Recent content by simontan

Power here's been out for about 20 minutes and I'm wondering how long before I really need to do something. No circulation of course is the main concern but I'm also worried about temps dropping down too much with no heater. The room is about 66 degrees now and dropping and the tank is by a window.

Picked this up at Plano Pets over the weekend while they were having an impromptu 20% off sale. No one knew what it was but it was nice and big (about 7" diameter) and only ended up costing $30 so I figured I couldn't lose. Don't have a pic of the underside but it seems to have a skeleton kinda...

So I've got a noah's ark thing going in my tank where I've got a pair of clowns, pair of chromis, and a pair of anthias. I'd like to keep the theme going by pairing up my mandarin dragonet. I'm pretty sure my current one is male but not 100%. Either way if I get a female, they will hopefully...

I'm taking the family to San Diego next week for vacation and was thinking of visiting the Birch Aquarium. Our schedule theres already pretty full so I don't want to squeeze it in if it doesn't have much more to offer than the one here. Anyone been?

I'm posting this for another member, Jason (96GTS), because he's got his hands full right now but can definitely use some help. As some of you may know he is is in the process of upgrading to a new setup but delays in getting the new setup up and running have forced him to house his livestock...

I have a couple of softies (a Kenya tree and a nephthea) that are grazing the water surface. The tips just flop over when they're expanded so there's not much actually out of the water but if I don't move them will the tips that get exposed eventually die? I know reefs go through high and low...

Just noticed a ton of these worms poking out of my sandbed. They come out about a half inch to an inch out of the sandbed and are about the thickness of thread. I assume they're generally benign to have but can anyone positively ID? Thanks. http://s1135.photobucket.com/albums/m640/Simon_Tan/

They are a false fire urchin (astropyga radiata) and a commensal zebra crab (zebrida adamsii). Really really neat. The urchin has some crazy color and is amazingly active while the crab just hangs on to the spines with a pair of specialized rear legs and just orbits around. From what I've...

So I got a blue spot sea hare a little over a month ago, and it disappeared after a few days. Another reefer got one the same time I did and his died within a day and was found in his sump. I'm guessing mine is dead as well but I've never come across any remains. This thing was pretty big...

Haven't considered goniopora since I first got in the hobby and read back then that they were generally not sustainable in captivity. But I was just at exotic aquatics and learned that ORA is now producing them. Not cheap but Id really like to try one. Anyone here tried one already?

]There was a thread on RC recently lamenting the decline of display tanks in favor of frag/propagation tanks, and it occurred to me that in the few years I've been in the hobby I've only really come across a handful of really mature tanks with big established colonies. A lot of other reefers...

Anyone know what the little growth in the middle is? It's about an inch wide when open. Close up it almost looks like a super small elegance but I have no idea what it is. DSC_0002.jpg

There seems to be a population bloom of these things in my tank. I used to only be able to see them after lights out using a flashlight, but now they're out all the time and huge! They're must be at least 2 dozen of them ranging from 1/4 inch to 2 inches. Can they replace snails as clean up...

Long before I got into reefing, one of the sushi bars in Vegas had a jellyfish tank as a backdrop and I remember thinking it was the coolest thing back then. I just stumbled on www.jellyfishart.com and am suddenly intrigued again with the prospect of having a cool minimalist tank with a couple...

So I was talking with Wayne from Custom Reefs and he told me about his porcupine puffer that he trained to eat nori only and that sleeps next to the inverts in his reef. Has anyone else ever kept one successfully in a reef environment? I've always wanted one but had always heard they are...