AlanM

I'm about to get one and install it in my basement. I plumbed in a dedicated line off the PEX manifold for the RODI to use, but for the waste I was considering using it to fill the washing machine. Does anyone have any experience doing that to have kind of a float valve to shut off the waste water or something? Was thinking maybe I could pop the top of the washer and drill a hole in the tub and put in a little John Guest fitting so that if it overflowed it would overflow into the utility sink next to it. Or maybe it would be simpler to just put up a shelf with a waste water holding tank near the washer and have that overflow into the utility sink and just tap off that to fill the washer when we do a load.

The bust-up will be simple. It probably came with a chisel type head and a pointed head? The point worked fine when I was putting in two basement bathrooms (mine and my neighbor's), but you might as well try them both. Put on your eye and ear protection, keep your toes out of the way, set it on the concrete and pull the trigger. You don't even have to push. It will work it's way in. If you let it go too far in one spot you'll have a heck of a time pulling it back out because it will work it's way down into a hole. Hardest part will be schlepping away the broken stuff, but if you cut it into small enough pieces maybe you can use them as base to support your new pour if you want to buy less CR-6 aggregate. 8)

You probably don't really want to dump saltwater into your sump anyway. If you put in enough for the sump to kick on, then it will pump it into the yard. Do that too much and you'll kill your grass. A jackhammer and adding a floor drain to your house drain is a great idea, but not to the sump pump, especially if someone is offering to help you do it. You can rent a 35 pound electric Makita for $50 for 24 hours. You could open up the entire basement floor with that in 24 hours. It goes in like it's cutting butter, and it's fun to use. Then it's a matter of digging out the dirt under the slab along the path to the main drain pipe, cutting that cast iron pipe with a sawzall to put in a PVC Tee with some armored Fernco no-hub couplers, running a PVC line to where you want the drain, ending it in a trap, bury it all with the dirt you saved from the digging out, and cover it up with the cement you would have had to use to level the floor.

Check out this WAMAS member's tanks. DIY LED for years. He is selling SPS from his tank at this moment in Buy/Sell forum: http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/52680-sps-frags-fs/

What did you do around the overflow and locline area? You must have cut it out, but I don't really see where it would be cut. Kind of looks like the locline is actually on top of the screen from the pic.

Looks good. It's called a toggle bolt if it has two wings with a spring that spreads them open when you push it through the hole.

I'm a total newb, but thought I'd chime in. Do you really want to not like the look of your tank for a year just in the name of slightly faster growth in a tank you apparently are going to have to move in a few months anyway? Sounds like folks are saying that any of the options you're looking at will grow SPS just fine including the 20k bulb, and it sounds like long-term you want to use the 20k bulb, so if it were me I'd just start off with the 20k bulb or one of the inbetweens that people like. I'd knock the 10k one totally out of the running. You're not in a race with someone to grow brown corals or planning to make money selling them, so pick something that you'll like for the next year instead of something you won't. If my memory of previous reading of your threads is correct you're moving soon, and will end up somewhere else with a different layout for putting the ideal tank. You might even end up with a totally different tank to fit the perfect spot in your new place. Go with what you like now and what you can afford now while saving for a down payment and pray that the move goes well with the colorful SPS you've grown before the move under your 400W light. 8)

It's really nice. I think your point is, lots of red/green in this tank with no real red/green lights, which is demonstrated for sure. Are those anemones reaching for the powerhead in picture 2? Looks like they can almost reach it, heh.

Really pretty. Are the shadows in the pictures really that stark or is the camera doing that? Seems like the coral that was half in shadow would grow half as much, but yours look uniform.

Chip, looks like now you know who to talk to about that cup coral. Dave, We will definitely go every couple of months to check the place out. Does that huge octopus come out to the front of the glass much? We could just see a couple of big tentacles and a body moving around in the back. The seahorses were neat to spot too, hard to find in the tank, and the docent said that there were 15 more in quarantine waiting to go out, so that will be really cool too to see so many H. Reidi if you're putting the same ones in there to match the three in the tank now. Was cool to see some truly huge anemones as well. Changing signage seems like it would be a huge pain, but sometimes it's hard to tell what's natural and what's artificial in some of the tanks. Next to the planted tank there was a sign saying that it's all real plants (with what looks like a serious case of hair algae 8) ), maybe next to the WAMAS tank there could be one that says it's all real coral or something (if the plan is to do all real coral). Maybe the Ecotech guys would donate some of their fancy new Radions. Must be fun to be in charge of a place like that after being a hobbyist. You suddenly got way way more volume and some seriously cool tanks to play with. Best basement fish room ever. And now I know what to donate to on my CFC form this year.

Forgot that place. Wil give them a call. Will also try the other two mentioned.

My son broke my DIY co2 reactor for my freshwater planted tank. Tried gluing it, but I think I used too much PVC cement and now it's all gummy (it's a skinny piece of hard tubing glued into a hole drilled in a PVC end cap). Not sure it will hold pressure. Does anyone know a local fish store that would carry a decent diffuser I can drop in the tank until I redo the reactor? Maybe a store with planted tank section? My local couple of stores don't have much for planted tanks.

Hmm. Maybe we work at the same place.

Enter on 14th street, half block south of Pennsylvania. 3 blocks from 13th street exit from metro center. $8 admission I think. I'm a commerce employee, so got in free.

That cup coral is there still. I'm not an expert, so I assumed it was fake. Looked like it had rock under it showing around the edges. It does seem like it would be nice to add some more color to that huge tank. Maybe they need some of the sweet corals from the wtb section here oh and bluer lights. 8) Also, I had the tank covered for my sharks. I figured I'd just caulk up the drains in the basement and start filling it with saltwater. Then I'd take the floor boards off and replace them with sheets of acrylic so we could look down at the sharks. The trapdoor could come later.

My son and I went to National Aquarium yesterday in the commerce building downtown. Saw a big WAMAS sign next to a big reef tank which we were watching as someone had their head in with goggles and a snorkel vacuuming it out. My son had a good time watching her vacuum and we liked the fish in there. I only just joined WAMAS in order to keep doing research on setting up a tank, and it was fun to see the name there in the aquarium. We saw the shark feeding too, so my son now wants a shark tank instead of a Nemo tank. I don't think I have the kind of cash needed to buy a chiller needed for a 6,000 gallon tank at 52 degrees.

At lunch today the Petco in Germantown, MD still had 3 40g breeders in sale, a few 55's, 3 or 4 20 longs, bunch of 29's. Aquatics guy said sale goes like 2 more weeks but there will only be 2 40g breeders there as soon as he gets off work because he's buying one. 8) They also had a few nice looking tank-bred 3/4" bright orange ocellaris clowns, and some black ones.

Hello, I've been considering getting into SW for a while, and have been saving for a while, and now I'm ready to take the plunge after doing planted FW for a while. Joined WAMAS today since I live in MD so that as I get into buying gear in earnest I can ask for advice on local places to shop. Looking for prices for my planning purposes on a 120g tank at the moment. I think I know what I want, I just don't know if it's within my budget. Called a couple of my local stores and was told by one that "oh, other guys handle special orders in this shop," would have been nice if he took some info and my number so they could call me back. I've emailed them in the past and never gotten a response. In person if you get the right guy at the store it's great, but hit or miss if that guy is there. Called the other close store and was also told that it would be a special order product, but no offer to find out the price or exactly what I wanted or whatever. Sheesh. It's like they don't want to take my money. After joining here I hunted through the forums and contacted some of the local guys with an idea of what I want to see if they can give me a rough estimate of the cost. Anyway, looking forward to starting a build thread here in the near future and showing everyone my ugly tank for a while. 8)