Wippit

John, Thanks for taking the time to talk with me today. Impressive system and educational for me. I wish I could have seen it a couple of days ago. Ben

BTW, if you want to go IMAX you might think about Fandango. My first choice was IMAX but the days I could go were sold out.

I did the 3D, but non-IMAX version. I'd go see it again easily, and may just do that to see the IMAX version. I'm a professional geek and the technology behind the film was what appealed to me the most. The "earth mother is good, but all corporations are evil (except the one that spent $200+ million to make this film, of course)" theme strikes me as a little hypocritical. ON a scale of 1 to 10: Technology -- 11 (a la Spinal Tap) Storyline -- 6 Ability to immerse the viewer -- 8 All that said, I'd still go pay another $14 to watch it again.

Add on: What type of chiller is the best? (brand and/or design)

In conversations/postings about used equipment I seem to see that there is no clear majority of owners or non-owners of chillers. Do we need them in this area? Or is it more a function of waste heat generated within the system (lights, pumps, etc.)? For instance, would I be less likely to need one if I didn't use MH?

This is exactly what I had in mind. A strange thing happened today. I had the garage door open on the side where this tank sits between my truck and the wall. A stranger rang the bell and asked if I wanted to sell the tank. Omen?

Does anyone have the wattage draw of an average powerhead? (Anything reasonable will do for this exercise.)

Then that may work quite well for me

Thanks, all. Based on this and discussions with Dave I think I'll let this bowfront pass.

My plan has been to keep a basic part of the circulation system running off of a standard IT quality UPS. Runtime would depend on battery size and how much power is being drawn, of course.

~$20 is close enough; I didn't know if it would be something like $20 or $100 a hole. I've seen a few references to "the professor." Is this "professor live rock?" If I called the shop would they know who he is by that nickname?

The idea of getting this drilled is interesting. Is there any way to get a ballpark idea on what drilling might cost? Is aftermarket drilling as reliable as factory pre-drilled? Will I have to worry about leakage, does it make the tank more susceptible to breakage or have any other negative consequences?

I'm a bit confused on two points. First, I thought overflows were basic to reef tanks. Is this accurate? Second, I'm not sure what you mean by avoid overflow boxes and then recommending a corner or rear overflow. Did you mean "avoid HOB overflows"?

I should have added this: The reasoning behind possibilty #2 was that I'm finding that I like two very different kinds of fish. On one hand I'd like a peaceful community tank, but on the other I'm also drawn to some of the "big personality" varmints like triggers. The counter to this is that I think I need to go slowly and not harm any fish/inverts with my lack of knowledge.

I did something dumb, but it was before I found this forum, so I plead ignorance. However, I'm wondering if lemonade can be made from this lemon I bought. About two months ago (roughly 2 weeks before I discovered ARC, darn it!) I decided to try my hand at saltwater, so I hopped on Craig's List, found and bought a glass 120g. It's a plain freshwater rig; no overflows, not drilled, just a glass box. I've seen other posts here where someone was trying to sell, trade, or maybe even give away a similar tank, but afaik he had no results. I'm wondering if I can make something useful out of this glass coffin taking up space in my garage, and I had a couple of ideas that I'd like to present for "peer review." - Possibility 1: Is it a huge waste of space to turn this monster into a refugium? I've seen a few posts that had the refugium set up as a "show" piece as well as the tank it serviced. - Possibility 2: Can I plumb it into (whatever becomes) my show tank? In other words, can the lack of "reefreadiness" be overcome with flow connected to the show tank? - Anyone have any other ideas for what I might do with it?

I sent a PM too

I spotted one of these: Oceanic Systems | Products | Bow Front in the 175 size. Any thoughts on it's relative merits for a reef system vs. a more conventional tank format?

Formerly roberts0909. (My gmail address is [email protected].) Not knowing the tenor of the group when I signed up I used a "safe" display name to start with. I was surprised by how easygoing, informed, and helpful the ARC is.

+ 10 to what Carrie says. This is a great group!

Thanks to Dave and Robin! Beautiful tanks, and thanks for letting us all congregate in your living room. Good to meet everyone!

I've seen several references to "aggressive" skimming. Is this running more than one skimmer? Or a skimmer larger than ordinary for a tank? Either? Should this be done as a routine practice or just on an as-needed basis?

I hereby name this coral "Fred."

Scratch the acrylic (pun intended). WTB glass.

The 4-6" range is about what I was thinking, but it pays to get experienced opinions. thanks all!

Found the option to dump the stodgy old email inspired display name and changed it to one that I used when I worked with Ubisoft.