Recent content by spectral_ranger

I've had my 46gal reef skimmerless for about a year now with no ill (or beneficial) effects. Had a CPR Bakpak, which pulled out a moderate amount of gunk. Got tired of constantly cleaning the Rio pump, so I just nixed the whole thing. Didn't have any nuissance algae take-over or anything. I...

I have what must be a pretty big one living in my yellow scroll coral (must've hitchhiked when I bought it). Kinda funny, whenever I put food in the tank you see these five arms come waving out the crevices! I thought maybe he was trapped in there by the coral growing, but just the other night...

Never had a carpet anemone, so I can't speak directly on its care... But being that it's blue, it's zooxanthellae must use red PAR extensively, which means it must've come from a very shallow environment, and therefore needs pretty intensive light. Either that, or it subsists off mostly meaty...

Hey Lunchbucket, there's a small conference at the USGS EROS Data Center (about 10 miles north of town, I think). I'll be staying at the Holiday Inn downtown. Unfortunately, I'll be pretty much in and out, arriving late Monday, leaving straight from there Wednesday afternoon. That leaves me...

Sorry, this may be a little off topic, but I'm going to be in Sioux Falls next for a business meeting. Any good stores to visit? Or any at all?! Thanks! Chris

I find that as long as there is some larger fish that swims around a lot, they'll school. Your tang and angel should take care of that. When I had nothing but the chromis in one of my tanks, they did tend to split up after a while. Chris

Do I have to be affilliated with some other store to see how poor their quality of livestock is? If you buy fish from this place, you better have a quarantine setup. Take a walk through the fishroom and count how many tanks you don't see a dead or diseased fish in... it won't be very many...

Mike, the url is http://exoticaquaticsmd.com. They don't update it too often, but it's got the pertinent info. Call ahead to see how many frags they have, they seem to let it dwindle real low before fragging more of their own stuff or getting frags from whomever they buy from. Chris

I'd second Laurie on That Fish Place, it's good for large supplies but pathetic on livestock. Drygoods prices are good, but most other MO (like Premium Aquatics, Marine Depot) beat them easily. For large or heavy items, though, it's worth the trip. I go there every now and then when I need a...

Seems to be a fairly common occurrence with chromis. I bought 4 a while back from the LFS, three of them died over the first two weeks. The fourth has survived for half a year now. I bought another 4 MO, and all four have survived for 4 months now! Very odd. The original chromis schools...

When I had to move mine fast (someone there to pick it up), I ended up very carefully chiseling off the part of the rock he was attached to.

I came home from work today to find my 46gal tank dark and quiet. Power went out mid-day, and my plug-in type gfci doesn't reset itself once power comes on (for tool safety, have to find some new ones). Anyway, it's happened before, and nobody seems the worse for the wear. However, I look...

No, unfortunately the X10 dimmers only work for incandescent bulbs.

I had a AH Supply 2x32W retro mounted in one of their hoods for my 10g nano (fit it perfectly). When the seals went on that (I abused it prior to nano use) I switched to a 7gal bow and suspend my light box over it. The light box is an inch or two longer than the tank, no big deal. The color...

I was in Colorado Springs about a year ago on an interview trip, and made the obligatory LFS rounds. Unfortunately, I was somewhat disappointed. I recall there were three stores spread about the town. Take a look at www.fishindex.com to get the store locations. The one in the northern part...