FarmerTy

It's like admitting you're an alcoholic while standing in a bar. Nobody else in there thinks there's a problem. Haha. New goal is to keep it under 100 species... I'll give stuff away for frags of people's wallets!

Nice undata!

Has an ethereal look about it... almost as if you were diving and came across a secret coral reef that nobody has found before. Well, let's say a miniature diver.

The forum software bleeped "dang it"? That's hilarious. Thanks Victoly... it starts with admitting a problem. At least we aren't all collecting like 100 cats or anything... does this qualify all of us to be on that show "Hoarders"?

Don't give me any ideas Timfish! I'll go with the let everything grow out approach and stop collecting any more varieties. Chris, I got one frag of king midas I'll trade you for some mohawks. Wait, ******, I said no more varieties! You guys are enablers! Okay, I'll trade you but I'm selling another species of coral this weekend and removing it from my system entirely. Deal! -Ty

I figured if I posted it somewhere public where I could be held accountable, it would make me realize I have a problem and stop buying coral. I'm going to institute a coral species exchange program from this point on. If one species comes in, one must leave! I'm at 120 different species of softies, LPS, SPS, and anemones! Who else has a problem??? Kind of redundant to ask on a reef site but jeez, I never counted the number out before. I'm actually quite shocked by my own number. Please tell me someone has it worst than me? -Ty

I thought I saw some Mag pumps at Fishy Business. I would give them a call.

I would say worth it for the bits themselves and light work like sanding dog nails... but it is no match for live rock.

Just a heads up. Bought it myself two months ago thinking the same thing and was severely disappointed in its lack of power. It barely made it through my live rock while cutting. A chisel and hammer was about a million times faster... however more crude.

I got dinos when I removed my cyanobacteria. It just took the role of consuming excess nitrates and phosphates that my reactors didn't take care of. I would much prefer cyano... it doesn't affect the corals, inverts, and fish like dinos do. At one point in the dino battle, I thought about reintroducing cyano back into my system... that shows you my desperation at that point... someone please give me a hit of cyano in my tank!!! -Ty

Diatoms just run their course... silicates in the water will eventually be used up. I think the theory was it was fluctuating in nature due to drought conditions, the water is more concentrated, ending up with a higher concentration of silicates in the city water. Our RO/DI systems remove silicates initially but allow them to pass through the membrane within a couple days of putting in new filters... so essentially meaning our setups are not really effective at removing silicates. Diatoms are usually harmless and will go away in time. Now if it's dinoflagellates.... you got a bigger problem. Can't really tell by the pic but my guess is unfortunately, it may be dinos, not diatoms. Looks like it has a little more mass to it then diatoms... though it doesn't look snotty yet. -Ty

Can't tell with the actinics on. Can you take a picture with regular lighting?

I check the following parameters in my tank, now on a monthly basis: pH - Apex probe Temp- Apex probe Salinity - hydrometer and refractometer Ca - Red Sea Test Kit Alk - Hanna Meter Phosphate - Hanna Meter (sometimes test every 2 weeks) Iron - Red Sea Test Kit (rarely test) I like the Red Sea test kits, so ditto to what RobR said. It all depends on what type of tank you are running. Personally, when I first started, all I tested was temperature and salinity. I also only kept softies and LPS but kept them well for 6 years with regular 2 week water changes. Once you go SPS, you test a whole lot more than the average reefer, I'd say... but at least my water changes have changed from 2x a month to 2x a year now! Woohoo!

I fought them off after a 2-3 month battle. Do everything that everyone above has mentioned... the no water changes helped out significantly for me, as well as the peroxide (blasting dinos in tank directly with turkey baster of peroxide... just do a different area each night so you aren't overdosing peroxide) and lights out for 2 days at a time... with shorter photo period during entire removal of dinos (1-2 hrs max for me). Enough to keep corals alive at minimal level. Once it starts taking longer for them to come back after the lights are on, start dosing bacteria heavily, running biopellets (or some other form of carbon dosing), and stopping the peroxide in replacement of more "lights" out did it for me. My thought is let the peroxide do some damage initially but I stopped to allow for the bacteria population to return after I noticed it took longer for the dinos to come back. That way the bacteria populations can get back to what they were doing before the dinos showed up. Shorter photoperiods during the entire time of that battle is a must I say. I don't think boiling everything is the answer either. Good luck! Let me know if you have any specific questions. -Ty

Subsea is the macro expert around here. Hopefully he will chime in on some suggestions.

Yeah, pretty awesome piece! My tank is way too bright as well and is geared towards SPS, so no go there. I really hope the person picking it up can keep it alive. It would be a shame otherwise. That is very generous of you to give it away like that. Cheers! -Ty

Thanks Clint for the awesome frags at the great price. -Ty

Does anything else look stressed in your tank? Fish or coral? If not, I'd do it over the course of a couple days. I'm sure decreasing the salinity in 12 hours probably won't really affect anything but if there is nothing rushing it, why push it. I know if I was used to 88 degrees and you suddenly turned down the thermostat to 72 and told me that was the new normal, I'd be freezing my tail off. I know the example concerns temperature and not salinity but you know what I am saying. Slow changes in this hobby is a good rule to stick by. -Ty

Yellow is a good bet. I have a sailfin and blue hippo tang in mine and they occasionally get a light case of ich when stressed. Doesn't happen more than 1-2 times a year for like 2 days but enough to make me worry here and there. The yellow tang I have is always just fine. I'm hoping my sailfin keeps getting bigger so I'll finally have an excuse with the fiance to get a bigger tank. 210... here I come! -Ty

Funkness, I have 3 Coralvue 250-watt ballasts. I'll sell them to you for $100 for all 3. One is actually dimmable. PM me if you are interested. Thanks. -Ty

Agreed. I love the fact that MH equipment is so cheap right now.

Bige is all over it. Thanks man.

Yeah, removed the bottom disk, replaced it with the part from the silly putty (concave half of ball), then cut notches in the tubing (like a cross), added some tubing to extend the tube to touch the bottom, and presto, nice tumbling reactor mod for $4.

+1 I also overfeed as well and use aminos periodically. I modded my TLF 150 with parts from a silly putty ball from Target, which kept the pellets tumbling more consistently for me.