Sph2sail

Chip, I use a float switch to regulate flow through my Nilsen reactor. Some observations: - Fans and heat from lights increase the evaporation cycle - pH will climb throughout the day because of kalk flowing at a relatively high rate to make up the water - pH will drop quite a bit overnight, as the evaporation rate at night is lower and the tank naturally heads more acid in the night period anyway I spent about $150 on my float switch and the solenoid to control the anti-siphon aspects of the system. Compare this to a good peristaltic pump solution at about $240. I think the key difference is that the peristaltic pump solution will put the kalk in evenly over the 24hr period, moderating the pH swings. You could use a float switch without a solenoid in concert with a peristaltic pump to make sure your water level stays consistent (not to exceed a certain level). s

The core of JBs talk focused on Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) as opposed to LUX (visible light spectrum). Coral animals need PAR to feed the zoxanthellae to make the symbiosis work. PAR is the simple way of saying "good" for corals. How the PAR is allocated over the spectrum seems less important to the corals and more important to the humans looking at them. Having spent time talking with folks about this, the 20,000K bulbs are really forcing coloration on the coral. Not bad for the coral, but different. As humans, we like the flourescingt colors and the brighter pinks/blues/greens instead of the "boring brown" (unfortunately, as a diver, my experience is that boring brown prevails). Also, the 20,000K bulbs tend to put out less PAR, so the growth is measurably slower. Some folks get frustrated with this and switch to a lower temperature bulb to get more growth. Sunlight seems to be more even handed in spectrum allocation vs. MH bulbs. If you looked at the spetrum allocation of the Iwasaki 6500K bulb, it was relatively even from blue to red. It is the PAR champion and always leads in coral growth. That alone should tell us something. To my eyes, the Iwasaki looks a lot like sunlight. When sunlight hits my tank, it is brighter than the Iwasaki's, but looks the same color. Newer MH bulbs tend to bring more into the blue, forcing coloration of corals. Regardless, PAR energy is required to make them grow well. Hence the info on the XM 10K bulb sounds really good. Maybe it is a good compromise between coloration of corals and PAR for growth. I'm thinking of trying them out when my 'sakis run their course. s

Thanks to everyone who: attended, participated, organized and presented! This event was a stunning success! Dr. Mac & Sons really put a strong show on the road and made some fantastic colonies available. Adam's talk really helped clarify today's understanding of soft corals. Now if only he could stop people from reclassifying them... :-) John's talk on issues affecting the hobby and the trade was really informative. Feedback from the audience was a key part of this... "Please educate us more on these issues!" and "How can we participate more?" Joe's talk on lighting really showed us the results and methods on 250W MH lighting. Nice to have this compared to most prior studies, which were on 400W setups, as it helps a greater majority out given we tend to predominantly use 250W lighting. Daphne wins the most entertaining speaker award. Not just entertaining, but truly informative. We were lucky to have her! Bruce wins the "content award" with his stunning videos of live reef systems. He showed how reefs can die off and how there seems to be three possible responses... stay dead, partial recovery, full recovery. The switch to algal reef is a concern and we hope we can influence this more in the future. And the RAFFLE... can we just say AMAZING! Two winning $10 tickets had two people walk away with a pair of Open Water Dive Certifications and the other with a full 90G tank, stand and hood setup. There were more smiles on peoples faces than you can imagine! Thanks again to all who participated and made this event the success of the year for WAMAS! Steve

No worries mate. Questions always allowed in this space... s

I paid $180 for a 3/8" 4'x8' sheet of CP extruded acrylic at ACME to build my sump. You must use GP cell cast acrylic for your display tank, as it is stronger, cuts better, etc. They told me it would double the price. Check out Cyro Industries acrylic aquarium thickness calculator to see what you need to get for your tank. also check out the other threads on the boards about acrylic... Acrylic threads. s

Do come to the Symposium. Talk about the opportunity to trade for frags... check out the symposium frag trading list in general discussion... s

I can donate a 20G long as a sump. Drill and bulkhead them if you like... would reduce number of heaters required. s

We're working furiously on final details for the symposium! So here's the price schedule for raffle items. CHEAP at twice the price!!!! $10 tickets can be used for the mega deal items with retail values over $400: - 90 Gallon AGA megaflow tank, stand and hood - Pair of Open Water Dive Certifications $6 tickets will be for reef equipment with retail value over $100, such as the: - MR-2 Skimmer - Sea-Swirl 3/4" unit - One of two 250W Blueline Ballasts - One of two Icecap ballast gift certificates - Box of live rock from LiveAquaria - E-Tropicals $100 ORA frag gift certificate $3 tickets will be for all the miscellaneous smaller items, such as: - win one of two x $75 My Reef Creations gift certificates - Books - Foods - Miracle Mud - Certificates - Two Little Fishies items - Tunze items - North Coast Marines lighted refractometer - MEI Reef Crystals 50# box of salt - ReeferMadness $50 gift cert. - more And to increase your opportunities to win and provide greater value, we have some package deals for you: $20 for five (5) $6 tickets $20 for ten (10) $3 tickets When you check in! We have awesome special deals! These two packages are available only at the check in desk and are definately the best value... Package A is a $70 dollar value for $50 includes: - one (1) $10 ticket - five (5) $6 tickets - ten (10) $3 tickets Package B is a $90 dollar value for $50 includes: - ten (10) $6 tickets - ten (10) $3 tickets I can't believe those megadeal prices... If I had the opportunity to win two dive certs or my 90G system for $10 each, I coulda saved.... I don't even want to think it. We will also have so door prizes! - WAMAS T-shirts - refractometers - misc items Regards, Steve

I tried to stack my rocks with caves/tunnels to allow water flow. As others have said, avoid dead spaces if you can. s

broke the 60 member reporting barrier... keep 'em coming! s

Check out Atlanta Reef Club for info on local stuff... s

Just make sure that the rock is well supported and not going to slide around or fall into the glass. This is true no matter if you build pinnacles or lean against the glass. Water flow tunnels are a good idea. Otherwise you will get a dead area w/no water flow around the live rock. s

Just wanted to announce to everyone that Nathan is still rockin' to improve WAMAS and its web presence. Check out the New WAMAS Store (or hit the main nav link to STORE). He's improved the ability to buy books online from Amazon from Michael's list of books in the "new to the hobby" reading list. Still more improvements to come, but this is a GREAT start. Thank you Nathan! steve

Looks well fed...

Howard, yes, you need dividers in the tank. When I did it in a glass tank, I just used some acrylic pieces and aquarium silicon to glue them in place. This works if there is not a lot of pressure differential (height of water behind the acrylic). I just built a custom sump to allow for a fuge. Look at the WAMAS Gallery and look at my pics on the topic. At this point, I'm not adding any animals in my fuge. Gonna see how things run for a while. s

Howard, I just shifted from a 20G long to my new custom acrylic sump. My 20G was set up purely to hold equipment: skimmer&pump, float switch for re-fill, heater, return pump. The way mine was set up, it wasn't really possible to have a 'fuge. Now, tho, I have a 15G fuge in the sump. I put about 1 bag of southdown, 5lbs of miracle mud, 8lbs of kent marine biosediment. It has lots of bugs, donation of live sand from my main tank, and spaghetti and feather calurpa algaes. Some discussion of glass shrimp to be added, but I'm sorta leaning towards no animals in this section at all. Just plants and pods. I may add some rubble/rock to the return area eventually. s

You can get 1" and 3/4" white PVC. Again, why grey or black? I'm still curious... s

I think Fisher Hardware in Springfield has it. Why not use braid reinforced PVC clear tubing? s

Outstanding. Do NOT look too closely at my sump pictures. You will find sloppy edges, glue runs, etc. :p Yours looks stellar. Maybe you can share how you cut and glued your project up? Would love to know more... s

Just looked at him. Looks just fine, big, fully inflated, clowns love it! dunno. will keep watching. s

Grav, I re-read your threads before posting. You did not mention a shrivelled up look to the BTA, just lots of wandering around. Just looked at the BTA a couple minutes ago. The oral disk is huge (4-5") and tentacles are not inflated much, but it is not the 2" diameter shrunk up puppy at this moment. Hoping its splitting. Nothin' like succesful propagation. Anyone looking for a BTA? s

My BTA, which has been growing like a weed and looking huge and healthy over the last 6 or so months is showing really bad signs... It has been a bit mobile of late, moving around from under the rock to on top of the rock, etc. About a day or so ago (2 days max), suddenly it shrank up to about 1/10 its normal size and is now hiding away from the clowns under a rock. Splitting? or trouble? I tried to feed it this AM and it hid even further under the rock. Ideas? pH swing is my biggest stress (8.2-8.8) during a 24 hr period. Low-ish Alk is the primary cause. I have a calcium reactor on the way to mitigate issues w/Kalk through Nilsen. Other numbers are all very good. ???? s

Some will survive. Most become fish/pod food. My fish tend to eat them off the glass. Leave them. They are a beneficial part of the eco system. Mebbe you'll see babies! s

Hi George... long time! welcome back. s

Curious, what is the photo period you are using with this light? 7x24? Nights for a reverse cycle? Day time with same cycle as main lights? Right now, I have mine on a reverse cycle for about 13 hours a day. s