Jen-gineer

I need a ~400gph pump that can take ~6' of head and was wondering if there's one people would recommend for continuous use like that. Was looking at the hydor l30, but wasn't sure if anyone here had any experience with any of these and could make a recommendation Thanks

I know...I know, it's petco. But they have some awesome deals on inverts right now. Turbo snails are only $1.50 each. Margarita snails are only $1, there's a few other discounted as well.

They told me that if I showed up at the store, they would call the police? Although I'd like to think I'm not a complete idiot, I'm fairly certain they can claim I'm trespassing. ...there goes that pin-stripe suit/gangster idea =( So it would seem that small claims is my only option---so I guess if anyone else has been screwed by them...we could all get together and do some sort of goofball-ish class-action bc it's my understanding (now of course after the fact) that a lot of people have been duped & ripped off by them. And I did pay with credit card, however they won't reverse the transaction bc it's been over 30 days.

I went to Sea Save and as usual, they didn't have a wide selection of fish in the store. I had my heart set on a midas blenny (college student budget haha) and so i ordered one with them and it was $25. So they told me that they would have it in within the next few weeks. So I went to the store a week later, and they didn't have it yet. The guy there gave me some reasoning along the lines of his supplier was charging way more than $25 for the ones they had, so he didnt' want to order it and have to charge me the difference.... So another week later i called this time (gas prices) and they said they still didn't have it. This time the girl Claire that worked there told me that she would call me when they got the fish in stock & took down my number. So about 2 months total passed and no one ever called me. Digging through my wallet, I found the receipt and so I called again. This time Bambi answered the phone and told me that they ordered my fish weeks ago, but that since I never came to pick it up they sold it. I told her that seemed hard to believe as I'd left my phone number with them on 3 separate occasions and hadn't received a solitary phone call from them. She said they didnt' have the time to call everyone who ordered fish, so that's why they hadn't called me. I didn't really care to be honest at this point and I told her I wanted my money back. She refused---told me that they would have to charge me a restocking fee!!!!!! I told her this was ridiculous and then all of a sudden, the guy that owns the place started calling me names in the background of the phone call, yelling, screaming and cursing about how dare I call and ask about my stupid $25. I told Bambi that I deserved my money back because they hadn't given me anything!!! The conversation quickly deteriorated with the two drug addict owners screaming and cursing at me for saying that I would have to press charges and report them to the BBB. Still no money back & no fish...does anyone (including other vendors) know what my options are? I'm a relatively poor college student and these people are just scammers. I even googled their business on maps.google.com and there was only one review with 5 stars....written by them. So I can only imagine how many other people they have done this to.

Hey, For my biodiesel project, ironically, we'll need a TON of filter socks. I know there's a few websites that have them relatively cheap if you buy in bulk, and that's definitely what we're looking for. Any help would be awesome!!! Thanks!!

We're setting up a fully automated system with all 55 gallon drums. So it will take ~24 hours for a full 40 gallon batch of fuel to be finished, but in that 24 hours all you have to do is pour the used vegetable oil (that you get free from McDonalds & the like) into the first bin and press start. Then come back 24 hours later and fill up your gas tank. ethanol and conversion kits for cars to run on pure vegetable oil are bad ideas because they cut into a product that is already in demand. We need clean veg oil and corn to eat and for cooking, whereas the leftover nasty oil is a complete waste product. Using vegetable oil or even ethanol causes a TON of other problems because these are products already in use and in demand just drives their prices up and makes them less accessible.

AWESOME!!! THANKS!!! --just a side note--you only need to convert your car if you try to run it on straight vegetable oil. Biodiesel can be run in your car straight if you own a diesel. On top of that it actually extends the life span of your engine and cuts down on engine wear because biodiesel acts as a better lubricator for engine parts. The emissions are also significantly lower (not to mention how delicious they smell). I'll definitely post progress pics as we go (have to keep a good record for my project anyway) and keep everything posted!

Hey, I'm designing and building a bio diesel plant for my senior engineering project. and need to do market research on the current trends and necessity for such. I have a survey online that I created, it literally takes one minute to complete and I need all the responses I can possibly get. If there's any way that you could take this for me to help me out I'd be so incredibly grateful!!! Thanks!!! Jen http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VcA8...KgA5j87kw_3d_3d

Sonny had a bogo going on today on everything in the store, including acan frags!! As a moderately poor college student in the hobby, I was ecstatic that I could actually afford some really gorgeous pieces. Not to mention his tricky montipora (I buy them brown and they mutate into gorgeousness one of them changed from brown on brown to green polyps on a purple body!!!) I love schlepping out there especially during bogo!!! (maybe we can convince him to have these kind of sales once a month) Great selection, customer service, and prices!! Definitely well worth the trip no matter how far away he is. Plus if you ask nicely, he'll hand deliver your corals (and salt) into your car.

I'll be there with my roomie.

I'm running 3 250W XM 15K bulbs. I like the way they look & have already bought a vho retrofit for actinic supplement, just waiting for it to get here. I just wasn't sure if it's necessary to be using an e-ballast or not.

There's nothing wrong with my ballast now, just that everyone keeps telling me to get an electronic ballast rather than a magnetic. Everything I read online says that the electronic ballasts are better and have a serious affect on the bulb output. If the magnetic ballast I have now is fine, I'm definitely in favor of keeping that rather than buying three new ones.

I have 3 250 SE halides over my 180g. I'm installing actinic vho supplements via a retrofit hopefully this weekend. I'm also going to install lumenbrights on my canopy and finish building the canopy. The only question I have left is what type of ballast I should use for my halides. Right now the three bulbs are each running on their own magnetic ballast and I want to switch to electronic. I was thinking about getting three icecaps. My question is whether I need three ballasts for the three bulbs or whether there's a ballast that can handle running 750W of lights? Thanks for any help!

Yea superglue is fine to use in your aquarium. They sell a lot of 2 part epoxies too that work well too, but I've used superglue on stuff and works and doesn't leach chemicals or anything as far as I know. I don't know what kind of phosphate remover you're using, but have you looked into phosban reactors? They just need tubing and possibly a zip tie for the flex tubes.

I bought, what looks like a gorgeous acan colony, today from Exotic Aquatics...I think it was mispriced, so I jumped on it right away My roommate seems convinced that it's a blastomussa and not an acan colony, not that I care, still an amazing steal, plus it's pretty. So my question is...does anyone know what the difference is between blastomussa, acans, and micromussa? I know that micromussa has discernably smaller mouths/heads, but is there a real difference between the three?

Yay for heading up to EA! somewhere closer to me They definitely have some gorgeous fish up there. I'd swing by sea save just to go, but they have next to nothing on Sundays. They get one fish shipment a week and it's on Thursdays. I went on Friday morning thinking I"d beat the rush, but they'd already been mostly cleaned out. On the plus side, you can order from/through them any fish you want for the most part. I got a midas blenny for $25! and usually I see them for $60 everywhere. Don't forget to mention you're in the reef club if you buy anything. They do a 10 or 15% discount on all livestock if you're in one of the reef clubs. I was just at the aquarium pretty recently...and it's sort of dreadful . I live in Baltimore, like 5 minutes from downtown and the Baltimore aquarium was poorly stocked when I went there. It was about 80% freshwater life, and super super crowded. If you really want to go, definitely don't pay full price admission, we went on a discounted student day and were still disappointed sadly. I'd take the DC zoo over the aquarium pretty much any day of the week.

Aldi (the grocery store) has (or had, in some areas) a 6000w generator for $400. Itd be a nice choice for keeping the house and tank running.

Every time i've seen a coral turn brown it's been from too much light or a high temperature event (like 85+).

I placed an order for a cleanup crew (self-designed rather than theirs)...they did free shipping & free box on orders over 125, plus you get some free stuff for placing a big order. Everything arrived triple bagged & all alive, doing well. They have some of the best prices I've seen on some stuff...(not nerites) but on most of their cleanup stuff/livestock, it seems to be amazing! www.reeftopia.com

So I've been to about every local hardware store in my area this past weekend, scouring the shelves (and the websites) for weld-on so that I could build my return & finish up the drain for my 180. To my dismay, no one even had the slightest idea what I was talking about...and I had absolutely no luck finding this stuff I hear so much about. So my roommate & I just settled for silicone & some aquamend epoxy. I built my drain & return and if I even thought I saw a drop of water anywhere from the clamps, I immediately turned off everything and epoxied/siliconed the life out of that spot and any other spots around it. I know it says that silicone should only be used on glass-to-glass contact surfaces, but I was totally in a bind...and I figure if it can hold a fish tank together, it can seal some pvc together to prevent leaks? Not very engineering savvy of me, I know, but shmeh. So far, it's been up & running for 2 days and I haven't seen any leaks (despite my best scrutiny)...Anyone think this might just randomly give out one day? That the seals on the pvc will just split? Also, is it bad to have used silicone rather than weld-on? I was worried about using the PVC glues they provided at the hardware store bc of a fear of them leaching chemicals. Thanks!!

Went up to Mr. Coral a week ago...and they had sooo much new stuff. I love getting there on Friday or Saturday mornings and cleaning out their frag tanks...stuff always colors up somehow after I take it home...and now that my 180 is set up, I'm so pumped about FILLING this baby with fish...the 3 babies in there aren't cutting it for me. Thought I'd let everyone know that I've had GREAT luck there with corals. There's always a ton to choose from and bogo on frags is definitely worth it! I had a brown encrusting monti color up to a red/bright orange bodied monti with brown polyps & it's only been a week so far. I'm super excited!!

This is a great store!!! Mr. Coral definitely has the best selection I've ever seen, and for the best prices. I live all the way in Baltimore & go to umbc...and his store is perfect for a poor college student like me (awesome frag tanks) and for people looking to spend a little more. I put this post up, trying to figure out if most stores raise their prices on livestock before having sales, particularly on fish because I just set up a 180 & have 3 tiny fish in it...looks a little barren. I didn't want this thread to be something negative about ANY retailer/vendor...and I want to make it clear that I really LOVE Mr.Coral & Sonny does a REALLY good job taking care of everyone. They have an amazing number of different corals & are one of the only places that has such awesome cheap frag tanks, as well as the higher end stuff.

Do all retailers generally mark up livestock before sales? I'm trying to figure out if I should stay pumped about the word "sale" or if this is common retail practice.

Well, someone on RC just posted saying that using the styrofoam will end up putting undue pressure on the bottom pane of glass later on down the road. So alternately, I'm thinking about putting a sheet of plywood along the bottom of the tank, just to be sure everything is as level/evenly distributed as possible. Plus there are some little nail heads/nicks in the wood of my stand, so this would prevent any of them from possibly touching the actual tank.

Ok, I picked up a 180g tank for an amazing price and now that my final exams are over, I need to balance/level the tank and/or stand. Sadly I'm not strong enough to pick this tank up by myself, so I have to wait a few days to get some people together to help me. In the meantime, I've been doing research about how to balance a tank and some people swear by using styrofoam under the tank to solve the problem completely, others say you have to build your own stand or use shims, etc. So, really what is the right way to balance a tank & stand? I've checked with a level and the tank, when on the stand, tilts forward about 1/2-3/4" and tilts to the right about 1/4-1/2". I was planning to take the tank off the stand, shim the stand until it's level. Then put styrofoam where the bottom of the tank would be and then put the tank back on the stand. It's an AGA aquarium. Is this the wrong way to go about it? And how crucial is it that the tank & stand be perfectly level? (I understand the risks involved with applying torsional moment to something as brittle as glass, and those involved if too much of the force/weight is put on one corner as opposed to another, etc. I want to know HOW level does this thing have to be? and does it have to be level from all sides?) Thanks!