Integral9

It think it's a LOT:UC<something, something something>, but you might want to start a pole or something.

You may want to look for dead snails around your tank. They can really funk things fast and in a bad way. I use the smell test method (but I don't mind getting dirty). Pull out the snail, if it smells bad, it's dead. Toss it. You can also boil them, pull out what's left and put the shells back in your tank for any hermits you might have.

If TMS is close by and you want BRK prices, you might want to check out The Aquarium Company. It's just 2 miles down sunset (east) from TMS. Check the vendor forums for address info. btw. IMO, If your nitrates are over 10, it's serious water change time. I'd do em like every 2-3 days until it gets under control. The last time that happened, I did like 3 10% changes over a week period and things were back under control. Also, your PH should coincide with your alkalinity. If one is off, the other will be off. But that's just a general rule. Other things can cause your PH to get out of whack (like high nitrates) and still have good alkalinity.

I always just keep re-applying the sealer to the grout until it wouldn't absorb it anymore, ie. it's sealed. It just takes a second to run along all the grout lines with one of those spray cans. I swear it wasn't $30 for it either. I don't see the one I used on their website, but a 12oz bottle w/ an applicator roller (kinda like a roll-on... heehee) is $2.97.

Here's the gist of what I did. I have a 30gal (30") and a 24" Outer Orbit. The light is slimmer but wider than the tank. To make it look good, I built a frame out of 2x4s the size of the tank and then mounted the hanging kit to it. Around the frame I put molding to make it pretty. Painted the 2x4s black to hide them (but I would paint them whatever color the walls are in your house, mine are "Deep Magenta") and painted the molding the same color as the rest of the molding in the room. I bolted the whole thing to the wall, since the ceiling above my tank is a sophit and not structural, using 4 5" lag bolts. Looks like a built-in now. Extra Credit: Inside the frame, I installed some rails out of scrap wood and hung the light from a 2x4 on these so that I could take the light down for maintenance or move it back and forth.

History: A while back I built my own and first T5 canopy. I also installed some LEDs for night lighting and to my surprise the LEDs were so bright I only needed 6 of the 24 I had purchased. I really only needed 3, but the beam angle wasn't wide enough for a single bank of 3 to be able to illuminate the entire tank. So 2 banks of 3 spread out was the solution. They were so bright that I though I might be able to use them as day lights at some point and even said I should've just gone that route instead of the T5s. So here's the experiment to see if it will work or not. Abstract: I bought an Nanowave 9 by Aqua Medic from Nano tuners not long ago. I opted for the fan upgrade kit and the timer upgrade kit. Nice, but in retrospect and had I decided to do this back then, I wouldn't have purchased them. So I am going to remove the 2x24W PC lighting fixtures and replace them with 48 x 1W LEDs that I bought from www.superbrightleds.com. I plan to put SPS in this tank to see if it will grow. I've seen Zoas and mushrooms grown under less lighting so I fully expect them to be fine and will limit this to an SPS only tank. Thus far I have two frags to use, a tri-color tort and a ORA green bird's nest. Purpose: To prove that spending $1000s on those Super Duper LED fixtures is a complete waste of money. Why do they have those stupid lenses on them? Why do they come with 3 different power supplies and a huge trunk line? Why do they look like somebodies garage built prototype POS instead of a finely tuned Tek Light when you are spending $1000s on them? Where is all that extra $$$$ going? Goal: The finished product will consist of 2 independent circuits on a timer to produce morning and evening effects. (what the H-E-double hocky sticks, why not). The Mornings and Evenings will be 2 hours long each with 8 hours of Full LED illumination. The LEDs will take up the same amount of space as the power compact bulbs and will be installed in the same location. I will keep the factory night LEDs and re-use them. Mineral supplemental needs will be determined and dosed accordingly using Liquid Reef from Brightwell. (it's what I use in my other tanks) Items: 8 Light Bar mounting tracks $0.45 ea. 2 LB1 series LED Light Bars (White) (5500K) $15.95 ea. 2 LB1 series LED light Bars (Blue) (470nm) $16.95 ea. 2 LB1 series LED 6" interconnect $0.45 ea. 2 LB1 series LED 36" power connector $0.45 ea. 2 12V 25W Power Supply $29.95 ea. 2 Power cord for Power supply $4.95 ea. Total Spent on LED lighting: $131.10 + $10.00 S/H = $141.10. So far, not including my time, I'm going to get this done for the cost of 24" PC light. Please post any comments you have. I would like to hear them. I just ordered the parts, so I expect them to be here anywhere from 3-5 business days.

Will work for Scotch. PM me if you need extra help.

Woa dude! We need an emoticon with it's jaw on the floor. That's awesome. Personally, I don't think I could do that to my $90 anemone. Maybe when my RBTA gets bigger you can come over and frag it for me. Just one thing though: *Beware* of Black Percs. They *do* bite.

Let me sum up. Mo sump = mo betta Mo fuge = mo betta Just make sure you have enough movement through the fuge as it is essentially just a tank on your system and can be a place for cyano to build up. Not to mention other critters like mojano and aiptaisia.

Why not just remove the UV the media reactor from the Mag18 and get 2 MJ to run those guys? You can run the returns back to your sump and let the Mag do all the 'flow control'. Also, I'd get the Mag24 anyways. btw. Are you running your Mag 18 inline or insump? Just curious. My Mag 5 leaks like a siv, so I have to use it insump.

My tank's canopy is close all the way around, except in the back. I was going to hang a denim cloth over the opening to close it in some more and block the light seepage. I havn't had any jumpers, ever. Kinda wierd. My purple firefish is supposed to be a jumper, but never has. I'm liking the McCosker's right now, but there are so many out there and each time I see a new one, I'm like, "Oh Oh, I want that one". darned hobby has turned me into a 9 yr old. Thanks for all the help and recs guys. I've decided not to wrasse for the moment. My tank is turning south as the mantis has eatin all my cleaners. The latest victim, my fire shrimp.... I'm all out of inverts now. Only thing left for him to eat is fish. :( Once I get it out, I'll think about getting a wrasse again.

THey should be ok for up to 24 hours. Just like shipping, but better. I wouldn't push it though, get 'er done.

Yeah um, not a good idea. The dehumidifier collects dust from the air in the heat exchanger and the water that condences on the exchangers "filters" down through the collected dust and dirt before ending up in the collection bucket where it sits stagnant. Mine usually has a nice film across the top. Pretty gross if you ask me. Not as bad as a skimmer cup, but stilll. pretty gross.

...If only my LCD was eatable.

Made mine out of 1"x12" poplar from HD. Measures about 12x48. The entire canopy (all but the bottom inch that's around the tank top) opens up like a clam shell for access to the bulbs. The entire front opens up like a cabinet door for feeding time. I got a bit rushed and didn't make the front door as nice as I would have liked but it works. The hard part wasn't the hood, but building the light and making sure the bulbs were positioned correctly in the reflectors. Focal points are key otherwise the reflector won't do what it's intended to do. for my next canopy, I want to do a rail system where the canopy can slide either forward or backwards to reveal the tank. Changing the bulbs will be done with a clam shell opening from the top of the canopy. This should hide any obvious openings. imo. You change bulbs at most every six months so I wouldn't worry too much about being able to access them. As long as you can get them in and out, it's ok. Also, I really like the aluminum rail design. Easy, light weight and you can skin it with just about anything.... Modular..... MMmmmmmmm :-)

Very beautiful. Thanks for the rec. Have you had any problems with others picking on him? Do wrasses fit into the pecking order or are more like the mandarin and get ignored for the most part.

I don't know much about wrasses, but I'm considering getting one and would like any input this group has to offer. Also, any recommendations would be appreciated. background: This is for my 55gal. It has a 20 gal sump / fuge setup and has been up for almost 2 years now. It was an upgrade from a 30 gal which was up about a year. So the total age of the system is about 3 years. I have had a Mandarin in the tank for a year and a half and I swear she is fattest (obese) Mandarin I've ever seen. What's more is she only eats pods. I've never seen her eat flake or the frozen mix I use. I know wrasses eat pods as well but also will dig in on flake and frozen food. Concerns: One thing of serious concern of mine is that when I added by coral beauty, the firefish hid for 4 months. When he finally came back out, he was so thin I didn't think he was going to make it. He's filling up again, but still not his full healthy size that he used to be. He's also, not quite all there imo. ie. he misses food he deliberately goes after, like he's blind or something. I'm not sure if he can handle another tank mate above him in the pecking order. He was one of the first along with the perc and has been kicked down the pecking order with each new addition. My other concern is my Tang and Angel. When I added my angel, the tang turned from a normal happy yellow front brown rear (he's kinda bright for a scopas but whatever) to a dark doo-doo brown and went after the angel like it was dinner time. Fortunately the angel found a small hole in a rock the tang couldn't fit through and eventually they became BFF. Whoohoo. I'm sure the wrasse can find a hole to hide in like the angel did, but I'm concerned about the angel having a similar reaction to the wrasse and being they are similar in size, the wrasse would not have an escape. I had a lemon peel angel once and I know how aggressive angels can be (it killed my jouv. hippo). contents: 2 black percs (mated and living in BTA. Currently claiming about 1/2 the tank for their own, but allow the 'others' to swim by as long as they "keep it moving".) 1 purple firefish 1 coral beauty 1 scopas tang (yes he is healthy, but it took about 6 months) 1 mandarin dragnet (so fat, she's got rolls) 1 blood red cleaner shrimp (about to be mantis food) 1 mantis shrimp (on the fastrack out. but he's a wily bugger as he's stolen food out of my trap 3 times and evaded it entirely once {pulled the food through the hole in the back}). Thank you.

1500 gallon reef, MMMmmmmm (gurgle gurgle gurgle) <fwomp>...

If I can just take the 180 w/out the livestock I'm calling dibs. I emailed him, but am still waiting for a response. I'll post here again today if it's a 'go'. newfish, maybe we can work something out. I need a truck too, maybe we can share a rental or something.

Really? Did you forget to feed the BTA? I've never heard of a BTA eating a dragnet. Sure they eat their clowns (usually when not fed), but a dragnet... WOW. I've got an RBTA and mandarin. I'm not which I would hate more: if it hate one of my black percs or if it at my mandarin. One thing is for sure though:

That should work, but I think it would be hard to do well enough to keep it from looking shoddy. The acryllic wouldn't have to be that thick either as it's only supporting the water above it. But as a rule I wouldn't use anything less than 1/4" acryllic for anything that you didn't want to flex too much. I'm using an 1/8" piece as a cover on my 30 gal and I have to flip it over every day to keep the bend from reaching the water. The only thing I'm thinking is that fish / snails / etc would be easily lost down the gutter unless you had a fence or "gutter guard". Oh, and you would be exceeding the rest of the tanks design specs. You could cause your tank to break.

Now you're cooking w/ propane.

Good thing I used solid core to wire in my sconces. Hope they weren't your homes. yikes!

If you have your tank drilled on the back wall, you have two options. I don't recommend drilling through the bottom as it's usually tempered glass and will shatter (then you get to buy a new tank.. how awesome is that!?) 1. You can install an overflow box to skim which will take up a bunch of room and / or provide a shaded area depending on if you get the kind that goes all the way down to the bottom or not. 2. You can use an elbow on each hole to reach up to the surface to skim. Most people choose the later. I would. Mainly because it's cheaper, fish don't get lost in box you can barely fit your hand into, and it doesn't take up room or cast hardly any shadow. The PVC with holes drilled in the top does two things. Inside the tank, the PVC reaches up to the surface in the tank to skim off the surface. Outside the tank, the PVC reached above the water line w/ a cap and hole drilled into it to break a siphon and eliminate the slurping / sucking noises. btw. It looks like your monkey's got his "O" face on....

I'm pretty sure he is referring to stranded wire as in wire that's like a rope as opposed to solid core wire which is just a solid piece of metal for a wire. Think of a rope vs. a solid pipe. In general the solid core can carry more current, but it's much more expensive and hard to work with because it's so stiff. Stranded wire is stronger (tensile strength), more malleable (flexible w/out breaking), but the strands get in each other's way under load and prevent as much current from moving down the cable as a solid core wire can move. In general, 15A or more is usually a solid core wire in your home, but it doesn't have to be a solid core wire to carry 15A. That depends on the gauge (thickness in 1/x of inch ie. 8 gauge = 1/8 inch thick). The higher the gauge, the more current you can run down the wire. The wire should have an Amp rating on it to help you decide which gauge to use.