jaesun

argh! world cup final will be that afternoon.

I've been so embarrassed about my bryopsis problem that I haven't posted any updated pics of my 5.5g. Once I got the Mg kit, I realized that adding 5 mL a day of Kent Marine Tech M along with a 10% weekly water change (Reef Crystals) is the ideal amount for me. I don't know if this amount will scale up for the rest of you but I've been keeping the Mg level now higher than 1700. Any higher, I notice problems with my zoanthids turning a ghostish white. I had lots of initial die off, but it's been about 6 weeks and I still see a few small patches that are about half a centimeter in length. But most of these patches have black tips, so they're definitely dying. Nothing like the lush forests I had growing on my rocks previously. I'll continue for until my small bottle of Kent's Tech M runs out. About 6 months or so? In the meantime, I'll try to post an updated pic of my tank.

oops. my bad. I realized this after I posted. My buckpucks regulate the current for my LEDs.

I used a few oyster shells that I got from Capt White's in Maine Avenue when I cycled my tank. These shells were uncleaned and had barnacles with the largest about the diameter of a nickel. One shell had was totally covered with tiny barnacles. They all died eventually but some survived for a few weeks. They were also unwashed, so I had all sorts of mud whip worms coming up from the mud-caked crevices of the shell, but most of these disappeared once I added peppermint shrimp to the tank. If you're not a fan of eating them, on a busy weekend, you'll find plenty of discarded shells if you don't mind the cocktail sauce. I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but you won't find whole oysters in most of the Korean grocery stores. Fresh oysters are usually already shucked or frozen in bags - makes it easier to make kimchi with them. The best local source for oysters will be Whole Foods, but they do a pretty good job at cleaning the shells. Around this time of the year, you'll find them for $1 each for the wild caught oysters. If you're ever on the Eastern Shore, there are aquaculture companies for live oysters and shrimp. Choptank Sweets Marvesta Shrimp Farms

The 3 major chains in the DC area are the following: H Mart Lotte Plaza Grand Mart But if you're looking for dirty oysters all crudded up with barnacles, your best bet will probably be the Maine Avenue Seafood Market. A dozen oysters from the Chesapeake will set you back about $8. You can probably get them cheaper depending on your bargaining skills. They'll definitely have live blue crab and lobster, but I'm not too sure about anything else.

for the cheapest solution, you might want to try petco for heater suction cups. 2 for $1 or $2.50. check the scan codes, because I picked up a few and had 2 different prices for near identical items. works nicely for reef plugs since I only wanted a few frags up on the back and side walls but not enough room for a rack. I've had a few accidents with my pink stylophora, so I glued a few of the bits to reef plugs. Anyone interested? Haven't totally encrusted yet, so I haven't offered them yet.

Nice build! I also second LEDSupply. They're in the US, so it's quick shipping. I used standard shipping and got my items in about 2-3 days. Their customer service is also top-notch. I started my project weeks after I ordered my dimmable buckpuck drivers, and I had no problems getting new ones when they died. (It's a common problem with buckpucks, but I think I had a short somewhere in my circuit which caused my problems.) I doubt that you'll get the same service if you ordered from DealExtreme, which ships out of Hong Kong. I believe that it took about 3 weeks to get my order shipped to Maryland. There's also a noticeable difference aesthetically in the soldering on the starboards and the LEDs from LEDSupply and DealExtreme, but I haven't noticed any performance issues. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't bother with the really cheap stuff coming from Hong Kong and China. Saving a few bucks isn't worth it. I have a small fan on my heatsink and added a permanent thermometer on it. I've noticed that the heatsink never goes above 100F in the summer and stays about 90F in the winter. With an open design, the LEDs stay well below 150F, which is the recommended upper temp.

I figure that it doesn't hurt to try... a pair of peppermint shrimp to trade for a ORA/LE/Tyree SPS frag. this is a breeding pair with both taking turns doing their thing as male and female, so there are hundreds of shrimp fry every few days in the tank. I hardly ever see these shrimp without their egg sacs. I've had both for about 6 months. I don't know if they'll clear up aiptasia since I've never had that problem. But I have never seen them go after my zoas or other corals. Please let me know by late Friday night if you're interested. I don't plan on taking the shrimp unless someone is definitely interested.

This is a nice build! Is that a VGA cable? Cool idea. Nice and clean. As for the dimming, you will need use Pulse Width Modulation. Relatively simple with a 555 timer IC - if you can solder a LED together, you can definitely solder the PWM circuit. LEDs need to be on at full power. You can't dim it by limiting the current or voltage. LEDs, however, can be turned off and on rapidly. Like thousands of times in a second. By controlling frequency and length of the off and on cycles, you can control the brightness since the cycles will blur together to the human eye (and I assume corals and fish too). Another advantage of LEDs that hasn't been mentioned here is the downward scalability. If you ever wanted a 1 gallon with corals (even SPS) for your desktop, it's possible with LEDs. Deli's 1 gallon PicO from Nano-Reef

The store used to be a lot larger. It's only half the size now. I got my 5.5 g and Maxi-jet 400 there for probably the cheapest prices in the area.

Rearing Picasso Percula Clownfish! This is Doni's thread. Well worth the read if you're interested in rearing your own clowns or want to convince yourself not to.

It's a blue hippo in a 6.6 g! The Remarkable Pico Reef of Marcello

Didn't you just start with a 3 gallon? Wow, I guess there's a new member to reefers anonymous. A 250 gallon by Christmas?

nanoreef.com September tank of the month You can see the heatsinks he used in the photos of his halide/LED set-up. You might want to try hitting him up for his source.

Tank looks great. What do you feed the clown gobies? Have you caught them feeding or nipping on the sps polyps?

wow, 72 LEDs! that's a lot of soldering! good to know that. one less experiment that I have to mess around with.

Wow, I didn't realize that these had 3 on a star. I'll keep this in mind for my future upgrade. Royal-Blue EndorStar I got my 5 Cree XR-E Royal Blue LEDs from LEDSupply, and my corals really pop under them. I hope to find out the difference with regular blue which I've set aside for my moonlights. As for the heat, I'd be a bit worried because you could easily fry the LEDs and easily shorten the lifetime from years to weeks. My heatsink has its own thermometer, so I've been keeping an eye out on temps. So far, so good. Oh, I would highly recommend LEDSupply for DIY projects. I had problems with my buckpuck drivers, and they sent me new ones without any issues. They might cost a little more than having your items shipped from Hong Kong, but I doubt any overseas supplier can match the customer service of a US company. Plus you get your items in days as opposed to 2-3 weeks.

You might have problems with the 3W LEDs. While these LEDs won't heat up your tank, the actual LEDs get really hot and will require a heatsink. Even if you could fit a strip of LEDs on a 1" aluminum, you might never get them to cool below 100F because of the adjacent halides. The 3W LEDs are more for coral growth. If you want to supplement some blue, you could get away with lower wattage LEDs that also run at lower currents. It won't add anything for PAR, but they will add blue. If you want to experiment, I have a bunch of blue 1/2W 100mA LEDs and only need 2 for my moonlights (if I ever get around to setting it up). You could try them out to see if they'd work in your setup. I got them on eBay and noticed that they're already obsolete since the same supplier is selling similar ones with much higher outputs. 10 PCS 10mm 40

Why do you want them in a 1 inch wide strip? My heatsink is 5.25 inches wide for a tank that is 8.5 inches wide. I'm pretty happy with the spread that I get with my 12 LEDs. I can't imagine putting the LEDs on a single strip. You can get 1 inch aluminum strips from Home Depot or Lowes and then bolt on small heatsinks and fans from a computer hardware store like Microcenter or online at newegg.com. But I think there was a guy on nano-reef who went with a single sheet of aluminum and had problems with overheating. The bulk and fins really help in keeping the temperature below 100 F.

HeatSinkUSA Really fast. Almost too fast since I wanted to make a change, but they had already shipped my order within 3 hours.

DIY High Power LED Retrofit, Step-by-step guide Lighting Forum

The website for Straits of Malaya website seems to be working at the moment. I noticed that it wasn't this morning. But loads of Real World DC sightings in that area since their house is located on 20th and S St NW. The only other "tourist" destination in that area would probably be the back entrance to the Hilton where Reagan was shot.

I went to Singapore Bistro about a year ago and found that there wasn't anything Singaporean about the food besides the names of the dishes. A lot can change in a year and maybe I went on an off-day. I don't know why I didn't mention this restaurant earlier, but there's also Straits of Malaya which is on 18th and T St NW. It's across from Lauriol Plaza. I've been there a few times and would definitely go back. There's also an upstairs patio. Oh, if you see camera crews go by you, it's probably MTV and the Real World. haha. At Singapore Bistro and Malaysia Kopitiam which is a block away, you'll find parking garages. I think Penang which is also in that area is still closed due to fire. No garages near Straits of Malaya since it's more of a residential area. http://www.straitsofmalaya.com/

oh, metro is horrible on weekends. expect delays of up to 20 minutes for trains. they also single track for maintenance, so you might have to wait even longer.

Make a day of it in DC. If you're up for it and the weather cooperates, the best way to see the monuments is to rent a bike. http://thompsonboatcenter.com/bikerent.htm I doubt that you've seen all of the monuments. I'm not sure if they give you a lock, and I don't think you can go through the memorials like the FDR or WWII memorials with your bikes. So it might help to prepare with backpacks, water, a lock if you have it, etc. As for parking, bring a fistful of quarters and try to plan hitting the different museums along the mall. The American History Museum was recently gutted and totally renovated. It's only been open for a few months. Definitely check it out. If you're patient and can plan on spending no more than 2 hours at each, you can get lucky with parking. Choose the museum that you park closest to. Let the fates decide! I actually did this about 2 weeks ago when my soon-to-be in-laws came into town. It worked out relatively well. Be very careful of parking tickets. The DC government has a huge shortfall, and they're trying to make up the revenue with parking tickets. It's so bad that the cops are complaining about getting parking tickets. You could also make a trip to Northern Virginia and hit the Air and Space Museum annex by Dulles, and then make your way into DC. It's "free" but they charge for parking. I've actually never been to the National Aquarium... I guess because I grew up in the DC area, I refuse to pay admission for a museum in DC. Haha. I'm assuming that the admission fee is waived at the social this saturday? This might be my only chance! I could go for some Indonesian smashed chicken right now, but I don't know of a place to get authentic Indonesian food as of yet. There's a Malaysian place on M street near Dupont Circle. http://www.malaysiakopitiam.com/ I've never been. I've always wanted to try but have always been overruled by my better half. She walked in once and walked right out because of a strange odor.