reefman

...to pull out the pieces and remount them in a canopy? I'm wondering how much trouble it would be to do so to my Outer Orbit, since I have a canopy for the tank, and I might want to add either more T5 420nm Actinics, or replace the ones that came with the Outer Orbit (You have probably seen my comments about the 420nm/460nm Actinics that came with it that I don't like. Wondering if this is doable, and how much trouble it would be? Stephen

I'll check both places, but only thing I can find for a dual 48" (which is the same ones that came with it) are the Sunpaq's. I guess its so far there isn't enough of a market for that lamp to get others to make one for it. Stephen

OK, thanks. Stephen

Should I leave them, or wipe them away? Not sure that these aren't from those black Nassarius snails that are in the other thread. Stephen

Is this an snail egg trail? Stephen

I'm just down the road off 183, between your shop and John's apartment, off the Oak Knoll exit. Would love for you to come by to take a look. If you can't, will try to bring pics (I don't have a digi cam). Stephen

Will do. Stephen

Can't. The only bulbs that fit that Outer Orbit are the Sunpaq duals, which have the one 420nm and 460nm. I suspected the 460's were the culprits all along. Will putting more 420nm light into the tank get me more blue and fluoresce? Stephen

Thanks for clarifying, John. "The Dude abides." toothy9.gif Stephen

Does skimming wetter remove more nutrients (from feedings) - in other words, a good thing, because it keeps the water at a higher quality? Stephen

When people say they skim heavy, or use heavy skimming, what does that actually mean. Can you set a skimmer to skim heavy or light? I thought you tried to get the skimmer to perform "optimally", which is to produce as dark an effluent as possible. Stephen

OK. Stephen

Thought I would start a new thread to give an update on the battle I'm waging with high Nitrates in my Corner Tank. First of all, thanks to everyone who gave input and ideas. You will see below that I have taken several of the suggestions posted. Also, my apologies for the length of the post, but I feel like I need to cover all the bases. As of now, my Nitrates as of a few hours ago today are still somewhere between 20 - 30 ppm. This is after two 35% - 50% water changes, waiting a week, and doing another 10% - 15% water change. Last Saturday, after the last big water change that I did Friday night, I tore the sump apart (I just happened to discover that my Exquisite Wrasse must have jumped into the overflow. In the process of trying to grab him (he came out of the discharge hose from the tank), he fell into the sump. So I tore the sump apart trying to get to him to save him. I did finally get to him, and he was still alive at the time, but I haven't seen him since and am figuring he died later in the tank.) So since I have already pulled stuff out of the sump, I went ahead and did some cleaning. What I noticed in the process of getting the Skimmer out, was I had about a 1/4" of sediment in the bottom of the sump. I got my siphon stuff out and started doing a water change, sucking up the sediment as I went (this is the 10% - 15% water change mentioned above). I then went after the first chamber where the bio-balls were, and this is where I got surprised. This chamber consists of from top to bottom: bio-balls, two burlap looking bags that appear to be filled with argonite, then another layer of bio-balls. I know I had mentioned replacing the bio-balls with live rock, but when I found these burlap bags I decided to shelve that idea until I had a chance to post this update on the forum. I did pull out all the bio-balls and burlap bags and rinsed them off/out with tap water. I also made sure I sucked up all the sediment in the sump, and rinsed out the sponge/filter that is the last stage before the water moves to the last chamber to be pumped to the chiller and back to the tank. In addition to these other steps I pulled the Tunze Skimmer out, ran it through a solution of white vinegar and water for 12 - 14 hours, ran it more through several batches of tap and then RO/DI water (to make sure I had thoroughly rinsed out all the vinegar) and put it back in the sump. I had thought that the sediment I found had to be the source of my Nitrate problem. I was mistaken. The only thing that seems to have had an affect on the Nitrates are the very aggressive water changes, and those only to the affect of somewhat less than the volume of water changed. I know I have said this before, but with a 90 gal tank, and over 200 lbs of live rock, plus a sump, I'm pretty amazed and frustrated that I am still having this problem. Here is what I still think I should do, in the order I should do it in (please, please feel free to add or change the priority I have these listed in): --Change out the bio-balls and burlap bags with live rock/rubble --Re-seed the de-nitrifying bacteria with Fritz #, or whatever its called (have done this before, but seems to only work temporally. Although if I'm going to replace the burlap bags and bio-balls with LR, seems like a logical step). --Continue 10% - 15% water changes --Add/try AZ-NO3 Nitrate Eliminator: http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp...dproduct=CP2151 (my problem with this is that is seems like a temporary solution, not getting to the root of the problem) --Any micro-algaes that soak up Nitrates, like Cheato or Culpera????? --build a Coil Denitrator from DIY plans (Since I finished to overflow, sump, skimmer, chiller, tank loop I'm feeling a little more confident in trying to build something like this). Here are the pans I would probably work from: http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/nitrateco.../a/aa092702.htm. Any one with a better set of plans and/or easier to understand please speak up. --Purchase the sand bed Vac from Ancient Mariner: http://www.ancientmarinerinc.com/acquarium...avelvacuum2.htm (seems risky and expensive, but if it works could obviously use it over and over again. Also, would rather do this than sand bed exchange). --Sand bed exchange (last, last, last option. Have been reading the thread on sand beds on this forum. This to me seems like a complete breakdown of the tank, which puts numerous corals and all my fish at risk.) Like I said, anything additional or if I seem off, please pipe in. Stephen

Good. Thanks John. Stephen

I picked up a used Coralife T5 fixture, and was thinking about adding it to my wave tank. I currently have an Outer Orbit fixture on that tank. It has two (2) dual actinics (one 420nm, the other 460nm). We feel like it washes out the blue color, and would like more blue and coral fluorescence like my corner tank does. Can there such as thing as having too much actinic light on a tank? The dual T5 actinics would be in addition to what the outer Orbit is putting out. Stephen

OK. I got some of these from eBay some time ago and now have them in both tanks. It's obvious I should never get any more, but my question is what I do about the ones I already have? My observations have been if anything, they don't die off prematurely, but reproduce like crazy. I started with about 70 in the Wave tank, and over a period of time have moved about 30 into the corner tank. I have not seen any ill affects in either tank. In the wave tank, water quality on the big 3 has been and continues to be 0 ppm. I also have a ton of "other" life in the tank that comes out at night (what appears to me to be worms, sideways shrimp, cocopods (sp?), etc.). I am concerned about them "decimating" other populations, since I just added a Mandarin to the Wave tank this weekend (specifically because of what I see after the lights are out, we felt we had the food population to support him). So far he seems fat and happy, and we have seen him eating things off the live rock. Should I start to thin them out? It would be pretty easy, cause they do like to get on the glass, and anytime I feed the sand bed looks like its erupting from them coming up (which I thought was beneficial to keeping the sand bed clean)> Stephen

John, I was told the Velvet's eat nothing but flat worms (doesn't mean it was the same species) and will literally starve to death once the flatworms run out. Of course I could be wrong, but I was thinking about buying one or two, and that information is what changed my mind. Stephen

So, so sorry to see what has happened. Its a huge learning experience for the rest of us. We all need to get crazy about dipping new corals, and something I especially need to get consistent about it. Have you thought about trying Velvet Nudibrach's? Steve at Horizon pets had two of them this weekend. Stephen

I actually have (or had, not sure if it still stands) an offer to purchase it at what I thought was a pretty good price. My plan was to pull some of it out for myself, and part out the rest. If I act in the next day or so, I could probably still get it, but I don't know the person, and I'm always so behind and tired from trying to keep up my two tanks I'm not sure I want to go through the hassle. If I do decide to go with it, though, I will post the parts I'm going to sell in the "For Sell" forum here first. Stephen

Please let him know we recommended him and the product here on the forum. Stephen

renman303, The wavemaker at Austin Aquariums is the Wave2K like I mentioned I have and really like. Mike, What did you want to know about it? Sorry if I didn't respond, thought I did. They have a little movie on their website that shows it in operation. You are also very welcome to come by my house and take a look at mine if you wish, too (warning - its this same tank that I'm trying to get the Euro-Reef skimmer going on ). Here is their website URL, so you can order online if you don't want to order through AA (he just orders it himself). The inventor/owner is a great guy to work with. http://www.wave2k.com/index.htm Stephen

I've been very happy with my Wave2K. Makes a true back and forth wave, motor sits outside the tank so no heat added. Might be too strong for a 55 gal, but I think he makes a smaller unit than the one I have on my 90 gal tank. Stephen

I'm Impressed! Stephen

Well, I got everything set up tonight, hang on overflow, to temp sum with the new Euro-Reef skimmer, Mag pump pushing out of the sump to the chiller (also new as part of this new set-up), back to the tank. The E-R skimmer is running and making a lot of bubbles, but no foam crawling up the collector cup yet. It's been running (apart from turning things off to test sump levels and things like that) for a least a couple of hours. Does it take a while to start making effluent? I'm also getting a lot of micro bubbles back into the tank. Will that settle out? What level should the foam ring (water level) be in the skimmer body? To just below where the rubber ring is where the collector cup connects? As always, any help would be appreciated. Stephen

Mike, What was the silver cylinder looking thing you were holding? Not sure how much y'all were joking about the glasses, but Mike correct me if I'm wrong, the ones you had are pretty expensive? As an alternative, if anyone is really interested, you can get a Mag-Visor that will give you the magnification for around $30 - $40 at most better hobby stores (I would recommend King's Hobby on Lamar). You can beat that price on the Internet by $10 - $20 as well. Finally, Fishypets mentioned a good dip and quarantine procedure for new corals. Could someone outline a good step-bystep process for that for us newbie's, including any recommended brands (know of Lugol's and saw Tropic Marin mentioned)? Stephen