Recent content by markus1

I used the SWF.com method. Works well for me.

Tank is cycling, brown stuff is/are diatoms, get a clean up crew, it will go away in a couple of weeks.

Yeah six months no issues. Now, with the clown problem, it looks like I'll never know how long I could have kept it. Trust me, I'm no expert. On the other hand, I have a question. For those who have had a goni and had it die on you, can you just leave the skeleton in to become part of the base...

I don't know about hot, but I sure as heck know about cold. My power went out this winter and my tank plunged to 55 degrees F in 3 days, even though I had been pouring piping hot TAP WATER from a neighbors house, directly into my tank. Here is the storybook ending, everything lived well...

Not to rain on your parade, awesome pics by the way, but I have an unfortunate story about the hosting you've got going on. I have a pair of cinnamon clowns who wouldn't go near any of my coral, even my goni, for about 6 months. The goni was doing great, despite how difficult I am told they are...

I think you can safely add a few more fish, small ones though. A royal gramma would be a nice addition, if you have a lot of places for it to hide. Also a blenny or goby would be cool. Something else simpe would be a cardinal or something. I wouldn't add an angel or butterfly, especially if you...

I once had a 55 gallon freshwater tank, and I broke the plastic support post adjoining the front to the rear of the tank. When I filled it back up, it bowed out quite a bit! I was young and too scared to tell my parents. I saved up the money and got a new tank and switched it while they were on...

I have 2 cinnamon clowns that are now hosting my goniopora (sp?). I think they are actually irritating it to the point it wont open up completely. I read that they are very difficult to keep so it will probably die. For the time being though, my clowns love it, and there is no risk of it...

I have heard from more than one person, that xenia love Iodine. I bought some from Kent marine and it seems to make them really happy. I don't know if the iodine thing is 100% true, but I got one plug with two, 1 inch stalks on it, and now I have about 12 stalks of 3 inches or better all over my...

Don't feel bad, mine host the canister filter intake tube. It is a truly wonderful sight to see such natural behavior in my family room!

I once had a 48 hour power outage. Even with warm water changes and a battery backup for the heater, my temp dropped to 55 degrees in that time and mind you, no circulation or lights either! The power came back on and all my kids were still alive!!!! :joy: 2 Cinnamon Clowns 1 Yellow Tang 1...

I have the same skimmer, and the exact same questions when I started. You want the bubbles to be foaming right at the collar or rubber ring where the collection cup attaches to the device. Don't worry about how high or low the flow through the tube is as long as that's the level every time you...

Make sure you have a proper pH level, and test for carbonate hardness, kH. The hardness is more important for pH stability, but when you add Calcium, Magnesium etc, you are adding ionic minerals to your system. Reactions will occur in an effort to balance the equation (think high school...

Corals depend on the light and water quality. I have Xenia, Green Star Polyps, Mushrooms, Zoos and a nice piece of Hammer Coral in my 30 gal. I bought the smallest frags I could find, put them where I wanted them and watched them grow. To supplement the water, I use Purple Up, Liquid Calcium...

There is a thread out there somewhere about people "coming clean" on their methods of care, i.e. no qt tank, not acclimating, using tap water - things like that. Most of the people that wrote in said they were relieved to get things off their chest. I say this, if it ain't broke don't fix it...