kingfish

Here are my assumptions: I am assuming that your return port will be lower than your water level when the return is operable. Recommendations 1. I would recommend making the return alot higher than illustrated in the figure. 2. I would also recommend making the return along one of the vertical panels. 3. I would also design the sump to take the the volume difference between your water level (during operation) to the return level. 4. To maximize living space for the mantis shrimp, I would have my overflow come up through the overflow section of the tank much liken the standard reef ready setup. I hope this helps!

Welcome to the board. What aspect of a mantis shrimp's vision are you look at and for out of curiousity? What makes a mantis vision uniquie?

I need some advice. I want to purchase a camera to take photos of the aquarium. I don't want to go above $300. I want a Cannon or Nikon or at least tthese are the camera I was told to go with. At this time, I can't see myself spending alot of money on a Digital SRL. I won't utilize a SRL enough to justify the cost. There is enought info in the follwoing threads to make a decision... Thanks in advance.

Thanks again everyone

I didn't get a skimmer for tropical lagoon. my name is rommel.

to the advanced reefers I see so many skimmers that range in price from a couple hundred to a couple of grand. My question is what the best skimmer for the buck? I would like some facts if possible. I have a 90 gallon and I plan on upgrading to a 180 gallon tank. Here is my order of importance. 1. Cost and best value 2. Quality and maufature rep and warrenty 3. Skimmer Efficency 4. Power usage How may watts does it take to operate ? 5. ease of use 6. Size

Nice set up. By any chance do you have a schematic of your layout in 2-D or a site to get info on closed looped systems. I don't know enough about the closed lopp systems to attempt a DIY attempt.

thanks for the info everyone!

Another thing about MDF is that its heavier (denser) than a compatabile sized piece of ply wood but it excellent for making speaker boxes

How does the bulb selection affect the ballast choice? I decided on the electronic ballast inorder to minimum heat and space requirments. Plus I was lead to believe that the electronic ballast are more efficent and flexiable. I really can't say at this time what bulb or temperature color I want to use as it will be based on what appeals to me in the following priority. 1. Coral Growth 6500 K not sure what brand but heard good thing about geinsemman and Iwaski 2. Visual asthetics I like the blue lighting. I intially didn't plan on using any supplemental lighting from eith a VHO or T5 but I'm still in the research phase. Thanks for all of the input. Rommel

Does anyone know where the best place to buy M80 eletronic ballast? I'm looking for a decent price of course. With in the next two months, I plan or purchasing a 2-250 W metal halide kit for my 90 gallon tank. I am only considering electronic ballast. I don't have the space for anything else. Right now, I'm not sure if i want to use any supplemental lighting as part of retrofit kit. I'm not look at a 400W halide kit becuase i don't want to the deal with the additional power usage and heat. I willing to consider used merchandise becuase I don't have the HQI fixtures at this time. Once again, this is an inquiry. I plan on purchasing the retro kit and fabricating the canopy within a month or two.

I plan on attending the tour

Are actinic lights nessassary for coral growth and development? I currently have 150 Watts of 6500K lighting over my 20 gallon frg tank. I want to set up my frag tank for growth not color. With that being said, I don't want my corals to loose any color. Would the 6500K lighting be enough lighting? Do I need any actinic? If I need actinic please explain why.

I've been having the same problem. I've controlled my lighting and feeding for the last month or more. I've added additional algae to compete and I still have the same problems. I left my lights off for 24 hours since I feed my fish every other day and evry last bit last bit of it disappeared. (By the way I have a clam as well. I recnetly begin to run the lights as normal within 9 hours they were back again. I really thinks its my buld. Now I'am waiting for a shipment of bulbs. Basically what i'm saying is that if you have been doing everything as you typically do, its seem the only paramter that changes overtime is the lighting. How old are your bulbs? I hope this helps some. My bulbs are at the approximately 7 months old.

Thank everyone for the feed back. Question for Dave I have a point of view as it pertains to diluuting the water salinity. Tell me if I'm thinking wrong here. If I added the Kalkwasser water (a volume of liguid) to my sump where my float valve operates my top off system. (When my sump level is low due to evaporation the auto top off comes on) NOW TELL ME IF I"M WRONG HERE The salinity should not be reduce unless - the volume of Kalkwasser water being dispensed is greater that the volume of water being evaporated. This in turn would cause the sump to dilute the salinity of the water - At this time, I estimate anywhere between a 1 to 1.25 gallons per a day of evaporation. I would think that 1 to 2 gallon of Kalkwasser water should last me a week. If correct I am safe to conclude that I would not have to worry about the salinity of the aquarium water being reduce? With being said Dave would you recommend the 2 part or Kalkwasser water. Once again thanks! I will definitely do this first. I am preparing for spring and summer vactions well in advance. My goal is to get the system self sufficent for 7 days.

Assumption: Let say I have a balanced Alk and calcium ratio and a good Ph based on daily maintenance. Problem: I want to maintain this balance for at least a week without have to perform maintenance while I

Just some information for everyone, I just brought a 5 in or smaller Naso Tang and he devours the brown wafer algae. The problem is being solved.

I plan on being at the meeting. As a discussion topic, 1. I would like someone to discuss the relationship between Alk, calcium, and ph. 2. Recommend the best way to maintain these levels DIY vs the purchase of equipment such as a Kal reactor or calcium reactor.

My yellow tang, snail or hermit crabs will not touch it. To answer HBH, the general name for this is brown wafer algae.

how do you get rid of Lobophora?

how do you get rid of Lobophora

Hey, I'm a new fish and I have some troublesome brown algae growing on my live rock and I would like to identify it and find out how to get rid of it. Please see the picture of this troublesome dark brown algae spots on the live rock in the link below. I fixed the link so please provide so feedback someone Whatever it is, it can't be removed with the powerheads ... or even a tooth brush without some effort. The only way I've removed it (or tried to remove) so far was to physically remove the rock, apply vinger to the location, scrub the location with a tooth brush, and rinse the whole rock with saltwater. After a couple of days most the algae in that location I applied the vinger died off. Whatever didn't die has started to regrow. It feels kind of soft to the touch and is not as brittle as the other coralline algae on the live rock.

PLease try this link again for the algae under the gorup discussion http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r114/RD...lgaecloseup.jpg

I have some troublesome brown algae growing on my live rock and I would like to identify it and find out how to get rid of it. Please see the picture of this troublesome dark brown algae spots on the live rock in the link below. I fixed the link so please provide so feedback someone Whatever it is, it can't be removed with the powerheads ... or even a tooth brush without some effort. The only way I've removed it (or tried to remove) so far was to physically remove the rock, apply vinger to the location, scrub the location with a tooth brush, and rinse the whole rock with saltwater. After a couple of days most the algae in that location I applied the vinger died off. Whatever didn't die has started to regrow. It feels kind of soft to the touch and is not as brittle as the other coralline algae on the live rock. http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r114/RD...aeCloseup_2.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r114/RD...lgaecloseup.jpg

I haven't used anything else but I'd have to second the airwaterice.com Typhoon III unit with a float shut off switch. It works fine for me. A TDS meter came with the combo. This was a gift for the holidays.