bigJPDC

And Jason - if you need me to take detailed pics I will - I have one that I am saving for a future tank that isn't glued or painted. jp

Check out the thread on RC from my first post, I have about a dozen posts in it. Another person just built some and has good pictures, along with many others. I don't know why folks are having trouble finding the parts though - Lowes at Dulles TC and in Chantily both have them. I coulnd't begin to speculate on how many gph you'll get by using them though but the difference was astounding in my tank.

was that tank lined with groundhog pelts?

How big is the tank, and how many gallons per day is that continuous wc system going to swap out? Will it be a pain to maintain the supply of mixed sw? One thing I learned this year when I fought nitrates is that multiple 4 gallon water changes weekly did nothing, but bi-monthly 13 gallon changes removed my nitrates almost instantly. I do less work now and enjoy the tank more. HTH jp

you'll get varying opinions on the black sand - I love it. For my 65 I went with 80 lbs indo-pacific (think salt and pepper) live sand and 40 lbs black tahatian moon sand - and I think it's still not black enough. The down side is that the moon sand isn't live, so needs the rinsing and such. When I put up my 20g, I am going all black and I'll try to seed with a cup from the other tanks, maybe just wait longer for things to get live. That will give me an idea of whether or not I'll do it when I get that 240.

man that PVC trick sounds like a good one! Could you rinse sand by using a media reactor, or is the material too dense? The only time I rinsed sand I did it by filling a homer bucket and burying a garden hose in it, then letting the water filter up and out until I thought it was clear of dust. It killed me to think that I was adding all that tap water, even if I strained the sand before putting in the tank. jp

cool site - the fish pictures are awesome.

I sense the topic for the August picture contest . . .

Nice! I went to Tractor Supply yesterday, thinking that I would find something like this in teh horse section, but I never throught to check Pet-x. I don't see dimensions here, but I can check them out. thanks! It looks like I am going to be in the $50 range. Mogurnda, you have made art out of your TO reservoir. jp

I know - it sucks that I didn't build that side cabinet another inch wider, I could have plumbed and fit two of those wrapping paper things together in there.

Excellent - thank you! Man $50-60 just seems insane to me for this, but then again I dropped $50 on a 7lb piece of white rock at BRK over the weekend. jp

Greetings - I am currently using a wrapping paper container, ala Melev, for my TO reservoir. It fits very nicely in my stand side cabinet and does the job. However, I am maxed at capacity at about 8.5 gallons, and I would like to get more like 12-15 at full, to give me at least a week's worth of TO. What would fit nicely is something about 12x12x30 high, but I am thinking that if I had this fabricated out of acrylic it would be pretty expensive - does anybody have any tips on this size of container? I'll want to put a small bulkhead on it and thread the plumbing line through the stand side into my sump. And then of course a bunch of eletronics to fire up an LED and turn off the ATO if it gets too low, but that's later. thanks! jp

Oh no, not a herbie thread disintegration. Not sure if this is a thing to be advising for anyone who is starting out BTW - the standard MegaFlow that comes with any AGA RR tank is very very easy to assemble and tune and to make bubble and noise free. Jason, what's the largest tank\GPH pump you have a herbie system on?

wish I could get out that way, I love the caps. jp

Good queestion!! My Percs are a male and female, and while they were plucked out of a tank that held three percs, they sure act like a happy couple in my tank. Maybe I could sell them on the trading forum for 5x what I paid?

AHA! I think I knocked something loose. Here are the readings, taken every day at 4pm: Monday - calcium at 380. Dose 5mls of Liquid Calcium. Tuesday - calcium at 390. Dose 6mls of Liquid Calcium (accidental overpour) Wednesday - calcium at 400. Dose 5mls of Liquid Calcium. Thursday - calcium at 380. Dose 5mls of Liquid Calcium. Friday - calcium at 370. Dose 5mls of Liquid Calcium. Just this week I see coraline growing on my eductor, for the first time. Should I up the calcium dosage to 10 mls? jp

but you got the Maxim!

guys - I would just enjoy your fixtures, instead of trying to soup them up with sheet metal. ON the next tank, give an SLR retro a try, and you can compare the results.

I don't think so Tree - from what I've read it is pretty tough to make and bend your own SLR, and I wouldn't hack apart a perfectly good light fixture.

how many tanks do you have Jason? I think I see you buying on every trade thread, no matter what it is.

Too funny, thank you Dandy. See, my wife is wrong, I do need more corals. I have noticed that following the last two water changes, my two milliporas sprout almost overnight, so I thought it was due to calcium being low. I'll dose to 420, stop for a few days and see if it goes down. We'll have to wait on that GSA kalk stirrer for when the 240 goes up. Here are some pics at the 8 month mark, last week. all feedback is welcome! jp

yep, and many of the most knowledgeable on the lighting forums on RC would agree with your statements on the Nova with regards to reefing.

a tsunami? Isn't that overkill for a 75 anyway? Whip one together and see what it does for you - if you are replacing what would have just been some locline or some other open piece of pvc you really have nothing to lose. jp

<sigh> This Nova fixture causes the exact same thread to evolve every time.

The results are in, all activities done at 4pm est. Monday - calcium at 380. Dose 5mls of Liquid Calcium. Tuesday - calcium at 390. Dose 6mls of Liquid Calcium (accidental overpour) Wednesday - calcium at 400. Dose 5mls of Liquid Calcium. Do we have enough data to know anything or where I should go from here? Holy cow my candy canes are so inflated I think I can tie a lawnchair to them and float over to Rebeccas for the open house. If calcium is rising, am I dosing more than my demand, or will I top off somewhere? My pH is still steady at 8.29, and dKH at 8. I have a 64oz bottle of Liquid Calcium, and my calculations have me able to dose 5mls a day for 374 days - the only downside again being that my ADD would have me insane with that iteration after about 45 of those, but not enough to outweigh the cost of $26 for that bottle vs. calc or kalk equipment. jp