Achilles Tang

I paid them $100 to stand still facing right.. Actually, they are sandwiched between the glass wall and the black acrylic backdrop inside the tank... I think some of them have wedged themselves in too tight... and can't move no more! Yes I just saw a thin white worm about 2 cm long twirling in my water mid-column in my refugium. Haven't seen those 'mickey mouse' tunicates taking hold in my tank yet.

Don't these look like old people walking? These are actually amphipods... and I photo'ed these creatures from the back of my new tank. They are actually safe between the glass wall and the intank black acrylic backdrop. I see some small worms as well as isopods with them... Amphipods are supposed good water quality indicators: More info here and here. I have thousands of tiny isopods in my refugium.... I'll post a pix if I can get a clear one... I spend a fair bit of time looking at these fascinating crustaceans chasing each other, swimming around, speeding around and doing what they do like on the Discovery Channel...

Too big for them to eat.

You know... i think there's no football team for her to cheer... she's gotten sloppy!

Oh... I forgot to add that for cauliflowers... they are much much more difficult to keep. They are known for collapsing within a few hours into mush and spicules in some tanks... or a few days.... some shrink from a big coral to a tiny stump. They feed on live plankton and zooplankton... regularly... heavily.. and are mainly non-photosynthetic. They are commonly found under ledges or in caves, especially upside down. They are also found in areas of heavy currents to bring plankton to them. Only expert aquarists should try to keep these beautiful corals, by spending the time and effort to cater for their specific needs. ie. culture live plankton for daily frequent feedings. And even that is no guarantee they will survive long term.

I have been keeping gorgonians well... you must know their basic and feeding requirements and take the effort to feed them, or they will waste away and die quickly. Gorgos need to be placed in strong current, perpendicular is better. But they have to be secured firmly in the rockwork or substrate or they will topple over. Strong currents help to move food to them and also help remove the 'skin' that forms once every two weeks, if it doesn't come off easily, it will flap like dead skin from the branches. It also prevents algae from growing on them. If it happens, the gorgonian will die. Photosynthetic gorgos need to be in the light and are easy to keep coz of their nutrition comes from photosynthesis. Their polyps are usually tan or brown and the whole gorgo is usually dull. Non-photo gorgos are brighter in colour with contrasting polyps. They do not need light but they need to be fed heavy and regularly with plankton. To cater for such organisms in a reef tank is difficult as frequent feedings mean more pollution. Feed either live phytoplankton or Golden Pearls for best results, which I do. To some extent, liquid coral food may work. I love gorgonians!!!!

Yes, coralline algae comes in green too.

A * A

hmmmm.... is there a quieter way to announce?

Sighz! If I was stinking rich I would... oh well.... perhaps I would... I would frag it into 5 bits and sell for $100 each... hahaha! <_

Frag = short slang for 'fragment' Frag = to blow someone to bits To frag corals = something to do with both... heh... ie. to carefully break a coral apart so as to create two or more pieces to either save part of the coral from a diseased part or to propogate into new 'sister' colonies. Geddit?

Hi WetWet! Welcome to SRC... the hobby has progressed tremendously and so has the gadgets, theories and costs! Let's not hijack this thread to explain DSBs... why don't you open a new topic about this?

Alvy, I share your grief... I had the same thing happened to my tank before... chiller related.... I lost many prized corals... and some are bleached now... but I am hoping they recover over time in my new tank. If you need help with your 6ft... I can hook you up with a good glass specialist. Your new chiller... I can get Teco at good prices better than LFS retail. I have my new tank's depth to be about 2ft 5" as I am having a 6" DSB sloping to 4"... and the 2ft depth is perfect for easy maintenance... any deeper and your fishes will see the black hairy urchin often. 3ft is too deep IMO. Anyway, welcome to the Singapore Reef Club... Sorry about the circumstances that we have to welcome you in!

Thanks! I'll go take a look!

Well, as a reefer, I won't mind paying for premium Jamban Juice... I am sure the smell is no longer there once the impurities are strained off... I mean if wafer labs are using it... I am sure the factories don't smell like a sewage treatment plant right?

upset down or upside down?

Precisely! All the hard corals/clams/livestock in the States are CITES-controlled. So they get the best looking corals but they have to pay a premium for them. I asked my US aquarist friend for the price difference between some livestock here and you'll be shocked to know they can pay up to 3 to 4 times more than us! We are lucky and unlucky in some ways!

Hey Hong, Show a little respect to our resident philosopher sea turtle ok? I'll downgrade you to bristleworm! I like his funny messages!

More details on his tank here!

If you talking about decorator crabs, they are not reef-safe... they are actually very ugly looking crabs who decorate themselves to camouflage. And what they decorate themselves with is parts of your reef inclusive anemones, sponges, coral polyps, algae, sand etc. They are best kept in a species tank though. I saw them only once in a very long time....

Here's my wet dream.... Steve Weast's reeftank! Tank dimensions:72L X 30H X 48W lighting: (6) 400W 10K (2) 400W 20K (6) 165W actinic VHO sump: 125 gal refugium: 125 gal heater: 2000watts chiller: 3/4hp controller: Octopus 3000 skimmers: (4) PM bullet 3's live rock: 1200 lbs sand bed: 2 inch depth date started: Feb 2001

.

We haven't IDed those things yet... why are you thinking of killing them already?

I have a closed loop circuit from my chiller to the main tank. No sense in plumbing chilled water into the sump first where you'll might lose some of the coldness lost due to heat from the pumps or to waste time going into the skimmer and out before going into the main tank! Anyway, if there is no way out... then the sump would be fine.. I did that in the past!

Curious to know your tank setup. Can you describe it or better still show some photos?