bkl911

I live in Howard County, MD and my power cuts out at least once a month, but usually only for a short period of time. Actually this month it has been almost everyday from the storms.....I have to set all of my digital clocks and coffee maker...it is getting old now! LOL. Since my power fluctuates so much, almost all of my equipment is surge protected and for my entertainment center, I have a Monster Power HTS 5100 surge protector....it is really cool since it tells me amps drawn and voltage coming in. Anyway, I bought these inexpensive air pumps that have two D batteries in it for all my tanks. Basically it has a relay, so when it is plugged in the wall and the power is on....the pump is off. Once I loose power, the little box turns on and pumps air into my tank through an 8 inch airstone. I did put an air check valve on it too....would take a long time to drain a 125g and a 180g tank....but that would suck if there was a reverse siphon. Here is a link to what I have on my tanks: (if this is not allowed to link, admins, please remove) http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/10437/product.web

Bought mine right away too. I tried the float type and swing arm in the beginning....salinity was all over the place.

I had a flow issue when I first started this hobbyand someone told me to mod my Maxijet 1200's. I started with 2 in my 125 and added a third. As for my 180, I have six of those puppies running in there. I will tell you that the triggers love the added flow.

I have been doing tons of research on closed loops and am no way a pro at all. I was commenting about how I wanted to add a big pump to the tank I am going to be working on soon. I was referring to the 400g tank I am going to setup, and how it seems like a few people run Dart pumps for the closed loop. But with the 4 returns my new tank is drilled for, the Dart is way too small. I just bought a Hammerhead pump and will be using that for the closed loop. As for the original posters question, I apologize if I went a little off his question, but from my research it seems "overkill" on a closed loop with the ability to dial back the flow seems better then not enough flow.

From my research you should get the biggest pump you can for a closed loop. I wanted to add a Reeflo Dart (3600 gph), but now that seems way too small for my tank build. I am thinking I need at least a Barracuda or larger.

Thanks and I truly appreciate your opinion. Now I am looking at bigger pumps like a Barracuda for the closed loop and for the return. I will say there is so much more to think about when setting up a tank like this.

Well, I have finalized a deal on a 400 gallon tank and will have a few questions about setting it up. It is drilled in two spots on the bottom and I need to get a pump for a closed loop...it seems everyone uses a Dart pump...is this the best pump for this use? It is an acrylic tank, but completely covered in coraline algae. I know vinegar is best to clean it...but do I just spray vinegar on and let it soak in and use something like a credit card to scrape it? Of course I don't want to scratch the inside. Last question, I plan on doing some aquascaping and am going to use SixLines technique with the rods and pavers to make some columns. Is it best to aquascape the tank while empty? I have about 400lbs of live rock in a 180g tank and a 55g tank and don't want too much die off. Obviously I am going to use the water from both of those tanks, but will probably need an additional 200+ gallons to get the 400g tank and 75g sump and 40g refugium filled. My RO unit makes about 100g a day, but I can only store so much. I have a 40g RO tank and bought two 55g drums. Would it be ok to premix about 200g of saltwater in the tank then aquascape and move the contents of the 180 and 55 into the new tank? I will probably do a sand bottom and will use some live sand from the 55g, but dump the sand from the 180g tank. I will probably add 300lbs of new sand.I want to minimize nitrates and a new cycle. Thanks.

Looks absolutely great! I guess you already know since I told you that on CMAS! Thanks again for the pics and tips!

I just bought some Ogo this past weekend, a small bunch for $1.99. I will post back in a month to see if is doing anything.

Sorry to hear about your losses. You tried your best!

I don't want to hijack this thread at all, but I am getting a bigger tank soon...300+ gallons, and after reading this thread I decided to try to plump the return pump (probably a Barracuda or Dart) into the skimmer like others have done. My question is once the pump is T'ed off to the skimmer, how is the airline for the skimmer attached? Thanks!

I could not find any local in Maryland, but ordered fifteen 3/8" acrylic rods and some weld-on from Craftics.com. Shipping was reasonable (but the estimated shipping fees are off) and the rods were less then $2 a piece.

I would think that the saltwater going down the drain would not be an issue. I have probably dumped 500 gallons of saltwater down the toilet, but my house has public water/sewage and no septic tank. I know that the drain piping is PVC and by the time the saltwater is drained down, it is so diluted with the size of your septic tank. I am going to be getting a bigger tank soon and was wondering the same about draining the water outside (since it will be easier), but don't think my neighbors want a saltwater pond behind the house...LOL!

Hey, was wondering since I have a HUGE bay window in the back of my house, I get a ton of early 7am-8:30am sunlight directly into the 125g saltwater tank in the mornings....is this a bad thing? For the entire last year, the shades have been closed, since I lived alone, but now since my youngest sister and her feline friends moved in about 4 months ago, I have left the shades open for the cats. I guess with the direction of my home, the sunlight just comes in for about 2 hours in the back of the house. I will say since I noticed this for the past week, the corals look great and are fully extending. I do not have any other issues at all with hair algae, diatoms or cyano....so if this morning sunlight is bad, I do not want to introduce any other issues. I know once it starts getting really hot, I will have to close the shades, but I am not concerned about heat since I have a chiller too. Now my metal halides do not turn on until about noon. On a side note, my freshwater 55g tank has been getting sunlight only in the mornings for the past 6years with no issues or algae, so I figure it is ok for the 125g tank.

Just curious what the proper technique is to add fish food supplement. I have always used Kent Marine Garlic Extreme and basically dropped 2-3 drops in 2 oz. of RO water and added the food to that. I would let it soak for 5 minutes or so, then dump the entire contents in the tank. So, last weekend I was at EA and asked if they had any Selcon since I have read so many times that people were using that, but they were out. So the dude behind the cashier said they had a better product made by Brightwell Aquatics called AminOmega and I purchased this tiny bottle for $17 bucks since it was better. Of course the fish need better products. At the same time, I purchase $90 worth of frozen foods....three 8oz packs of silversides made by Omega one and some krill and other misc stuff. The fish (predators) love the krill, but won't touch the silversides....plus silversides are funky...all white (not silver at all) with two beady black eyes. Now I have $27 bucks of silversides that are taking up room in my freezer and the fish are ignoring it. GREAT! So of course I get home and read the vague directions on the back and drop 2 drops into some RO water and soak the food. Once again, I dump the contents in the tank and all seems well...fish eating, then the water gets cloudy and my sump is making "burping sounds". I check and the skimmer is going insane, but not like it is overskimming...it is make huge bubbles at the top of the water level in the skimmer. So after about 24 hours, the skimmer is 100% back to normal. So with this AminOmega stuff, and I supposed to rinse the food after it soaks?

Tried to edit my post....but I couldn't. Sorry I reread your original post and didn't realize you were going to be on the road for so long. I would take everything to the fish store and have it shipped once you get settled in over here.

I want to wish you best of luck with your move. I have no idea where Manhattan, KS is, so I google mapped it and it seems to be less then a 20 hour drive. I would think if you were to transport the livestock it should be completely fine. Most times when ordering fish online, they spend close to 24 hours in a sealed bag and flown across the country. I will say this, my parents have a house in Key West, FL and my sister was down there for spring break and she brought me back an 8" porky puffer, a hefty decorator crab, a crazy all white cucumber and a red urchin. Basically my parents took some furniture down in their RV and drove back a week later....took 24 hours drive time. They were in a 5g bucket with an airstone....and a month later they are all still doing great.

As of right now, 180 pred tank + 40 sump + 15 refug 125 reef + 20 sump 55 cichlid tank 55 live rock tank 37 q-tank 20 q tank Total: 547 Gallons Adding in a month or two a either a 300g or 400g tank and deciding which ones to break down from above.

Just had a thought about quarantining fish for the normal 6 week period. I was wondering what is the procedure to let them go in the display tank. So, if I quarantine a fish and on week 4, he shows ich and I treat him, do I wait an additional 6 weeks after that. What happens if once again he has ich weeks later? Do I just keep treating or leave him in there until there are no signs of disease? So, possibly it could take months and months before the fish shows no signs of disease in a q-tank. I have a hippo right now in quarantine, and he is showing signs of ich, but it shows the most in the morning....then when i get home from work, he looks pretty good, but then the next morning it is back...weird. The other fish in the q-tank look great and show no signs at all. I want to treat him properly and make sure he does not affect any other fish in my display tank. So, if he shows signs of ich continuously week after week, does he have a permanent home in my q-tank?

two more pics of the other skimmer. oops...will not let me upload more pics.

Here are some pics of mine...I did the same for both skimmers. When I mod my Octopus skimmer, I am going to do the valve mod.

I just wanted to thank everyone for a great local forum! I am glad to have finally joined. There is a wealth of knowledge on here and lots of activity.

I did the exact same thing for my two EuroReef skimmers and have been extremely happy with the results. I just slide the tube up to skim a little wetter and vice versa to skim drier. Just curious, can a ball valve do the same as a gate valve for this particular mod? I want to mod my Octopus 200 and have an extra 1.5" ball valve.

Hey there, I was wondering the same thing, but came up with this post. Am I supposed to email someone about my membership, or is it an automatic change for access to the forums? Thanks!

Actually I did not go through deworming him. I thought if they were showing erratic eating habits or problems with their feces...you had to deworm them. I will do some more research about this...thanks!