Search results

My polyp colonies are spreading fast, but remain confined to the rocks on which I got them. How do I transplant them to other rocks? I had one piece of rock fall off with a polyp attached. I put it on another rock, and now have a new colony of twenty or so. They spread fast.

I have set up a two tank refugium system below the main 55 gallon reef tank. If I put the commercially available bags of live sand in the refugium, will it cause a cycle of the system chemistry? If so, I will need to cycle it in a separate tank before putting it in the main system, I guess.

Is it safe to have a stainless steel tubing clamp in a reef tank?

A friend of mine procured some white sand for me that is extremely fine. (As an amateur geologist, he thinks it dates back some 10,000 years to a time when Florida was under water, based on its location inland and depth of 4'-8'.) In any case, it is much finer than the "live sand" in the tank...

Does anyone have a rough formula for water displacement of sand and rock by weight? I have about 40 pounds of sand and 60 pounds of rock in a 55, and want to know how much water I have. 45 gallons, perhaps?

Just mixed a new batch of Instant Ocean, and got Ca 380 and KH/Alk of 4.25. What are you folks seeing in a new batch of RO and Instant Ocean? It seems I can interpret the Salifert Ca test plus or minus 10 ppm or so just the way I read the test.

With a standard glass aquarium, not drilled for plumbing, how do you control the flow to and from a sump? How is the flow to and from balanced? How do you keep the return from over-filling the main tank? How do you re-start the siphon if it reaches the hole drilled to break it after a power...

My other water parameters are fine: ammonia - 0; nitrite - o; nitrate - 0; Ca - 370 and coming up slowly with cc additions, etc. But phosphates remain at .1 to .25 -- it is hard to read the Salifert scale. I have plenty of green macroalgae growing, and harvest it weekly. I only feed the maroon...

My dear wife brought home a new fish for my tank, and put the copper flavored water in along with the fish. With a "Fastest" kit, I get .05 mg/l copper in the tank now (though it has been sitting for 15 minutes or so -- may not be that bad). With mushroom coral, rose anemone, African star...

I do not have a wavemaker yet, and wondered if perhaps I should turn off the pumps at night. I have a HOT Magnum, which has quite a lot of outflow, a Remora skimmer, and two powerheads on all the time now. The rose anemone seems to like the (indirect) motion, but retreats somewhat into her...

I have been cultivating macro algea, and seeing a reduction in phosphates, down from about .25 to .1. I have a lot of red and purple stuff on the live rock that I presume is red algae, though the lfs fellow said there was some sponge on the rock. Whatever it is, some of it is turning white...

I picked up a rock covered with mushroom corals from a lfs. I have them toward the top of the tank, perhaps 10" beneath 260w pc. Could that be too much light? How do you tell if it is too much for them?

My new refractometer says that 35ppm equals 1.026 specific gravity. I have seen 1.025 specific gravity and 35ppm salinity recommended. Now that I can measure and fine tune salinity, which should it be, 1.025 or 35ppm? Also, I have one 55 gallon tank that is at 1.029. A one gallon water...

It has been my understanding that water changes were done largely to keep nitrates controlled in a fish-only tank. Now that I have learned a little more and established the right conditions to keep nitrates at or near zero naturally, how important are water changes? I can't see that I am...

Is there a concensus on the best temperature and salinity for a reef tank?

Salifert test kits came in, and I have read the articles recommended. ph at 2 a.m. is 8.0. Will check again when lights are on. po4 is .25, with macroalgae growing rapidly. Remora skimmer operating well. ca is 350; kh 13.8 / alk 4.91. Plan is calcium chloride supplement to correct "zone 3"...

Tank is doing well. Inverts happy. Rose anemone has expanded to three times the size she was when I bought her, and the gold striped maroon clown is happy there. Basic water tests fine. Nitrate has gone up to 20 once, but drops by itself to 5 and stays there. PH a question, depending on...

I picked up a second 55 gallon tank and later discovered the cross piece at the top center of the tank is broken. When filled with water, the split widens as the tank bows out. I have made several attempts to repair it, but it pops apart each time. It seems to hold OK, but worries me. Has...

This morning the tank was full of little white things swimming around. Two eyes in front of a tiny swimming body. Any idea what they might be? I presume the powerheads will make short work of them.

Does anyone know where I can find white sand -- Southdown, Yardright, Old Castle, or whatever -- in the West Palm Beach, Florida area? No luck so far at Lowe's or Home Depot.

After sone strange deaths in the tank, we finally caught this creature -- whatever it is -- in the act. Don't know how he managed to catch fish, but he did, apparently at night when they were still.

I have a Fridmani Pseudochromis and Flame Angel. Want to add a Powder Blue Tang and Maroon Clown. Both are supposed to be the last in the tank. Which should it be?

In my second tank, which is in early fishless cycling phase, I put a rock I thought had been in an aquarium in the past. Then the rock started to dissolve. I took it out, but some of it was aleady dissolved in the tank. Could that have put something unhealthy in the water? How should I check...

I just picked up another used 55 (this could become a compulsive hobby), and it has some areas of the glass that look cloudy. Scrubbing does no good so far. It seemd to be in the glass. Has anyone had success at fixing this kind of problem?

When adding a fish to the tank, how much can ammonia increase before it is a concern to other fish, a starfish, shrimp, snails and various live rock critters?