craby

Now that's really small. I had one of those 2.5 gal nanos. I wonder what is the smallest tank available. I think I saw a .25 gal tank once.

Add some pinesol to the tank. That should freshen up the smell a bit. :P Just joshin. Sounds like the clam is fouling up the tank a little. If you haven't yet, take out the dead clam and do a water change, add carbon & phosphate remover.

I had a baby red brittle star fish about that size come on some live rock. It grew to about the diameter or a baseball, then died after 2 years. Very cool color, and I noticed that mine would lighten to pink & then darken to burgandy every few months.

I believe the difference between the crushed coral & ARM is that crushed coral breaks down @ a higher acidity level than ARM, hence requiring more CO2, & more undisolved CO2 being released into the tank.

IF we do a group order, I am in need of some ARM. I have an old MRC CR6 which is a 6" dia x 20" tall, and a 4" dia x 20" tall. Any idea how many pounds it can hold? Also, I just emptied out the old ARM as the lids are cracked & leaking. When I did this I noticed that the old ARM is soft and crumbly. Any idea on if I should put new ARM in first, and top off w/ old, or just throw away old ARM? I think it would be best to put new in first so that it doesn't pack down as fast, a potential problem w/ the MRC CR6 as the water flows down in the 6" dia recirculation tube.

I'm interested in getting (2) of them to be picked up at the meeting.

I like the check valve idea. Does anyone know how drastically this valve would reduce flow back to the tank when open?

If the Little Giant is an external pump, which I think it is, you should probably not put it in the 5 gal bucket w/ vinegar. Just soak the impellar housing & impellar in vinegar for a few days, then wipe off the softened CA deposit.

Doug, If you have some acrylic left I'd like some to make a CA reactor. Maybe what we can do is just donate what's not spoken for to the reactor project.

I think what Erik is talking about as the airline in the opening in the tank is to put it inside the L and have it extend through the drilled hole and down the drain line in back of the tank. This makes the water hug the side of the plumbing and not free fall. When water free falls it makes noise as it lands back on the plumbing pipe at the bottom of the drain. I've tried this and it does help some.

Me too. I'm working 14 hour days lately.

Thanks Ireland

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is "Starboard" in reference to bare bottom tanks? What is a "Medusa Controller"? What do you mean by cooked base rock - Does this mean simply cured rock?

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is "planaria outbreak"?

Neon Gobies are really small. They might look like food to other inhabitants.

I think what Jacob was refering to was "5 volts". The 5 volts is for the float switches (2 far right connections). The pump/PH will be connected to the 110v (2 middle connections). The 2 left connections are for wires comming from house receptacle (110 volt also). I have mine wired this way, and it is working great. Thanks everyone who helped in this project. It was a great success.

Howard: The stainless steel spring should never rust as the water should be RO/DI to your kalk reactor. I was planning on using a 6 gal salt bucket w/ RO/DI in it pumped into the kalk reactor. Both sitting on floor. The problem w/ this is the back siphon of kalk water into the bucket - hence the need for the check valve. I talked w/ Krish and decided to get a solenoid valve. I now have the bucket elevated on table w/ no power head so when float switch turns on, solenoid valve opens, and RO/DI gravity feeds into kalk reactor. Works great. Make sense? I also have an order placed w/ Aquasafecanada.com for an automated set up including 4 gal pressurized bladder tank, pressure regulator switch, & flow restrictor. This is simmilar to Krish's set up. I hope Krish doesn't mind me sharing this info but I feel it is applicable to this post on check valves. HTH.

Need to be careful when ordering the check valves. I got one from McMaster Carr for 1/4" tubing to use on my top off system that is useless. Reason is because there is a spring in there that has a cracking or opening pressure. Looks like the one listed here has .3 PSI and I think the one I got had .1 PSI cracking pressure. I can't use a power head that has enough flow to open the valve, so it's sitting in my junk pile.

I have mine on a digital timer from HD ($20) set for 2 min. every 4 hours.

I successfully drilled a 5 gal tank today, but... broke it when putting the bulk head through the hole. A little too tight of a fit.

I've heard that the ARM media dissolves faster than regular crushed coral, so I plan to put a 1" layer of crushed coral on bottom & fill remainder of reactor w/ ARM. This way as the ARM disolves to sand it doesn't go to the bottom as fast.

Are you planning on a sump? This is recommended for larger tanks so you can run a refugium, skimmer, heater, return pump, top off system, reactors, etc... through it & have more stable water parameters. Without a sump you can plumb in a closet loop with the drilled hole? What size hole is drilled in back? This will determine the max size return/closed loop pump. If you go w/ a soft coral tank you shouldn't need metal Halide (MH) lighting, & power compact (PC) or very high output (VHO) lighting should be sufficient. As far as skimmers, the hook on back types are more sensitive than the in sump types and need adjustment more frequently.

Yes, Krish is right. Thanks Krish for calling this 110v issue to my attention. I would like to confirm that I will need 1 complete set up to include (1) PCB & kit and (2) float switches.

Do you have a refugium? I like to take mine from the main tank and put them in my refugium to stur up the sand bed. They can't hurt anything there.

Any wire that is red, black, or blue is hot, & any wire that is green or yellow with green stripe is ground wire. White and brown wires are used on circuits where the hot wires are being run in series. On the ballast - 4 red wires are hot, yellow is ground. On the old end cap - red & black are hot, green is ground. On the new end cap - blue & black are hot, yellow w/ green stripe is ground. I would connect the yellow wire on ballast to yellow w/ green stripe and brown of new end cap, and 2 red wires from ballast to the blue & other 2 reds on ballast to the black of new end cap. That should either work or spark. Good luck. HTH