bluce

Thanks for the ideas - If anyone else has any thoughts let me know. I'm not really trying to automate the water change, but I do want to make it as easy and quick as possible - without any mess as my tank is in my living room. Thanks again!

The problem with this way is it lends itself to be messy - plus it is tricky to prime - you have to make sure none of the hoses come out of the water when you attempt to turn the pump around - not sure how you even do that? hold both ends of the tubes and switch them?

The Sink thing may work, but I sorta wanted to use a pump that I could quick turn on and off to make these changes a snap!

So recently I built a custom sump with 5 baffles - it is working great. My problem is easy / fast / clean water changes. Sometimes I pull water from the main tank with a siphon, but sometimes I like pulling water from the sump - it should be faster, and it's good to get any debris that builds up. My baffles are pretty close together, so the best way to get water out, is with a hose. I though a pump would work - i tried with a maxjet 1200 and a rio2500 - problem is these pumps need to be primed, and there isn't a siphon since the sump is the same level as the waste water bucket. Any good suggestions where i could use vinyl hosing to drain different sections of the sump for cleanup and water changes? Thanks!

It may be interesting, and if you ever get tired of it, you can throw it into a pot mmmmm Maine Lobster Rolls!!!

Thanks for the good info

So I only use B-ionic 2 part. And occasionly add a ph / alk buffer when I do water changes. I never add magnesium directly - I know there is supposed to be some in the B-ionic and in the salt mix I use (Instant Ocean Reef Crystals). Can you explain the "3" part - what are the exact names of the products and where do you get them? Thanks

This site has all types of tubing - flex pvc and pvc hose http://www.flexiblepvc.net/default.asp If you decide to order let me know - I need about 7 ft of flex pvc or pvc hose

Thanks for all the input - I believe I will stay away from the sea apple - just to be on the safe side and get the tiger tail. If he gets too big in a few years that will give me an excuse to upgrade I always get great input from the board on WAMAS - incredible resource!

Thanks for the opinions guys. Anyone have a tiger tail cuke, chime in please. Too funny Chad "btw, this is one of my soon-to-be mother-in-law's favorite dishes" Sea Cuke for dinner - nasty Your mother in law is from Asia?

I have seen many vendors and aquarists recommend getting a tiger tail cuke for part of the cleanup crew in an aquarium. I also think they add a nice piece of biodiversity. I have also heard some say that cukes are a time bomb waiting to crash your entire tank - I know I would never get a "sea apple" cuke as they seem to be the most toxic. My question - is it worth getting 1 tiger tail cuke for a 76 gallon tank? And does anyone have a good idea of the real risks involved? Thanks for your input in advance.

Heat pumps are notoriously bad in very cold weather - they work by removing heat from outside and injecting it into your home. As the temp drops they get more and more inefficient. On the other side they are very efficient in 50 degree weather. "Heat pumps can extract this warmth and inject it into your home. They achieve this by doing the same thing air conditioners do only backwards! In hot weather air conditioners, using the magic of special refrigerant chemicals, take heat from the inside of your house and dispose of it outdoors. It only makes sense that the modified machines can do the exact opposite and pull heat from outdoor air and pump it into your home." This is why I like gas heat so much better - keeps you toasty and warm .

Wonderful pics! - were you on a liveaboard or did you take a boat out each day from the island?

You could try to build an algae scrubber - I have read interesting things about them. One person made a custom box that he then added a throw over right next to the tank - it didn't look bad at all.

Thanks for the advice - I think I'll just dump 1/2 of it in my qt tank ( there isn't anything in there right now except rock) , let it cycle, a couple days, then check the params and add the other 1/2 if they are ok. After all looks good I'll add it to the refuge. I'm glad I waited - if I wouldve added all that to my dt right away, then I probably would have crashed my tank as the ammon, ni readings were off the chart - I didn't even test for nitrates, but I'm sure they were also high.

I bought a small 1/4 bucket of live sand ~ 10 pounds from a long established tank to use in my new sump refuge. I added some of my tank water to the bucket to keep it wet, and to clean the sand a bit (planning on dumping the water before I add to the refuge). The water is already way above the limits with ammonia and Nitrite - if I used this sand as it currently is I'm sure I would poison my tank - you can actually smell the ammonia coming out of the bucket. So what do i do to prep this sand for use? If i clean it with tap water, then I'm thinking I would be killing all the beneficial bacteria and whatever critters are in the sand - which defeats the purpose of buying this in the first place. Is this too much of a problem - should I throw the sand away?, or is there a way to clean it up? Ideas are appreciatated

Tough loss to handle - I second Trok's comments. You have a great attitude. Thanks for sharing as your experience will undoubtedly help others (including myself).

Beautiful tanks and very clever setups. I was amazed you were able to keep a subtropical tank in the same water system! Where would one find a small juvenile Regal Angel? Those are indeed great looking fish. If you ever like to give a tour let us know, it would be nice to see the tanks in person. You should take some video sometime and post it

Steve - where you trying to get the coraline to grow? You don't want to mess up that nice acylic tank of yours. *If you need scraping I let my whole back wall grow coraline - it's pretty much completely covered now.

Thanks Matt - I I will take you up on your offer David - could I take you up on your offer too? Help me break up the tank and cut the glass? Maybe we could work out a time this weekend?

I also found some reasonable priced sheets of glass at Home Depot - the question I have is, the glass is only 3/32" thick. I'm thinking that is too thin - what do you guys think?

I believe that Chad is correct - I forgot about 4ft of head

Thanks for the offer Beatle - can you measure and see if you will have enough plus some for your patches? I would need a total of 6 pieces: 3 pieces 16" x 11 3/4", 2 pieces 13" x 11 3/4", 1 piece 15" x 11 3/4" I wanted to separate the fuge on the end for several reasons. control the flow - too much may stir things up too much, plus I want good conditions for pod's. separate sections make it easier to work on different parts without affecting the other side. with 2 intakes I can have non-skimmed water going into the fuge area.

evaporation should be about 1 gallon / day. I'm using a mag 9.5 for the return - so GPH through the tank is ~ (950 gph for mag 9.5 - resistance) around 900 gph. Is that what your asking for? On a side note: Anyone know where i can get some decent prices on glass for the baffles? I went to ace hardware and they didn't have any. The guy gave me a number for a glass company, but custom glass will cost alot.

Modified design shown below - I added the suggested 3rd baffle on the fuge side, and slanted / extended the first baffle on the intake / skimmer side. Do you think having the water flow down that first baffle will help with getting rid of the bubbles?