caferacermike

Marine Depot sells them. Prices are reasonable. I'm glad to see you asked for swing checks as spring checks are no good for us. Another place to try is Ryan Herco behind the Coca Cola plant on Burnett. Prices are generally $35 from what I have seen. The nice thing about the ones on Marine Depot is that they are clear so you can keep an eye on them. This is not a Hdepot item.

I should be able to bring a truck. PM a phone number so we can chat Friday as I know more.

I should be able to make it. I have a nice cart that will hold over 1,000lbs and 4 professional Woods suction cups I can bring. They worked so well that all it took was the cups and a friend to move my 400g acrylic.

I accomplished this goal. Start with a really small piece of cap, not a large one. The weight pulls it loose. As the frag grows it will stick itself to the glass. I covered my overflow box this way using caps.

Uh oh. I bought a giant acrylic tank and was planning on getting a professional series (the really really big one) magfloat with acrylic pads for the 1" thick acrylic. The tank is 36" deep and 7 feet long, that's a lot of acrylic to clean with a sponge on a stick. Any other ideas? Any links to this "magic eraser"? Is this one of those Ronco 2:00am kind of products sold right after the "magic bullet" mixer that guarantees I will be able to fit into size 28 pants again? Sounds like an annoying ad for Oxyclean.

My friend Ezra knocks them out. I can get you in touch with him if you'd like.

The weirdest part is you probably need the chiller less in the summer. I bought a giant 1/2hp for my 75g last year in Feb when I set up my halides. I was afraid of raising the temp. Sure enough March to May seemed to get about 81F, right at the cutoff for me. The unit I bought did not come with a controller so I didn't get a chance to start running it at the time I got it. Here's the interestign part of my boring story, mid May my tank started running 77F. Why would that happen? My homes AC started running regularly to keep us comfortable. I found that I "need" (as in I never actually needed it) a chiller in those couple of months when you don't have the heat or AC on. I'm the type that likes to open my windows from Feb to April-May, and again from Oct to Dec when the weather is pleasant. It's those months that I see my temp rise. I coulda hooked you up with a 1/2hp drop in for your nano had I read your post before selling mone this weekend.

AC pumps do not like to be stopped and started for any reason at all. DC pumps can be ramped up and down. It has more to do with the way the windings around the coils are made. If you are going to use a wavemaker just buy cheap replaceable maxijets. I have a Tunze 6060 and a Seio M620 on my wavemaker but it's on 20 minute cycles. Still not good for them but that's the kind of flow I want. My other option is $500 controllable Tunze, that's not in the cards THIS week...

I am definitely with the ER crowd. That's a great little underdog and it's what I run. Check with Randall at RCA, they just started carrying them and might get you a REALLY nice deal (hint hint I've seen the deal myself) Another alternative is ASM. They make clones of ER skimmers but are getting difficult to find.

That's awesome how you can now click on the pic and see it in full glory. I still wish I could take a full frame shot from 2 feet away so you can actually see my tank.

The list above is the noteworthy list. They are the better shops in town. Alamo Aquatics has a huge selection of overpriced fish and a pathetic coral system that I am promised is going to be the best in SA next time I'm there. Yeah right. I've heard that speech about 12 times now. The nice thing about Wolf Reef is that it is right across the street from Chacho's restaurant.

DO not use Windex or any other window cleaners on acrylic. Do not use any cleaners containing ammonia. These will etch acrylic making it cloudy and hazy.

The only thing that sucks is that you super nano guys get to take awesome full tank shots. I keep looking at them and wonder how anyone with a full tank shot could ever compare to the intensity of a nano in a full frame shot. There should be a rule that says that nano pics can only be submitted in thumb, avatar, size to make it fair. /JK.

To add my bit about Randall's tank. When a person is friendly and helpful he is rewarded in life. Many of those corals are not from the store at all and are in fact gifts made from generous reefers tanks. I know that at least 2 of the pieces are frags from my tanks inhabitants. Fair is fair. I count Randy's tank as an equal. From what i've seen, I haven't noticed any super exotica in there, just a really well maintained tank. The results show nicely.

Any info on the light you posted? That'd make a really nice fuge light.

Isn't reef crystals just IO anyways? IO is meant to mix with tap water and reef crystals is designed with RO/DI water in mind. I thought that was the only actual difference. I would be interested in switching to Tropic Marin myself as I have seen tanks that run it and heard the praise. Always positive. I've never heard a bad thing about the TM. Myself I use Seachem Reef as it is considered only slightly lower on the pole then TM but way above the others. Honestly it's because I'm cheap and think I'm saving a few dollars. Then again I was also told that tropic marin actually makes more tank water then Seachem so in the end they are the same price. I have heard of one bad experience with Seachem when a member could not get their CA levels up after mixing it. They called Seachem and Seachem quickly sent them a new bucket, no questions asked.

Agreed that halogen bulbs are not right at all. They are like 2K instead of at least 6.5K. You'd never compensate for the yellow. The plan then is to stick with VHO for actinics and halides for brightness.

Sounds like the T5's won't quite cut what I'm looking for. I'll be planning upon sticking to the Mh's at about 1,000- 1,600w or so. But since you seem really excited about T5 technology I'll ask you another question. I was told several times that VHO lighting produces the highest quality actinic lighting. I'm not to sure about that as I've only had PC actinics and was marginally impressed. I was thinking about gutting my PC's on my 75 and convert to T5. This would also apply on the 400 if I switched my plan from VHO to T5. Are T5 actinics a good product? I've heard a few runors that PC actinics are more of a blue light then a true actinic bulb. I'm wondering if the same is true of T5? I was told that not many "true" actnic bulbs are made for T5.

That only makes it stronger and more valuable. I can't wait til your set up again and come to my house for frags this time. And even better yet, you decided not to leave us. We are working on Scuba Steve right now as he is threatening to leave the hobby.

Totally bogus story. I've been researching setting up a tank specifically for a blue ring. Life spans are very short, typically a year or less in home aquariums. They will indeed search for a way out so any overflows, open lids, powerheads, also they are not very tolerant of the temps we keep our tanks at, etc.... Absolutely no pics? What? Who in their right mind would not take thousands of pics? Not even the receipt for the pizza that he had to feed the State guy.

Jason, I'm in the middle of setting up a 400g tank, yes Gabe it does exist even though it wasn't at the house, I'm debating putting up 2x 250MH DE 12K side by side in one corner to hook up a 2'x3' area as my main reef "corner" with 2 more 250w MH DE in 14-20K on the "fish only" side. The tank is massive and out of my budget to to add 4,000w of halide to balance out 10wpg like I have over my 75g tank. The measurements are 7' l x 32" w x 36" h. Then I was planning to add VHO actinics wherever they will fit for color enhancement. I've heard a few people say T5 will be perfect. I'm hesitant. Any thoughts?

I am a huge fan of hellolights but locally you can support any of our sites supporters or call Fredric at www.coralreefbazaar.com

I'd look into getting a school of cardinals (bangaii are one of my favorites), a blenny or jawfish for an interesting creature, a sixline for color, and maybe a scooter blennie. All should be easy to care for and provide a wide spectrum of habits.

If it was my 20g I'd go for nothing less then 100w. My current set up is 750w on a 75g.

I'm all about going but never heard back from anyone.