hypertech

If it's acrylic why not bond a thin flat sheet over it or fill the crack with something like weld on 16 and sand it flush?

No heater is really reliable. That's why most people have or eventually end up with a controller. Set the controller at 78 and the heater at 80, for example, for redundancy and extra reliability. It sounds like the thermostat failed or was set wrong on the heater. I recommend getting a RKL or some other controller as soon as you are able to prevent this sort of accident from reoccuring. It happened to me when I started too. I never got to buying the controller till I had a tank at 90 degreed all of the sudden one day. I would never run a tank withut a controller now.

I use a single baffle to ensure a steady water level for the skimmer. Otherwise, they aren't really needed. With a decent skimmer that doesn't unleash microbubbles and a good drain design like a herbie, there is no issue with bubbles.

I'm considering one too. The price is holding me back right now. Maybe we need group buy lol.

You should always calibrate a refractometer with 1.026 solution before using it. It only needs to be done once so make sure you buy it from a place that does it for you or it comes with the solution.

Can you manual focus?

A quick web search says your min focusing distance is 50 cm or almost two feet unless you switch it into macro mode where it drops to three cm. So, have you tried your macro mode?

See my post in your other thread. Most likely you are too close. Somewhere in your manual it should tell you a minimum focusing distance which may be a foot or more. Back up so the camera can focus and then crop it in.

Figure out if the blur is due to motion or out of focus. If focus, back up you are probably too close. Crop it later. If it's motion a smaller number for F (aperture) may help as will a higher iso setting. If you can use a tripod or sturdy surface and the self timer that will help too. There is only so much a point n shoot can do but you can get decent results with practice and a bit of technique. I'm happy to teach anyone what I know about photography. I'm in Alexandria.

I could also help on an emergency type basis as I'm sure many others would. But, for regular ongoing maintenance, it may be better to get on a service plan. Several sponsors do it as does Naga and maybe others.

I helped my mom pick a new camera this weekend. We snagged a Canon SD 1300 is for $98 with free shipping on Amazon. It's a nice little camera and a great value.

I prefer dry rock. Tends to be around $2-3 a pound and ships dry via UPS ground. Check out Marco Rocks and Bulk Reef Supply.

Nope everything is electric. I have the hot water in the tank but that's electric too. I do have a charcoal grill if it really came down to that. I have this heat pump thing. I had never heard of them before I moved here. I would never buy one as it seems to have a lot of trouble heating when it is real cold out.

Good point. I'll see how long my temp cord is and see if I can get the probe up to the display.

Hmmmmmmm. The probe is in the sump. The heater is a 200w heater and runs s lot but not on flat out all the time. I'll have to get a thermometer and put it in the main tank and stage a test. Maybe this isn't as bad as I first thought.

It's a 75 with a 20 sump. So, probably around 70-80 gallons of water.

Unfortunately, I have no where to store a generator. There is a fireplace in that room so maybe that will have to be the plan. I though about knocking the temp up a little but that would only delay the disaster an hour or so. I figure if the power goes out for more than an hour there's a good chance it will be out for a while. I wonder if there is such a thing as a DC submersible heater. A 50w heater would probably slow down the cooling significantly.

Will it be in a canopy? If so, try it and if it looks crazy, add a couple 24" retros on the ends from to back to fill in the extra space.

That post makes my head hurt. Are those fish you listed (and a shark) in your saltwater tank? Or are you mixing up your fresh and salt tanks in that post. I recommend finding a good local mentor. Look at their setup and have them come look at yours. And, when asking questions on the forum, try to ask more clear questions that are more focused to one issue. It will help us give you better answers that aren't heading in a dozen directions.

The power went out this morning for 25 minutes. My tank temp dropped from 76 to 75. It seems to lose about 2 degrees per hour and I'm guessing would stop in the mid to high 60s. I haven't measured the temp in the basement, but I'm guessing that's what it is. I'm concerned that an extended outage of 4-6 hours might well kill the whole tank. And, short of adding a small heater directly to the display and getting a huge battery backup, I really can't think if anything I can do about it. Anyone have any ideas?

I've been running BRS pellets for a little more than two weeks now i think. Water seems a little clearer and skimmers seems a little darker, but nothing so dramatic I can point and say aha! The biopellets did it!

Oh, I think that was in response to your concern about low oxygen. Taking the covers off will help with that. It will also increase evaporation so be ready with some nice filtered water for "top off".

By top off we mean the water you add to "top off" the tank to replenish water lost from evaporation.

You are not going to have low oxygen in parts of the tank. Even in a stagnant bucket, there is not enough water volume to have low oxygen areas and high oxygen areas. Also, the cardinal rule of saltwater aquariums is - Nothing good happens fast! If you have a problem, it is not likely it will magically solve itself in two days. If it was just a coincidence, give it a couple weeks just to make sure before you ad anything else. Your tank may be cycling or it may cycle again from the added bioload of the new fish. Go slow and your chances of success will increase significantly. Finally, stop with the tap water. You never know when you are going to have a bad water day, maybe the city flushes the line or something. Get filtered water from somewhere.

Bubble tips are most common in reef tanks. But, don't think about getting any corals and anemone's until you get to the bottom of your fish dying problem as it could be a sign of a husbandry problem you need to solve first. Otherwise, you might just be wasting your money on animals that are going to die.