Welcome

[Hondadude2k5]

I would like to welcome all who look through these postings in search of information or friendship. Everyone is welcome here weather it be from another site or another club. This club is not going to try and steal members from other clubs, sites, or forums. We are here to share our information and expertise as well as friendly conversation about all things invloved with this hobby. Again, I welcome you all.

Justin

[Loverotties]

Welcome to TRT!

[wtrguy]

welcome aboard
wtrguy
tom

[Bio-nerd]

Hi, all,

[chetm2]

Howdy too!

[Bio-nerd]

Sorry about that, I'm new to this posting stuff and I hit a wrong key. I work in a community college biology lab that has a 75 gal marine tank that has been set up since Dec. 7, 2004 with 120 lbs. of live rock and 40 lbs. Argonite substrate. The first critters were not introduced until Jan. 8, 2005. We had some thing die off over the last year because we wnt too fast but things have settled down and everyone seems to be thriving. Unfortunately, so was the microalgae and several hugh bristle worms (8-10" long) and uncountable numbers of small to medium sized ones. The big ones killed off 3 beautiful bubble anemones and we couldn't seem to trap them. Things got so bad we actually swapped out most of the live rock dropping it to about 90 lbs. That seems to have gotten rid of the worms and the hair algae but now we have a new problem: there seems to be a very fine black algae growing on the glass down near the substrate. There are a few fine scratches on the glass were this is growing. It doesn't get eaten, it can't be rubbed off by magnet cleaner (Magnavore 6) and can't be scraped off with a plastic glass scraper or a razor blade. It seems to be almosted rooted into the glass. Any ideas how to get rid of this stuff before it starts to take over a larger area of the glass? I will try to get a picture but right now the patches are pretty small. We also have a professional come in once a month to help us with tank mantinence and he said he has only seen this once before (called it "Black Algae") and said that tank had to be drained and bleached before it was killed but htat tank had it over the entire front glass. I want to get this taken cae of before we have to go to that extreme. The specs: 75 gal tall (36" long x 15.5' deep x 31.5' tall) glass tank; 2 - 250 watt metal halide lights & 2 - 190 watt VHOs; Mag Drive 12 system pump; Top Fathom TF-100 protein skimmer (pump is Mag Drive 9.5 model); central 3 sided overflow; 29 gal sump w/foam prefilter; Aqua Logic chiller w/ American Marine pinpoint ORP controller. Chems check out: < .25 ammonia; 0 phosphate; pH 8.4 as of Monday. 10 to 15 % water changes every two weeks. VHOs on for 11 hours, MH for 8/ day. Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Suzy

[Smo]

Hello all!!!!

Kinda sounds like we are BORG, with all this acronym and 'collective' stuff. But, I guess ARK will do just fine!

Thanks

[Bio-nerd]

I'm glad to know there is a reef club near Tucson. Do you all have club meetings? If so, where and when do you meet and how does someone join? I would like to get into reef keeping on my own but it kinda scares me, with the cost and all. I have kept freshwater tanks for over 25 years and still enjoy them but I think I might want to try a nano tank. I have a used 20 gal that someone had as a salwater tank but haven't had the nerve to set it up. If you read my last post (obviously posted in the wrong place so I will try again elsewhere in TRT) you will see I have had a bit of experience with a marine tank at work, I think that is what is scaring me off at home. Any advice for a beginner?

[Hondadude2k5]

Start slow and excercise patience

[Bio-nerd]

Originally Posted by Hondadude2k5

Start slow and excercise patience

I think I got those down the hard way. Any good reference books you could suggest?
BTW, I like the size of your new project

[clockwork]

bio-nerd- There are a good handful of people around you . But they post on another forum.

[Hondadude2k5]

There is a pretty large group of people both here and in Phoenix as well as a handful scattered around the rest of the state. Alot of them do post on another site and I do not discourage you from looking at other sites. I encourage all who want to be in SW as a hobby to look at all sites and read all books to expand thier knowledge of the hobby. As a club member I post on the other site, as a reefer, I post on alot of sites. Thanks for chiming in clockwork, I was beggining to wonder if you were going to stop in or not.

[clockwork]

I have been around I hang out in the BB forum and reef discussion .Before I signed up with this name I had another that I used for lurking

I agree about not limiting one to one site for info . I mod and post on many sites.

BTW I wouldn't call Frag a club we pay no dues we are a local collective of reefkeepers who share the same intrests and like to have meetings to share ideas and corals with others.

[jeasley]

Bio-Nerd,
Oasis Tropical Fish on the 3800 block of Oracle is a great place to start. Hector is very beginner friendly and has a alot of experience with Nanocubes. His number is 408-9700. He has been very helpful to my family in our pursuit of a lovely marine reef tank.

[Hondadude2k5]

Good to see you here John. We are starting out slow but that is ok. We aren't trying to be a huge club. We are working to be an excellent forum for information and guidance to noobs and old timers alike.