I’ve been using Instant Ocean salt for about 20 years. The last 3 boxes of 25 lb salt that I purchased had stamped on the inside plastic bag, "NOT FOR RESALE." I asked the LFS owner and he was mystified. I was there when he called IO to find out what was going on. He said that a customer noticed it and felt that the salt might be inferior in some way.

Their response – "We’ve always done that. The customer just noticed it now?" That was the BS answer!! I certainly would have noticed it long before now.

Although tests on my salt mixes have not indicated anything unusual, I’m beginning to think that my hair algae breakout might have begun at the time when I first noticed the message. Paranoid perhaps?

Anyone else buying 25 lb bags of NOT FOR RESALE Instant Ocean salt?

I have a 20 gal reef tank, 18 months old. Corals all doing great. I’m using RO water, 10% water changes weekly, nitrates and phosphates are absolute zero. T5HO lights 96 watts, which I have reduced to 72 watts a few days ago.

With no nutrients available, what in blazes is feeding the hair algae? I’ve been fighting it for 3 months and getting nowhere. Any suggestions appreciated – even crazy ones!

i removed a polyp colony and stuck under it was a nassarius snail that had become part of the colony its shell has polyps all over it. what i cant figure out is how it survived for so long without being able to move (the polyps had been there for months) but he sure is cool to see moving around with polyps on him

Ok so I would like to add a 6line to my tank but i have a pair of scarlet cleaner shrimp will the wrasse kill the shrimp? the tank is very well fed and is full of pods and bristle worms for the wrasse to eat. (some of them are 8-10 inchs long O.O yuck!)

We started the 29G biocube 2 weeks before thanksgiving with 30 lbs live rock, 20 lbs live substrate and 10lbs sand. The LR had a couple of hitch-hikers and they are still alive. Added a protein skimmer and a submersible heater.

In 2 weeks we did not see any ammonia spike and no corresponding Nitrate, Nitrite. All levels were pristine from the start, we never had a cycle. The secret to this IMO is that we used Petco brand Ocean Water (link: http://www.petco.com/product/11884/P…ean-Water.aspx) The water says just add fish (we didn’t but the water is near perfect). The water is not a pre-mixed salt blend water, its the real deal from the ocean.

2 weeks into the tank we added CUC consisting of 10 hermits, 1 emerald, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 fire shrimp. We also got some stupid ultra small coral frags only one of which is thriving.

1 week later we added 2 wild caught clownfish. One was pretty stressed, then our heater broke, the temp plunged and the stressed clown died. Very sad

1 week later we added another clown and got a green mushroom coral and a button polyp coral frag – large size. The Mushroom since them is super chubby, the polyps are mostly declining. We also added 2 more Emerald crabs (hair algae), sand sifting star and sally lightfoot.

Then we added some beautiful Xennia, and a 14 head Torch. We lost 4 heads on the Torch to BJD because in glueing the frag to a rock, we tortured the poor thing The torch is happy now though still not as vibrant as we saw it in the LFS. The Xennia had a couple of nasty worms which were stressing it out. By the time we got these forceps that actually worked, the Xennia was far too stressed to recover. It hangs on and pulses occasionally (its the non pulsing kind tho), but it is no where close to its former glory.

Also got a blue hermit crab who is very greedy, saw an empty large white shell we had in the tank and took it, its so big he can barely move, he’s very silly, but alive. We also added a Christmas Blenny and the guy was the most interesting thing ever. We read that it likes Spirulina so we got some frozen kind. We fed one cube which the water flow pushed to the back of the tank, so we added another. Big mistake. The next morning the tank was cloudy, huge ammonia spike, the Blenny died, the clowns got fin rot and in general the tank was crashing.

Massive repeated water changes later, all is well, levels have been stable for 10+ days now. For Christmas we bought another pretty torch, some frog spawn and a lovely little Tridacna Maximus electric blue/purple clam. The clowns are recovering well from the bruises we saw on their bodies, the fin that rotted is still missing on both. They host the original 14 head torch. Also got a powerhead.

We feed the corals, I just fragged my first mushroom. The tank is happy in general. The clam went and hid behind a rock and I went to remove him and found he had attached itself, good thing I googled asap or I would have hurt the little guy. I’m concerned he is not getting adequate light but hey he chose that spot so not sure what I can do.

Will try to get some pics up soon. I wish the Xennia would either die or thrive, same with the button polyps. OTher than that both torches are waving about, the frogspawn looks gorgeous, the clam is still hiding but at least I can see him. The green mushrooms are enormous but have not multiplied or moved themselves yet. The emerald crabs use them as blankets

The corals LOVE the spirulina, but we are careful with it now. If you put chunks on the mushrooms they fold over it and become pumpkins as they digest it. The torch opens wide offering unfettered access to their ‘mouths’, its such a fascinating thing when we feed these guys. We feed the fish mysis mostly and I filter feed once a week as well as add trace elements.

We don’t think adding anything more is needed but if the polyp and Xennia don’t make it, will add some more corals but this time shop around for color. And maybe a blenny eventually. Thinking of a small tang as we will be getting a bigger tank eventually.

Thats all the news for now. This hobby is rewarding and amazing. LEarn something new everyday.

Happy Holidays.

Was wondering whether to put one MP40 or two MP10 which do u suppose would be better????

I have a 180g tank with a 100g sump tank. The present system has been up and running now for app. 3 years and generally doing well. However the water clarity in the tank could be a lot better. Throughout the tank are small particulates. This leads me to my question about sump tank care. Do you do any type of maintenance/cleaning of your sump tank, or leave it alone as long as tank #’s are fine and contents are growing and healthy? Filtration is socks and protein skimmer.

hi – i am new to forums but am desperate for some answers so please help. Have a 500 litre marine tank that I have been keeping sucessfully for a year. 11 fish all doubled in size and healthy. Had some early problems – white spot etc but have learnt a lot – especially how fish behave when not well. Fed my fish saturday night all looked good, behaving normally, pH 8.0, ammonia 0, – when I got up in the morning all were dead. I was horrified and heatbroken – amazing how attached you can get to your fish!!
Phoned my aquaruim store and took 6 of the fish I could easily retrieve and a water sample. the shop tested my water an said it was excellent looked at the fish and said they were in good condition, no sign of disease, gills fine still rigid and eyes not glazed. He said he could not expain this sudden wipe out only explanation he could give was an electrocution but in 15 years he had never heard of this before. Got home and retrived remaining fish but noticed the hermit crabs were still alive. Only have a few small mushrooms and corals and they also look ok but not great. One of the big pumps was not working but had been night before. My husband has checked this and the fuse had blown and there was a burnt out smell. Is it possible that this pump could have blown and electrocuted my fish? And if so how could the hermits survive? any other ideas on what might have happened – did have a valentini puffer- 4 months in tank about 2 inches long – was fine night before and feeding/behaving normally.
The tank is now empty and don’t know if i have the heart to start again certainly not before I get a good explanation and can ensure this will never happen again.

I just move to long island, can anyone recommend me some nice aquarium in that area

thanks a lot

I so wish I had gotten a video of this but anyway the following is nothing but the truth… So I have a 29 gallon reef that I have just been getting into and I have a bright green bubble tip, blue anthelia, button polyps, and a leather coral. There is caulerpa every where and different kinds of algaes (coraline, saltwater plants). I have a 12 line wrasse, an allardi clown, 2 red head gobys, a blue pipefish, some tiny tang that I dont know the name of and a Gumdrop angler. The fish all eat primarily mysis and brine but I have to feed either guppys or ghost shrimp for the angler. So I got 12 guppys and 25 ghost shrimp from the local fish store and brought them home. I have done this before but have never seen what I saw tonight. The 12 line and allardi always go nuts when I feed live, I mean they are like piranha when it comes to the guppys and as far as the ghost shrimp well it takes them a little time to catch them. Regardless tonight I dumped the guppys in first hoping they would fill up the allardi and 12 line and the ghost shrimp would live to find the angler. So the allardi and 12 line are going nuts eating the guppys and I saw the allardi and 12 line get into over a few. I then saw the allardi catch a big one and run to the bubble tip, and then the guppy wasnt in his mouth. I wasnt quite sure what he did with it. Then I saw, the coolest and smartest thing ever. The 12 line had a guppy sticking half way out of its mouth and the allardi swam over stole it from him and then the 12 line proceeded to chase him, so the allardi ran to the anenome hid and then spit the guppy into the anenome for it to eat, the 12 line saw the guppy and ran back but the guppy was sitting in the anenome and the 12 line wanted the guppy but knew not to go in the anenome or else, so he sat there pondering at what to do and finally swam away and the anenome ate the guppy. This is where the clown has been spitting the guppys. I just though that was so cool that he was feeding the anenome guppys and that he knew to hide in the anenome and the 12 line knew not to go near the anenome. Just felt like sharing that with you all… :mdr: