Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[BigJay]

Originally Posted by psteeleb

okay Marc - seeing how my tank is busted I don't have any other business on here but to ask you and all the people that read your thread to vote for for my daughter, Kristen -Miss Texas - if she gets enough votes she may win a go green flashlight or something
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Don't feel bad Pete. I don't have any business here either, but I'll always haunt Marc's thread.

Pete, did you pick up the 140 gallon you were talking about?

[psteeleb]

Originally Posted by BigJay

Don't feel bad Pete. I don't have any business here either, but I'll always haunt Marc's thread.

Pete, did you pick up the 140 gallon you were talking about?

It was pulled off craigslist the next day so I have to assume it sold. Never got a chance to even call the guy

I saw Neptunes had one that looked intersting and I just got a pm from someone in Keller selling one

[bdblkta]

i rarely post but it has been almost a week with no activity in this thread. What is going on here?

[Snakebyt]

im sure Marc has just been busy. He hasent been on much in the last couple weeks

[thechad21]

Wow, I had no idea this thread was 19 splits long. Had to go way back into the archives to find the start of the thread. Amazing.

[Snakebyt]

yea, this thread has been very active in the last 5 years

[Kellsindell]

Maybe he's busy casting into the reef...

[Snakebyt]

Originally Posted by Kellsindell

Maybe he's busy casting into the reef...

you never know about him

[356ray]

Eight or nine days without word from Marc - Wheres Mac (Waldo).

Hope all is well with him

[Jessy.]

He's alive and talking to another club this weekend.

[Henryreef]

Originally Posted by Jessy.

He's alive and talking to another club this weekend.

Good to hear, hopefuly they will find time to get the reefcast out, but with their busy calendars I understand the delay.

[Snakebyt]

im sure once he gets back home and settled in there will be lots of pics and updates, no doubt somthing to look foreward to

[Kellsindell]

Originally Posted by Snakebyt

im sure once he gets back home and settled in there will be lots of pics and updates, no doubt somthing to look foreward to

I hope so... because he (and quicksilver) is a little behind.

[fishcatdog66]

You're swapping over to a new tank aren't you?!!!

[Snakebyt]

Originally Posted by fishcatdog66

You're swapping over to a new tank aren't you?!!!

ya know, that could be a possability.. you never know with Marc

[Laddy]

Originally Posted by fishcatdog66

You're swapping over to a new tank aren't you?!!!

I wouldn't even know where to begin with such a move..........hire a few guys at the local Home Depot, catch a flight to Cabo, and instruct them to call when everything is set up?

[jnarowe]

And maybe he's got a new squeeze? One that likes cats?

[cobra2326]

Originally Posted by melev

What am I measuring again?



While we know plants need nitrogen to grow (and why fertilizer contains nitrate), I've had my tank essentially algae free even when my system was measuring 65ppm of NO3. For nuisance algae to thrive, it needs NO3, PO4, and no predators (rabbit fish, snails, hermits, tangs). If your tank doesn't have enough cows (Eric Borneman's latest term) to keep things mowed down, you need to buy more. Pruning manually is important too, so the workers aren't overwhelmed.

I've been pretty good about keeping PO4 down. Back in 2005, my tank was measuring 3.0 ppm of phosphate. As the crystals would drop into the test vial, it would turn bright blue before I could even begin to mix it. Phosphate Control and Phosbuster Pro have been my favorite choices to keep them nice and low, but they do creep up due to my maintenance and feeding regime. I dose the tank every 4 to 6 weeks to get them back down to zero. I think nightly sun coral feedings is part of the reason I'm having a problem at all.

Marc,

What cows do you recommend to keep the algae under control? My tank is only a 55, and I'm struggling to find the right clean-up crew to keep the algae in check. My biggest problems are Caulerpa sp. and bits of hair here and there. Phosphates are at .05 and nitrates at 10ppm.

[melev]

Hi y'all...

Sorry about my absence; your guesses were fun to read. My back has really been a problem, and I've only been hopping online briefly a few times a day to care for customers and DFWMAS business. I can't stay on the computer long with the current condition, which is exacerbated by a high pain threshold -- I don't feel the pain like others do, and thus end up doing more damage because of that. I've already had 10 of 18 appointments with the chiropractor that is trying to get this situation resolved, and I'm still hoping for the best. It's very painful (which I'd assume would be even worse for anyone else), although I seem to just deal with it and do what has to be done each day but no more. I'm behind on a number of projects because of it, which I don't like, but what can you do...

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been to speak to the Boston Reefers club as well as the Twin Cities (Minneapolis) club. Both have great members that are fun to hang with.

My reef is running on auto-pilot, and is doing well over all. A couple more small losses have occurred, still unexplainable to me. The clam I've had for a long time finally vanished during one of my away trips, because I came home to an empty shell.

I hosted a group buy with Keys Critters last week, and got another 100 Astrea for my reef. That answers your question a little bit, cobra2326. Generally, 1 snail per gallon is what is suggested, and that would be good in your tank as well. You could get 25 astrea, 10 nassarius, 1 fighting conch, 15 ceriths, a serpent starfish and a tigertail cucumber - and your tank would look pretty good within a short period of time.

My own reef benefited by the new snails, which were split between the 280g and the 20g angled tank. Both already look cleaner to me.

The little eel in the suncoral tank has been continuing to come out during the feeding period, swimming about like crazy once he knows mysis are in the water. A club member just showed me a really nice HD Sony camera that may be in my very near future. http://www.dfwmas.org/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=66257

I re-set up the calcium reactor a few weeks ago with the new solenoid, and just had my LFS doublecheck my water's salinity to verify my refractometer was accurate. While I was there, I just bought the most expensive coral I've ever purchased. I must be nuts, but it was pretty and I felt it needed to go in my reef. It's in quarantine now. Suffice it to say, it's from Australia.

On the family front, while I was out of town this weekend, my son decided to throw another frat party / epic kegger. When I came home Sunday, the first thing I saw was my 44g empty recycling cart full to the top with beer cans, beer bottles and the cases they came in. I've never seen so much trash from a single party before, which he did in one night. And to top it off, someone stole his laptop right off his desk. Yep, one of those parties like you see in the movies where you don't know all the guests.

Kinda wish I'd been there. Would have been fun to catch the guy in the act.

[Hop]

Sorry about the back troubles!

I don't think I will ever allow my kids to part within 10 miles of my house. I would be livid

[NexDog]

Good to see ya, Marc. I go through periodic back troubles and feel your pain (literally).

[David - Miami]

Sounds like a rough week or two. I hope your back feels better and maybe someone will turn in the guy who took the laptop. Tell your son to spread a rumor that the camera was on and you have a feed of the thief or something.

Looking forward to pictures of the new coral when you are up to it.

[gkarshens]

Sorry to hear about the back. I deal with pretty much constant back pain myself. Sometimes it is just an annoyance and others I have a hard time getting out of bed. I know what you mean about just pushing through and doing what has to be done. I think I might have a high pain tolerance as well.

I hope you catch the thief!

[jason18]

I hope ypour back feels better, I ahve a question i listened to you with the flat worm Exit and it worked great , I'm still dosing the vodka 1ml twice a day but I'm not sure if it's enough i have some hair algae thats driving me nuts any ideas HELP please lol...

Hopefully the laptop pops up..

[jnarowe]

eewww.

I finally had to have the surgery. I just couldn't take it any longer. It was virtually impossible to work on my reef with the pain. Good luck Marc!