90G upgrade in the works

[TekCat]

I've cleaned out manually as much algae as I could.... still, I've got to get a herbovore that'll eat red turf and bubble algae... there is just too much in small holes that I couldn't get to.

Yesterday i've found one of my chromis in posession of one of my cats poor guy probably jumped out, and my cats had sushi.

[EBOLII]

What are the specs of your camera? They take great pics

[druce]

I've lost 2 chromis to jumping out.
As far as bubble algae and red turf all I can think of is hermit crabs, maybe an emerald crab.

Problem with buying an animal for a specific job, most of them don't do it...

[TekCat]

ebolii, camera is Nikon D200, but I can't take credit for pictures, my wife is into photography, so she takes all the cool pix, ... crappy ones are mine ))

druce, I totally agree, that getting bunch of "cleaners" wont do the job on their own. I suppose, in combination with good maintanance I think I might win the battle Thanks for suggestion on the critters, though. I have one emerald crab, but he (or she) is very lazy. As far as hermits, I don't want to introduce them to my hermit free system. Maybe an urchin or herbivore fish, .... but I am not sure how to proceed just yet. Still researching.

[druce]

I have a foxface if you want him.. he's about 4-5" long and is part chicken

[TekCat]

thanks druce, does he eat valonia?

[druce]

he only eats stuff you don't want him to, as well as all the food meant for the whole tank

he's part pig too

[druce]

have you taken the chaeto out and shook it in a bucket of clean water just to rinse it off?

[TekCat]

I had shaken chaeto, but it felt slimy and weak, so ... I threw it away. Got some new chaeto mixed with Caulerpa Racemosa from local reefer. For about four days it held up pretty nicely. I will be monitoring it.
More deaths: my shrimps and four snails died. I suspect it was all part of chain reaction: chaeto death, bad water, dead shrimps, more bad water, dead snails.... I had made another mistake: I smelled the snail's shells.... after that I lost my sense of smell for about an hour. Man! they stank bad!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, so no more deaths yesterday and today... I am doing water change tonight, planning on 20% of total water volume.
Put another power head in. while doing it, I "fragged" small piece of some SPS, ... so trading is ON

[druce]

I had issues like that last fall with my macro algae dying off and I think that contributed to the crash of my tank

Kudos on the water change. And yes - the dead snail smell is something no one can forget!

[druce]

might want to run some carbon too to get rid of any stray chemicals.... can't hurt

[SeanySean]

Sorry to hear about your losses, I have just recovered from a crash and know what its like! and the smell....

Just a a quick question I have a Nikon D50 that I bought for my 130 project, do you use any filters, and what lense do you use I am finding it hard to get the glow from the corals but I am starting to get some good macros?

Sean

[TekCat]

Yes, carbon is in there already. Thanks for the reminder

Sean, I believe there is only polarizer gets used, .. and the lens is "normal" 50mm focal length, appertue (sp?) 1.4

[SeanySean]

Thanks, I do not use a polarizer so maybe that will help a bit! I have just managed to trust myself with all the settings apart from focus!

[TekCat]

Just measured my Alk, a few weeks after I added Phosban. It had dropped down to 5.8dKH!!!!
Mega mega kudos to Chemistry Calculator and baking soda!!!! I've mixed 1/4 cup of baking soda to a gallon of water. I plan to add the contents of this potion over a period of a couple of days along with some fresh water for evap. This should bump my alk back to 11dKH.

[druce]

I let mine slide too - good thing you caught it! I should check mine too.

[Liquid Hobby]

Originally posted by TekCat
Just measured my Alk, a few weeks after I added Phosban. It had dropped down to 5.8dKH!!!!
Mega mega kudos to Chemistry Calculator and baking soda!!!! I've mixed 1/4 cup of baking soda to a gallon of water. I plan to add the contents of this potion over a period of a couple of days along with some fresh water for evap. This should bump my alk back to 11dKH.

Phosban drops your alk?

The research never stops...

[TekCat]

Yes, I've read up on this. Source is one of Randy's articles, and it does tell us that ferric oxide hydroxide affects alkalinity. I guess it's gonna take a few lifetimes to figure everything out