bosshog

Water temp change, chlorine, low oxygen, high ammonia from disturbing substrate, ph change, injured picking him out of the sink. Lots of suspects.

Multiple tank syndrome, but monster tank syndrome is also a problem. I’ve found larger tanks are easier to keep stable in the saltwater world, even then stuff can go sideways in a hurry. I’ve seen some pictures of pretty cool cold water marine biotope tanks, there are interesting animals in all parts of the oceans. This tank will be an SPS dominated. Picked up a dozen frags yesterday. It will probably have a couple of rocks on the sand bed with some softies and few rock flower anemones. Maybe a BTA, hopefully a clam or two in a year or so. The fish list is pretty short, a pair of clowns, a dragonette of some sort, and a purple tang.

Welcome to the addiction and the board! MTS is a serious disorder that pretty much everyone on here has suffered from. I’ve beaten MTS once and currently have only one 120gal salt tank that is being rebuilt after sitting fallow for the last few years.

Pets and ponds lists 1lb quantities of BS. I have no idea about the quality of their product.

X2.

Put them into a container the fish can't get into but still allows some wart flow and let them hatch. Some sort of breeder net.

Post up some pictures of the tank and someone here should be able to help you out.

The lights you have will be fine, for what you have in there. When you decide to purchase more light loving creatures, you will need more light. A basic stocking plan will make it easier to decide what equipment you will want. Research lots, spend less. Put the powerheads in there, generally the more flow the better. Shoot for at least 50x turnover, so 4500 gal/hr. Get rid of the bubbler, I can't imagine the mess that is making with the salt creep and spray all over everything. 3" of substrate is fine.

Saw some at IDA, small bottle maybe 2 ozs, IIRC around $6.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2105&aid=1522 Quick link on some symptoms of lead poisoning in dogs. Hope everything turns out OK.

just for your information: Wheel weights are not pewter. They are primarily lead, they do have zinc ones now, but that still are not a prevalent as the lead ones. I'd give better than even odds those strips are lead. They are the right color, malleable, and heavy. Given the part of the world the plants come from they'd be cheap and readily available to suppliers. Do a bit of google searching for more info. IMO, and opinion only,the bigger fear would be them causing a blockage, not the fact that they are lead.

I think they are a valuable and free member of the CUC. I've never seen them do anything but pick detritus. When my last tank was started I actually caught a couple from my other tanks a put them in the new tank. The rock in the new tank was all man made and dry rock. I don't have any nems, but worms haven't bothered my clams open brains, sponges, tunicates, zoos or any other soft corals in my tanks.

Those are fantastic pictures. Thanks for sharing them. You don't really want to know what they are do you?

Right now I have running a deltec mce300, a tunze 9002 and an remora aqua-c. The deltec works well, but is a bit expensive, and is a bit noisy, both the pump, the suction and return to the tank can be a bit loud when used as a hang on tank. When used in the sump you cannot hear the return or the air intake, but it does vibrate enough to give the entire stand a bit of a hum. Someone on here or Canreef suggested a piece of neoprene under it, I haven't tried that, but if it stops the hum I'd give the skimmer a 4.5 out of 5. I'd probably buy another one. The tunze is pretty much dead quiet, it's in the bedroom in a sump that is not in a cabinet, so quiet is a must. You can hear the bubbles in the chamber if you listen for them. Skimmer works well. I'd buy another one. The remora, well it's a skimmer. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. It's pretty quiet, if paper towel is placed over the air intake in the first chamber. I don't really have anything good or bad to say about it. I wouldn't buy another one. Before you buy a skimmer, do lots of research on the web about the ones that interest you. Stay away from the prisms, and the coral life SS, way to many horror stories about them, I have no experience with either.

800 gph is not too much flow in a reef tank. I'm running just under 2000 gph in a 24 gal. It is not excessive. Try using two or three outlet points back into the tank, should create nice flow throughout. If you want to throttle the pump back put a ball valve on the outlet side (not the suction side) and set it wherever you want. A smaller pump will be more economical in the long run.