lmeyer

Maybe something similar to a frag swap for the meetings. Put out a message a few weeks before a meeting asking who would like some. If I were going to the meeting (afraid I can't make this month's), I would probably be interested in picking up a bottle.

Is the sand you have the old Tropical or the new White Play? If you have 120 lbs of the Tropical and Steve doesn't take it, I'll be happy to take it off your hands. I need 160 more lbs for the tank I'm planning. Larry

Okay, so it looks like I am buying a second hand Nilsen Reactor. Now I have to figure out the easiest/most reliable method of plumbing it into my system. I currently have my RO/DI filter filling a top off reservoir, with the input from the RO on a float valve. The reservoir is higher than my sump, so I gravity feed the sump from the reservoir with a float valve in the sump. I will want to put the Reactor between the reservoir and the sump. I can easily move the feed from the reservoir to the sump to feed from the reactor and continue using the float valve. What do I use to feed the Reactor from the reservoir then? I can't just do a gravity feed, the Reactor will keep filling even when full. I prefer not to use a dosing pump since that ties me down to a specific amount per day. Thoughts and solutions?

After your experience with Glasscages I would be hesitant to go with Aquarium Obsessed. I haven't seen anything on the web that suggests Will is rude, but I have seen posts that indicate that he is overworked and not entirely honest with his customers. Take a look at this link and follow the links within: http://www.reefland.com/forum/equipment-ar...phire-tank.html. I can't vouch for any of it, I have never dealt with Aquarium Obsessed. I loved his thread in the large tank forum on reef central and considered buying from him, but buyer beware.

That is hard to find. I missed it the first time and almost missed it the second time. If you hadn't told me to look for it, I would never have seen it.

Is this a board somewhere or just a newsletter? I would like to put a question to Calfo, but he doesn't seem to be with WetWebMedia or ReefCentral anymore.

I've always been afraid to do that, concerned that I will make the edge of the scraper uneven and put even more scratches in the tank with the scraper. What grit do you use?

And how!

I guess thats the $64,000 question: or???? Aquarium Obsessed has his own issues. I haven't heard of his being rude, just way late and ducking calls. Plus he supposedly posts much of the positive feedback on his systems himself under several pseudonyms (or so I've read). Miracles in Glass? I'm just beginning to look into them. Don't know anything yet. Any other well known names? Anybody closer for large custom glass tanks? There is clearly some market.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. What a pain. Unfortunately, this sounds like many other stories I've seen about them on RC. As you say, this should catch up with them. Based on your experience I will most likely not be going to them for my new tank either.

I am stockpiling live sand and would be interested in the SouthDown if you wind up parting everything out. How many bags do you have? I think that I'm going to need about 450 lbs of new sand for my next tank and plan on filling that need with SouthDown. I already have about 120 lbs sitting waiting. :P

I have a small (15 gallon?) reservoir filled from my RO with level controlled by a float valve. I then gravity feed the reservoir to my sump controlled by a second float valve. I've had it set up that way for about 7 years and have never had a problem.

Steve, I've never kept a reef this small, so I'm not an expert in the least. It seems to me that you are progressing really well. I'm not sure that you need to add any algae yet unless you are doing it because you actually like the way it looks. If you only plan to add a couple of small fish you don't need to feed too much and can keep the water in check without the algae. I keep a 20 gallon (fish only with live rock) with only 2 fish. I have no significant filtration, rarely do water changes, and the tank does just fine. Once you start adding coral, the water quality becomes a much more important issue, but I would be inclined to start with doing regular water changes first, adding a hang on tank protein skimmer second, and adding macro a distant third (if at all) in that situation. Of couse the type of coral you are planning on adding makes a big difference in this, do you have any thoughts on that subject? Larry

Tried to take a couple, but they didn't come out real well. Will try again. Also tried to attach the ones I took to this message but couldn't figure out how. Will try that again also.

There is about 40 lbs (guess) of rock in the sump. There is about 200 + lbs (guess) of rock in the show tank + a Deep Sand Bed + a pod pile. There is a good pod population in both, but if I had to guess, I'd say the population is more sustainable in the show tank. Not too worried about food, I kept a mandarin for three years before my cucumber poisoning disaster. This one has been in the tank for about a year. I actually think I'll be able to see her more consistently in the sump, but I don't want my kids running into the furnace room every time they want a peek at her.

It occured to me today that my sump is getting to be as interesting as the show tank Besides the macro refugia in the middle section, I've got a bunch of escapees in the section with the return. I already knew about the banggai cardinal and blue chromis that had taken refuge from bullying co-species in the display. How they knew to take the ride down the overflow I'll never know. Then there are the two pencil urchins I put down there when I got tired of their tendency to knock over corals. Yesterday's discovery really got me though. I was looking around and found my missing female manadarin gobie. I hadn't seen her in so long I figured she was a goner. I guess I'll have to move her back sooner or later, but what a pain that will be. I've got about 40 lbs of smaller pieces of live rock in the section where she wound up. I think I'll have to remove it all to catch her. Still, she'll be better off in the display and I'll see her better. Thats the problem with fish, they're never where you think they should be! :D

And now we know about as much as we did before Alex asked the question Folta, I'm not throwing daggers, just expressing the challenge of the hobby. Now I know what PAR stands for, actually already did from Borneman's excellent book, Aquarium Corals. The problem is assuming that I have a relibable PAR meter (I don't, but could get one), how do I know the appropriate PAR for my corals. I've yet to see any documentation on that subject. Its sort of like adding iodine to our tank, there is lots of anectodal evidence that iodine (or more light) is good, possibly necessary, but very little hard science. Borneman identifies the area on a reef a coral is most likely to be found (slope, fore slope, back slope, lagoon, etc) and gives some ideas about peak PAR, but I have yet to see anything that really lays it all out. Anyone else seen documentation along the lines of Euphillia ideally receive between x and y PAR. Crocea clams should receive ...???

I haven't used their service and can't vouch for them, but Marine Scene has or is related to Custom Aquatic Concepts (http://www.marinescene.com/custom_concepts/index.shtm). You could give them a try.

I don't get many good looks, there is a lot of rock in the sump for hiding spaces. The one in the sump is the smallest of the three, so I am guessing female. Come help me capture it and its free (or we could try to capture it if you own/can borrow a trap).

I don't know how to tell the difference between captive bred and wild caught for these, how do you know? I bought 5 for my tank about a year ago thinking they would school. Two were bullied to death and one took refuge in my sump. If I can find out if it is captive bred and catch it, you are more than welcome to the one in my sump.

I agree, the 29 would be a bit overloaded. Do you have a sump? Could you isolate the sump from the show tank and use it as a hospital? Possibly put some of the fish in the 29 and some in the sump? I've never used kick-ich, but never heard anything good about it. Have used copper with success in the past, but not lately. Everyone seems to recommend hyposalinity as the way to go these days.

I have two titanium heaters in my sump. I went with two instead of one for a redundant system. I placed them in the sump since I like keeping equipment out of the show tank, but I have seen it recommended to do one in each. The rationale was that given my layout, if the return to the show tank fails while I am away the sump will be kept at 78 degrees while the show tank will cool to room temp. That is a risk I've been willing to take.

For what kind of tank? I assume reef if you are looking at these elements. If so, phosphate should be undetectable. I try to keep calcium between 350-425, but I don't keep sps. Some people seem to try to keep their calcium higher. Alk is usually recommended between 8-12 dKH.

bump. BTW Alex, per the instructions on membranes I have seen, let the RO unit run for a couple of hours, throw out (or use for other purposes) water generated during that time. After the 2 hour break in period, you can start using the water for your tank. Oh yeah, you will also want to buffer the RO water before adding to your tank if you are using it for top off. Might pick up some Reef Builder to provide the buffer. Also not a bad idea when you are mixing water for a water change to aerate the water for 24 hours before adding to your tank and matching top off water temp and pH to tank temp and pH. If I remember correctly you had some concern that you were disturbing the substrate when you did the water change and that it was the disturbance to the substrate that caused the spikes. I doubt it, but if you want to be really careful, either pour in (or drip) the replacement water slowly so you don't touch the substrate or put a barrier above the substrate while you are pouring the water in the tank.

I shouldn't speak for Grav, but I will anyway. I assume that he means that we have all made plans for things that didn't wind up happening. If you buy a fish that won't fit in your current tank based on the plan to get a new tank, what happens if someone breaks the tank you have coming? Your fish suffer and sooner or later (sooner) your 55 will crash again. Better to keep only the fish that can thrive in your 55 and plan for what fish you will want to keep in the bigger tank once you have it up and stable. As for additives, I've never heard of purple up. I guess from the name that it is intended to spur coraline algae growth. I wouldn't be inclined to put anything unknown into my tank just to promote coraline alagae. Not familiar with zooplex either, so I looked it up on wetwebmedia. They weren't to fond of it. Generally said that they wouldn't trust unrefrigerated, undated food as a regular food source. The use of iodine is controversial at best. There is no established correct level for tanks, some people say you don't need it at all, others say you need it for specific corals/inverts. I use a minimal dosage once a week, which may be ineffective as it is said that iodine is going to be used up within 24 hours. Unfortunately, you can really poison your tank by overdoing it with the iodine, so the risk may not be worth the reward for you. Based on what has gone on with your tank, I would think that doing weekly 5-10 gallon water changes (I would recommend closer to 10) would be more beneficial than dosing any element. Do remember this rule, if you are going to dose it, make sure you know what the proper level should be and test to make sure you are at that level. If you can't test for it, don't add it.