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I am rubbish with SPS IDs since I've never really looked into keeping them, but...could it be a Pocillopora?       Corals can have rather vastly different needs in terms of lighting, feeding, and nutrient levels in the water. It's very common to have tanks that are simply not able to support...

Do you have a link to the details for that law where it specifies that it's illegal to catch/keep native fish/inverts? I didn't see anything to that effect from the site you linked and couldn't find anything similar via Google either. I used to live in VA, although it was about 10 years back, so...

I recently set up a planted shrimp tank, which is somewhat new aquarium territory for me. The shrimp are multiplying and the plants are growing well - to the point that I need to start pruning to prevent the tank from gradually turning into a big plant tangle. But, with tiny little shrimp babies...

They are very finicky. I had one, but it was not a long-term success. It grew tremendously from the tiny frag it was when I got it, and it seemed really healthy and hardy for the year or so that I had it, but then a Vermetid snail burrowed between the flesh and skeleton and caused it to separate...

Aquaclear filters are good candidates for HOB DIY refugiums. I've read a number of successful builds with them over time. I also had a very nice mini refugium going with one for the better part of a year with nice fauna. I used a clip-on IKEA LED as the light source. I didn't even really mod the...

    Yes, if it is very, VERY clean. If it's from a beach* or other marine watery environment then I would soak it for a few more days and do a sniff test to determine whether it's actually clean. If it is fossil coral from inland and just had dirt on it, then just give it a good scrub and...

I haven't kept mud skippers, so someone else will have to offer more species-tailored advice. I've kept estuary-like setups with a specific gravity around 1.015-1.018 and low-salinity setups around 1.008; I'm not sure what mud skippers need, but there are some common factors in how to regulate...

See here for some of the more basic things on rocks, water, etc. and equipment: http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/410541-marine-aquarium-faq/ http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421015-common-marine-tank-equipment/     Are you wanting to do a reef with clownfish?

Sorry to hear that. It might have been injured from being caught if it was an accidental catch or just been really stressed out by the process. You did all the right things.    Nano tanks are extra tricky as a first saltwater tank since the parameters can shift a lot more rapidly due to the...

You really have three options. 1. Try to care for it. To do this, you will need live rock which is a one-way path for the seahorse - no releasing it back into the wild. It is also not a trivial task; seahorses are fragile and difficult to care for, and new marine systems are unstable. 2. Take it...

  Those are the sorts I was referring to. The low-end reef (i.e. softies) LED fixtures at the PetCo down the road from me and on their site are still $200+ (the 48" ones meant for sw are actually $280). The next price step down would be something like a double-bright, which "works" for many...

See here: http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/410541-marine-aquarium-faq/ and here: http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421015-common-marine-tank-equipment/   I think you will have a hard time doing corals within $250 regardless of tank size, even if you already have the tank...

Damsels deciding to live in crevices is not all that unusual. Keep an eye on the aggressive behavior. With semi-aggressive fish, it's not unusual to have fish approach threatening to bite as a means of maintaining pecking order, but never actually carry through with it. However, if the angel is...

Tangs should never be added to a tank that small. Even the smaller tangs like yellows need a 4ft-long tank minimum. A blue hippo would need on the order of 100gal to accommodate its swimming patterns. Tangs are big, fast swimmers that need loads of space to behave naturally, and they are really...

  They have a taste for shrimp that will fit in their mouths, which are sort of surprisingly big when you see one yawn. I've never kept one, but, from what I've heard/read from folks who keep hawkfish, they are mainly an issue with small shrimp (peppermints, sexy shrimp, etc.) and little fish...

Hi there, can you attach a picture of the shrimp? 

I can't see anything unusual in the photos, but it could be the resolution. Marine ich is often hard to make show up clearly on moving fish. I realize it's been about a week since you posted the photos. How is the fish doing now?    The "stages" associated with marine ich last much longer than a...

  What type of tank is this for?

Since you're getting the 12" one (I missed that before; I've got the 6" version, so a 12" one would be even brighter), I would think that the 50/50 version would be able to light a 24" tank for corals even without using the other two lights. 

I am not sure about the particular tank you mentioned. However, I just got one of those super blue LEDs (by accident...I wanted the 50/50 white/blue but the wrong one arrived...oh well) and should warn you if you haven't already seen one: it is SOOOOOO blue. It's like actinics on steroids...

What exactly are you needing to dose? Calk/alk? Something else?    Both from my own experience and talking to other reefers, the two main impacts on color have nothing to do with supplements and are:   1. Lighting. The vast majority of the time, this is what makes all the difference. An...

  I am not sure whether there are species combinations that will never pair. However, even for species that are known to pair, if added separately it is not guaranteed that the two animals will form a relationship.         I'm not sure about the dwarf angel (I would think yes though, since they...

The reason for the "bigger is better" recommendation is that a lot of people want to start with something like 50L, which is tiny in the marine world. 300L is a great starting size.  ​   It's easiest to have it semi-permanent (might have to be removed for changing media depending on where it...

I started doing a big clean-out of my fish room this week for the purpose of turning it into a work space...or, rather, a neighbor-avoidance space for when they are being unbelievably loud directly above my unit's main room. The sound of flowing water from the various tanks helps to cover up the...

The sump is up and running connected to the tank now. The nitrite spike tuns out to have been from the tank water, even though the main tank measures at zero. I had been getting suspicious that water die-off was the culprit, since the only similar thing I've seen has been from seawater collected...

Saltwater tanks can be done sump-less, but as techen said if you can fit one and the floor will support the extra weight, it will make your tank easier to manage and more stable in the long run. The sump gives you both more stability (more volume = more stable chemistry) and an easier place to...

Live rock in the typical sense is usually the easiest way to go, but, as you mention, it is not totally safe. It happened to me as well - had to tear down a 20gal tank because of one rock I didn't quarantine that brought in a triple whammy of a polyclad flatworms, coral-eating fireworms, and a...

  See here and scroll down to the bit on lighting.   Most corals have symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae that photosynthesize. With most corals, they should have a bit of a brown tint to the bodies (even if some areas are neon other colors), indicating presence of the algae. When deprived of...

Well, the nitrite definitely can't be a pre-existing level at this point, since it's actually gone up since the first reading. It's basically at the top of the color chart right now and trace ammonia is showing now too. Must be some sort of die-off...not what I was expecting. I went ahead and...

    I have used a few types of epoxy putty, this being the one I've used for the last few years. It's been more-or-less like the other putties I've used in the past although maybe a little mushier at first than some I recall using a long time back. Anyway, I haven't built elaborate scapes with...

  Only just noticed that you mentioned cucumbers in the list of things that died. Are you sure it's not that a cucumber went first and caused things to snowball after that? I did a quick search in the thread and saw you listed them as pink cucumbers; did you have a species ID?

Most of the 'fuge kit is in now. I turned off the return pump and small fluid pump for this part to keep the main tank clean, so I dropped in a spare powerhead for circulation (barely visible poking out on the left of the pic). I also haven't put the special mud stuff in yet since I need to mix...

Very few fish will eat eggs from Physids - it's one of the reasons they are prone to overpopulating tanks. The fish you have are unlikely to eat any of the snails' eggs.

Got the fluid pump today and hooked it up to the overflow. If the siphon is broken and the return pump is started, the fluid pump is able to successfully prime the siphon very quickly. It also keeps bubbles out of the U-tube. This is what it looks like currently (obviously I'll need to trim the...

Live rock is always most safely handled with gloves, particularly if you don't know the full extent of what's lurking in it at the time. Most bristleworms that you will find on live rock are nothing to worry as already said. Their larger taxonomic group also includes some species that are bad...

I've just realized that I've got a lovely filter sock for the output and nothing to actually attach it to...brilliant planning lol. It wasn't something I needed for testing the drain/pump behavior so it slipped my mind. I guess that can wait a bit while the sump gets going. Debris probably won't...