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The SRO XP cones are most efficient when sitting in about 6" of water, so the gate valve should be above the water line. There's a thread on RC (under vendor Reef Specialty) about these cones. I don't think these are even in the same ballpark as the old Octopus Extremes. The new Bubble Blaster pumps make a big difference. Plenty of favorable reviews.

With 600lph/21scfh of airpull and maybe a 3" neck, I'm not suprised this skimmer only slightly outperforms your Vertex. FYI, for the same money, there's also the Super Reef Octopus XP1000 cone (available in May), which has 900lph/31scfh of airpull with the new Bubble Blaster pump and a 3.5" neck. I'm putting a Super Reef Octopus XP-5000 cone on my 240g (85-90scfh airpull with a 6" neck). I'll blog my review when the time comes.

You're killing me, Gabe.

I worked at Carvel when I was a teenager. Good times. Did you know that the "Santa Claus" and the "Fudgie The Whale" ice cream cakes were made from the same cake mold? (think about it) Also, all of the hard-scooped ice cream comes from the vanilla/chocolate soft-serve machines...they just add different flavoring to them.

Chicago dogs...please. With all due respect to Chicago cuisine, their attempts at NYC food staples like pizza and hotdogs are borderline pathetic. Pizza should not be 3" thick and hotdogs were not meant to have salad toppings. Mama, was the Mr. Softee double-cone not the greatest ice cream invention ever made?

The hotdogs from a NYC "dirty water dog" street cart are quite safe. The water they simmer in contain both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, so the hotdogs don't spoil.

Why is the intake for this kind of overflow standpipe (http://www.dursostandpipes.com/) pointing downward instead of upward? Don't you need to start the siphon if it's installed this way? BTW, anyone know of any better standpipes availble anywhere? I had GreenMako's CJ Standpipes bookmarked, but the site is no longer functional (please, no DIY, I might hurt myself).

Those 50/50 bulbs are good for maybe lighting a refugium or growing some soft corals, but certainly not for growing SPS. You'll need either metal halides or T5s. Whatever light fixture you go with, the quality of the reflector(s) is the most important thing. For T5 fixtures, you'll want individual reflectors for each bulb.

Mmmmm......officially on the consideration list. Thanks!

When AT&T loses their exclusivity deal with Apple, I'll look into this. I just can't deal with AT&T.

There's OceanView. They're local (Texas). They were actually bought out by DSA last year. Jake at RCA can get you price quotes.

Since this is going to be an SPS-dominated tank, lighting took center-stage as my main area of focus. I went back-and-forth between Lumenarcs and LumenBrights. Given that this is not a particulary wide tank front-to-back (24") and I wanted to have strong PAR readings directly under the bulbs, I decided on the LumenBrights. So which ballasts to go with these reflectors? After many hours of online research and some feedback from fellow ARC members, I decided on the Lumatek 250W dimmable ballasts. They're one of the best and most popular ballasts in the hobby these days and they will allow me to use a wide range of bulbs, should I choose to experiment. My order from Marine Depot arrived today. Four ballast kits (ballasts+cords) on sale for $119.99 each (free shipping). I will be using either the LumenBright Mini's or the Mini-Wide's. If I go with the Mini's, I may even go with 5 reflectors instead of 4, but that's another decision that's a few weeks away. Believe it or not, the Mini's and Mini-Wide's actually have better PAR readings under the bulbs than the large reflectors. Marc from Melev's Reef did some comparisons, and the smaller reflectors showed better PAR readings. With the large reflectors, he suspects that the light has to travel further from the bulb to the reflective surfaces, then bounce down to the PAR-meter. Update (04/16/10): I decided to go with 5 LumenBright Mini reflectors, so I ordered another Lumatek ballast. Ordering the reflectors next week.

Well, here we go..... This 240g tank (96x24x24) was built by OceanView; it's Reef-Ready, Euro-Braced (no center-bracing), and it was purchased from River City Aquatics. Many thanks to Jake for putting up with my many requests for price quotes on various tanks in the preceding months! I wasn't going to buy my new tank until this spring, but I had an opportunity to buy this tank back in NOV09 (on my birthday) at a significant discount because of a small, cosmetic imperfection on one of the horizontal braces (minor chip/shaving). The good thing about waiting so long to start the actual build is that I've had ample time to ponder the many equipment options, as well as create the design for my custom canopy and stand. Good thing indeed, because I've changed my mind at least a few dozen times about the direction I want to go. In addition, new equipment has come out since last year, some of which I want to incorporate into the build.

I wouldn't let it get over 83. Even that's kinda high.

"You put the balm on? Who told you to put the balm on? I didn't tell you to put the balm on. Why'd you put the balm on?" ....sorry, obscure Seinfeld reference from the great Jackie Chiles.

This is why I don't keep zoas. I'm not even fond of the way they look, so why would I want to risk suffering personal injury from them? Granted, a lot of things in our tanks can cause an infection to an open wound, but these guys always seem to be the suspected culprits. Best wishes on a speedy recovery, Mama. Sell those zoas and get some SPS!

I have a few hitchhiker mussels growing on some rocks. Popped-up out of nowhere. I've seen how they aqua-farm mussels in New Zealand. The grow these huge clusters that hang from poles/rods that are suspended at the water surface.

Haha! I'm not expecting people to reveal their sources. I just wanted to give them a chance to confess and alleviate their guilt!

Who's got a secret online coral vendor? You know, one that maybe isn't very well-known, but usually has some great deals on corals....and you never mention their name to anyone?

What's going today, did everyone wake-up grumpy? This is the second forum post I've made today where somebody has taken a simple question and has made it into some kind of personal attack on their subject matter expertise. There's nothing wrong with Jim's answer. In fact, it makes perfect sense. The only question I have for Mark is if he periodically mixes the kalk in his top-off water. He's not the only person I've seen/heard do this and I just want to know if they ever mix it after adding it initially.

Maybe Mark Callahan can jump in here. He's the one I've seen add it to his top-off water.

I'm not talking about the kalk reactors that use pumps to stir the kalk, which require the kalk to settle. I'm talking about the stirrers that rotate constantly. I don't think people who use it in their top-off reservoirs stir/mix it any more after initially adding it to the top-off water. How would they know when to mix it so as to allow it to settle? If their top-off system uses a float-switch, they won't know when the top-off water would be added.

I've seen people add a few teaspoons of kalk to their top-off water. I've also seen people use kalk reactors, which gently stirs the kalk/water so the kalk doesn't settle at the bottom and ensures the reactor is always full of kalk-saturated water. Question: Why does the kalk in the reactor need to be stirred, yet nobody mixes the kalk in their top-off reservoir?

I stopped using my Fluval about 8 months ago. I used the excuse that everyone calls them 'nitrate factories', but really I liked the idea of not having to clean it and replace the media. Finally, I got sick of the bryopsis and the overall lack of real clarity in the water column, so I hooked it back up a couple of days ago. It truly does make a significant difference. I turned the lights on this morning and the water is really sparkling now. Also, the bryopsis I trimmed away doesn't seem to be growing back. Whether it's a Fluval (I just use carbon and phosphate pads) or some other kind of media reactor, I think these are important pieces of equipment.

Sounds like calcium is precipitating from the water column because the concentration is too high. You need to get those calcium levels down.