xeon

Big Als is having free shipping until midnight of Dec. 5. I buy pumps from them as they seem to have very good prices... without shipping and tax, great deal.

They should look into using Weldon 40 since they are manufacturers of a lot of tanks. Next time I talk to the guy at Glass Cages, I might suggest that. Acrylic overflows IMO outclass the glass overflow if for nothing else... you can add overflow teeth which are invaluable. Doing teeth in glass is a major operation IMO.. or adding acrylic faceplates with teeth would look cheesy IMO.

You could, but I would try and try to seal it as is. One can actually overtighten and smush the gasket too much or it could not be tight enough. Another scenario is your hole could be a little too large for it to seal easily. I'd mess with it first to see if it can be fixed without silicone... otherwise yes, silicone may help seal it. GE I uses acetic acid and GE II is neutrally cured using alcohol. The alcohol cure happens a lot faster.

The aquarium specific stuff you can find locally in a LFS... my local Wal-Mart has it too. For the GE I or II, you can find that at Wal-Mart, Lowes and/or Home Depot. The specific product I use is the clear GE II Window and Door. I would use the GE II as it will cure faster and supposedly has a little better strength with plastics. To be totally honest, the aquarium stuff is probably the same as the GE I or II. I can't say which since I'm not sure whether it is acid or neutrally cured. Neutrally cured will cure faster... again that is the GE II.

If the tank is acrylic I would use some Weldon 4 or 16. If it is glass you can get by with silicone. Dave's brace idea sounds pretty good since I experienced a silicone joint semi-failing over a period of time. It is an acrylic to glass application. I would use either epoxy or Weldon 40 for glass to acrylic... make it about as permanent as it could get. The stuff you have is no good, from the fuzzy label I can make out Microban... which is a mildew inhibitor as Chip noted. In general any Window and Door silicone will not have these. Kitchen & Bathroom compounds generally do. I have used GE Window & Door (I & II) for all of my "siliconing".

Seems strange, but that isn't the first time I've seen Majanos being sold... or even requested by someone. I think they are also referred to as rock anemeones, some can even be quite colorful. I do think they pack a punch though, not as friendly as the auction might make them sound. If the Aiptasia market takes off, you're sitting on a gold mine!!

Glad you got it working.

Alex, I have and use more than one... I even have the Intermatic you mount in the wall. They ALL work. IMO, you probably haven't programmed it right. Double check it. I would look at the following: 1. Is the time right, including correct AM/PM? 2. Is the switch in AUTO mode? 3. Check your on/off times for the switch. (AM/PM again) 4. Check to make sure you have the program set to run all days of the week. Then again it could be busted, but I'd run through it thoroughly to be sure. You might even just hit the reset button and start from scratch.

Erik, In theory you should have more area in the reaction chamber taken up by bubbles in comparison with a non-recirc model. On the other hand if you do a recirc mod and have a very high rate of flow coming into the input... you might actually be worse off since you are effectively reducing contact time IMO. The key (IMO) is to not have an input that exceeds what your recirc pump is doing... otherwise I see no advantage to recirculating over the standard feed method.

I concur with what has been written, my current favorite skimmer. Two easy to do mods for these skimmers are the Gate Valve mod and Recirculating mod. The Gate Valve mod allows you to better fine tune the water level as opposed to raising and lowering a pipe. The recirculating mod allows you more contact time and makes the skimmer more efficient. In laymen terms, "more bubblage". The best place to buy them is ASMSkimmer.com In addition to the best prices, they also sell the parts to do the mods and have a forum with pictures, tips, etc. You can get the parts to do the mods elsewhere for less, but the I would at least get some Uni-Seals when purchasing if you plan on doing the recirculating mod. Great skimmer at a bargain price IMO. I have a G2 on a 72 bowfront and I'm very happy with it. I would have gotten a G3, but the footprint would have been a problem... although its only like an inch larger in width. A G2 or G3 should be great on your 75.

My first two questions would be what kind of filtration/s are you running... and how large of a bio-load(livestock) do you have?

It is probably going asexual. That is a form of its reproduction. There is also a chance your lighting may need to be replaced. Either way, we do not want it happening in our tanks. When it does this, it releases its nutrients that it has sucked up in short order... not good. Grape Caulerpa is known to do this, that is why many people use chaeto or other types of Caulerpas that do not seem to do this as much.

Dave, if you have observed a ballast working and then not working after messing with the wires... you may have a broken conductor in one of the wires. I would get some wire and replace the leads coming off of the ballast to eliminate this. I'm not sure how quality Jali is, but it is possible they use wire that is marginal for the heat conditions in being close to a ballast and PC tube/s. Otherwise as you say, I would suspect the ballast to not be not working by process of elimination using "known goods".

What type of Silicone? The curing agent in the Silicone will determine what kind of cure time you should use. For instance, GE I Window & Door uses acetic acid, or is acetoxy cured if you will. GE II Window & Door uses alcohol, it is neutrally cured. If the curing agent is acetic acid... I would allow for several days. Neturally cured should be fine after 24-48 hours.

Dave, To clarify, how many fixtures do you have? How many bulbs in each and how many ballasts per fixture? Do the ballasts have any sort of electrical data on them? In guessing that one of the ballasts does not seem to operate the bulb/s... yet the very same bulb lights on a separate ballast, that puts it on three things: 1. wiring 2. ballast 3. faulty socket (probably not) IMO, if you have enough working parts on hand to swap lamps and they seem to operate on a different ballast, you can move onto the three above. If you have the wiring correct, my only hope other than the ballast being bad, would be an open in the wires coming off or too for that matter from the ballast. You could cut them short and replace them with new wire.

My first guess would be the bulb. The strobing and lack of a complete failure would be my basis of this indication. If you have another 175W bulb, I would swap bulbs first to eliminate the bulb. Is this a new bulb or have you had it a while? Do you know if you have a probe or pulse start ballast... does your bulb match the ballast type? Next I would check the cap. You will have to disconnect it and then discharge it. Next break out your multimeter and put it on the high setting to measure ohms(ohmeter). If you see anything other than a low initial value that increases... the cap is bad. A low unchanging value would be a short and a high unchanging value would indicate an open... both mean the cap is bad. If you have a good bulb and the cap tests good, your transformer is the only piece left.

Dave, IMO, I think the best way to treat the aiptasia is to spot inject your larger ones and take a chance on some peppermint shrimp. I think Berghias are hard to come by, expensive and there is the issue of food source after the fact. I'm sure you probably know the difference, but make sure to get peppermints and not camel backs if you do take the plunge. Maybe it is luck of the draw, but I have had a wonderful record with peppermint shrimp and aiptasia. My first coral I got from someone in WAMAS(few years ago) was a small Sarcophyton on a rock with some Aiptasia. I knew enough about Aiptasia that I removed the leather and mounted it on a rock of my own... after I had already put it in my tank. Well... an Aiptasia or two started to pop up here and there. I tried injecting, but since my tank is in a wall, seeing things, let alone hitting them with a small needle is hard to do sometimes. So I got a pair of peppermint shrimp. In one day the Aiptasia were all gone... mind you there were less than 10 and not incredibly large. Hardly a plague like you have. I have not seen an Aiptasia in that tank since, although they are still there. I say they are still there because I aquacultured some base rock for a nano-tank within that system in the last year. The nano has three lovely Aiptasias in it, which I will inject sometime soon. They certainly did not come from dry and dusty rock. That tells me the peppermint is to be a permanent resident since it apparently keeps the "seen" presence of Aiptasia away. If anything, the peppermint shrimp might keep tabs on the new and smaller Aiptasias while you needle your way through the big uns.

Eric, Some time ago I believe chideloh ordered from these guys and split it up. In terms of storage, I think the stuff is good for two years provided you keep it damp and ideally in the dark. So... a zip lock baggie in a covered container would probably do it. I think the "stuff" is MB-1. I would imagine 52 lbs. might top a lot of us refillable DI users off for a while.

If you are looking for bulk... I believe this might be a good source. If someone does an order, I'll take some. http://www.resindepot.com/page20.html

Tap water of any variety is more often than not, unsuitable. Tap water standards for drinking aren't always reef tank friendly. For instance acceptable phosphates for drinking can be a nightmare in terms of algae growth. Ideally you want water with a TDS of ~0. Your single carbon filter is better than nothing, but not what I would use personally. Since you stated the one stage you have is a pain... I don't imagine my suggestion to get at least a five stage is going to make you jump up and down... but again it would be a good thing. That would give you a sediment stage, two carbons, RO membrane and a DI stage. Of the many challenges in this hobby, starting with clean water helps immensely. With an RO/DI system you could also toss your Prime away. I'm not a fan of De-Chlorinators, but that is a subject within itself.

The "other" Nassarius snails I believe you are thinking about were at one time called Nassarius Obsoletta. They have since been described as Ilynassa Obsoleta. I have read the temperature concerns of the Obsoletas, but in my personal experience they do just fine in a reef tank. My temps float at 79-80F. I bought 50 about two years ago and received over 100 from a guy who collects them in the mud flats of coastal NC. Most are still around. Some have become snacks for my Peppermint shrimp that gets a taste for snail sometimes and I used to toss them in sand bags when swapping with others... 100 or better of the little buggers was too much in a 75. The "other" Nassarius snail I believe you may be thinking of is the Nass. Vibex. IMO they are less useful in terms of their tank coverage. The Ilynassa are all over the glass, rocks and sand. The Vibex are good sand stirrers and sand detrivores... but that is all they do IME. I think a little of both makes for a good combination since the Vibex seem to spend more time on the sand due to the wider range of the Ilynassa.

Lee et al, My general understanding of cucumbers is this... there are basically two varieties; filter feeders and detrivores. I think "detrivore" is the right word and it is the one we hobbyist want for sand bed maintenance. They basically ingenst the top portion of sand removing algae and bacteria. I recall R. Shimek stating this stripping of the bacteria was a good thing. It sparks repopulation of bacteria in the cleaned off sand particles... or something along those lines. I am pretty sure they do not negatively affect sand bed fauna like the sand sifting star. Both the Atlantic and Tiger tail can expel their insides if they so choose. They are not toxic like the Sea Apples, which can expel and release some nasties. I've never had a cucumber expel its guts, but it could happen. Like anything else dying in our tank, it could be problematic.

Howard, Unless you have frags laying on your sand bed a fighting conch will never touch your frags. They stay on the sand ALL the time. A queen on the other hand may venture to glass and rock work. Behaviourly they go around vacuuming with their trunk and will bury themselves from time to time for a variable period of time. I had one disappear for a month one time. I also have at least 10lbs. of Southdown that is a few years old... but never used and still dry. I opened the bag for a small tank and to add to my refuge. I could get it to you if/when the bulb thing happens if you can't get anything closer.

Howard, My personal favs for sand bed maint. are Fighting Conchs, Nass. snails, Atlantic cucumbers and Cerith snails. My problem with Tiger tails is their behavior to attach and linger there... my ugly Atlantic cucumber moves all over making pretty white sand pellets. With these and the other critters that you should have in a sand bed... things should be peachy. I also third or fourth the opinion that sand sifting star fish are a bad idea for a "functional" sand bed.

The diamond wheel is nice... but if you are only slicing one coral a plain ol' cutoff wheel will be more than sufficient.