igozoom

I caught one sneaking on through a bathroom vent. Leaving the vent fans on 24/7 might be a feasible deterrent.

Any worm hunting fish like a six lined wrasse may intimidate and pick your shrimp to death before they eat one worm. I'd leave them be. My wife still gives me a hard time about the big fat one I ripped in half when trying to extract it from a rock with tongs. That was back in the days when I was starting up my tank, before I had a healthy population of worms to eat it's rotting carcass, so I got a nitrate spike instead.

http://www.cadlights.com/product_info.php?...products_id=158 It's not a cube, but it's got a 24" square base and it's uber trendy. I think it even automatcally ejects live rock if you make a rock wall.

I'm taking a break due to issues with humidity (and limited tank placement options) and a small electrical fire that had my wife and I a little concerned about the safety of this hobby right now! Before the break, I'd considered doing a small attached greenhouse outside one of our sliding doors since I didn't have a good place for a fish room and my house has huge single paned windows that create a lot of condensation that would cost a fortune to replace. Did you have a formula for determining how far from the glass the tanks could be, what the R value of the glass needed to be, etc?

Waterjet... so that might answer my question about how clean a cut you can get on this with a mitre saw and the right blade... I suppose I should pay the premium for pre-cut sections rather than buying the remnants at 50% off?

Pro's in the US? I've been unable to find any information about using this material for a stand other than the Tojo site.

The MDF stand that came with my Oceanic Tech 120 has almost completely fallen apart following a skimmer overflow. Any recommendations on where to look for a custom stand and canopy? I've been considering a DIY aluminum t-slot stand like this one on glassbox-design.com for several months now, but work and a 3 year old son have cut into my 'DIY' time lately. Looking for a modern styled stand and maybe even going larger than the 24X48" footprint so that I have more sump room. Maybe a 24X78 with a 24X24 side cabinet that connects the canory. I need a safe place for my LED power supplies, I've already blown one! Faztek, 8020, and their 'local' distributors sales guys call you a lot when you download their design software (requires autocad) from their sites, from what I can tell. You can also pick it up locally at Grainger and McMaster Carr, which might be the way to go. I also found a site that will pre-cut and allow you to order online I'm a little wary about by doing something that appears to only be done in Japan and only typically on smaller tanks. I don't own Autocad, but I might try to get someone who does to help me put a design together so I can get a flat packed quote. I'll definitely shop the plan, as the contact calls from Faztek and 8020 salespeople are starting to worry me. Any suggestions on a better solutions? Images from the Tojo website

I get the 200 gallon RC boxes from Tropical Lagoon. I think they were $50ish. I love the boxes because they split the salt up into individual bags for your moisture protection.

Thanks. These are all great ideas. The wet skimming drain sounds like a great idea. Does it wipe out a lot of planktonic life in the process? I was planning to do hard plumbing for this, but maybe I'll just roll vinyl hose out from my utility room one a week like some of you have done. I'm really reluctant to cut a hole in the redwood paneling behind my tank!

Here we go...

Anyone have an example of a down to earth plumbing design to perform water changes without dragging buckets and siphons flopping all over the place? I'm keenly interested in doing so for my new tank, but I have about 20' and a few walls I need to traverse between the tank and utility closet where I keep mixed water.

extreme_tooth_decay - You have a crab predator in your reef? Crab predator? As in a fish or as in an invert hitchhiker? I don't have any fish other than a pair of ocellaris, but I've often wondered what it is that's wiping out my hermits. I always assumed it was LFS distress or shell-jackers, but I've never seen crab-on-crab violence, just crab-on-snail violence. Even my mithrax did not last long. By contrast, I have a tiny crab that looks sort of like a 1/16" porcelain crab that came in on my live rock, survived the cycle, and still pops out for a rare moment once every 4 months for the last 2 years. Any known non-fish hermit predators out there? I've never read anything about crab pathology.

"FYI, Blue Ribbon Koi in Manassas usually has the Mexican red legs for a great price." Call first, I just bought the last 8.

I've never seen a scarlet legged hermit go after anything living. I've had some blue legs grow into knuckle dragging monsters that grab at every passing snail. I just won some more tiny blue legs from Fiji direct at the meeting, and they are probably the last ones I'll ever put in my tank. By the way, the Fiji direct clean up crews have been great. I had one DOA, at least the blue legs have been picking away at it today I noticed. All the snails and peppermint shrimp were small, vigorous and got right to work.

Ned and Anna have made it very hard for me to look forward to work tomorrow. What an awesome job. Their passion was really inspiring.

I've seen people use copper pipe and then paint it black. You could look under "welding" in your local yellow pages and find someone to make it out of bar they have laying around for pretty cheap. I've also seen people use parts from sleek looking furniture shelving. You can buy lengths of aluminum angle rod and mounting hardware online from industrial supply places as well.

I'd recommend the invert house at the DC national zoo and the recently renovated Sant Ocean Hall in the Smithsonian Natural History museum. Both are free. Here's a pic of the new reef tank at the Smithsonian. http://www.daylife.com/photo/09Qi1Sa2fC1xa There is really only one (real) reef tank at the Baltimore aquarium, but they have a massive fish only (synthetic rock and fake coral) tank worth the price of admission.