Red Sea Max Owners Club - Page 11

Stuart60611 · #**251** 12/09/2007, 10:28 PM

Donna:

Just completed testing my parameters, and they are now ok. Not suprising b/c I did like a 65% water change with catalina water. I definitely believe it was too much too soon. I had the reactor running correctly and only slighly fluidizing with a slow slight bubbling and therefore am sure that no phosban escaped the reactor into the tank. Before I installed the reactor and per the directions, I also ran the reactor draining over 5 gallons into a bucket until I was sure the water ran clear. It must be the dosage, but there is no precaution on this with any of the packaging. In fact, I started a thread on the subject in the reefing section and was advised that I should run the entire 150 grams on the max's small volume.

I think the best thing I can do now is just hope for the best. I think moving any of my sick livestock may stress them to death. Thanks for your good wishes, but very discouraging. My biggest problem now is I am afraid my sixline and/or gramma will die in the rocks and have to break down the tank to retreive their bodies quickly. A real problem for me b/c I have no real clean up crew since I house a puffer. Could cause another meltdown.

donna53w · #**252** 12/09/2007, 10:33 PM

Reefmack, I'm sorry, but I had to chuckle, just a little, at your discoverie via photos! Yes, I think you need to sit back & just stare into that little piece of the ocean you've created ... enjoy! Congratulations on the new growth and health of your tank, you're doing a great job!!

mbdave: Great photos of your tank & corals! Again, your inhabitants are healthy & happy. You have a great selection of corals. I love hammer corals (as well as the others) & I am wondering if you have any problems with them stinging other inhabitants? Do you wear gloves when you work in the aquarium? Hey, good luck with the skimmer-build. I really hope you 'nail it', make a fortune & help us other poor sods by engineering a great product!!

LaurentSeattle, nice shrooms! I, too am a fan of mushrooms. Great pic, too.

jraducha, only a couple of weeks in & you've added fish & coral??? Slow down ... your tank isn't ready yet for livestock. A new tank that isn't yet conditioned is very, very traumatizing, if not lethal, for animals. Take your time, & let the process runs it's course ... you'll suffer fewer losses and the wait is worth the enjoyment to come. I know, it's hard to sit & look at 'naked' tank.

Sorry for the long message. Just trying to catch up! It's been 2 weeks since I added to my CUC, which brought it up to a total of 50 various snails, an emerald crab & sea urchin. I'm thrilled with the hard work they have done, my tank is free & clear of algae, parameters are bang-on, & I just added 2 percs. I'm going to be quiet now.... just missed everyone here.

donna53w · #**253** 12/09/2007, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Stuart60611
.........
I think the best thing I can do now is just hope for the best. I think moving any of my sick livestock may stress them to death. Thanks for your good wishes, but very discouraging. My biggest problem now is I am afraid my sixline and/or gramma will die in the rocks and have to break down the tank to retreive their bodies quickly. A real problem for me b/c I have no real clean up crew since I house a puffer. Could cause another meltdown.

I agree, moving the fish would only worsen their already weakened condition. Good job with the water change, and you did it quickly! Now to sit and wait ... that's extremely nerve-wracking. Keep us posted, we're all pulling for you.

gigs · #**254** 12/09/2007, 10:58 PM

Hey guys the RESUN Wave Maker pump has arrived for my RSM. I will do a review later tonight with pics and impressions etc and post here... stay tuned

gigs · #**255** 12/10/2007, 05:47 AM

Well here it is in my RSM tank journal...

RESUN Wave Maker review

Reefmack · #**256** 12/10/2007, 07:06 AM

Donna - cute little poochies!

mbdave - the Tomini looks great - thanks for posting a picture. Let us know what happens with the Liveaquaria order.

Stuart - that was certainly not news any of us wanted to hear.

Do you think it caused a massive drop in alkalinity? That's about the only thing I'm aware of that could happen, based on the Phosban directions. What a terrible thing to happen! Hopefully everything, including the bubble will recover. The bubble doesn't sound too hopeful at this point, but maybe enough will survive to regrow itself.

mbdave · #**257** 12/10/2007, 10:53 AM

Donna,
No this particular hammer has been very good the sinularia next to him has not suffered a bit and at night I have not seen any sweeper action to speak of. Thanks for the skimmer encouragement.

Stuart60611 · #**258** 12/10/2007, 11:38 AM

Reefmack:

Ya, not good. Must have been a massive drop in Alk. At this point, still can't tell what survived. The bubble still looks pretty bad. I did not turn the lights on this morning to look at it closely, but if it does not look improved today I am sure it is a gonner. As far as my gramma and sixline, they were in hiding this morning so I cannot tell if they are still alive. Really sucks! Just will continue to wait and hope.

Hodge · #**259** 12/10/2007, 12:31 PM

Stuart,
Sorry to here about your disaster, we can all learn from these type of mishaps.

I spent a couple hrs yesterday armpit deep in my tank, rearranging 75% of my tank to make room for my clam and Monti. I did manage to remove all my zoa frags from their ugly plugs and successfully glue them onto a big piece of LR, which should look cool as they grow out. Now if somebody could invent a glue that worked underwater (for the life of me can't get anything to stick underwater)

My new false Percs look like they want to host my Clam...not sure this will be a good thing!!!. I can see why everyone has clowns tho...quite the personality so far.

What is everyone using for coral feeding supplements, if any??

I seem to have a dead spot (low flow) in the right side lower corner below my Korilia #1 which is the only place hair algae is growing. I would guess the low flow is allowing the algae to get hold in this area?? Unfortunately its in a difficult spot to reach the algae for direct removal and may have to move my colt coral (directing flow to the corner blows it completely over)
Anyone have experience cropping back a colt coral?? If I could cut it back, it may not get pushed around so much (and its getting too big anyways)

Reefmack · #**260** 12/10/2007, 01:02 PM

Hodge - I haven't done much coral feeding, and everything is growing very well without it. I infrequently add some Coral Vite (Kent I think), but not often. I got some Coral Frenzy a couple weeks ago, but haven't even opened the can yet to try it. Other than flake and mysis I hate to add too much extra nutrient to the tank for fear of providing what may end up as additional food for pest algae. I probably should add more things to feed the corals, but I don't. But, I've seen things like my zoas, flower anemone, etc. catch and consume pieces of flake and mysis so I know they getting something. I think they also get nutrients from the sediment, etc. that I stir up when I'm working in the tank or doing water changes. My deadest spot in the tank is also that area under the Koralia. I try to make up for it a bit by pointing my Hydor Flo on one powerhead so that it pushes some current toward that area as it cycles through it's 360 degree movement.

kmjoen230 · #**261** 12/10/2007, 01:54 PM

Reefmack & Hodge-
I use PhytoFeast daily!
I suspend feed 10ml.
Every coral I have takes it, from my Zoas to my Goniopora!
Even my female Clown comes over to the syringe to take a couple mouthfuls!

I have a quick question.
I really want to frag out my Orange Zoas.
But they have started to extend of their base rock to the rock around them and I can not lift them out of the tank.
Can I use a razor blade to retrieve a polyp while they are in my tank still?
I have read the thread about the toxicity of these animals and it seems that it the tank mates don't have an issue with it but maybe I will?!
I'm not too worried about my hands, a little sswelling never hurt anyone!
Thanks for the feedback in advance!

Reefmack · #**262** 12/10/2007, 02:15 PM

kmjoen - I can only speak for myself but I've handled zoas a few times barehanded, and have glued loose polyps to rock without getting stung. The only corals I've yet been stung by is my frogspawn Euphyllia (frogspawn, torch, hammer types). I've never considered zoas as being able to sting, but they do have toxins and can at times squirt, so wearing glasses and keeping your mouth shut is advisable. The best advice I guess is to treat them like they can sting, wear glasses or safety glasses, and if you have open cuts on your hands, wear some thin latex disposable gloves (available at most pharmacies & drug stores by the box). Even with zoas, I've read the most toxic types are a few different species of palys. Some people are more sensitve than others so the best policy is to use caution. Just my opinion on all this. I've not yet cut any off of a rock so I can't be much help with that. I think you need to scrape them off underneath, sharp knife or razor blade, and if you can scrape off a bit of the rock with them that's even better. That might be hard to do in the tank though. Just don't cut yourself!

kmjoen230 · #**263** 12/10/2007, 02:23 PM

thanks!
I think im going to just give it a whirl!

kmjoen230 · #**264** 12/10/2007, 02:27 PM

This is what I'm working with!

Reefmack · #**265** 12/10/2007, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kmjoen230
thanks!
I think im going to just give it a whirl!

Let us know how it goes! Good luck! Those ones on the rock may even just lift off easily. I have some on my substrate that have grown off the rock and look like they've attached to the substrate. Pretty zoas!

kmjoen230 · #**266** 12/10/2007, 02:36 PM

thanks!
Yea at first im just going to go in and try to lift it by peeling them back.
But if it does not work I will chop off a polyp!

mbdave · #**267** 12/10/2007, 03:21 PM

Kmjoen if your worried get some latez gloves. I use those when I handle sps due to an alergy I have to that type of coral they work great.
I feed Reef Nutrition frozen plankton to my reef every so often when the lights are out and they have thier feeder tentacles exposed.
On the Live Aquaria late order, I got it today finally and the water in the bags was 42 degrees F as you can imagine near 4 days of that it is not good. Maybe 1 of the 5 ricordea on the rock will make it but I won't bet on it, the rest of the order is gone to the bright light on the heavenly reef. Live Aquaria is a stand up place they refunded it all and felt as bad as I do about the whole situation. Anyone looking to order I would definatly suggest Live Aquaria stand up place.

Reefmack · #**268** 12/10/2007, 03:38 PM

kmjoen - if they're loose try a small sharp scissors.

mbdave - bummer on the order. They are excellent at trying to keep customers happy. I hope you got the shipping fee refunded too?

kmjoen230 · #**269** 12/10/2007, 03:42 PM

thanks guys,
I just finished
I made all of the polyps close up to see where they had extended to the main rock, i tired to pull them up but they were going no where!
So i took a razor blade and found a polyp that had a long base, I cut it free and tied her down to a new rock.
Heres hoping!

mbdave-thats too bad! Im nervous to get anything shipped to me, as it is the dead of winter up here in MN and i don't want to take the risk

kmjoen230 · #**270** 12/10/2007, 03:42 PM

thanks guys,
I just finished
I made all of the polyps close up to see where they had extended to the main rock, i tired to pull them up but they were going no where!
So i took a razor blade and found a polyp that had a long base, I cut it free and tied her down to a new rock.
Heres hoping!

mbdave-thats too bad! Im nervous to get anything shipped to me, as it is the dead of winter up here in MN and i don't want to take the risk

mbdave · #**271** 12/10/2007, 05:11 PM

kmjoen the way it was packed it would have made overnight with ease, even if they could of gotten it to me Saturday it probably would have made it. Live Aquaria is in Wisconsin you would probably have no issue ordering from them.

Reefmack · #**272** 12/10/2007, 05:25 PM

kmjoen - did you actually tie it down somehow? You probably could have used a dab of superglue gel.

mbdave - other than possibly some ricordea (don't give up on those yet), what all did you lose in the late shipment - any fish, inverts or other corals?

Iostream · #**273** 12/10/2007, 05:26 PM

Well, the weekend was good. My algae still seems to be receding, the refugium seems to be doing well, and the inhabitants all seem happy/healthy. On Saturday I made another addition which is my last fish for a long while:

While the Potter's spent most of Saturday evening hiding, it has been out and about, picking algae from rocks and exploring the tank Sunday and today. It even ate a bit of emerald entrée when I fed the tank today.

Hodge · #**274** 12/10/2007, 05:26 PM

kmjoen230,

I found a small boxcutter/exacto knife works great at cutting a layer of rock (quite soft) below the polyps. That way you have something for the glue to stick to. I have successfully glued a dislodged bare polyp back onto a rock and it ok. Now that i got over the fear of taking corals out of the water, I'm finding fragging things quite easy (may tackle the colt tonight). Glueing/attaching on the other hand...

Mbdave, must have been crappy opening up that box. My first ever ebay experience ended like that...only saved one frag and no refund.

Donna,
Those dogs look spoiled!! Best pet names I ever heard was a pair of bengals named Bow and Arrow.

mbdave · #**275** 12/10/2007, 05:54 PM

A claustrea and some palys.......Hodge when I cut the first bag and stuck my thermometer in it and saw the temp my heart sank I knew it would be bad.