Recent content by fc_uk

I have a 75 gallon aquarium that I have gone through some tough times with on the initial setup, but have been happy with the 75g for a few years now… Having (mostly) figured out the 75g, it's time to turn to something new; an 8 g nano. So, I have a JBJ RL8 that is pretty much stock, but I...

Those reef octopus HOB skimmers kick all sorts of a**. Don't worry about it. I've got a 2000... It put my in-sump skimmer (not a reef octopus) to absolute shame. Reef Octopus skimmers are worth their weight in gold.

Cyano can be toxic to snails.... keep an eye on them. Toss any if you see deaths as it will only feed the cyano. Cyano was a really big battle for me. As you have mentioned, a GFO was the only thing that sorted it. Personally, I run a phosban 150 with about 75g of CFO that gets replaced every...

Just to throw in another opinion, though I do not have one, I've become a big fan of ro/di systems with two inline tds meters. One tds goes before the ro, the other goes after. The use of two lets you know exactly where the problem is. The addition of the third external tds allows you to know...

Yes, it does! I wait until I have produced between 0.5-1 gallon of water, then I add the salt. My water changes are 5 gallons weekly, so we are looking at about 1.75-2 cups of salt to get the salinity right, depending upon the mix. Well, that is my hope and that is what I have been going with...

So, I have recently purchased Red Sea Coral Pro salt on one of those massive pro bags. Every time I makeup new water for a water change, the new salt mix is cloudy. I've stirred it until my arm falls off; I put a 1200 gph pump in it while my ro/di has filled the container it's in. I've done...

Speaking as a chemist who interned in a water testing lab while he was in college many, many, many, many moons ago... Both food grade and non food grade plastics will leach chemicals into the water. There is absolutely no way to stop this. Water soluble or not, everything has an exceptionally...

Huh, I was not aware of that. I was actually told by a friend who has an aquarium to start it that way as it is easier. I've had this damsel for nearly a year now. Yes, it cycled the tank, but it is a healthy fish ... no ich. It's literally pissing me off because it bullies everything but my...

Well.... I'm still not running it. Nitrate/Phosphate should not be an issue. I'm running phosban and nitrates test 0. There have been no long term deaths of anything that has sat in the tank and I should not be over feeding. Obviously, algae is living and growing from something. Since I am...

+1 Mario ... That last line about the damsel becoming territorial and bullying all other fish ... Yeah, I'm selling my last damsel back tomorrow. Bullies my six line wrasse (my last introduced fish) like no other. I'm tired of the damsel. Someone else can have fun with him now.

So are there any negatives to running purigen? I've searched the boards, and nothing definitive really. I've got some bubble, gha, and cyan growing that I can severely limit, but can not nearly eliminate. I know 100% algae removal is not possible, but I've got more than that. I've also had...

Well, damsels are both cheap and hardy. Assuming that 286 carries a unit of parts per trillion (ppt), then that is high. If that carries the units of parts per million, then YIKES! Ideally you want your water w/o salt to have less than 5 ppt of junk in it, which would be a readout of 50...

Yep.... them going idle is nothing to worry about. Strict algae eaters need their diets supplemented otherwise they run out of food ... and ... um.... You can also always turn the shells over if they are on your sand bed and see if there is anything inside. An empty shell is, well empty :)...

Well, add another curious mind to this list. I'd love to know what you are feeding and how you accomplished what you did.

yes, it is continuing to lose spines. I got home and it was down to maybe 10%. It's gone now. Probably put it in the tank nearly dead to begin with... The place I got it from has a two week return policy... it's just I think the shipping did it in to begin with, so I am not very keen on...