhhh!

Sorry about the sting! Looks like you've gotten some good advice! I've oddly never been stung by them in 11 years of reefing... and they've been all over my tanks!

Tomorrow is the big day! I'll have fish in my fish tank again! What a concept!

That's what my build thread has come to now huh Richard? Just somewhere to dump unwanted posts? [emoji30]

I can text you an audio clip of me saying that if you prefer? I may add a couple of caveman grunts to emphasize it.

Phosphate... bad... removal... good.

Great update by Randy Holmes-Farley on his previous article about phosphate in the reef aquaria. http://www.reef2reef.com/blog/phosphate-in-the-reef-aquarium-by-randy-holmes-farley/ Happy reading!

Aw man, you beat me to the link!

You and me both!

Sorry bud for the losses. It worries me that you are still losing some fish to the ich. I'm fear that it's starting to win out in your tank. Do the other fish look any better or are they just as covered in ich? If they are looking worse, I'd almost recommend pulling them out and treating them with some chloroquine phosphate. Actually, your picture just popped up with the acans and the clown almost looks like it has brooklynella or even the dreaded marine velvet? Do you have any clearer pictures of the clowns? Perhaps post it to the general forums instead of just your mentor thread and see if anybody else can help with ID? There are no local suppliers of the alk reagent but I have an extra bottle you can steal until yours gets here. I also have some medicated food as well if you need it but the chloroquine phosphate powder is top-notch for treating marine velvet, ich, and brooklynella if you decide to remove and treat. Do you happen to know the wattage is the AquaUV light? That's a shame about the SPS but as I understand it, your alk is still pretty high and in conjunction with the biopellets, is probably not a good combination for the SPS. Typically you want your alk to be in the 7-8 dKh range when carbon dosing. I would continue to lower the alk, the sooner the better. Either that or kill the biopellets for now and deal with potentially higher nitrates and the higher alk. I just don't like the option as much as it could compromise more than just your SPS.

The shrimp was reading some threads on ARC and realized that the crab had flattened pincers used mainly for picking at rocks and not for tearing flesh. He assumed the risk level was low for being a meal for the emerald and he went in and got some tasty bits of food. That just shows you that reading ARC threads will make you smarter and you will make better informed decisions in life... like this shrimp that didn't go hungry today did. [emoji5]

I think you have a great plan sir! Keep me posted on the progress of your SPS during this light transition.

I don't want to take over Sascha's build thread but I will make a quick comment on it. I think mortality rates have to do with more on the source of the frag, which is obvious but I wanted to mention anyways. Obviously, the best frags are from fellow reefers who've had the coral in their system for a long period of time and it has shown great health and growth in their system. Even better, a system similar to your own, as far as lighting and water parameters are concerned... so the transition is as smooth as can be. I always feel bad when new reefers decide to try SPS and start ordering from some of our online vendors with fantastic photos of their SPS. Most of those SPS are mariculture and are not used to life in a reef tank. The transition is hard enough on its own but to do it in a newer system with a hobbiest that is new to SPS can spell disaster sometimes. Also, the colors you see in the picture will most often not keep so I typically discourage buying mariculture based on coloration you see in the pictures. Think of them as more to a hint as to some of the potential but know for the most part it will not stay that way. It may blossom to even something more beautiful or really, it's just a regular SPS you can get at the store but it looks amazing when it first shows up from the ocean. I encourage anybody looking to try SPS to get a few tester pieces from a fellow reefer in town to test your tank out first and then start opening up to purchasing online or at a LFS. But to answer your question, with all external criteria constant, I feel the bigger the better. Mainly because, if things turn south, you can always frag up a colony and try to save the pieces. Superglue and clippers are your friend. I'd think that Sam has a lot more experience to offer in this regard though as my old system was comprised mainly of frags from fellow reefers and mariculture colonies are newer to me in this new system. Sam has been doing maricultures for a long time now and I'm sure he has great wealth of experience to share in their regards.

I know that when my brother ran LEDs, he was running at 60% for the longest time and had terrible success in keeping his SPS happy. Then when he dropped it down to something like 30%, his SPS went nuts. He slowly acclimated them to a higher percentage and they adjusted slowly to the higher intensity over time. I think the biggest problem with most LED transitions is that the perceived visual cues that we use to determine brightness = higher par is thrown off with LEDs because they may look a lot dimmer at an equal par to a MH unit, so the natural thing is to keep turning it up to visually match the older lighting. At that point, you may be cooking your coral. To add to that, the percentages themselves throw it off because its human nature to think that if we have 100%, that eventually it needs to end up there to get the most out of your unit. In most cases, you'll never use 100%, or 70% for that matter. Just because it's there, doesn't mean the ideal setting is to one day get to 100%. Max on your fixtures in your particular setup may be 45% for all we know. Each system/setup will vary. If we can attune ourselves to thinking that 45% is the new 100% (similar to Orange being the new Black), then I think a lot of people will have less issues with the LED conversion. Just my 2 cents though and not entirely pertaining to your system MadSalt. Just a quick mind dump!

This would/could happen with the phosphate spike as well. The only two parameters I have experienced causing me issues with SPS are alk obviously, but also rapid changes in phosphate level as well. While it's still early to diagnose what's causing your issues, I would see if perhaps a newly acquired piece, such as a tester frag from my tank, does in comparison to the other SPS. If it stays happy while the others are still ticked, then I would assume they are still recovering from the water parameter changes/fluctuations. If it itself succumbs and does not look so good either, than we know something within your system is causing it. My guess for now is still light acclimation. I am however not an LED guy so I don't have much advice other than the obvious, slow acclimation and maybe turning down the leds a bit while acclimating.

Colonies=money, but I know the feeling. That's why I bought more colonies this time and ditched my frags only rule I had for the old tank.

+1

That's awesome to hear! The 150 IPB tank is gonna be back in action soon!

That sounds like a plan. Thank you for pulling this together and taking on the role of the organizer of the group buy.

That's what's Im figuring out . Could just even be 500 . For the first shipment . Think I'm buying . Me and my friend will be in the first shipment but we need like another 200 to reach minimum . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk If you want to add me to your order, I'll be a guinea pig too and it'll total us to the $500 minimum order.

I think that's a good idea. How will you select who will be on the $700 order and who will be on the $1000 order?

Trying to find a way to hit them with some good ole' Marvel style radiation.