Recent content by mehdirah

My aquarium is full of those worms for years. I cannot say for snails as I don't have snails, but I never had any problem with them and fishes/corals/clams/ursin.

My 2 oldest fishes: Rinecanthus aculeatus: died after 9 years Siganus vulpinus: 10 years now and still in good health And for 5 years (all still alive): Amphiprion clarkii, Chromis viridis, Centropyge argii, Synchiropus splendidus.

Hello, I did that (acetic acid) once in a FW aquarium 20 years ago. And I can say one thing: NEVER do that!!! I understood my mistake only when it was too late... OK, I explain. it worked fine with the PH. But the problem is that acetic acid is a nutriment for bacteria. So, the next day...

Hello, I wanted to give a few news. My water is now nearly clear. Combination of phsophate sponge and nearly no lights (now up to 2 hours a day) worked great. I will continue that until end of the week and then go back to a more normal lighting period... while still using phosphate sponge to...

Hello, I have a similar problem on a "new/old" 75 gal tank: it was a fish tank for more than 10 years and I converted it to berlin reef last summer, in the process changing most of the water but not all (as I still had a big Lo vulpinus in the tank and I didn't wanted to catch it). At that...

OK, I maybe exagerated saying cloudy, but definitely lot of particles in the water. I see that all A. clarkii are the same :D PS: about the ursin in my other post, it is not the same aquarium. I have a old fish aquarium in my parents house that I converted to reef this summer, while the...

It didn't lost spines, except one when I took it off the crevice 2 days ago by a spine. Spines are sometimes a bit depressed, and sometimes completely erect. The specie is in my first post. About the description, it is a ursin with a mix of medium thickness (about 1 mm) stripped brown/white...

No, I put it on a rock surface but it just moved 1 inche to go in a small crevice and since don't move anymore.

Hello, for my second 75 gal reef aquarium (previously was a fish only set-up), I removed all old sand/decoration (which was copper treated 10 years ago), changed most of water, installed 80 pounds red sea live rock this summer. As green filementous algae began to growth a few weeks after, I...

I reread the dr. Shimek article you just linked. He describe the DSB which works: fauna which process food, which is finally decomposed, and finally is used by algae. Very fine in theory and in his aquariums. My first question after reading is: fine, fine, but do I want to have to harvest algae...

What does a DSB ? As a mostly anaerobic area with slow water circulation, it allow bacteria to transform nitrates (NO3-) to gazeous nitrogen, which escape from the system. So, it's the main role: denitrification. Note that the same phenomenon also occurs inside live rocks, so sand is optional...

Hello, I had an about 1 inch sand bed in my 75 gal since nearly 4 years now. But since this summer, I began to have brown (diatom) algae on rocks, sand and glass. And since november, it's not a little but up to one inch brown filaments. I am now brushing rocks/glass, siphoning that crap, and...

What is your tank temperature? Maybe the water was just too hot during last summer.

I had a triggerfich (Rhinecanthus aculeatus) which was a true angel for many years, and lived with Centropyge, Siganus without any problems. Two years ago, I added an Amphiprion clarkii: all was fine for months. But one day, I found the amphiprion with a bite which was exactly the form of my...

What is your water phosphate level ? If measurable it is too high and you can do a few big water changes. But it can also be null while you still have phophorus in water: it can be organic in water, producing slowly phosphates immediately fixed by the algae, so, there is nothing to measure. So...