madweazl

Wow, dropped a level on the tank (empty) and it is 3/4" out of level in 16"! Gonna be fun working that out

Hmm, I've never been able to add anything to it. Always blank and I always forget some smaller items when I make an order.

Just to be clear, this happened over the course of a few days vice over night? If it was rapid, perhaps a predator?

Does the wishlist work for you?

Cool video for sure.

Ol lady is nagging me about the noise so I'm done for the night :(

Having a productive snow day. Ran up to Home Depot and grabbed some 3/4" birch plywood and some various other supplies necessary to get the stand ready. I was able to remove the lip on the trim with the Dremel (I'm sure the neighbors love me) and got the plywood top installed. Need to do some finish sanding on the trim to clean it up and prepped for the Redgard membrane. Not sure if I'll do the entire interior of the stand or just the lower 2-3" yet.

I might just get a router bit for the Dremel and remove the lip around the trim so I can use the Deep Blue (or other manufacturer). The lip on the trim is 3/8" wide and there isnt room for a router because the trim is glued on.

40g does make for a nice little reef if you're stuck with a smaller space. There are some 36x18x18 tanks out there as well and they're great for a small reef. A 48" tank really starts to open up some fantastic options on the fish side of the equation though.

A little food does go a long way but I think it's far better to do smaller quantities more often. Because it's a close system, all the inhabitants are getting a chance to eat so what was once an opportunistic feeder now has the chance to eat regularly while the grazers are eating at more "normal" intervals. This can certainly be a pain if you dont have an auto feeder but just about all of us can do it twice a day if not three times. It becomes a sustained load that is easier to work with than a fluctuating load (bio).

I went with the Foam Factory at the recommendation of another member. Prices were decent and they had a large selection to choose from. I believe he used 1/2 neoprene and I went with 3/8" neoprene (4' tank).

It wasnt Jabeo's "guts" to take unfortunately.

I dont personally know anyone that is running one but I have read a number of threads regarding problems with them. Additionally, you're relying on data from a less than ethical manufacturer when it comes to flow rates as I havent found any independent test results. To push the rated flow you're at 100% duty factor as well. I'm not saying it wont work, cant work, or will work. I just wouldnt trust the well being of the ENTIRE system to a single unit. It has nothing to do with the price and everything to do with the company that produces it (from a business practice alone). There are areas to try saving money and there are areas you'd be crazy to do so, I believe this to be one of those areas. You know what they say about opinions though... If this pump wasnt directly responsible for exporting waste and importing clean water, heating (typically) said water, and promoting the vast majority of oxygen exchange within the system it would be story.

Interesting observation. I'll have to explore it further when I get everything back up and running.

Mag, Eheim, and Rio have all been around a long time and are proven workhorses.

6000 at 8' of head wont be pushing much. I'd be hesitant to rely on a single knock off pump. A pair of them would provide redundancy and make me feel a lot better about trying something that hasnt proven it's reliability.

Can always cut it. If the left behind portion grows out it will either adapt to that area or bail out and you can move it wherever you like (or trade it).

A well made stand shouldnt have any deflection.

I moved a 40g reef about 17 years ago and had pretty good luck. I placed everything in buckets, drained the tank, moved it into the moving truck, filled it back up enough to cover the rock and tossed everything back in. I used a battery operated air pump and set sail. It should have only been a five or six our ordeal but ended up taking about 18 hours. It had to sit in the moving truck over night. I lost one of my clams but that was it. Was pretty amazing really. If I had known we would have gotten stuck over night I never would have tried it. This was a moved from CA to AZ in late September (toasty temps).

Heaters will require a pretty stout inverter. If there are things you must have, find somebody to store and ship them when your tank is set back up.

Ordered another 15lbs of rock to fill in the holes behind what was visible. Also picked up a refractometer and ordered 3/8" neoprene padding to place the tank and sump on. Once I get the snow out of the back of my truck I'll pick up the plywood and sealer/paint to finish up the inside of the stand and canopy.

Thanks, not too bad actually. Think I'll go with 3/8".

Where did you find that? I imagine 1/2" is pretty spendy. Wouldnt think I'd need more than 1/4".

Arent most 180s 72x24? That would be 12' and half the PSF, correct? Spread across three joists it would be somewhere around 50 PSF, right?

What type of foam should I use under the tank and sump? I've seen yoga mats recommended but didnt know how well they held up long term.