beatle

I have the waste line from my RO/DI plumbed into my basement's utility sink. I finally got around to hooking up my litermeter this week and I'd like to tie the drain line from the LM (for water changes) to the same 1/4" tubing used for my RO/DI drain. For the life of me, I cannot find a wye fitting anywhere. People only sell tees. BRS sells the fittings, but after shipping, it'll cost me ten bucks! I guess I'm just being cheap, but does anyone know of a local source for these?

I used a similar 3 chamber design on my old 90 w/30g sump. I use the same design now on my 120 w/40g sump. Drain/skimmer -> fuge -> return. I run about 600 gph through the sump, never an issue with pod population in the fuge, though I did have LR rubble in the corners. My chaeto never tumbled but still grew like the weed that it is.

You have a pretty good mix of bulbs. I've heard good things about UVL actinics. They've been the reference standard for fluorescent actinics in VHO for a long time and they now make T5s. You may try replacing one of your 03s with a UVL. How old are your bulbs? Old bulbs don't have the punch that new ones do. You may also try rearranging the bulbs front to back to see if you get more or less pop. Move a bulb to the front to "increase" its output, move to the back to "decrease" it.

In this case, the litermeter will top the tank off at a specific rate, spread out over a 24 hour period so the pH would be more stable as you mention.

I didn't think about the long term effects of consumption / addition of alk. I was just thinking of pH. Right now I only have a few softies, hammer, and a birdsnest. I don't plan to have a load of SPS in my tank, but if I hit a brick wall on what kalk can do, I'll add 2-part to my regimen.

I know a lot of people have, but when I ran kalk through my ATO years ago on my 90, I never had an issue. My ATO did not malfunction which I believe is the primary cause for kalk overdose. Is it possible to add too much kalk when just replacing evaporation? I'm planning to set my litermeter to add water based on my evaporation rate, so the situation where a float switch fails would not be an issue. It is currently is not hooked into my controller so I'd have no way to shut it off in case of a ph spike, however.

My 1100VA UPS didn't last very long when we had a 23 hour power outage. I wish I'd already bought my generator. An ATS is another nice to have in case the power fails when you're away, but it's an order of magnitude greater cost than the generator I fire up myself. Clever! I didn't know that's was what it was for. Maybe I'll move my UPS back down near the tank after all.

How do you get around the chicken and egg scenario of the controller being able to send an email when power is lost, but yet it has not lost power itself since it is powered by the UPS? I wouldn't bother investing in an UPS to run the tank itself. Buy a good generator.

I may be interested in some of the corals. Got prices?

Annual seems about par from all the threads I've read. If you overdrive your bulbs, I'd cut that down to 9 months, even more if you don't cool them. Halides are generally good for a year. I hear you can push it a few months if you have a "gentle" electronic ballast, but I plan to replace mine at the 1 year mark.

If you like the moorish idol, you may be interesed in a "false moorish idol" or Heniochus Diphrutes butterfly. They're a bit easier to keep and have a similar look: Compared to the real thing:

Do any of our vendors carry SA fish? I'm thinking about their blue tangs and eventually a copperband as well.

The inside of my canopy isn't primed white. I'm trying to keep the reflection down so that the light that leaks out (back, cracks on the side where my canopy is hinged) is a little less intense. Maybe it makes a difference. Maybe I say this because I was lazy.

I had a bloom show up when I added some dry (previously live) rock. The die off nuked the tank. A 20g is smaller and is more sensitive to changes in feeding, or a death in the tank. The salinity and temperature can be swung more quickly as well, which can cause issues.

Avast, a local sponsor, sells it: http://www.avastmarine.com/ssc/do/product/softtube/SILICONE-TUBE

I think most of the people who run VHOs use the bulbs with internal reflectors. URI superactinics are somewhat of the defacto standard for fluorescent actinics. A properly designed reflector for a VHO bulb would be relatively large compared to the bulb itself (think twice as large as a good T5 reflector). Nothing wrong with priming the inside of the canopy. I actually left mine unfinished to cut down somewhat on leakage, but if you're doing an in wall setup, this is a non-issue. Actually, what do you have to paint if the setup is in wall?

Yup, those are barbed. You can use hose + clamps on them.

Are your bulkheads slip PVC fittings or barbed to accept hose? I use flex PVC when I can. Less chance of a leak when properly primed and glued. Also look into the "Herbie" style of plumbing your overflow. Silence is golden!

Rather than bogart Roni's flow suggestions thread, I thought I'd start my own. I have four Tunze 6055s, a 6105, and an Aquasurf. I run an Eheim 1260 as my return. I have a shallow < 1" sandbed and I plan on keeping mostly LPS, a few softys, and a handful of SPS. Right now I'm running two 6055s on opposite sides of the tank at full tilt, oscillating every 0.8 seconds from 30-100%. The flow is decent across the tank, as I can see my hair algae move but I'm sure I have some dead spots with only the two pumps. I've thought about putting the 6105 into service to replace one of the 6055s, and/or adding another 6055. Any recommendations for pump location or programming?

I use a 40g breeder as my sump, but the principles are the same. I make a chamber large enough for whatever skimmer I think I might use (or use in the future). The display tank drains into this chamber. The second chamber is my refugium. The last chamber is my return pump. I make this as small as possible to fit the pump of my choice. No real need for bubble traps, IMO. They just take up usable space. A 20g tall may be a little on the short side for this design, however. Look for a used 30g long and you'll be in good shape. FWIW, I use the thickest plexiglass sheet @ Home Depot and silicone into place. Glass would be best, but acrylic is much easier to work with and has held up fine in my experience as a baffle with equal water levels on either side.

I thought it was a good presentation as well, though I was hoping he would get more into tank raised livestock. I always find it exciting to see new species raised in captivity. ORA's mandarins are just one good example. My ears also perked up when he said there were hungry tank-raised copperband butterflies. Regardless, it was nice to see someone "fight for your rights" to keep marine life.

I've got a similar dilemma with Tunzes and flow, though I'll start my own thread. FWIW, I only have two 6055s in my 120, plus a 1260 return. I think a 6105 would be overkill in a 70g cube, especially if you have sand. Are you doing mostly SPS? Though I'm a big fan of Tunze products, a Vortech may be a better choice since the flow would be more dispersed.

Sell it to a Miami Hurricanes fan, if you can find one.

I had a couple brittle stars in my 90. They were neat to watch, but didn't really keep the sand surface clean IME. I'll probably get some anyway. I killed a plate coral the same way by placing it on the sandbed. It was quickly covered by the goby. My other corals did fine, however. No sandbed corals for me. I was thinking of a combination of turbo and cerith, and maybe a couple dozen assorted hermits to start. With the lot prices @ Reeftopia, I'm already close to their $120 minimum for free shipping if I pick up 100 cerith and 100 turbos.

Though my 120 has only been up and running for a few weeks, I'm already getting algae blooms, both in water and every surface. My fuge will be online with chaeto this weekend, but I know I could also use some janitors. I have a shallow sandbed of less than an inch, and I plan to have a sand sifting goby to stir the sand bed, so I don't believe I'll really need nassarius snails. Years ago I had great luck with an order from Reeftopia. The animals were big and everything survived, though I've long forgotten what I ordered. What's the new, hip thing in clean up crews these days? Nerites? Turbos? Astrea? Hermits or no hermits? Scarlet or blueleg?