caferacermike

Think about this, 4x 1/4" holes drilled into a piece of pipe with a cap on it equals 1". Just drill about 10 holes in a 6" piece of PVC, push a cap on it-no need to glue, and push that into your drain.

Could somebody please "update" this thread? I am interested in ordering but there is no real status on the order. I'm leaning towards $100-150 of stuff but it looks as though nobody is ordering anything. I am in for this https://reefer.powweb.com/catalog/product_i...72b2a05f4084eb1 $80 this, https://reefer.powweb.com/catalog/product_i...72b2a05f4084eb1 $40 And this https://reefer.powweb.com/catalog/product_i...72b2a05f4084eb1 $25 Are we near the free shipping mark? Where will we be picking up from? What is the actual closing date since there was an earlier threat to kill the thread. Etc....

I might be super confused here but last I checked my return line was in my tank, not my overflow. If are worried about the suction line then no it won't affect the flow. Not sure what you'll find at the Depot cause I'm not sure what size your pipe is. If you have access to a table saw or at least a drill but some nice ones are easy to make. Lower the blade to about 1/2" and make several cuts across the pipe making slits. You can also drill several 1/4" holes along the pipe. Push a cap on the end and insert it into your fitting.

The make PVC screens that you can use to prevent them from getting stuck.

From what I've read this isn't about making freshwater, it's actually about reusing the salts. Why not? Because you can consider your trace elements exhausted from the growth of your corals. This is another reason why frequent water changes with a good salt are important. The mix is supposed to recreate natural sea water.

So um whatever happened to this? I called Sunday to run out and put cash money in your hand and yet have not heard back. Might head to the Dome to spend it instead.

Is there any chance you could post pics or send them to a PM? I might be interested in buying you a new tank as a trade. I've been wanting to upgrade my 125g freshwater tank to a 220g. I might be willing to settle for a 180g.

1%? Seriously? Heck a whole new roof is generally less than $10K. What is that, $100? I'm at a loss. As was pointed out many repair companies will help offset the cost of deductible. You want something to gripe about, try buying a totally renovated home only to find out the that the house is sinking. I'm going to be out close to $20K, yet I keep right on building my 400g tank. Oh and insurance won't cover that. At least you can use your insurance. Roofs are easy to repair, I just put one on my shed. If all it needs is some new shingles it won't take much to repair it. Not to sure why you'd let such a little thing cause you a set back. Chin up, do them both.

I found a couple of pictures. Not sure where I hosted the rest. One is eating.

I have a ton of experience with them. You should see the pics of my old tank. I succesfully kept 1 for over 2 years and 3 others with it for almost a year before I had a tank meltdown. I cannot express just how much you should not get one. They are not at all easy to care for and it is not even just a matter of "hit or miss" as to whether it will feed. It is almost certain it will not. It took a lot of work and trickery to get the one to eat, but luckily if you can get one to eat it will train others to eat. You will only be considered "successful" if you can get it on frozen silversides. They may take ghost shrimp but will not last long at all on that diet. Mine fed directly from my hand, 3 silversides a day, each.

Yes the best quick fix is to toss it out and replace it with a better skimmer. I've yet to see a Prizm actually do a good job. The CPR units seem to do a much better job, better yet is the hang on tank Deltec. In the middle a small Corallife skimmer would do a better job than the Prizm. If you are considering spending money to fix it, consider replacing it.

Yeah in reality it's a big ol Ponzi scheme. For everyone of us that starts up under Cheetum we make him stronger.

Clint I agree and disagree. With his light being 10x probably 40w that is still 400w of electricity. It does make for a good spread of light but I'e also read that 10x T5 would equal to the same amount of heat created from 2x 250 halides. It's just that most people were trying to use way to few T5 lights to run their tank with. That's why I gave him props for using that many. All I asked was "how much will all those bulbs cost?"

I'm looking for pupils. http://kid-racer.mybrute.com

I prefer IceCap ballasts but they can be very expensive. I've retrofitted several manufactured lights with these kits here, http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageA...amp;ProdID=1325 . They've proven themselves on 2 good points. First the reflectors for the 150's tend to be very small. They tend to not provide much spread of the light. The second good point is that your lighting will be much stronger than when it was 150w. Not to mention that an electronic ballast is better for the bulbs, quiet, and runs much cooler than a mag ballast. If you tend to not build many things this project can be a bit intimidating. I'm willing to help as it is actually quite simple. You do need to cut the reflector down a bit as they are about 6" tall. You will need to trim out the hole in your light to fit it. Or if you don't want to upgrade the lighting to 250w, check out the price on the ARO electronic ballast is only about $5 more than the mag ballast. ANd after seeing that most places will charge you almost the price of a ballast for both the ignitor and capacitor, it might be wiser to buy an entire ballast kit.

Now see here is somebody that actually understands how to use T5 lights. You always hear about somebody thinking that 3 T5's is plenty for their 75g tank..... Looks nice. 5Have you priced out how much more expensive it will be to replace 10 T5 bulbs rather than a couple of halides?

Try Prof. We got in a bunch of hermits and emerald crabs awhile back.

They've left the zoas and mushrooms alone that I have in that tank but I'm not aware if they are reef safe or not. I've not been told they are not. If you know whether they are or not, chime in.

A quality salt mix will stabilize with parameters that will mimic natural seawater.

In my little octo tank it can be difficult to clean it well. About a week ago I got a huge mat of cyano bacteria that covered almost the entire sand bed. I did a large volume water change (about all I can do to clean the tank) but it was still there a few days later. Well most of the shops in town have been out of peppermint shrimp all week so I bought 3 camel shrimp from the Aquadome to feed the octos. Within 24 hours almost all of the cyano was gone and I sat there watching the shrimp feed upon it. They would eat it up and leave clean sand behind. Not exactly a scientific study but if you've been battling the cyano you might give them a try. My calculations were 1 shrimp per 2.33g of water to clear it up overnight.

I agree with what most of AZ has said but I'll add my $0.02 here. "9. Fill tank with some pre-mixed salt water. You'll need to guesstimate how much water you have in the cooler/LR buckets as you want to retain as much tank water as you can. I also like to try to get the new salt water as close to the old tank water temp as possible." In all the tank moves I've made I've always replaced 100% of the water with new. It's easy enough to mix it up at the new house a day or so in advance and have it ready there. You probably need to do a water change anyways and now you will be disturbing the entirety of the tank. The water will hold all that waste and detritus that you disturb, not to mention that it already contains all the necessary components to create a spike in ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I've had great success in moving tanks and using only new water. I believe that it helps to lower the stress of the animals when placed into what amounts to a clean new home. On a human scale how many of you have chosen to buy new living room furniture when you move into a new house? It just feels good to move into a clean new home with new furniture doesn't it? Kinda helps take some of the stress of the move away and let's you relax a little not sitting on your musty old couch.

And you are 100% sure the bulb is still good? Recently I bought 2 new 250w DE bulbs and about 10 days later one quit firing. The problem was almost microscopic but for some reason there was a little pit on the firing pin that prevented the bulb from lighting up. You might want to borrow a bulbs and test that as well. There might also be a built in fuse somewhere you can check. Halide ballasts themselves don't normally just quit. They seem to begin making a lot of noise, especially the magnetic ballast in your picture, buzzing to be precise. That can last years before the ballast actually quits. Also you may notice a lot of flickering from a bad ballast. You might take the light around to one of the light shops along Burnet road and ask them to ake a look at it. It;s very possible that the problem is simply the starting capacitor being burned out. If you decide t replace the ballast you should really consider going with electronic ballasts. They are silent, last longer, use less electricity, and can over drive bulbs. I've converted several 150w fixtures to 250w units using the generic 250w electronic ballast with hanging pendant kit from hellolights.

I've not run heaters in over 6 years on several tanks. Not to sure why folks still insist upon using them. This is Texas after all. I wake up in the morning and my tank has never been lower than 77F.

I'd be interested. Please PM me with infor to reach you at.

All 3 are very much alive. Bummer that RCA and the Tek were both out of peppermint shrimp today.