# My 90Gallon updates



## redbellyman21

http://picasaweb.google.com/saab9000turbo
all the pics are in here...I tried posting images and no help...so I left them on my album enjoy


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## welsher7

looks nice. tell us more about your setup.


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## redbellyman21

Ok pull my arm why don't you! haha It is a 90 Gallon Reef tank with 100 lbs of 4-5 year cured live rock. I inherited the live roxk from a local guy on craigslist that needed to remove it, sweet deal! I paid 200 for all of it! 50 lbs of live sand bed. Ok moving on to contents
Coral:Mostly Lps except Devils Hand
-Hammer
-Java frogspawn
-Fox coral
Wellsophelia 
Trachophelia
Playtrgra brain
Cabbage Coral (dont think its considered soft coral)
Clams
1 awesome crocea 3"
1 med 3-5" crocea clam
1 5-6" crocea clam
Polyps- green star and some brown polyps
Inhabitants
I have a snowflake eel-2 foot long I own a magnificant Lionfish who is 6-8" hard to tell dont wanna take him out and measure!! and I own a mandarin. I also have 4 turbo snails that tripled in population 15 hermit crabs, 2 sally foot crabs, 5-6 queen conch's
Filtration
I use a coralife 120 skimmer with 2 magnum 350 canisters powering the custom spray bar up top (length of tank) I have a rio 800 in tank pump with spreaders in middle, I use a modded ac110 to hold my refugium full of chaetomorpha algae. and


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## Coldfire

Great looking tank BTW. How long did that clam take to attach itself to the LR?


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## redbellyman21

well the large one attached overnight, but he was trying to move a little and would knock himself off the rock. but after I angled him more, he seemed to be content.. My lil guy was same way overnight perfection... The only one I am angry at, is the middle sized guy, he is next to the red trachophelia coral he can be seen in the new stuff folder.. he keeps attaching almst upside down, I get him to release from the rock by touching his shell and lightly lightly pushing on his base... and then an hour later he alwys lets go... I move him again and try to get him right, and he flips again... lol he is stubborn, but other than that I love my clams... but my fav is the purpley blue guy 







he is gorgeous any more questions?


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## welsher7

love the clams. what kind of lighting are you using? how long have you had you tank up and running? and what kind of lionfish do you have? How about some pictures of the fish.


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## redbellyman21

there are pics in the web album but I will post pics.. I am using an odysesa 760 watt lighting setup found here at aquatraders.com It comes with 2 250 watt hqi metal halides and 4 x 64 watt actinics and 6 blue led pairs. Yes this is the manufaucter that aparantly had fire problems with the lights, but on the other forums a MIT engineer bought the lights and took it apart gave it a thumbs up, they changed the defects and its a sturdy great light setup. I went to walmart and bought 2 $12 fans that are shaped like blower motor design 1 for the ballasts inatke area and 1 for the top of the tank in between the lights and glasstops. the halides get hot and just a small fan on low blowing air across the surface stops all problems tank stays at 81F. Tank is now running for 1 year started in a 55 upgraded to 90 along the way


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## welsher7

the tank looks great. I love lionfish. How big is your volitan lionfish? what do you run in the canister filters?


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## redbellyman21

welsher7 said:


> the tank looks great. I love lionfish. How big is your volitan lionfish? what do you run in the canister filters?


the lions body is roughly 6.5" and with his spines hes like 8-9" Hes a black type of voiltan. Every week i change the magnums filter sponge with a new phosphate or ammonia sponge ($3.99) and fill up some more carbon. I used to wait 3 weeks but my levels would fluctuate...


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## Coldfire

Thanks for the information. I recently bought my first clam and have him sitting on the substrate.
I like the postion for him, but I think that he tilts himself a bit every few days. Thus, I have to go in the tank
and sit him back up straight. I have read they they attach overnight; hence, my question. I know that they 
do not need to be high on the reef structure, but I was thinking about moving him up a few inches to a piece of LR
so he could attach himself and stay in place.

Question: How often do you feed them, and do you directly spot feed them, or simply add the filter food to a area
of high flow? I have been feeding by adding the food to an area of high flow so the entire tank's corals are feed.
IMO that way the Monti Dig SPS, Zoo's, Xenia, GSP, and Clam get feed. I have been feeding about twice a week.
In your opinion, would that be enough feeding mixed with a 12 hrs photo period of Halides a day?

Oh, and how do you know that the clam is feeding? Do they just filter the food out of the water, or do they extend
their syphon up to help feed?


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## redbellyman21

Coldfire said:


> Thanks for the information. I recently bought my first clam and have him sitting on the substrate.
> I like the postion for him, but I think that he tilts himself a bit every few days. Thus, I have to go in the tank
> and sit him back up straight. I have read they they attach overnight; hence, my question. I know that they
> do not need to be high on the reef structure, but I was thinking about moving him up a few inches to a piece of LR
> so he could attach himself and stay in place.
> 
> Question: How often do you feed them, and do you directly spot feed them, or simply add the filter food to a area
> of high flow? I have been feeding by adding the food to an area of high flow so the entire tank's corals are feed.
> IMO that way the Monti Dig SPS, Zoo's, Xenia, GSP, and Clam get feed. I have been feeding about twice a week.
> In your opinion, would that be enough feeding mixed with a 12 hrs photo period of Halides a day?
> 
> Oh, and how do you know that the clam is feeding? Do they just filter the food out of the water, or do they extend
> their syphon up to help feed?


IN my experiance, the clams do not show me any distinctive signs of feeding, because I observe very similar movements and siphone positioning when not target or adding foods. But I use a giant siphone sprayer, like turkey baster, and I fill it with cyclopeeze or phytoplankton or marine snow and spray it towards my brains and clams and tehy seem to respond well, when they get larger they can sustain life almost solely off of lighting, but when small its best to feed. It sounds like you are doing the right stuff. My middle sized clam keeps tilting backwards and the only thing that seems to work for a lil, is using rubble pieces of LR and almost wedging him not to tight so he cant expand but to kind of mold him higher, like a booster seat in a restuarant.. he seems to like to be slanted back, so I let him do his thing... because the larger clam and my fav lil clam mounted weird the first cpl times, and then I used my wedging action they mounted and never fell off or moved again... IME every time I placed any clam in the substrate they would turn themselves upside down or on their side... They dont do this on purpose sometimes, usually its due to the excreting process they do a cpl times a day, where they cycle opening and shutting fast to expel all debris or excrement. I usually spot feed the cycopleze and other foods every other day, and turn the skimmer way up when I do this... I hope I adressed all questions


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## Coldfire

Yeah, that got all my questions. Thanks!

You hit the nail on the head about how when he is on the substrate he tilts back or sort of on his side.
Mine does the same thing, and that was what I was talking about.
I guess I will pick a nice place on the LR and see if I can get him to mount there.

Question: How high up are your other two clams? I see that the one is very low on a piece of LR, but
what about the other two?


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## redbellyman21

The one asshole clam that moves a lot, is the highest, hes like 6-7" high and my largest is 4-5" but look for a crevice in the LR otherwise, if not properly mnounted they will knock themselves off the LR if on a "cliff" and thats not good, unless u r there to fix em.


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## Coldfire

Ok, that is what I was thinking. I have a spot in the LR that is like a hole where the edges of the LR
do not touch, but there is LR under it. Thus, creating a perfect little spot for him to sit in. It is about 
mid-way up on the structure, but if he sits in there that should hold him nicely. I will give it a try when I get
home from the office today, and let you know how it goes. Thanks again for the help.


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## redbellyman21

Coldfire said:


> Ok, that is what I was thinking. I have a spot in the LR that is like a hole where the edges of the LR
> do not touch, but there is LR under it. Thus, creating a perfect little spot for him to sit in. It is about
> mid-way up on the structure, but if he sits in there that should hold him nicely. I will give it a try when I get
> home from the office today, and let you know how it goes. Thanks again for the help.


hey man thats what we are here for... Lol No Problemo


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## Coldfire

Alright, I took 20 somthing pics and this is the best one.

My new Clam and some long-bar Xenia. This is the new spot that I 
moved him to from the substrate.









Never mind the bubble algae next to it. I removed it after I realized the clam sat in the hole properly.


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## redbellyman21

looks perfect! and a sexy clam by the way!


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## Coldfire

Thanks!

Yeah, it sucked because the pic (as you know) does not really show the clam's true color. 
Plus, if I moved the angle up about 2" from where I took that pic, the mantle turns a metallic green/blue. 
It is really cool how depending on the angle, the mantle will look different colors.

Thanks for the tip on moving the Corcea up on the LR. I think the definitely enjoys the additional light.


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## redbellyman21

Coldfire said:


> Thanks!
> 
> Yeah, it sucked because the pic (as you know) does not really show the clam's true color.
> Plus, if I moved the angle up about 2" from where I took that pic, the mantle turns a metallic green/blue.
> It is really cool how depending on the angle, the mantle will look different colors.
> 
> Thanks for the tip on moving the Corcea up on the LR. I think the definitely enjoys the additional light.


you can tell he looks cool, that is why the mantle thing you need to look at them threw the glass in the store cause from an open end tank they look super sexy... but hey he looks good as is in the pic. I found my lil clam and thats blingtastic agreed?


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## Coldfire

Hell yeah that is "blingtastic"!!!!


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## redbellyman21

Coldfire said:


> Hell yeah that is "blingtastic"!!!!


where do u live? I get the clams for 20-30$ all year round and they had another awesome guy I might be buying tonite he was green, purple, blue, and a lil redish and thats looking threw the glass I didnt have n e money on me last night otherwise I would have 4 clams


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## Coldfire

I live in GA. Funny you say that. Normally, clams around here range anywhere from $50 and up. I got my clam for $35, which was a steal. Actually, I think that I got hooked up, because the LFS that I go to, one of the main fish girls really likes me. Soooooo, I milk the hell out of that relationship to keep connected. We are both married, but a little flurting goes a looooong way. For the $35 I bought the clam and she threw in a large frag of that long-bar Xenia that you see in the pic (for free).

I am actually going to the LFS today, when I leave the office. I am looking for a frag of the Green Bali Slimer Acro, or a nice Frogspawn. I know that they have tons of frogspawn, but I am trying to get the Acro frag. The only issue is that they have to specail order it, and I have not seen it in yet. Oh well, no rush.


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## redbellyman21

Coldfire said:


> I live in GA. Funny you say that. Normally, clams around here range anywhere from $50 and up. I got my clam for $35, which was a steal. Actually, I think that I got hooked up, because the LFS that I go to, one of the main fish girls really likes me. Soooooo, I milk the hell out of that relationship to keep connected. We are both married, but a little flurting goes a looooong way. For the $35 I bought the clam and she threw in a large frag of that long-bar Xenia that you see in the pic (for free).
> 
> I am actually going to the LFS today, when I leave the office. I am looking for a frag of the Green Bali Slimer Acro, or a nice Frogspawn. I know that they have tons of frogspawn, but I am trying to get the Acro frag. The only issue is that they have to specail order it, and I have not seen it in yet. Oh well, no rush.


dude we are brothers separated at birth, lol this LFS is teh bom diggity, it makes u feel like shopping at a mueseum. There is 500+ tanks. Anyway the reason we are brothers, is because the girl at the LFS is hot and I flirt with her too... I have brought this LFS many customers, all of whom are dumb and bother her and the rest of teh employees, so she always walks up to me and slaps me for bringing them to the LFS. But shes kidding, but yeah I am almost married, and flirting is fun [email protected]!


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## Coldfire

Lost brother, what is going on????

Yeah, as I said, I went to my LFS after work. What a day!!! My actual wife calls her my "girlfriend", which I think is funny. Nonetheless, the woman at the LFS definitely knows her stuff, HOT, and cool as hell. I would have a great time hanging out with her, and talking about fish. Anyway, so she and I got to talking about what I was looking for. She told me that she did not have any Green Bali Acros







but that was ok, because I was also looking for a Frogspawn. Well, after looking through all the LPS's they hand I settled on one. Then, I notice they they had the smallest frags of Colt Coral on agg plugs that I have ever seen. Normally, Colt corals at my LFS are HUGE, and I don't want to buy a large frag. I would rather buy a smaller frag, and grow the damn thing myself. So, I am up to two new coral.

Then, she and I are talking about one stalk of palm-palm Xenia that seemed to disappear over my honeymoon with no reason







So, there was a small frag of Xenia in the frag tanks, and I was going to go with that, but she asked if I wanted a few frags from their display tank? I was like HELL YEAH!! So, she starts fraging Xenia after Xenia for me. After she had placed three large Xenia stalks, she asks me how much I would like. I just want to go on record and say SHE KICKS AZZ!!! In the end, I roll to my house with a Frogspawn LPS, Colt Leather, and three new stalks of palm-palm Xenia. HELLO REEF TANK!!

I am letting everything get comfortable in the tank (e.g. letting the polyps extend), then I will grab some new pics for you. The frogspawn and Colt already look good, but need some more time to expand properly. As you propably know, the Xenia looks ok, but will definitely need over-night to fully expand. N E way, I just wanted to let you know.

Oh, I moved the Clam again. When I got home he was not fully expanded, so I presume he was to far up on the Reef with the HQI pounding the reef. So, I put him back on the substrate, but backed him up to the LR in a nice wedge area. Now, he is back to fully expanded.


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## redbellyman21

sounds good. Xenia doesnt always need a reason to disapear, I have had xenia melt to nothing when water quality was at the upmost. and I had xenia when my tank was a baby and water was borderline shitty. Suprisingly the xenia did better with bad water than it did later with good. SO I am not getting xenia again, it looks nice but man o man its tempermental.. happy for you tho cant wait to see the pics! ttyl
Mike


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## Coldfire

I will try to get a nice shot of the frogspawn tonight. It is doing great in the tank, and really has opened up. I know that frogspawn needs med to high lighting, so I moved him to a area of high lighting and he seems to love it. All the polyps are fully expanded. This frogspawn was mixed with about half of its polyps looking like a torch coral and the other half really had the frogspawn look (e.g. the polyps had multiply tips per polyp). Well, after moving him to the area of high light, more and more of his polyps are developing the multiple "tips" and less like a torch.

I am going to see if I can retro one of my old PC fixtures to use the actinic to see how much the greens on the frogspawn will "pop". Currently, I am running a 14K MH bulb with no actinic supplementation. I am thinking about ordering a new bulb for the MH (which needs to be replace shortly) with a 10K bulb. Perhaps beefing up the PAR a bit might really speed up some growth.


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## redbellyman21

sounds like the right idea cant wait to see em


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## redbellyman21

I got a zoo rock last night with a red mushroom! I took pics this morning but still all closed up, so maybe by tonite? Either way I am excited it looked sweet


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## Coldfire

Sounds sweet! Can't wait to see them.

Yeah, I owe you some pics of my new frogspawn and Colt coral. I should be at the house tonight, so I will try and get a few pics for you.


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## redbellyman21

still wasnt opening 100% maybe tonite


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## redbellyman21

Here goes all the latest... including my zooos!


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## redbellyman21

hey coldfire where are ur new corals? lol I posted my zoooos! wheres ur lps?


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## Coldfire

Good looking Zoos, Red Mushroom, and brain coral.

I am overdue to get those pics to you, I know, I know. I will try to upload them tonight.

I had a Triathlon this Sunday, so I was very busy getting ready for it, seeing the course, hydrating, etc...
Plus, after the race on Sunday I really was not in the mood to do anything, so that is why I am behind. 
Tonight I am going to get a new computer for my bike (wireless computer with a wired cadence meter), then I 
should be home to post the pics. Sorry for the delay.


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## redbellyman21

Coldfire said:


> Good looking Zoos, Red Mushroom, and brain coral.
> 
> I am overdue to get those pics to you, I know, I know. I will try to upload them tonight.
> 
> I had a Triathlon this Sunday, so I was very busy getting ready for it, seeing the course, hydrating, etc...
> Plus, after the race on Sunday I really was not in the mood to do anything, so that is why I am behind.
> Tonight I am going to get a new computer for my bike (wireless computer with a wired cadence meter), then I
> should be home to post the pics. Sorry for the delay.


all good man I am just busting your chops, I know the hydration routine, I was drinking 2-3 gallons a day for a week preparing for the 175 bicycle ride for ms I did 2 weekends ago, its very cumbersome to have to drink that much, when not super active


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## Coldfire

Sorry, I did not get the pics up last night.

To make a long story short, I had to bribe my wife by taking her out to dinner so that I could go to the bike store.
Then, the guy at the stop could not figure out how to install the cadence sensor, and at that point
he had already cut most of the "zip-ties" that hold everything to the frame. He asked me to come back later this week
so the other guy could install it. Since my bike is so aero, there is not extra room around the crank & frame
for the two sensors. Oh well, getting home at 9:00 pm without any new toys is fun.


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## redbellyman21

its all good man, I had to bribe my girlfriend to do something too last night, hahha. I am anxiosuly awaiting. What kind of bike do you have? I have a cpl I own a giant sedonna hybrid, and I have a budget road bike with major upgrades, couldnt find an extra 1000 to buy a nice fully loaded bike. So again take your time, I understand!
I am busy myself! take care have a good day


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## Coldfire

I have a Caad 9 (Cannondale 9), with 105 Shimano brakes, Ultegra front/rear derailers, upgraded crank, etc...

Here is a link to what my bike looks like; however, I bought the upgraded version. The standard Caad9 comes with 
105 gear, and I had my gear upgraded to Ultegra, upgraded wheels, etc...

http://gb.cannondale.com/bikes/07/ce/road/...del-7RA92D.html

The bike normally runs right at $2,000, but I got mine on sale for $1,500. The next upgrade I am looking to add
after the cyclocomputer is I want to add Zipp wheels. Perhaps 808's or 909's. I am not sure if I want to go with 
a disk rear wheel, because of wind issues but I definitely want to go with super aero wheels. However, they run in the
area of $2,000 + for the set, so I have to buy my wife lots of stuff for the house before I can upgrade.

You said you did a 175 ride? Was that in one day, or broken out over two days? A one day ride would be killer. 
That is longer than an Ironman ride (112 miles).


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## redbellyman21

100 on saturday 75 on sunday sweet bike man


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## Coldfire

That is two long days of riding, WOW.

Thanks!


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## redbellyman21

you know it wasnt that bad, 100 miles was rough, but mainly cause I had a bad energy/food consumption plan for the ride. on sunday, I did 75 at a 21 mph pace compared to 18mph pace on sat. I ate fruits, energy bars, evry 30 minutes, and hydrated every 20. That worked thebest for me. There was no pits in my energy. whereas saturday I ate every 1hr and half and srank often, it made me bog down and bloated. So I trained for months, and I messed up like a rookie would the first day, but now I know my schedule!

ps where are the pics of ur tank man? lol


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## Coldfire

Yeah, as long as you keep up with the fuel, you will have no issues with that lengh bike.

Give me a few for those pics. I am watching the Miami vs Tech game currently, so I will get them up afterwards.


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## redbellyman21

Coldfire said:


> Yeah, as long as you keep up with the fuel, you will have no issues with that lengh bike.
> 
> Give me a few for those pics. I am watching the Miami vs Tech game currently, so I will get them up afterwards.


lol game over! still nothing!

Well good news, I purchased a scoly and a montipora frag! I willpost in the next day or 2, I am walking them into mh so tom will be partial sun. which is good for the rest of my tank since today was lights off all day... just a cloudy day on the reef. Pics to come!


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## Coldfire

Sorry, Miami lost so I decided to drown my sorrows.


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## redbellyman21

Coldfire said:


> Sorry, Miami lost so I decided to drown my sorrows.


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## redbellyman21

my new stuff and hole shot of tank ENJOY!


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## nismo driver

ugh.. can you edit the attachments so you dont ahve to scroll?


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## redbellyman21

sure tell me how? I dunno how, or I would? 
plus how hard is it to scroll, I mean it has its own mouse button


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## nismo driver

redbellyman21 said:


> sure tell me how? I dunno how, or I would?
> plus how hard is it to scroll, I mean it has its own mouse button


on the lower right where it says manage attachments hit the drop down and click the green arrow for each picture then once the attachment code is int eh text field hit enter between each one so each bracketed attachment code is on its own line this should set the pictures vertically so you wont have to scroll left to right to view

looks like soem very nice pieces just a PITA to view the thread


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## redbellyman21

oo it came up left to right scroll? It came up up and down for me? I am sorry for pics order and thanx for compliments


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## nismo driver

redbellyman21 said:


> oo it came up left to right scroll? It came up up and down for me? I am sorry for pics order and thanx for compliments


hmm maybe its something with the way i have the forum settings set?


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## Coldfire

Very nice brain, and monti cap frag! Your tank looks great!


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## notaverage

redbellyman21 said:


> the tank looks great. I love lionfish. How big is your volitan lionfish? what do you run in the canister filters?


the lions body is roughly 6.5" and with his spines hes like 8-9" Hes a black type of voiltan. Every week i change the magnums filter sponge with a new phosphate or ammonia sponge ($3.99) and fill up some more carbon. I used to wait 3 weeks but my levels would fluctuate...
[/quote]

I was watching animal planet on "Stinging animals" something like that and a guy was cleaning the glass and wasn't paying attention and hit the spines on the lion fish. The way he described the pain I wouldnt want that to happen! The crazy part of the story is he was like a head scientist at a poison center in NJ. They say to put the part of your body stung in the Hottest water you could handle. He said even though that is still what is the best recomendation to help break down the poisons quickly he feels it made it 10x's worse.
Anyway, Lion fish looks nice!!
Gorgeous fish!


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## redbellyman21

I was watching animal planet on "Stinging animals" something like that and a guy was cleaning the glass and wasn't paying attention and hit the spines on the lion fish. The way he described the pain I wouldnt want that to happen! The crazy part of the story is he was like a head scientist at a poison center in NJ. They say to put the part of your body stung in the Hottest water you could handle. He said even though that is still what is the best recomendation to help break down the poisons quickly he feels it made it 10x's worse.
Anyway, Lion fish looks nice!!
Gorgeous fish!
[/quote]

Thanx, as long as you pay attn, I and every one can be fine. I usually put my hands in at night, when hes hungry, so I feed him and then shew him away with tongs or he just swims away on his own. My eel is the real culprit if my fingers are in the rocks, he bites hard. thanx for compliments


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## redbellyman21

got a new set of pics of a ora sps frag I got for 12 bux hopefully shell live she has white growth tips


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## nismo driver

thats an awesome milli frag..


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## redbellyman21

and the price was bad ass! I couldnt refuse! I had a 20 gift certificate too, lol so Made money on the deal~ I hope my milli and monti frags will be strong, I am keeping everything prestine as usual, and with 2 hydor pumps in opposing corners they make quiet a current, with a strong undertoe in middle where 2 powerheads meet


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## nismo driver

redbellyman21 said:


> and the price was bad ass! I couldnt refuse! I had a 20 gift certificate too, lol so Made money on the deal~ I hope my milli and monti frags will be strong, I am keeping everything prestine as usual, and with 2 hydor pumps in opposing corners they make quiet a current, with a strong undertoe in middle where 2 powerheads meet


what kind of lighting are you running and how are you maintianing your calcium levels?


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## redbellyman21

nismo driver said:


> and the price was bad ass! I couldnt refuse! I had a 20 gift certificate too, lol so Made money on the deal~ I hope my milli and monti frags will be strong, I am keeping everything prestine as usual, and with 2 hydor pumps in opposing corners they make quiet a current, with a strong undertoe in middle where 2 powerheads meet


what kind of lighting are you running and how are you maintianing your calcium levels?
[/quote]
I am running a 760 watt fixture with 2 x 250 watt halides 4 x 65 actnic and 6 x blue moon led. On a timer of 8am-12am actnic only 1pm-8pm actnic+halides and 8:30 pm to 9pm actnic the rest moon. I switch up the lighting once a month and lower actnic times, and raise actnic times, or I will have a day or 2 of darkness, or a part darkness only 1 halide, to try and reproduce natural enviroment, since it doesnt sun 12 hours nonstop. I also turn powerheads in opposite directions every week, to mix up current. I use kent marina RO/DI water mixed with trace elements top off and buffer's. I check my levels and add calcium concentrate or any levels as needed, but with 100lbs LR my calcium is almost always 420ppm SO I must be doing something right. I do weekly 5 gallon water changes, with biweekly filter clean/replace and the HOBfuge is chaetomorpha algae which is lit 24 a day


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## nismo driver

redbellyman21 said:


> and the price was bad ass! I couldnt refuse! I had a 20 gift certificate too, lol so Made money on the deal~ I hope my milli and monti frags will be strong, I am keeping everything prestine as usual, and with 2 hydor pumps in opposing corners they make quiet a current, with a strong undertoe in middle where 2 powerheads meet


what kind of lighting are you running and how are you maintianing your calcium levels?
[/quote]
I am running a 760 watt fixture with 2 x 250 watt halides 4 x 65 actnic and 6 x blue moon led. On a timer of 8am-12am actnic only 1pm-8pm actnic+halides and 8:30 pm to 9pm actnic the rest moon. I switch up the lighting once a month and lower actnic times, and raise actnic times, or I will have a day or 2 of darkness, or a part darkness only 1 halide, to try and reproduce natural enviroment, since it doesnt sun 12 hours nonstop. I also turn powerheads in opposite directions every week, to mix up current. I use kent marina RO/DI water mixed with trace elements top off and buffer's. I check my levels and add calcium concentrate or any levels as needed, but with 100lbs LR my calcium is almost always 420ppm SO I must be doing something right. I do weekly 5 gallon water changes, with biweekly filter clean/replace and the HOBfuge is chaetomorpha algae which is lit 24 a day
[/quote]

sound pretty good that milli should do great..

i did find this odd


> but with 100lbs LR my calcium is almost always 420ppm


 live rock has very little to do with calcium up take, what would be true is if you have a low hard coral load that your calcium levels will deplete very slowly. when all i had were soft corals calcium suppilmentation was hardly necessary as long as i did a water change the fresh mixed would keep everything at proper levels. at this point with about 20 pieces of sps and some rapidly growing montipora i am dosing 60ml of b-ionic two part daily to keep my levels up (30ml of each part. this is an absolute necessity not just for the coral growth but to keep my alkalinity up so my ph stays stable.. i love the sps but if i ever decide to go on vacation for more then a long weekend im going to have serious a problem.


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## redbellyman21

well I was reffering to the livestock that lives on the Rock, wouldn't the worms, and the all the diff types of organisms have a load on the levels, one of which calcium? dont they use the calcium to build their walls/exoskeleton? lol I am not so smart when it comes to worms... Lol plus my turbo snails keep breeding, so I have hundreds of baby snails growing out shells. I always tht they would use up calcium levels?? I could be wrong. either way it stays at 420 and I always monitor levels

I hear ya about vacations, man I am afraid to go away, I have a roomate above me whom I setup a nice reef, but he comes to me with questions, dont know if I can trust my 1000++ reef tank in his hands


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