The LFS was supposedly holding a 125 gal pre-drilled for $250 but i guess the guy that was selling it backed out so now im back to square one. This is really frustrating because I had gone out and made a list of everything I needed for a 72" tank. At the same time, its ok though because I would rather have a 48" tank (its alot cheaper!) But I have to spend more money now on getting a new or used tank. Im going to go down and tank to the LFS and see if they have anything for a good deal. But I am one of thise people that wants exactly what I want but I always see something else and get caught up in the moment and buy something else because its instant gratification, kind of like the 125gal. But this time I will wait until I find exactly what I want. I would like nothing less than a 110 gal because I would like to house a couple different kinds of tangs. Who knows, I am just really pissed off right now because I have been waiting for this tank for like a week and half or 2 weeks now.

Ah instant gratification. It's my achilles heel too. I remember when I was younger, I wanted an air gun. I was $20 short of the one I wanted (super nice), so instead of waiting a couple weeks, I bought the one that was $20 cheaper. And let me tell you, had I waited, I would still be using that gun. As it turns out, I ditched the cheaper one after only 1 summer of use...

Patience is a virtue I keep being told, especially with aquariums. Wait to get what you want, and you won't be dissapointed.=)

Agree with lionlord on that one. I bought my first 100 gallon on Craigslist for $600. It came with T-5's, 125lbs of LR, and some really nice healthy fish and corals. I upgraded the tank to a 95 gallon wave with MH's and sold the tank and lights for $200. I just bought a 24 gallon with 150 watt MH's and over $1000 in corals for $400, plus the liverock and everything else. I would go on Craigslist and just watch it every day.

Hey Puff, question for you. How do you quarantine a new fish? The last tang and trigger I added each brought in ich. I have heard about quarantining a new fish before adding him to the main tank, but for how long and do I medicate it? Do I add copper to it just to make sure?

Well I'm not puff but, you start with setting up a quarantine tank and running it for a few weeks or month. I would put maybe 1 or 2 pieces of live rock at most and little or no sand. Having 3 sides of the tank painted black or covered with black background is best (it helps the fish stay calm and reduces stress, thus reducing its ability to contract diseases). Salinity should be very low compared to your display (1.015-1.020). My LFS uses 1.015ish. Ich and other parasites can't survive under low salinity and die off pretty rapidly. Furthermore, under low salinity your fish can breath more and won't have to fight for oxygen as much as it will in say 1.026 salinity. Also lighting should be low. You might not even need to add copper if you do all of the above. Some of the harder fish to keep like mandarins cannot even tolerate any amount of copper. However, if you do decide to quarantine a mandarin make sure you have live copepods to feed it.

I don't have a quarantine tank. What I normally do is drip acclimate everything I put into my tank. As long as it is introduced slowly over the period of an hour or two fish almost always successfully adapt without disease. There are some people that just believe in a QT beyond a doubt, and think that everyone should have and use them. I agree it wouldn't be bad having one setup in the case of emergencies, but regular addition of fish at least in my opinion should be introduced into your tank after drip acclimating.

My theory on ich and QT's:

Ich is a parasite that is always there, but most of the time remains hidden. You are trying to prevent outbreaks of it among your fish. So, you buy a fish from your LFS who has just received it from their distributor (meaning the distributor acclimated it, and then it was acclimated again once received at the LFS). You get the fish home and acclimate it to the QT. Leave it for a few days or a week. Then acclimate it to your display tank. The fish is having to adapt to 4 different environments in a relatively short period of time. If anyone has any sense, it seems hard to think that if the fish you just bought has no visual ailments or diseases then why QT it? You are just putting more stress on the fish. Plus even if you quarantine the fish and then get rid of whatever it has, what's to say when you acclimate it to your display it doesn't have an ich breakout again?

My bottom line, know your LFS and how they receive fish and acclimate them. Also how they deal with ich or other parasites in their store tanks. Don't buy any fish with any white spots or blotches.

Raising the salinity makes parasites worse. They sort of "bloom" in high salinity. Parasites cannot live in low salinity. My LFS owner who has been in the business of selling saltwater fish and corals and tank cleaning services for 20 or so years said "the parasites just pop". I'm sure there's an exact scientific explanation, but if it's working for him and his 50 or so fish he had at the store that all had ich I would say low salinity (hypo-salinity) is the way to go.