Scuba_Steve

Ive never heard of red bugs being on anything other than sps. Plus they are so small they are very difficult to see unless you looking for them, we are talking smaller than a pen point. A pic will help as it could be about a million things

I dont know why, but my wife and family refuses to buy me reef stuff. I even pick reasonably priced stuff such as a korilia or a salifert test kit and no dice.

Yes they do, kalk = saturated limewater.

Ok to keep things short A 250w setup is fine to keep anything and everything up to 24in deep. MH reflectors cover a 2x2ft area. Lumenarc reflectors cover about 3x3. So on a 4ft tank you will need a double DE fits a lil better into reflectors and gives a very slight better output. In turn they create more heat. Also they have no uv shielding, so a piece of normal glass of uv protecting acrylic must be used to not burn your retinas and sunburn everything in the tank. Electric ballasts produce the absolute best efficiency, especially icecaps (which are all electric). Some magnetics produce more light, but at the expense of much more power used, and shorter bulb life. Also you must match pulse or probe start ballasts to the appropriate bulb, where most electric ballasts will fire everything. A heatsink merely creates more surface area on the ballast for air to hit, therefore allowing more space for it to release the heat it creates.

Especially for sps, you can figure about $20 per gallon before coral and fish if you buy alot used, and make some cut corners such as buying good base rock and seeding with some live. For softies I would say about $10 per gallon. Top of the line all new stuff youll easily go over $40.

Hi everyone! First of all my name is Steve, and I live just outside of Ft Hood in Gatesville. I am in the army, and am currently deployed in Iraq, but not for much longer. Sitting at home waiting for me is a 110g Oceanic tank that will be setup ASAP. Im in the finishing stages of gathering together any equipment I dont have. I come out to Austin pretty often, and will definately be attending some meetings. Ive been keeping reefs for about 3 years now, so hopefully I can lend a little knowledge Ive aquired in my endless hours on Reefcentral, and learn a whole lot more from you all. Steve