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Thanks again. I decided to go with sand. However, I may have made a BIG mistake with my rock. I added three medium sized pieces of that "Texas Holy Rock" that I had sitting around. Now, everything looks milky. Could the saltwater be breaking down the limestone?

Thanks everyone. I only plan on stocking a few clowns, an anonme, and a few mushrooms. Nothing fancy, for now.

I am going to bring my 14g nano online soon and want to know what everyone thinks about going BB. I know its a small tank and any filtration would help, but I kind of like the black bottom look. I will have live rock to aid in filtration, along with rubble in the back. Any thoughts/concerns are appreciated. James

Yeah, I think you have to call them so they can meet you there. They do plan on opeing to the public but I dont know when.

Here is the Marine Depot shipping policy..."We can pack up to 6 lamps per box. Since fluorescent bulbs require special handling and packaging, we will only ship fluorescent bulb and power compact bulb orders of four or more bulbs free of shipping cost. 46.5" and longer bulbs are shipped free only if 6 or more bulbs are ordered. All 46.5" lamps and longer ship as an oversize package (30 lbs package). 30-day warranty." Sounds like if you order 4, you get free shipping. I think I paid $20 to ship all 4 of my 60"bulbs.

And where can you buy sheets of cell cast around town? I have only seen the stuff at Home Depot. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I am wanting to build a custom sump as well.

Ohhh. Thats good to know Gabriel. I got mine for about $27 each, plus shipping. Good to know that someone has them local for about the same price. One LFS store (not a ARC sponsor) could get them but they were like $50 per bulb. Although, Karen, your bulbs are 3 feet where mine are 5 feet and will be cheaper.

I have not seen many VHO bulbs in the local stores. Most dont carry them because they are slowly going away. I think AquaTek had some 3 or 4 foot bulbs a while back but I dont know about now.

I think those are the 50/50 bulbs that I have. They run at 12k and a mix of blue and white. They are called Actinic White. I will be switching to the AquaSun for bright bulbs and the super actinic for blue.

Most likely the bulbs need to be replaced. I run 4 VHO 12k bulbs (50/50) and after time they will give off a pink tint. Personally, I would replace the whites with 10k AquaSun bulbs.

Okay everyone. I really need to paint the back of my 135G tank before it gets too far along. The problem that I have is this... I was very excited to get the tank running early this year and setup the tank with that big plastic sheet of blue on the back. Now I want black, and I want to paint it. The tank is only 3 inches off the wall! So I have a dilemma. Should I spend the time to take everything out, move the tank into the garage to paint, and then set everything back up, or is there another option? The blue stuff I have on the back now does not look good. You can see where it is not flat against the glass. Has anyone tried to paint a tank using a roller brush instead of spray paint? If I do end up taking everything down, can I get a few strong folks to help me move this beast into the garage? I would also need folks to help out with containers for the rock/ sand. There are only three small fish in there that I could place into a 14G for the time being. The snails and crabs can go with the rock into the buckets. James

When you use the table saw and router do you get any melting on the plexi? Are you using a fixed speed router or variable speed? I have used a jig saw in the past and found that if you use a higher RPM, it starts melting. I also found that melted plexi that falls on bare skin HURTS!

Funny! I was in there today hoping that more stock had arrived. Not so. They still have some nice fish/corals, but the CUC was pretty much gone. Same as Saturday.

What are you cutting the material with? Table saw, router?

Thanks Gabriel. I was thinking of getting a small 5 pound rock as well. I wanted a rock with both good algae and a few hitch-hikers and so far I have not seen any at the local stores. I may resort to begging on the ARC boards.

Hello everyone. I have an Oceanic BC14 that I want to start up. I have some dry rock and sand in there now. I wanted to know how everyone suggest starting the tank. Should I just add some saltwater and wait out the cycle? How will the cycle start without live rock/sand? I have never started a tank from all dry rock/sand. I dont want to pull any sand or rock from my larger tank due to a hair algae problem I am fighting in there. So my question is should I go ahead and add the water, or wait to get some live rock/sand before I fill it up? Thanks, James

I went in late thinking that I could get some good snails. I was wrong, everything was gone! So I walked away empty handed. So sad...

I tested the TDS in Cedar Park and got a 286 reading. This was about a month ago.

I try to stay around 80. I have my heater set to kick on once the tank drops to 78. Anything above 81 and I start manually bringing it down using fozen water bottles, but that is very rare that I get above 81.

Yeah, I did notice the $10 processing fee.

Have you guys checked out http://saltwaterfish.com/ They have FREE SHIPPING on all "live" orders over $80. I have a friend that has used them and said they were really good. Just a thought... James

Thanks John for hosting the meeting today. I was great to meet everyone and put a face with a screen name. I too look forward to attending more meetings in the future. And again, thanks to everyone for answering all my algae questions. Sorry for being the newbi amongst all you knowledgable folks. And by the way, I usually dont eat sweets, but those darn M&M cookies were good!!!! Thanks to James for bringing the list together and doing all the talking.

Is the skimmer in a sump or hanging on the back?

Yes, I agree the CUC is very limited. I do plan on adding about 50 additional snails in the very near future. Additional rock should be in sometime after Christmas as well. Thanks for everyones reply.

As of last week it was reading at 2. I have tested my fresh water and salt mix and both read 0 on the tests.