rosslonghorns

Over the last week we ended up losing another Anthia and also our Naso Tang. Over the last two days, we started to notice that the Scopas was not eating any frozen food or Nori. This morning we woke up to find it was dead also. Here is the total list of dead: Three Female Anthia (one body was never found) Naso Tang Scopas Tang Everything remaining is eating and looks great. The remaining two anthias are actually starting to put on some weight. Remaining: Two Anthias, Power Blue Tang, Scooter Blenny, and two O. Clowns. It looks like the one dead Anthia that was never found has caused a small spike because I'm starting to see some algae growth on the sand. We haven't seen this since the first month during the cycle. I have the skimmer set to wet and have been running two batches of carbon over the last two days. I will replace it every few days and hopefully the system will be able to equalize from the issues it has seen. We don't plan to add anything else for at least 2-4 weeks. Also we have decided to only purchase fish from other reefers so we can ensure the health. Overall the corals we obtained from Princer7 are all doing great and have seen some growth. Very exciting. We will get some updated pics within the next week. I also moved my ATO container out from under the tank. I built a chest for it with the top to completely open. Skimmer: ATO Container / Chest:

Check out the Sponsors! Aquatek and River City! Both great stops during your trip in Austin.

That is what I thought too. I've done that twice and also allowed the pump to run in a bucket of vinegar / water for 24 hours. In order to pull skimmate consistently, I must continue to raise the water level on a recurring basis. I ended up having to even extend the pipe with regular PVC to allow me to get the water level higher. I'm not really sure what the issue is. I've cleaned everything. The pinwheel is fully intact and made sure the airline tubing feeding the pump is cleaned. No cracks or leaks in the skimmer body. I'm just confused and frustrated! The pump was is just over 3 years. It is the Sedra 5000. We will see as I'm about to the point to break down and buy a replacement as I don't want to dish out 600-800 bucks for a replacement skimmer.

I also have a 180 gallon tank with a footprint of 6' x 2' x 2'. During the setup, I was going back and forth between two or three halides. I ended up going with two LumenBright Pendants that each hold a 250 watt Reeflux 12k. Since I have two islands, it works out perfectly and overall I'm happy with it. I thought I would end up with two spotlights and dark spots over the six foot tank but the LumenBrights at a height of 14" provide enough light for the six foot tank. I'm happy with it and have seen good growth on my SPS over the past few months. Also the benefit of 14" height is minimal heat is being introduced into the tank and it gives me plenty of space to work without getting burned. I also supplement with two 4ft VHOs for actinics. I run the halides for six hours a day and the actinics one hour before halides turn on and one hour after halides turn off. I don't run them consistently while the halides are on as as the 12k bulbs are already blue enough for me.

I'm also thinking about a possible skimmer upgrade. I've heard a lot of good things about MSX skimmers, but also some negatives related to the Sicce pumps. I currently run a Euro Reef CS 8-1 and I think the pump is about dead on it. I have been having to continually raise the level inside by raising the pipe to get it to skim. Not sure if I want to buy a replacement pump or invest into a new skimmer. I was thinking about getting the MSX250 but haven't made the plunge. I'm still trying to find good information / data on the cylinder versus the cone. Is it really worth the extra dollars for the cone? I'm been looking at MSX and Warner Marine but my recent research is pointing towards a skimmer with Askoll 1500. It seems this pump has received some great reviews. I think MSX 1A offers it along with the Hurricone CAT2. It seems both skimmers are getting good reviews plus the CAT2 is like 200 dollars cheaper, so I have my eye on it right now and waiting for the K2 Warner Marine to be released to get some additional details on it.

Anyone?

Well here is an update: So far we have in the tank: Power Blue, Scopas, Naso, Scooter Blenny, and two O. Clowns. We have been looking at the Lyretail Anthias for some time and finally decided to take the plunge. Our LFS that we frequent had a few so we picked up one male and four females (2/10/09). Everything was going great and they were eating the DIY fish food along with frozen mysis. We woke up to one dead anthia and also another one missing that I could never find. We weren't happy to see this, but pulled them out. It has been the first fish we lost since taking the plunge. We added some carbon and started skimming wet.

Want to do a group order and split shipping? I need to replace my two actinic VHOs.

What material are you using to make your own?

Anyone have one available?

I agree. Could you either update the top list or post a new list of available items and updated pricing?

Colin, It was nice to meet you. Thanks for the equipment. I hope to get it fired up this weekend. Good luck with the breakdown.

Try Marine Solutions, MSX skimmers.

Sent PM on ARO ballast.

Where are you located? I'm interested in: 55 gallon plastic water drum $30

How is the Heniochus Banner Butterfly with corals? Any nipping? Also, did you have any trouble caused by the Tangs? -Justin

Well the wife made a big deal about the two black hanging pendants and as a result needed to re-engineer the hanging system. I was planning on building an aluminum rack and putting an oak veneer that I would stain to match the stand. Well after price checking everything, I ended up going with some 1x2's to build the framework and added the veneer oak. I also added space to mount two 48" VHOs in the future for actinic supplementation if needed. All in all, it turn out better than expected. I only need to add a piece of moulding to fill the gap in the middle. It is currently drying from stain and will glue it on in a few hours. I also like that now I can hang the entire unit from two points, instead of the four points I had before (two for each pendant). We also added our first fish, it was a powder blue tang. We're regretting it now since we read it should be placed in the system as the last tang, but it looks so unhealthy when we purchased it and within a few days has really turned around. We will have to add any future tangs that are much larger than him.

Ok, it has been just about a month since the last update, so decided to provide a quick snapshot. I ended up venturing into SA and stopped by Wolf Reef. I walked away with just over 100 lbs of rock. I also ended up ordering some supplies, major items including four new Maxi-Jet 900's with Sure Flow Mod Stream Kit. I hooked up everything and used the original magnets to mount them. I also picked up the JBJ Quadro Wavemaker that I will use to control the four Maxi-jets. I retired all the Maxi Jet 1200's since I read many issues running them with the mods. I will use them for misc items like mixing saltwater, water changes, etc. I also picked up the Tunze ATO and after some frustration, finally got it setup. I ended up trashing the mounts and used epoxy to attach mount to magnet. This allows me the freedom to relocate the float switches anywhere easily. I also finally made a decision on my lights. I ended up going with two Lumen Bright pendants with 250 watt 12k Reeflux bulb. I thought I would have an issue only using two on the 6ft tank, but it ended up turning out nice. I ended up going with the pendants because I wanted an open top tank. Got them hung and above the tank and got through the cycle. With everything steady and cleared up, I stopped by a local reefer, Princer7, and she hooked me up with quite a few frags. I got them all mounted and placed within the aquarium. Just Rock: Right Side Left Side

Well it took quite a bit of scrubbing and vinegar, but was able to get all the Maxi-Jet 1200's clean and the Euro-Reef CS 8-1. It was a tight fit between top of stand and top of sump, but was able to get it squeezed in and all setup. I have four Maxi Jet 1200's on the Algae Free Magnets. I plan on ordering the Sure Flow Maxi-Jet mods to add to them along with Tunze ATO.

After the leak test, everything looked good. It was time to put the stand in the final resting spot and make sure everything is level. I probably over did the number of shims, but I wanted to make sure all the weight was evenly distributed since the front part of the aquarium needed to be raised up. We're using Reef Crystals salt and used 5 bags of Caribsea fine sugar sand (~150lbs). My friend was upgrading to a 90 gallon and he gave me a 5 gallon bucket of live sand that I used on top of new dry sand. It took almost three days to get the entire tank filled up so we could turn on the return pump and check for final leaks. Equipment so far: Aquarium / Stand Mag 9.5 Return Oceanic Sump Two Ebo Jager 250 watt heaters I still have to clean up all the maxi-jets and the Euro Reef.

Well after a few years without a tank, the wife finally gave in and we decided to purchase a tank. The last tank we owned was an Oceanic 58 gallon but after a move, we ended up tearing it down and giving majority of the livestock and equipment to a friend that also had a 58 gallon going. After much discussion, we decided to go bigger and fell in love with the 6ft footprint so we could keep tangs. We ended up picking up an acrylic tank we saw on craiglist.com that was 135ish gallons (6ft x 18" x 24"). Once we got it home and began work on cleaning it up, we saw that it was very scratched. For some reason we decided to venture off to a local LFS to get some ideas for stock and found an Oceanic 180 gallon on consignment that we couldn't pass up. We purchased it, which also came with Oceanic sump, maxi-jet pumps, Euro Reef Skimmer, and external return pump. Added a picture of the leak test. We also sold the external pump and decided to go with a Mag 9.5 for return. The journey has begun!