muddybluewater

Hmm....what do I have to buy my wife to get away with a vivid order

For a 72"long tank that is 29" tall you would probably want to go with 3x 400w. if you put a 4" sand bed in it you might could get away with 250W, but when you get over 24" you need to go up to the 400w. I would recommend Lumenarc reflectors over a all in one fixture, you will get much better light dispersement.

I want an idaho grape. Will pm

congrats, btw

Can you post a FTS? What kind of reactors do you have for sale?

guess I should have been more specific with the lights. I also like Lumenarc reflectors, they are 20" that only leaves 3" spacing with 3 400W. You could go with the Lumenarc III mini at 14.5" and use 4.

Anything over 30" it is recommended to run 400w mh. You would want to have 3x400w for a 72" tank. I don't think it would be a good idea to put an anemone it this tank with only T5's. Zoas can be placed in many locations in the tank but with 400w you would probably want to stay in the bottom 2/3.

Try to keep the bulb about 3-4" off the water (again this is from Melev's)

My fuge is about 12x18x12. I think is is 27w. It is a 100w equivalent in a r40 fluorescent spot light bulb. They are marked as daylight bulbs, blue packages.

I buy it by the gallon it is definitely a equipment saver.

Congratulations.

I usually let mine get to the size of a basketball and then pull out about 3/4 of it. I use a clip on light from Home Depot with a 5000K bulb. Melev's recomends a 5100K but anything from 5000-5500K should be fine.

Welcome. The diatoms will go away with time. Try to do 10% water changes for several weeks to replace the original water with ro/di.

I am very happy to say I can't win this contest. Thanks for the thread John and the sponsorship.

I would like the green apple. I will PM

I would recomend Minwax Helmsman spar urethane, It is in a green can. There is also a man-o-war in a blue can but it dries much slower and you need to wait 24 hour between coats. It should be about $15 for a quart.

You can get marine poly at Lowes. It is kind of deceptive by the name it really is not much different other than it has a uv protectant. It will not hold up any better to moisture than regular poly.

I wouldn't run it without the glass. Your fish don't need it any way, but the uv might give them a good tan.

UV lighting makes both 12k and 14k bulbs that would be more blue than yellow. You will slow down your growth slightly but I think you will like the color better. Reef Geek and Hello both have them.

Try some frozen Brine with spirulina. Everything I have eats it very well.

If you squeeze enough lemons eventually you are going to get a squirt in your eye.

I use a mag12 return pump and use the sponge block to catch any pieces of chaeto that break off. I just clean it real regularly to keep nitrates down as much as possible. I also have a split sump now but was running a sump like you have. I liked having the fuge in the middle to keep the skimmer as far away from the return pump as possible. That helped keep micro bubbles from making it back to the display. I also have a piece of egg crate siliconed on the top of my baffle for my fuge now. I have used poly fiber in the past and it caught all of the small pieces of chaeto.

When you do water changes you need to work with the total water volume so your 10% changes, from what you have described would be 10 gallons. A sump is just extra water and a place to put other filtration, IE. a skimmer or reactors. Arefugium is a section to grow macro algae and some people use them for a Deep Sand Bed (dsb) if they do not have one in the display. If you do not have a protien skimmer it is highy recomended that 50% per week water changes be done. This will remove the waste that would other wise be removed by skimming. I feel that a good skimmer is one of the most important parts of any system. I highly recomend Coralvue's Octopus skimmers they (IMO) are the best for the money. For 100g total water volume you should look at a skimmer rated for around 150g.

I wouldn't do a 20% change for your first one. I would suggest 10% a week for the first 2 weeks and then get on at least 10% every other week schedule. If you have not been doing changes a sudden change in the system might cause problems

What a waste, I will stick with my 40g sump that cost me a total of $50 with baffles. From what I have read canisters are a breading ground for nitrates and really don't have a place in a reef tank any way.