prof

Sorry I didn't talk to you 'til late this weekend. Let me know if, how, when, I can help.

Ahhh, ATM... I wish they would put a greater focus on the husbandry in their show.

I have only popped one. It was a cheapo 10g. When they go, they go....

I'll buy the liner, Rob can get the roll-off, who wants to pick up the salt?

I have a sugar fine sand that is 100% calcium, not silicate. It is very similar to the old playsand we all used to buy and covet. $1 per lb. if you are interested.

I would think that the newer formulations of silicone would provide a longer life than those from 20 years ago.

Glass tanks are held together by the silicone between the glass not the silicone that is smoothed out from squeeze out during assembly. Razor blade cleaning should not affect the strength of the tank unless the person cleaning is over zealous.

I would tank life would be from 10-20 years depending on the care it receives. I have setup and run multiple tanks that were built in the early 80's with no problems, so they can last much longer.

You should not see a cycle. You might see a diatom bloom but that will pass in a couple of days.

With dry rock you just want to make sure it is well rinsed and you are good to go. If you cycle, or pre-cycle the rock you are risking adding life to the rock. When you add rock to a tank that has things living in/on it you risk another cycle.

FYI: The rock I sell is from Marco. It is good stuff. Come hand pick your own next time you need some.

Yes, FC2 is the metal leaf and RX7/R7 are the pin type. If you have the FC2 style than you can use the old lamp holder.

wizard is correct. The 250w HQI double ended bulb is about 1 inch longer. The base should be FC2 and work for either bulb(if set to the right length). R7 and RX7 base bulbs are what you would find in a typical flood light or garage work lamp.

Check out the specs here:

http://www.topbulb.com/find/metal_halide_double_ended_lamps.asp

Yes, you can. The bulb will run a little hotter but you should be fine.

Still need a new name.

I drill for $25 the first hole, $20 each additional.

I always leave the bulkheads off the tank for just this reason. I have cracked tanks before. It sucks.

Glass is extremely strong and fragile at the same time. Be careful not to drop anything on a bulkhead after the tank is installed. One wayward item dropped behind the tank can cause the same damage.

I like to use hayward bulkheads when possible. They are larger and made of a different material that is more durable than the black plastic bulkheads. Because of the greater clamping area they are easier to tighten securely and are less prone to sideways movement that can cause a crack.

This issue has been beat to death on every forum out there. You are talking about a tank/stand combo that will weigh around 1200lbs. when full. That weight is distributed across 9 sqft of floor space. That comes to 133lbs a sqft. Any standard house will support that. Think about it this way, would you stand shoulder to shoulder with 8 of your friends in your house? It is the same scenario except with people the load is not spread as evenly.

I am not an engineer but I have no fears placing a large tank upstairs. This goes double for most apartment buildings because they are built to higher standards than houses.

What do you think looks best? Go with that.

That is my advice as well. There are so many factors to a fish tank that there is no right or wrong choice for substrate, rock, filtration, etc. That being said, you should choose the features you want in a tank and cater the rest of the equipment and inhabitants around your "must haves".

If you like fine sand, you will probably want low flow. If you want bare bottom you probably want higher flow. Larger substrate, no sand sifters, small substrate, stars, cucs, gobis, etc. If you want to start with live rock, be prepared for hitch-hikers. If you start with dry rock, expect a longer startup time.

Same goes for equipment. You don't need a skimmer or filter if you are willing to do daily water changes. Fish only tank?, HOB or canister filter will work. Corals, you will need light and flow. Do you want to create the full biotope of a reef tank or do you want to keep a rather sterile tank with mechanical and UV filtration?

We all have our favorite methods. In the end you will have to choose the one that works for the tank you are keeping.

I have one but don't have any pics handy. You looking to build one?

Thanks for throwing my name out there on this one but I really don't like to reseal tanks. I can, and will, do it but there is no guarantee and I would charge you way too much.

The biggest problem resealing a glass tank is that silicone does not stick to silicone. So you have to remove ALL of the old silicone to get a good bond. This is impossible without completely disassembling the tank. The fix that has been discussed in this thread will work but there are to many possible fail points for me to guarantee a resealed tank.

I have done partial reseals on my own tanks and will do them again but I know the risk and I am prepared for a failure in my house.

FYI: mineral spirits will remove cured silicone.

Fusion is supposed to adhere to plastic better. All versions of spray paint should be non toxic once cured.

It may not hold up but once cured it won't hurt the tank.

I believe aptasia-x and joes juice are basically kalk paste/solution. They may add some other ingredients to make it more palatable for the aptasia.

Peppermint shrimp usually won't attack the larger anemones. I have always had good luck killing off every aptasia I could find with kalk paste and then the shrimp would keep the little baby nems from growing back. It usually takes a couple of weeks of killing aptasia every day to get ahead of them.

Kalk is just calcium. It will not hurt your tank even in large amounts unless you let it settle and cake existing corals. Ultimately it will just raise the calcium level in your tank, which is a good thing.

I was there and had a great time. Thanks everyone for coming by!

Moving = upgrade

Any time you drain the water its time for a bigger tank.

No, it is not safe to remove the center brace. It may run trouble free for years but sooner or later the stress will blow a seam, trust me. The black trim ring exists mainly for looks. It also helps align everything during construction and prevents chipping the top edge of the glass.

They have moved around since then but I do have them back.

Have you done a test run with water? Those tubs tend to bow a bit and you may end up with wide gaps on both sides.