lewisweil

Ive got a 40 gallon breeder stand. Metal. I really like the stand but have no plans to set anything up. Pickup only. Im in 78752 just north of Mueller and Windsor Park. Will give address in DM. 

Got one accepted offer and a back up offer. If they both fall through I'll let y'all know. 

SOLD 

definitely was not expecting it to be sold within three minutes when i posted it at midnight. glad this stuff is going to get some good use.

Must pick up from Austin TX 78752 (near Mueller) and take everything as is. Not willing to sell individual items.

My reef crashed during the blizzard. I've decided to clear out all my gear, take a break, and then start from scratch. 

Reply or DM,

• Nuvo Aquarium Fusion Nano 20 gal  (24”x15”x13”)
• Fluval Stand
• 2x Tunze 1073.008 return pumps
• Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue lamp w/ controller
• 3x Triton ICP-OES test kits
• AutoAqua Smart Auto Water Changer Touch (automatic water changer and ATO)
• Tunze ATO Water Level Controller 5017
• 24” Twinstar Lamp w/ programmable timer
• UNS surface skimmer
• ATC refractometer
• Hanna dKH checker
• 4x 5 gallon jugs
• 2000 mL Tropic Marin- All For Reef (one part dosing)

Yeah a lot of criteria need to met before home solar makes sense.

My only things to add for folks thinking about a generator is the noise, they can be louder than you expect, especially in the quiet of a power outage. My brother who I mentioned has a pretty serious generator, run an extension cable to his neighbor during power outages. It's the neighborly thing todo and also makes them not so putoff having to deal with the noise from his generator.  

anyone know how the lfs are doing? I'm worried for aquadome, rca, and aquatek! 

We're looking at multiple powerwalls. I'll share in case others are looking into solar as an option. I had my call with the solar company on Saturday. If you only have one powerwall battery it only serves as a backup for a handful of lights and appliances. If you want to run your AC and any other high load equipment you need multiple powerwalls. 

In Austin and you run solar you are still on the grid, your solar output offsets energy used from Austin Energy. The credit per kwh is pretty generous. If you don't have your panels connected to a battery though and the power goes out you still lose power. Because you are on the grid the power company cuts you off too because the electricity coming from your panels is still going into the grid and would be a hazard to the people working the lines on the restoring power. If you have a battery your panels keep working because the electricity has somewhere to go. So unless you have a battery you still lose power just like everyone else. Adding batteries can be more expensive than the panels themselves. 

We have a 1600 sq ft house, its just me and my wife and our roof happens to have enough exposure that we can generate enough electricity for us to meet all our electric needs. That combined with the 0.99% financing and not having an electric bill means the math makes sense for us. You do have to check a lot of boxes before home solar is worth the trouble. 

My brother who has two kids and a bigger house opted for a generator, he would have needed a ridiculous number of batteries to cover his needs. 

I have a nissan leaf, which is 100% electric, so being able to charge in a power outage will be amazing. It was actually great having an electric vehicle this last week but that is another story. 

I'm surprised to not see more talk of the blizzard. Maybe everyone is focused on recovering and not posting on reef forums. 

I've talked to other aquarium keepers and many of them have 100% loses. I lost the vast majority of my corals. We are just north of Windsor Park and Mueller. Our neighborhood lost power Sunday night. It was supposed to be for 45 minutes. We didn't reliably get power back until Thursday. Monday I tried to keep the tank warm by floating bags of seawater i heated on the stove. If we had gotten power back then it would have been ok. But between trying to maintain the household during daylight, the risk of carbon monoxide building up from running the stove, and sheltering together at night for warmth, I had to accept that I couldn't keep it up indefinitely. The house was in the 40s, I don't know how cold the tank got. 

Most of my corals I had grown from just a couple polyps. I like getting corals from the mystery $5 tank at Aqua Dome and growing them out. It hurts to see them as just white skeletons. 

We got power back Thursday afternoon. Once I was convinced it was back for good I started cleaning out the tank,  planning on breaking it down. It smelled horrible. I was shocked to find my platygyra, a gorgonian, and two leathers were still alive. Barely alive, but not dead. What started as a tank tear down turned into a rescue mission. I had luckily had some pre-mixed seawater on hand and did big water change to get rid of the detritus from the dead corals. The platy seems to be doing ok. There is some receded tissue but it seems to be stable. Platys are so expressive when you keep an eye on them. 

I am planning on giving the surviving corals away to help someone rebuild their reef and then scrapping the tank. I'm going to take a break for a bit and then start again from scratch. We are looking into solar and powerwall battery back ups and into a proper wood stove for heat. Between the rolling blackouts last summer and the possibility of the polar vortex becoming a frequent event I need to rethink the extremes that my household and aquarium life support systems are facing. 

what part of town are you in? if you can be near mueller i'd happily give you a nice clump.

Lost most of my corals, house was in the 40s. Not sure how low the tank got. I was absolutely shocked to see my platygyra was mostly ok. 

I set the tank up in a way I wouldn't recommend to most people. But I am both lazy and like to think I am better at this than I actually am. The tank was used, so I was letting it run with freshwater to clean it out. While that was happening I was on the road and when I go out of town I like to visit LFS and buy something if I can. Well I bought some Chaeto while in Corpus Christi... except I didn't actually have a saltwater tank yet. So I did a dumb thing and just added salt to the freshwater when I got home. Let it circulate for a couple days and added the Chaeto ball. Not a best practice, don't follow my example. Worst case I lose the Chaeto and start over. I ran the system with activated carbon and polyfilter to get some elements out of the tap water. Spoiler alert, it all worked out fine and I have happy corals. Following my experience in freshwater planted tanks I decided to wait until the Chaeto was showing signs of active growth before adding any other livestock. Which was a couple snails. Next time I'll post the saga of my snails and the first corals. 

I think this tank build is going to be about showing how much dumb stuff you can get away with and still have a successful tank. 

• 20 gallon Innovative Marine
• Kessil a160 
• no skimmer
• single Tunze 008 return pump
• dosing with Triton four part
• dose with Acro Power every other day
• target feed with Reef Roids about twice a week. 

I haven't had a coral tank in a few years so this is my system for getting my sea legs back. I started it back in February and I will make some posts catching the thread up to where the system is now. The tank is corals only. I am growing them out to donate or sell and keep a few as pets for a project later. I got my first ARC corals at the frag sale back in March. I've been picking up a few from the $5 tank at Aqua Dome and the occasional frag from Aquatek and Austin Aqua Farms. Right now my bird of paradise Seriatopora and my Acan are my coral babies. 

The tank has no skimmer. There is a filter floss, carbon or poly filter occastionally. Otherwise filtration is down through small weekly water changes and by the ball of Chaetomorpha in the corner. 

More soon, very glad to be back on ARC! The frag sale in March was excellent, so glad to see the local hobby doing well. 

I might have some to spare soon. If I do I'll let you know.

Moving a freshwater tank isn't that different from moving a salt tank. The guy wants to try coral, surely there is a decent all in one system for keeping some hardy corals.

This dude I know wants to try reefkeeping. He has limited space and moves often. Are there any good all-in-one nanos y'all have experience with? I know there are a lot of them out there but I haven't tried them personally.

Interested in Coralife Skimmer. Do you have any pics?

Hey I bought the skimmer, it is awesome. But is overkill for my tank so if you want it it is yours. PM sent.

is it already gone? does it require a certain type of pump?

I am doing some curing right now and I am really tired of constantly changing out the foul water. I hate wasting saltwater. How do y'all cure your liverock? Any clever setups to deal with the die off and subsequent gross water.

pmed. second in line.

lol, I was born in 1983 and that is where my aquariums are staying.

For oxygenating the water yes, they can help.

For creating flow, not so much

Actually they don't add any oxygen to the water, common misconception. The bubbles lift water to the surface allowing a gas exchange. There is some movement here but seriously, and honestly why use an air stone do to this? At least, at the very minimum, step into 1984 and consider using powerheads to move water around. They do the exact same thing as a bubbler but way more efficient and tons better at moving water to the surface.

To answer your question, as long as you're sure its completely dry, yes, you can continue to use it. Blow it out with compressed air or leave it out in the sun a few days. You can always take it apart for maintenance while you're at it.

Put it back together and it is running fine, thanks for the advice.

They don't create a strong current but they do create a gentle and consistent circulating current. lol, I didn't realize air pumps would be that interesting.

Thanks Jim. That is reassuring.

Mike, bubblers can be a great way to get tank circulation.

One of my air pumps fell into the tank. Fortunately no one got electrocuted, I unplugged it right away. I open up the pump and drained it out. After I let it air dry can I keep on using it? Or should I call it a loss and replace it?

how big is it? that lionfish look tiiiiny!

Are the rubbermaid tubs ever made out of plastic that may not be so friendly for long term occupation by living things?