wildcrazyjoker81

I can vouch for the nicrew 150s as I have seen them in action and they 1000% will grow SPS. That said I haven't personally used them as I am a t5 user still. A fellow reefer, Ben Jones lives down near Richmond and swapped out all of his radions for nicrew and added a few kessils for shimmer and a few led bars for the extra coverage they provide and has an absolutely stunning tank and corals. The attached photo is a screen grab from a video he sent me on FB Messenger. You can see the three pucks in the top from the nicrew. Also a local in Baltimore area, Jim aka Telegraham did a spectrum and par test on them and they are pretty close to g4 radions in spectrum and par. Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

CTE Aquatics is the main LFS up that way. There are a bunch of at home vendors up that way as well.

It has been my experience that tanks just don't really like ULNS with higher alkalinity. I honestly really haven't found a reason to keep alkalinity much about 8-8.5 regardless of nutrient levels. I feel like the best growth I have had is between that 8-8.5 with having a good PH between 8.2-8.3. PH of course is one of the hardest things to manage typically in the hobby. I also never have great luck personally with running lower nutrients. More vibrant colors with Nitrate above 5 and phosphate above .03. I say all of this of course with the caveat that every tank is vastly different and it is always a contentious point when brought up. I feel like it is similar to asking "what is the best salt for a reef tank?" That all said I would probably lower your alkalinity levels and feed a little heavier as you had mentioned.

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Leathers are fairly forgiving. I just cut it with my tank only scissors in the tank most times. A sterile razor blade is probably a better option. Mounting is definitely the hard part. I tried rubber bands and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I now use fishing string to sew mine to a plug or just put the frags into a mushroom cage/cup with some rubble and pray it attaches.

I would think it would be fine since it was given time to dry initially. If anything you could rinse/shake each rock in RO water just in case any critters crawled in and such and gives it a known quick bath in good water.

Bump for an awesome seller. Have this Vertex 180i skimmer on my packed 80G and it is a workhorse that stinks up my basement . It fully comes apart unlike most skimmers and has that thick bubble king acrylic because it basically is a bubble king.

Been running the auto aqua smart micro on my 25 lagoon and it's been pretty good. The led broke on the sensor about 2 years in, but the sensor still operates as normal, so no real complaints. Very very small and fits anywhere along the back.

I too use my Profilux to manage ATO for two tanks as I have an expansion box to manage another tank in my basement. The max run time is a nice feature to make sure it limits mistakes. Have my trusty old Avast on my 40B with a float as a backup.

Many do say Tunze is the best, but I personally have always had bad luck with them. I am shocked to hear your having issues with your Avast ones. I have an Avast one that is over 10 years old now and been flawless. I did add the optional float to it many years ago as a backup. The only time the actual pressure tube failed me all that was needed was replacing the tubing between the sensor and pressure tube. Found that out after reaching out to Avast about my issues.

That's the kit I switched to and it works great for newer phones with multiple cameras compared to the smaller ones.

Stomatella is what your thinking of for rock/tank glass and nassarius snail for sand bed.

What has already been said is pretty much it in a nutshell. If you know you're going to need time, then borrow and or buy a Rubbermaid trough and set it up as a normal tank in the room until you can get the new one up and running. I've upgraded numerous times and it is a long day for sure. Having the big troughs has saved me numerous times as it allows you to make a ton of water and leave it running in case plumbing leaks or something just doesn't go as planned.

I've been doing the Battle Corals dip version using Reef Primer (Polyplab) and UWC Expel. That said Reef Primer ingredients are potassium salts. I can assume it is potassium chloride and maybe potassium iodide/iodine. UWC Expel I am positive is Bayer that is rebranded which UWC seems to be great at but I digress (lookup algaecide/vibrant debacle). That all said I switched to just potassium chloride and will add a little Bayer if I think things are needing a bit of an extra cleaning. I went with this one as it's 2.2lbs and same 1tsp per gallon as Lynn mentioned.

Sounds like a typical corner overflow box. The 1 inch indeed is the drain and the 3/4 inch indeed is the return. The return just has a pipe with an elbow that points toward the pre cut hole in the overflow box where the return locline typically sits. The drain typically sits lower in the box than the return so it leaves room. These are just random grabs from R2R and may obviously be different than yours. Pictures definitely help. Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

https://youtu.be/DFo_1FXhLY4 was the latest video talk. This one is great too. https://youtu.be/6ZN3VnVuaGU

Lookup telegraham on Instagram/YouTube. He has great talks and videos on this exact topic. Lots of great options depending on how far you are wanting to go. He just even was talking about the power loss from the plane that landed in the power wires and how the rare exception shouldn't mean you don't have a plan. @telegraham

Even chaeto in larger chunks break apart or been small size chunks? No reason it shouldn't thrive with nitrate/phosphate that high realistically. Chaeto really only needs light, nitrate, phosphate, iron, and small amounts of other trace to grow.

You aren't losing your eye sight sadly. After the Hawaii ban on most of their fish species the prices shot through the roof and sadly even with the ban ending on select species, the prices will probably stay up since they were still selling just fine at the higher price.

That would be RO water not RODI water I would think. DI isn't typically used on drinking water as a heads up.

Depends on the tank build and size. My 220G miracles they said 3/4 white stryofoam and my IM 25 lagoon recommend a thin yoga style mat.

Welcome and looking forward to seeing what you do with these nano/pico tanks for sure as they look great already!

I got the Bashsea SS-60 sump last year and I like it. Lots of cord management holes and dosing holes. They even now make one that fits filter rollers versus the one I got that is socks. I have no issues with it. The literal only complaint is the return pump chamber is small, but nothing other than that. There are definitely cheaper options out there, but it feels very solid. Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

Agreed with what was posted above. We all go through it. My new 220G is covered in green rock at the moment as well. It is all part of the cycle and completely normal. Definitely make sure to get some clean up crew and even pods in there as they are great scavengers. Aaron

Dang always heart breaking to see this. Lost plenty of smaller colonies in my time with SPS. That is how Rik Leishman got out of the hobby too. This is my biggest one lost. Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk