wade

Flame scallop. In the wild- doing what they do best.

These were taken in 2005 on the Great Barrier Reef or near it.

SPS will, without fail, fall off once they get larger. Glass isn't something they adhere too very well (the opposite is true of acrylic, they will be on that forever). So, if you do try to mount frags on the back, I'd highly recommend going with things that will creep and not gain too much mass. Xenia, gsp, polyps, etc.

The unit I have is the Sku: 1DUALHR "DUal Home Reef with faucet and tank". So shutting off the RO tank, flushing the membrane, and letting the lines flush brings my RO output down to ~13 TDS (from 230 at the tap). A new DI column brings output to 0 TDS, but will have to see how long this column lasts. I tested the shutoff valve and it is working fine (though I often wonder if equilibrating to 40psi is enough). One thing I noticed, however, is that I shifted from a 50gpd to a 75gpd membrane without changing the restrictor, which I assume will have some effect on the membrane efficiency. I will be ordering a booster pump asap, but it looks like I should be fine if I remember to shut off the RO tank and flush the membrane each time I want to generate tank water. The only remaining question I have is the potential for nitirate to equilibrate across the membrane over time once it shuts off.

Thanks for the input. I've replaced the membrane 3x in 3 years and unfortunately, I can't really figure out a way to use a smaller container for drinking water that wouldn't cause my wife to scream. I am leaning towards stripping the DI carts off and just routing it as RO water only to the faucet. Even 40 TDS is better than 250 (taste-wise) and since its for drinking, thats fine - unless it lets the nitrates through the membrane as well. Then it isn't OK at all.

Thank you for the fast response!. I'll do a little more checking and get back to you via email/phone. Cheers

I have one of your units with the RO holding tank on it (and RO drinking water diversion). I get the following parameters when I check it on my digital TDS meter: input water (tap, ~60F, 40psi) is 250 RO outlet is 30-40 The problem is that I go through a full 10" DI resin column in only about 50-100 gallons of output based on the color change in the resin. In order to use the product water for my reef topoff I have started draining the RO tank first (so everything is fresh from the membrane) and I use a new column. The membrane is 2 months old, 75gpd. This is VERY costly in terms of wasted water and DI resin. Is having the RO tank slowly equalizing with the membrane input pressure causing this problem? Is the RO water coming to equilibrium with the input water? If that is the case, I am triply concerned as I have near the MCL for nitrates in my well water - and I have an infant in the house (not a good combination) - so if equilibration is occurring is it all ions that are equilibrating? At this point I am considering a different unit so that I have one dedicated to drinking water and one to RO/DI output. Thanks for any response!

Clown loaches can also eliminate a whole tank's worth of pest snails. I had a the old 240 as an amazon planted tank.. within weeks I couldn't find (obvious) snails.

I've seen them leap out of the tank due to harassment, even when small. If you get lucky enough to get them small enough (say from a breeder) so that they haven't differentiated at all (juvenile, not male) you might have more luck, but it is still risky. Some will just decline and die due to the constant harassment. Mixing totally different species of clowns does seem to work ime. Especially if the first in the tank are not the most aggressive.

Looking forward to it! My experience with non-hobbyists feedings tanks is generally pretty poor. They almost always overfeed. This would solve that problem nicely!

Any guesstimates on cost for this device?

Sorry. Stupid tablet upload didn't even give me an option. Set to public now, hopefully it works.

Quick video of the flsher wrasse flashing.

I bet a dropper full of kalkwasser paste will beat both!

Yeah, I recalled saying that, but when I went back into my pictures (of which, there really aren't many I can find!), I could not find my source and wasn't positive if they were the correct two algaes. I'm hoping someone else has some feedback anywhere. And yes, I remember it taking a while to get them to feed on anything. I tried soaking them in selcon, co-soaking with defrosted mysis, and wrapping them together and anchoring to a rock. They seemed to like the rock version best... the selcon just made everything else in the tank hungry. I know I had two large bags of seaweed in my freezer - they lasted for ages. The recipe I published on reefs.org on making your own food in 2000 didn't have any listed, only nori. Doubting oneself is a b**ch.

I know we had a discussion a while back about sources of seaweed for feeding our fish. My achilles is very picky and eats seaweed and mysis, but barely picks in the tank (thinking about picking up a rabbit/foxface to train him!), so... In addition to nori, I wanted to add something else. Has anyone ordered and had their fish take to any wild harvested (but dried) seaweed lately? I know I ordered from seaveg or a similar source years ago, but cannot remember which seaweeds the fish loved above the others. I think I recall my fish eating dulse and possibly one of the green non-kelp varieties.

I remember what the bulletin boards were run for back then.... I loved some of those old dial up bb games too.

Whichever can block the light from the other... its a tossup. If you stress things, the mushroom would prob win due to splitting. Under ideal case, prob the gsp. They are both weeds.

For the fish, they would be fine in a tub with aeration - plus some rock. Just do water changes since the volume is small and don't worry about filtration. Keep oxygen up and feed them enough, but not too much and it should last a few weeks no problem. Just be sure the container has a rim or top.

Rick's in Frederick MD has some nice FW stuff - pretty good selection. Its not NOVA, but if you are nearer Leesburg it isn't too far.

But! Then we won't get all the supercolors that people are used to seeing on ebay! How dare you?!? Please do let us know which you find works best. Each person's light will be a slightly different colors, so a different color may work better, but for a 10k or a 12k lit tank the differences wouldn't be too great.

Video or it didn't happen!

I'd also recommend an acid bath/cleaning of the older probe if you haven't done so. Due to the nature of the probe, deposition of 'hard stuff' is normal - an acid wash should remove a great deal of that any make it more responsive as well. Vinegar or muriatic acid is fine.