AlexKilpatrick

I have been out of reefkeeping for a few years, but last I remember pistol shrimp were bad and everyone was trying to get rid of them. Has that changed?

Be sure and check both the WYSIWYG and the regular categories. Sometimes WYSIWYG is more expensive than the equivalent regular coral and sometimes it is cheaper.

I'm willing to be a more central pickup location (360 & 2222) if that works out better for everyone. I can be home all day if needed. I guess we have to take our chances with availability? If figure out we want X now and then on Tuesday it isn't available, then we have to come up with an alternative? Or would you refund the paypal money back? Thanks for organizing this, Mark.

Wow, do they always sing like that? That would get annoying. Cool xenia.

If you look on the two-part label, it does mention how to dose it if you are also doing kalk. I would suspect people do both because two-part is typically a once per day while kalk is throughout the day. But the fact that they mention it on the label means it isn't all that unusual. Most ATOs will only run for about 15 minutes, after which they will alarm and lock up. That prevents you from dumping a ton of water into your aquarium. I realize you are going the full DIY route, but the commercial ATOs are not very expensive. Worth it for the extra peace of mind, IMHO.

53? My house isn't that quiet. It is usually around 60.

I'm at 70 in my fish room right now. That's mostly generated by a room a/c I am using. Would be interested in hearing other's decibel levels.

It would probably cost you .99 just to drive anywhere to borrow one (and then to bring it back)

I think trying to quiet a large tank is tough. Some of the things that will help: 1) Slow down your sump pump. You don't need more flow from your return than you have coming out of your skimmer. 2) Durso standpipes (or similar) for overflow 3) Sound dampening foam over the open back of the stand does help, but will also retain heat. 4) Use pendants instead of fixtures so you don't have to have cooling fans for the MH 5) Use a submerged return pump instead of an external one (adds heat, though) Right now the majority of my noise is coming from the fans on my MH fixture. They are just noisy, but I am going to try to replace them.

Your aquarium controller is causing all these problems. Without that, you would be blissfully ignorant. Here is an interesting experiment I would do, although you may not be willing. Turn off the pump to your CO2 scrubber tonight and see if it goes back down. Otherwise, it may have been something else you did in the process. Maybe just getting more aeration was enough? It is possible (although unlikely) that just running water through an empty cannister might change things enough to make a difference. You are talking about a relatively small swing in Ph.

That seems like a lot of evaporation for a 150. I have a 150 and I get about a gallon per day, with an open top. Do you have a lot of air movement over the tank?

You don't want an Apex?

Thanks for a great meetings. It was neat to meat a lot of you for the first time and thanks for all the frags.

Actually, it is pretty amazing that this has never happened for real. I have never heard of a stand collapsing, and even a split seam is *extremely* rare. Given how much weight and pressure are on these things, that is nothing short of amazing. However, as I read your initial description, I was wondering how a collapsed tank would make your live rock "disappear"

Sorry, just $$. I can't afford $$$.

Bringing a Coralife external pump, sufficient for a 120, but never been used. Also a couple of brand new T-5 ballasts. Willing to trade for frags, and will also be bringing $$ for frags.

I have a 150 that has been set up for about 2 weeks now. It has rock that has been fully cycled (via trash cans) for a couple months. Nitrates, nitrities, ammonia, are all 0. I have a skimmer that is sized for a 225 gallon, and I am essentially getting no output. I have a 2" of so layer of "froth" but nothing anywhere near enough to climb up the neck, etc. The only thing I have in the tank right now is a couple of chromises. Is this normal for a large tank so lightly loaded?

Those are awesome. Are you available on Saturday? Please save a few of the big ones for me.

Look online for pictures of aptasia. That's the one you want to avoid. They are pretty easy to spot, and are sort of clear-ish compared to other similar poylps.

I had a full size RBTA pop out of some live rock I bought. Amazing how that happens.

This is for the sump. I basically just want a box that is to a specific dimension so I can maximize the amount of RO water I can store (minimizing the time between refills). I could just buy a simple $20 aquarium, but none of them are sized very well for the cabinet, wasting a lot of space. I would want a top as well to minimize evaporation.

There was a movement a few years ago where people were making homemade skimmers 6' tall out of 6" PVC. I even made one myself. I can't say it actually performed better, but it was impressive.

Bard -- I am considering having something built for my top-off water. How much would you charge for a simple box with a top that is about 2x2x2?

Just curious, why are you on the Austin Reef Forum if you are in Chicago? You are certainly welcome, but I always wonder why people do this. Is it because the "national" forums are too big?

From my rough measurement is is about 2X. From what I have read, there is no point in having a flow that is greater than your skimmer. I don't have any easy way to measure my skimmer output, but from what I can feel on the output line, it is a lot less than that the current flow rate of my return pump.