michaelg

Simon, I can bring one of each of those for you. The stag will be a nice big ol piece Any chance I can get either a frag of # 3 or # 4?

All right, here is Eric's favorite chemical shop http://www.chemistrystore.com/Chemical_index_Name.htm you can get sodium bicarb/carb there as well in large amounts. Several sizes available.

My pump siezed up after about 18 months (different type). Same problem. Some vinegar did wonders to clean it up. Some people do regular maintanance yearly. powerheads probably need it more frequently- but are less of a pain to do.

I can hit congressional Aquarium on Monday night.

FWIW, just looked through the new buckeye website. Definately a great place to pickup a new RO/DI unit. Those prices are awesome. I've been using their di resin and filters for quite some time now, but this stuff is all new. Michael

In speaking with Eric Borneman last night, he mentioned he found a place that sells reagent grade Calcium chloride for about $1/lb. I will get the info. Should be a bit more pure than the dow flake. Good to see someone is selling it now though.

are they wild caught or captive breed? Probably not a new species forsee but some sort of hybrid. A. Leukokranis (bonnet clown) are a natural hybrid, and thus quite rare. FWIW, when a friend of mine bred them some years back, the offspring were very weak.

You can look at cheap plastic tanks that are small. These can be drilled with a normal hole saw for doors. Michael

Probably not much difference. A 250 Watt heater is a 250 watt heater, no matter how you look at it. Heat is more concentrated with the HQI, and might dissapate easier with the mogul? Not sure. One problem with trying to "cool" bulbs themselves is that it can impinge upon optimal performance as they need a certain amount of heat to achieve proper temperature. Hqi is more common on open top systems but I suspect it is really a function of the housing. I have mine mounted in a canopy. For larger tanks, the lumenarc reflectors on single ended bulbs are the way to go for maximal coverage. If you look at Sanjay Joshi's articles, some of the figures depict the spread of light. With increased spread though usually comes some loss in intensity.

I use both of them. HQI more compact, less bulb options (though this is changing), and need more expensive ballast (though not that much difference unless you do a total DIY). Commercial fixture for the lamp a lot more as well. Both get the job done. In some ways retro fitting a mogul bulb is a little easier, but again, if you want a bunch of fluor lamps with it, then space becomes a factor.

probably. Originally thought to be a lithophyton, but most likely capnella. yeah- can be a weed with dropping branches.

I've looked around and have been unsucessful. The best option I found was 8 lb buckets of calcium chloride from aquatic ecosystems for $10. Much cheaper than the other calcium chlorides.

Sharon, Do you have the borneman capnella that is all over the area?

Never seen tiny black worms before. Can you take a photo of them?

http://www.masna.org/ms/winter04/newsletter.html

IMO what I would need to really show the difference in the skimmate is "smellovision". Michael

Interesting. I will try that experiment for a couple of months and see how things look. My whole point in trying it was to see if there was a difference, and I've ran it long enough now to get a feel for what the tank is like with it running- and I think I finally have other things stabalized for a change= bulbs, calcium reactor, salt mix, livestock, etc... Michael

For my smaller anenome tank that is plumbed this way, I have the pipe at an angle with a screen over it. The outside is as you describe.

OK some of you may have wondered why I haven't put any pics in the gallery- it's not because I don't have a camera. I do infact, and actually have some decent pics, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to get this very expensive computer program called adobe photoshop, to let me resize a pic and still have it look decent. Now I have noticed phtoshop has a mind of it's own some times when it comes to telling you what size things really are, but I'm a bit flustered. What settings to people use- namely, if I go to image size menu, set resolution for 72, what width/heiight should I set it for, and what size should it come out to to get it uploaded. None of the links nathan put up for other software work on a Mac. Please- don't be a smart and tell me to get a PC. I won't listen to ya!

Others have described the smell as that of a fresh xerox. Given how much people are worried about adverse effects from using too much, I run way on the low end as I don't have a direct monitor. FWIW, some of the new ones have a monitor/controller built into the unit. I do run it over carbon on the output of the skimmer, and make sure to change the carbon every 2 weeks (which is normal routine for me). Out of curiosity, any reason that you stopped running it? Or it just fell out of fashion.....

Finding a unit for $15 was a big motivator for me to try it. It's pretty easy to tell if it is workiing- the air coming out smells. The instructions that came with my unit do not indicate any source of maintanance they need. Using ozone resistant tubing is recommended= other airline hose with harden up and break eventually.

Y'up. have had one setup now for 9-12 months. Have a tetraluft airpump driving it. I don't have a controller, but run it under max recommended setting. Output from the unit goes into one of the air intakes on my AquacEV90 (older model, pre-john guest fitting). I don't have an air dryer either, which is supposed to boost performance. The skimmate is far nastier than ever before and good production. The output of skimmer hits bag of carbon, which is supposed to help with excess ozone. Mine is an older Red Sea 100 unit- bought in new condition on e-bay for $15 - I have been feeding real heavy with a new copperbanded butterfly (which he is finally eating frozen mysis) and no algae blooms at all. I still do regular water changes. Water clear, but still see the snow at night. I think Randy Holmes Farley wrote an article in the past on one of the online mags wrt ozone. Some real good discussion at RC on how people are running it- most people don't run it at max levels. Joe from NY I think started it (our lighting speaker at the symposium) or had quite a few comments on it. many people thought their water less yellow, but I can't say mine was that bad before. Perhaps some bulbs make this part more apparent. FWIW Michael

I actually made it over there today. The corals are pretty nice. Hope these shipments keep coming for a while.

Yes someone did say discount- in the same line should be emphasized WORK! Hopefully by the winter meeting we can get something together so people can start signing up for jobs. Some jobs are small and only at the time of the show, others are things help is needed with real soon.

If you have the cash- get the remora. If on a budget, find a used bakpak. In the mean time- have you tried an airpump mod on the prism?