Brian Ward

Bob, You can probably get a siphon going for a while. So it mostly depends on how much siphoning you need to do. I like the small powerhead idea, personally. Get one that has an intake you can attach a tube to, put the pump in the waste bucket and suck from the sump - same idea as the shop vac, but your sump is so tight I think you'd do better with small tubing instead of the shop vac. ~Brian

So my Picasso Trigger was dead yesterday morning when I got up. It was the only fish in my 120 - set up as a FOWLR. Parameters: SG: 1.023 pH: 8.3 Ammonia: 0 Nitrate: 0 Alkalinity: 4 mEq/L Calcium: 255 mg/L It had been in my tank about 2 weeks and appeared very happy and healthy. Active swimmer, good eater. I left Thurs afternoon to go to the VT game and fed him just before I left. When I got back Friday afternoon, I couldn't find him anywhere so I added some food to the tank to try and draw him out. No response. I eventually found him "locked" between a rock and the overflow and looked like he was sleeping - no signs of stress, still breathing, I figured since the lights were off and it was dark in the room, he was just asleep. I looked later and he had moved from there to under another rock - again "locked" into place. No response to food. When I got up the next morning, he was on the sand bed. The only thing that is unusual - there is a hole in one of my rocks that occasionally shoots a white cloud into the water (I'm assuming something is living in there). I have no idea what this is, but is it bad? Could it be a toxic chemical that killed the trigger? Ammonia was still 0 even after the trigger was dead, so I'm thinking my bacteria levels are good. Triggers are typically extremely hardy fish so I'm trying to figure out what the problem is before I try to add anything else. A Majestic Angel was actually going to be my next fish, but it's way too expensive if I can't figure out what was wrong here. Any ideas?

Have you been there lately? I called and the voicemail says they packed up and went back to Jersey.

There used to be a place in Alexandria but they closed. I think I remember seeing places in Richmond and Winchester.

Piedmont Plastics in Greenbelt is the only place I've found. Call ahead with your order to make sure they have it - and if you can't haul a 4x8 sheet they can cut it down for you with about a day's notice.

Where do we get plastic clamps to supplant metal ones, please? Are they just plastic rip ties? As long as the clamps aren't submerged don't worry about going plastic. You chose stainless so that will even withstand the salty air for quite a while. If the problem is that our flow is too fast... what to do? 1. Socks/filter bags on 2" intake pipes: do they help or hurt? Don't block your intake with anything, you can put filter bags on the drain side going into the sump but I don't think that's going to solve a whole lot. You definitely need to dial back the dart to slow the flow through your sump - running the water through there so fast isn't doing any good anyway. this is actually why the closed loop and the filtration loops are typically run by separate pumps - you want flow through the sump at 5x to 10x per hour, the closed loop supplements that providing flow as high as 50x per hour for demanding sps (though that seems like overkill to me). You may want to look at providing multiple inputs to the dart - one for the closed loop, the other for filtration? I'm not sure if that'll work but it's something to think about. a good idea that I'm definitely going to do on my sump this weekend is to put an elbow facing down on the inside of your bulkhead to draw the water from the very bottom of the sump. 2. Filter material below the surface level of the last overflow baffle to retard bubbles from dropping down to where the pump sucks them in? If you put filter material near the intake for the pump it's probably only a matter of time before the pump sucks it in. I wouldn't recommend it. I think your best bet is to dial back the flow and see if that fixes the problem. if it doesn't and you're not seeing any micro bubbles in the sump then you probably have an air leak somewhere else. Also - don't trust a check valve, it will eventually fail. It sounds like your siphon return is a disaster waiting to happen. Look into supplementing with additional hang-on overflows - you need a siphon break based on physics rather than mechanics.

Look at what he quoted, it's from another post he made.... and the tank is very beautiful in person, as is the house! Bob is quite the host, and he has by far the QUIETEST tank setup I've ever seen. Codium AKA dead mans finger algae is also known as green fleece algae or green finger sponge algae. It is a slow growing algae that is very pretty and stable in my tank. It took me a while to find out what this stuff is. I have finally had to do some harvesting. Tangs will pick at it a small amount but really dont eat much. This algae grew from my Marshall Island rock when I set up my tank and I think it is the best "extra" I got with living rock. My next project is to try gluing some pieces on rubble and see if I can grow out some other colonies...... but if there is no interest this may just be for fun. I would like to share my bounty if anyone is interested. I like the look of a landscaped tank and this stuff is great because its like a slow growing tree. It doesnt shed, drop leaves, make a mess and it slowly grows lush and full. I does not do much for nitrate export. So.... any one else growing this or know of it?

Start looking for government jobs (I swear there are gov't jobs for EVERYTHING) but getting hired takes forever, university research, nonprofit, baltimore aquarium is an option. On the MD side, most of us go to either Scales or Aquarium One, VA side is Blue Ribbon Koi, Fins & Feathers or Marine Scene. If your wife has a job in the district you should consider living as close to DC as you can afford - or as close to a metro station as you can afford. And don't forget that it's a really long way to ride from one end of the metro system to the other (http://www.wmata.com). Don't know if you heard but we're ranked #2 in the country for worst traffic! Avoid it at all costs or all your money will be spent on gas and all your time sitting in traffic - instead of all of both disappearing into your water box

mushrooms, zoas and other softies are all fine with virtually any lps. some people recommend against mixing leathers with sps due to the waste they produce.

Call Johnny at BRK to see if he has one. I bought his last one a couple weeks ago, but I imagine he's replenished. His price is as good as any internet price you'll find and worth the drive. ~Brian

A good place to start for everything you wanted to know about protein skimming: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/fm/feature/index.php

15X is probabably too much flow through your sump and way too much through the fuge. scale back the flow rate on your filtration loop and make up for it on the closed loop. i wouldn't add an extra pump for the UV, just split the return to the tank, 1/2 through the UV, 1/2 not and split the output of the UV before returning it - that will still get you 4 returns, but you only need 1 pump.

It's a tiny little shop you'll drive by 3 times before you realize it's there - even when you're looking for it. Parking appears to be scarce, that's why I never stopped. http://www.tropicallagoon.com/

Bob, Take a look here: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-08/dc/index.php No trigger is considered absolutely reef safe. That article gives some good info. ~Brian

From your list: 1- Filter Sock - mechanical filtration to remove particulate from the water - absolute necessity 2- Refugium - removes phosphate and nitrate from the water providing nutrient export to prevent algae 3- power heads/wavemaker/closed loop - additional circulation in the tank. since you are running PCs you're not going to have SPS so high circulation and randomness isn't as necessary 4- ATO - you'll get so tired of topping off every day 5- kalk stirrer - helps maintain alk and calc in the system, but for a softie and fish tank monitor your usage before investing 6- automated controller - nice to have, cycles the lights and does some other things for you. very helpful for managing hard to keep corals and fish but not necessary You won't need the calc reactor unless you upgrade your lighting and start keeping SPS - dosing calc should support your needs. Co2 goes with the calc reactor and mostly just drags your pH down - the fish will produce enough of this for you. Ozone is still a bit experimental - don't do it without an automated controller and ORP probe. Phosphate remover/phosphate reactor/media reactor can be used before you set up the fuge. most people i've heard about get sufficient phosphate export from the fuge.

For power consumption, looks like the Iwaki 100 draws 3.4A (approx 408W) and pushes 2136 gph with a max head of 39 ft. The hammerhead has an average of 335W (looks like peak is 380W) with a max head of 23 feet. http://www.iwakiamerica.com/products/wmd.htm http://www.reeflopumps.com/flowbiasedpumps.html You might also want to look at these if you still want to do a single pump for everything: http://www.reeflopumps.com/flowpressurehighspeedpumps.html

I agree, looks like a true perc. true percs are more agressive than the false ones. mine just recently started attacking my hand anytime it's in the tank. might be something that comes with age.

I also like the Sequence Reeflo pumps. Depending on head pressure, elbows, etc you may want to consider one of their pressure rated pumps. Reeflo pumps can all be throttled back to use less energy, so I'd probably buy the biggest one they make and throttle the outputs to suit each device.

Looks great, I really like that manifold design. I'm also wondering if that's the return from your filter or if it's a closed loop? I'm sure you thought of this, but if it's the return be sure there's a siphon break.

I'm planning to head up to Piedmont Plastics this afternoon (http://www.piedmontplastics.com) around 2. I'm picking up some Weld-On #3 & #16, sheets of acrylic, and a couple other tools/supplies. If anyone would like me to pick up something (I know Weld-On is popular and hard to get) please let me know and I'll be happy to do so. Pickup would be at my house in The District. ~Brian

Definitely do NOT use silicone. I just finished cleaning up a bulkhead mess where that was done. Make sure the surfaces are clean of all debris, wet the gasket before installing and use a bulkhead wrench - hand tight isn't quite tight enough, but do not overdo it. The MegaFlow kits ship with a small bulkhead wrench that will work and still keep you from over tightening. Home Depot also sells a bulkhead wrench for $7.50: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores...ocStoreNum=2583 Don't crank down on it with this, but if the bulkhead nuts are in good shape, this should do it for you. ~Brian In case the link doesn't work, this is the description: T162 x , 1-3/4 In. 2 In. 2-1/2 In. Capacity Plumbers Wrench Model T162 X

I'm going to have to agree. I know my sump rises 6-8" when I kill the power.

I'm going to 2nd another MH. 3 on a 6' tank is pretty standard. Next would probably be a kalk reactor - the calcium reactor is very expensive, so I'd go with the kalk and dose extra calcium if you need it for now. ~Brian

If the white and actinic have separate plugs, then they are wired independently. A lot of people like to do a sunrise/sunset effect and, in your time scheme, run the actinic 10am-8pm and run the white 11am-7pm. I have a mechanical timer setup I use: Corallife Timer

I could be interested in that.