ThePremiumAquarium

That is gonna be hot! Are you sure you want to paint the side facing the wall? I would personally probably just get something black to place on that side just so that I didnt have to strip it or worry about scratching it in the future. Either way its gonna look hot though! Check out a rock pillar I made. Something like that woudl look hot and you can build them however you like. Garrett

Frank, I understand you frustration and can definatley sympathize. Its all a supply and demand game. If a fish store gets something in that is pretty rare, you can bet that there is probably someone that will pay a pretty descent penny for it. That being said, no store will last long if they are selling things at prices that do not allow for a timely sale. Customers kind of set the price in this regard and fish stores are sort of forced to reduce their prices or find alternative ways of selling their products. If I don't like a price on something, I just don't buy it. I don't complain about it because I am pretty sure that either someone will come along that thinks the price is right or the store will be forced to reduce the price. Fish stores take a gamble sometimes on either side of this. Sometimes things are purchased at a pretty heafty price to begin with but the fish store believes that they could make an ok profit on it or even a great profit on it. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. i.e. sometimes the store may make 327% on a coral and sometimes they may make only 51% or maybe fall under the 50% mark on that particular coral. I have made some "buyer" mistakes that allowed the seller to make a pretty penny. It all eventually becomes a learning experience which then allows me to determine what those killer deals are and when to make a purchase and when not to. Sometimes I will simply buy things that are price considerably high knowing full well what was likely paid for them just because I like the particular piece of coral or fish. If I find a store continuously higher priced then their respective counterparts I will eventually stop visiting or visit them very infrequently to see if they have become competative. If they don't become competative a great majority of the time they simply just close their doors. Garrett

That is a nice looking clam for sure! I would stair at that little beaut all day if it were in my tank. Nice score! Garrett

3-1=7? I wish I knew how to do good math (sad)(laugh)

Brandon, Thanks for meeting up with me today and letting me buy those cool little anemones! They are almost done acclimating and look like they will do pretty well! A+ seller here

LOL you were thinking the same thing I was.

When in doubt add more inverts! Go for as many kinds as possible assuming they are reef safe of course lol. Garrett

Looking good! Nice to see you making a good amount of progress on such a continuous basis! Just kidding with you but serisously the tank is looking hot! Garrett

This is going to be fun! I am giong to bring a few frags to swap just for the fun of it. Garrett

That is good to know about the tiger cowrie Dennis. I have never seen them touching any of my corals(accept occasionally knocking them over with their shells). I guess I have been lucky so far. I guess they will stay in tanks without acans for now lol. Money cowries are much smaller and I have also never seen them eating anything but algae and occasional chunks of leftover food.

I can say to you with certainty that I have seen many factual numbers on climate change and global warming that would probably change your whole perspective. While in college I took many classes in geo sciences and a few that were even in my major of sociology and how we as a group define, accept/not accept, and deal with global change. I can agree that a lot of the things that the media throws out there need to be taken with a grain of salt. I can also agree that many things are completely unpredictable and unexplainable because there are many variables that we are unable to determine or even fully define. The fact is that many of us don't want to believe the facts and this is completely understandable. I definitely don't want to argue with anyone on the topic of global change, but it is pretty interesting to see how many different opinions there are on the subject. If I could sort of scan all of the things that I learned on the topic and then recite it all magically, in a coherent form with references and data all being accurate and then if I could figure out some geniusly poetic and yet alarming way to tell the world I would. Its a pretty tough topic and there really is no right answer or perfect solution or even a completely sound theory. Garrett

I second this. I would also maybe run a bit of kalk paste on the area afterwords. Just be a bit careful with the clam lol(goes without saying I am sure. I scrub hard!) Garrett

Definately a very useful way of doing it. A sipon works well if you don't have a pump around to get the water out. I go one step further and use a wireless remote on on my pumps so that I can begin and end the pumping without the scare of an electrical shock from having wet hands and just to be a way cool nerd. It actually works really well when across the room doing something else or something. Christmas light section at walmart for $20. Garrett

Snowpunk, Are you running any macro algae? More citters maybe? Sounds like you have a feast for those sea hairs. I love those critters so much. I also keep a couple of tiger cowries in the tanks. Might try one of those guys some time as they are pretty sweet and eat algae like a giant sea hair! Garrett

Sent you a PM...

I would definatley suggest more inverts! That is always the answer. I would probably toss in about 10-15 more small hermits(get a variety), another 6-10 nassarius(also a variety of species), a few more astreas, a few more margaritas, 6 or so more ceriths, a couple more trochus, a couple of emerald(mithrix crabs also can be found in shades of brown and red), and if it is still out of control I would add a couple of money cowrys and maybe a small sally light foot crab. As snowpunk mentioned, a blenny helps and so do sea hairs. Just make sure you have a good home for it when it is done doing its job as they eat a ton! Also, try and go with one of the smaller blue spotted variety as the big ones will eat you out of algae in no time. Sounds like alot but really a large clean up crew keeps tanks spotless and any extra food is consumed right away which means you will have a healthier system in general. Overfeeding slightly wouldn't hurt a thing and you would have some happy fish. Also a bit of chaeto or other macro(razor, feather, grape caulerpas) would help to eliminate any source phosphate and nitrates and can make for a nice supply of micro fauna if you have the room for it. I would get a small clip on light and add it to the back of your tank if you have room. Garrett

I would personally never use on in a reef system. I am not sure i would ever use one on a fresh water system either unless it were a fish only non planted tank. Garrett

Such a beauty! LOL The one I found was lighter in color and stunk worse!

Its amazing what some good live rock can do for a system. I am glad to hear that you got so many hitch hikers! They are some of the most interesting critters in our tanks I think. I have had stuff pop out of live rock 2 years after I added it to my tank. Kind of cool to see some nuclear green protopalys just pop up out of a crack in your rock. Of course there is the occasional gorilla crab or 4ft long carnivorous worm to be found. Garrett

I will take the rock with rose bubbles on it. Sending you a PM. Garrett

Welcome to the site! This is a great group of people with a ton of knowledge. Good luck with the sale of your tank! Garrett

Sent you a PM.

Its funny, I don't think I ran carbon on my old system at all. I can't remember ever even having it around. I run it now just as sort of a precaution. I do a decent amount of fragging and have(or will have) a pretty mixed coral system and the majority of peoples experiences tell me that carbon is the way to go. I also will be running GFO. I haven't decided if I will continuously run carbon and GFO or if I will sort of use it just when I feel it could be of use. You certainly don't need either to have a successful mixed reef. I had some pretty decent looking corals and I never ran either. Garrett

I think three of my teeth just fell out after watching that. Ouch that hurt pretty bad. That was some pretty lucky stuff. Garrett