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I think The Reef Tank is the closest unless there is a closer hardware and/or pet store that carries them.

To get delivery on Friday this week or the following Monday, I will place this order tomorrow. If you are on the fence... now is the time to jump. If you use Kalk or don't use Kalk yet... this is an excellent deal.

What you are seeing is probably amphipods and copepods. Copepods are very small, so you will probably see and/or notice them more on your glass due to their size. To help their population, adding phytoplankton to your tank will do wonders. It is also tough to harvest them, or at least I think so. The easiest way to get them locally is to get some macros from a fellow reefer. More than likely it will contain copepods, amphipods, bristle worms and maybe some mini-brittle stars. In my experience getting a wad of chaeto is the best way to do this since it is "brillo-paddish".

I would recommend feeding it. Theoretically if you dose phyto you should be promoting planktonic life, which with water movement the coral would catch and eat. A sure bet is spot feeding it. You also want to be careful about placement... especially if it is the long tentacle variety. Basically it will sting other corals and is noted as being agressive. I would spot feed it mysis, cyclopeeze or some other chopped meaty foods at least every two weeks when the tentacles are out.

To be clear, delivery will be to flowerseller's flower shop. The delivery must be to a commercial address as the Lime and other items on the delivery truck are considered "Industrial Chemicals". Storage to ease Chip's divvying responsibilities is open and maybe appreciated by Chip. I have a commercial address down here... but it isn't as convenient as Chip's location in McLean, Va for the majority of people.

Lee/eddi, jehmco.com is the site for the frozen food ordering. Love to make it, but I have to check if May 7th or whatever the date decided upon works for me.

Bob, If no one else speaks up, I will split a bag with you to even things out. eddi, very gracious of you... if it works out and you don't mind, sounds good to me. I'll leave this open for a few days since there seems to be quite an interest. Upon cheking back on availability today; Greensboro has zero in stock. They are due to receive a large amount this Saturday, April 9th. With that in mind, we could probably have delivery sometime next week or the following week if we move forward next Monday or Tuesday.

Last summer my central air went down twice... which I have decided to totally replace this spring. The last time it went down, my tank shot up to 90-something... which broke the proverbial camel's back for a chiller. I lost a ton of corals as you can imagine. It's hard to gauge the most important thing I have bought for my tank, but my chiller is up there somewhere. I stay at 77-78F.

This is another order for Mississippi Lime in 50lb. bags. Specifically it is the CODEX Hydrated Lime (CODEX HL), which is recommended by Randy Holmes-Farley on RC. He is the guru in the chemistry forums if the name does not ring a bell. Aside from that this is round two for ordering within WAMA and I can attest to it being top notch. Here is a link if you want to see the specs: Hydrated Lime (CODEX HL) Cost: 50lb. bag @ .46/lb = $23 Tax: 4.5% of $23 = $1.04 Fuel surcharge of $20/7 = $2.86 (more bags will decrease this) Total @ 7 bags: $26.89 (I would take 26 or 27) If people are splitting bags it would be best to do at another site though. The usage for this can be either for dripping kalk from some sort of container setup or from a kalk reactor. People can mail or PayPal to me after the fact. Delivery may take a week or two after placing it. It is generally stocked in Greensboro, NC and must be shipped to VA then shipped to Chip's shop. Chip has requested it not take place between 4/25 thru Mother's day or 5/9. I imagine this is a busy time for a flower shop. People In: Paul(Jarosh) - 2 Bob & Tamie(cowrie) - 2 Beltway Bandit - 1 OUSnakebyte(Mike) - 1 eddi- 1 GaryL - 1 wirick21 - 1 chideloh - 1 Phil(Grav) - 1/2 (volunteered for half to even out) rocko918 - 1/2 scott711 - 1/2 dchild - 1/2 krish - 1/2 steveoutlaw - 1/2 Total: 13

Ok, I got the pics which I will upload into an album today hopefully. Nothing fancy though. *Edit: http://dsstel.com/culture/index.htm From the looks of the pics it looks like it comes as a kit. End user supplied items are air pump, light and tank... am I wrong? Anyway, looks pretty simple to build, I just wonder what mesh is used between the chambers. My assumption is it should filter around 5 microns to prevent the phyto from going cross lots, keep the rotifers at bay while letting roti-waste into the phyto side. The price doesn't sound too bad, I just think I might be able to make exactly what I want. In speaking with Florida Aquaculture, they suggested maybe using a womens slip as it resembles 5 micron mesh material closely. For the rotifer catcher box, 53 micron would be sufficient.

I still don't have pics from the guy, but I think I'm figuring it out from the pics in the links above. I may bug him mid-week if I haven't received anything. One question I had was what are the green tubes going to the box and divider. First I came to the conclusion there is no pump since it isn't listed as included or needed. Of the listed items of accessories to the item, an air pump is one of them.... why you say? Because both of these tubes are air lift pumps. It is basically a way to pump water without a pump using air bubbles to reduce specific gravity of the water via aeriating it. The water in the tube would be lighter and theoretically rise... and pump. Sounds good, no moving parts to mess anything up aside for turbulence. I know nothing about air lift pumps outside of the theory of operation. It sounds rather simple though. Of the two pipes, the one to the divider is to feed phyto to the rotifer culture. I think you would put this on a timer to run "x" time/s a day for "x" amount of time. The other I believe is a rotifer catcher that runs non stop. In my opinion the bottom of the box is a fine mesh (53u?) to catch stray rotifers in the phyto side. I also think it serves as source of movement for the phyto culture. I am not sure what the mesh is between the two chambers. The finest I was able to find was 5u, but the smallest cells of Nanochlopsus (sp?) aka Japanese Chlorella is in the 4-6u range. As Lee noted the rotifer waste is fuel for the phyto, but I'm not sure about what mesh could be used there. You could probably get by by using f/2 and eliminating the screen. It would add to maintenance IMO though. What say you?

Lee, you hit on one key point. From your experiences alone I was already thinking about the possibility of contamination. I imagine one stray rotifer would become many happy rotifers in short order. One would certainly have to take care in harvesting rotifers. I was thinking a ball valve on the side might be a good way to harvest rotifers without going in from the top and creating a scenario of drips going "places". I e-mailed a guy who has one. I think he said he got it off of German E-bay for a song with some other equipment. He also stated he is currently setting himself up to be the distr. for the product in the US. On top of that he is sending me several pictures around the end of the week. They should prove interesting. Informative part of his reply below: (some grammatical errors) FWIW, I think Florida Aquaculture sells different meshes... or maybe it was somewhere else I saw them.

Looks like a potential "easier way" to culture rotifers, which interests me. The daily feedings are the downside to me culturing rotifers currently. Looking at the design it appears there is some sort of mesh in the circles on the partition. I imagine this mesh is fine enough to keep the rotifers in their side... but does it somehow meter flow of the phyto? Next thought is, what is the signifigance of the green tubing to the partition+box. What is the box? It might be a long shot... but German E-bay has the item. It's listed somewhere around $90. My German stinks, but I don't think they mention shipping out of country. Go to ebay.de and search for "plankton reaktor". Shipping it over seas might create issues with the cultures mortality, but the device is what interests me.

I don't know of anyone that does it, but I have done it. In fact I'm doing one of my tank presently in my spare time. You need to get a Novus kit first of all. E-bay was the best source I found with the kit costing around $20 including shipping. Just search for Novus and it should turn up a buy it now auction around $13. The kit contains a cleaner, light scratch remover and a heavier scratch remover. Depending on the severity of the scratches you can either buff the scratches by hand or graduate to power tools. If the scratch is really bad, it might even be worthwhile to wet sand with some 1500 or 2000 then move to the Novus 3 and then 2. Presently I'm using an orbital buffer with a terry pad, which is working out pretty good. For corners and close to the corners, I'm using my Dremel with a felt pad.

Add your location to your profile and/or tell us where you are at. I'm sure someone close to you have some macros they would give you. The racemosa (Grape Caulerpa) is very prone to go asexual, which releases anything they sucked up back into the water column. Sertularoides (Feather Caulerpa) in my experience isn't problematic as far as going asexual. I have a hodge podge of macros in my refugium that include grape, feather, chaeto, razor, one fine red, one thick heavy red (Halymenia?) and some greenish red stuff(Laurencia or Chondria?). The chaeto is the best IMO and seems to be the most widely sought after.

Here's a link to the one I bought on E-bay a few years ago. Same seller BTW, so I can attest to them as a seller I would trust. Works well for me and has clear filter housings, including the DI which is refillable. 5-stage RO/DI on E-bay. Or if you want, they have a website they gave me after dealing with them the last few years buying membranes, replacement filters and so forth. I think they offer the same five-stage with clear housing, color changing DI, shutoff valve and so forth for around $100 + shipping. I imagine they would replace the 100gpd membrane with another choice if you requested, since they are cheaper anyway. http://www.dervich.com/reef/ One other tip, wherever you buy... get a float valve. If you will be running your water into a container it will cut the filter off when the water reaches the level of the float valve. It took me two "little" floods to learn this.

Good to hear Phil, if it was the Swim Bladder thingamajigger... I wonder if he/she was constipated? It sounds like the only logical explanation out of the laundry list that may come and go potentially.

Phil, The best info and treatment I could find was listed in a fresh water fish disease database. In regards to marine, I couldn't find much aside from the fact it was difficult to treat and diagnose the causes for it. If it is improving, it would be interesting to know if maybe it was constipated. :shrug: It would seem everything else would not really improve over night... if the swim bladder really is the problem. Maybe this will help, good luck. Swim-bladder Disease Symptoms: Abnormal swimming pattern, difficulty maintaining equilibrium. Swim bladder problems usually indicate another problem listed here. If you suspect swim-bladder problems in a fish, first check and treat it for other diseases as listed below: Congenitally deformed bladder. Cancer or tuberculosis in organs adjacent to the swim bladder. Constipation. Poor nutrition. Chilling or rapid fluctuations in temperature. Serious parasitic infestation. Serious bacterial infestation. If you have eliminated other causes, make sure you are feeding the right food and make sure the fish is not constipated. Give it live food for awhile to ensure it is getting enough roughage. Also, check the temperature for your fish's requirements and keep the temperature stable. Non-infectious Maladies Tumors Tumors can be caused by a virus or a cancer, but most tumors are genetic. The genetic tumors may be caused from too much hybridization, common amongst professional breeders. Practically all tumors are untreatable. If the fish is in distress, it should be destroyed. Congenital Abnormalities Abnormalities usually occur when professional breeders are trying to acquire certain strains in breeds. Most are beneficial abnormalities like albinism or extra finnage. But undesirable abnormalities crop up and are usually culled out by the breeder. However, such abnormalities sometimes happen in the amateur aquarium. If the abnormality is not life threatening or degrades the quality of life, just leave it be and brag to your friends about the unusual inhabitant. Otherwise, the fish should be humanely destroyed. Injuries Even in the best of aquariums and under the supervision of the most astute aquarists, injuries occur. Some times a bully fish is the culprit, or sharp decor. Sometimes there appears to be no explanation. As in the human world, accidents happen. If the cause of the injury is obvious, it should be remedied. Then the injury should be treated. The injury should be touched with 2% Mercurochrome, which is supplied commercially. Also, depending on the fish's tolerance to water conditions, keeping the fish in slightly acid water should speed recovery (pH 6.6). Minor injuries, if the water conditions are good, should just heal themselves. Constipation Some fish are more susceptible to constipation than others. Usually fish with more compressed bodies like angelfish and silver dollars. Symptoms are loss of appetite and swelling of the body. The cause is almost always diet. Usually, with a change of diet, the condition rights itself. But in stubborn cases try dried food that has been soaked in medicinal paraffin oil. Glycerol or castor oil may also be used. If the diet is changed on a regular basis and live foods offered occasionally this condition may never occur.

Syptomatically, it sounds like "Swim Bladder Disease". I've never seen or dealt with it, but that is what it sounds like.

Bubble algae is a huge pain IMO. An emerald crab is hit and miss with it. Some will mess with it, others not. At the same time, I'm not sure I would want them mashing the bubbles with their claws to eat them. The best scenario (IMO) is to carefully remove the bubbles manually if possible. One of the biggies in removing it is to make sure you do not pop them and release their spores into the tank. That is why I'm not keen on depending on a emerald crab, who may very well be propagating further.

JC, Instead of typing out what a sump is... here is a link to the best "what is a sump" explanation anyone could possibly ever give. (IMO) http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html FWIW, I do not think a 50 gallon tank is too small for a sump. If you are going the coral route, I would strongly suggest the sump.

Being a used pump, you are at a disadvantage not knowing how it has been cared for. I had a used MAG7 that I cleaned monthly... it lasted me less than a year. My initial thought would be to clean it, but it sounds like you checked the impellar and impellar housing and did not see anything remarkable. I'd get a new impellar and see if that fixes it. If it is the motor... not much you can do about that. I tried to disassemble my dead MAG7, which I tossed into the can after I came to the realization if I did get into the motor... no way would I be able to put it in water again. I have a MAG5, although noise is subjective, I think it is relatively quiet.

I'll add to your count... two more clowns = 27.

I second the ply-sandwich approach mentioned by Erik to eliminate a center brace. My 75 is built in my wall with the opening on the rear bottom completely open. I have two 2x4's with a piece of plywood in the center nailed together. I'm assuming Erik and I are talking about the same thing. To use Gary's picture for reference the top-front 2x4 in my case is two 2x4's with 3/8" plywood in the middle. I guess the finishing and aesthetics are a personal thing. I try to steer clear of the faux finishes, sponge painting and other wonderful things my wife just loves to try to get me into. If you are going with a stain, you're better off going with oak. IME, birch can be a little odd when staining and subsequently can look splotchy with mixed results. This isn't always the case though. On the other hand if you are painting, birch should be fine.

Paul, I have more than enough #4 which is what you want. Give me a ring, stop by or whatever.