jackers

I have about a dozen high end favia in my reef. Some grow really slow, some grow pretty fast. Some take a while to acclimate, then take off. It will eventually grow onto the rock making it hard to remove.

Me too. My black clown used to attack anytime I'd put my hand in the tank. Doesn't sound bad, but it would leave nasty little bite marks all over my hand and forearm!

Love those red favias.

That master scoly is the nicest I have ever seen.

I bought a maxijet 1200 and a cobalt 1200 within two weeks of each other. I only use them for water changes (one in the sump to pump out, and one in the mixing bucket to pump new saltwater back into the sump) and definitely prefer the cobalt. It seems to be more quiet to me.

I run a Tunze 9010 with good results.

You going to be bringing some of those cherries to the meeting?! Beautiful stuff as usual!

I have one that I completely modified, basically made two reactors powered by one pump. I feed mine with a mag three pump. The supply line to the reactors is Y'ed off, each Y leading to a separate shutoff valve. The outlets of the reactors are Y'ed together again, then plumbed back into my sump. Mine still clogs, but if you change your media every couple weeks, you'll be fine; it does the job. For the money I spent on the reactor, pump, and additional push-fittings, I would probably go in a different direction. Matter for fact, I won't be using one on my next build.

I got in on the last group buy. These are really nice pieces. They are attached to rubble pieces making mounting them really easy. Mine have already really expanded and are doing great.

Once you get your cables up and running, let me know, I'll share my code with you. It's a little tricky at first, but once you understand it, you'll be able to tweek it from there.

Yup, I went through the same thing and decided the $20 cable was a good investment on almost $600 worth of pumps.

I use the following test kits: Ca: twice a week - Elos (Thinking of switching to Salifert) Alk: twice a week - Salifert Mag: twice a month - Elos Phosphate: once a week - Hana Salinity: after each water change - Refractometer Yes, please post up your skimmer info. You shouldn't be getting that much wet skimmate.

Email reefcleaners, he'll put together the perfect package for you. Very easy to deal with and he adds more than you pay for. I highly recommend him...

Good luck with the build. It looks like you do some really nice work; I'm anxious to see how this progresses.

Everything I've gotten from him has been top-notch. Plus, he is awesome to deal with. P.S. My two-headed gold torch is one of my favorite corals, and I have some pretty nice pieces.

Man, those are some really good points. I need to do some digging around under my sump tonight to see how much work would be required to get that new plumbing installed. What size piping would I need? If I remember correctly (at work without being able to look), I ran a flex hose from the sump to the pump, about 1.5 foot. From there, I run a 3/4" female off the pump to 1" pvc piping (maybe 1.5") to my tank's return plumbing inside the overflow. What type of plumbing modifications would need to be done to adapt to the more efficient pump?

Thanks for the recommendations. From talking with a guy who has run a ton of these Velocity pumps, I'm hoping I just have a calcium buildup. I haven't torn my pump apart since I got it back in early 2009. Granted, most of that time was on a FOWLR but I did start dosing back in September. This is from a guy experience with these pumps. He has four running now, some of which have been going non-stop for five years. "There is only one part in the pump, the impeller. The rest is a chuck of titanium with a ceramic "needle" bearing. They do however need to be cleaned on occasion because of the heat they generate, they can build up calcium. Since you keep your Ca levels around 420, then there is a good chance that the only problem with the pump is Ca build up and a good soak in vinegar for the impeller and the plastic volute is all that is needed. If there is some Ca buildup on the titanium bowl, then just put the pump on its end and fill the bowl with vinegar and let sit."

Thanks for the help. I definitely have to go external. As for my plumbing, I would really struggle with changing it around. I have PVC piping for the return line, with check valve and ball valve. The plumbing is over four years old and I think I remember "glueing" it to my bulkhead fitting to prevent leaks. I honestly don't think I'll have much luck adding additional width due to the lack of room in the flat back hex cabinet. Tonight after work I'm going to take your advice and run those turnover numbers against some other pumps. I'm sure I'll be back later with more questions.

Sorry about that. I have an 85 gallon, flat back hex with a 15-20 gallon sump. I guess my total water volume is 75 gallons. I don't have any frag tanks attached, just the main tank and sump.

While working late last night, my wife texted me saying the tank was making a weird noise. With my Apex and iPhone, I started isolating pumps until the noise went away. Unfortunately, it was my main pump. I started it back up and it was silent for a few hours. Once I got home, it started making the grinding noise again so I shut it down and turned it back on again, this time it only made it about 20 mintues before more noise. One more power cycle and it has been running silently all the way up until I left for work this morning. So, the pump I used, I bought back in early 2009. It was a Blueline Velocity T1 pump and I loved it. It was super-quiet, had great head pressure (25') and great performance throughout the entire operating band. Problem is, it looks like the Blueline Velocity brand has gone out of business. I can't even find a used one on Ebay. So I started looking for a new main pump last night. Now it seems like a lot has changed since 2009. Instead of worrying about head pressure (my pump is probably three to four feet below the return nozzles in my tank), now it seems people are trying to match their return pumps with their skimmer efficiency. I am an engineer, so I enjoy those types of calculations, I just haven't had time to look into it yet (probably more this weekend if the pump holds out). Long story short, I'm wondering what return pump you use, internal or external (I don't have room for an internal one), and how you chose it. Thanks!

Love the name on 34 Be sure to save me a frag!

I prefer to start my tank with dry rock, like from Bulkreefsupply. I had a bad bubble algae outbreak and got too many hitch-hikers buying live rock. The live stuff will speed up your cycle though.

ERC St. Elmo's Fire - When I used to fly on C-130's, sometimes at night we would get some St. Elmo's Fire skip across the wings or across the windscreen. It was like little green and blue balls of lightning caused by the static energy created by spinning propellers. Here is a pic I found on the net that is probably the closest I have seen yet.

I use Elos for Ca and Mg and really like them. I also use Sailifert for Ak and think it's just as good. I think those two are the best of the bunch though.

You can get away with having your main pump, skimmer, and GFO on wall outlets if you don't plan to turn them off when feeding (I don't turn mine off). You can also get away with two dosing pumps (Calc and Alk) and manually dose Mag once a month. I would think your UV light as well, but I don't know much about them.