Daniel

and this would be?

Are you referring to the skimmer or the mod?

I also still have this. Asking $50. Won't come with the air-pump mod, unless I can find it.

I just realized that I still have this. Asking $180. Has less than a week of usage.

Hmmm. I have to respectfully disagree (based on speculation, not fact) with the statement that the waste water has the impurities of 6 gallons (using your reference). Since the water path through the RO/DI system goes tap > pre-filter > carbon block > RO membrane > DI with the waste coming directly after the first 2 filters (or one, depending on the filter setup). So, I would argue (perhaps incorrectly) that the water would still be significantly better that the source water, with the added benefit of having chlorine removed by the carbon block (again, if configured in the RO/DI system). I'd be happy to hook up a TDI meter to the waste port on mine and to the source to see what the difference is.

Now, that being said, the concentration of the minerals in the waste may be different from the source. This depends on the make-up of the source and what can be filtered due to size in the pre-filters. Like, there may be a concentration of heavy metals that make it through the sediment block and carbon block (this is speculation, no example here) that would normally be removed by the RO membrane. This would end up in the waste.

Again, this is how I believe it SHOULD function, but I am just speculating.

Jim

I believe you are correct.

My ballast in my grow-out tank died. Need a 175w ballast for about a week, maybe two weeks at the most. I just need something until my replacement arrives.

If none are available to borrow, I'd be happy to trade corals in exchange for one. I have SPS, zoas, other softies, and lps.

I saw Roy's tank the other day and I was reminded of the reason I love metal halides. The shimmer effect is mesmerizing.

Shimmer is the result of an intense point source of light. When the light strikes the rough surface of the water, it disperses into the water at different wavelengths, creating what appears to be "ripples" throughout the tank. Since T5s are broad (and not a point source at small distances or in relatively shallow tanks), the shimmer effect does not occur to any significant extent.

For those of you with T5s, and assuming you care about the shimmer effect, what do you propose as a solution to achieving the shimmer? Switching back to halides is not an option. I need something to supplement my T5s. I've heard of people using LEDs and halogens with mixed results, but nothing definitive.

If LEDs will work, is there a commercial product I can use? My moonlights create a lovely shimmer at night, but their effect is muted when my T5s are on. If there isn't a commercially available solution, what LED bulbs would work best? What brand, color temp., quantity, etc?

Daniel

Yup, in Georgetown Home Depot would be the place. You'll need tubing to go from your pump (if submerged) to the chiller, than from the chiller to the tank or sump.

Something I missed the first time I set mine up. Keep the tubing out of the light, or don't use clear tubing. I had algae growing in the tube where it got light from the sump light.

Agreed. Avoid the clear vinyl tubing if it'll be exposed to any light. Algae loves to grow in there and kill your flow.

Aquamend at Home Depot is just fine.

Thank you, sir. Will give it a try. It looks like the Marineland Holdfast stuff I just bought.

I'm looking for cheap epoxy because the prices for the 4oz tubes are killing me ($15 + tax at the LFS!).

I know BRS has tubes for a bit less. Where do you guys go for your epoxy? Is there something I could use safely from the hardware store (Lowes, HD, etc?) I need the epoxy for mounting corals. I would prefer something that doesn't take too long to set, but I'm looking for a longer working time than super glue gel.

PM Sent.

I have a lot of them in the darker, lower flow areas of my tank. As mentioned by others, it looks like a sponge.

PM Sent.

I didn't even see the pajamas! They do look huge! I hope they don't pick on the yellow tang.

Those PJs are incredibly docile... almost to the point of annoyance!

vwmike-- what are the viewable area dimensions of your tank? It's wide-- I like.

Ty, I've heard of folks using 250w SE or 400w DE Radiums (beautiful color, in my opinion) over similar tanks along with MAGNETIC ballasts. Magnetic ballasts over-drive the bulb and in the case of radiums make the bulbs a little less blue, but noticeably more intense.

What will you do to regulate temps?

...I was not sure what one it matched.

Is there a better way to test than the drops in 5ml of water ? For me its very hard to tell what one to pick its closest to and it was with a api test

kit and seem not alot of people like them say they suck but seems like its the only brand alot of stores carry so how bad can they be ?

I cheked it again this morning and the nitrites had droped to 0 others were the same.

I use the Salifert test kits which have a very clear color shift at the end of the titration (i.e from clear to dark blue).

Very good price!

I know I started a thread awhile back regarding FTS, but I failed to post on that thread, so I'll post on here. I had to take the picture at an angle since the tank is in a cramped hallway (poor planning on my part). As a result of the angle, some of the corals on the left part of the tank cannot be seen. This image is about 3-5 weeks old and I've moved a few corals around since.

I'm using a 7 year old Nikon Coolpix camera with the white balance adjusted. I have a few macro shots in my gallery which do some of the corals a little more justice.

Honestly, even smaller sized reactors can handle big tanks. Just raise or lower the flow-through rate and CO2 bubble count to handle a different load. I would plan on getting one rated for at least 150 gallons for your 175. The primary advantage of a large Ca Rx is that you won't have to change out the media as often. My Deltec Ca Rx is rated for 120 gallons (I have a 90g tank) and I have not had to change the media in over 8+ months. I'll probably change it out in about.... another 6-10 months? And I have tons of stony corals! In other words, the media will last for quite awhile, especially if you have under 1000 linear inches worth of hard corals.

Your biggest requirements (in order of importance) for a solid Ca Rx:

1) A high quality CO2 regulator!

2) Adequate circulation in the media chamber (with a good, reliable pump)

3) A high quality feed pump

4*) An in-line pH probe is nice, but not necessary

5*) Large rxn chamber to hold a lot of media

6*) Dual chambers (to help limit pH drops)

(* = not necessary, just optional)

Deltec, Geo, Schuran, and many other reactors will fit the bill for you. Also, you'll be able to reduce your costs if you are able to control/monitor two pH probes through your Aquarium Controller-- I had to buy a $120 pH controller since my Aquarium Controller only had one pH port.

Bill is correct regarding the mushrooms, particularly leathers and rics. You need to either tie them down with string until they attach themselves, or just leave them among rubble with very low flow until they attach themselves. The glue will generally not hold and they will simply slough off at the attachment point.

I use a Deltec Ca Rx. It works very well. Not the cheapest, but does the job.

You just dial it in and forget about it. The tuning process may take as much as a week to get right. That's it for maintenance. Make sure you have a high quality feed pump or tap a line from your return pump-- don't use a crappy pump!

I was mounting one of my corals last night using super glue. I ran out of the gel kind, so I was using the regular kind. I was in a hurry, so I put a blob of glue on the substrate, stuck the coral on, and placed it on my frag rack. Normally, I would have waited for the glue to fully dry, but I did not foresee any problems.

Well, reef water circulation has a way of tossing things around... a fairly large amount of the glue proceeded to float off. I watched it move towards the sand bed. I was afraid it might land on a coral, but to my horror, my curious yellow tang took a bite. Since the glue was not yet hard, the tang was able to bite into it and form a tight bond as it struggled to remove it. I tried unsuccessfully to catch the tang and after an hour called it quits, since I was only stressing it more. I made plans to take my tank apart the following day so I could remove the tang and try to remove the glue using a q-tip with acetone. For all I knew, the q-tip and acetone plus the stress of removing the glue would kill him.

I watched my tang struggle for about two hours last night. He would stare at his nori, writhe in frustration, and repeat. I went to bed last night feeling pretty rotten for sentencing my wonderful tang to a miserably slow death.

This morning when I got up, to my surprise, I found my tang was FREE. He managed to get all the glue off his mouth (although I assume trace amounts may still be present in his mouth). He has been eating nori, swimming about, and looks completely normal. Yay.

Anyway, lessons learned:

*Mount corals outside your tank whenever possible

*Wait for glue to sufficiently dry

*Aquarium maintenance should not be done in a hurry, since a quick fix could lead to a big mess

My tip: Mount corals to substrate (plugs, rubble, etc) using super glue OUTSIDE the tank and use epoxy to mount the substrate to your rockwork

Have a good one,

Daniel

I leave the body of my skimmer alone and plan to address the coraline growing inside every six months.

The one bit of maintenance that I highly recommend is wiping the neck clean with a damp paper towel every other day. This essentially mimicks high performance auto cleaning heads that you see on the high end Deltec and Bubble King skimmers. All the gunk that builds up will inevitably reduce skimmer performance until cleaned. I find that my collection cup fills with dark sludge faster this way. For most people, the neck will become very dirty long before the collection cup is ready to be emptied.

Daniel

Well, my next guess, based on the description is that it is a Platygyra sp. coral.

Here's a sample, but doesn't necessarily define what they all look like: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+321+445&pcatid=445

I run 0" and actively try to remove sand and detritus from my sump and fuge.

Also, it could be a Blastomussa Merletti-- but it's hard to tell from the picture.