FarmerTy

Good ole' fashion super glue gel is what I use. just a dab at the bottom and put them in the small container for a bit and they'll attach eventually. Sometimes the superglue will deteriorate before the zoas attach... at that point, just do it again.

A simple $2 net is what I employ for rinsing off brine and mysid shrimp.

Yeah, the nitrates are pretty high, and I'm sure there is even more in your system though the uptake from the algae makes it seem less. I agree with MuddyBlue, just kick that skimmer into action for a bit and see how that helps out your system. Run it wet for awhile (more liquid skimmate, you just have to empty cup more often). Turn it off when you are feeding but kick it back up about an hour or so afterwards to remove unwanted nutrients. I would put the chaeto back in your system if it has been removed. For a system that size, I would imagine a lot of chaeto needed. I'm talking three to four good-sized handfuls of that stuff. I found it grows best with bulbs around the 7k range (yellowish bulb) as the regular halogen doesn't do much for it. There's always someone trimming that stuff on this forum so I'm sure people would be happy to donate. Put the light on a reverse cycle from your main lights (basically have it on at night, so when your main lights are on, it's off, and vice versa). Go with PBNJ, if you're feeding flake food, stop... and swap to pellets. If you're feeding with brine or mysis, rinse the food off before putting it in the tank. Do not put the water you defrosted the shrimp with into the tank. Those are long-term solutions. For the immediate problem of algae, I would pull out as much as you can by hand and possibly look into getting an urchin for a bit. The blue tux urchin I had mowed that stuff down like a lawnmower. I would sell you the one I have but it's being picked up tomorrow already. With the urchin clearing out the nuisance algae, that'll allow the chaeto to start dominating in your sump instead and since it is more efficient at uptake, will eventually out compete the nuisance algae. Then afterwards, pass along the urchin to the next reefer in need of hair algae removal. Lowering the light cycle for a couple of weeks would help too. I'd bump it down to like 4 hrs of bright white with an hour before and after of just actinics. Just keep an eye on your coral and make sure they are not suffereing too much from the shorter light cycle. PBNJ would be on to something else there with vacuuming the substrate. I don't really do it but I don't have a large population of fish to feed either. I wouldn't do it all the time since I like believe in time, the system will balance out but maybe a good cleaning every 6 months is in order if everything is out of whack. Give those a try and give it a little time, it took me 1 1/2 months to fully get rid of the tons of hair algae in my system after buying live rock from a FOWLR tank. But when the system did change over and the chaeto started taking over in my sump, the hair algae disappeared over one weekend. That is with weeks and weeks of pulling hair algae out every other day (nutrient export), shortening my light cycle, running the skimmer wet, a few very large water changes (50%), buying that urchin from a fellow ARCer, and the addition of 6 zebra turbo snails and a lawnmower blenny. The urchins and snails have moved on to the next reefer in need of algae control and the lawnmower blenny was just too entertaining to get rid of. Hope the information helps you out. Would like very much to see your system after all of this passes. Let me know if you have any specific questions on what I did to remove my hair algae problem. Good luck! -Ty

I don't think you have to start all over. I'm sure there will be a lot of opinions on what you should do to the tank that will help your decision. It would seem that you have a lot of nutrients in the tank and just recently added a form of export (the skimmer) other than water changes. I think that should help immensely. RJohn, what does your water change regiment consist of? How often? How many gallons? I'm not so sure about the crushed coral since I have only run tanks with sand in them. Do you have macro algae in your sump? What type of salt do you use? What is your lighting schedule? Did you buy your live rock dry? When's the last time you changed out your bulbs? Xenias are prolific in nitrate rich waters (semi-dirty water) so that is an indicator of higher than normal nitrate levels, including the growth of green and maroon algae (which i've only seen the maroon algae in fish-only tanks with high nutrient load---high nitrates, insufficient lighting). The coralline will not grow if out competed by hair algae and older bulbs tend to promote the growth of hair algae because of the change in spectrum. I don't speak as an expert but those are my observations. Hope it helps! -Ty

I'm all about my 12k Reeflux bulbs, great color when I combined with actinic supplementation. I'm assuming the 20k gives the look of my 12k without the need for the actinics. It is a pretty badass color and the corals IMO, love it. -Ty

I would like to buy this tank. PM'ed. -Ty

I'll get my thinking cap on and maybe dig deep on my science background to maybe find a solution to keeping this guy alive and healthy. I don't really know how environmental science will help me but I may get lucky. Thanks for the input Mike. -Ty

Hydro, You hit my theory on the nose with that one. I was thinking that if the polyps are too prolific, they will in essence smother out the sponge that it grows on. I am aiming to not actively feed the polyps and to direct my focus on the sponge with the reef roids and oyster eggs. Mike, I was thinking that as a backup. To transfer the polyps to the many different varieties of sponges naturally occurring in my tank and see if they will form the same relationship as with the red sponge. What did you do to transplant it? super glue underwater? what type of sponge did you try? I have the dull yellow/brown variety, some blueish/gray variety, and some birght greenish variety as well. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks for the input as always.

Oh, I'd be curious to this answer myself. Currently running with no sand in the fuge but the system has been up and flawless for the past 4 months. Wanted to see if it was a good idea to add a DSB in the fuge. -Ty

I would like to take the live rock off your hands as long as it is not base rock or tonga. PM'ed. Thanks. -Ty

Thanks guys. I actually have a ton of native sponges on the backs of all of my live rock, one of them is massive, bigger than a softball if you rolled it up into a ball. That's why i think it might have a pretty good chance of surviving. The polyps are extended and look happy. I may try just putting it in the shade if things turn south but so far it is looking good. Worst comes to worst, it's only a small 1" frag so if it goes, then I know it was the impossible feat. Thanks for the input guys! -Ty

I would be interested in coming by and taking a look at it. When would be a good time if it's still available? Thanks! -Ty

If things fall through, I'll take this off your hands as soon as you have the time for me to come by and grab it. Thanks. -Ty

So, I picked up a little frag of this beauty from Laura just to try it out and see it's success rate. I figured start on the little frag and if it thrives, I'll move on to a larger colony. So, I know some ARC'ers ordered this from Vivid Aquariums a few Group Buys back and was wondering how your colonies have been doing. In particular, location you placed the frag, flow, lighting, feeding regiment and any other parameters that are relevant. So far I have mine on the far right side of my tank, in a medium-high flow area that gets intermittent flow reductions with the wavemaker alternating pumps. Basically a good long 10sec burst followed by 10secs of slower current. I feed mine DT's, oyster eggs, and Reef roids for the sponge portion and for the polyps I try cyclopeeze and they take them up. It is in a more shaded area of the tank though it still does get indirect light from a 250-watt metal halide (but not much at all) and my actinic VHOs. Let me know if you got them and what you're doing with them to be successful. I figure as a group we can learn to not only keep these alive but also to have them flourish in our captive reefs. Thanks for the input! -Ty

I like what you did Lamont. Looks like you'll get some pretty good circulation around the tank without any dead spots.

I am still planning on meeting you Dena at RCA. I'll see you there for one of those frags. -Ty

Out of curiosity, was just wondering what my fellow ARC'ers are using for their metal halide bulbs as well as any supplemental lighting involved. For instance, I'm a fan of the 250-watt 12k Reeflux bulb and supplement it with four 96-watt VHO super actinics for that nice smooth bluer look with a bit of pop from the actinics. What are you sporting and what have you tried? -Ty

Would it be much to ask for a Windows Mobile version for us Touch Pro2 users? I know nothing of programming or the amount of work it takes to program from one OS to another, but I just wanted to throw it out there. That way I can take my obsession with me at all times. Thanks! -Ty

The days of darkness I found was the most effective and also the most cost-effective. Good luck! Cyano is the pits!

Okay, looking to get this urchin out by this weekend. Other offers are either unresponsive or fell through. Let me know what you got to trade, the blue tux is back on the table. Snails are gone though. Thanks. -Ty

Eleyan, I think you're fine with the two 250-watt setup. Just add more fans and make sure you have a large enough reservoir for your auto-top off system so that your sump will never run dry. That hard part I have is fitting another metal halide in the canopy. Looks like 2 of the 4 VHOs have got to go to make room for the 2 metal halides and a reflector setup. I'll wire the new fans to blow across the surface of the water and link them to the metal halides. I'll let you know how my temps turn out, though right now it is not indicative of the summer conditions obviously.

I'm glad you brought this topic up because I was thinking of going the same route with my 60-gallon. I should have all the hardware available to set up a second 250-watt metal halide but was worried about the heat due to my canopy that is not an open top. Currently I have one large fan pulling air out of the canopy but would like to setup another fan to pull air from the tank surface. Evaporation is not a concern for me as I have an auto-top off system in place. If it is needed, possibly even another fan in the sump. Am I going a little too light crazy? -Ty

I would like one. PM'ed. -Ty

Here's my 60-gallon, about 3 months old now. Moved everything from a small 12-gallon nanocube so it's still looking a little sparse. C'mon corraline, c'mon! -Ty

Hey Dena, If you still have that one purple death frag left, I'll take that one off your hands. I may just have my brother pick it up from you downtown at work since he lives around the corner from your office. LMK. -Ty