L8 2 RISE

Agreed, sad news, I met him a couple times and always learned a lot! Is there anyway we can save the pictures in his threads, particularly the AEFW ones? They're a great resource and I would hate to see them lost due to changes in whatever site is hosting the pics.

Awesome! Looks great, coming back strong!

Just found this great article: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/

I like Tom's suggestion, haven't heard that one before. Not to hijack, but because it's not often encountered, what are the problems associated with a high pH?

PAR 38 or 1-2 ecoxotic nano arms with 6 total light strips.

Favorite animals I've kept: cuttlefish, eels, and snails.

What's your pH?

There's a model of Honda generators that runs SUPER quiet. I see them set up at fairs, races, farmers markets, and other events all the time. You can barely hear them, especially the small ones. Other than that I'm sure you could build something that's sound insulated at least a little, but you'll still have to leave space for airflow. We run our generator (it's on as we speak- ugh) just on the edge of our garage with the exhaust pointing out. Easy and effective.

I think he was asking why you want to put the hole so low in the tank (the one on the right side)? At least that's what I was asking... Is there any reason you wanted to do that?

I agree with Swimboy on using a separate pump for the second tank. Other thoughts are that both the return and the drain lines should be high. You never want to put a hole lower down on the tank for anything other than an overflow box or a closed loop. When the pump shuts off you'll lose all of that water into the sump. Even with a check valve, check valves ALWAYS fail. On the drain line, I don't like connecting drain lines together. In order to be truly redundant and effective, they should be plumbed completely separate all the way to the sump. By putting two drains into one pipe, you make it possible for one snail or fish to clog two drains. You also cut the amount of flow that will be able to move through the overflow. Just my .02

Looking forward to tomorrow, 10-4! I heard today was great, glad none of this went down at Reef eScape: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/28/walmart-fight-black-friday_n_4357939.html?ir=Business

I'll be working in the store Saturday, would love to see everyone that can make it out!! I also apologize for my poor picture taking skills... the pictures above really don't do it justice. ding ding ding! Winner! We'll see you in the store Friday or Saturday!

With my bigger eels, I usually just get shrimp from the store, cut them in half if necessary, and feed with forceps or my fingers. Snowflakes really don't hurt that bad when they bite until they're much bigger (even then not bad- they have small teeth), so don't worry too much about it. Eels are pretty much blind and rely mainly on their smell. It's not unusual for them to swim right past food in the tank. Hold it with the forceps and just wiggle it around until he comes- or just stick it in front of his face. If you're having trouble getting him to eat, use fishing line, tie it around the food and dangle/wiggle it in the tank. That rarely fails.

I can't tell what type those are from the picture, but the ONLY way to go is with a roller style clipper as seen here:http://www.marinedepot.com/Dissekt_Rite_Cutting_Shear_6_inch_Coral_Propagation_Tools_for_Saltwater_Aquariums-Dissekt_Rite_(Dr._Instruments)-DR1121-FIMTCP-DR1121-vi.html Those are just an example, but you really want ones with a roller and nothing else. The others, especially the coiled spring, just rust and seize up very quickly. I've had my roller style for about 3 years and have no issues at all. Either way, rinse with FW after each use.

You're banned from posting unless you start adding pics.

Very cool looking! What issues do arc-eye's have?

Great to see you on here! The eyes of a starfish are on the very end of each of their arms. They are very basic and small and can mainly only see light or shade. Not sure about the bumps however I know they're called tubercles Certain starfish eat different things. Chocolate Chip's will eat corals (mainly soft corals), sponges, tubeworms, clams, other smaller starfish, left over food, dead stuff, etc. Others will eat corals exclusively, snails, algae, or pretty much anything you can think of. Starfish move using hundreds to thousands of tube feet along the base of their legs. They operate these using their "water vascular system" which is a hydraulic system that pumps water to and from the feet allowing them to suck these feet onto any surface and attach themselves. Yes, anemones eat in two ways, one is through photosynthesis via symbiotic algae. This algae hosts inside of the anemone in a similar way as it does in corals. The process of the algae's photosynthesis is able to be processed by the anemone and used as food. Anemones also use their tentacles to sting, stun, and hold onto prey. The anemone then uses it's tentacles to move the pray into their mouth at the center of the body. You can try this with a dead fish or piece of food. Put the food into the anemone and watch what happens! Both starfish and anemones will reproduce by dividing or by eggs depending on the species. With many starfish, if they lose a leg, as long as it has part of the oral disk attached, the leg will grow into a new starfish. Asterina stars, which are very common in our aquariums, do this very often and you can often see them pulling themselves apart in order to reproduce. Similarly, many anemones will split into two new anemones by simply pulling themselves apart. People can also speed up this process by cutting the anemone in half with a scalpal, which will work as long as there is a piece of the mouth on both parts. Other anemones and stars reproduce from eggs and have their own genders. Both genders will release their "parts of the egg" into the water, the egg will then hatch and the anemone will slowly form.

Great post, I've been seeing this lack of help to newbs and lack of sharing of information compared to years past and I've been meaning to post something. Glad I'm not the only one...

I think thats why my tanks lately have done so well. While I'm away at school for 1-3 months at a time, all my mom does is water changes, never any tinkering. When I'm home I'll do a whole lot of tinkering over a few days to adjust everything that needs it. In between my visits everything does VERY well and grows eapecially well.

Looking good! I'm enjoying following this build. To the question about how natural reefs look, every reef has a different sort of look, but in areas where there are just "boulders" scattered around on the sand, they look very bonsai like. The sand and current erode away at the base of the boulder leaving a skinny base and a large, wide top. I'pp see if I can dig up some dive pics. Any reason you didnt use FRP board instead of the pvc?

I agree with the advice in this thread. I don't think it will work for bubble algae unless it's a long period of time, but don't have experience with it.

I start replacing filters when I see a TDS of 2. I have an inline TDS meter and I STRONGLY suggest others use one. Most come with two meters, one "in" and one "out". Those aren't the best places to put the meters though, the "in" should go between the RO membrane and the DI cartridge. I'll go into this later. The "out" should still go in the product, or "out" line. When you see a TDS of 2 or higher on the "out" meter, check the "in" meter. If it is reading 2-3 ppm higher than normal ("normal" varies for each household and system, you have to check when all of your filters are newish, it should be no higher than 12, for me it is only 3 or 4), then you need to replace your prefilters and/or your RO membrane. If it is still reading the same as normal, then you only need to replace your DI resin. You can't always rely on the color changing resin. This is important and will save you money because, in my experience, I have to change my DI resin 2-3 times per pre-filter change when others would needlessly just replace all the filters. You can often decide whether it is the prefilters or RO membrane that needs replacing based on time (I sharpie the date changed on all of my filter cartridges), as someone else said, if it has been about 3 years, it's probably time to replace the RO membrane, otherwise it should just be the prefilters. If the "in" TDS remains high after this change, then also replace your RO membrane. It is important to replace your pre-filters on time because if they aren't working effectively, it will decrease the life of the RO membrane. Something Tom or someone smarter than me can probably chime in on is if your DI resin has all been used up, continuing to run water through it can cause even more problems because it will allow, or push larger ions through and these can do more harm than normal while not bumping up the TDS more than normal. Like I said, this is only a topic I've read about, but don't know what truth there is to it and I'm clearly not very good at describing it. Would like to hear about it though. Not sure I understand this, TDS will get bad slowly, not an immediate change, also a % of the original TDS isn't a good measure because you don't want a TDS that high to begin with. My original TDS is over 300, I never let my TDS get higher than 1-2% of that. There is a problem with your RO/DI units. If everything is new, TDS should be 0. Not all membranes perform the same, even from the same manufacturer and there are discrepancies. I know that Spectrapure tests all of theirs first for this reason, not sure about others. I suggest replacing your RO membrane.

That's awesome! If it were me though, I would make the surface completely still so that I could see into the tank.

I dont suggest googling this.

I hate them... Prefer panorama pro's