Jstahli

I am up in Damascus Md, near Germantown/Gaithersburg. Not too many of you guys up my way.

Thanks for all the info. This is not for an overflow, just for my sump to feed my external return pump and external skimmer pump. I'm ordering some bulkheads and appropriate bit from BRS. Now just researching to see if I want to upgrade the 55g sump to a 75g.

Thanks for all the help. I am looking into glassholes and BRS now. I am also thinking about getting a 75g, reconfiguring some things that I don't like about my 55g sump. This way I can take my time with building a new sump, and put it "on line" when I have all the kinks worked out. So if anyone has a 74g laying around, LMK.

So I have finally decided to attempt to drill my 55g sump, but have a few questions: The sump is currently "on line", can I drain it and drill it in place without turning it on its side? So instead of drilling straight down, I would be drilling in to the side? For a 1" bulkhead, I need to drill a 1 3/4" hole correct" May be a stupid question, but the rubber gasket goes on the inside or ouside of tank? (Just covering all bases). Any way to know for sure that my 55g is not tempered glass on the side? I don't know much about this tank and it would really suck to find out half way through. Does Home Depot, lowes, or any other local store carry glass cutting bits? Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

Thanks for the responses, just trying to do something right the first time around in this hobby. Think I will go with the apex and be ready for when I want to expand. Is it fairly easy to set up?

Looking to purchase a controller and think I have decided on the Apex. Just not sure if I should save the $100 and go with the Apex lite or go all in and get the Apex elite. Looking for advice to see if anyone went with the lite and wished they had purchased the elite.

I started to look into the led strips, any recommendations? I do like the look and growth of the VHO, just looking to experiment a little.

I need to replace my supplemental lighting for my 250w 20k radiums. I've only used VHO 454 T12 bulbs and don't have any issues with them, but before I replaced the bulbs I figured I would check and see if anyone has any better recommendations. I am not opposed to changing out the whole fixture. It's for a standard 180 gallon mixed reef.. Thanks for any advice you can give.

Coral hind-- Thanks for the post, I must have been typing when it came through. My chiller is inline with my return pump(genX pcx70hp), if my return pump was causing the stray current wouldn't I always have it, not just when the chiller is plugged in?

Everything is/was GFCI protected except for the chiller. I now have the chiller on a GFCI protected circuit as well and do not have the "tingle" in the tank anymore. If the chiller was sending out stray current, shouldn't it trip the GFCI? I tested the circuit and it seems to be working. I did unplug everything and Plug everything back in one at a time to come to the conclusion that it was the chiller creating the issue when not plugged into a GFCI. I do have a multimeter, but would need some advice on how to check the current in the tank( what setting to put it on, and do you just ground one end of the probe and stick the other one in the water?). Thanks for all the help. One other question, does the stray current effect the fish or corals at all? Thanks again.

It's an older inline coralife aqua chill that has only been used for one heating season. No grounding pobe, I was on an aluminum later ( I know, not the smartest) its definitely the chiller, I plugged it back in and got the tingle again. Just plugged it into a GFCI and it doesn't appear to be giving me the tingle. So not really sure what that means??

So with the warmer weather upon us I decided to get the chiller up and running. After plugging in the chiller I went to stick my hand in the tank and felt a light tingle, unplugged the chiller and no tingle. The chiller wasn't in the "chill" cycle just powered on. Can anyone offer any advice as to what I should look for? Pleas don't tell me I need to replace my 1/2 hp chiller, my wallet can't handle that right now.

Yes in the case of an infected fish, but if I never had an outbreak of ich in my DT and purchase a new fish, QT it for 8 weeks, and see no signs of infection during QT, then is the assumption that the fish is ich free correct, or can it still be infected and not show signs? Is the only prevention building up immune systems and keeping a stress free environment for the fish? You wouldn't assume that any new purchase has ich and treat(hypo,copper) it while in qt, seems to me to be a little drastic and added stress to a new arrival.

Guess there is no easy solution to preventing MI. Thanks again for all the input.

Thanks coral hind, that is where I got the 11 months from and couldn't find it again. INTERESTING FIND: If no new MI is introduce into an infected aquarium, the MI already there continues to cycle through multiple generations until about 10 to 11 months when the MI has