Search results

Check out the Sandbed Swap article in this link. <a href="http://fishwhisperer.homestead.com/articles.html" target="_blank">http://fishwhisperer.homestead.com/articles.html</a> I followed it during my change-over a week and a half ago. It went pretty well. The key is to be prepared and plan...

I agree with keeping a reef tank in the 82 degree range. It also makes it easier to keep the temperature stable. If you have a heater set to keep the temp at 80 or 81, and your lights raise it to 83, you have a very narrow temperature range. If your heater lets it drop to 76 at night, the 83...

As the others have said, there is no need to worry if they are closed completely for a few days. Are the polyps attached to a rock or a loose mat? If the mat is loose I would start in low current until they start to attach to something. If the mat moves around, they will probably close up...

I vote for sand first. You don't want to cover your rock, plus it will be a lot easier to put the sand in when you don't have to avoid all the rock. If you don't have major burrowing animals, (I'm not talking about the small sandbed critters.) your rocks when pushed 1/2-1" into the sand should...

If rinsing your hand four times doesn't remove the soap adequately for a quick reach into the tank, we are all going to fail. Don't worry. It is best to avoid the soap when you plan to be working in the tank, but I think you took all reasonable precautions in this emergency situation.

I just discovered the profile listing of posts last night. I hadn't even thought of bookmarking. A combination of those should do alright. Thanks for the suggestions.

Here is a link to Dr. Shimek's site where he discusses DSB. In his book "Sand Bed Secrets" he explains why in a properly setup DSB the hydrogen sulfide is not a problem. <a href="http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm" target="_blank">http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm</a>

You get a lot of different opinions about the hermit crabs in particular. I am somewhat anti-crab. My problem with them has been with their killing my snails, especially the Nassarius. I have not heard of problems with them killing each other, unless there were not shells available. I think...

Is your tank getting any sunlight now that it might not have earlier in the year? Has the lighting changed in any way? Are the bulbs well within their normal useful life? When you removed 50% of the algae from the refugium, that might have affected the nitrate level in the main tank for a...

I think you would be taking a chance of fighting which would probably increase as they grew. However, you might get away with it. I would thing though that there are so many beautiful reef fish that would be more likely to get along well and be just as interesting without the drawbacks of damsels.

In many sites it is possible to monitor active threads and be notified by email whenever someone posts on that thread. Is there such a capability on this site? Sometimes I post an answer or question and have trouble later finding that post to determine if there have been any more answers or...

Frogger lists 50 lbs of live rock, a filter and two biowheels in additon to the remaining half of the UGF. Also putting the removed half of the UGF back at this stage would not help. With a reasonable bioload, there should be no need for the undergravel filter. How much substrate is on top of...

I hope and assume that since you were adding the "live bacteria" type sand, you did not rinse it. If this sand was good quality, it would contain a lot of fine sediment. That is nice, but it does extend the length of time it takes for the tank to completely clear. When I changed out my bed, I...

If the bags are kept at a good temperature, they should be ok. What you have to be very careful of is not rushing to get them into the tank. I learned a lesson one time when I took my fish, that arrived in the morning, home at lunch and acclimated them only 30 minutes so I could get back to...

Why is it that you want to use carbon at all? Have you put medication or something in the water? In fish only tanks with high nitrates and no DSB, it can help clear yellow water. With a reef tank and proper bioload, you should have crystal clear water without carbon.

I do appreciate SWF's hosting this site. However, all of the talk about the change to the new server led me to expect some performance improvement. It has actually been considerably slower for me. I prefer this site, but frequently have abandoned it because I can't seem to get through...

I have a cable modem as well, and the other sites are not showing the problems this one is. It is not continuous. Once in a while it seems ok, then back to crawling or failing to open threads. Much of the time I abort posts because it is taking to long. The fish forum is often slower than...

You will see conflicting opinions, just as whether you should change water or not during the cycling process. I do not use a skimmer, but many do. I did change water during the cycle. I realize this can cause the cycle to take longer, but I did not want to stress and kill any more of the...

Careful runaround. There can be a big difference between a sand bed looking good and one that is in good condition. Here is a link to Dr. Shimek's web site.... <a href="http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm" target="_blank">http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm</a> I feel that crabs and...

How large are the large bubbles? It is common for algae to grow on any bare spots of mushroom rock. As the algae goes through stages (i.e. chocolate brown) it will often produce air bubbles. These are usually no larger than a bb.