GaryL

adam, i have had a 6' retro on my 150g, it had 6 bulbs (54w 48") staggerd for full coverage. i bought the fixture off of ebay. it worked pretty well but it came with odd bulbs. one option would be to retro 36" bulbs and make your own fixture for each side of the tank.

yeah it smells like this guy.....

slow week or interesting experiment?

pm sent.

that is good news!

my diy has the smartpaq bulbs...i was actualy loosing a ric and it was shrinking...when i moved stuff over from the 150 i placed the ric high up closer to the PC and it actualy is rebounding. which is making me happy. i have the 2x65w ballast that marine scene sells or used to sell.

i guess one issue for me is that i already have the 250wMH and i also have some retro pc ballasts and lights..but need new bulbs for...but i think i would prefer the t5s. i think the way i measured it the bulb would be a little over 12" from the water and i have a chiller if i have heat issues..... coralhind, do you have any ballasts that would fire some 24" or 36" t5 bulbs for sale? i think we talked about it at frag fest. well there are options i see on ebay with 150w MH and t5 combos that are inexpensive....but i never used DE bulbs before. thanks for the replies!

ok so i'm setting up a 40g breeder and was planning on putting a 250w MH with a radium 20K in it. would the 250w be to much light? would i need to supplement any other light in your opinions? would i need actinics and if so go VHO or T5? thanks in advance.

i guess one point that was missed is that when you amp up the lighting then you should acclimate to the lighting or some critters get burnt like a sunburn. you could start with one light on then like every few days fire the next light up untill you have them all lit.

yeah i dont think so..reading the label its pretty toxic. not sure if it becomes inert like silicone once it cures... my question would be about pond foam. if you need to coat it with something. or is it good to go out of the can?

2nd i am partial to BRK but i have never been to PA. aquaco was awesome and am sad to see them go, but hopeful when the economy does better, there will be more competition. in the earlier days i was in some group buys..but really like to go a take a look myself....and i always find some drygood that i need.

bravo to you forrest for making something that fits your budget, IMO its the true meaning of DIY. i understand both sides as some people are about practical to them and some people are about aesthetics. nothing wrong with either of those things. this can work two ways..one person comes up with the idea and another can clean it up into a pretty package. when i first started i got my first pfo ballast from reefotto (i think). it was an EYE ballast..it fired 2 250w MH and i used VHO actinic to supplement. i really didnt have an algae problem and the corals grew pretty fast...switched to 20k later because i liked the way things colored out. the only thing different i might have done was paint the bottom side of where the lights mount a gloss white, or used the CF flood lights we all like for our fuges' that way they have a built in reflector. my .02 oh and i agree with nate...the comment wasnt off topic just an opinion..and thats why we are here...to get others ideas and opinions to help us be better reefers

most new tanks will have a sticker on the bottom that say tempered. i just did the back to be sure.

i ended up with one....had this one for like 5 years.

when i was there several yrs ago...he always pushed the marinemix bioassay and it was pretty cheap there.

there has been a many discussion about roozens on here. i used to go there when i first started out. you might have opened a hornets nest. but i have had pretty good luck with their fish.

here is a link to a video of my fuge. its about 5 gallons and has cheato and culerpa in it.with lotsa pods.

sometimes walmart or bloom has it. it would be where you find the canning jars

just find a gallon water container that has a spout you can set to a slow drip and you can mix it up in there and set it to drip.... i have used a gallon jug before and used IV pump line with the thumb valve to control the drip. or you can get a kent aqua doser for fairly cheap..its low tech and simple to use. my one gallon jug was based on that design.

pretty much..if you cooled the tank down to cold water params then i think they would grow out quite nicely

to me looks like a strawberry anemone. "Corynactis californica is a bright red colonial anthozoan similar to sea anemones and scleractinian stony corals. Unlike the Atlantic true sea anemone, Actinia fragacea, that bears the same common name, strawberry anemone, this species is a colonial animal of the order Corallimorpharia. Other common names include club-tipped anemone and strawberry corallimorpharian. The anemone is known to carpet the bottom of some areas, like Campbell River in British Columbia, and Monterey Bay in California. The strawberry anemone grows no larger than 2.5 centimeters. The anemone is always bright red with transparent to white tentacles that are bulbous at the tips. The strawberry anemone resembles sea anemones in that they lack a calcareous skeleton, but are closer related to stony corals in that they lack basilar muscles. The strawberry anemone is found in water deeper than ten feet and may not be visible in intertidal pools. When held and raised in captivity, the strawberry anemone may be fed on tiny crustaceans including brine shrimp. Aquarium hobbyists integrating Corynactis california into live coral settings provide hard stubstrates for colonial expansion, since this species kills coral and anemones when competing for resources. Like most cnidarians, the strawberry anemone can replicate both asexually (cloning) and sexually through polyp dispersion." from wiki

i was told when i first got into this hobby that skimmer perform much better clean, including the chamber. i pulled my beckett skimmer apart and and found a buttload of tube worms in there.. all be it a good sign of a healthy tank IMO they can cut down the foamy action. so i guess the buildup in the skim mate the i guess it could hinder foamy performance..if that make sense.

isn't this the old wet skim dry skim debate? cant remember where i had seen it..either here or RC.

once it groes out it wont look like jar jar....i do however think it looks great and cant wait to see it live in the tank with fish hangin around it. where'd you get the pond foam? i looked in lowes and all i found was the window and regular stuff. i have an idea for my overflows

to each his/her own....i never qt i feed a varied diet with real garlic(minced) and have cleaner shrimp...i introduced a powder brown tang with ich in my system even when i had big mama in there (tekken can back me up about her) and she ruled the roost but the PB recovered and the other fish never caught it. and i actually never had a fish die of ich either. but i may be more attentive in my routine to feed and watch the fish, so i still recommend QT because it is the safer route. also if the fish needs to train on frozen or different foods because of the diet requirements. i have only used copper on a FW tank and would say it worked nicely, just be careful of cross contamination in salt water. just my experience it may not work for others.