Recent content by reefer gladness

No problem, when you did the water change a little more water was taken out than put back in. The sump chamber where the return pump is located will reflect any loss/gain of water in the total system including evaporation. I would re-check salinity before adding water to bring the return...

When life hands you ice cubes... make margaritas!

I don't think an exact cause has been determined. I believe it's a bacteria that is present in most tanks but doesn't take hold unless conditions allow. Damaged corals are susceptible to it but I've also seen neglected tanks that don't get regular water changes develop brown jelly. Dipping...

Looks like brown jelly/slime disease, it's a bacteria if memory serves. Manual removal (scrubbing) and a FW dip or some Lugol's usually does the trick.

FWIW, I've battled a couple varieties of red turf algae over the years and have never positively ID'd the source of the problem but I'll share a few observations. First, I've found nothing that will eat this stuff. Urchin's don't touch it and neither do the snails, you can try a Mexican turbo...

Some good observations and advice made so far. First thing I will add is the nem in your picture appears to be a blue-tipped sebae (Heteractis crispa), not a bubble-tip. Sebae nem's are much harder to acclimate and require a very mature, stable aquarium. Make sure you get proper ID before...

Not a Steves customer but can steer you in the right direction. No, you will not need the Typhoon controller, you should use the Apex or the Typhoon but not both. There are 2 types of signals that can be used for dimming, PWM (pulse-wide modulation) and analog 0-10V. The Apex uses analog...

Ceramics seem to be more popular in Europe, it hasn't really caught on yet in the US. Pricewise it is expensive compared to live rock (in most areas anyway). Opinions vary when it comes to using live rock. Some folks enjoy the diversity of life that comes with the rock, good and bad, and...

Just a suggestion, consider the Red Sea Reefer series www.redseafish.com/aquarium-systems/reefer/ for that all-in-one system goodness and go with one of the major LED manufacturers. Ecotech Radions, GHL Mitras, etc. This article compares the Mitras, Radions and AI Hydra and the author notes...

In my experience a nem pouting like that for more than a day or two is due to water quality or stability issues. All good questions above. Bioload is not a factor unless you overfeed. A large (25-30%) water change is probably in order but do test water quality first so you can identify the...

Good advice above. I'll add that if you are carbon dosing, and Chemi Pure does include carbon in the mixture - it's advised to keep alk in the 7-8 range so you're good where you are. Stability is key as mentioned before but I wouldn't want to run any higher than 8.5, high alkalinity has been to...

SPS corals are very demanding and usually recommended for the tank to be more mature before introducing, so you may struggle for awhile but you should get there eventually. Lighting demands are high so tell us about your lighting please. Water quality demands are high, you'll want to be...

Looking good! They can shrivel up and look pretty bad when they're splitting but they bounce back quick. I usually give them a feeding about 2-3 weeks after the split. Here's one of mine in the final stages of splitting.

OP hasn't been active here for awhile but you can make one of these for a couple bucks yourself, here's the link to the parts list and instructions. http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson57268/HGB/HGB_construction.html If you really want to purchase one already assembled give Jeff a call over at...

I can take exception with a lot of things said on Steve's LED's site but just bear in mind that they are a vendor like any other and are trying to sell something. Far from an expert but I'll chime in with a few things to consider: In terms of color temp (10k, 12k, etc...), forget everything...