You know PVT, you can buy just a florescent light strip, one like comes for a freshwater tank and light your fuge with that. That's what I have right now and it works. Didn't costa lot either.
I keep telling him he's a fairy as he is so graceful in motion. He personally seems to think he likes the dark side. During the daylight hours he likes to hang upside-down and pretend he is a bat! He loves his corner of the tank and his rock formation has a neat platform like disk shaped coral rock. He likes to laze on top of that also when he feels more socialable.
yeaaaa..i know how lions are. haha give him some time and he will start comin out....mine always hid on me until about a month of being in the tank....i am really thinking about getting one again for my tank,(i miss my killer =[ .. ) most likely a dwarf fuzzy. since theyre really small for a juvi..
he is def. gorgeous though. =)
does he accept frozen yet? or still only live? watching my one stubborn lionfish eat live was a cool experience. he rarley accepted silversides..he didnt survive long enough for me to train him to eat the frozen.
Thanks lil buddy. They are pretty cool. I watch him very closely as I can see a slight pigment change in him, according to his moods, happy, very curious, and then cautious. He is maintained on live foods, however, he has taken a non live food before, twice only, and that was because he was very hungry. I feed him every 3 days. And if he comes to the top on his side, that is a signal that he is hungry, so I will feed him a shrimp or two. He is not an overeater and is pleased quite readily. I might get one more fish in the next few months, but not sure. I have plenty of time to think about that.
Everything looks nice! You have reset the bar on fuges, Bobby is really going to get on me about my dirty one!
You mentioned feeding the minnows before giving them to Vandamere and I think that is smart. If you don't already, I'd soak the food for the minnows in vitamins and garlic in order to get them into your fairy fish.
so Lori, how are the new zoanthids doing ?? got any pics of them in their new home ??
Imma work'n on it. I have let my home go for 2 weeks and I am trying desparately to rent a bulldozer and get it in here to clean this place back up! Other than that, I have been really working on my tanks. I will get some picks hopefully tomolly. The coloring of the frags I have do not exactly match the pics when I bought them, and I am not thinking that possibly it is due to some other type of lighting than I have. Hmmmm. Just not sure. I have also when working with my water parameters and trying to get them perfect, but you know it just takes time and slow moving is the best thing to progress.
Everything looks nice! You have reset the bar on fuges, Bobby is really going to get on me about my dirty one!
You mentioned feeding the minnows before giving them to Vandamere and I think that is smart. If you don't already, I'd soak the food for the minnows in vitamins and garlic in order to get them into your fairy fish.
Ya know Cjo, you're always a couple of steps ahead of me and I like that! Brilliant idea, if I must say so. And yes I do try to keep everything clean, as I have had an ongoing problem with nitrates for some reason. Like I mentioned in previous posts, I clean my floss, filtration mediums and skimmer every other day. I clean the glass every day. I keep moving around the Koralias to change up the water flow and I still have nitrates popping up. I just started about a week ago scrubbing the diatoms of my live rock and I know they have to be caused by the nitrates. Where the hades are they coming from? I test 0 amonia, o nitrites, o Phosphates. My alk was a little low around 7.9, and my calcium was low also coming in at 360. I added some buffer because of the combination of the two hoping to stabalize them. I also added calcium to the tank also. Hang on, let me test the 2 real quick..... be right back!
Well, not much has changed. Ph is reading 8.0 and calcium reads still 360. Well, I just don't know. I do know that I did not use the recommended dosage as I would rather under dose than over. I only used 50% recommended dosage. I just don't want to push the water parameter too fast as I have a lot riding on my tank right now, those frags cost plenty! I just can't figure out what's fueling the nitrates. I did a 30g water change Friday and have prepped another 30 gallons for tomarrow. They keep wanting to rise to 10. I am concerned for my frags. I just don't see the colors that was in those pictures and I just wish that I knew if it was the type of lighting they used when taking the pics or they are being affected by my water. Make sense? And yes, I am a worry wart. I just know if I can finally get parameters exactly what they need to be, hopefully I can stabalize everything and keep it there. I bought another gallon baggie of spagetti macro and have some special nitrate reducer medium on the way. I know water changes is my answer, but I know what I'm seeing here. Water change brings the trates down and in 2 days time, they're right back up there. Theres gotta be something somewhere causing this issue that I am overlooking. I think I am going to wait till 24 hours after my intial dosing and take reading again before I add more calcium. Chemistry was never one of my strong points as you can well tell. Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Have you calculated the load going into the tank. You have rock & plenty of macro but very little in the way of sand bed from what ive seen, & thats not more than a page at this stage i think - slacko aren't i ? lol
nitrate sponge is a medium patch, increase your water changes by 5 -10% a week, bring your dosing up to normal levels over the next 2 weeks or so & monitor it at a consistent time every time to be sure of any trends.
Nitrate reactor can be deployed & at a few hundred $ for a quality unit are a worth while investment if your able to concede your load in doesn't always equate to your load out. Dont worry about 10 parts for the nitrate, Unless of course they are ultra sensitive animals, but ive seen perfectly healthy reef tanks up to & exceeding 40 parts & still displaying beautifully.
Of course we aim for the lowest values possible i guarantee that people reading this very line would have experienced higher values than that.
A few others will chime in soon, but let us know how it goes my girl!
__________________
V-series Productions
The Following User Says Thank You to V For This Useful Post:
Have you calculated the load going into the tank. You have rock & plenty of macro but very little in the way of sand bed from what ive seen, & thats not more than a page at this stage i think - slacko aren't i ? lol
Thanks V as I always can use good advice! Tank is stocked with the 1 lion, 1medium hermit crab, 10 snails. I know I need to throw about another 20 snails in there, but I want to get various species as I find a mix of them meets various needs of the tanks I have. I'm not real hip on crabs at all and the hermits are ok. I just only want the 1 I have as I have found that they are a little more agressive than I care for. Heres the only nutrient input to the tank as far as feeding routine goes right now. Vandamere gets 1 minnow every 3rd day, and some times I will only feed him about 10-12 Ghost instead of the fish. Maybe once a week, he'll come to the top and hover there waiting for me, as a signal that he is hungry. I will normally comply to his wishes with 2-3 shrimp to please him. The hermit crab gets maybe 2 sinking pellets once every 5 days as he hangs out on the rocks and finds food sources. I only feed him when he starts his back and forth journey across the front of the tank. Funny to watch. I have observed him cleaning up detrious from the lion, before I could get in there and siphon it out. I spot feed the dusters 2 times a week with phytoplankton about 10cc. That's it. Do you think I am overfeeding? I just don't want to malnurish my inhabitants.
Code:
nitrate sponge is a medium patch, increase your water changes by 5 -10% a week, bring your dosing up to normal levels over the next 2 weeks or so & monitor it at a consistent time every time to be sure of any trends.
In the previous months I had been doing a 20g water change every 7-10 days. After I got sick, I started paying closer attention to testing every day and started seeing the current trend that I am in. Like I said, Friday I bumped up the total volume change to 30g and will continue that trend until I see the results I am looking for which is a zero reading across the board. The filter mediums that I am currently using is for the total water volume and are carbon, Seachem De'Nitrate, Floss, and I also added some of that product called Chemipure. I have also ordered some Seachem Purigen and will put that in place when it arrives.
And I keep these media cleaned also as I have a fear of them becoming a nitrate factory.
Code:
Nitrate reactor can be deployed & at a few hundred $ for a quality unit are a worth while investment if your able to concede your load in doesn't always equate to your load out. Dont worry about 10 parts for the nitrate, Unless of course they are ultra sensitive animals, but ive seen perfectly healthy reef tanks up to & exceeding 40 parts & still displaying beautifully.
Of course we aim for the lowest values possible i guarantee that people reading this very line would have experienced higher values than that.
I would absolutely love to have a RDSB, but am limited with space. I also, like you mentioned, looked at some of the nitrate reactors, but wondered if they really had that much of an impact. And I find that there are many to choose from and all use different types of media, but along the same lines of course. If I got one, I'd like one whose media is not that darn expensive to keep loaded. From what I could tell, they were housed in the sump and they require their on pump? I don't want to spend more than $300 on a unit and that of course would include the first go round of media to get it up and running. Do you have any reactors that you are familiar with or heard good things about? I don't want to jump the gun and buy something, only to find out 6 months down the road that if I had just "gave the moolah up" for another 50-100 bucks I could have had the ultimate reefers tool at nitrate management! At my age, I've learned that you get what you pay for and it's worth the extra bucks to get the next step up. What are your thoughts on this? In a couple of months, if I can get the water parameters adjusted and keep them there, I'd eventually like to see myself with the standard 10g a week water change. I hope that isn't a dreamers wish. PS- The RO/DI unit comes in hands down as the best investment to save money that I have yet to spend! It's in overdrive my friend.
Code:
A few others will chime in soon, but let us know how it goes my girl!
I hope you're right buddy O'mine, as I really would like to get all the feedback that I can at the moment with my current situation and really want some input on the nitrate reactors right now and how our members rate what's on the market right now.
During the daylight hours he likes to hang upside-down and pretend he is a bat! 
He loves his corner of the tank and his rock formation has a neat platform like disk shaped coral rock. He likes to laze on top of that also when he feels more socialable.
They are pretty cool. I watch him very closely as I can see a slight pigment change in him, according to his moods, happy, very curious, and then cautious. He is maintained on live foods, however, he has taken a non live food before, twice only, and that was because he was very hungry. I feed him every 3 days. And if he comes to the top on his side, that is a signal that he is hungry, so I will feed him a shrimp or two. He is not an overeater and is pleased quite readily. I might get one more fish in the next few months, but not sure. I have plenty of time to think about that.
icon under their name to add to their reputation. 
Other than that, I have been really working on my tanks. I will get some picks hopefully tomolly. The coloring of the 
Brilliant idea, if I must say so. And yes I do try to keep everything clean, as I have had an ongoing problem with 
I just can't figure out what's fueling the 
V-series Productions