PotomacBoater

I admit it, I have not been able to read the color change on the Mg, Alk or Ca tests. Has anyone else noticed this? My tests have the "blue spoon" Is the new "red spoon" kits that much easier to read? Is my only other option a Hanna checker? I assume the "Alkalinity Colorimeter" and the "Calcium and Magnesium Photometer" are what I would need? Are there other options? The Photometer seems pretty expensive.

the flap just wasn't in the picture, but the new volute came with a new flap

When my Mag 12 went down I found this ... The volute needed to be replaced I found a cheap replacement ... http://www.marineandreef.com/Volute_for_Pond_Mag_and_Mag_Drive_12_18_p/rdf12741.htm

+1

One hermit is already wearing an astrea shell, but other then that, they just seem to be attacking each other there are a few very large empty shells in there, I figure when the big guy moves up, his shell will become available and work its way down the line If the hermits kill all the snails, then we will get more snails or I'll get a fish that likes to eat hermits ;-)

Welcome. I have barely more experience then you do Alan, but I agree with Flood ... Find something used on the forum, you can get a great package deal. Take a look at my build thread so you can see why I made the decisions I did http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/50883-matts-first-90g-tank/page__view__findpost__p__426911 Read lots about your options and take your time to do it right the first time (as right as possible, until you change your mind and want to upgrade) ;-) Good Luck

Not sure why all the pics are getting dropped (they are in the gallery and they've linked before ...)

Current Lifestock at Cycle + 30 Days So far I've only added the cleanup crew The tank came with a lot of algae on the rocks and they have been dining nicely I currently have ... 2 Astraea snails 6 Zebra Turbo Snail 20 Assorted Hermits 10 cerith snails 8 bumblebee snails 4 Nassarius snails 1 Large Banded Coral Shrimp 2 (down to 1) emerald snails 1 sand sifting sea star 1 bristle sea star I hope to add 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 2 more emerald, and 2 Sally Lightfoot crabs I'm barely feeding them. Just a few pellets from time to time they seem to be doing well I like the variety, they seem to be working well together Next ... FISH

Is the thinking that if I add the jawfish early and he gets acclimated to the tank and comfortable over time that he will not be too scared by new, BIGGER tank mates?

I know (almost) nothing about Thermodynamics but isn't the point of a heat sync to heat up quickly and release the heat slowly if you vented the output past a bunch of heat sync's would that reduce the spike?

I've read about lots of uses for waste water (washing machine, etc) but I live in a condo - No lawn, No plants, and no family around that I need to do a load of laundry every time I need to fill my RODI Reservoir

exactly what I need, thanks!

I figured that out very quickly and re-did it on the cold water line I didn't keep any of that rodi water, just hope I didn't ruin any of the filters

RODI water in my system Everyone tells me that using RODI water in my system makes for a healthy tank. My goal is minimum maintenance (or atleast minimum emergency maintenance) so I borrow the first 55+ gallons from a friend with an RODI system for the inital setup (most people only store 55 gallons, so it took two days for him to make enough and lots of containers to hold them mix them with salt and leave a pump to keep everything mixed. After having the tank for a week or two, it was time to start looking for an RODI unit Almost every used RODI unit costs $100. I didn't think it was worth it, since you can buy a new one for $180 with brand new filters The one I wanted was ... http://www.thefilterguys.biz/ro_di_systems.htm The requirements (atleast for DC) is a Chlorimine filter and a 75 GPD capacity (100 GPD units aren't very efficient, and 150 GPD is way more then I would need) I wanted a Pressure Gauge but they are cheap and easy to find $10 on google AND I'm not sure if the initial pressure is good, how it would go ever good down (clogged filter I guess) TDS meter is a must (mine is built in, and measures before and after, but the handheld works too) Bypass is a must to keep your media alive longer (it gets the old water out of the system before new water is "processed") I ended up buying a used unit from a member. Ofcourse, I made a few mistakes ... I didn't have him show me it in operation before I bought it I didn't take a picture of how it was set up. The kind of unit I bought was ... http://www.purelyh2o.com/index.php/h2o-test-meters.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=67&category_id=80 PurelyH2O Optima Chlorimide Advanced Nice system 6 stages (which might be overkill) Stage 1: is a T-33 Taste and Odor removal filter Stage 2: 1 micron poly spun sediment filter Stage 3: 1 micron solid carbon block Stage 4: (GAC) Catalytic carbon Stage 5: 75 GPD Dow Membrane Stage 6 : Refillable MBD-20 Nuclear Grade Deionization chamber The first and second stage seem to be redundant (which I only found out after I bought a new T33 filter) I may remove it and see if it changes my readings the Catalytic Carbon (GAC) is where all the Chlorimine filtering is done (I didn't know that, so hopefully someone will learn something from this) My plan was to install this under the bathroom sink. (while leaving the sink functional) The picture shows my first attempt to connect it, I got one of these ... http://www.amazon.com/Brass-Supply-Stop-Extender-Tees/dp/B0078S1Y0M Two problems with this design I LIKE the valve that I added, just to turn the on the rodi (that way the sink is always on) BUT it should have been on the rodi end of the hose, instead of the side closer to the outlet) And, if you look at the picture, this is on the hot water (oops) Should have been on the Cold water I've already replace the pressure valve the T33 filter and extended the output line to run into the other room for storage The plan is to drill the pvc drain from my sink (on the top) and insert the waste line and use silicon to seal it (hopefully that will hold since there is no "pressure" on a drain) The rate I'm seeing is 1 gallon of good water every 15 minutes = 96 GPD (which is over the 75gpd capacity - I'm not sure how I screwed up using a stopwatch) Update: Ofcourse, I broke the thing I moved the tds meter enough times that one of the wires broke from the wiring harness (too close to the bracket to sodder) One of the sensors died (the "before" sensor) but the other sensor is fine I found the part ... SP-2: Dual TDS Sensor Probes for the DM-1 http://www.tdsmeter.com/products/sensors.html A brand new meter is $35 but the part is only $12 http://www.freshwatersystems.com/p-1390-hm-digital-sp-2-dual-tds-sensor-probe-for-dm-1-dual-inline-tds-monitor.aspx I did consider buying a new meter and keeping the half one I had that would give me 3 sensors. Maybe later in life I will add two, right now, I'm just using one on the output of the DI resin. screw the input reading! TDS is still reading 2, that means I need new DI Resin I don't want to deal with storing di resin and keeping it out of the air, so I don't want to get a bag of resin instead I'll get the full filter, and replace it but only once it goes to 3 or 4 (getting every last day out of this old setup)

Jan, I read your post about Yellow Belly's and Cyanide Sean already ordered me one, and he is currently in QT. I trust him to give me a healthy fish. I bought a cover, so jumping shouldn't be an issue. Doesn't the hogfish eat a lot as well as the jawfish? I know that its the same thing, since I probably have to target feed the jawfish The Jawfish and the dottyback were both questionable, hence why I asked. The other thing I've read is ... almost ALL of them should be the "last fish added to a tank" hence why I asked what the stocking order should be. Any favorites from the wrasse or angel list? I want things that not everyone else is the club has (except when there is a REASON that no one has them) Thanks for all the help!

I'm finally ready to start putting fish into my tank. I've done a lot of reading and these are the fish I WANT to put in the tank I want to see if some of them are too docile (or too small) and what order I could put them in so they can establish their own territory, etc The tank is currently a 90G FOWLR with snails and hermits. Any concerns with the following list? Blue Dot Jawfish Yellow Belly Regal Tang Orchid Dottyback Cuban hogfish angel (either flame, or lemonpeel, or redstripe) wrasse (blue head, or goldbar, or hardwicke, or lyretail, or pinkface) flame hawkfish

PH is easy to find, its Conductivity I've had a harder time getting. BUT What do you do when your conductivity probe is reading low (6.0)? 2 hours of soaking the probe in vinegar, and now its back to 52 ;-) Thanks for all the help!