amay121

Dude, Wes. Welcome to wamas from another former OC guy.

Nothing too glaring, but with that capacity, small changes could affect things quickly. One suggestion is maybe up the temp a little to 77-78.

These are Gen 1 and are going on sale at most places to prep for their newer models. Great price though and it's going to drop all those used units even further I hope.

Whoops, one last thing. WELCOME to WAMAS.

The brown stuff is just a diatom bloom due to the cycling (which is typical and shows that you're on your way in the cycle). What I'd do now is get a cheap nitrate and ammonia test kit and test them weekly if not daily (API makes a super cheap set for general usage). Also, if you haven't already, maybe pick up a refractometer. This is a better method of ensuring that your salinity is up to par (god knows how many cleaner shrimp/corals I've lost due to salinity issues). Everything looks to be going good, just take it slow and not try to add too many fish too soon. Enjoy the hobby and good luck.

+1 to what Dave said. Don't buy another computer, just go and get Parallels or Fusion and then install Windows. You'll be able to control whatever you want from there.

+1

I believe that BRK has them as well. Maybe even F&F.

Welcome to WAMAS. 1) 2nd hole may not be a drain at all. This actually may be the return pipe. 2) Maybe they took the liberty of shaking off loose particles for you, hard to say sometimes. 3) You can turn them all on at the same time, but most of the time folks just turn on the skimmer until the tank has cycled. 4) Yes, you want to grow bacteria, but turning the equipment on, won't kill all of it. 5) You can leave the lights off, some folks start/program their normals lighting cycle, others just leave things off until they notice dinoflagelattes. 6) Not sure, but I don't think so. 7) You don't need to add algae to the tank yet, but you could. 8) When the tank hits the dino algae stage, give it some more time, but you could probably add clean up crew members (snails, hermits) 9) Pinch of food could help with the cycle (allows the bacteria to grow off the decaying food) 10) Just one shrimp will be fine. 11) Just add the shrimp, won't be as messy, but you could do both. 12) You don't have to monitor Phosphate just yet. Keep track of PH, ammonia, salinity, nitrate, nitrite. What you're striving for is the initial increase of nitrates and the overall decrease of nitrites and ammonia. 13) You don't have to do a water change until after the initial dino algae, but if you wanted to, you could.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/for/3122143037.html

Here's one for $180. Don't know if it's good or not though. http://www.ebay.com/itm/DuroMax-1500-Watt-Portable-Pull-Start-Gas-Power-Job-Site-Electric-Generator-/200687021159

I wouldn't sell anything yet. Like everyone said, maybe this is a great chance to take a step back and evaluate what you want to do again. I've gone through this so many times as well. Biocube 8 -> 90g -> 220g -> 120g -> 45g -> 150g all within 4 years. All the money I've wasted, ugh!!! If I would've just stuck with one, I think it would've been great, but there was always that one thing (electricity bill, nothing seemed to go right, thoughts on upgrading, finances, etc. etc.) that made me want to sell. Good luck with what you choose though.

Bigger. Easier to go big and have less limitations, especially when deciding on what approach you're looking for. Corals in a 40 would be alright, but can also fill out quickly given the proper environment. Fish types could be limited as wee with the smaller tank. Plan on what you'd like to have in terms of livestock and "try" to plan accordingly if possible.

Yeah, everything except for the weight after a long days use.

That's some serious coinage and glass there. Enjoy.

Really guys, I can understand some poking fun, but constantly doing it? Really makes new folks want to join the club when they can get a thrashing on here. Regardless of the constant criticism, enjoy your tank, that's why we have them.

I had occs in a 150g and they played nice with all the residents, but my female would not let me get in the tank to clean at all. She'd bite me all the time regardless of where I was trying to clean.

Like everyone said, just relax and be a little patient. When I first started, I got a great deal on LR, but full of HA. Took me 6 months to get it to die off, but that was only because I was persistant and pullinger the HA during water changes and making sure the water quality was up to snuff.

Regardless of what he should do, he was already given multiple notices that my order was not valid and a request for a refund should of been issued and was not. One notice, I can understand that mistakes happen. Second notice, there seems to be an issue. There should not be a third notice and I shouldn't have to be writing that I had a bad experience with him. Moral of my story, if you get your order right, no issues. If there's an issue with the order, this could be an issue, which it was.

Ryan, yeah true, my not reading his rules was the first fail. Almost 2 weeks to return the money though? You figure it out. Mr. Coral, not bashing here, please understand that my other transactions went smoothly because I went and got what I wanted. This was because there was a mistake on my part, but I believe a bigger mistake on your part for not correcting it, when I (1) called for my refund (2) PM'd for my refund, and (3) Called again for my refund. Under which date did I get my refund? 1) 3/9 when I called in (Bryan must've answered) and was told that the transaction was cancelled (NO) 2) 3/12 when I called (Bryan answered) and your store sent me an e-mail confirmation stating that the order was cancelled (NO) Today is 12 days later. How long does it take to refund a credit card order? More than 12 days?

Sonny, You've had more than 2 weeks to deal with a return. I'll let the CC company deal with it, thanks for the offer, but I feel that your customer service for a simple return on this instance is lacking. Like I said, I've had good experiences before, but this one is just a FAIL!!!

Tom, Did that this morning.

Dave, I recall yours back in the days, but then I forgot about it and referenced it again after my ordeal.

Here's my pitiful experience (usually they have been good): 1) Did an order on the website Mr. Coral - $50 (Placed - 3/5, Card charged 3/6) 2) Screwed up my order because I bought 4 Limits Ones (my bad) and didn't realize this (dumb me for not reading the rules) 3) Called 3/9 to pick up my order on that same day and was told two things (I) Your order was immediately cancelled because you tried to order 4 Limit One items and you would have to order 16 regular items to get those Limit One items, I said admitted to being lame and forgot to read the rules, was asked if I wanted a different order or to cancel. I chose to CANCEL and asked for an e-mail of confirmation of cancellation and was told they would send it out immediately. 4) After store has closed and no e-mail, I PM Mr. Coral, he responds promptly and asks if there was any issues, I state that there was no issue other than my not reading fully the rules of the "Limit One". He never responds back via PM. 5) I call the store on Monday (3/12) and ask why there was no e-mail correspondence saying that the order was cancelled, and after a few hours I received an e-mail saying that my order was cancelled. 6) I get my statement today (3/24), I see no refund from Mr. Coral, so I call my CC company. Guess what, there is no charge back of my $50. I've bought from Mr. Coral before and it's been decent, but for this one, it was truly an EPIC FAIL in the biggest sense to me.

Why couldn't you just buy a rubbermaid tub and put sand in and use that as your RDSB? I've seen a few folks do that and when they feel that the RDSB isn't beneficial to them, it's easy for them to just pull it out.