treesprite

I was going to say I wish I was there, but I will have to hold that thought if there's going to be shirt removal. I do hope you guys are taking pictures to share with the rest of us... EXCEPT the shirtless ones.

nothing you build is easy for most people

that's how I got the sand I have now... 2 separate people (I washed the daylights out of it - probably lost 1/3rd of it down the drain)

that's a pretty quick drive. Have a lot of fun!!!

looking great

Looks like I may be putting just liverock rubble in the fluval - take out the baskets unless someone sees a reason to leave them. Do you think there any benefit to cutting off the intake tube to take water closer to the surface rather than deep down? I was messing with that airstone skimmer that I had stuck in the closet. I took off the narrow tube that is outside of the skimmer body, switched the stiff plactic tubing for regular airline tubing... the thing works much better than it did, so I will put that in a sectioned off end of the tank - better than no skimmer, and it's a fairly small tank for it. I'll put some macros in that section too (and the heater). I guess the section will be about 5". I want to use culerpa for macros because that end is going to be visible (chaeto is not aesthetically appealing!). Since taking off that "paper" backgroupd, there is a LOT of light in the tank even across the room from the window (BIG window). There is so much natural sunlight that I would probably never turn on daylight spectrum bulbs, so I think I can get away with sticking an actinic in the hood that is already in the tank. If it doesn't work out, I have a 20" PC fixture and a glass cover.

Here we go. It looks similar to this thing the guy circles. They do not lay flat and do not crawl around, just stay in one spot waving around. This guy says what he has, has little bristles on it but I can see any (too small to see if they are there!). http://www.wetwebmedia.com/wormidfaqs4.htm

I'm pretty sure that's not where I saw it something about it, but do you by any chance have a link to the exact page? I looked there and some other places and can't find anything about using a canister filter for a fuge. Now, someone had said they thought it was too small, but I don't think it's any smaller than a HOT fuge.

I found tons of pictures of different kinds of worms. I think the reason I can't find a pictures of them is that it's hard to get them to show up on one. Either that or they aren't worms, but I'm sure they are.

wattage doesn't work out the same way. I think the T-5s are worth it.

Nooo, these are like pieces of sewing thread - VERY thin, no "feathers" at the top.

Tracy, I don't see anything like that in your pics, but maybe I just can't make them out (?) Don't spaghetti worms crawl around? These don't crawl around and are not horizontal they are verticle. There is no "hard" tube visible - the whole strand is flexible and sways in the current. If I had a cam with a magnifying lens then I could prob take a picture of them

- restricted to rock - White thread-like - stick stright up, not slither around - about 1/2 - 1"" - sway in the current - seen with lights on... I don't think they are "out" when lights are off - very tips may be a tiny head... too tiny to see even holding magnifying glass

dang video wouldn't play for me

there is probably more than one site out there with a diy for doing it.... I can't remember where I saw it, and doing a search has led me to nothing except a guy asking whether or not it was possible; I wish I could remember where I saw it.

Yeah I already know that. That's why I need something that is mean for submersing. It seems there are a lot more things out there than I realized. I can't mess with the wiring because I'm in an apartment. I saw a "safety" extension cord in the store and I'm wondering if that kind of works the same way??? I'm wondering about the submersible LED lights, like how many it would take to have enough light. I'm also trying to figure out how to position various things inside of the canister.

I think I was taking for granted that so many of those live things come on liverock - put the liverock in there and you're likely to have a lot of that stuff, especially if you get it from more than one source.

shoot I edited my post to add a link to led lights and after I posted it your response was here But the question for the rope lights - which sounds like a good idea - is, would it be ok in saltwater and not leak? They can be out in rain I'm sure, but total submersion long-term is another story.

I found something. Underwater lights for fishing. Tell me what you think. http://www.fishinglightsetc.com/index.html http://www.myfishingandcamping.com/eMercha...p?idCategory=36

I think the plan now is to convert the office 16g from FW to SW. There are no fish in it because I gave them away to get smaller ones that I haven't gone to get yet... tank is running with nothing but plants in it. I decided to use this tank so that I can have a DSB - the tank is 18.5" high, so with a DSB I'll still have a couple more inches than with the 10g I was going to use. The reason I originally was NOT going to use it is because of that height, but the DSB will take up some of it. I saw a DIY somewhere for a closed fuge in a fluval using such a light so that macros could be kept inside. I'll have to find that website again to see if it says where he got the light for it, but I don't recall it mentioning where he got it.

I guess I will need some sand. Probably will have to wait for a tank breakdown when someone won't mind giving it away.

you should put a bunch of liverock or liverock rubble in it. I don't know what you mean by stocking it... you shouldn't put any fish down there unless you need to isolate them for some reason, and you shouldn't put anything in there that would eat the macros and pods otherwise it's not a refugium.

that is a BIG moving job!

I used 3 buckets going back and forth. I rinsed the sand a very little at a time until it barely clouded when stirred (settled faster than I was able to pour off the rinse water). The sand went from brown to very light by the time I was done with it (free "used" sand), and barely even clouded the water when I put it in the tank and only right where I was putting it! Needless to say, when there was that much rinsing, much was bound to end up outside of the buckets... I probably lost more down the drain than was actually on the bottom of the tub.

when I was rinsing off sand, some ended up in the tub that I put in a bag instead of using it right away. I'm certain that there was no soap in the tub, and the sand is rinsed as much as sand could ever be rinsed. Do you think it's safe or not safe to go ahead and use it? Like put it in a container of salt water and watch it for a week, test nitrate and phosphate a few times over that time period?