Crob5965

I would recommend a 40B they are usually on sale at local Petco's for $ per gallon whenever theres a Holiday, not sure if they did it for Presidents day, if you are thinking of a 55 gal I would encourage you to look for a 75 gal as 55's are really narrow I feel the same way about 90gals despite owning one I should have just picked up a 75gal instead. I would get the biggest tank that fit's your space and budget, becoming a member is well worth the $20 fee, I have saved so much money buying from members, I wish I would have joined when I started out, I would have saved a ton on the initial startup. you will find way better deals on here than any CL ad. Good luck and welcome to WAMAS.

I like the finer looking sand personally but if and when I do it again I would probably go BB or literally just enough to cover the glass, I did BB on my Biocube and loved it except for the clicking sound of my CuC running on the bottom of the glass, I had no idea crabs could be so noisy. I dont think it really matters what sand you pick, as long as you're happy with it.

If your going to add some bracing then it doesn't really need to be that thick, 3/4" should be fine possibly even thinner but for the cost difference you may as well get it a little thicker, I ran into the same issue on my tank and braced the underside with 2x3's and 3/4" plywood, I have a glass tank so it wasn't really necessary but it made me feel better so it was worth it.

I think after switching to LED from 8 x T5 bulbs my tank temp is a little more stable, but like I said earlier it's not something I really check anymore, I had my return pump burn out a couple of months ago and went without my sump for about a 4 days which also meant I wasnt heating my tank and I had no issues.

Are you talking about water changes and things like that? there's really not much to maintaining a tank, but if you really dont know anything about the hobby I can see how it can be a little intimidating, especially with the amount of money people have invested in reef tanks. where are you located? I think there are a bunch of members that offer tank maint, to include Zygote2K, never met the guy personally but if Tom recommends him then he must be good. good luck, if it's something you decide to tackle yourself, you will find a lot of helpful people on here

I had a magnetic Thermometer, that my daughter used to chase fish around the tank with until she lost the outside piece, I haven't even checked my temp since. I know some keep 2 heaters in their tanks rather than 1 larger one. I wouldn't worry about 2 Deg, a lot of people deal with bigger heat issues than that in the summer months without it hurting the tank.

I feel like the answer is always build your own stand lol.

I have tons of frogspawn, some grow more than others, some don't seem to grow at all. I think like Gmerk said you have to look at old pics to see how much they have grown.

I put eggcrate down under my rocks then covered it with sand, looking back that was a waste of time and money, but I thought I was being really clever at the time. I was worried about a rock falling and cracking the bottom of my tank.

That's what I use, I forget which one I have, but it works great for my 90gal I think mine is the 75GPD one

when did you upgrade to a 120? mine has been sitting in the garage forever

yeah, I switched to LED's works out cheaper in the long run, LPS dont seem to grow as fast, but color is just as good, cant really speak on SPS color/Growth as I didnt have any until I got LED's

yeah the 12000 are around $130 I think

when I was using T5's I would try and stagger when I switched them out, I had 8 bulbs and I changed them out every 8-10 months or so, I used to keep them in my garage and write the number of months they were used on the side with a sharpie, that way I always had a backup if a bulb blew out. I never really noticed a big change in coral growth with older bulbs, but that may be due to the fact that I changed out 1 of the 8 bulbs every other month

I had one with retrofit Ecoxotic LED's and it was a little warm, I think DC reefer has a 4ft Frag tank for sale not sure if that's a little big

just got some dead shrimp in the mail today, they didnt use heat packs again

looks nice, I tried getting GSP to grow on my BB Biocube, but it kept dying off, I think possibly due to lack of flow and fish sediment, it grew well everywhere else, I think it's a good Idea and I am a big fan of BB tanks, I think it would look cool.

I ordered a large order, GB with a couple of friends online and they forgot to put heat packs in the box about 90% of Livestock were DOA, they re-shipped everything and they all arrived healthy a few days later, I tend to only buy Inverts online now since joining WAMAS, cuc's are so cheap online even if a few die it's still cheaper than buying empty shells for my hermits.

Good to know, I figured that it might be quite delicate, I was going to try some more SPS just because that one was doing so well.

I paid $43 for this pump on Amazon.com, they are clearly a cheaper knock off of the Reef octopus / Waveline DC pumps at 1/3 of the price, at that price I have extra's BNIB if one goes out.

I am currently using the DC 9000 as my return and have been for over a year, they are excellent pumps and very quiet, as far as external use, I have heard that they are prone to leak, but have never verified it myself, the DC1200 was to replace my Kobalt MJ1200 that burned out on my GFO reactor, but while I was waiting for it to arrive a couple of WAMAS members convinced put a manifold on my return from the DC900 as I was only using it at 50%. I dont really mess with the speed controller, but I do like the fact that it has one, the Box said DC1200/2000 I probably would have gone for the 2000 if i'd known there was such a thing, but this pump will most likely go in my just incase box.

Thanks Isaac, I will take a closer look the next time they dont open for a day or 2, they may be like kids, you never really notice how much they have grown until someone tells you.

Agreed Zygote, that may be the root of the problem, when I was on top of tank maint, I never really saw much growth,but at least I was getting some, maybe I just need to get a normal job

Just got mine in the mail today this thing is tiny Not sure what I'm going to use it for anymore as I tied in my gfo to my return with a manifold but I can't get over how small it is Here's a size comparison next to the power adapter that is almost the same size

This is a standard 90 I have a 6' 120 gal in the garage just waiting for the wife to leave me unattended for a few days so I can sneak it in the house