George

Not necessarily. It depends on how you make it and how you dose it. If you're dosing out of your mixing container, then yes, you need to stir the mix when you add fresh RO. you can make a very cheap dosing setup by using a couple aqualifter pumps, one of those rubbermaid food storage jars, some rigid airline tubing and some silicone sealant.

The "two part doser" is marketted to dose BRS's own two-part solution (i.e. calcium part and buffer/pH part). It's a dosing pump that can be used for just about anything. That said, I have used similar dosing pumps and didn't care for the reliability of the cheap ones. The one I had eventually broke the motor spindle-to-roller connection which left the motor turning and doing nothing after only a bit more than a year of functioning. When dosing Kalk, the best way to do thing is to push RO water into the Kalk solution in a reactor (which is sealed) which in turn pushes kalk into the tank. For that, the aqualifter pumps are the best I've used, especially because they're only $10 each. They work on a diaphram pump system which means that ideally, you shouldn't expose the rubber to high pH solutions, but at $10 each, you can use up 1 per year and not hit the price point of the dosing pump for a decade. You can put a John Guest fitting valve on the output of the aqualifter to control the flow.

My aim with the water saving is to minimize the time the livestock has to stay elsewhere as well as minimize the shock. It's not always possible to move much of it, but if it is, it removes much of the acclimation time and makes the water end of the move not much more shocking than a major water change.

Try and get as much of the original tank water over as you can. Even if the system has been neglected, you can shock the livestock just as much by solving a problem too quickly. If you have a sand bed of more than an inch or two, either try to move the bed intact (after siphoning off as much water as possible) or, if you need to remove the sand, thoroughly wash it before putting it back into the system or you'll go through a nasty die-off cycle. Also, given the time of year, make sure that every tub has a heater while you do the tank setup. One thing people don't realize is how fast a tub sitting on the floor in winter can drop in temperature. So you'll need extra heaters to keep the tubs heated while you warm the tank up to temp. Also don't forget a few small powerheads to give some water circulation. Consider setting up a large storage container (rubbermaids are food safe) big enough for everything to run for a day or two with heaters and pumps. It can live without a skimmer and lights for a few days just fine. That way you can set the tank up right without being rushed. You can also aquascape the new setup and have time to test the parameters before putting your livestock in.

I used to use (and will again) storage tanks from US Plastic. The reason was mostly that I could get a small footprint, tall tank that was rigid walled so that the cover stayed on. My biggest problem with the tub/trashcan method is the distention the container undergoes making it impossible to cover them effectively which leads to contamination from all kinds of things.

White vinegar should have no perceptible effect on your aquarium. Some people use vinegar in Kalk reactors to increase the saturation of the kalkwasser. It's just acetic acid at a pH of about 2.5 or so. Assuming you don't use a ton and your water quality is good, the tank will have absolutely no problem buffering the vinegar. Pretty much anything that provides a pH shock to the aptasia will kill it, but kalk (pH of 12 or so) and vinegar have no other chemical effects. Kalk is just more popular because it's more readily used in the hobby and adds something your organisms use (albeit a very small amount).

Most of the people I have seen badmouth the Seaclone either didn't have it adjusted right or were using it on a tank that's way too big. Seaclone's size estimates are pure fantasy (more so than other manufacturers). I wouldn't use the 150 on anything bigger than a 40 or maybe 55 or the 100 on anything over a 29g. As for adjusting it, most people never read the directions. If you read them, the "sweet spot" on the skimmer is not at the maximum bubbles level that most skimmers work on. It's a fine spot between flow and bubble volume. However, adjusted correctly they skim well considering it's a cheap skimmer. I will say that for a few dollars more, you can get one of the Coralife skimmers that's a true needle wheel skimmer, but I've also heard they can have bad problems with micro bubbles. For that matter, a poorly adjusted Seaclone does as well, so maybe it's an adjustment thing with Coralife as well. Any piece of equipment is a "worst purchase" if it's not used correctly.

Agreed. Stay away from sand sifting starfish. It's a quick way to have a sterilized sand bed followed by a rotting starfish if you don't have a huge (probably 200+ gallon) tank. Also, cool as they are, horseshoe crabs fall into the same category, except they grow way too big. Cucumbers are good. Cerith snails are excellent, plus they do a neat Night of the Living Dead impression when they come out of the sand at feeding times. I like gobies as well, but bear in mind that anything on your sand bed will get coated in sand, including corals and clams. They're probably the one thing that'll keep the top layer of your sand white all over, unless you have a really bad algae problem.

I used a Seaclone as well for years. Still have it as my emergency backup. They work great, but do need a better adjusting valve and regular maintenance/adjustment. However I think that goes for just about any HOB skimmer that's powerhead driven because they have a greater tendency to suck in tank detritus.

I can't speak for the wrasse, but typically, tangs have issues with conspecifics, not colors.

I've used the AWI Typhoon for years. Works great. They also have great prices on filter refills. If it doesn't have the refillable DI cartridge, I highly recommend getting that when it's time for refills.

Oceanic used to make 24" square (i.e. 60g) cubes, but as far as I know, you need to go custom now, such as Glass Cages or other.

I heartily endorse Seachem's products if you don't want to go the route of kalk or a calcium reactor. GARF's bulletproof reef recipe works quite well using the Seachem products. If you do kalkwasser, you definitely do not want to use an open container. The reason is that the water becomes super-saturated with calcium. Exposure to the air will cause a thin layer of calcium to form on the water. This layer of precipitated calcium can cause a cascading precipitation that can end up crashing your kalk mix. Reactors have the benefit of stirring mechanism built in to a sealed container and a dosing line. Also, to keep the system consistent in dosing, if you DIY a reactor, the best way to do it is to pump RO water in which would then cause kalk to drip out to the tank (which is how most reactors work). That keeps the pump clean and the volume of water in the reactor constant.

Here's an interesting AWT salt study that Reefcast featured a while ago: http://reefsaltanalysis.googlepages.com/AW...alysis_0208.pdf The general conclusion they drew was that mixing two or more brands is the best way to get consistently good numbers.

Just saw this thread, Robert, absolutely fantastic! I bought one of the Solaris fixtures several years ago and I absolutely adore it. The power savings, absence of heat, and effects are worth every penny. However the savings over MH goes beyond the cost of chillers and bulb replacements, etc. I was able to have my tank at 79 degrees and my ambient temperature in the house at 78 degrees with my Solaris. Before, it was a fight to keep temps below 81 and I had my HVAC at 73-74 to keep up ambient temp. The reduction in evaporation also lessens the burden on cooling as well which lowers your power bill further in addition to prolonging the life of the system. Any chance you'd be interested in doing some custom work?