Integral9

Great looking tank, they always are though... aren't they? btw, Is that one of ours? I feel like I've seen that sump before. Also, that look is why I still run with T5s. It's "soooooo niiiiiiiiiice. Want to touch the hieney." But the $300 I just spent on new bulbs doesn't make me happy. (sigh)

LOL. That's too funny.... well, at least you have a way / reason to clean your pipes now.

Did you try it with the old volute? I understand it's been worn, but it would probably work ok w/out all the calcium build up in it that caused the problems you had before. Also, I think I saw a Mag9.5 for sale on this forum for $45

Personally I'd get the volute & impeller and use the money you would have spent on a new pump to buy a pair of Koralia Evolution 750s. The mag 9.5 is only going to push about 700gph at 4ft of head, less with more head pressure. Then I'd save up for a nice external pump and take my time planning out how to redo the plumbing for a more efficient setup.

How did your mag die? Broken impeller? Do you know how to check for a broken impeller? sometimes it's not as obvious as a completely broken shaft. ie: (if the blades spin all the way around the shaft w/out locking and forcing the shaft to rotate, then it's broken. You can just buy a new impeller or two. If it's not that simple then, imo, the mag pumps (while typically very reliable) put out a lot of heat for the volume of water they push. So I would replace the Mag with a Water Blaster or other more efficient pump and get a couple of Koralia Evolution power heads for added water movement in the tank & redundancy should the mag fail again. How big is your tank? Also, I think you may have added up your flow incorrectly. From what I can tell, only the Mag9 was driving flow in the display? Skimmer & reactor & fuge pumps don't really count because they are not directly effecting the flow in the display portion of the tank. Also, you don't have to DIY a manifold / distributor. I got mine here: http://flexpvc.com/c...VC-Distributors my only complaint about the 1x4 is the end w/ 4 outlets has the outlets every close together so putting fittings on all the outlets directly after the distributor is tricky.

well i don't like it because that's how the prizm skimmers are made and i can say from experience, it's not good. once the skimmate reaches up high enough to be sucked into the intake, the pump gets fully primmed and starts moving more water, which overflows the collection cup and results in you dumping / sucking all your skimmate into the tank.

It's part of my reef controller system that also controls my lights, powerheads, main pump, & kalk doser. imo: reef controllers are the way to go.

Plumbing department for pool supplies. I sourced the pic from a spa heater connection.

Looks like you don't a fine job of connecting the two in your second pic. Seriously though, there is such a thing as a split union fitting. Essentially a union fitting that's cut down the middle and re-attaches with a set of screws so you can fit it on a pipe w/out having to cut the pipe. The screws might be an issue, so sourcing some stainless ones will be necessary.

You can find me on Friday night at the Dieing Cat.

I hate intermittent problems. I recently took a part my dishwasher because the dispenser door wouldn't open reliably. Problem was a loose wire / poor build quality. Anyways, about your heater, it sounds like a loose wire / bad connection or possibly a bad seal that let water get into the heating element / circuitry. If it's new, I would return it for another one.

As a last ditch effort, I put the hippo in my DT hoping that watching other fish eat would encourage it. Well a week later, it's still isn't eating with the other fish (that may take some time), but it is at least eating somewhat; nibbling at whatever it's around. It's also swimming from time to time which is huge as the fish largely just sat on the bottom listing from side to side in my QT. It is also looking better and still disease free. My powder brown v2.0 (thanks F&F) is doing great. Eating and dominating the tank. I think that will change when the hippo regains it's strength. But it looks like the hippo will pull through, but not without a scar it seems. Still haven't seen or caught the critter that is breaking my coral. Still not sure what it could be. My randall's gobi has put on an addition to his home and now claims the sand from the middle of my tank all the way to the far right side. Not sure if he will make a summer home under the island on the left side. But I guess that is up to his house keeper. My blue Indian coral banded shrimp lives! Marmaduke is about 4 years old now. Still blue and still about 2" in total size. I don't see him much, except during feeding time. Yellow Assessor > Firefish. I guess the lack of a swim bladder enables the assessor to attack from any direction. His Kung-Fu is strong... What was once 1 RBTA from divers den is now 2 RBTAs. Unfortunately, both are facing the back of my tank.... ugh. More work to do in the tank. Time to replace the T5s, all 14 bulbs. (sigh)

+1 That's what I would do. Also, get a backup mercury thermometer or 2 for sanity checks. Not your sanity, the probe / controller's.

For some reason coral wars always remind me of the song "Particle Man" by They Might Be Giants, albeit with a slight twist, depending on the corals involved. rainbow man, rainbow man. Doin the things a rainbow can What's he like, It's not important rainbow man. Is he a dot, or is he a speck? When it rains does he get wet? Or does the water get him instead? Nobody knows, Rainbow man chalice man, chalice man, chalice man hates rainbow man they have a fight, chalice wins chalice man. Euphylia man, Euphylia man size of the entire universe man usuallly kind to a smaller man euphylia man He's got the reach of a minute hand, Millenium hand and an eon hand When they meet it's a happy land Powerful man, euphylia man Person man, person man Hit on the head with a frying pan Lives his life in a garbage can Person man Is he depressed or is he a mess? Does he feel totally worthless? Who came up with person man? Degraded man, person man Chalice man, Chalice man Chalice man hates person man They have a fight, Chalice wins Chalice man Now I have to watch the Tiny Toons version

They used Bond's Lotus Esprit from "For Your Eyes Only"

Here's the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19716984 Here's a link to the views, from which you can go to the "street" view: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/gallery.html#!/ocean

They give me the gas

limpiar el tanque y el chupacabra vendrá por ti http://translate.google.com

Here you go: No limpie el tanque de peces "Do not clean the fish tank"

I have a 18W I use on my quarantine tank and hopefully will pick up a 25W this weekend for my DT. For my QT, it definately cleared up the water and I attribute it to removing the bacteria and parasites in my QT, thus preventing reinfection after treatment. Before I added it, I was treating the fish and they were not getting better. After I added it, I could see noticeable improvements after each treatment. 18W is a bit of overkill though for the 30g tank, I admit. So I recommend it for a QT to prevent reinfection. For the DT though, maybe it will be good, maybe not. I intend to find out though. fwiw: the best looking / cleanest tanks I have seen all have UVs on them... also, I found this site to very informative, if not too informative: http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumUVSterilization.html Just be aware they cover fresh and saltwater UV uses in there.

Updates: I lost the powder brown. My fault for following the directions on the Quick Cure bottle. I apparently overdosed him and he didnt' make it. btw. If the bottle says you can dip them for up to an hour, twice in one day. Don't believe it. My Hippo has cleared the parasite and fungal infections, but is refusing to eat now. The fish is really starting to concern me and I am about to just put it back in my DT with the hope that the more natural environment will encourage it to eat. It's belly is looking pinched and it has lost a considerable amount of weight. I am open to other ideas though. I have tried: algea sheets w/ and w/out garlic and vitamins and Jan's food. I don't want to put it in the DT and have the stress of a new tank kill it either. In other news: I finally got my kalk reactor dialed in. The tank is doing much better now, but not without some losses (see my birds nests). Some good news is that my urchin spawned the other day. Here is the video: I recommend watching it in HD as the spawning is very tiny. At the end of the video I pan around my tank. You'll have to excuse the mess. I have a 2mo old and a 2yr old that I am constantly chasing around the house. Which doesn't leave me much time to dig into the tank. It also appears that I have an uninvited guest in my tank as evidenced by the coral destruction in the sandbed. I'm guessing it's a mantis as I can't think of anything else that can split open the coral skelaton of a hammer or break off entire sections of pocilipora (see the piece on my sand bed). I also suspect it ate my CBB, which I just about can't believe. The fish was doing so well in my tank and should have been able to free itself or avoid the suspect. I am really bummed about loosing it. Not only was it a fish I really want to keep, but it was keeping any aiptasia at bay. I was already leaning towards not purchasing LR again (see the calciferous macro in the video), but now I am firmly against any LR, ever again. Unless you got some Tongan Branch. Then I will take it dead or alive. The tank has been up a year now and here is an interesting stat: Fish losses in the first year total over $450. If I loose the hippo, that will jump to $600. Coral losses in the first year total over $225.

With T5s you can correct that with a pink bulb or two, which makes the red's flouresce.

I almost blew chunks the first time I emptied my SWC skimmer. I'd classify it somewhere between dog poo and rotting clams.

I wouldn't want it so tight that you have a to screw the bulk head into the tank. But in reality, I think you are fine so long as it fits through the tank wall. I personally like about 1/8" around the part that goes through the glass. I then tape the bulkheads in place and fill in the area between them and the glass with silicone before attaching the back (external) parts. I then tighten it down and let the silicon cure. If you over tighten the gasket, you risk deforming it which could cause it to fail. Also, by overtightening you put excess pressure on the glass, which could cause any micro cracks from the cutting process to enlarge and become problems. So my advise is to make it tight, but don't crank on it like a lug nut.

Wow that's awesome. Catastrophic failures are the best kind of fail. How'd you like to be the guy on the bar stool next to the crack when it opened up? Talk about getting soaked at the bar!