Achilles Tang

This statement is too general and a pitfall for newbies. When you moved your corals out from your established tank into your shallow frag propagation tanks, they all turned brown right? Did they receive any less light? I think they were all brightly lit! So what changed? Its mainly the water quality right? Just because one frag still retained its colour doesn't mean anything. And if i am not wrong, that frag was the newest right? So it acclimatized well... compared to the rest who saw a drastic drop in water quality and turned brown. RTN is a totally different thing from browning. A brown or coloured colony can be next to each other, one will RTN mysteriously regardless of the same conditions, the stressors are something else. We are not talking about survival of SPS here. My 2 cents. AT

I use GPs too and I don't have any form of algae bloom too. I feed a lot of cyclop-eeze too! It really depends on the maturity of your system. Just to add this in to be objective.

LOL!! Guilty Conscience!!! I never pin-pointed anyone!! But since you confessed......... Kidding guys.... don't take it to heart... just keep it in your heart!! Hahahaha!!!!

My Reef Hook is basically a metal rod bend to an 'S" shape with an eye at the end so I can attach a lanyard that I can clip to my D-ring with. I stick the reef hook into a rock and I can 'fly like a kite' without having to use my hands to hold on to something. Good for taking photos in high current.

Love this critic!

Believe me, you will vomit when you see my first tank setup. You will improve as you go along... ! Keep your chin up! AT

check her site out, esp her mp3 song samples!

Get with the program dude! Mac?

http://fun-film.ecdisk.com/girl/michelle.wmv

..... to beat my fellow mates in camp! SF champ was I!

Forgot to add that phosphate is a direct enemy of calcification by inhibiting the process. If your SPS corals don't calcify & grow, the growth tips where the brightest colours are always found will NEVER be seen. Ie. You WON'T see any colours in your SPS.

I HAVE ENCRUSTING MONTIS THAT I CAN'T REMOVE!!! AAARRGGGH!!!! I'm gonna lose them!

I know.... there are quite a few 'hopers' around.... My advice to spend money on a good skimmer or to remove heavy bioload usually goes unheeded. Instead you see more and more acros in their new tanks or the obsession over lights vs that lights. If they don't get around to believing that lighting is secondary and spending more attention to things that matter like improving water quality, then let them enjoy the long wait & feel the frustration. SPS keeping should be enjoyable but some reefers love to feel stressed up why they don't see any colours even after 8 months. And complain about cyano on the sandbed that doesn't go away. It puzzles me but I guess everyone gets their kicks somehow and some other ways very differently from others. I feel heartpain for their wallet when their acros die or all of them stay brown for a long time. Patience is a virtue and in reefkeeping, some should learn to tahan a bit.

Free Rowaphos!

Need a clearer ID on the ugly mother fish. My fish atlas doesn't register any UGLY MOTHER fish? Is it a new species? :lol:

Next time, just tell them to PM me direct with the suggested proper thread title for renaming purposes! Or hyperlink them to the thread explaining this ruling! AT

On the contrary, more zooxanthellae means that the SPS coral will look brown. It means the zoox are actually taking in nutrients from the water instead. That is why SPS keepers need to keep pristine water quality by having as little dissolved organics as possible to see colours. The colours are actually pigmentation to screen against excessive UV. For SPS keeping, unless you control your phosphate right at the beginning with a good phosphate removal like Contraphos or Rowaphos to prevent phosphate from bonded to your substrate and rock surfaces, you will have enough phosphate that could be released for nuisance algae like cyanobacteria, GHA etc to overgrow and pose a problem for SPS. Young tanks <1 yr old with still maturing DSBs/bio filtration will also face problems coping with nitrates effectively. That is why people always say to only start keeping SPS beyond the 11 - 12 month onwards so you won't get frustrated when you see your SPS corals not doing well due to Young Tank Syndrome. So control nitrates by water changes or just wait patiently for your DSB to mature, control feedings, bioload & overstocking. Use an oversized skimmer as they are more efficient to remove dissolved organics before they break down. Control phosphates by the above means mentioned. My 2 cents, AT

Mine. Besides the usual gear like BCD, mask, fins, weight belt, booties, gloves, weights, dive comp... My Canon G2 in Ikelite underwater housing. I bring along a dive torch (Light Cannon), spare torch (Neon orange PrincetonTec Rage) clipped to my BCD. A slate but I usually let my wife carry it coz she likes to talk a lot (underwater also). I carry a stainless steel prod (for moving myself away from corals, for pointing out stuff to other people, as a camera 'tripod' or 'singlepod' hahaha, ... or for tank banging). A reef hook on string (for anchoring myself on the rock when the current gets too strong) Ball Tank banger. SMB... (kenna stun or left behind in my last destination.) So you can imagine, I do look like a christmas tree...

For reef tanks, aim for undetectable nitrates for long term success of your livestock, esp the inverts & corals. For FOWLR tanks, those fishes can tolerate a bit of nitrates.

I have the same prob.. PLUS a camera casing to bring down! Sometimes, I feel like diving with a suitcase!

Its back up and what a hilarious read! That pix is a classic. I wonder how much he paid his brother to do that? Hahahhaha!!!!

I hope they fix their electrical problems. Don't want SRC to be full of complaints like in RC about so many reefers with failing Rios or getting shocked by them!

The problem I have is some of my monti caps are encrusted already.. I don't know how to treat it without breaking it off the LR! The smaller colonies can be treated by dips. One is almost 3/4 gone. The receding line has about 4 of these bugger on it. Disgusting. Tried siphoning them... quite hard.

Whack his sole until he bled???? What kind of theory is that?? Distraction? Hair level... I tell you... the pain shivers through your body to the TIP of your hair!!! Quite exquisite if you ask me, almost orgasmic.