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  1. nsamouroux

    Please Id scary looking crab

    Does it mostly pick at your live rock, or does it try to grab food when you feed the fish? Was it harassing the snail shown next to it in the pics? Unless you regularly see it grazing on the rockwork chowing down on algae I would subject it to a dose of boiling water, butter, and a shot of lemon...
  2. nsamouroux

    silica sand safe for aquariums

    Actually, silica sand (most often pool filter sand or play sand) is inert and will not break down in the tank, and as such will give none of the buffering properties of aragonite / calcium carbonate substrate (buffering is negligible anyways in a shallow sand bed, PH doesn't get high enough...
  3. nsamouroux

    Please Id scary looking crab

    Judging by the above pics, it might be a xanthid crab, which looks very similar to a mithrax / emerald crab but is usually black.
  4. nsamouroux

    Please Id scary looking crab

    Looks sort of like a mithrax crab, but not the usual emerald type (hard to tell without some different angles). Have you checked the Melev's Reef ID page? http://www.melevsreef.com/id/
  5. nsamouroux

    360 gallon logistical nightmare and no spare time!

    I used to live in Spokane actually, but not for the last 4 years :) My camera batteries are charging right now, so I'll take some more pics when they're topped off. Things are definitely clearing up and it takes less time to settle back down after I stir it up or crank up the powerheads, but I'm...
  6. nsamouroux

    360 gallon logistical nightmare and no spare time!

    My last two Reeflux 20k lamps haven't come in yet, maybe some time in the next few days? Once they get here, I'm sure I can transfer everything over and only have slight clouding of the water. I think at this point the only way to knock down the silt cloud is to increase the bio-load and let the...
  7. nsamouroux

    360 gallon logistical nightmare and no spare time!

    It's mostly clearing up. Still cloudy, but I can see a foot or two into the tank where I placed small chunks of live rock and I can see the Koralia powerheads. I am only running the return pump and the outlets at the top rear corners are pointed towards the overflow box. I turned on the Koralia...
  8. nsamouroux

    DIY neodymium cleaning magnet

    Thanks :) I much prefer to build things myself when doing so is reasonable, even if it ends up costing me more in the end. Heck, at least I learned something!
  9. nsamouroux

    DIY neodymium cleaning magnet

    Interesting, was not aware of that property of magnets. I know that if you pair up two magnets the combined attractive force is 1.5x greater than the individual magnet would have (for example, stack two magnets together, or two pairs of stacked magnets in my case, instead of one single magnet...
  10. nsamouroux

    DIY neodymium cleaning magnet

    I was going to use thicker plug / caps partially for safety to keep them from breaking through the plug, but also to keep water from getting to them and to give the weld-on a surface along the circumference to bond together. I actually lessened the thickness of the caps / plugs to about 3/16" or...
  11. nsamouroux

    DIY neodymium cleaning magnet

    They can shred coralline algae or that pesky green algae off a 1/4" acrylic tank without scratching, are plenty strong for a 5/8" acrylic tank. I would imagine that they would work fine for up to a 3/4" panel on an acrylic tank, but you'd probably want something stronger for glass. Perhaps...
  12. nsamouroux

    Clownfish and Anemone

    If it is a sebae, and it's not a purple-ish dark brown color with bright purple tips then it's bleached. I bought a sebae anemone (knowing it was badly bleached, was under power compact lighting...) and gradually over the course of 3 months of 3x per week feedings under halide lights it got it's...
  13. nsamouroux

    Arrivals & Rainchecks

    Awesome, thanks for the info!
  14. nsamouroux

    Possible cheap and good food??

    I visit the live seafood and oriental markets (H-Mart in Federal Way especially) and pick up a few lbs each of crab, shrimp, mussels, salmon, salmon eggs if I can find any without additives, cod, oyster, etc and then add a bunch of shredded / dried nori. I mix in a good amount of garlic and then...
  15. nsamouroux

    Arrivals & Rainchecks

    Are equipment rainchecks on the same schedule? I bought two pairs (2x400w and 2x250w) of the 20k SE Reeflux lamps but had to raincheck one of the 400w and one 250w because someone got to them before me :) I wasn't sure how many other rainchecks were made for them or if was backlogged but I...
  16. nsamouroux

    Clownfish and Anemone

    I initially had troubles with my clownfish pair (false percs) trying to host in feather duster worms and whatnot. Print out a large color pic off the internet of the same type of clownfish that you have nestled inside an anemone like the one you have. Tape it to the side of the aquarium closest...
  17. nsamouroux

    360 gallon logistical nightmare and no spare time!

    Oops. I need more sleep! I noticed in the post that shows the 360g tank lighting comparison that I said the XM bulb had a more actinic tint, which it does not :) I meant to say that the XM bulb looked whiter than the new Reeflux bulb, and that the Reeflux bulb seems to have more blue color and...
  18. nsamouroux

    360 gallon logistical nightmare and no spare time!

    Aaaaaand some pics of the 100 gallon tank to try and show the difference between a 400w XM 20k SE bulb and a 400w Reeflux 20k SE bulb. Reeflux on right, XM on left. They're running on the same ballast (dual output Hamilton magnetic ballast) so they're getting the same wattage, etc. From the...
  19. nsamouroux

    360 gallon logistical nightmare and no spare time!

    Let there be LIGHT(s)! Cloudy tank, 250w Reeflux SE 20k bulb on right, 250w Ushio SE 10k bulb on left. Both running on Icecap ballasts: On my 100g tank I plugged the 400w Reeflux SE 20k bulb into my Hamilton dual 400w ballast, the other side of the ballast is running a 400w XM SE 20k...
  20. nsamouroux

    MH: Reef Standard vs. High Bay

    If you are absolutely stuck on the idea of using warehouse lights, use only the ballast portion, attach a cord to it, put the socket in a DIY or purchased reflector, and put horizontal-mount bulbs in it. It'll save you a little bit at least, but keep in mind that a warehouse ballast is most...
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