Piper

220 with a 60 gal sump that I keep pretty well topped off. Pic attached. Messy, but that's the sump. More specifically I tend to let my alk get too depleted before doing anything about it. Moved from a reactor to two part recently, and that's actually helping, but mostly because the process is more interactive. I tried a doser but the lines got clogged and I found that situation more dangerous than leaving a reactor to run and not checking alk all that regularly. Finally accepting that I can't really automate that, and as a result, things are getting better. I'm more involved now rather than forgetting about it and letting my corals tell me when things are awry.

If I can do it, you can too. Good equipment gets expert results even for amateurs like me. My Achilles heel is testing. I keep letting my pH get out of shape. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

Funny, looking at it posted I notice stuff I wouldnt otherwise. Need to retape the background and secure the chiller powerhead. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

Only have the one tank for now. Would like 3-4 more some day. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

Getting a nice look to her now. Need to switch to LED's this winter and replace the cheapie powerheads. Should make it explode. Asking some of it for Christmas.

Rob, the 20 t5's on my tank are end of life this December. Let's talk. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

I hear ya, buddy, and I really appreciate it. But Manassas is a LONG way for me.

That's the weird thing. I've never had one go out like this either. They always seem to need replacing from abuse and neglect before I'd ever notice an anomaly. And this one went from spot on, presumably, to off by a whopping .005, reading 1.020 instead of 1.025. It's relatively new, out of reach of the kids, and kept in it's case. WTH.

Thanks. Is the meeting this weekend? I'm completely booked Saturday with a car show.

You know, the one thing I don't like about this hobby is how not a darned thing works as advertised for more than weeks or months without needing to be serviced. Hopefully business will boom and I can just get regular service to not do it anymore. Anyone got a link on how to calibrate a refractometer? Sorry to be negative. Just a PITA and it scares me. If it hadn't been an abrupt change in accuracy, I might not have noticed until my parameters were off enough to cause damage.

Never seen this before. I keep a constant 1.025 in the tank, adjust constantly. I go to do a 10% water change and test both the tank and new water and both show way below where they should. What can make a relatively new refractometer start to misread?

This. Tank is 200g, get a skimmer rated 500g or better. I made a mistake on a particular internal as well, manufacturer said it would fit in a 12" sump but neglected to mention the intake and spout were opposing, and at 11" inches, only had a half inch clearance on either side. It could NOT operate efficiently in my 12" sump. Check dims carefully.

Yeah, Rob called it. We got rain from 11AM instead of the heavy snow predicted. Kids had fun early so wasn't a total loss. Was hoping for a good one though.

Sure enough Flurries in NE Leesburg here. Early. Not sure if that's good or bad. Weather.com said it wasn't supposed to start until 2AM.

You always take the 50-1 shot? Pays well if you win I'll take your bet, Less than 4" at your place. My bet is 10" in Leesburg at my place. I'm not as prepared as I have been in the past, just several UPS's.

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Will help if there's a next time.

I believe the butterlies I had were heniochus acuminata. I didn't have any zoas at the time, i don't believe. Still don't. I'll add them eventually.

Watch out for filefish, I had trouble with them munching on my acans. Heniochus butterflies worked well for me.

gorgeous

Thanks. I'm looking to them for a simple frag tank now. Have hopes for some big ones later, but right now just that and a custom stand and canopy.

Any recent experience with glasscages? Heard bad stuff in the past. Any better now?

Thanks. Didn't occur to me, but obviously much more stable than what I was thinking. I'd rather have the frag tank up high, but much more difficult. So now there are two more questions. I've heard some pretty rough things about glasscages. All I'm looking to them for is a stand that's modified to hold the frag tank, and the frag tank itself, 36x18x12. Not exactly dims that are going to take a lot of stress from the water column. Any naysayers, should I avoid them? Other question, and Rob will I'm sure have a thing or two to say when he's over, but can I take a typical 90 gallon tank and make a decent refugium? I know most times they're baffled to make minimal movement. The tank I have sitting around is drilled top rear, and I'm thinking to reduce the piping to 1", bring maybe 50-100gph through it? Do I still need baffles? The thing is 24" deep, can't imagine the environment would be disturbed too much by this?

Anybody see any reason why Going from the 90gal refugium to the frag tank and then to the main tank would be an issue? Seems the best way to do this is to put the frag tank inside the refugium stand. I don't see why the copepods would mind floating through an SPS garden on their way to the reef. Anyone else?

With the occasional notable exception it seems.

Have Rob (Zygote2k) coming by this weekend to talk it through, measure, etc.