Forstral's Red Sea Max Adventures

[forstral]

I have been kind of keeping a lookout to see if anyone is viewing and I have not noticed anyone. I will keep the webcam up a few more days. From noon until 8pm the main lights are on and you should be able to see pretty well.

I have a new HH. I don't have a clue what it is. It is hiding in a cave between a rock and the sub. It is white to translucent, the way it moves it reminds me of a spider. It is very quick, if I can get a picture I will post it; like I said very quick and I think it can see me from about 3 feet away. Everytime I got within that distance from the tank with my camera it shot back into the cave. I guess it could be a shrimp or some sort of crab but what kind of crab is that color and moves that fast? Anyway, if I can catch a pic I will post for all to see. Remember the webcam is streaming through yahoo messenger under the yim name forstral.

Thanks again.

[forstral]

Doing first water change this evening. When I do a water change, do I turn off the skimmer and pumps? Also, my pumps are blowing a tremendous amount of very tiny bubbles into the tank, does the mean I need to open the door on the skimmer comb more? How do I make the pumps stop putting the bubbles into the tank?

[forstral]

The tank seems to be holding up well. Timer still works, skimmer still pumping a lot of bubbles into it's chamber, water pumps still pumping micro bubbles into the tank. Amm is 0, trites are 0, and trates are 0; salinity is a little low at 1.021. Was using a hydrometer but went and bought a refractometer today because couldn't get the same reading twice from the hydrometer. Alas, there is sadness today; 3 deaths have occured with possibly a 4th on the way. I have lost an astrea, another is not moving much, and a cerith snail but the real sadness is the Royal Gramma. I was thinking of naming him Skiddish, because he always dove back into a cave when I would come around the tank. I got him on Wednesday afternoon and this afternoon upon returning from getting a few more astreas, ceriths, a nassarius, and the refrac he was stiff as a board in a different location of the tank from where I had seen him before. I saw him there this morning around 1 am and was thinking he was trying out a new hiding place. I guess he died somewhere between 8 pm and 1 am. The lights go out at 8 and I saw him in his normal cave using a flashlight last night but not sure what time. I was looking at the 2 snails to see if they were moving. Since everything that would kill a fish chemically is normal I don't know why he died.

[lcstorc]

Since he was a new addition it could have been most anything. Shipping stress, cyanide poisoning, not eating, almost anything.
Sorry for your loss.