DaveS

I should be!

Hey guys, I updated pricing on some of the corals I have for sale. Also indicated who has reserved what. LMK if anyone wants something.

I have the following available for sale/trade at the meeting. We can arrange pickup if you aren't able to attend. 1) Large mounted frag of Red/Orange Monti Digi $15 2) 6lbs+ live rock covered with large hairy mushrooms $45 3) Cat eyes palys $15/~10 polyps. Can do larger frags. Reserved: Garret, 143gadgets, treesprite, newfish- still have a few more frags available. 4) Mean Green Zoas mini-colonies covering most if not entirely a frag disc $20. Picture of mother colony. 5) Green star polyp- $10 for decent sized frag 5) Neon green striped mushrooms $10 for 4 (I stole the picture from Ric)

Before 1983 or 84. That's when they I had my mom drive me to them in the current location.

Ok nevermind. Pump came back after cooling off. Whew. Mods, feel free to delete this thread as freak out moment is over. Thanks.

I decided to clean my skimmer as it's been over a year since I inherited it and have never cleaned it. Put it in a small bucket of vinegar and let it run. Everyone says to let it run overnight so I thought nothing about it. Well I guess it overheated cause after a couple of hours the pump was not running and the water was very warm. Did I fry it? Anyone got a Sedra 5000 pump to sell? Oh yea, how long can I run things without a skimmer before my corals hate me? Yes, going to feed lightly in the meantime...

I saw about 5 at BRK yesterday. You must have been too distracted with those expensive corals you were getting!

Yes! This is a very very good point! I think this is the biggest "gotcha" I've seen to date on this idea. I'll have to factor this in with how the overflow/drain is put together. Probably a standpipe type approach is what I'm thinking as I type right now.

Yes, the thought was to share plumbing with main tank. The tub I mention is just an example and obviously it should be food grade. The real question to figure out is if there are any reasons why it should be a tank, should be deeper or anything else. Are clear sides important- Bendalat kinda provides an argument for not. How deep should it be- deep enough so the corals don't come out of the water but does it need to be any deeper for other reasons? Anything else?

What do people suggest for a bare bones frag system? I'm trying really hard to resist putting one up but my addiction is too... addicting. I know you can use a 20 gal tank or something but one of my constraints is that space if fairly limited. It would need to go into my closet where everything, including the house AC and water heater go. I'm looking to put up more shelving to compliment what I currently have in there which already holds my make up water and other stuff. My initial thoughts are that something less tank like and more tray like could be a good option for frags. I look at Bendelat and his Rubbermaid tub which has nicer looking corals than many display tanks. Makes me wonder if some of those grey Rubbermaid tubs that you see busboys use in restaurants use to clear dishes would work. They are shallow, cheap and indestructible. Here's a picture of what I'm thinking. Maybe that's too shallow but something like that would seem good since it allows more light penetration, doesn't add too much water to the system and doesn't take up much space. If you wanted you could set up multiple shelves and stack tubs on each providing a fairly easily way to have a lot of space for frags. Also, Rubbermaid is easier to drill than glass for bulkheads and cheaper to replace if you mess up. What would be needed for lighting? T5 bulbs? Would MH provide any benefit? Anything else? Ideas? Concerns?

I could be wrong but if you aren't hearing a hum, it's probably an electrical issue inside the power head. There isn't really a motor to "look at" as the entire thing is a motor. The power head is basically a motor where windings/coils and stuff are hermetically sealed and isolated from the shaft (the impeller). If you've ever opened up a motor, aside from the shaft, you'll find a block of metal with thin wires wrapped around it. For $25 or whatever, it's not worth messing with the windings. It's like reloading a VHS/audio tape once it comes off the spool...

Hah yea! I forgot to mention that. The more I look at what I have, the more I think I'll eventually be replacing everything since they all seem to have shortcomings...lights, sump.... The previous owners didn't know anything about the hobby. They just wanted pretty Nemos and paid some people A LOT of money to build and maintain it...

Yes, Tracy you make good observations about my dilemma. As an alternative or in addition to replacing the acrylic tank with glass, I'm also considering changing the wall around the front of my tank to create access. I've been examining Bendelat's framing and think I can steal that idea. Here's what I have: Maybe doing something like Bendalat did for his tank here: http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?s=&a...ost&p=93336 I'm not sure however that I have the space on top to do that...

Hey guys, thanks for the info. I know this is a debate almost as timeless as MAC vs. PC. I was hoping to confine the debate a little bit by providing the parameters which are most important to me. Let me reiterate my criteria so the responses become a little more tailors to what's important- my needs! I understand that in doing this I may not make the "best" choice but given the persistence of this debate, I suspect there is not "best" choice. Ok as I said my priorities are: low maintenance, scratch resistant and pretty. Pretty much in that order. Low maintenance is #1. If it takes too long to maintain, I won't do it and eventually I will probably fall out of this hobby as it just becomes a chore. I have my own business, family and other demands on my time so maintenance has to be low. Scratch resistance is #2. This is not so much as a requirement in itself but as it affects other things. Scratches are ugly, promote coraline growth and make scraping more difficult (see #1). As part of priority #1, I pretty need to use a mag cleaner. It just much easier to spend 30 seconds wiping the front pane with the magnet than going around back (it's an in-wall system), climbing the ladder, climbing onto the tank, getting wet, etc. Also I'm less likely to break corals using the cleaning sticks than the magnet. For the most part I've gotten much more careful with the magnet but I have some old scratches and occasionally get new ones. I've heard you can get the scratches out without breaking down the tank. I'd love to have someone help show me this (NAGA want to come over and show me as well as look at my potential sump mods I'm considering?). If it's not too much trouble, this might remove/lower scratch resistance from the priority list as it means I can get them out when they occur. If it is a pain or I need to break down the tank to do it, then as I said, I'm not likely. Pretty is #3. Well hopefully why this is important makes sense. However that being said, I don't think the difference in how glass and acrylic looks is what I mean here. By pretty I probably mean clean and maintained (see #1). As you can see, cost is not really on my priority list. No I'm not made of money but I see the tank cost as a one time thing. Maintenance, enjoyment and everything else are the real long term issues. Does this change any of the responses? Thanks guys.

Hey guys, would you all mind giving me to breakdown of pros/cons for acrylic vs. glass? I have an 210 acrylic right now and am toying with the idea of changing it to glass. It's got a big overflow in the middle back which I think would be nicer if it was two in the back corners. However by far my biggest problem with the tank is that it's got scratches. There a few pretty big ones on the front pane and it's one of those things which really resonates with my OCD. I work hard to make my tank beautiful and those darn scratches just keep things from being "perfect". Coming a close 2nd to the scratches is that it's a pain to scrape coraline off acrylic without making more... guess what... SCRATCHES! Anyways, I know glass scratches too but I get the impression that it's harder to do. What is the starphire glass? More scratch resistant? Yes I know you can buff out acrylic scratches but for a 210, they might was well be permanent as I'm not likely to break the entire tank down to buff them out. So for me - low maintenance, scratch resistant and pretty are the priorities. Thoughts?

Not to hijack the thread but what do people suggest for a frag tank if there isn't an old tank around to reuse. My initial thoughts are that something less tank like and more tray like would be good. I look at Bendelat and his Rubbermaid tub which has nicer looking corals than many display tanks. Makes me wonder if some of those grey Rubbermaid trays about 24"x18"x4" deep that you see busboys use in restaurants use to clear dishes would work. They are shallow, cheap and indestructible. Maybe that's too shallow but something like that would seem good since it allows more light penetration, doesn't add too much water to the system and doesn't take up much space. If you wanted you could set up some shelves and stack multiple fairly easily to have alot of space for frags. Also, rubbermaid is easier to drill than glass and cheaper to replace if you mess up. Thoughts? Apologoies again for the hijack...

Hmm, maybe! The problem with the original design is that the pan is supposed to withstand water pressure. Basically it seems like they took a pan and crimped something over it to form the enclosure. Problem is that it's a very weak design form something that is supposed to handle 1500GPH or more. The thing springs leaks and the chiller is done. So like you said, I'd either need to build a new pressure-proof enclosure or convert it to a drop in. Either way, the replacing/extending/moving of coils seems like the tricky part to me. Any hints/tips on how to do that? I assume we'll loose the refrigerant during the process but can fix they with a recharge.

I have an Aqua Medic 1/2 HP external chiller. For those who are unfamiliar with this unit, here's a picture: http://www.seatrademarine.com/Merchant2/me...tegory_Code=CHL The lower 2" of the chiller is essentially a "pan" (think 2" tall broiler pan) on top of which all the chiller machinery is fastened/welded. The side of the pan as 2 bulkheads for water to go in/out. The refrigerant coils route from the top, down into the pan and this is where the heat exchange occurs. Think of a bucket of water with bulkheads and a drop in chiller mounted on top of it. Here's the point- the seams where the lower pan and the upper lid join has leaks. Placed after the return pump, water leaks heavily out of the sides. Placed before the return it still leaks but less due to less pressure. Aqua-Medic says there basically isn't anything they can do about it so buy a new unit. All the refrigeration and chilling components including the internal controller/thermostat work fine. These things cost about $900 new. I'm wondering if anyone out there has experience repurposing these things. Part of me wonders if you could take the coils that are in the pan and somehow replace/extend them so this thing converts into a drop-in chiller. That's the best idea I could come up with. With all the great DIY skills I've seen here, I gotta believe there is a way to salvage this expensive 1/2HP chiller. Ideas??