igozoom

You aren't advocating online betting, are you?

I'm glad you asked! This is my favorite tank in DC as well. It just so happens that one of my neighbors is a marine biologist at the Smithsonian. Another neighbor who was a Smithsonian entomologist there suggested I talk to her back when I got in the hobby, and I never got around to it. Anyone interested in trying to get a meeting or a social there so we can get a behind the scenes tour? I can give her a call this weekend.

Metal halide if you already have a chiller for the biocube. I'd be careful not to bleach whatever you have in the tank currently by starting with some light diffuser or screen and gradually removing it. You'll also need to make sure the water temperature remains stable after the upgrade. Personally, I'd go with the one of the nanocustoms or nanotuners LED upgrade kits if I were you.

I'd get the livesand, or even some rubble, from an established tank vs. the bagged stuff from caribsea. If it weren't so cold, I'd say order some GARF grunge from GARF.org, but I'm sure someone here would be willing to part with a little sand and rubble to get the ECO Rock started. I'd also plan to double or triple the time you allocate for cycling in order to build up enough microfauna. I've heard that you shouldn't add coral until you have patches of coraline algae larger than a quarter. Sounds like a good rule of thumb to me.

You just blew my mind!

Sorry to hear about this. I know what you're going through. Coincidentally, I found that I can't keep anything that even uses batteries near a tank for very long. I had a clock with AAs in it on a wall near the tank, and it kept collecting salt creep at either end of the battery until the clock would stop working.

Are you installing these on a light track?

If you're going to have just 3 corals, clams, or anemones in the tank, I'd get the 30 degree spread (these would also be good for locking and anem into a specific location. The spread would depend on how much you want to 'spotlight' each light point and the distance from the surface of the water. What Evilc66 fails to concede in his lengthy diatribes about LEDs is that if you get the LED close enough to the surface of the water, the (<2") you don't need to get the native 60 degree more focused via a lens. You'll see the spread becomes 50% tighter focused if the get the light right above the surface of the water. If the 80 degree 'bulbs' do not include lenses (colimiters) I'd get that one. The lenses cut the 10% of your light output, which is a big deal when you add up how many of these things you'll need to get as much par as a metal halide.

I'd think that you would be missing some polyps as well if it's a fire worm. It certainly sounds like the work of a sneaky shrimp. Maybe if you could get a picture of the worm, someone could identify it.

I wouldn't worry about it, they are pretty tough. They're like babies, they will put everything that will fit into their mouths in order to figure out what it is.

You can't go wrong with a pair captive bred ocellaris. They are pretty tough to kill.

I would think the seller. I had a similar experience with premium aquatics, the shipment was delayed 2 days because the box was sopping wet from broken bags. Hopefully, he has more frags.

That's a mighty fine looking fixture. Are those big capacitors behind the grill on the top view?

Thanks for the links. I hadn't seen the sushi nano, but I've been following the El Fab pico. That one certainly defies conventional thinking. A LITTLE more humidity couldn't do too much more damage to the house, right?!

+1 dottyback should take care of your sexy shrimp infestation!