Recent content by tangster

I've had xenia attach themselves to a neighbouring rock in one day Tangster

I feed my anenome every other day--one uncooked raw shrimp--I put a few small pieces on the substrate which are devoured immediately by the crabs, and stars. The awesome strength of an emerald--I seen one take a piece of crab twice his weight in size with one claw and give the finger(oops claw)...

whew--- I was worried we were going to get into a debate about size being better--LOL perfectly normal behaviour for them Tangster

Open brains like to be gently turkey basted to get rid of uneaten flake food or other garbage that might accumulate on them. I agree with the other poster--they do not like metal halides---I lost a one that way Tangster

IMO--invest in the best protein skimmer you can get. To control algae effectively invest in a micronbag--3 for 20 dollars--washable--but don't get caught using your wife's washing machine-LOL Micronbags effectively remove phosphates nitrates which indirectly controls the algae by removing its...

I run the coral life system--2 150watt 10,000 halides 2 96watt attinics and 4 moonrays. IMO the moon rays are just scenic--the debateable part and the spin that goes with the system is that it illustrates conditions on the reef so it may help nocturnal inverts--but it is debateable. What there...

alot of people have had good luck(because it is against nature) with a copper banded butterfly fish--esp if they are bought young and small. If they grow up well fed then they can be kept with corals. Tangster

trying canadian frags. org or com---great selection, great prices and the guys will mail Tangster

the power head is the key here. I mix 30 gal of r/o water up at a time and keep the salinity at .015. two days before a water change I put the heater on and then recheck the salinity level when the temp is 78 degrees. At this point I bring the salt level up to .024 and make the water change...

figure on 3-5watts per gallon. Concentrate on LPS and see how they do. Then add some SPS frags---near the top of the reef or tank. Experiment with the clams--if you are feeding phyo and zooplankton twice a week they will tolerate lower light levels. Tangster

LPS corals----buy trade frags--average 10-20 dollars---don't require alot of expensive lighting by learning where to place them in the tank. Tangster

You should increase your cleanup crew----you need about 30snails and 30 small hermits, 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 coral banded, 6 emerald crabs. There are also good water filterers--- fan worms and clams. I would concentrate on building these up then by the time you do your tank will have further...

its best to turn the skimmer off for one hour after feeding so mysid shrimp, phyto and zooplankton etc are recirculated. I run a micron bag in my sump. Every other day I turkey baste the rocks etc and the uneaten food is filtered out. Normally a bag lasts every 4 days but when I baste the...

corals and clams need the flow of water over them with the nutrients in it. some also need direct feeding by using a turkey baster but they still don't like the baster being directly aimed at them--so it is good to be close and let the power head direct the food to them. some corals retract...

Concentrate on maintaining your alkalinity which you can get a good test kit for. I monitor calcium, magnesium and alkalinity levels because I have a good deal of corals, clams and macroalgae which are consumers of calcium. To keep calcium levels at 450 I use Kent Calcium Booster( a powder) and...