sde219

I've seen pairs - usually resulting from two leaving a larger group. It is usually very difficult to force a pair in a tank. IME, 65g is large enough to have an odd numbered group but depending on how territorial the existing one is, you might not have luck adding any number. If you rearrange the rockwork or temporarily remove the current one, my guess is you could add additional firefish but I think it'll prove fairly difficult.

IME, there is a reason that your onyx should have ick - you just added a severely infected Heniochus. Maybe I'm screwed up on my pathology but it just takes one infected fish to result is a tank outbreak and unless all fish are well-fed and unstressed, it's likely to keep resurfacing. Depending on the severity and you setup I would try to minimize stress, keep well fed, keep good parameters and stop adding fish until the outbreak stops.

But what about the climb over the top of the tank? I get how a siphon might do it but not sure how it would work otherwise.

I might be an idiot - but how does that drain work?

Dan - knowing your affinity for green leathers I thought I would make sure you saw Rob's item in the trading forum. The tank looks great. Thanks for letting me check it out I was very impressed with the relatively small footprint in which your system was contained.

Fantastic info Boret! Is there really any controller worth considering outside of the Aquacontrollers?

That's definitely a major plus for the Apex for me. KW are a little more expensive in WI so I'll want to conserve as much as possible plus we'll be trying to add some solar and wind generation to the property so knowing my usage is key.

Can you elaborate? I've heard fantastic things about the Apex but it seems like as people buy the Apex, the ACIII and ACIII pro will be a relative bargain used. What are the major advantages of the Apex?

I should have been more clear. I've definitely been bad at testing all things but I was more specifically referring to being aware of the pH and perhaps looking for temperature changes - I've long wanted to know how much or if my heater is turning on during a regular day. I guess because I've never encountered overheating issues and the like. I'm a little curious if the control functions are a huge bonus. For lighting, I've always had success with the timers I've used. Certainly, it seems like the control and way some controllers work with the pumps seems pretty helpful but at the same time, the Tunze controller has always provided that service for me. At the same time, I love the constant monitoring afforded by these systems. I'll definitely be using an ATO. Is there any reason to run that through the controller except as a failsafe?

I've always been terrible about testing water quality. And I've never really used a controller. Neither of these were issues because I never had particularly difficult corals and things seemed to always work out. I'm hoping to take a step up in sophistication but I'm trying to understand the exact purpose and use of controllers. I get that it allows for computerized control of your lighting, heating, fans, and pumps. Also, it could provide reports and tracking of temp and other vitals. I've heard something about the controller allowing you to track power consumption (this would be a huge plus for me). Can anyone give me some more details on these devices? Let's pretend I know nothing about them. I'm leaning towards getting a ACIII or ACIII Pro because so many are coming on the market as people upgrade to the Apex. Would I be foolish to buy one when something simpler might do?

Glad to hear that the recommendation hit the mark. It's a really great store. I'm have tempted to drive down to Richmond again before moving out of the area and I don't even have a tank to put anything in. Anything to add to the comments? I really was blind to the coral selection when I entered the shop. His displays were too impressive.

What about shops in Richmond? There are a few there. I don't think you'll find much right off 95 on the drive or for that matter probably within 30 miles of 95 along the drive. Maybe a few small stores with a SW tank.

Any updates on this massive system? This is always a fun thread to read back through.

I had some time to kill on Saturday and I took a swing through what seemed to be the three largest saltwater stores in Richmond. Here are my thoughts. Keep in mind, this is just my impressions and was based on visits lasting between 20-40 minutes. Richmond Aquarium - 3645 Speeks Dr, Midlothian, VA (no website I could find) -Pretty underwhelming store with a few pleasant touches. Staff(2 people actively with customers) were helpful but there wasn't much to check out. It kind of seemed like the extension of a hobbyists garage and a tank maintenance business. They did however has some nice fish in stock - a few angels and triggers I would not consider regular finds. Seemed to sell a lot of used systems although the prices weren't exactly indicative of the used status. The physical space was across three or four units in a warehouse complex basically as big as like 10 car garage. Not a whole lot of inverts or coral but some and it looked decent. I'll give it 1 of 4 stars. If you're in the near neighborhood, might be worth a visit otherwise though save your gas. It'd basically say it's nothing more than a warehouse version of Wallys. Atlantis Aquarium - http://www.atlantisva.com - Nice store, high end equipment on the their tanks with coral for sale. Full Deltec setup on a display tank. Had some ORA frags. Decent selection of fish - probably slightly less tanks of fish for sale than Pristine Aquarium (saltwater portion) or BRK. Nothing really jumped out at me but everything was very clean. They did have a pretty large quantity of coral for sale. While I was there it seemed 3-4 employees went in and out, only one was really on the sales floor. Probably 3 customers stopped in over the course of my visit - most for water. None of the employees were particularly chatty but I wasn't exactly seeking out conversation. This shop definitely stocks the high-end manufacturers and certainly displays their products. They have some very nice acrylic shallow tanks for coral sales. They seemed to have a QT system and also holding tanks for fish from maintenance tanks in the rear. This store doesn't really seem comparable to any setup in the DC Metro Area but perhaps seemed like Pristine Aquariums (in terms of size and cleaniness) but with a particular emphasis on high-end consumers. I didn't take a close look at prices but more than anything it means they probably weren't particularly high or low. I'll go 2.5 of 4 stars on this. Nice enough that I would probably stop by regularly if it were near by but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way for it. Fish World - http://www.fishworldric.com/ - I can't say enough good things about this place. I think I'd recommend that anyone traveling to or through Richmond consider a brief(good luck!) stop. Honestly, I could have spent a few hours there. The fact that there were 1200g, 900g, 450g, and three or four 120-250g displays was unbelievable - those are display volume numbers. The 1200 was something like 8x4x5. It was truly a daunting tank. Outside of public aquariums (and even including some), I've never seen a more impressive single display. It had probably 15 tangs, a clam at least 30" in length, and a monti cap that seemed to be about 24-30" in diameter and at least four tiers and 18" tall. The 900 display was really eye opening - it's size was almost deceptive, seemingly appropriate for a hobbyist but also overwhelming as you worked your way around it. I think I totalled over 5000 watts of lighting on the two largest systems alone. Fish World also had the single largest variety of fish that I've seen outside of stores that deal in wholesale or ship fish as a large portion of their business. Pretty solid mix of common fish and a lot of the less common but desirable fish (6 blue spotted jawfish, at least two each of sargassum, pink-tailed, blue-throat triggers). Every two tanks of fish for sale are run on individual sump setups. That seems likely a potentially costly and labor intensive approach but also means the risk for the spread of disease was nicely curtailed. I honestly didn't look at the inverts and corals for sale very closely. They seemed to have a nice variety. Assuming the pricing on the fish is indicative, I suspect they were pretty fairly marked particularly for the quality of the care provided. Both of the employees in the store were amazingly helpful. Joe, who owns the place, showed me a book of the custom systems he's done. If I ever stop enjoying the DIY stuff, I'll give him a call. It's my understanding that he's done a large variety of custom installations all over the country including some very nearly fully automated setups. The other employee, Cody(I think?) was completely enthusiastic and sought out answers to every question I had even ones I probably shouldn't have asked. The store seemed to have a pretty good system of drygoods also. I didn't look much because the living stuff was too distracting. Just to keep from being too laudatory, their website is as good as one would hope. 4 of 4 stars for me and worthwhile place to stop because there is a enough to enjoy that kids, wives, and others will be entertained and perhaps not see the cash changing hands.

Really nice design. The stand looks professionally done and it looks like you've got a great frag setup.