FarmerTy

Oh, guess I never mentioned my other great hate in the reefing world are shrimps. Somehow a cleaner shrimp ended up in my tank but otherwise, I despise them as a whole! I've heard of them tearing at LPS but never attacking a snail outright! Sent via Tapatalk

It would be fun to have a poll style vote for this and maybe award it at the next ARC meeting or something. Maybe El Jefe (Mike) will chime in have some good direction for it. Sent via Tapatalk

Great video guys! I love the super grumpy watchman goby in your video Makena and the acro island on the top of your rock structure Bigsby. Sent via Tapatalk

Be happy to test for nitrates and phosphates for you until you get some good kits in. I prefer the Hanna checker for phosphate (order the phosphorus version) and the Red Sea kit for nitrate. There may also be a fellow reefer that lives close to downtown or in south austin that could test your water too. Sent via Tapatalk

LEDS and softies... you trying to make me look bad Shawn? Lol. Looks like people are already chiming in on your public thread. My first guess was LEDs as well... potentially a spotlighting effect. I will say that star polyps aren't given as much credit as they are due for stinging their neighbors. They play nasty sometimes... but I don't think they have anything to do with it. For your snails dying, I would definitely assume it's a nutrient issue. You've added quite the bioload since the frag swap and I wonder if that is starting to take its toll. Even when the coral dies, that will also affect your nutrients. If you left everything that died in the tank, that could have drastically increased your nutrients as well. Good thing that nothing beats an old fashioned water change... it cures all ills. I would work on getting better test kits as well for phosphate and nitrate as it appears that those parameters are what you'll mostly be fighting as we aim to stabilize your tank. If any snail is dead, aim to remove it quickly. Sent via Tapatalk

I'm going to dump Bigsby's post here since he accidentally posted it in the "how to post a video thread." "Here is a really crappy quality video I shot a couple of weeks ago after I removed all of my acans and chalices. I didn't realize my center metal halide was already off for the day. But you can still get a glimpse into my tank." - Bigsby Sent via Tapatalk

Does anybody who contributes to this build thread actually work? I didn't realize I wear the mad scientist uniform so well... it fits so nicely!

Tell me where you find your music selections and I'm in That's two high five slaps in the face I've received today! Just kidding! I just use the default youtube editor, nothing fancy. Here's the list of instructions I posted to help people make/post their videos on youtube. There's much better ways I'm sure but that's as high tech as I go in this department. http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/30857-how-to-post-a-video/

Bump, I want to see more FTVs (Full tank videos)! Bonus points goes to the video with the cheesiest music!

Yes Shawn, your refuge should help remove some of your nitrates and water changes will also help. When something dies, it is basically the start of the nitrogen cycle. The decaying matter will breakdown and release ammonia, the ammonia is converted to nitrite, then nitrite converted to nitrate. So, a good possibility of something like the snail dying in your tank could cause an ammonia spike, followed by a nitrite spike, and then an increase in nitrates. To have levels as high as your current levels of nitrates however, I feel like it is more than just the snail dying. I just think the system is not processing nitrates as fast as they are being produced and you are being left with a high residual concentration in your tank. Again, water changes and the kick-up of your refugium should help alleviate some of it. Ideally, I would say to do enough water changes to get your nitrates back down to 5-10 ppm and see what happens to the concentration as you resume your normal level of water changes. That way, you can see if the current maintenance regiment for your tank is enough to keep nitrate levels low or if it will slowly climb again. I like how you work sir with the spreadsheet! Myself, maybe it's because I've been doing it so long, but I don't bother documenting the flow or lighting preferences because you can ask me about any coral I have and I can tell you off the bat what par levels it prefers and what flow. Doesn't mean I have it in its perfectly ideal flow and par but that is where I have had success with it. I do like to keep a spreadsheet of all my corals to document what I have and I also document when I added it to my tank and usually from what source I got the frag (i.e. AquaSD, Austin Aqua Farms, RCA, Victoly, RichardL, Sam, reanimated it from the dead, etc).

That's awesome Sam! Always jealous of the colonies you find! Sent via Tapatalk

Have you tried using the Force as an alternative? Sent via Tapatalk

Thanks for checking Clay! I'm still ordering so anybody interested, let me know to split shipping. Sent via Tapatalk

Haha, glad I could be the platform for your cannonball Tim! I too share your distaste for these generic labels but they are what they are, they serve a function for us to describe a group of corals easier than saying, all my SPS do better in lower phosphate conditions, versus, all my validas, yongeiis, microclades, and echinatas do well in lower phosphate conditions. It's the same as lumping zoas and palys together or throwing softies all into a group... LPS as well. It's just a general label to make them easier to discuss as most have very similar morphological characteristics, similar growth forms, and SOMETIMES similar husbandry. I think the biggest detriment to the broad based classifications is like what you mentioned, there will be certain species that although grouped in the same broad based grouping, that have very different care requirements. Your mention of the echinata is a perfect example. I have not seen or run as many tanks over the years as you do Tim, being in the profession, so I can only speak from what I have observed in my own tank, which is a much more limited data pool than yours. Off of my experiences, I have seen some flow affect coloration and growth form, I have seen plenty of light intensity affect coloration and also growth form, and I've witnessed nutrient levels also affecting both as well. Based on only my direct experience with my "SPS" population, I find that the most important criteria for coloration is nutrient level. And let me explain that statement a little further. I can place all my SPS in a par level they are happy with and they might not reach the full potential of their color. It looks good, and to most, perfectly acceptable, but depending on species, I know there are more colors I can pull from it. I can place them in the appropriate flow, once again, they'll color, and look good, but to get that extra color from it, the final step of influence was always the phosphate level. For me, it can be at the right par, and the right flow, but without low phosphate levels, it never colored up to its true potential. I'm not saying they don't look good, because they do, but not to their best potential of color in my opinion. I also left out a very important factor not discussed yet, stability, which may be one of the most critical of all the factors as well. They are all integral pieces of the coloration puzzle and with most tanks I run across with coloration being an issue for SPS, it is almost always the phosphate level that needs to be tweaked. Most can get the flow, par level, and stability down but pushing the phosphate level down further was the main difference maker for these tanks. My echinata looks good to most standards right now, but I know that it is missing that pearly essence I had gotten from it before. Funny thing about the echinata, as more of a deepwater species in nature, the years of it being raised in captivity and being cultured by ORA and hobbiests, it has acclimated to the same environmental conditions as the rest of my SPS. I can stick it at 500-600 par with no ill effects... I can blast it with flow and not a complaint. I would almost speculate that a freshly collected specimen would no doubt waste away in my tank in the same conditions. Which leads me to the success you have with higher phosphate conditions in some of the tanks you maintain. Adaptation plays a big part in that and in every tank that people keep in my opinion. My old nano probably had screaming high nitrates but I was none the wiser. I'd try corals and it's either they adapt and live in my tank or I just chalk it up to a difficult to keep species and move on. Tim, you've seen my old tank at its peak. I always wondered this but never had asked you, where would you have rated the coloration on my SPS? Again, since I see less tanks than you, my only base comparison for SPS coloration were the few other hobbiest that kept SPS in the Austin area. I was curious to your opinion based on just the sheer number of tanks and experiences you've seen. The big 3 that always stand out in my head for coloration for SPS were Don Duncan, Sam, and Tim (wizard). Sorry if I left anyone out but their tanks always popped out in my head for their impressive SPS coloration. I do apologize if any thoughts seem not congruent as I am typing this post on my phone. Sent via Tapatalk

I think for awhile conservation groups encouraged a lionfish meal as a way to try to encourage population control to the invasive species. Look guys, it's tasty! Eat it please! Sent via Tapatalk

I've actually reanimated them with the Triton revive treatment and it worked like a charm! The only side effect is they keep trying to eat my open brains... brains.... Sent via Tapatalk

I'm guessing you're in the no hermit crab camp now? Your foundation elements are looking pretty good. I think the regular water changes should keep those levels in the correct range. For the phosphates, the phosban should do some damage with that. Be careful to not remove the phosphates too fast as that has some repercussions as well. I typically run with half the recommended dose at first and ramp up from there as needed. For nitrates, I would keep an eye on it. It is higher than I feel comfortable for a tank to be at but besides denitrification (within anoxic areas in your tank... deep inside live rock... deep sand beds), your only other source of nitrate removal would be through the water changes. Nitrates removed are directly proportional to water removed... for instance, change 20% of your water and that'll reduce your nitrate concentration by 20%.

I know! I'm just as shocked there are so many purple stylo frags!

If you're talking to Will anyways, can you just ask him about free shipping for frag packs? I don't think he's done that in the past though.

Who's in? I've been tempted enough. $40 shipping on as many frag packs as we want. We can split shipping by the amount of people ordering. Let me know! I'd like to put in the order by Sunday and get it shipped out Monday. http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/32700-frag-pack-time-acan-cyphastrea-acro-favia-monti-packs/#entry255251 Sent via Tapatalk

Who says my water isn't junk Brian? Lol. Sent via Tapatalk

Great to hear you're winning the battle! I'm sure you're doing it but I just wanted to double check, you're converting your phosporus meter results to ppm of phosphate, correct? If not, just multiply by 3.066 and divide by 1000 to convert (i.e., 10 ppb of phosphorus is 0.03 ppm of phosphate, 30 ppb is 0.09 ppm of phosphate). Ignore me if you're already doing that. Sent via Tapatalk

Don't forget to burn incense!

Victoly Smash! Victoly Bash! Sent via Tapatalk

That foot pedal is awesome. I'm sure the general population on ARC is having a collective brainstorming session on what else we could use that for. Sent via Tapatalk