Chad

Likely culprits before I start tearing the ballast apart? It's a magnetic ballast and a phoenix 14k lamp. Thoughts?

ping!

You can always try the thunderdome method... Add a whole bunch of one species to your tank, wait for the battle lines to be drawn, watch what happens, with some species (I have done this with watchman gobies - and intend to add 8 to my current tank) pairs will form, and then pull out the loners.

It's a failsafe. If temperature is that low, there's a severe problem. Usually a statement like that is also tied to the "send me an email if" statement.

Exactly as stated above, supply and demand. There's a low supply for a lot of reasons (rarity, difficulty in collection, remote collection areas, etc.) and since there's a low supply, the cost is high. I do remember $50 purple tangs (and $200 black tangs for that matter). Want to really have a heart attack, start looking at things like candy bassletts, conspicuous angels, wrought iron butterfly fish, a whole array of dwarf angels, and a ton of other cool things.

It doesn't really matter as long as it's consistent, but the most common answer you'll likely hear is probably a 2 degree heat / cool band (e.g., cool on at 81, off at 79 and heat on at 77 and off at 79).

I agree re debris, also you may have alignment issues and trouble holding the dry side in place. Other than that, go nuts! I think the idea is cool.

Thanks, Bill. You are more than welcome to come by and see it, talk reefs, and have some scotch with me any time you want! I think you've given me the info I need to be convinced.

Cool, thanks for the feedback, y'all! Bill, that's precisely why I'm looking into it!

Anyone have recent experience with these? I know a few years back they were pretty maintenance intensive and unreliable. Since It's one of the weak points of my system (salinity drift caused by the auto water changer... which I have been good about manually guiding it), I figure it's worth looking into it again as a safety function. Thanks, y'all!

Once again, I really, really wish I was closer. They look nice, John!

I am a pretty big fan of my 36x24, I think it's a great size without being too intrusive into a room like a cube can be (don't get me wrong, I love them, but there is a shear footprint issue to contend with). Though, I too am biased on the issue.

I purchased my now-sump from them in 2010. The tank is solidly built, but the craftsmanship is not pretty. It makes a fantastic sump, though.

LOL, I love it...

Cool, I love challenging and unique projects and am looking forward to seeing this!

A scrubber is an alternate method (to a protein skimmer) of cleansing water. Basically, it will do everything that a skimmer will do, in terms of nutrient export, but doesn't respond as quickly and encourages system health in other ways (increased copepod population and time for food to find a mouth). Jim, cool! Looking forward to seeing it!

LOL... that's an awesome picture! Maybe put a few shells close by for him to consider moving into?

I found these at a local place that's going under for super cheap... thinking of picking up a few for use in my frag tank. Anyone have them and like them? (remember, I'm not asking about the 400W or even the 250W varieties that are more popular and have a near cult-like following)

^I've had mostly very good experiences with kole tangs. Rob, you've acclimated a ton of fish to captivity and have a ton of expertise on that front, what advice do you have on that account? Though, I've never had one take nori that wasn't in tiny pieces floating in the water (i.e., not from a clip) before... I agree, though, that it's not normal that he isn't taking food... Most fish cannot turn down live brine, you could always try that.

I think I posted a thread on this tank a while back:

Sure, it's possible.. there are a couple of examples of hanging tanks floating around on the net. It's an interesting engineering problem that really only requires a thoughtful approach, some analyses, and likely a bucketload of cash. For acrylic, I suspect the key problem that will need to be overcome will be support of the acrylic, which tends to creep over time under a consistent load.

So, I get the TOC facts regarding the Sanjay study. Now, what I don't get is why lower TOC is better or even desirable.

wow, great pictures, mind sharing your camera settings for those fast moving fish?

Lol... Long drive from vb . I too will pass! I think it's funny.

lol!