ejaustin

I was thinking I might try to build my own stand for my 145 gallon tank, but it would probably be a long time before I could get to that. Anyone know anyone who's good at building custom stands for a reasonable price? ej

Sweet tank! I love tanks that have depth of field! ej

Mike fixed me up so the new tank is now at the new house. blob7.gif Thanks so much, Mike. It was good to meet you and have a face to put with the name. ej

I was hoping to get the tank I bought from Ben moved when I did the final move to my house, but we ran out of time. I'm hoping to find volunteers to help me get the tank from Ben's house (where the last meeting was) to my house (William Cannon and Brodie, more or less). I need a vehicle that can hold the tank (48" x 29" x 25") and muscle to move it. Ben says probably any weekday after 5 would work (I don't get off until 5:30) but weekends are touch and go. Anyone willing to help? ej

Hi, everyone, Well, I've finally moved into my house. blob7.gif That means it's time to start getting serious about getting a good infrastructure for my tanks. I think the first thing I'll do is set up an RO/DI system. I think I want these features: - in-line TDS (probably before and after DI) - the ability to tap post-RO, pre-DI for human consumptiom I don't know what I need as far as capacity. (I expect to have a 145 gallon tank, a 75 or 90 gallon tank, and I will keep the 29 gallon tank I currently have to use as a QT.) I've also heard something about clear cylinders that I think help you know when it's getting to be close to time to change a filter or maybe it's the DI membrane... not clear about that. What else should I consider? Are there any brands to steer clear of? Is there anything like a standard size for the filters that will give me more options of vendors when it's time to get new filters? ej PS Ben, please check your PMs. I need to make arrangements to get the tank to my house.

Disclaimer: I don't own clowns, I just do a lot of reading. From what I understand, clowns are territorial and can be aggressive. How much varies from one species to another. Many people suggest adding the more aggressive/territorial fish last. Also, I believe all clowns have a similar sexual cycle. They start out neuter. As some point (maybe when they are about 1-1.5 inches?), they all become male. If there are no females present, the biggest baddest fish will become female (never to be male again... "terminal female phase"). Females that are forced together will generally fight until there is only one. So if you're going to invite clowns into your home, most people suggest getting a mated pair or getting 2 small ones. It's possible to introduce a male (or pre-male) into a female's tank, but sometimes you need to take precautions to ensure that she doesn't do serious damage before she decides she likes him. Again, I don't have any clowns living with me, so this is all just hearsay. FWIW. ej

The trip? Are you asking me??? That was back in May. I came home with a bit of seagrass that I kept going in, um, sub-optimal conditions for a while. When I finish my move, I'll see if any of the rhizomes are still viable. ej

I just bought a house (closed Nov 13th) and think my agent was wonderful -- experienced, well-informed, and concerned about what I wanted rather than what she would look for. I've lived in South Austin for more than 20 years. When I was looking for a house, I stayed South because I like it, even though it means a longer commute for me. But as someone else said, it depends on what you're looking for and on your budget. ej

"Let me show you my gunk! Isn't this ***cool***???" Only in the reefing community... rofl Thanks for the review, Mike. ej

Welcome to ARC! Tell us about your tank and critters! ej

This thread on Reef Central starts as something else but also has a little chat about purple caulerpa. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=969414 Lovely looking algae! ej

Sorry, Cap. Already mine. ej

And please post the essence of that discussion for all us enquiring minds! ej

Wow! So sorry to hear... ej

I don't think frags are required. As least, I hope not. At this point, I don't have any corals or anemones or any of that fancy stuff. FOWLR and some basic inverts for me right now. I do have a damsel who will need a tank of his own, and I will probably get him an anemone for company when I get his tank. And the display tank I hope to start working on as soon as I move will be designed around jawfish. It's possible I may put some corals or zoas in there, but it won't be the focus. So I suppose technically I'm not a reefer, but they let me hang out and ask all kinds of silly questions anyway. Welcome to ARC! ej

You might try putting a small mirror by the tank before you put a lot of work into a reflective back wall. The inhabitants might take exception. They don't know about reflections and will see other fish (if you have fish) and may react badly. Probably depends on the fish, but a small test run might be a good idea. Just my 2c. ej

Me, too, dude! ej

I hardly ever know enough to add anything useful. I've heard that high nitrate levels are bad, although I've never actually seen anything talking about studies that support that statement. As far as nitrate reduction goes, what I've heard recommended most often are 1. water changes 2. growing macroalgae in the sump 3. using an external deep sand bed (there's a thread on this on Reef Central, but if you want more info, I'll tell you what I can remember) Of course, everyone agrees that it's important to try to identify what the source of the nitrates are. The most common things I've heard accused of causing high nitrates are 1. overfeeding 2. bioballs (or their equivalent) in trickle filters Have you taken a water sample to an LFS for testing to validate what you're seeing? ej

Works for me here. Firefox on a winXP Pro machine tonight. ej

I think damsels were recommended before people realized that the life on live rock is enough to establish the beneficial bacteria populations, which is sort of the point of cycling a tank. I don't know of any sources that recommend this any more, though. Damsels were recommended because they are hardier than most marine aquarium fish, but the cycle is unnecessarily hard on the fish and, as Gabriel pointed out, they tend to be aggressive as they get older. You can get some live rock to add to the tank to move things along. The biggest thing in cycling a tank, though, is patience. ej

What do you love about your aquarium stand? Your canopy? What do you hate about them? What do you wish they had that they don't? I'm getting a bigger tank after I move (thanks, dark angel) and I think I'll be building my own stand and canopy. Since I'm still so new to all this, I thought I'd draw on the collective wisdom here. Once the stand and canopy are built, it won't be an easy matter to change them, as you all know, especially once the tank is set up. So I'm asking about functionality, but aesthetics as well. I know mojo's stand has doors on the side, too, which I think is a wonderful idea that I'll incorporate. And I know that little doors makes it hard to add equipment or work on it. I also want to have a refugium that can gravity-feed into the display tank. At this point I have no idea how big it will be and I don't really have a good idea whether to put it above the canopy or where (or how, for that matter). So before I go too far down the road thinking about all this, I want to know what I need to keep in mind. ej

I don't have anything educated to add, but I'm sorry to hear about the mandarin. They are cool little fish. ej

I'm interested in the tank if you can hold it until I move. I'm in the process of buying a house and the closing is currently scheduled for Oct 26. Also wouldn't be able to pay for it until this Friday, but could pay cash then. ej

Well, I think I'm going to go the multiple-tank route. I really like jawfish, but I know that Joey won't be a good tankmate for them. So I plan on getting a long-term home for Joey and then setting up the jawfish tank. From the time I put the jawfish tank in, I expect it will be 6 to 9 months before I'm ready to look for the jawfish themselves. I don't have any corals at this point. I have a few zoas that came on an overflow box I got from Robert, but everything else is pretty basic, low-maintenance kinds of critters. So I'll have at least 3 tanks: the current 29 gallon, the damsel tank, and the jawfish tank. So I'm trying to figure out the footprint of the damsel tank so I can think about placement and plumbing and that kinda stuff. It's much more calming to think about the tanks than to dwell on the terrors of buying my first house.! ej PS Andrew, can we tell the spell checker that jawfish and tankmate are perfectly good words?

I've found a house and agreed with the seller on a price, so barring foundation problems or funding problems (neither expected), I'll have a home for the human folk of the household. I plan on getting a 3' x 4' x 25" tank to feature jawfish, but I need to figure out what to do for Joey. He's my neon velvet damsel fish. I know he's destined to become a fairly big fish and crotchety on top of that. So how big a tank will he need when he's grown and who could live with his temperament? I need to start planning its location, now that I know what floorplan I'll be working with. ej