Origami

You mean a probe mounting gland like this one? http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~cat...y~FITEMOAC.html (If the link doesn't work, go to Marine Depot and search for a "probe mounting gland" and you'll find it.)

It sounds like it's a really, really small leak. You're going to be fine with it as is.

Adding calcium could bring your alk down via precipitation. I wouldn't do that, though. I don't think there's a need to. Alk should fall naturally simply because your corals, and other calcium carbonate producers, will consume the alkalinity. You're alkalinity, by the way, is not really high enough to cause alarm. Some people run their tanks with that and even higher levels. The concern that I have is that your calcium is rather low and, in order for your organisms to be able to use it, you're probably at or below the lowest recommended level of calcium. Therefore, I recommend bringing it up slowly and letting your alkalinity decrease naturally until balance is reestablished. (By the way, get that magnesium test kit and get the measurement. You're probably in no danger with your parameters where they are - though your pH is a bit high (by comparison, my tank runs at around pH 8.4) . You're primarily out of balance.

Primer softens the plastic to prep it to receive the glue. It increases the joint integrity - especially in pressure applications. It's probably less critical in our applications because our pipes are generally open ended with less pressure on the joint. Personally, I use cleaner followed by primer on all my glued joints.

First, where in your light cycle did you take your pH measurement? Second, are you testing your magnesium levels? I'm venturing a guess that it may be low and that you're precipitating out calcium carbonate with the high pH and high alk levels. (are you getting scale building up on your heaters and submersible pumps?) If you have sufficient magnesium (1300 ppm plus), I'd work on boosting your calcium (no more than 25 ppm per day) to about 430. Then just let your alk level drift down to around 10. Hold back on dosing alk until you're down where you want to be. (This assumes that you want to be at around 430 calcium and 10 alk, you may have different targets.) If you don't have sufficient magnesium, get that straight first, because magnesium helps keep calcium and bicarbonates supersaturated (stay in solution) in your water. Low magnesium, in effect, promotes calcium carbonate precipitation.

Ice Cap - two of them. I'd go with separate ballasts to spread the risk of one failing: If one goes down, you still have the second working. In a dual output ballast, you run the risk of the whole unit going down leaving you with nothing.

I would think that you could as both are chloride salts, right? I mean magnesium chloride and calcium chloride? Neither should interfere with the other as long as they're from separate sources.

Could be a phase - it's one of the options and since your system's relatively new, it's more likely that it is. However, it could be more. (I heard an old radio personality often say, "When you hear hoofbeats, think 'horses' and not 'zebras'.") If the black slime is cyano, you can scrub it off with a soft pet toothbrush. Do you have a particulate filter or some filter floss [you can get throw pillow stuffing - polyester fiberfill - that functions the same way] that you could use to catch any suspended cyano particles if you scrub it off? If the lighting's old, it could be factoring into the problem. In fact, I think I may be due for a lighting change in my BC29....

Jan, you may be just dealing with new tank syndrome. Since your tank is so new, ecological balance has not yet been established. Most often, in these early stages, you'll use a turkey baster to remove the stuff from the tank and perform regular water changes to keep organics and nitrates down. Good skimming can also help. Old lights can also be a problem it their spectrum has shifted away from where more complex organisms can use the light for their photosynthesis and toward where the cyano benefits.

One of my first frags in the hobby was from Steve Outlaw. I purchased a frag that was about an inch long of a pink birdsnest (which was a little browned out) for something like $5 or so. I mounted it sideways on a frag disk, and the disk to a rock. It grew for about a year under halides in my 90, and for the last several months in my 180 under T5's. Growth has really taken off in the last few months as the color has, too. (The new tank has much better skimming than the old one.) A good 50% of the growth of this coral has occurred under T5's in the last 3 months.

Aquaclear HOB.

Welcome, Jaesun! I'm assuming you're from the Gaithersburg area given this post, but please take a moment and update your profile with your location. It helps when we're helping each other out.

Mine does - and very well.

+1 as well. The CPR's "u-tube" section has a bigger cross section than a standard u-tube. Thus, the water velocity is lower in the CPR than in the standard u-tube. Air tends to be swept up and out in the standard u-tube configuration but, because of the reduced flow, tends bo be susceptible to accumulation in the analagous part in the CPR design. This accumulation must be removed as air in the tube has the potential to reduce or even entirely stop flow.

Same here. Steve, you're experience has far more credibility for me than this hit-and-run poster. While it may be true, I'd rather the board hear from people who have an active interest and want to contribute to the hobby and our community on an ongoing basis. I know how to Google something; so does everybody else here.

Oh, now look what you've gone and done. I'm looking at skimmers again! Hey, anybody out there have any experience with the MSX-2s cone?

Heathman, their reputation precedes them for sure. It seems to me that you're from Iowa and still live there. Did you sign up for our forum and dig up this old post just to let us know about your experience with GC?

I'm stunned. That, my friend, is not only a great idea, but a work of art. Now, Chip, I really have to come over and see this personally!

David, have you dropped a line to the folks over at AWI? They're incredibly responsive and could give you an answer quickly.

Beautiful!

Thanks for following up with your solution, Mark. Polyzap and instazap... that's good to know. Here's the manufacturer's page on it. Looks like good stuff. http://zap.supergluecorp.com/pt22.html

I've heard of people packing cornstarch into the pipe and bending it, too. I couldn't tell you how it compares with sand. Maybe it doesn't conduct heat as well (which is what you want in this case). Or maybe sand is better. Give it a go and report back!

And, yes, Kalk will help you maintain your alk levels, too. Here's the chemistry: Kalk powder is Calcium Hydroxide, or CaOH. When you mix it with water, it dissociates into a Calcium and a hydroxide ion: CaOH ==>> Ca + OH The hydroxide (OH) then reacts with carbon dioxide (CO2) that is dissolved in the water to form a bicarbonate (HCO3) ion: OH + CO2 ==>> HCO3 At high pH (say, above 9.0 or so) carbonate (CO3) begins to dominate (become more plentiful than) bicarbonate. (This is simplified, of course. Actually CO2, HCO3, and CO3 (carbonate) are present simultaneously in differing amounts at most all times. ) Bicarbonate and carbonate make up the bulk of what we call alkalinity in the hobby. And, because of the reactions listed above, CaOH (kalk) gives us both calcium and alkalinity - a twofer!

See the link to the article that I provided up above in my 10:55 AM post. It'll tell you just what you need to do to get your tank back in balance. Your tank is in Zone 4. Once you're calcium and alkalinity parameters are where they should be, you can begin to use a balanced additive like kalkwasser. Kalkwasser, however, will not correct an imbalanced situation, though. That's why you would first fix the imbalance. While you could address the imbalance with several large water changes, you're numbers do not present a huge problem. I'd follow the approach outlined in the article. That is, stop dosing (that's what you were effectively doing when you were using non-RO/DI tap water for your top-off) and use your RO/DI water for your top off source. Let your alk and calcium levels fall naturally (as your corals and other livestock consume it). Once one of the parameters hits the level where you want to maintain it (this will be alk in your case), you're going to need to take action to sustain that level while the other parameter comes back into line. In your case, where alk will reach the target level first, you'll probably be dosing regular old Arm & Hammer baking soda (in amounts dictated by the chemistry calculator link also provided above) until calcium falls into line. After that, once both parameters are balanced, you can begin using Kalk (or even two-part) to keep your levels balanced. Just be advised, though, while dosing Kalk with your top off is balanced, it is not guaranteed to be sufficient. That is, if your tank's consumption exceeds what you're putting in, your numbers will drop (but in a balanced way). If the consumption is less than what's being added, your numbers will climb in the same manner. Periodic testing of your levels should give you more insight into what your system demands.