salmon alley

Anyone have a recommendation on a vendor to obtain schedule 80 bulkheads?

Update: The news isn't good. It appears that I'm going to lose most, if not all, the corals in the tank despite having stable temps and reduced lighting for the past 3 weeks. The Acros are a total loss and the Montis are starting to look sickly. The fire shrimp, snails and fish don't seem affected at all. Don't know if I still believe this was triggered by temperature fluctuations. This stinks.

hmmm... well now I'm wondering about the temp swings as the cause. I searched through RC and found many threads which suggest that the swing I described is not likely to cause problems. Just tested the water for phosphate (with an old Salifert test) and came up ZERO. Guess I'll stabilize the temps, do some water changes and see what happens...

Yep. What's the chance that the affected corals will recover? So far no tissue loss, so I imagine that's a good thing.

When all else fails, read the directions....apparently one needs to buy an 'alarm module' or plug a noisemaker into a dc8 outlet...maybe that's why "it never went off"... I'm an idiot.

All the corals are frags which came from members' tanks. I checked the heater, it's working, but maybe undersized given the cold winter we're having (it's a 300 W for a total water volume of about 100 gal) The pH has been running 7.9 to 8.2. I did set an alarm for the temp on the ACJr., but it never went off...weird. I think you may be right...those corals need an anemone...

Holy crap... I think I may have figured it out: I previously posted that temps have been stable..but that's because anytime I've checked them, they've been between 77-78 degrees. That's because I'm usually home when the lights are on and at work when they're off. Today I stuck my hand in to get a water sample for PO4 testing and thought, "darn, that water feels cold"...checked the temp and it's at 73. So I scrolled back through my ACJr. to find that the temp has been dropping into the 72-74 range overnight when the lights are off for at least the last several days. No idea why my heater is no longer able to keep water temps up, but could this be the problem? Boy will I be happy if it's this simple...(and I'll be p*ssed off that my corals are stressed because of a $30 heater!)

No changes in photoperiod... Bulbs last changed 10 mos ago (ATI powermodule) Refractometer, recalibrated with RO/DI water to 1.000 I was careful to have corals retain their original "height" in the water column Can't say for sure it's not AEFW...I don't see any, but I've never had them, so don't really know what to look for...

Well, after being convinced to NOT get out of the hobby (really..didn't take much arm twisting).. I'm having a major bleaching event in the tank. The acros seem to be hit the hardest, the Montis hardly at all. Color is fading to transluscent or brown. Polyp extension stinks, and my coralline algae seems to be looking chalky as well. ALK is fine and stable (9.1 dKH per LaMotte & 8.0 per Salifert), Calcium is 400 and has been stable. Sp Gravity is normal @ 1.026, Nitrates undetectable. I rearranged the aquascaping about a month ago, so for giggles I checked the Ammonia level..it's undetectable. The fish are fine and the snails/shrimp other inverts seem fine. I haven't changed bulbs or lighting. Temps have been consistently between 77 and 78 degrees. I'm at a loss and unbelievably frustrated. Seems like the reef gods really want me out of this hobby. I've started to do water changes, but I don't have any RO/DI premade, so it's a slow process. Going to start running Carbon as well, just in case. Can anyone think of something I'm missing?

I'm currently dosing Kalk using a Litermeter...same concept, that is I dose a fixed amount of kalk each day (in my case 1500 ml) and then have an automated top off make up for any additional evap. The only downside I see to this is if my kalk requirement ever gets so high that it is greater than my daily evaporation, I'll have a problem. So far, so good.

hmm, rivets eh? Are riveting tools expensive? Never used one before.

I like the idea of the aluminum frame skinned with wood trim in a ceiling mounted pendant. I figure I can have sliding mounts on the ceiling or a pulley system to raise it up when I need to work in the tank. Now, short of welding, can anyone suggest the best way to join aluminum for the frame?

Hmm interesting design. How does one access the bulbs within the "inner canopy" ? Looks like it might be a little challenging to get at them.

I need a design for a DIY pedant/canopy and I"m hoping someone can help me come up with an idea that meet my criteria, cuz I'm stuck! Here's the tank specs: 48" long and 24" front to back Here's what I've got to work with: (2) hqi mini lumenarc pendants (measuring 11" x 13" each) (4) 54w T5 bulb retros with SLR reflectors which measure 2.5" wide each (1) Aluminum rail and light mover to fit the rail Here's my criteria: Can be either hanging pendant type setup or canopy type setup, BUT if canopy, must be OPEN top. I want heat and moisture to be able to escape out around the fixtures. I also need it to be able to be easily raised or slide out of the way for easy access to the tank So, that's it...should be a piece of cake, right? Seriously, I've been trying to figure out how to do this for weeks and I need to get either buckle down and do it, or sell off the components and buy an Outer Orbit fixture... (please, let's not turn this into a "if you decide to sell, I want...." thread) Thanks!

That was my initial thought, but if I'm reducing the flow of the 1260 down to the flow of a 1250, I'm using 65w to get 300 gph instead of using 28w to get 300gph, right? That seems awfully inefficient, AND I would think that the larger pump would have more noise/vibration associated with it. Is my thinking flawed here?

Currently my returns are plumbed with 3/4" pipe right up to the edge of the tank, where it reduces to 1/2" pipe and splits into two loc-line outputs. There's a bit too much flow for the outputs to handle quietly, so I'm going to experiment with different pump sizes. Naturally the outputs vary. Here are the pumps I'm considering: Eheim 1260- 3/4" output Eheim 1250- 3/8" output Oceanrunner 2500- 5/8" output Rather than having to replumb every pump I've come up with a possible solution: I'm going to cut the 3/4" pipe and reduce it to 1/2" and put a Female threaded fitting on. Then I'll use threaded polyethlyene fittings with barbs to connect flexible tubing to the various pump output sizes. So, my question is: should I replumb the whole setup with 1/2" pipe, or is it okay to go from 1/2" to 3/4" back to 1/2" again? Sorry, I know this is a little confusing.

Thanks! I look forward to seeing them.

That design sounds like what I'm looking for. How does the front panel stay up? Does is swing all the way up to lay on the remaining canopy?