ThePremiumAquarium

I need to get me one of those. That is the coolest thing since sliced cheese! I may have to get ahold of you and work on a design for media reactors for my new system. RAD!

I grew about 6 different caulerpa species, gracilaria, chaetomorpha, halimeda, ulva, and codium. If they are trimmed regularly and are given 24/7 lighitng you should never have a problem with caulerpa. Chaeto is definately my favorite though. Just the all around best. Garrett

Sent you a pm

When they are mowing down algaes they often have a mantel that sort of shrouds their shell. This has small spike like soft protrusions all over it. The shell that you see and that is posted in the picture is when their shells are fully exposed. Most of the time this is when they are at rest. Intersting little guys. Garrett Found a decent pic of what I am refering to only this guy has smaller "spike like protrusions":

money cowry maybe

Your Antarctic corals look far better than mine ever did. I think I just never understood how to properly care for mine. For some reason after having them in my tank for just a couple of months, they all ended up turning purple. I think they just weren't getting the proper care they needed. Garrett

Did some shopping today. Thanks Ben and Shaun(coralreefaquarist)! The bulkheads have not yet arrived, but should be here shortly. I did get my glass holesaw in the mail yesterday though! Picked up a snapper from Ben and a dual 250w pfo ballast from Shaun. Picked up some sand and moguls today aswell. More pick to come as I collect more goodies. Garrett Bulkheads just got here!!!! Nice

Thank you for your offer. I will keep you posted if I end up decideing that I need less flow or need an extra pump. Thanks, Garrett

! Emeralds are awesome! I would also go for some scarlet reef hermits. They don't tend to be as aggressive as do the blue legs or zebra legs. They are a bit pricey though lol Garrett

I have had snails very similar to this one only a bit larger(you probably have a juvenile). They were great cleaners and never bothered any corals. Actually I would order more if I found a supplier again that had them. Garrett

Wow! that is crazy. I knew that there were some pines that dated to just before the time of Christ but 5000 years is just amazing! Good stuff to know. Thanks, Garrett

You could try working it off of the rock carefully as to not harm its foot too badly. I would probably just trade in the rock with it. You will likely be able to trade for an equal weight/quality rock if you explain that you couldn't get him off and didn't want to hurt him. Garrett

Thanks Ryan! I am really excited as well. I have not set in stone what I will be using yet as far as equipment goes, but I know it will include much of the equipment that I used on my old system such as the chiller, heaters, skimmers, some of the lighting, etc. I think I may be getting a pump that provides quite a bit more flow capability than what I had on the old system and I may try a differnt style for the sump not too sure yet. This week I will be puchasing most of the tanks, stand, plumbing, etc. and then hopefully next week I will have everything plumbed up and ready for water. Still need to see how much space I have to work with. My parents garage is half full of junk that needs to be taken to goodwill or just recycled/thrown out. I imagine if I have about a 8' x 10' section I should be pretty well ready to rock and roll! A few weeks from now, all of the local shops and suppliers will be having a hay day dealing with me. I will need to pick up sand, rock, and start on livestock before too long. Garrett

There really are alot of factors in decided whether or not to keep your anemonie. Questions that I would ask myself before making the decision would be: How has it been doing over the last month or two?, What kind of lighting am I keeping it under? Is it moving around alot or does it seem ot have a nice spot that it likes? What are my water parameters like? How much room do I have for its growth? Do I plan on keeping anthing that it can sting or eat easily? There are lots of variables really. You don't at all need a clown fish to host in the anemonie. In fact for the most part the anemonie really only needs lots of strong light and an occasional feeding of meaty foods. Hope this helps a bit. Garrett

Nice find. That had to be the oldest living thing on the planet! I thought the same thing as you guys. I pictured a large stony coral formation with layers and layers of buildup. See, now once we perfect our reef keeping, there should be literally no corals dying in our tanks. They in theory don't die of old age since they are colonial and continually replace or build upon the each other. lol we will never know exactly how to perfect our reef keeping but we sure are continually getting better at it. I know of one person on reefcentral that has coral colonies that he has had for right around 30-35 years. That is pretty awesome stuff. I wish I could keep a tank going for more than a few years lol. Garrett

Personally I am not sure that I would try it unless I was feeding microfauna to my system from another source. It would kind of be fun to see if that did help, but at the same time I would hate to see a sustainable pod population decrease and cause problems with the mandarine and six-line. Remember dragon face pipes will usually go for the really small critters like redbugs whereas the mandarine and six-line tend to go with the bigger critters. Not to say that they won't go for the smaller ones on occasion too. Garrett

Die redbugs die! I would also recommend, if possible, and if you like them, dragonface pipefish. They are pretty awesome critters and do really well in reef tanks in my experience. I have had friends that had redbugs and introduced a couple of these guys and within weeks they had no redbugs and never had an issue again. I also used to keep one in one of my tanks just because I thought they looked badass and were fun to watch. They will compete slightly with your mandarine, but typically eat slightly smaller microfauna(unlike the six-lines IMO). Garrett

That is rediculous. I am glad you went down to check on things. I hope everything does alright. Corals are amazing creatures. They can withstand so much more than they should be able to at times. Garrett

LOL, I just got all excited when I read the thread title "New Sig" I thought yay! I get to look at a sweet new gun! Turns out that I wasn't disapointed even though I didn't get to see a new pistol. Sweet sig! I need to figure out how to do that once I get up and running. I am jealous and think you are one of the most awesome people now! LOL Garrett

You rock Mike. How are they all doing? How is your tank doing? Thanks, Garrett

LOL np. I definately find all of that interesting and it is good info to know. I heard about the tax credits and such. I just don't know whether or not we will be ready to purchase at that point. Crossing my fingers though. Ordered 22 1 inch bulkheads! There went the first hundred buck lol. Garrett

I really have enjoyed reading this thread! The updates are fun and the tank is looking very nice! Keep up the good work! Garrett

I am thinking much of the same thing. It definately will be strange not having a large display tank, but your right the small ones will make things pretty interesting. Garrett

Its pretty hard to stay away that is for sure. I hope this all works out. We shall see. Its going to cost a grip lol. Garrett

I am in need of an external pump. Preferably around 1500gph or so though more wouldn't hurt. Let me know what you have and your price. Thanks, Garrett