DaveS

I got a Generac. I debated getting one when I bought my house and delayed- until after the deracho. I kicked myself the whole week I sat there moving the extension cord of my Honda 1KW baby generator between the freezer and tank (see why only 1KW below). Were it not for the tank, I would have found a hotel or friends place. Anyways, unless you are Xabo, an air cooled generator is about $8k-$11k installed ($2,500 for 11kw/$4,500 for 22KW + $1K for automatic xfer and then the rest for install). In for a penny, in for a pound- if you are going to drop the money then just get the 22KW so you can do AC and other stuff too. I don't know if I could do the install myself. Gotta drill a big hole through the house and I have 2 electrical panels so moving circuits around was a pain and kinda scary. Keep in mind this is air cooled so that is louder and doesn't work well in hot summer. People had problems with their air cooled generator during the deracho when temps were 90+. I ended up getting a 27KW liquid cooled unit. Quite a big step up in price but I wanted quieter and more reliability. The generator is quite a bit bigger and required a concrete pad. It has a Mitsubishi 2.7L 4 cylinder car engine- the kind that would come in a Mitsubishi Galant or something. But in the end I get both AC units, tank, refrigerators, microwave, garage door openers (how we get into house), TV, Internet and a few other things covered regardless of outside temps. Fuel and electrical panel location is something to consider. Like Tom's propane tank problem, if the fuel isn't where your electrical comes, that's an issue. My natural gas is on the other side of the house from my electrical. Needed to dig a 50' trench to run the gas line. For me, the generator is great. Weekly testing makes sure things work when needed. Auto start means if we aren't home, the tank doesn't have a problem. Just as important, I travel so a traditional generator would mean my wife has to deal with lugging it around and connecting the power to the house. My previous generator was only 1KW because that was the size/weight she could deal with. We tested her carrying around a 2KW and she didn't want to deal with it. Spend the time and money to do what is right. What's the point in buying this stuff if it isn't available or usable when you need it?

Unless I missed it, surprised no one posted about this article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/28/homegrown-coral-reefs-are-beautiful-and-potentially-dangerous/

I've seen the cables at Lowe's. Right next to the chains.

Nice! How much? Haha

Awesome! How are the SPS doing?

Somebody cue up the Thong Song....

Looking for a healthy pair of Nemos. Don't need to be mating or anything like that but don't want a pair that will fight. If you have some to donate (preferably in the NoVA area), let me know. It would be a tax deductible donation if that matters. Thanks.

I have them. They just install into the breaker box. I guess when a surge comes through they trip like a normal circuit breaker and you have to reset it. I haven't had to deal with this fortunately so I can't confirm if they really work or not. Keep in mind that power lines are only 1 way for surges to enter. Phone copper and, as Graham mentioned, coax are also ways for surges to get in. You kinda of need to try and protect against all of those if you can.

Just my 2 cents here: Add the gate valves on the return, it's the only way to ensure you will get the flow you want. Sometimes you may want more return on one side, who knows. Are the elbows inside the overflow important? I never had any in mine. The full siphon standpipe will be dead silent and the 2nd one should only have a trickle of water going down at most so it's pretty quiet too.

Cool! What was his screen name?

Your system has lots of variations from what people normally see in a reef tank. Most of them are small and our amateur knowledge suggests that those differences are ok. However, maybe something like walnut leaves really are a problem. Maybe the combination of some of these variations is an issue. I would take a small sampling of the zoas and put them in an established, successful reef tank and see how they do. Think of them as your control sample in this gigantic experiment of yours. If you can't or don't want to, then maybe you should eliminate some of your more significant variations like lighting. You can find a spot that doesn't get the sun exposure and use a good MH fixture for a few weeks to rule that out.

Agree with epleeds. What kind of kalk did you use? You sure it was reef safe?

Extension cords unless you have a place to store an EB8 or equivalent up top. As Rob mentioned, extension cords can introduce a failure point. As a possible alternative, if you power cords from your lights come off (like the back of a computer) you way want to consider replacing the existing ones with longer power cords. Otherwise, options would be to cut back the existing cords and splice longer power cords or a regular extension with some electrical tape wrapped around the connection. That could help keep saltwater out as well as keep the cords from separating. Most people just throw in an extension cord and walk away. You can do that too but there are soooo many things that can go wrong I this hobby. It's good to take a few extra minutes to ensure things are solid.

I would be curious if a 1 micron filter would pull out most of the iron particles or if this is much worse than you would have if you ran GFO.

You may want to contact the water sampling company to help read the results. I read that bacteria/chloriform is present is most systems but that the level in which they occur is what you want to know. Just from my dead, seems like most of your TDS is Calcium carbonate with some sodium, chloride and sulfate. If that is correct, what are the chances you can get rid of the RODI and maybe just use a 1 micron sediment filter since all those solids are commonly found/desired in the reef tank?

I have worked with 2 types of external skimmers. The first type, which I prefer, needs 2 pumps. The first one (feed pump) is a smaller one that would be in your sump. It's job is simply to pump new water into the skimmer to be skimmed. It doesn't have to be very powerful as one of the desired aspects of an external skimmer is that you can have the feed slower allowing the water to spend more time in the skimmer getting clean. A maxi jet 400 power head could do fine for this, In theory you can omit this pump and gravity feed the skimmer. That means you take some part of the water coming back from you tank and feed it directly into the skimmer. The second pump (recirculating pump) is the bigger pump. This is the one that has the Venturi and air hose as it is the one that is supposed to create tons of bubbles. For an external skimmer, both the intake and output of the recirculating pump should be inside the skimmer. It's job is just to move a lot of water around in that space while adding air bubbles into it. The other type of external skimmer I have use only has one pump. Instead of having a recirculating pump to create lots of bubbles, it relies on the feed pump to do that. The feed pump is supposed to shoot the water from above the water line which the creates bubbles on the chamber. Thin about a water hose squirting water into a bucket. There is usually some kind of adapter at the input of the feed pump to help make the water shoot more- think of having nozzle at the end of a water hose as it squirts water into a bucket. However, like the water bucket, the nozzle end needs to stay the right distance above the water line or it won't create enough bubbles. If it becomes submerged, it won't create any bubbles. Take a look at what you have and see if things fit either of the above descriptions. You may be missing a pump. You may be missing a part. You may be using the wrong pump in the wrong place. You may not have done the plumbing correctly for this skimmer. Just some additional thoughts for you...

Haha you have now been officially indoctrinated into WAMAS! You are now part of a very special brotherhood/sisterhood of reefers. You are the elite of the elite. Not only do you have a reef tank but you did it all yourself. There are plenty of people who own reef tanks but you CREATED yours. You didn't buy it from a store (service company) and this tank is all because of you- warts and all. Ok, acknowledged there are some members who hire help and I'm not knocking that. I'm simply pointing out what makes most WAMAS different than your average reefer. Good or bad, many of us spend a lot of time and energy making things a particular way for the least cost possible. This occasionally results in what you have just described. Welcome to the group!

Prestone Driveway heat and eithr Arm & Hammer Baking soda or pH Up...

If you are looking for T5 ballasts, just stop by Home Depot. Pretty cheap, very convenient.

There is a 12V port on the Apex head unit. That is the port that should be on the UPS. It's keeps power going to the head unit in the event power goes out to the normal plug. The loss of power to the normal power plug is what allows the Apex to know that power went out and trigger notification. In addition to the head unit, you need to ensure power is still supplied to your switch, firewall and router so that the notice can go out of your network. There are a few threads on here about planning for power outages. They usually come up just before a big storm is predicted. Talk about prioritization of devices, appropriateness of UPS' and generators.

Not sure, I see $20. Give them a call Monday morning!

Unfortunately I never found a local source. You should be able to get away with 2 day shipping so that makes it $20. Find someone to order with you and split the s&h helps too.

Not sure if it's applicable to here but when I was breeding fish, i skipped the phyto step complexity but using A green water concentrate: http://apbreed.com/product_rgcomplete.php. It made things sooooo much easier. Couple of drops a day and I was done. No worrying about phyto crashes or lots of 2 L bottles everywhere.

Live sand?

What kind of sand do you have? Could use it for a school tank. Thanks.