pics of my nano (11.29.04)

[Phischy]

Not to bust your balls, but this could have all been avoided by letting the tank cycle for at least a month, even if you did use bio spria or whatever. Some process are better left to nature and there really is no need to rush things.

Take it or leave it, someone had to say it.

 

[dragon79]

there's no telling

Phischy: Had a month gone by, who knows what could have happened.
Apparently with the marine world, nothing is certain. All i know is this is how i set up the tank with my brother, and leaving it to "you should have waited a month" doesn't really help me. (no offense) Incysor had asked me some questions, so I'm awaiting what he has to say about it.

Mike: The bi-color blenny is fine. still grazing on the algae, and it's looking much much cleaner thanks to him. Two strong fish. I'm still awaiting on what further incysor thinks on the situation. I'll let you know, I'll call you or something. Take it easy.

 

[incysor]

Re: update on tank

Incysor: I am not sure what dripline is, but I know i float and release. First fish I ever got was a percula clown (tank raised). He was dropped in the first day the tank was setup. Sound crazy right? but i have talked about that in another post when I first started. I used that overnight safe product "bio spira" It appears to have worked for nemo as he has not died. He's lived for two weeks now. My second fish was about 5 days or or 6 days later I think, I got a purple psuedo, and a sexy shrimp. sexy shrimp hid under a rock and that's like the last I ever saw of the shrimp. Purple psuedo lived for 3 days I think. He got like this weird strip of fungus white on near his tail. He never acted funny, he ate normal, had a lot of personality and very entertaining to look at. Fish ate too, even on the last day he lived. I come back home from work and the crabs made mincemeat out of him.

My girl crushed that her purple fish she named "violet" died, I went the next day or two days. ( i forget) and I picked up the bi-color blenny (jar jar) and sixline wrasse. They both floated as I've floated everything in my tank. bi-color acted all crazy and it took him a while to acclimate before I released him into the tank. I was actually worried about him, but he's doing very well. Wrasse seemed calm and laid back. He ate that night, but that night, he layed by the LR. Next day I come in from work and he's in the live rock hiding, I add food and he came out and ate a little bit, and swam around with no signs of problems or no visual problems. So by the next time I see him after work the next day, I find him dead on the side of the live rock. It's like what? It's as if something attacked and killed it. (killer nemo?) haha, just kidding. My friend Adrian thinks he simply died of stress, and that all fish react differently and also being that sixline, dotty weren't tank raised. (BTW: neither is bi-color) If bi-color keeps kicking, then he's beating the odds. All fish were bought from same place. Only thing I have gotten from another place was my latest addition which is simply an electric blue hermit crab. (got him after sixline died). Well that's the latest, help it makes all of this conclusive towards a solution. As for now, I am not going to buy any more fish I told my girlfriend. I told her she needs to be a lil bit patient, and that at least she has nemo and jar jar to look at. Thanks in advance man!

First I agree with Phishy. Regardless of what additives you use to speed up a new tanks cycle it still takes time, and you need to be patient. I wouldn't add anything else to your tank for another couple weeks at least, and then only if your diatom bloom is gone for good, you have no algae blooms, and all your chemical params have been checked and are good.

I understand about the gfriend thing. My wife went though the same thing. I tried explaining to her that fish weren't like cats and dogs and that statistically speaking even if we did everything 100% right all the time, we're still gonna lose corals and fish. After about 4-6 months I finally got her to stop naming the fish until they'd been in the tank for at least 2 months. Somehow this seems to make it easier if they check out early. :wink:

Now let's talk about acclimation procedures....Lots of folks make the switch from fresh water to salt water, and so they have the idea that floating a bag for 20mins-hour and then releasing the new critter is the correct way to acclimate them. This may work 90% of the time for freshwater, but you've got more chemical balances to worry about with saltwater, and it's simply not an acceptable way to acclimate your new purchases. When you do a float and release, all you're acclimating your new critter to is temp. What about salinity, and ph for critters? Big swings in these can kill them very quickly. If it doesn't kill them immediately it can add to their stress levels, which are already high from being caught out of the tank in the LFS and put in a bag, etc... When you're talking about corals, you have salinty, ph, calcium, lighting, etc.. to consider as well. This is why some corals don't open for a day or so when they're added to a new tank. I will tell you that I HAVE floated and released corals and even fish/inverts when I was in a hurry, but at least I knew I was running a risk.

So here's what you do. Get a length of airline tubing that's long enough to go from the top of your nano to a bowl big enough for your new purchase sitting next to it, but lower than the surface. You put the airline in the tank, the other end should have a small plastic valve on it like these.
http://www.petdiscounters.com/customer/ ... 315&page=1
You can ususually find these anywhere that carries fish or airline tubing.

You dump your new critter, and as little water as will cover it in the bowl.
Start a siphon from your tank dripping through the airline tubing into the bowl. Use the valve to adjust the flow so that you're getting at most a couple drops per second.

That's it. You may want to nearly fill the bowl, empty most of it back into the nano and repeat the process again before dumping the new guy into the tank. I usually do the first batch of water pretty slowly, then do the 2nd run at a much faster drip rate. This will give the new addition time to acclimate to ALL of your tanks parameters.

Honestly I think that you probably just added enough stress to the fish's already raised stress levels that they croaked. But even doing things 100% right, you're still gonna lose fish. There are things that are beyond our control. Like capture methods. If the fish was captured using cyanide, it'll look healthy and might even eat, but the cyanide destroys the fish's ability to absorb nutrients properly, so even if it's eating it'll starve to death. When did the fish store get in it's shipment? You should almost never buy stuff that just got in the store. GOOD stores lose something in the realm of 10% of every order. The number gets terrible for the not-so-good stores. If it's at all convenient, I try to get to a store when they get the shipment in, so I can see if there's anything special, then I put it on hold. I usually don't have to give them any money to do this, but on a couple things I've gone so far as to pay full price, but tell them that I'm leaving it there for the next couple days to make sure that it recovers from the shipping stress first. I've only had one store tell me that they wouldn't do this for me.

Hopefully this'll help your next couple purchases go smoother.

 

[dragon79]

INCYSOR RULES!

KICK ASS RESPONSE!!

Now that's a solution!! Thank you very much!! I can go off a lot from what you said there as opposed to waiting a month thing. I've learned more about care, acclimation, suggesstions on how and when to buy the fish. That's incredibly things I cared to learn about and read about. Thanks again!!! You are the best!!!

 

[incysor]

Re: INCYSOR RULES!

KICK ASS RESPONSE!!

Now that's a solution!! Thank you very much!! I can go off a lot from what you said there as opposed to waiting a month thing. I've learned more about care, acclimation, suggesstions on how and when to buy the fish. That's incredibly things I cared to learn about and read about. Thanks again!!! You are the best!!!

I appreciate that you like my response, but Phishy's was equally important. If everyone spends time reading/researching this hobby thorougly before they even purchase anything, much less put water in the tank they'd save a lot of money and frustration. My wife and I spent 6 months reading books, and online forums while we slowly bought all used equipment to get started. We were, and even more so now are on a tight budget, and neither of us had ever kept fish at all, so we really took our time. We avoided a ton of newbie mistakes this way. Don't get me wrong, we still have made some doozies, and lost fish/corals/critters, but we cut down on our mistakes tremendously by checking things out beforehand. Oh, and it's MUCH harder to be patient once that first drop of water hits the inside of the tank than before you've got it set up. :wink:

Ok. No more lectures.

 

[n3m3ss1s]

Not to bust your balls, but this could have all been avoided by letting the tank cycle for at least a month, even if you did use bio spria or whatever. Some process are better left to nature and there really is no need to rush things.

Take it or leave it, someone had to say it.

I tell him everyday that he should've been patient. So I will gladly bust his balls. I have been telling him from day one to let the tank cycle. I get all my knowledge from a pet store owner that has been doing aquariums for over 20 years. I only joined this forum to bust his balls. BTW I have a 60 gallon and a 3-4 years of experience. I do have a lot of frags since I have plenty of room for corals to grow and I add supplements daily. So I might trade with people in the other section.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Hi Dragon,

I read all the post and can say wow you have a wealth of new info, I learned a lot as well.

I think that phisy's post is not directed at you. Like Insysor said, we learn from all the post on the do's and don'ts. Let me explain,

A new user will hopefully pick up these trials and learn that some stuff works while some don't. Phisy's is targeting that group, someone that will say hey, maybe I want to wait one month as oppose to how we did it.

I'm more to blame because you followed my orders, my lead on actions. We took a calculated risk based we were limited on time from my visit down to Los Angeles. But hey this hobby is about leanrning.

Remember that the LFS encouraged us to wait but I wanted them sooner and was wanting to try that new product.

One thing, I can say is that I should've advised you to never buy from a new shipment, bad mistake on my end... I always use to do this and would always lose critters.

Today, I always ask my LFS, how long has this critter or coral has been here, they don't sell it to me if it isn't past 2 full days.

Now I know that the six line was in the bag brand new shipment, mistake on my end not letting you know. Violet, I cannot remember.

Anyway, keep an eye on Nemo and Jar Jar, for rapid breathing or erradic behavior, I hope they don't start scratching against the rocks, that is a sign or crptocayaron better known as Ick.

After the massive ick outbreak that wiped out my fishes, I waited 1 full month and medicated the tank with NO Ich a powerful reef safe med. But when I started adding my fish after that month, I had a total of 4 newbies and the second to last fish I added was a bi-color blenny.

He did great for 1 week eating and great personality, then each night he started becoming delerious in that he would sleep out in the open and he never use to do this. And in the morning he stopped eating, and when I would do a cleaning or some aqauscapping he would not dart away.

Needless to say, my wife found him dead the next day. I don't get it cause my other fish are all alive, 1 month later.

It's like Dragon says, reef world has no guarantees. 1 month wait or not. We took a gamble Dragon so just hang in there...

Thanks for the new guidelines Incysor...

Mike

 

[incysor]

Just to point out that sh*t happens and that I don't have all the answers. In the last month I've lost both my catalina gobies, that had been in the tank for a few months doing fine, a yellow-headed jawfish that never ate, and the sunburst anthia that was huge and doing fine for well over a month, I also haven't seen my cleaner goby in several days. This is all in my 75. I still haven't found the sunburst's body, which is bizarre since it was nearly the size of my potters angel. I think I may have a mantis shrimp in there someplace, cause I hear clicks at night, but I still haven't seen it. I also haven't found a lot of dead crabs or snails which would point me towards it's lair.

In my 40 I've lost 2 tiny chromis out of the original 4. I'm fairly certain that the gorilla crab that I've seen is the culprit there, but I haven't managed to trap him out yet.

So, while I can lecture a bit, I don't go too far with it cause even with good planning and research stuff happens that you don't understand, and can't control.

B

 

[dragon79]

Not to bust your balls, but this could have all been avoided by letting the tank cycle for at least a month, even if you did use bio spria or whatever. Some process are better left to nature and there really is no need to rush things.

Take it or leave it, someone had to say it.

I tell him everyday that he should've been patient. So I will gladly bust his balls. I have been telling him from day one to let the tank cycle. I get all my knowledge from a pet store owner that has been doing aquariums for over 20 years. I only joined this forum to bust his balls. BTW I have a 60 gallon and a 3-4 years of experience. I do have a lot of frags since I have plenty of room for corals to grow and I add supplements daily. So I might trade with people in the other section.

ha ha ha ha ha NEMESIS!!! aka ADRIAN!! This is my cool friend Adrian that's my co-worker in IT whom I been sharing all my information with regarding the nano tank since it was put together back in late November. He knows his stuff, and he loves to read about what you guys say about the posts and responses I put up....but at last he has finally joined and I'd like to say, "Welcome buddy, you can count I'll be needing your advice too!! Lastly, like we all like....get some pictures taken of your tank and show everybody...we all pictures fanatics here, hehe."

 

[incysor]

On the subject of ich. I haven't tried NO ich. In fact, I haven't even heard of it. I have tried kick ich with pretty decent results. I followed the directions exactly and it didn't harm anything, and my fish recovered. The last time I had an outbreak I used fresh garlic instead, and it seemed to do the trick without spending as much money. Here's the instructions from another reefer on another board. I've followed them pretty closely with good results. The only difference is that before I add the garlic-water to the tank I usually put some mysis or cyclopeeze in the cup and let it soak up some of the galic for 5 minutes or so.

B

I don't soak their food but instead add it directly to the tank. For my 75 gallon tank I would take 6 to 8 nice-sized cloves of garlic, crush them as flat as humanly possible and then mince the flattened garlic. The goal is to try to do as much cellular damage to the garlic as possible. I scrape it all together and add it to half a cup or so of tank water and let it steep for 15 - 20 minutes. Allicin, the important component of garlic, is very short-lived so don't skip out and buy any store preparations of garlic. Also, don't let it sit for more than an hour or so. Pour the tank water through a small mesh strainer (or you can just strain the garlic out by hand) into your tank. I like to press out all the liquid of the soaked garlic too. Any bits and pieces that get into your tank are likely to be eaten by your tang, which is a good thing. I know it may be hard, but try to pour the garlic water on or near the affected fish. You should notice less cysts on your fish. You can repeat this for a few days. The only time I ever overdosed a tank was a 20 gallon tank with a very deep sandbed that had little gobies in it. I bet there wasn't 10 gallons of water in it between the sand and live rock taking up so much space. I added about 6 cloves' worth of garlic to that little tank that already didn't have much filtration on it and it nuked some of the gobies. On my 75 gallon tank, I've added as much as an entire pod of garlic to it without any ill effects on my fish, inverts, anemones, or corals. They might look ticked off for awhile but they'll get over it. Don't worry if the garlic temporarily gives a slight haze to the water. It will all filter out later in the day.

Hope that helps! I saved a horribly infected purple tang from certain death with garlic, and since then have used it several other times too, all successfully.

Sherri

 

[mikeguerrero]

Incysor,

No-Ich is a good product. I was able to dose regular my entire nano with zero ill effects on my corals or live rock, live sand. I only had to remove the charcoal out during this period.

The only problem was that I was too late in adding the medicine, in other words, my fish were too far on death role for a rescue.

My wife and I watched in agony as my fish died one by one and I kept telling her I couldn't save them because the meds I was use to using back in the days were only for fish only.

Little did I know reefing had changed with technology 5 years later. My mistake and I got the meds way to late. It was however strong enough to wipe out all my ick and I haven't had a problem since.

I read up on what you have used Icysor and that wouldn't have helped me mine were not feeding. That is great preventitive med and also if your fish is still feeding it will help from the inside out, great type of natural way to kill parasites.

Hope Drapon doesn't have this,,, in his tank,,,,

Mike

 

[incysor]

Incysor,

No-Ich is a good product. I was able to dose regular my entire nano with zero ill effects on my corals or live rock, live sand. I only had to remove the charcoal out during this period.

The only problem was that I was too late in adding the medicine, in other words, my fish were too far on death role for a rescue.

My wife and I watched in agony as my fish died one by one and I kept telling her I couldn't save them because the meds I was use to using back in the days were only for fish only.

Little did I know reefing had changed with technology 5 years later. My mistake and I got the meds way to late. It was however strong enough to wipe out all my ick and I haven't had a problem since.

I read up on what you have used Icysor and that wouldn't have helped me mine were not feeding. That is great preventitive med and also if your fish is still feeding it will help from the inside out, great type of natural way to kill parasites.

Hope Drapon doesn't have this,,, in his tank,,,,

Mike

If they were far enough gone that they weren't eating I doubt there's any treatment that would have helped, but to clarify, the garlic method doesn't rely on fish eating it to be effective. Oh, and I'd scale back the number of cloves of garlic for a nano tank. :wink:

B

 

[dragon79]

intense

amazing what you can use around the house thats effective.

What about isolating the fish to a seperate tank and treating it there? Like a pico tank. I read an article about ick removal, it was trippy.

It basically said something about isolating the fish to a seperate tank, adding medication, and also about removing a fish out of the tank, removing the bad white ick formation gently with a wet paper towel, then adding iodine to it's body to help it heal, then put him to recover in the hospital tank, then once better, to be put back in the regular tank.

I was like damn, talk about treating fish like human beings. It's more involved but hey, if you love your fish that much, I suppose you'd go to those lengths.

 

[incysor]

Re: intense

amazing what you can use around the house thats effective.

What about isolating the fish to a seperate tank and treating it there? Like a pico tank. I read an article about ick removal, it was trippy.

It basically said something about isolating the fish to a seperate tank, adding medication, and also about removing a fish out of the tank, removing the bad white ick formation gently with a wet paper towel, then adding iodine to it's body to help it heal, then put him to recover in the hospital tank, then once better, to be put back in the regular tank.

I was like damn, talk about treating fish like human beings. It's more involved but hey, if you love your fish that much, I suppose you'd go to those lengths.

Hospital/quarantine tanks are without a doubt a great idea, and very responsible. I know several people that won't introduce ANY fish or coral until it's sat in their Q-tank for at least 2 weeks. I haven't bothered with one yet. But at some point in the near future I might. With a Q-tank you have the ability to treat with copper-meds as well as kick ich, garlic, etc.. and you can easily treat for flatworms, or do a lugols dip, which I think some folks do with acros to prevent red bug problems.

The reason I haven't done one is space/money, and laziness. I look over corals very carefully before I purchase them for flatworms. I don't have any SPS, much less acros so red bugs aren't really an issue, and trying to catch a sick fish out of a large tank is difficult at best.

I've never heard of any treatments involving wiping your fish down, and I certainly wouldn't advise it. It's just gonna stress your animal out further.
Another thing that is advised by people from time to time, but that doesn't really work against ich is fresh-water dips. I've read reports that show the ich tolerates the fresh water better than most fish. And yep, I've tried this one.

Now I don't bother trying to catch anything. If I see spots on them I follow the garlic method and treat the whole system, (my 75 and 40 are plumbed together). I've done this 3 times since setting my tanks back up after moving, and haven't had to use kick ich yet, nor have I lost a fish that was showing spots.

B

 

[Phischy]

To put in all into perspective, I was building my tank and reading for a solid 9 months before my dad finally got me my stand to find out it was 1/2" too short for my tank, so I had to wait longer to get a custom tank built. Then I've had evil Isopod problems...so I've been cycling for over two months now. If your problem is patience, then I suggest you just learn to deal with it. I'm DYING to add corals to my tank as well as fish, but I will not until I know my tank is safe.

Incysor has great posts and I did learn something out of it but the overall lesson is don't rush, it'll only screw things up. I hope to finally add something this weekend but we'll see.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Phischy you are right, the golden rule is to be patient. It's just really hard, it's like getting a red convertible corvette and than driving it to the racing track but not being able to go unitl you wait a full month, making sure all specs are right,,,, it's hard but if you don't follow the rules you could lose so much.

Regarding fresh water dips, I tried it with nemo and my old citron goby and I raise red flags against doing these dips. It didn't help out and it just stressed the critter even further.

Maybe I did it wrong I heard you have to make sure the ph is the same and some other factors of less density of salt. Too many factors.


Mike

hey dragon, looks like you have a lot of caring reefers that have given their tips to success, your thread is in the high thirties and is leading the pack in this forum... You can see that from the icon that says hot topic popular....

 

[dragon79]

Mikey

Phischy you are right, the golden rule is to be patient. It's just really hard, it's like getting a red convertible corvette and than driving it to the racing track but not being able to go unitl you wait a full month, making sure all specs are right,,,, it's hard but if you don't follow the rules you could lose so much.

Regarding fresh water dips, I tried it with nemo and my old citron goby and I raise red flags against doing these dips. It didn't help out and it just stressed the critter even further.

Maybe I did it wrong I heard you have to make sure the ph is the same and some other factors of less density of salt. Too many factors.


Mike

hey dragon, looks like you have a lot of caring reefers that have given their tips to success, your thread is in the high thirties and is leading the pack in this forum... You can see that from the icon that says hot topic popular....

Mikey, I am thinking perhaps after the recent feedback of gettinga pico .75 So affordable, only 45 bucks. Be a good way to introduce the fish of the future. I only have two fish. I'd like a total of 3, but will not get any more until my tank has matured, and that I have a hospital pico .75 that I can use to make sure he lives in that tank, I know he'd be safe to add in the bigger tank. I'll let you know. In closing...mike, or anybody...what are some cool brands to buy? The pico's look all the same to me (.75) Get back at me, thanks.

 

[incysor]

Re: Mikey

Mikey, I am thinking perhaps after the recent feedback of gettinga pico .75 So affordable, only 45 bucks. Be a good way to introduce the fish of the future. I only have two fish. I'd like a total of 3, but will not get any more until my tank has matured, and that I have a hospital pico .75 that I can use to make sure he lives in that tank, I know he'd be safe to add in the bigger tank. I'll let you know. In closing...mike, or anybody...what are some cool brands to buy? The pico's look all the same to me (.75) Get back at me, thanks.

I like these.
http://store.yahoo.com/pet-king/730773882274.html

It looks like the 'moon glow' bulb is just a small actinic bulb. I've been trying to find a cheap one and then buy another normal fixture to go with it, to balance out the actinic bulb.

The things to consider about using them as q-tanks, is that a q-tank shouldn't have any LR, or substrate in them. Most people don't even bother with a filter. Whatever you're quarantining shouldn't be in there very long, and many medications will be absorbed by LR or substrate rendering them unsuitable for any other aquarium, ever. LR and substrate are also where ich resides when it's not in/on your fish. A powerhead, perhaps a bubbler, and a couple pieces of PVC pipe to give the fish a place to hide and feel secure, and you're done.

If you were going to try for a pico as a q-tank I'd save your money and buy a large gold fish bowl. :lol:

B

 

[dragon79]

wow, that's cheap

45 bucks I see it at the store, and here it is for 25. Same thing too, only thing is the one at the store was blue instead of black. They have it on display as a mini-tank, not as a q-tank. It has the live rock, live sand, a nemo and a blood shrimp. Pretty neat, but I wonder, will the fish live long in there or no? I see a trend of that a lot no matter what LFS I go to. Seems like it would be easier to take care of...water changes would be a snap, hehe.

On another note, I have to tell you incysor, that I did my 2nd water change and I took my water to get tested for free and found my nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia were safe, but PH was low. The lady sold me a PH formula to increase the levels, and sold me a kit to test the water and make sure it's back up to par soon. she sold me some kit that was called fasTesT Master Kit: Salt Water Aquarium Master Test Kit
"Another fine SeaTest product from the manufacturer of Instant Ocean" It will test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and PH. I also bought a new product newer than DT's Phytoplanton. It's called Liquid Life Bio Plankton, and you keep it in the freezer, and it still remains in liquid form.

Anyway the last thing was that my salinity was a little low, interesting...it could have been the hydrometer she was using, (deep six). When I got home I used the same water in my Instant Ocean Hydrometer and it read fine. 1.024. I guess going the extra mile to get that expensive refractometer would tell a more accurate reading. I am sure I am fine. The water from Catalina seems to have more salinity, so I doubt it was low. Well that's the latest, I'll catch you, and everybody else later.

 

[incysor]

Re: wow, that's cheap

45 bucks I see it at the store, and here it is for 25. Same thing too, only thing is the one at the store was blue instead of black. They have it on display as a mini-tank, not as a q-tank. It has the live rock, live sand, a nemo and a blood shrimp. Pretty neat, but I wonder, will the fish live long in there or no? I see a trend of that a lot no matter what LFS I go to. Seems like it would be easier to take care of...water changes would be a snap, hehe.

On another note, I have to tell you incysor, that I did my 2nd water change and I took my water to get tested for free and found my nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia were safe, but PH was low. The lady sold me a PH formula to increase the levels, and sold me a kit to test the water and make sure it's back up to par soon. she sold me some kit that was called fasTesT Master Kit: Salt Water Aquarium Master Test Kit
"Another fine SeaTest product from the manufacturer of Instant Ocean" It will test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and PH. I also bought a new product newer than DT's Phytoplanton. It's called Liquid Life Bio Plankton, and you keep it in the freezer, and it still remains in liquid form.

Anyway the last thing was that my salinity was a little low, interesting...it could have been the hydrometer she was using, (deep six). When I got home I used the same water in my Instant Ocean Hydrometer and it read fine. 1.024. I guess going the extra mile to get that expensive refractometer would tell a more accurate reading. I am sure I am fine. The water from Catalina seems to have more salinity, so I doubt it was low. Well that's the latest, I'll catch you, and everybody else later.

I haven't seen one of the moon-glow ones set up yet just the regular ones, which is what you're describing. The basic difference is that the moon-glow one appears to have an actinic bulb in the lamp, and it's packaged with glow in the dark gravel, which of course is bright under the actinic bulb. So far I haven't seen the 'moon-glo' lamp available by itself, but I have seen the regular one available, so I figured I'd get the
moon-glow setup and then buy another regular lamp to go with it.

There are lots of things that the stores are able to get away with that folks with a home aquarium probably won't be able too. I've talked to several newbies that thought that because they saw two fish together in a tank at the LFS that they would do fine in their home tank, only to find that they're not compatible. What the LFS didn't tell them is that you can have a tank full of different kinds of tangs in the store, because for one thing they won't be there very long, and two when they're all overcrowded they don't fight for territory, however when you bring a yellow tang, and a purple tang home and put it in your 75gal tank, it's gonna be a smack-down, cause they're not as crowded and they'll fight for the territory now.

Liquid life bioplankton, and DT's are the two that have the best reps for phyto. Supposedly the bioplankton will go further than the DT's but I haven't tried it because I've had a couple friends try it and they liked the DT's better, and thought it was more cost-effective. I think I'm gonna try the Bioplankton for myself soon, mainly cause it's a smaller bottle, taking up less space in my fridge/freezer than the DT's. I'm also trying a couple of Kent's new super concentrated plankton formulas right now. I think that they're exagerating their specs a bit. (They say one drop per 50 ga of water), but I've been feeding my tanks with a double dosage and things seem fairly happy.

My main system for some reason has always had a somewhat low PH. My calcium levels and my hardess reading is generally right on, but no matter how much kalk I put in the system the PH just doesn't seem to want to come up above 8.0. I keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't drop below that, but have pretty much given up getting it to come up to 8.3 like I've been told is optimal. Hydrometers vary. As long as your's is consistently reading in the zone, then you're probably fine, you only need to worry if you start getting swings in your readings. I'd defintely save up for the refractometer, but it's not something that you've got to run right out and get by any means. I didn't have one for the first 6 months I had the tanks up, and didn't even know what it was when my wife got it for me for my b-day. :lol:

I bought my salifert calcium test online, (It's cheaper). I've got the same master test kit that you bought. I think it's done fine, but I'm about out and I may switch to all salifert kits, as I think they're a bit easier to use and have a stronger reputation for accuracy. They're a lot more expensive though so I may just order refills for what I've already got.