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The float switch should be in the return pump chamber. This is where you want to monitor the level in your sump. The other chambers will take care of themself. You can either devise an arm or mount a tab to connect the switch to.

You can have your supply off of your return pump, but you need a circulation pump. This is the pump that sits on the plate of the Ca reactors. The construction of the box is peanuts, not even close to $50 worth. The real cost of a Ca reactor is in the solenoid valve, CO2 tank, circulating pump, and other ancilliary items. You might as well get a pH controller while you are at it. hehe I did a quick take on the diagram I printed out on the DJ88 design and this is a rough cut list I came up with. (Note: could be wrong since I didn't spend much time on it) Side 1 6.75 x 17 Side 2 6.75 x 17 Front 7.25 x 17 Back 7.25 x 17 bottom 7.25 x 7.25 Top Flange 8.5 x 8.5 Cover Flange 8.5 x 8.5 Divider 6.75 x 16 Media Tray 3 x 6.75 3 - Bottom Supports 2.75 x 7.25 Bottom Pedestal 8 x 10 ???? Roughly this comes up to about 941 square inches if I did not miss anything. So you could get at least two and a piece of another out of a half sheet (4x4). If you are building three, I'd pick up scraps to finish with... else a full sheet would get you almost five. Again I'd pick up some scraps to finish if five was the goal. (Assuming my calcs are right) Joint cost for Acrylite FF 1/4" or 3/16" would be much less than $50 each.

How exactly did they sell your friend PC's as VHO's? There aren't many similarities between the two aside from being fluorescents.

Jeff, You could use acrylic or you could get some glass cut from your local glass shop. The good thing about acrylic is that you can route in overflow teeth and it is more workable than glass. You have baffles for a few different reasons, bubbles is one of them. Generally you use at least three baffles to make a bubble trap. This makes the water go over..under and over again, which gets rid of bubble during the process. This can also aid in keeping undesirables out of your return pump. More reasons to partition the sump include making a refuge, skimmer chamber, or anything else you might want. Sponges are not advised, unless cleaned weekly(daily?) they can be detrimental, especially for a reef tank. Probably what you should do is figure out what you want your sump to do, what equipment you plan on using in it and go from there. For a few ideas check out the sumps at www.melevsreef.com It can be a lot to think about, I'm building a new one myself. I built the box last weekend, but I have yet to place one baffle or partition.

I buy from hellolights.com, they have decent prices and excellent customer service. They will price match any competitor's price and give you a 30-day return policy. Even if the reason is "you just don't like them", you can return the used lamps. You're out shipping, but that's not the end of the world. I've also heard of them replacing or pro-rating some things after 30 days. www.carolinacorals.com has some good prices on XM (price match) and CoraVue bulbs. Hellolights does not sell CoralVue though.

Just a few thoughts on the mystery bulb. First of all are the bulbs the same? I've never used a MH bulb until it would not work but, there are two type of ballasts like the ones you described... a probe and pulse. I'm guessing these are probe starts ballasts. A bulb meant to run on a pulse start ballast might not work too well on a probe start, i.e. run for five minutes only. I believe the difference between the two is the pulse start ballasts have ignitors built in while probe starts do not. The other piece to that is pulse start bulbs do not have ignitors, probe start lamps do. Just an idea. For a blue light, the XM 20K's seem to be fit the bill and price. www.carolinacorals.com Then there are CoralVue's but there seems to be some controversy on them and I have never used them. Supposedly they are more white than XM 20K's also.

Personally, I've never heard sand amounts being referenced against gallons of water. IMO you have two choices; one a small amount for decoration and the other is a Deep Sand Bed, aka DSB. Reefcentral has a DSB calculator where you can figure out how many pounds you will need to have a "x" deep sand bed. I think the DSB depth for true usefullness is in the 4 to 8" range. If the DSB is what you are shooting for, you might Google "Ron Shimek and Deep Sand Bed". He has written a lot of info on this subject.

Scott, My question would be what kind of pump is it, what kind of plumbing is involved in the return (90 bends.. etc), and what is your overflow rated for? You could do a number of things really, depending on what your setup is. I have a return pump that will over run my tank. I did this by design so I could split off of my return to feed my refugium. My refuge is then gravity fed back into my return chamber. I have a ball valve going to the refuge and on my return to tune it if need be. I have had no problem with this setup. FWIW, there is a thread in the DIY section of reefcentral.com where someone drilled their tank with water in it. They used a Dremel of all things. The thread is entitled "How I drilled my 20 gallon with water in it" or something like that. I'm not sure if I would do it, but others certainly have.

Mike, I would start with a Kalk Reactor, in the very least it would save you from mixing kalk every day. All you would have to do is pump 2 gallons through the reactor each day. Also if the dripping is yielding good parameters, then you are in the green IMO.

The kalk reactor would go best in between your reservoir and sump. Then your reservoir would be fresh water and the reactor would house the kalk and mix twice or three times a day for a few minutes... whatever you have the timer set for. I put about a full 16oz. bottle of pickling lime in mine. It theoretically will last approximately 2tbsp/gallon. I have no idea how many tbsp are in 16oz, but topoff dependant it lasts a while for most people.

No chocolate chip or green serpent either. The chocolate chip has a taste for some corals and snails. The green serpent is a predator. If you have a sand bed, you don't want a sand stirrer star, since they dine on things you want in your sand bed. That is the extent of my star fish knowledge.

Chip, I use a dosing pump. I have found the weak point there to be the tubing sets, specifically the tubing that gets massaged by the rollers. I bought some tubing the other day that is supposed to outlast the standard tubing by "30 times". I should be able to report whether this is true or not after a period of time, 30 times three weeks would work for me. Half of that would make me real happy... I also had an epiphany about disabling the alarms on the dosing pumps... it doesn't make sense to me. When the flow alarm goes off, the pump is hardly pushing water if any. I'd like to know when this is happening or rather what is not happening. I do like the constant drip and my top off needs are a little over a gallon per day which fits in the 300ml/hr. max rate. The max rate equates to about 1.9 gallons per day btw for a 300ml/hr. pump. You can use larger tubing to get higher output, but of course the rate on the display will not be correct. US Plastics sells different sized tubing for peristaltic pumps if you go with a peristaltic pump of some kind. Top off or feeding can be done any number of ways. What Steve mentioned would work, you could even use a peristaltic pump in place of a power head in my upcoming suggestion. If your water would be coming from a topoff reservoir of some sort I might suggest this. Use a small reliable powerhead and a float switch; maybe two swtiches for some fault tolerance. By reliable you would want something you could depend on turning on as needed... IMO no RIO's. I would think something like a Mini-Jet 606 or 404 might be a good fit for something like this. I'm not sure if the head height be a problem with them, but I imagine if they did work it would be a very low flow w/ a reliable small pump. The powerhead/pump would sit in the topoff reservoir w/ an output to the reactor. I would suggest using a relay. The reasoning here is two fold, one the float switches only handle up to say 50W (not a problem with a MJ) and number two the relay puts 12VDC on the switch as opposed to 110VAC. It can be done for around $30 or you could forego the relay. Cost then would be your float switch/es, extension cord, pump if you don't have one on hand and some way to mount it in your sump. If the tolerances of the switch/es are exceeded they will fail though. One other though that came to me was on the reactor design I suggested there is a ball valve on the output so one could tune the output somewhat if needed. It might make better sense to do it a different way depending on how you are setup. I guess the question is how would/does your water get to your sump?

It's the toilet valve type thing, a float that blocks the water input... which in turn invokes the auto shutoff device. Your pic 1 essentially. The silicon may work, but I would like the modularity of having a leak proof quick connect. I'll hit it with some Silicone in the mean time... good tip!

I added a float shutoff to my RO/DI, only problem is the connector. After two overflows, it may be the best $20 I've spent in a while... Anyway, it uses a 1/4" ID tapered washer and compression nut to seal the 1/4" tubing... unsuccessfully I might add at this point. It yields a drip and as opposed to monkeying around with it I'd rather find a female threaded John Guest fitting. Anyone know a place that has a selection of these locally? Home Depot only has the male threaded ones. If not I'll see what Google turns up.

If the magnet picks them up, that would make them either iron, nickel, cobalt, or steel... my vote is steel. Wish I had thought about the magnet pickup procedure when I broke mine on the floor.

FWIW, Glasscages comes to Manassas about every two months. Shipping on a 240 gallon glass tank would be a costly item I'm sure. It would have to come via some freight carrier for sure. You would also need a few extra hands to move it around also. There is a show list on their site if you want to see when they will be in Manassas next. In addition to being very cost effective for a glass tank, I've heard they do good work.

I have a Reeftek that I like quite a bit. It uses a powerhead for stirring which to date has not been a problem. Maintenance isn't difficult either. To get the pump off you just twist the MJ600 and take it off.. of course the reactor has to be empty to do this. I put together a short list of parts. It may be missing an item or two btw, but should be fairly complete. Off the top of my head I'm thinking cost might come in around $80 or so. It also needs some machining, which if someone has the right equipment should not be too bad. I could be off on my job costing, but still a savings over buying one. 1 - 18" section of 6" acrylic tubing 1/4 or 1/8" thickness? 1/8" is more cost effective [*]2 - 8" acrylic circles for top flanges (~ 3/8 to 1/4" thickness) - I also have a template for who ever might tackle this - I would suggest a router for this. stock can be sourced from local scrap bins one flange with an inside cutout (5 3/4"), gasket groover, drilled and tapped for thumb screws option to gasket groove could be flat gasket(no gasket groove) maybe keyhole flange the cover disc? (would make it nice for refilling/maintenance) drill and tap cover disc for threaded John Guest fittings [*]8 - nylon thumb screws [*]2 - John Guest fittings water output; ball valve (one end m-threaded; other quick disconnect) water input; male threaded [*]Misc Items acrylic pieces for base (can be sourced from local scrap bins for peanuts) 2 sides, one platform, four right triangles for corner support [*]- CPVC pieces for intake and pump 1/2 pipe 2 - female threaded adapter (w/ rubber gaskets) 45 degree elbow [*]two barb fittings [*]flex tubing to connect recirc. pump (MJ600) [*]hose clamps to clamp flex tubing [*]thread taps for flange nuts and John Guest fittings [*]Weldon #4 [*]Weldon #16 or collection of shavings mixed with Weldon #4 [*]maybe Plastic Welder from Wal-Mart to supplement #4 on tube to base and top flange (Jorge from Reeftek claims the plastic will break before it will fail) [*]pipe thread tape (for threaded fittings) [*]1/4" polyethylene tubing for feed/output(10ft. each person - safe estimate) After all this you need a way to feed it, some Kalk/P. Lime and the mixing pump of course. I may or may not be able to attend the DIY party, it all depends on when and what I have on my plate.

Here's another thread I have found useful in calculating for building tanks, sumps and etc. http://www.garf.org/tank/buildtank.asp

The two approaches here are essentially going at it with an acid or base. I'd be interested to know what "Joe's Juice" is btw. The Kalwasser mix hits it with a basic solution having a ph ~ 12.4. The vinegar, lemon and lime juice are acidic w/ ph's south of approximately 3. Lime juice is the most acidic (lowest pH) of the three I believe w/ lemon and then vinegar as far as acidic strength. I'm not the chemist in the family... so don't shoot me if I'm off a little. As I said initially, I am interested in what Joe's Juice really is though. Does it list any ingredients?

What is your procedure? I have used with great success a hypodermic needle w/ a thick lime water solution. Are you injecting with the Joe's Juice? I make the solution as thick as I can get to flow through the needle like I want. I also heat the solution, but I have no idea if this adds to the solutions killing powers... can't hurt I imagine. My tank is Aiptasia free, but every six months or so I get one that pops up out of no where. Resilient buggers!

Erik, I have been meaning to send you an e-mail. I'm glad you saw the tank though. The table saw was indespensable for this whole project. Thank you again. Lee, and all, I have just been slammed as of late. I am working on a write up of the project per Steve's earlier question and Amber's question on cost. At some point expect something, LOL. The tank isn't even set up yet, the only thing I have done was to put some dead rock in my other system to liven up. I don't think I will be able to make the symposium as my next month is booked with travel and other obligations. We will have to get together sometime soon though, maybe someone will have another food making party in a month or so?

Howard, LOL, well I was getting a 10 gallon drilled and it broke. Was I the "one"? I partially expected it since a 10 gallon is awful thin. I ran down the road and bought another at a pet store and the second was a success... except I broke the second one at home. The third I had done at my local glass shop for $5, since the lady thought the application was "so cool". In breaking two 10 gallon tanks I found a better way to drill them. The problem as I see it is the drill press and the pressure needed to grind throgh the glass, thin as it may be. Grim actually told me that the thinner the glass the slower he has to go, which makes sense. On my third, I cut two pieces of drywall the size of the glass panels that were by me while I was brainstorming.. then cut two short sections of a 2x4. I placed both panels up against the glass on each side and then wedged the 2x4's at an angle to snug the panels tight on each side. I could have come up with something a little more extravegant, but it worked. Nothing to do with a 29, but nonetheless there you have it.

There are several ways to do it, but for a single hole... The Reef Tank is the best option. A diamond bit alone is at least double or triple what they charge, plus you get his experience. You might get lucky and have a local glass shop do it reasonably. If you poke around ReefCentral you will find plenty to read on drilling tanks. I've seen people discuss diamond tip hole saw bits, a pipe w/ some abrasive substance and even a dremel approach.

I finished my 12" cube project last night. I built the tank out of cast 1/4" and the hood and rear sump are glossy black. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. All I have left to do is finish the lighting and get a small pump. I gave it to my daughter for her birthday today. She seemed pretty happy with it. We are going to discuss what she wants to keep. Without further adieu....

Lee, Yes, the Hippo was from my recent trip to Roozens... which was essentially an abort operation on going to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I had wanted to go there for some time though. The kids enjoyed it and the wife had a good time asking me what every single fish was. My son enjoyed the thrill of the endless supply of gravel and the room of open fish tanks. He and I had a real battle, one which I won. My oldest daughter became quite enamored with a seahorse she saw and the snail shells all over the floor. I'm setting her up a 12" cube... seahorse tank maybe? Anyway, they definitely had some interesting fish I haven't seen anywhere else... like the Moorish Idols. I thought I also saw a pretty good size Mantis Shrimp in one tank... it was all the way to the back and left in the very bottom tank. Overall I was satisfied with Roozens, althought there was some livestock I would not touch there. We did make it to the Aquarium the next day and we collectively enjoyed that also. We had a real "fishy" Memorial Day weekend. Back on topic... The zip ties work well on holding the tubing on. I just put one behind one of the barbs on the pump output fitting. My experience is the tubing stretches out over time... so a tight fit today may not be the same a few months down the road.