Recent content by barry cuda

The problem with tap water is you don't have any control over what's in it. Yes, you can get chemical treatments to neutralize the chlorine that the city adds, but there are other additives (fluoride, anyone?) as well. A bigger problem is that drinking water isn't purified to the same...

Hi, everybody...been gone for a while. I got out of the hobby for a couple years but I've decided to play around a bit with a small tank in my office. I was working on my 2.5-gal pico setup yesterday and noticed I've got a really big bristleworm in there - about 5" long by 1/4" thick. What do...

Just need a quick sanity check here...someone in my local club is trying to tell me that a female maroon can switch back to male if she loses a dominance struggle with another female. It's always been my firm understanding that once a clown (of any species) becomes female, she stays that way...

That doesn't sound good. My understanding is that calcium isn't critical for anemones, so I doubt that's your problem. It may be that it was damaged during collection or shipping - if that's the case, then there may not be much you can do. I hope it recovers, though.

If excessive phosphates from commercial food products are a problem, it's easy to replace those with homemade foods made from fresh ingredients. Bob Fenner's book has a recipe that I've been using, pretty much unmodified, since day 1. The omni- and carnivores thrive on it. I don't believe...

To do what, brew coffee? :D

I'm sure any of the several LFS close by could test phosphates...the recurring cyano problem, despite nitrates that are now down to about 5 ppm and still dropping, is enough evidence IMHO that phosphates are indeed high. I'm running a polyfilter now to at least contain the phosphate levels, and...

One head on my branching hammer is only opening across about half the polyp - the rest is completely hidden within the folds of the head. There are four heads, and the others all look fine. I'm wondering if low alkalinity (6dKH) could be to blame? I'd brought the alk up to 8 before adding...

I don't have a phosphate kit, but I'm sure my phosphates are high because I've been battling cyanobacteria for weeks, and nitrates are fairly low (under 10). Currently considering a PhosBan reactor... will also start dripping kalk into the skimmer once I have my alk stabilized. Saw on an old...

LPS: Hammer, frogspawn, bubble, etc. Lots of others I can't name cause I don't know them, of course. SPS: Acropora (staghorn coral), montipora, even more I can't name. Softies: Colt, leathers, xenia, etc. Not sure if mushrooms & other polyps are technically corals or not.

Umm, evaporate it and sell the salt creep as "gourmet sea salt?" :D But seriously, if you do go R/O there's no need to change all your water. You'd just start using it for topoffs and mixing salt for your normal water changes. Even if you have good tap water, it is probably still much higher...

Percs or ocellaris are hard to beat for sturdiness, personality and good looks. Plus aquacultured specimens are easy to find and not terribly expensive - there's really no downside imho.

Originally posted by reefeel What do you use to raise your alkalinity? I use buffers but they never go beyond 8.00 at around 2pm and then my pH is about 7.8 at 7 am. Is that swing harmful for my fish. As I understand it, that swing is fairly normal and is actually not unlike that found in a...

Flatworms aren't really a problem in most tanks, IMHO - just ugly. They aren't terribly easy to get rid of, either. For every one you see, there are several that you don't. Flatworm Exit is the only way I know of that will actually kill them all, and I know of people here in south Texas who...

Crazy, I'd love to get my hands on a couple of those blues - they're gorgeous. I don't have anything to trade at the moment, but would you entertain a cash offer? You can contact me at cvonseggern *at* satx.rr.c o m (munged the address to avoid harvesting...I'm sure you can read between the...