Brian Ward

Does anyone have the presentation Matthew Pederson did a couple years back? If I remember correctly he presented on not only weaning these guys off of SPS but getting them to breed. Might be some good tips in there.

I'll try the LRS. I have some but it has such big pieces only my nem liked it.

New look with the LED I won at MACNA. It's a SanRise Pro Plus. Seems to be a decent light though the app you have to use as a the controller needs a little additional thought. It works for me but for non-techy people would probably drive you crazy just trying to get it set up and figured out. Also featured is the copperband I picked up while one of the vendors was breaking down. Haven't seen him eat yet, but his demeanor is pretty good so far.

Also you better be extremely good at parallel parking and have a small car. That neighborhood is very tight and a spot that's 16'-17' long would be considered large.

This is a bit loaded. It's all zoned parking. i believe on Saturday and Sunday they may not have zone restrictions (there are no time limits enforced on Sundays at meters, I'm sure). Wed - Fri there are definitely zone restrictions and in that neighborhood it is at least likely they run until either 8pm or 10pm. I would not count on parking in the neighborhoods. If you're coming from the east side, there is a parking garage at the Rhode Island Ave metro where you can probably get a spot esp on the weekends. I'm not sure how capacity is on the weekdays there. Otherwise, check around for other garages in the central business district. You may be able to get a spot down there for ~$25/day which is certainly less than $41/day. But either way you'll have to either use MetroRail or MetroBus to get up to the hotel.

I probably have some plumbing i can rig up and loan some tubing. I'll take a look.

I've got 1 24 and a smaller one - 9 or so. I can bring the 24. LMK if you want the smaller.

Yes it makes a difference. There have been a couple of posts. This one is probably best for you: http://wamas.org/forums/topic/50900-cheap-source-of-di-resin/?do=findComment&comment=427458 But basically, once the DI resin is depleted it begins releasing the ions with the lowest charge which are actually the worst ones for your aquarium.

Yep. Can't fit anything under it and have to bend over to look in. I always like them much higher - 36" - 40" is my preference. Just get a stepstool to help you reach in.

Sounds high unless you're going 18 SEER. 2.5-3 ton 15 SEER w 80% gas furnace and air handler should be about $5500. If you're in Fairfax/Arlington/DC I used R&B for both my and my sister's houses and was really happy. They unfortunately don't come to Loudoun.

Paying a lot for a skimmer is never worth it. We had a talk on this research too at a meeting a few years back. Basically as long as it creates bubbles it's just about the amount of air it generates. So you should generally buy on other features. A $150 skimmer works as well as a $1000 skimmer at removing dissolved organics. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/1/aafeature

set the torque on your drill to a low setting so if the bit binds the drill won't push it through, cracking the acrylic.

Nothing here.

Sounds similar to what I set up. I believe I'm running a Marlin and had to dial it back. You're welcome to come by and take a look sometime.

I thought I posted after I put the sand in but I guess not. Here are front and right side now. You can see that the algae is growing in nicely I've added a few snails and crabs but not enough. Hopefully temps will be reasonable next week and I'll be able to pick up more.

I do ecomm for a living and this is exactly why the chips are coming in cards now and the bigger retailers are moving to tokenization. Chips don't help yet for online but the websites really have to do tokenization sooner rather than later. The move can't come fast enough for me.

I believe this is my final aquascape configuration. I got the brown diatoms and now have hair algae. I need to check levels to be sure I have nitrates but I think everything is probably good. I saw an enormous bristleworm crawl across one of the rocks, there's an aptaisia and I think a zoa hitchhiker on one of the rocks. So things are looking good! I'm going to add sand this weekend (hopefully - I have to rinse some of it and it's so very cold outside). I also have to acquire a more powerful heater (currently have 2x25W heaters in the sump) that will maintain a good temp. With the cold and my sump in the basement, the tank is only getting up to 74 when the lights are on and sitting around 71 or 72 with them off. Front: Right Side:

Ok. So what do people use to clean the inside of acrylic tanks?

This is my first time having an acrylic tank. I have a brand new Mag-Float for glass tanks but I know that can't be used as-is. I've just been reading that I can put a magic eraser on the inside and clean the tank with that. Anyone ever done this with success? Do I need to put the magic eraser on both the inside and outside or just the inside? If you haven't used this are there any other ways you've modded the glass mag-float to use on acrylic? Or do I just need to buy a new one specifically for acrylic?

All Acanthurus sp tangs are too big and swim too much for a 65 IMO. The clown tang gets even bigger than the powder blue. You can probably do a zebrasoma without issue. I'm not really a tang police guy but there are certain tangs that really do need a very large 4' or a 6'+ tank. Look at the centropyge angels and wrasses as noted. These should be pretty fun fish for you.

I assume you're using the 7 and 10 solutions to calibrate with? Assuming this is true, I usually just do as you said and let it run until the numbers don't move for about 1-2 minutes and lock it in. You should initially confirm your readings with a chemical test you trust.

Finally got the height right on the skimmer so it's up and running. The display has cleared from what you saw previously though I still have to do my aquascaping. Cycle is cycling (I need to run a test and see if I have only nitrates yet). Once I get to the aquascaping - hopefully Friday or this weekend - I'll be able to add the sand. One unexpected benefit of traveling weekly for work is that it's easier to be patient and let the tank do its thing during this phase of setup

The ad says not for potable water so while that type of barrel is fine not sure that particular barrel is what you want.

Looking at a smaller tang - yellow or purple, couple wrasses, pygmy angel or two, clownfish w/ RBTA, diamond goby, watchman goby, pistol shrimp, some sort of jawfish, probably a butterfly like a copperband. That's at least my initial list, need to do a little research and ensure I get things that all stay fairly small and also need to consider bioload for actual final stocklist.

No. Planning for sand. With the tank being fairly small I can't have a lot of big free-swimming fish so I want to focus on smaller fish including sand-sifting gobies, jawfish, pistol shrimp, etc. So sandbed definitely needed Once I arrange the rock on the bottom of the tank, I'll fill in the sand around the rock that way anything digging in the tank can't knock over the rock and risk scratching the acrylic.