treesprite

I'm talking about "mirror" metal which some craft stores sell. I was using it about 6 years ago to make kaleidescopes because I was wasting actual glass mirror trying to cut it.

not sure if anyone will be able to answer you on that with that sort of description

I'm not experienced with lighting enough to mess with setting up my own rather than using a pre-fab fixture, otherwise I would happily do it. Perhaps in teh most likely to be distant future, I can get some sweet person from here to help me out with it. As far as the social goes, I myself can't get there unless someone else is going from my area who is willing to let me hitch a ride, because I have car issues.

great work. I want a house so bad, but it now occurs to me that if I ever have one, I would have to also be able to afford a huge tank and a tank plumbing master... what good is owning a house otherwise?

I was thinking about plant-based things. I just finished reading some stuff - it would take an actual analysis to figure out what might be ok, which really is too much to expect or go through. Oh well.

It seems to me that a very good camera is almost a required piece of reef tank equipment.

I was hoping there was a way to do it without hacking anything up. Wouldn't even reflective metal around the outside edges help to keep light from escaping outward instead of more concentrated downward? I've been interested in (eventually) keeping SPS, but no clams. Going slow.

Hope this doesn't sound too stupid. Would possibly food coloring help, if it's one that has nothing in it toxic to a fish?

awesome pics, nice looking corals

I have this Nova Extreme fixture. I can understand what people are saying about the use of individual reflectors, and I'm wondering if there's a way to mod the fixture without taking it all apart, like put something in the middle to make it like 2 bulbs have a reflector and the other 2 bulbs have a reflector. I'm not sure off hand (am not at home to look) how close together the bulbs are, if there would be enough room. Has anyone tried doing this, or do the reflectors need a wider space around the bulbs? What about raising the fixture an inch or two and making a reflector that is the full heigh, that is a little bent outwards at the bottom on each side to cover a wider area, than just having the fixtire right on the top of the tank or only the height of the little legs (the legs aren't working out for me so I'm not using them).

yep, I ended up cutting up the airline from the old airstone skimmer. There are actually 4! of those things, not 3, so I've got 4 pieces of airline sticking up out of the tank. Using just one would require capping off the other 3 holes, and I didn't want to reduce the air intake so I'm using all 4. It seems to me that the froth is better when the water is dirtier. I noticed that last couple times I fed the fish that it gets frothier. The know is turning a little easier, so it's easier to adjust. I think all that's left is to wait, and eventually get the skimmer actually in-sump. Now the problem is getting Aquatraders to replace the fitting part from that uv sterilizer. The threads weren't matching up so there was a leak. I tried to tighten it up more and the piece broke - cheap plastic.

I thought you were going to keep a mantis in it, so now you are selling?

This is a picture of the box the skimmer came in. The venturi line is connected to that black part of that U-tube, which is where I put it, just as the box indicates. As you can see, the pump is not shown in the picture at all. http://cgi.ebay.com/Jebo-Odyssea-PS160-Han...bayphotohosting Editting because I found this picture - it's the very last picture on the page. It shows the piece I'm talking about that goes in back of the pump. This person has a single airline connected to it and has it going up through the foam cover that goes over the outlet. There are 3 holes on that piece though, not just 1. I am having to use the skimmer hanging on at the moment, so I can't do it like that. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...mp;pagenumber=3

I'm going to have to look around on the internet some more. Maybe I'll find a picture of the box that the skimmer comes in. The water intake IS fully submerged. The piece with the 3 airholes that attaches in the back of the pump before the water intake, is not submerged. Air goes into there before water goes in the water intake. The 3 holes on that back piece are like airline connectors, but no tubing came with this for those. There is a connection on the skimmer part itself. There is a single airline to connect to that which is shown on the box; the opposite end of the line connects to a little plastic cylinder that on the box is labelled a "silencer". I could dig up some line and hook 3 pieces onto those 3 airholes/connectors, but i have seen no picture of such a thing anywhere.

I was awakened to manage a flood that came from an over-filled collection cup because the pump slipped just slightly enough to keep air from getting in. I thought I had enough room to put the skimmer in-sump but the dimensions stated dont account for things extruding from the main body of the skimmer; the only way to do it is to drain 30-some gallons of water, rip out the panel and cut it and re-seal the whole thing back again in a different arrangement. It's going to have to wait for now. Maybe I'll resort to just keeping the pump submerged and using only the venturi for right now so I don't have to worry about it while it's still just hanging on, but the skimmer won't work as well. Shoot.

that's a pretty big hole, but I guess it doesn't need to be as wide as it is high for a tang

oh, now I see. I have never looked under group buys. I wish I had known about it.

true, a tang can't fit in a little opening - would just have to be a whole lot bigger

arrow crab will eat your fish if it can catch them - I found that out the hard way. The one time I went so far as to invest 50$ into a fish on my nearly non-existent budget....

i dont get this box of crap thing - are you paying for someplace to send you a box of random crap?

Oh gee. I posted that right before I came home - it appears to be doing better than it was last night. The foam needs to be drier at the very top of the column.

LOL originally I did have it set up backwards - kind of embarassing! I corrected that problem a couple days ago and have the setup figured out. The valve on top is not the only valve, there's another one under the sponge. The picture you have has the pump connected directly to the body with no kind of hose or tube, just a screw-on piece which is supposed to have a little venturi connection. There is U that connects to that exact same spot in place of the direct pump connection. The U connects to a hose which connects to a slip-on that is screwed into the pump since the pump is not screwed directly onto the skimmer. The U tube has a venturi connection on it since it is used in place of that little piece. The pump that comes with the skimmer is a needle wheel - if the back of it is exposed to air, i.e., not fully submerged, the venturi can actually be capped off. If the pump is fully submerged, the venturi is the only air source - the bubbles are smaller when the needle wheel is used.

what the heck....

wow, kind of a shocker. I hate to see people completely give it up. Family does come first, I know. Is it possible for you to keep something small, even a nano just to stay with the hobby?

I like Raf's idea. I just can't see catching a tang in a net.