Recent content by grinder

You just temp acclimated,then dumped,right? When critters get shipped they go to the bathroom and add ammonia to the bag,but because of the dark (in the box) the ph falls (which is ok short term) and the toxicity of ammonia will drop as well,so when drip acclimating,the bag is opened,fresh...

7dkh is just at the bottom at the ok level of natural seawater,but since your sg is so high,that actually makes your alk pretty darn low because once you get your salinity back in check (around 1.026) all 3 levels are gonna fall accordingly.So i have to wonder if your verts are going through ph...

Mag is important,alk is typically used up faster than calcium and mag helps keep these two in balance, can you at least test for cal and alk?I'd really like to see where your alk is. And what about the corals?All new arrivals or established too?

It's an orange fromia starfish,usually considered reef safe but generally don't last too long,they have specialized dietary needs that some tanks don't provide and they can take months to starve to death,but oddly,lol,they thrive in other tanks.I always liked the fromias personally and have a...

Hmmm...my next question would have been copper,but I see you've tested for that.And I wouldn't think the reactor not working would cause the issue either unless it dumped a bunch of fines in the water,then that could be a culprit. I also wonder with salinity that high,where you calcium,alk and...

Can you get a good close up pic of your diatoms?It sounds like (with your coral and snail problem) it could possibly be dinoflagellates by just the symptoms,but a pic might really help out in a case like this.

I've always felt the same way,but have personally witnessed on several occasions where they do clean it up without an outbreak.But manual removal out of the tank and rinsing in used sw is still my prefered method.

Yes,i've had them show up months after adding lr to a tank.I'm not sure if they go dormant or just hide until time and conditions are just right,but once they make an appearence.it seems like they're often out and about.One of the best snails to have IMO.

Not only can they be difficult to get eating,many species of wrasse are prone to collection and shipping stress as well as internal parasites.Something was wrong with it as I can't see any wrasse letting itself be taken over by a crab unless you got one big mean killer crab.But still doesn't...

Bubble algae,it can spread fast and take over a tank.If you can,remove the rock,put in a bucket of saltwater and manually remove.You can carefully remove in the tank,by rocking the bubble loose from the rock,but if a bubble is popped/busted open it can release even more spores into your...

looks to be a flatworm,does it move? I tried blowing up the pic,but it just distorts it more.If it doesn't move I would guess it's just a pineapple sponge.

pineapple sponges,harmless filter feeders

Lol,i was kinda "wingin it" on 3 and 4,good call!

stomatella,excellent hitch hiker and a great addition to your clean up crew! @Carey,I only corrected spelling incase they wanted to do research on it,no toe stepping here.;)

It would depend on how much voltage there is and is it full time or off and on (such as your heater turning on/off)? I was also just answering your question on how to properly test for voltage in a tank,not trying to pin point your issue.But it does sound like a likely cause. On another...