Brian Ward

The semi-auto water change system is quite nice and goes with the built-in RO topoff system. This system really is built to be minimal maintenance and maximum enjoyment!

Oh wow Bob, this is yours!?

If you run it externally, be sure you use the proper valves and unions to avoid a flood for whebn you need to service it. Running externally will help with heat but I always found them to be noisy when run externally.

I was actually there last Friday and will be there this Saturday as well. Sad to hear that it's going.

I've ordered the filter bags on multiple occasions. I've used both felt and mesh and found that the mesh ones wash a bit easier to clean. Usually about 150 micron is good. Change them once a week and then turn them inside out and run them through the washer. I would actually keep a bag of about 20-30 on hand and rotate through those (2 at a time) and wash them in bulk every couple of months.

Have to say I love AWI. I've had to call them on a couple of occasions and their customer service rivals the customer service for some of the premium brands I've dealt with (outside the fish hobby). They will do pretty much anything to help you out, even sending parts with no charge - not even shipping! Based on this experience, I can't imagine trying anyone else. If you have a config you really like from somewhere else, call and talk to them about it. I imagine they can figure out something similar for you.

Nitrates feed algae growth and are the result of bacteria converting ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate. Nitrite is really bad and must always be 0. Ammonia should also always be 0. Nitrates, as Sharky mentioned, can fluctuate but most inverts can only handle so much of it. SPS need it to be around 0 while others can tolerate more. Macro algae will help to consume nitrates and adding a fuge with macro algae will likely help. However, it will not necessarily solve the root of the issue and prevent other algae blooms. Algae blooms (especially HA) is usually the result of nitrates getting out of control. You must remove the detritus from the tank to minimize the amount of ammonia available to be converted to Nitrite and then to Nitrate.

Hypo and/or copper are the only things that will really help. You have to catch and QT. Bring the salinity down to about 1.010 or 1.008. That will both fight the ich and help the fish have enough energy to fight it himself. Look for an Advanced Aquarist article on hypo therapy for exact protocols. Be sure it isn't velvet! They can be confused and velvet thrives in hypo. Copper is equivalent to chemo for fish. Use it as a last resort. Also, all of your fish now have been exposed to ich as it is living in your tank. They must all be treated and your tank must sit fallow for at least 6 weeks. If you introduce new fish prior to this (or add the infected fish back) then the ich will still be in your tank and the new fish will be infected.

Really depends on the size of the tank. Mixing with your topoff water can be dangerous b/c your evap rate will vary throughout the year while your kalk consumption (actually alk/ca) will vary by the size and variety of corals in your tank. Would recommend going with a kalk stirrer or doing 2-part with a dosing pump to ensure control over how much is going in. Dripping is extremely prone to human error as you've noted. Whenever I've heard of people dripping kalk, it has always been a 1-time mix and drip while watching/monitoring the tank only.

Here's how nice it could be .... http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/totm/index.php

Since you're converting from 10k with supplementation, I suspect the 20k PlusRite will work for you. If you were switching from Radiums I'm not sure the PlusRite would ever be blue enough.

But if joists run front to back the. The 2nd position along the back wall of the living room should be fine.

That's about right. Remember it's not a point load and you should place it across the floor joists. You can probably assume a uniform weight distribution across the 4' span.

I don't think not understanding proper husbandry is the problem. Unfortunately, I think they don't care as long as the money keep flowing.

I was assuming the $50 also covers loss. That's the only thing that would make sense is if they lose a box of stuff.

$50 per item? That's ridiculous! The only thing I care about their insurance for is my really expensive stuff. I think each of my pair of jeans is more than $50 to replace ...

I always stopped making water and changed all my filters at 4 though i really don't like it higher than 2. With SPS, I generally hear anything more than 0-1 is unacceptable. Though you'll need to weigh that against your actual water quality (NO3, PH4, etc.). If your NO3 is getting high and you absolutely must have a water change, may be better to do the water change with 4 TDS than to continue with high NO3.

You need the Apex on the same port you opened on your router. 80 and 25 are always blocked on a home-grade internet connection (they're the ports for HTTP and SMTP). The router just forwards the request as-is. It doesn't recast the request from port 9900 to port 80. So if you opened 9900 you need to set your Apex to respond on 9900. URL will be: http://<yourdomain>.no-ip.com:9900/

Gaming adapter is the same thing as a bridge. There is no functional difference that I can determine.

If you only need to connect the Apex to your wireless network, then you can get a wireless bridge. Generally the software/firmware that comes with a router will not allow you to use it as a bridge (there's no hardware limitation, just software). If you're not super tech-savvy then you'll want to just buy a wireless bridge and hook that up. Should be $20 - $50. Shop around until you find one that's no more than that. If you're trying to do something more than that, then let me know and I can point you in the right direction.

Not sure about LFS. HD and Lowes definitely do not.

You can't but a mod can. Let us know what you want it to say and someone can change it.

There is a large tank at the Museum of Natural History. A very small aquarium in the basement of the Commerce building (officially the National Aquarium) but the big one is in Baltimore, as smallreef mentioned. There are quite a few good LFSs but none of them are near downtown DC. All are about an hour to 1.5 hours outside the city.

don't have submersible but i still have that external one you sold me

I suppose this could be possible. Not sure if you'd get enough flow through the skimmer. Also, the skimmer is a form of physical filtration just like your filter socks. You really want the filter socks to filter out the large particles and then use the skimmer to bubble out the dissoved organics.