Gonzobob

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Yup nice pink tipped elegance

+1 on what Jason said. You are doing a lot right. Your water changes are a great habit to have and stay with. Probably the first thing I'd look at is feeding. One of the biggest causes of algae breakouts is overfeeding.

Basically algae occurs due to an over abundance of nutrents in the water. The best ways to address are to limit nutrents into the water and remove them (via water changes which you are already doing).

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From ReefCleaners:

<LI>Keyhole Limpets- Not all limpets are the same. Owning a limpet is like owning a snail, the species really matters. Many of the keyhole limpets are known predators, some of which feast on SPS coral.If you keep coral, only keep species limpets who are herbivorous.

+1 to Jessie,

While I'm a huge technophile and love gadgets for lighting I've pretty much gone back to using the old fashioned dial timers.

Pros:

Power failures, once the power comes back on the run as normal just behind schedule however long the outage lasted. Twist the dial forward whatever the missed time was and voila you’re reprogrammed. (I’ve used the coralife digitals but after having them fail to recover following power failures twice (and the requisite reprogramming) I don’t use them anymore)

Cons:

Less precise if you’re trying to set things to come on or go off in close sequence.

Block adjacent plugs on traditional power strips. (I have mine on squids so not an issue)

OK, to be fair (and talk on a subject often ignored) I'm in a place where I have more $ than time.

For years I've spent years borderline on having enough money to be as involved in the hobby as I've been. I've breed cichilids literally for the money to keep feeding them which has led me to always (let me restate always) plan ahead on hardware purchases. If you're at a place where your livesock is in danger waiting on the UPS guy you've done something wrong.

Sorry to be the guy to say this but it's true.

that being said this hobby (across basic freshwater, my first saltwater, cichlid, planted, south american biotype, reef ect) has taught me patience.

Research

Plan ahead

Research more

act

Have patience

OK Rob may be the weird zombie guy or not. Many of us do freshwater and reef, let us know what you are intersted in and someone will have something to talk to you about.

(of course I've just switched from bourbon to irish whiskey)

(multiple reef tanks plus one south america cichlid tank)

Aquarium calculator:

http://www.garf.org/tank/buildtank.asp

I do recommend using emery cloth or 400 - 600 grit sandpaper to take the edge off any exposed edges. While 3/32nds should be fine I'm a fan of over design. My 40 gal sumps use 1/4" baffels of course I design for a higher water level than that normally seen in fuges..

Don't worry about a fuge being too large, no such thing

As far as the glass, use h * l * w to figure out the cubic inches for the area you ar partitioning off. Divide by 231 to give you gallons. There are a number of online calculators which will give you glas thickness for that aquarium volume.

If Brian doesn't get it I'm interested.

Sold, thank you everyone for your interest.

So just pure speculation did your brains, clam and hammer heads die an item / head at a time or did they show signs of distress and gradually die. I suspect the consensus above that lack of water changes may have caught up with you is certainly likely but does the sequence of loss provide any other clues.

LPS and a clam but not zoas, nem, fish or other inverts. Have you checked your tank after lights out for any possible predation?

Two other quick thoughts (now that fans seem to be covered)

Make sure your pumps are well maintained. A good clean pump generates less heat.

Consider switching your tanks 'daylight hours'. Last summer I switched most of my tanks to lighting up about 5pm. As I keep the house cooler at night this helped balance out lights on / off temp swings.

Pending

Need it gone this weekend

New price on the 72 bowfront

72 gallon reef ready bow front $50 (new price, I need this gone!)

I'm a bit of a fan of deep sand beds but for a fowler I think I'd keep it straight forward and go with just live rock. (my 2 cents.

My preference is generally to aim for about 2 to 2.5x. Mind you that's current at the head height and with the headloss generated by the plumbing.

While there will be no deliberate current in the cryptic zone there will be water exchange. Originally I was concerned about stagnation but after some research on the subject and comparing notes with some people who have and have had successful cryptic zones it’s something I’ve decided not to worry about it. There will be current supported cryptic activities in the base level of the live rock side of the vat.

You will want to get it out of the sand and directly on rock or some other solid base. Being in the sand exposes them to more predators.

Hi Dave and Jessie,

Thanks for looking. I did the test fit without water but did the initial measurements and shaping with the vat filled. The end pieces are fairly tight in the dry tank but I won't be surprised if there's a fair amount of flow around the sides of the two end pieces and have additional acrylic if there is too much.

Looks like an aptasia anemone a nusence. Plenty of information available on getting rid of.

yup, work your way around the outside of the lid prying out and up with your fingers.

Current prevailing wisdom is 2 -4 times turnover with most in tank circulation coming from in tank sources such as powerheads and wavemakers. While the pump list is somewhat dated and limited I usually use the head loss calculator on reefcentral .

http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/hlc2.php

While that may not be the specific brand / model information you’re looking for I find it to be a good starting place.

Ok well just about ready to go live with the vat.

Picked up the acrylic from Regal. Had them cut the trapezoid shapes which segregate the return and overflow areas. I also had two rectangles cut which in the refugium area will separate the cryptic zone, macro area and 'live rock and frag grow out' area.

Cut a flow channel and teeth into each of the trapezoids for flow through the macro and 'live rock and frag grow out' areas.

Drilled holes into the blackened piece separating the macro area from the cryptic zone. This will allow water exchange with very little flow.

As I may want to make modifications later and I'm not worried about sealing each section from the other I didn't glue the component parts together. Rather I glued guides to hold the pieces in place.

Holes in the black acrylic allow water exchange without direct flow between macro area and cryptic zone

Cryptic zone showing 'shelves' which will hold up the lid preventing any light into the cryptic area.

Test fitting all the pieces except the lid.