steveoutlaw

My suggestion would be to get 2-3 bags of yardright or southdown from southern states. Then you can get a few scoops of live sand (I have plenty you can have) and seed the new sand you have in the tank.

Now Howard, don't blame me for the Xenia. I warned you that is grows like crazy. I took a bunch off of my biggest rock and didn't get it all........now it's coming back with a vengance.

Mine goes down the drain as well. From everything I've read it takes 4 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of good RO/DI (1 gallon of good, 3 gallons of waste). I hope to H-E-double hocky sticks that it is not that bad.

YGPM

Todd, I put a baby hippo in with my yellow tang and they were fast friends. With my new tank I added a foxface and they all swim around together. Steve

I'll trade you a 20g for it if you want. I've got a nice trash can for that Xenia. Actually I'll have about 20 more stalks to harvest in about 4 weeks. Steve

Keyoke - you are either lucky or those pumps are old enough that they were made before the quality went bad..........or it just hit and miss with them. I hope you didn't jinx yourself by saying that :P

Howard- I have heard horror stories about the Rio pumps. As a matter of fact, if you check the message boards I think you will find plenty of testament that Rio just flat out sucks. I'm just glad that there was little or no damage to anything in your tank. By the way, I don't blame the male mandarin. Ever since I got married and my wife too a couple of chunks out of my dorsal I follow her around too!!

I was on a limited budget as well. I found a thread on RC about the Coralife Super Skimmer for under $200.00. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...e+super+skimmer Long story short - I got one and I'm very happy with it. You should check out the thread. Steve

Unfortunately I am unable to attend. I hope everyone has a good time. Steve

I'm working on a tank for an elementary school and I'm trading some stuff for lighting. Right now I have an offer for a 400w mh Retrofit or a Current USA 2x96 fixture. Which should I go with???? Would I be able to keep most corals with the 2x96 fixture in a 30g?

I had a yellow tang and a hippo tang in a 55g. The hippo was only 2-1/2" long but they both did fine and never showed signs of stress. I think you have to take other tankmates and the amount of clutter into consideration. IMHO.

Jake- Check out the following thread on SWF.com. Look for the information from Squidd - he tells how to make one with specimen boxes, a bulkhead fitting and a U tube. http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread...t=sizing+u+tube good luck.

Actually, the tank will be going in their science lab. I'm going to instruct the science teacher on feeding and emptying the skimmer but I'll be setting up the tank and doing the bi-monthly water changes.

I'm all for that. I was going to just start contacting the local stores but now I'm thinking about going to the manufacturers as well. Right now I only have a 20g tank but would like to start out with at least a 29g possible bigger. My problem is that I don't want to have to pay for it and the school certainly won't. Who were you planning on going to for light donations? Steve

No offense taken.......I'm just trying to get in on the action. BTW - Don't they make a pill to take care of the flaccid toadstool?

Of course I'd be interested in it. I have some torch frags I can trade for them.

Success! I only had to take 3/4 of the rock out and I was able to net him. Anybody want to buy him?

I'd really like to hear about your surge system. could you tell me a little more about it?

Still looking for lighting and a skimmer for this project. I have a 20g tall that I'm going to be setting up with live sand and live rock. I'd like to get it set up as soon as possible so it will be ready to go when the next school year starts. I'd like to get a 250w ballast and socket (I have the bulb) and a skimmer that will work well on a 20g. I would appreaciate any livestock donations as well. Thanks all for your help. Steve

Does anybody know a way with out taking all the rock out of my tank???

Can anyone tell me the best way? Superglue?

I can't point you to any good reads on it other than on RC or about.com. I have regular live sand in mine and some small pieces of live rock for the pods to colonize. I'm getting ready to put some chaeto in soon. I'm running the lights on the same cycle as the tank lights.

Howard, I'm in for a frag or 2. I'm in Vegas next week but I'll have e-mail access and will jump in on the order. Steve

I have a 250w 10000K bulb you could use. Let me know soon because I'm heading to Vegas Sunday.