darkcirca

While I've never used hot glue in the tank, I've tried it on other things that get wet and everytime it seems to dissolve. Maybe it was crappy hot glue, but I don't use it in water anymore. I just keep a stock of super glue gel by the fishtank. Seems to be the one thing I resort to everytime I need something glued.. except 9/10 times I glue my fingers together.

Thanks for all the info. Gives me something to sift through tomorrow at work. From reading so far, we are still leaning towards AI Sol along with upgrading to the Apex (From AC Jr). Don't want to spend a huge fortune, but definitely want to upgrade. Loved my Aquactinics fixture while we've had it (which is years), but it definitely is time for a change.

I'm looking into it some, my only concern is timeframe for delivery. I'd prefer to have something here by mid January, giving myself time to setup prior to the arrival of this child. Yea yea, I totally dropped the ball on doing this in advance. My brain is not working to full capacity anymore. Looks like I may be looking into DIY options. We are more than capable of it, just lazy I believe last year we were looking into the AI Sol.

Forgot about that one. I've got a mixed reef, mostly soft corals, but some LPS and SPS scattered in there.

I'm hoping someone on here could lend a few pointers, maybe a few good startup links, or overall suggestions. It's about time to replace my T5 bulbs for my 90 gallon and I'm debating just going with LEDs instead. I had this debate about it last year but held out, but now I really would like to consider it. I've got a standard size 90 gallon with no canopy. The thought was two fixtures hanging from the ceiling, one on each side of the brace. If anyone wants to send some starting points, please do. I want to look into this during the week and get something ordered hopefully soon. A DIY option could be considered, but I'm looking at a fast setup time for this (aka before the end of January). I'm actually due with our first child mid-February, so I want this taken care of before. The husband will do most of the work, I just need to come up with the answer.

Thanks again for the Copperband today! So far so good - already swimming about and enjoying himself.

I've just been slowly coating them with kalk to get rid of them in my tank. Last time I removed a rock (let alone touched them with my bare hands) I ended up sick and miserable. Just wear gloves

Part of the reason I'm glad I posted here about my experience. I will say, I won't be going anywhere near those corals again without gloves. I learned my lesson.. twice.. and I do not wish that upon anyone. Not as bad as you, thankfully.

I ended up going with a Vee Gee. I liked the feedback I've read on it over on RC and some other places.

How long have you had it?

BRS is also a NaCL one, not a seawater. I figure if I am buying another, I should get a seawater, since I already have an NaCL one. The Milwaukee has iffy reviews from everything I've read, especially over it's lifetime.

It doesn't say anything about being natural seawater. I'd be hesitant on it, especially at the cost. My issue with ordering from overseas stems from numerous no-show packages (from high-rated sellers even) and the timeframe for them to get here. I've just had too many issues with overseas orders from eBay to really want to try again. There's tons of posts on RC about various refractometers. Mixed reviews on everything. I'm weighing my options between DD and Vee Gee right now though.

The Vee Gee, from what I read, can be calibrated with RO to zero. I was just thinking about that as a backup, in case I run out of calibration solution. Seems like I may have made up my mind, but I need to read more to reassure myself. I'm putting a deadline on this purchase for this weekend, otherwise I will take all the time in the world to decide. Kinda like that external pump I debated on for months before buying.

They are actually different - eBay ones are for saltwater/brine, not seawater. Plus DD and Marine Depot (pro model) do not have a scale to zero. I've got to decide if I like that, or the Vee Gee (which goes to zero). I think I'm going to go with a seawater one, at least it would be a change up to the one I have. The brine ones seem cheap enough that I can always buy one if I want to down the road. No one else on WAMAS have a seawater refractometer?

..yea I realized that AFTER I posted. Must say, this lack of sleep is really getting to me. I'm in debate between it and the Vee Gee now. Not sure what I like better. Guess I'll read up some more at work tomorrow and make a choice. Seems like one of them may be the best way to go.

Anyone on WAMAS have one of the seawater ones - Vee Gee or DD? Figuring if I'm going to drop money on another, I might as well get something different...

Sadly, it's an international seller. I prefer US sellers. Too many issues with international orders, plus the timeframe to get it.

I'm looking to purchase a new refractometer. I couldn't tell you how long we purchased ours (I'm guessing 3-4 years ago), but recently it stopped holding calibration. I picked up some 35ppt calibration solution (Thanks Johnny!) as I was always calibrating it to 0. Sometimes it works great, then other times I can calibrate it and within a few minutes it's off again. Today was the last straw. I calibrated it, walked over to the tank (literally 5 feet) and took a reading. It was off the chart (literally, above the top line). Had to recalibrate it again in order to test the tank. So, anyone recommend a specific refractometer? I'm pretty certain the one I have is Sybon. Would prefer to keep it under $100, really I'd prefer to be lower. I've already dropped over 1k on this tank since the beginning of the year on various equipment and other things.

Isn't BRS's group buy the same as "buy x for $$"? I'm pretty certain it is, as I just participated in the last. My account still shows "Group Buy" actually, and it shows $59.99 as the price for me...

We did the bathroom faucet for a few years, then once we moved we hard plumbed it in. We've got one from The Filter Guys and it's been great. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them again, or go with BRS.

I second that if you can. Or you could end up like us that ordered bulkheads from BRS without really thinking about it, only to find out that the sch80 ones don't fit. Glad we had our old ones to use still! So now I have a 1" and 3/4" of these bulkheads just sitting around since I can't use them.

Critters can devour a fish pretty quickly. I've lost several fish around the size that were just gone in the course of a few days.. never to be seen again. I've also had jumpers that weren't found for several days, as they blended in so well with their surroundings.

Thanks a bunch. I'm going to look into them too. I want to get everything figured out by this weekend, as I feel like we are just waiting for the OceanRunner to fail. Wish I had more room for something bigger than a 20 gallon sump, but it's better than nothing.

Did you buy your glass there as well? I'll have to check out Banner Glass and see if I can locate the one in Manassas. Since our sump is glass, I'd rather go with glass baffles this time around.

Last time I had looked (granted it was a few years ago when building this last sump), they didn't have anything thicker than like 1/8".