krish

Thanks Mike, For your Sand patrol efforts. Please keep us posted if you do zero in on a potential candidate. May be if there are sufficient takers, it might be possible to order a pallet from SouthDown, easton ,PA and split. Don't know if that is a possibility. Anyone got a garage with a fork lift -krish

Any luck on this. Darn, shound have stockpiled it the last time i set up the 120G. I went to Sterling HD yesterday and they no longer carry the goody. I need some to setup a 45 and a 75. The 45 may not be a problem, i might be able to slowly scavange from my 120, which has over 5" deep bed . But i do need to get a few bags. -krish

It is very easy. You very well need a dual stage temperature controller to turn on the heater or the chiller. All you need to do is, add a relay to the chiller side of the controller. and power the lights via the relay. If the chiller kicks in, the relay will turn off the lights. Its cheap. One can find a 30Amp 110V contact relay for say 10 bucks or so. Of course, the lights will be on timers, even thought they are powered thru the relay. There is one problem that i see. In case your chiller runs for less than 15 minutes, the lights will come back on and for Metal hallide lights, that is not a good thing. Between turn off and turn on, one needs to wait for atleast 15 minutes. -krish

I am beginning to think along the lines of The Featured Aquarium in the following article. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2004/aquarium.htm ie. pair up the 6500K saki and the XM20K Even at 250W, that will be a whopping 1Kw if all lamps are On simultaneously. Perhaps alternating might help cut down on the heating issues. Well, if anyone still has a pulled out 10K 250W that i can borrow for a day or so, that would help decide on the looks of the 10K. The choice of lighting is just getting too complicated -krish :D

The 3-4" sand bed is good enough. The shells will trap detritus and might be an issue. -krish

Wow, That is blue. I run 2 250W 6500K sakis on either side and a 250W 20K coralvue in the middle of my 4*2*2 120G tank. I had my better half comment that the 20K coralvue was blue. Now the 20K XM is real blue. I was going to swap out the sakis and introduce 10K XMs. But looks like even the 10K is pretty white with those 440W of actinics. Darn, this doesn't get any easier. Anyone got either 1 or 2 250W 10Ks pullouts that i can borrow for a day or 2 to see how it looks? The yellow sakis need to go to the prop and clam tanks. thanks krish

I have a marine battery + automatic battery charger + 300W inverter. I power a powerhead, which is on all the time. When the power goes out, a relay engages the powerhead to the inverter. Also the air pump will come on. I expect this setup to power the tank for atleast over 20 hours. This setup has automatic takeover and has a higher capacity than a computer UPS. Probably will go the generator route in the future, but there is something to keep the tank up and running until one is home to start up the generator. -krish

Thanks to all for the great response. I am going to build the durso per michaels advice. Regarding drilling, will let Mike/Grim do it. I am not an expert and probably will have trouble at home if i mess up the tank while doing the drilling by myself -krish

Eddi, the tank is a 25" tall tank. I saw the picture of a similar hex with a giant clam in the marine aquarist magazine that i picked off the stands. Should scan and post a picture. I presume the bottom is tempered glass. So might have to drill the side. -krish

Hello, I have a 45 Gallon hex. I would like to set it up for a Clam/Anemone and may be some softies only tank. The tank is not drilled. The stand is not pretty tall, so limited space. Might be able to stick in 2 10 gallon tanks. What would be a good filteration system in this case. I will have a 3-4" DSB and MH lighting. What i have in mind is to drill a hole and build some kind of overflow chamber. I am not good with acrylic work. But need some kind of chamber to hold a Durso, so i can eliminate the noise. The water goes to the 10G sump. Then it gets pumped back with say a mag-7 into a SCWD and returns over the tank. Additional circulation if required will have to be by small power heads. Would appreciate tips from other Hex tank owners. This would be my second tank, the first one being a 120G. The next project will probably be a 55 or a 75 thanks krish

It appears that the AGA tanks are lighter relatively speaking. My 120G by glass cages has no bracing. It is all euro bracing. This means extra glass in the bottom and top, in addition to the overflow boxes. I had to get 4 people to move it. 2 of these were folks who do physical labour for a living, so i got lucky. If i could, i would try the acrylic the next time. -krish

If at all possible, it is better to mount the ballast away in a location free of salt water splash. Salt and electrical stuff, it is just a matter of time for things to go wrong. For a probe start ballast, you can keep it around say 6ft away. The cord from the ballast to lamp needs to be around 6ft. For a pulse start, it can be around 10ft. One can look up the specs on http://www.hidirect.com for the distance of the cord. -krish

You can install a radio shack fan if you have a hood. The Ranco single stage temperature controller - $60 can be used to turn on/off the fan. You can also buy the icecap fans that come with the temperature controller built in. With a MH lighting, your choices are unlimited, should you plan to change your livestock, which is what usually happens with time. Moreover, if you upgrade your tank, the light just transfers to your new tank. My 2 cents -krish

Craby, I sent a PM with email and contact# yesterday. Is this an April Fools Joke as well ?:D -krish

Clownfish, There are 2 types of ballasts. a) Magnetic b) Electronic The magnetic ballast comprises of 2 types - the Probe Start and the Pulse start type. The magnetic ballasts are essentially an Auto Transformer with either 1 or 2 capacitors. The pulse start has higher voltage to fire certain types of lamps. The electronic ballast is solid state circuitry and is more efficient due to its high frequency pulses and provide a higher duty cycle. Don't even bother messing with one, since it has high voltages and might require good heat sinks to dissipate heat and may be test equipment as well. This is if you want to build the circuitry from parts. If you want to wind your own auto-transformer, then that is an entirely different story. You can however purchase the transformer/Capacitor as a kit from say http://www.hidirect.com. But on top of the purchase, you will need sockets, wires, cabinet, screws/nuts, tools to rig it up and more important time. You can other wise go to say http://www.diyreef.com and purchase one of their complete kit. I went the DIY route for my first 250W dual ballast. But for the 3rd one, i just bought the pre-built . The reason was the price difference. When all you save is about say 20/30 bucks, it is not worth the time it takes to put one together. However, my DIY ballast has fuses and Fan built into the cabinet and the one purchased from the DIYReef does not come with those extras. Let me know if you have questions. tnx krish

Glen, You forgot to mention the multiply factor. Tony, Great photography -krish

Krish - short for Krishna , the Hindu god Lord Krishna -krish

Ok. If Mr.President passes it and if it is a 36" long tank, i will take it. If not, the person with the next token in line please. :D -krish

Is it a 36" long tank? -krish

Bump

Hi, If anyone has the Coral List, would they please be kind enough to upload a scanned copy? thanks krish

Folks, Reefstore has the orange spiculed SCLERONEPHTHYA. It was tagged as DENDRONEPHTHYA. But the stalk is not as white. I picked up one. I understand is difficult to keep. But i do have another brown nepthya tree that is happy after finding the right spot in months. If anyone gets a chance to take a peek and let us know, it will be great. For folks who are curious, here is what it will look like when open. http://www.garf.org/37/feed/10002.html thanks krish

Chip, I guess you are taking over the ordering part of the deal from Rebecca. My request for 2 feather dusters and 1 fighting/queen conch is still valid. The total is around 24 bucks or so. I can payup or pay at pick up. Oh, i like the frags part of the deal. Count me in. Wednesdays are bad for me. But wednesday evening after 7:00pm is probably doable from my standpoint. thx krish

Rebecca, In case this materializes, i would like to get 2 feather dusters 1 fighting/queen conch That would be about $24 or so. How much short are we to get to the $120 limit?? David, what are you expecting for the frogspawn? Is it the fluorescent green type? I am sure there are others that will be curious as well. -krish

David, You mean 1.019 and not 1.0019. Correct? 1.0019 would be a disaster, since even in a seperate Quarantine, hypo is adminstered at 1.009. The cryto can survive at 1.011 SG. -krish