mojo

I'm moving over some of my livestock from my 30g cube to my new rimless aquarium. I say SOME, because I have corals and clams that have a little bit of bryopsis on them and I don't want to take any chance of contaminating my new tank. I don't want to kill them, so I'm offering them to anyone who wants them, for free. I have a tridacna gigas clam (very nice blue spots on mantle), a tridacna crocea clam (deep blue), pink zoanthids, and some frogspawn. If anyone wants them please send me a pm with your phone number and I'll give you a call. Mike

Definitely a great day. I regret not being able to see all of the tanks, but the discussion around the tanks I was able to visit was very valuable. We (ARC) should do this more often, as it gives the tank owner and the visitors a tremendous opportunity to hear opinions that may have an impact on potential improvements. Threads are great, but there's no substitute for an on-site evaluation. Marc, great to finally meet you in person. You'll have to come around again in a year and check out my home tank. I hope your visit was worthwhile. Mike

I'll be a little late too, probably around noon. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with you for lunch before the afternoon tour. Mike

If Brian (makoJ or greenmako) is available then his tank will be a must see. I like the suggestion to position it between Gabriel's tank and my office tank. Hopefully John will be able to make contact with him. Mike

Unfortunately I already have plans for that day and won't be able to attend. I was really looking forward to hearing the talks, meeting the 1st-timers and seeing your tank. I'll definitely check out the video. This will be the 1st ARC meeting I will have missed.

There's an active thread on RC that discusses different controllers. The discussion centers around this excel comparison chart. Hope this helps. Mike

Wow, now that's service! Thanks John.

Monday night I went to see the Toadies. Great concert! But when I returned home at whatever hour that was, the tank was dead silent. We had a severe storm Sunday night, but nothing else in the house was without power. I was in no mood to problem solve, so I brought a couple of heavy duty extension cords to get me through the night, and the equipment was plugged into a non-GFCI outlet. Last evening when I got home from work I figured out that my Mag12 closed loop pump that I had just removed a few days ago and cleaned in dilute muriatic acid was tripping the GFI outlet. I can't see any leaks or obvious damage to the pump, but something's causing it to trip the GFI? Any suggestions? In the meantime, I'm foolishly keeping the pump running via the extension cord until I figure out what to do. Not a true "emergency" although I don't like bypassing the GFCI. Thanks in advance, Mike

I have a 30g tank, and I change 5 gallons every other week. I make up 20g of salt water at a time, so if you do the math, it takes me 2 months to use up the last of my reservoir of salt water. I keep it mixing with a MJ1200 powerhead and so far no problems. As long as the container is well sealed and you maintain circulation, I'm sure you could keep it for even longer if you wish.

John, I'm disappointed that you didn't get it for my office tank, but I'm glad it has a good home. Congrats on your acquisition! Mike

Addendum: Make sure to check and dip all frags you get from anyone! Nice pics, Gabriel, as usual. Mike

That's some crystal clear-looking skimmate, my friend. Got anything in the tank besides water? But seriously, it will settle down after a while. You're definitely going to have to empty the collection cup a few times until it does calm down, so don't leave it unattended for too long. I used to use a Remora skimmer before getting the Deltec MCE300, and I was actually quite pleased with it. Like others suggested, you should strongly consider the overflow box that's made for it. The only downside to using it is that it will take up more space from the top of your tank.

Wow, Gabriel, you've got that photography thing down - nice shots! Thanks again, Jason, for hosting the meeting. You have a lovely family and a gorgeous tank! Mike

Mark, I haven't had any problems with microbubbles. The return tube has an attachment along which the water glides down into the sump, rather than falling straight down out of the tube. This is not on the photos I posted above, but if you check the Deltec website, you'll see what I mean. This, along with the baffles in my sump, essentially eliminate all microbubbles. aquarius - Did you see the size of that collection cup? It's friggin huge, IMO. You're correct in that it would be VERY difficult to rig an external collection cup, but I think this would be counterproductive anyway. Let's say you were able to engineer an external drain of some sort. This would only encourage LESS cleaning of the cup and riser tube, which would decrease the efficiency of the skimmer for sure. Even though the MCE300 is rated for heavily stocked tanks up to 60g, if you're doing a 60g tank, I'd personally recommend a skimmer rated for a larger tank than the MCE300. The MCE600 would probably be a better choice for you, but again, that's just my opinion. I'm a big fan of over-skimming.

I'll be there for sure!

I've crossed the 3-week mark with this skimmer, and I remain happy with it. Regarding its ease of use, I'd have to say that the Remora was a little simpler. The air intake valve needs to be adjusted every time I empty the collection cup, so I can't just clean the cup and run away. The Deltec's collection cup and riser tubes have a lot of surface area, which is great for pulling out crap, but it's also more tedious to clean. I've been using an old soft toothbrush, but this is clearly too small and I'll need to get a larger brush for future cleaning. The manual recommends cleaning the cup ever 2-4 days, and I've been doing it every 4-5 days due to the time it takes to clean it. This hasn't helped the efficiency of the product, as I'm sure I'd get more skimmate if I cleaned it more regularly. One of the problems I was having was that my light rack is in the way of the skimmer, and I'd have to loosen the clamp and slide the unit away from my sump just to remove the collection cup. I finally got smart and I've tightened the clamp at a position where, if the skimmer slides back away from the sump, it won't be perfectly vertically-oriented, but it won't fall off either. This way, I can simply slide it back a bit and remove the collection cup without having to fuss with the clamp each time. This will decrease the "PITA" factor for me, and I'll begin to clean it more frequently (like every 2-3 days). Performance-wise, I can't honestly say I've noticed any difference in the tank itself. I just tested for nitrate and phosphate, and both are undetectable with Salifert test kits, but they've always been undetectable in my system. I do have a lot of confidence in this skimmer, however, and I'm not afraid to add more livestock and more food to the tank. Hope this is helpful information.

I just got this skimmer at Kingfish, and thought I'd post a review since it's relatively new and mine may just be the first in action here in Austin. For those who don't know, I have a 30g cube, mixed reef. If anyone's interested in a lot of specifics of my tank, please refer to my thread on Reef Central. The tank is just over 1 year old, and before the AEFW raped all of my acros, it was a fairly heavily-populated tank. Now all of the acros are gone, but I'm in the re-building phase. The tank is supported by a ~14 gallon sump/fuge, and my previous Remora skimmer hung on the back of the sump. I was happy with that skimmer, and I've never had any measurable nitrate or phosphate despite having 4 fish, lots of corals, and fairly hefty daily feeding. But when I saw the crap that Deltec skimmers were pulling out, I just had to have one. When this MCE 300 HOB skimmer became available, my juices started flowing. John and Brian allowed me to take it home and ensure that it would fit on my sump before commiting to purchasing it, and luckily it just did - with a few modifications. First off, this unit is a few centimeters wider than the Remora, and if it were 2 mm more in width, it wouldn't have fit within the constraints of my sump's skimmer compartment. The next problem was that the return tubing from the skimmer to the sump was too long, as it was running into the shelf inside my cabinet. Here's the skimmer, without the drain pipe connected. In this close-up you can see what I mean about the pipe running into the cabinet shelf. The next hurdle was that the drain pipe extended out into the refugium compartment. Both of these horizontal tubes had to be shortened, and this was safe to do according to Doug at Deltec. The return tube was easy to remove and cut, but the horizontal drain tube was mistakenly glued into place by the manufacturer, and I broke it trying to get it out (it's supposed to be a slip fitting). Fortunately John and Brian gave me a new one from their shop, and Deltec will send them a new replacement. This new tube was cut to proper length, then installed. When I installed the skimmer, I then realized that the strainer of the drain pipe was still above the water level. I fixed this by heating up a segment of 3/4" vinyl tubing which was slipped over the strainer and the riser tube. I didn't feel the need to clamp this connection, since I don't want to accidentally do it too tightly and risk cracking the material. Also, it's fairly low pressure and a tight fit at that, so it should be sound. The skimmer began producing foam almost immediately (it had help, as I had recently treated some cyano with Chemi-Clean). After the first 48 hr of operation, here's the skimmate that was produced. Overall I'm happy with this skimmer and I'm glad I went with it. There are a few other points I'd like to make, but I have to run so I'll update this a little later.

Woops, sorry Clint, that was unintentional. Although I happen to know that Mark, like us, was leaning toward a Deltec anyway, so I don't think he was a viable customer. Besides, I want you to hold on to that Euro Reef so we have something to use on our next QT happy4.gif .

Mark, it's too big for your 30g. Get the Deltec MC300 instead (I just did!). Mike

Sorry, Clint, 35 pounds is fine, but I don't do "hairy." Any feedback on that red worm you found? How do the corals look w/r/t color and PE? Everybody happy?

It's a state-of-the-art flatworm detector that utilizes light waves to detect substances obscured by particulate matter that otherwise hinders the transfer of light energy. In other words, it's a flashlight .Yes, the glasses are quite pricey. I wasn't kidding about the cost equaling a REALLY BIG skimmer. The 5x ones that I'm going to get cost even more. Unless you have a professional use for the glasses, get the Mag-Visor that you mentioned.

I'd be glad to head up a group buy on the glasses, if there's some interest. I actually want another pair anyway. Mine only magnify to 2.5x, and I'd like to get a pair that goes to 5x. Just let me know who's in. If I were you all, however, I'd use the money to get a new Deltec skimmer instead (a really BIG one) . Plus, I don't think any of you out there would qualify to wear them, since you have to be a dork to pull it off.

That's some fine work. I may be interested if I don't get a Tunze nanostream for the holidays. I'll definitely keep this in mind. Mike

I went with the Current Lunar Light over my 30g cube. I didn't get an extension, just the single. Here's how it looks mounted on my light rack and here's what the tank looks like with it illuminated. I doubt you'd need the extension, as this thing covers a surprisingly large area.

Glad it was smooth for you Mark. My livestock all came in great shape, and they acclimated easily into the tank. I hope everyone had the same experience. Rohn, did your fish make it?