ThePremiumAquarium

I think everyone needs an "Ed"! He looks very attentive and definately amusing. Garrett

looks like you all had a great time! Wish I could have made it up this year. I see so many familiar faces in the pictures, it would have been nice to catch up. Thanks for the pictures! Garrett

Generally the smaller the better! Never had a problem with any save for a couple large hermits killing snails off for their shells. Some large snails also can be buldozers and urchins can do the same as well as become a mobile fragging unit. Garrett

I have the same skimmer and it works great! Very much recommended unit! Garrett

It looks like a bubble tip anemone to me, but it could be a sebae anemonie. Most likely the first though. Keep an eye on it over the next few months. It should color up a bit if you have good lighting on it. It may not be bleached out. You may just have a reallylight colored anemonie. Glad to here the clowns like it! As long as it remains open and healthy and you suppliment it with food every once in a while, I wouldn't worry about it. Nice looking anemone, Garrett

Nice start. I really like the angel. Hopefully it works out to be a coral friendly guy. Keep us updated. Garrett

I love it! Usually it takes a while to get those guys to notice the anemone and start hosting. This little guy is one heck of a customer! Great stuff, Garrett

I have one and have had one for several months. Its now in my fuge and has done its job very well in the display. They are best kept until they get their job done and then traded or sold to another person in need. I have to room and enough algae to keep it fed for a lifetime, but this is not the case for most, so a swap is usually necessary. Let me know where you live and if you are interested in trading or if you just want to buy the little guy as I have no use for him and can let him do his job in anothers tank. Garrett

If you are heading to Salem anytime soon, I will take it. Let me know. Garrett

WOW! I cant believe I actually read all of this! I think this is probably one of the longest reads on the whole forumn. Very interesting though. I am a fence rider on this subject. I own many guns and fire them seldom(wish I had the time to more). My family did not have many guns in the house and in fact my first experiences with guns came from a friend and his dad. Guns are killing devices, this is a fact! It cannot be argued that people die everyday from guns, they do. However guns are not going to go away anytime in the near future and in my opinion this is a good thing. EDUCATION is most definately the key here. No matter how much education happens, people will still die from accidental and non accidental gun discharges. But fewer incidences are a very good thing and that is only provided by responsible practices and education. I have taken several courses on gun safety, including the all too basic hunters safety course and yet I still feel very unsure about whether carrying is a good idea. I am personally going to get my CWP and have scheduled my class already. I will likely never carry any of my guns, save for when I am out hunting or camping or when I go to the range. Not sure why I even wrote all of this as it really is completely up to each person and is a completely personal matter. We are likely safer with fewer guns out there, and I am not sure this can be debated in my mind. But I enjoy firearms and do so responsibly. I cant tell you how many debates over this subject I have heard, and how often I find myself siding with both ends of the argument. I am a Sociologist, so I have done much research on this subject and have heared many opinions and facts. Still I think everyone needs to ride the fence on this subject. Gather as much information as possible and be open minded. Be responsible, educated, and safe with your weapons, and drive saftely(joking, but seriously do drive safe). Teach your kids both sides of this argument well and make sure they get as much education as you can provide them. Guns are never a safe thing, but they can be much safer if they are educated about and treated with as much respect as possible. Garrett

For a 30g, try and get either the a mag 3-5 or a rio 1700 or so. The gen-x 2400 might be just right or a little over what you are trying to use it for as it is 600gph. Just make sure you have an overflow that can handle the input gph. Coral Reef Pet Center, Waves, and Upscales all carry a good selection of pumps for good prices if you don't find one from another member. Garrett

Very nice! I am a big fan of Clown Tangs! Yours is a good looking fish! Thanks, Garrett

Nyles if you don't mind, would you mind pm ing me with those layouts. I think I might give them a go. I have been planning on upgrading to luminarcs, but would rather save the coin and do it my self. Thanks, Garrett

I would just use a powerhead and not worry about a closed loop. That is a little guy and wont see the benifit of a closed loop. Garrett

Me neither!!! I have tried to keep them twice now with no long term luck. Every other tang that I have had has done extremely well and has never had an ich outbreak. These blue guys are just goofie. Powder blue, brown, or regal, all goofie fishes that just seem to do much better away from captivity or away from other tangs that may cause them stress. I see them doing quite well in fish only tanks with low salinity or copper, but for the great majority of us, I just don't think they do well in a reef tank. Its too bad, cause they sure are cool fish. Garrett

Indeed those are flatworms. You will want to make sure and keep those guys under control. They will end up reproducing quite rapidly as you already probably know. That variety doesn't really eat any of your corals, but they are unhealthy for them. What ends up happening is that they flatworms will flatten their bodies out over a coral and suck in as much light from above as they can. They kindof use the coral as protection and end up hogging alot of the corals light needed for photosynthesis by the corals own zoanthilia. The corals will sometimes end up shrinking or just not fully expanding. Sometimes it just slows growth in the coral. Unfortunately they are not the easiest little buggers to get rid of. I have seen six line wrasses eat away at them as well as arrow crabs. There are a few others out there that can help with that too. Flatworm exit is a good tool, but you will have to be very careful with it. Do some reading up on this on some of the forum pages and see what others have to say. Goodluck, Garrett

Welcome to the site! The centipede looking thing is likely a bristle worm. The ball looking thing is likely a sponge as dsoz note. If you can, try and snap some pictures for us. This would help with identification and we can get a good look at your tank. Garrett

Ron, The tank looks 10x better with those new halides! Color should be easy to maintain with them and you will see much better growth. Excellent! I love the photoshope stitching done! Goodjob, Garrett

Nice. Keep us posted on the progress. Good to see more office tanks going up! Garrett

[language filter]!!! Pimpin system! I love those corals. I hope one day my system looks something as good as that. How many years have you had this tank going. Love the unicorn tang also. Garrett

Love those Blasto's! Very cool stuff and welcome to the sight. Keep us updated with changes to you tank and any new ideas or additions. These guys love to see pics!!! Garrett

I have 5 tanks plumbed into 2 sumps connected together with 1.5" PVC. I have 3 pumps total, one running to 3 of the tanks from 1 sump and the other 2 running the other 2 tanks from the other sump. Kinda up to you how you want to do it. All depends on how much flow you want in and out of each tank. Hieght of tanks should really make a difference. Just make sure you have enough room in the sump for water in case of a power outage or something like that. Garrett

I couldn't really get a good full tank shot, so here is a left and right shot followed by a few frag shots.

The green tubes look to be a kind of macro algae. I have seen them before and they seem to be pretty interesting. As far as dead sponges go, I would stay away from them. If they have been dried out and have been dead for a long while, they will not release toxins into the tank. However they will become massive breeding grounds for nitrates and are not good to keep in your tank. Slowly they will desolve anyway and begin to clog up filter socks and other equipment. Plus they just make a big mess with algae eventually growing all over them and what not. Looks like you have a nice system going. Keep posting and make a members tank section to explain all you can about your tank and how you went about setting it up. Great Start! Garrett