[Dudester]

I agree with you 100% Jonathan, a QT is the smartest move. I have the equipment to set one up, but I don't think I'm going to do it, not for now anyway.

As I alluded to, I got some new fish two days ago. They include a yellow tang, a powder blue tang, and a Swale's reef basslet (Liopropoma swalesi). The yellow is, well, a yellow tang, not much else to say about it, except for the fact that it's been at John's shop for a year and if it dies on my watch, I'll never hear the end of it. The powder blue is simply exquisite in coloration and there's not a speck of ich to be seen. These two tangs have already rid my tank of almost all algae. I'm going to get some nori and broccoli tomorrow as well as some veggie cubes for these guys. They're both larger than I had hoped for, but they looked so good I couldn't pass them up. I don't think I'll have a problem when I eventually add a Chevron tang, since it's in a different genus, but I'll need to get a pretty good-sized purple tang or it will get completely harrassed by this yellow dude. As for the Swale's basslet, it's been in hiding since it went in the tank. I've located it in caves on opposite ends of the tank and it appears healthy, although it doesn't come out to eat. I'm providing enough food so that the current takes food particles to every hole in the tank, so it's probably getting enough. If not, it's also known to eat small crustaceans, and since my tank is teeming with pods I feel fairly certain that it's not starving. This fish is fairly squeemish and will occasionally remain out of sight for weeks to months before venturing out, but its colors are so stunning that I really wanted to give this fish a try.

I had another issue with the OM 4-way, although this was easily solved. On Friday when acclimating my new arrivals I heard the CL return plumbing smacking and rattling around with a loud thumping sound. After some inquiring on the OM forum I deducted that this was a "water hammer" which was fixed by removing the lid of the 4-way and cleaning off the magnets and relubricating them. Pretty quick fix. While doing this I realized something that I could have improved upon. At first I thought the water hammer was created by something, perhaps a snail, inside the return plumbing that was being banged around. Withought SUBVs directly beneath the tank's returns I realized that I simply don't have the ability to remove or replace any section of plumbing between the 4-way and the tank. When I eventually get a larger tank that's something I'll do for sure.

The last bit of news is that I got an early holiday gift, a PAR meter. I took some readings yesterday that were very interesting. Tomorrow if I have a chance I'll map out the data and post them here. Marcus, I'd really like to take some readings on your tank, as well as my office tank, to see what we get.