Step-by-step account of my first reef (with lots of pics)
- Thread starter Dudester
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Well, I did it. I fragged the xenia, and it appears so far to have worked. I used my trusty x-acto knife so I wouldn't have to open the sterile scalpel blade. That was a mistake, as the x-acto wasn't quite as sharp as I had remembered. I kinda hacked things apart instead of a nice clean cut, but it worked. (Note to self: Next time use scalpel.)
My original stalk had grown and split into about six main sections, so I decided to leave two of them and cut four of them out and mount to some live rock rubble. I didn't have a camera with me and I was working alone, so I don't have any picks of the process, which is just as well. Any self-respecting surgeon would just scream at my hack job on the poor critters.
But, I managed to get them cut off the rock and I mounted them to pieces of LR using the toothpick and rubber band method. Which seems to have worked, as after 3 days they were firmly attached to the LR pieces and I pulled the toothpicks and rubber bands off and they stuck just fine. They were a bit "tight" and green the first couple of days, but I put the frags up in the rocks out of the main flow and by today they were opening up.
Some observations:
1. They're slippery, slimey little suckers. Hard to hang on to and do anything with. I thought for sure I had handled them to death, but I didn't.
2. The suckers REALLY STINK when you get them out of the water for a few seconds and start hackin' on them. WoW! Good thing my wife wasn't around.
3. Next time use a sharper blade.
So this afternoon I took two of the frags down to the little tiny LFS in my town and just gave the frags to them to put in their SW tank. It's a really small shop, and the ladies there don't really have much SW experience. So we'll see if they are able to keep the frags alive for a while. (No acclimation, they just dumped them out of my bag, water and all. They said they always do that with their shipments of fish. They didn't understand acclimation at all!) I didn't ask for any credit or anything, I just want to get this little store up to speed.
So here's some pics of my remaining two frags still in the tank:
First one shows the main bunches on the left with one of the frags on it's piece of LR rubble in the bottom right of the pic:
And this one shows the two little frags on their pieces of rubble up on my rocks:
So that's how that worked!
AND, OH YEAH, I got a clam today! I stopped at RCA on the way back from a quick trip to North Austin today and I had to just buy SOMETHING! So I ended up with this nice Crocea clam.
It appears to be fairly happy in the tank so far, sitting on the sand next to the Modern Coral I picked up a few weeks ago:
Here's a shot of the left side of the tank:
So far, so good. Not up to Dudester's speed yet, but I'm catching up! So, Mike, ya' need any xenia frags? Have those Turbo Snails bulldozed your tank yet?
Bruce
Dudester
Premium Member
bcoons - Too bad you don't have any pics of the toothpick/rubberband mount, would've loved to see that. Did you use plastic or wood toothpicks, and how far up from the base did you harpoon them? Great pics, though, your tank's coming along quite nicely ... really like the clam! Is the foot attached to some rock? I think croceas prefer to be hard-mounted, if you will. How did you like RCA? I haven't been there yet but am anxious to give them a try. The Mexican turbos have done a great job eliminating the maroon hair algae in my tank. All 3 are still thriving, and John mentioned he has some algae overgrowth in his tank so I'll probably transfer 2 of them into his tank and keep 1 for myself. Fortunately they haven't been as destructive as I expected they might. As far as getting some xenia frags from you, why of course I'm interested. I'll need to find something tasty to give you in exchange, afterall I still owe you for the snails .
As far as my tank goes, all is pretty stable and happy. The favites coral is liking its place in the shade and the color is returning. One month ago I started dosing iodine (Lugol's solution) at 2 drops/week, and since that time I think I've noticed some improved coloration of my corals, including the acro frags and especially the green ricordea. I haven't added any new additions to the tank in a while since I'm going away for a week at the end of the month. Guess I better order another sixline for when I return :mixed: .
.That's pretty scary! I don't think I'd purchase any livestock from that LFS until they learn A LOT more.
As far as my tank goes, all is pretty stable and happy. The favites coral is liking its place in the shade and the color is returning. One month ago I started dosing iodine (Lugol's solution) at 2 drops/week, and since that time I think I've noticed some improved coloration of my corals, including the acro frags and especially the green ricordea. I haven't added any new additions to the tank in a while since I'm going away for a week at the end of the month. Guess I better order another sixline for when I return :mixed: .
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7496887#post7496887 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dudester
bcoons - Too bad you don't have any pics of the toothpick/rubberband mount, would've loved to see that. Did you use plastic or wood toothpicks, and how far up from the base did you harpoon them? Great pics, though, your tank's coming along quite nicely ... really like the clam! Is the foot attached to some rock? I think croceas prefer to be hard-mounted, if you will. How did you like RCA? I haven't been there yet but am anxious to give them a try. The Mexican turbos have done a great job eliminating the maroon hair algae in my tank. All 3 are still thriving, and John mentioned he has some algae overgrowth in his tank so I'll probably transfer 2 of them into his tank and keep 1 for myself. Fortunately they haven't been as destructive as I expected they might. As far as getting some xenia frags from you, why of course I'm interested. I'll need to find something tasty to give you in exchange, afterall I still owe you for the snails
I'll tell ya', there was no way to try to handle those slippery, slimey, stinky frags and take pics at the same time!
But, for a verbal description, I used wooden toothpicks, and stabbed the suckers right through the middle of the trunk, and then ran the rubberband around the bottom of the rock and up over each end of the TP. On one of the frags there really wasn't much trunk left by the time I got done hacking it, so I tried another method I had read about. I just stabbed the TP right down through the top of the head, axially through the short trunk, and stuck the end of the TP into a small pinhole that happened to be in the piece of LR rubble. It worked fine. After 3 days I pulled all the toothpicks out and everyone was fine. They all opened up and started pulsing again. From what I've read it's pretty hard to kill the things. (Which is good.
)The clam is cool. Nope, there was no rock attached. It was just like a clam you would buy at the market. I just put it on the sand in the front of the tank and it immediately opened up. From what I have read, they will dig themselves into the sand a little deeper, and over the last 3 days it looks like it is doing just that. It looks a bit lower in the sand than where I placed it. I'll watch it over the next few days.
After watching the xenia frags get blown all over by the flow in the tank, I thought maybe I had a bit too much currrent. I don't have any SPS, so I probably don't need any crazy flow, so I replaced the modified MaxiJet 600 PH on the right side of the tank with a new MJ 400 PH with it's nozzle pointed back towrds the back of the tank. So that and the PowerSweep 212 on the left side are alternating every 4 minutes under the control of the RK2. There is still plenty of flow in the tank, but things aren't getting thrown around quite so much. I'll watch it for a couple of days and see how it does.
RCA is a pretty nice place. Smaller than AA or Aquatek, but has some nice stuff. I spent quite some time talking to Carlos, who seemed quite knowledgeable (which isn't hard compared to me.) Plus it's on the North side of town and easy for me to get to without having to come into Austin proper. (Did I tell you how much I hate cities?
) Like most LFS, it has it's pros and cons. You should check it out.One more thing. At the little local LFS they had a green mandarin goby. They ordered it because it looked nice in the catalog and thought it would sell to somebody. They had no idea of it's special diet, and had it in a barebottom tank with no sand or rock at all. All they feed their stock is flake food, so I was sure that fish would die soon in their tank. So I bought it. I know I have heard that it takes a lot of LR and lots of 'pods to support the fish, but I do have scads of 'pods from my HOB 'fuge. I see them all over the LR at night. So I hope I can keep him alive. So far he is pretty shy and stays behind the rocks in the back of the tank, but he is starting to venture towards the front now and then until he sees something move. I have actually seen him eat some 'pods off the rock. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Glad to hear the Turbos did their job. They sure cleaned up my tank. The two turbos and the tuxedo urchin are now roaming all over the tank looking for algae to eat. I hope they are finding enough. Your idea of keeping one and passing the others on to John is probably good. It seems they need quite a bit of stuff to munch on.
I'll bring the xenia frags to the next Reef Club meeting if they are still doing OK. Then we'll see what we can do to deal.
Bruce
Dudester
Premium Member
The clam is digging down into the sand so that it can attach its foot. If you allow it, it will attach to the bottom of your tank. This will only be problematic if/when you want to move the clam. I don't know how to "detach" a clam without causing injury, but I guess others do. Personally I preferred to be able to move my crocea in the event that it wouldn't be happy in a particular location, or to make room for other tankmates. In that light, I sat my crocea clam on a relatively small but flat piece of LR and it attached in seconds. Now, if I need to move it, it's a very simple process. If you have no plans to move yours then I guess you have no worries :thumbsup: .
Thanks for the fragging seminar - very informative and glad it all worked.
Good luck with the mandarin. I guess you're not quarantining, hu? I'd suggest you try to get it to eat prepared foods as soon as possible just in case your pods become consumed faster than they're produced. Mandarins can be real pigs, from what I've read.
bcoons- Is there any way that you could post a short video of your tank. My 37 gal. has the same footprint as your 20 long, but is twice as tall. Since we have similar tanks I wanted to get a feel for how much flow you get with your MJ 400. I had 2 MJ 1200's w/ hydor flos and thought that would be good for current. Now that I have some corals I am only using 1 and pointed it right at the surface beccause with 2 it felt like the coral would get ripped off of the rock. I now cannot decide wether I want a MJ 400-600 or a seio. The seio gives pretty constant flow, but the MJ rotates with the hydor attachment and gives more random flow.
Maybe I will post some pics of my tank later. . I just need dudester's permission so I dont get in trouble for hijacking 
Maybe I will post some pics of my tank later.
. I just need dudester's permission so I dont get in trouble for hijacking <a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7497800#post7497800 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alexk3954
bcoons- Is there any way that you could post a short video of your tank. My 37 gal. has the same footprint as your 20 long, but is twice as tall. Since we have similar tanks I wanted to get a feel for how much flow you get with your MJ 400. I had 2 MJ 1200's w/ hydor flos and thought that would be good for current. Now that I have some corals I am only using 1 and pointed it right at the surface beccause with 2 it felt like the coral would get ripped off of the rock. I now cannot decide wether I want a MJ 400-600 or a seio. The seio gives pretty constant flow, but the MJ rotates with the hydor attachment and gives more random flow.
Maybe I will post some pics of my tank later.
Alex
I don't have the equip to do video. Maybe some day I can borrow some. But to partly address your question, here's a shot of my tank taken back in March when I first got my MH light and my first corals:
I had a lot of flow in the tank from the beginning. The modified AC 500 filter cum refugium probably flows 200-250 gph over on the right side of the tank. It moves the water around pretty good by itself. Then there is the CPR BakPak 2R hanging on the left rear of the tank powered by a MJ 1200. It moves a little more water around, but not a lot.
On the left side of the tank is a PowerSweep 212 sweeping with about 125 gph. On the right side is a MJ 600 that throws about 160 gph. The two powerheads alternate under the control of the ReefKeeper 2. So I usually have around 400 gph average flowing around the tank. That's 20X turnover equivalent.
The fish never seemed to mind it, but when I put in the xenia and the frogspawn I saw that they were really getting knocked around by the flow. When I put in the Modern Coral and just recently the clam, I noticed that even in the sand at the front of the tank out of the direct flow of the nozzles they were noticebly affected. So yesterday morning I unplugged the MJ600, and things were still flowing around pretty well without it. This morning I pulled the MJ600 out of the tank and replaced it with the MJ400. I think I still have more than enough flow for my purposes. The softies are waving nicely in the current, but are no longer in danger of being blown off their rocks.
Now, having said that, I have NO SPS in the tank. (Yet.) When I add some SPS it may be another story.
Now, also, your tank may have the same footprint as mine, but it is much deeper. I think that greater volume of water will move a lot different under my same pumps. What gave me too much flow may be barely adequate for your greater water column height. Your tank is closer in height to Dudester's. So his flow situation is probably closer to yours than mine. IIRC he has a pretty high flow closed loop and I think he also added a MaxiJet. But, again, he has a lot of SPS and I think he has around 30X turnover.
What do you think, Mike, does additional water column height have as much effect as I think it might? My very shallow tank is probably atypical.
Bruce
I have these attachments on the end of the MJ's which rotate causing more random flow. When my MJ's run there are mini waves (ok, maybe not waves) at the surface and my tube anenome in the sand looks like it is going to get ripped out of the sand. Basically there is very strong flow everywhere. Probably a little too much flow for a tank that will be all softies and lps.
Dudester
Premium Member
No need to be so sensitive<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7497800#post7497800 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alexk3954
Maybe I will post some pics of my tank later.
. Of course you're welcome to post pics here. If you're looking for validation, just look at bcoons' posts - he practically owns this thread :lmao: . All in good fun, Bruce, all in good fun!I think height is certainly a factor, but total tank volume is probably more important. People often discuss goal rates of turnover, e.g. 10x, 20x, 30x, and more, and that's all well and good for chest pounding. I boast a 30x turnover in my tank. I suspect that it's more important to look at the result rather than a number. That is, if you have 40x turnover but there's detritus settling in several spots or "dead zones" where the water column is stagnant, then more flow or redirected flow is necessary. If, on the other hand, you have 10x flow but, as a result of clever aquascaping and appropriate coral selection, there is no settling of detritus, no accumulation of nuissance algae, and a thriving coral population, then 10x is probably enough. That's what makes this hobby so interesting. No single formula works for everyone, and it requires continual observation and adjustments. Just my take anyway.
Dudester
Premium Member
As I prepare for a week away from home at the end of the month, I've tried to minimize the amount of new activity in the tank. I don't want a lot of "ebb and flow" while I'm away, since too much ebb or too much flow wouldn't be recognized by my tank-sitter, and the entire system could crash without notice. I therefore haven't added any new corals, other inverts or fish. As a result, things have been pretty calm and uneventful ... until yesterday.
My wife called while I was at work and mentioned that the tank had a bunch of bubbles coming out of both SCWD outputs. Hearing this news I was not concerned. Just 2 weeks ago this had occurred as a result of a somewhat loose connection between the drilled closed loop return PVC pipe and its fitting, which allowed air into the system. This was easily remedied once I tightened the fitting (of course I also checked the SCWD and plumbing very carefully for leaks at that time; there were none). I figured this recent situation was due to the same cause and I did not rush home to fix it.
When I got home last night, I saw that the main tank water level was down below the overflow and the bubbles were present because the SCWD locline outputs were above the water line. This was clearly not the same problem that I was expecting. I looked into the sump and saw that the water level was up to the level that is achieved when I turn off the sump return pump. The temperature probe for the ReefKeeper (which controls the fan and heaters) sits in the sump return chamber and it read 82.6 degrees :eek2: . I freaked for a moment and inspected the tank inhabitants, and fortunately all were well. The temp probe in the main tank read 79.5 and the fan was cranking. The fan usually turns off at a temperature of 80.0, but since the sump water was 82.6, the fan continued to run. I felt the sump pump and it was clearly not running, although it was not hot either. I concluded that the sump pump had seized and then overheated, which heated the sump's water but ultimately cooled the sump pump since it had not been running for a prolonged period of time. I turned off the closed loop pump (to halt the bubble storm) and placed a MaxiJet into the tank for circulation and oxygenation. The sump pump was removed and I expected to see a broken impeller or some obstruction. Instead I only saw calcium precipitates, which surprised me since I gave this pump a thorough cleaning in muriatic acid only 2 months ago. I have been adding more baking soda and TurboCalcium than usual lately, and perhaps this caused some rapid precipitation of calcium? I just hope that my closed loop pump (Mag12) doesn't behave similarly.
I cleaned the Mag5 with a vinegar solution and fortunately it cranked right back up. I re-plumbed it into the sump and returned all systems back to normal operational status. When I turned it on, however, the overflow couldn't seem to handle the volume from the sump, and I noticed that the AquaLifter pump wasn't siphoning properly. I keep a spare AquaLifter on hand and hooked this up, which worked beautifully. I forgot just how hard that little pump can pull air, and I've obviously been using my former pump far too long (since 9/30/05). I'm very lucky that all of this occurred now and not 2 weeks from now when I'll be away! I'm going to put myself on an every-six-month replacement schedule for the AquaLifter pump. It's just way too cheap not to do so, and I've already experienced the consequences of a failed siphon.
The only other news to report is that my corals are all doing well, including the favites. I think they all like the Lugols supplementation. I also removed the carbon from my sump and I'm going to try a 3 week on, 3 week off period for carbon use. This was suggested to me by a friend with a lot of experience, and I don't mind trying it out, especially in light of the relatively new data regarding decreasing carbon use, with respect to both duration and volume.
My wife called while I was at work and mentioned that the tank had a bunch of bubbles coming out of both SCWD outputs. Hearing this news I was not concerned. Just 2 weeks ago this had occurred as a result of a somewhat loose connection between the drilled closed loop return PVC pipe and its fitting, which allowed air into the system. This was easily remedied once I tightened the fitting (of course I also checked the SCWD and plumbing very carefully for leaks at that time; there were none). I figured this recent situation was due to the same cause and I did not rush home to fix it.
When I got home last night, I saw that the main tank water level was down below the overflow and the bubbles were present because the SCWD locline outputs were above the water line. This was clearly not the same problem that I was expecting. I looked into the sump and saw that the water level was up to the level that is achieved when I turn off the sump return pump. The temperature probe for the ReefKeeper (which controls the fan and heaters) sits in the sump return chamber and it read 82.6 degrees :eek2: . I freaked for a moment and inspected the tank inhabitants, and fortunately all were well. The temp probe in the main tank read 79.5 and the fan was cranking. The fan usually turns off at a temperature of 80.0, but since the sump water was 82.6, the fan continued to run. I felt the sump pump and it was clearly not running, although it was not hot either. I concluded that the sump pump had seized and then overheated, which heated the sump's water but ultimately cooled the sump pump since it had not been running for a prolonged period of time. I turned off the closed loop pump (to halt the bubble storm) and placed a MaxiJet into the tank for circulation and oxygenation. The sump pump was removed and I expected to see a broken impeller or some obstruction. Instead I only saw calcium precipitates, which surprised me since I gave this pump a thorough cleaning in muriatic acid only 2 months ago. I have been adding more baking soda and TurboCalcium than usual lately, and perhaps this caused some rapid precipitation of calcium? I just hope that my closed loop pump (Mag12) doesn't behave similarly.
I cleaned the Mag5 with a vinegar solution and fortunately it cranked right back up. I re-plumbed it into the sump and returned all systems back to normal operational status. When I turned it on, however, the overflow couldn't seem to handle the volume from the sump, and I noticed that the AquaLifter pump wasn't siphoning properly. I keep a spare AquaLifter on hand and hooked this up, which worked beautifully. I forgot just how hard that little pump can pull air, and I've obviously been using my former pump far too long (since 9/30/05). I'm very lucky that all of this occurred now and not 2 weeks from now when I'll be away! I'm going to put myself on an every-six-month replacement schedule for the AquaLifter pump. It's just way too cheap not to do so, and I've already experienced the consequences of a failed siphon.
The only other news to report is that my corals are all doing well, including the favites. I think they all like the Lugols supplementation. I also removed the carbon from my sump and I'm going to try a 3 week on, 3 week off period for carbon use. This was suggested to me by a friend with a lot of experience, and I don't mind trying it out, especially in light of the relatively new data regarding decreasing carbon use, with respect to both duration and volume.
KingfishJohn
New member
Hahaha your disclaimer made me laugh, that's great.
I've had the same problem with calcium deposits causing the pumps to seize fairly rapidly (3 months) in both my Tunze units and the mag drive. I think it has to do with our elevated calcium levels in the tank and the fact that calcium precipitates more with heat. Good news with Tunze pumps is that if they do seize, they have an audible alarm that sounds to alert you of the problem.
Glad to hear that your favites is on the rebound and I'll also be interested to see what you think of the decreased carbon usage.
Have a great trip and I hope your tank experience on vacation is similar to mine. All you come home to is growth!
John
I've had the same problem with calcium deposits causing the pumps to seize fairly rapidly (3 months) in both my Tunze units and the mag drive. I think it has to do with our elevated calcium levels in the tank and the fact that calcium precipitates more with heat. Good news with Tunze pumps is that if they do seize, they have an audible alarm that sounds to alert you of the problem.
Glad to hear that your favites is on the rebound and I'll also be interested to see what you think of the decreased carbon usage.
Have a great trip and I hope your tank experience on vacation is similar to mine. All you come home to is growth!
John
melev
Well-known member
So you had two problems at the same time: The siphon wasn't keeping up because of too much trapped air, and the return pump wasn't spinning properly.
Strange timing, that is to be sure. My Aqua Lifter just tops off the tank, so I don't care how long it has to run. I do have an extra one because I figured it wouldn't last forever at that price.
Strange timing, that is to be sure. My Aqua Lifter just tops off the tank, so I don't care how long it has to run. I do have an extra one because I figured it wouldn't last forever at that price.
Dudester
Premium Member
Bad news about the Tunze pumps ... I don't have any!!
Wouldn't that be great?! I'll probably enlist your services (read "bribe you") to check on my tank once or twice while I'm away. As you know, my track record for maintaining a healthy system while away on vacation has been less than good.
Smart idea. In fact, I (like you) have spares for just about everything on my system. You never know when something will fail, and invariably it happens late at night or on a weekend when buying a replacement part is not an option.
By the way, Marc, I hate to pester you, but have you made any progress on your frag kit list and photo? You're probably too busy working on the cabinetry for your tank
.Wow, that's pretty cold, you're getting busted on outside of your own thread now.
melev
Well-known member
Fragging tools
Fragging tools
Here's what I have. I keep it in a simple container from the Dollar Store.
Here it is, all laid out.
Everything is used and abused, so just ignore rust stains and/or damage in these closeups.
I use Cyano Acrylate, from Ca-Plus.com It is super glue gel, but in a larger tube (20g instead of .5g tubes). I also use some accelerator from them, to speed up set time. We buy 50 of each from that site for around $220 a couple of times a year in group buys.
When gluing an acro frag or a zoanthid polyp, dry off a spot on your live rock rubble (or boulder), then apply the accelerator either with an applicator, or with the spray nozzle that comes with it. Either seems to work. Then blot off the coral's base, and apply some glue. Press it into place, and within 5 seconds, it is secure. I dip it in bowl of tank water to remove any toxins before it goes in my tank.
Alternately, you might want to use two-part epoxy putty, like the one pictured by Two Little Fishies. You mix it in your hand until it is uniform in color, press it to the LR and form it around the base of your frag. This stuff will make your skimmer overflow, so turn it off for a while, or just use a little bit each day instead of one monster session of epoxying.
Here are the tools I use to cut corals, or to pry them off the LR. These work with all kinds of corals, including mushrooms. They came from Premium Aquatics.
The dental tools came from my dentist. I just asked for some old stuff they no longer use but still have in a drawer. I prefer stuff like the middle one you see.
The cutting wheel I use on the Dremel. I got this one from Ebay, as we did a group buy and ordered 40 wheels and the shank that holds it. They are pretty cheap. The one drawback is that they don't cut deeply because once you've hit the central shaft, you no longer can penetrate the coral.
I recently stumbled across a Tile Cutting saw blade for the RotoZip, and it would work much better depth-wise, because the blade was 2.5 or 3" in diameter. But with a larger blade, you end up having to work out in the open. You lose the precision of being able to cut in a nitch area.
Anthony Calfo demonstrated using a $50 fisher-price tile cutting wet saw at our Next Wave conference. He sliced right through favias and acans and it didn't take long at all.
Pictures also are razor blades, toothpicks and rubberbands. These come in handy for trimming stuff and securing fraglets.
Lastly, my Dremel tool was $8, and essentially worthless. Go buy the real one. If you have the money, get the cordless one for $79 because it is nice to not have to worry about cords.
Fragging tools
Here's what I have. I keep it in a simple container from the Dollar Store.
Here it is, all laid out.
Everything is used and abused, so just ignore rust stains and/or damage in these closeups.
I use Cyano Acrylate, from Ca-Plus.com It is super glue gel, but in a larger tube (20g instead of .5g tubes). I also use some accelerator from them, to speed up set time. We buy 50 of each from that site for around $220 a couple of times a year in group buys.
When gluing an acro frag or a zoanthid polyp, dry off a spot on your live rock rubble (or boulder), then apply the accelerator either with an applicator, or with the spray nozzle that comes with it. Either seems to work. Then blot off the coral's base, and apply some glue. Press it into place, and within 5 seconds, it is secure. I dip it in bowl of tank water to remove any toxins before it goes in my tank.
Alternately, you might want to use two-part epoxy putty, like the one pictured by Two Little Fishies. You mix it in your hand until it is uniform in color, press it to the LR and form it around the base of your frag. This stuff will make your skimmer overflow, so turn it off for a while, or just use a little bit each day instead of one monster session of epoxying.
Here are the tools I use to cut corals, or to pry them off the LR. These work with all kinds of corals, including mushrooms. They came from Premium Aquatics.
The dental tools came from my dentist. I just asked for some old stuff they no longer use but still have in a drawer. I prefer stuff like the middle one you see.
The cutting wheel I use on the Dremel. I got this one from Ebay, as we did a group buy and ordered 40 wheels and the shank that holds it. They are pretty cheap. The one drawback is that they don't cut deeply because once you've hit the central shaft, you no longer can penetrate the coral.
I recently stumbled across a Tile Cutting saw blade for the RotoZip, and it would work much better depth-wise, because the blade was 2.5 or 3" in diameter. But with a larger blade, you end up having to work out in the open. You lose the precision of being able to cut in a nitch area.
Anthony Calfo demonstrated using a $50 fisher-price tile cutting wet saw at our Next Wave conference. He sliced right through favias and acans and it didn't take long at all.
Pictures also are razor blades, toothpicks and rubberbands. These come in handy for trimming stuff and securing fraglets.
Lastly, my Dremel tool was $8, and essentially worthless. Go buy the real one. If you have the money, get the cordless one for $79 because it is nice to not have to worry about cords.
Dudester
Premium Member
Thanks Marc :beer: ! Incredibly helpful and informative. I'm going to borrow (why play with words - I mean 'steal') your idea for the cyanoacrylate and see if our reef club wants to get in on a group buy at our meeting next month. I already have a Dremel tool (the real deal), and mine does have a cord. I'm thinking of getting the optional extension piece so that when I use the tool for fragging, the flying pieces won't get all over the Dremel. I would imagine that shards fly everywhere. Do you do anything to control this?
On to another update ... my tank's looking pretty good now. The bryopsis is almost completely gone, and the flatworms are being controlled expertly by the sixline wrasse. My biggest problem now is that I'm still having a hard time keeping my calcium and alkalinity up. I've increased the kalkwasser to 4 tsp/week in the reactor, and I've increased the B-Ionic to 60 ml/day. For those of you not familiar with B-Ionic, that's A LOT for a system with a total volume of 45 gallons. I'm supplementing with TurboCalcium and baking soda at least once/week, and if I checked the levels more often, I'd be adding them more regularly. The tank's pH is maxing out at around 8.3 with the fuge on reverse photoperiod so I guess I could add more kalk to the reactor. At this rate I'll be out of the B-Ionic again in about a month or two, and if that's the case I'll probably switch to Randy's 2-part additive as this would be much more economical.
On to another update ... my tank's looking pretty good now. The bryopsis is almost completely gone, and the flatworms are being controlled expertly by the sixline wrasse. My biggest problem now is that I'm still having a hard time keeping my calcium and alkalinity up. I've increased the kalkwasser to 4 tsp/week in the reactor, and I've increased the B-Ionic to 60 ml/day. For those of you not familiar with B-Ionic, that's A LOT for a system with a total volume of 45 gallons. I'm supplementing with TurboCalcium and baking soda at least once/week, and if I checked the levels more often, I'd be adding them more regularly. The tank's pH is maxing out at around 8.3 with the fuge on reverse photoperiod so I guess I could add more kalk to the reactor. At this rate I'll be out of the B-Ionic again in about a month or two, and if that's the case I'll probably switch to Randy's 2-part additive as this would be much more economical.
Dudester
Premium Member
OK so either my house sitter is intentionally killing my sixline wrasses or they truly miss me when I'm gone and commit suicide. All joking aside, I left town last Friday to a completely healthy tank. Today I returned and another sixline has perished in my absence. That's 3 trips away from town and 3 dead sixline wrasses. Everything else in the tank, as usual, is just fine. I have no logical explanation as to why this is occuring. The flatworm population has cerainly benefited, so I'm going to have to get another one. If I leave town again I'll have to try to remove the wrasse and give it to John so he can babysit it for me. This is truly frustrating.
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