gastone

Nick, welcome to WAMAS. I've checked out your RC thread before. Where are you located? For some reason I thought it was somewhere in New England? Garrett.

Tim, awesome as usual. I'd like to incorporate a mantis tank in my next setup (I've kept them in my displays in the past). Nice vid. Garrett.

I agree with James (and not just because he's the man). EDIT (apparently one of the mods didn't like my original post in which I said, "I agree with James (and not just because he's cute)) Silly mods, a guy can't help it that he's good looking. I didn't look up the specs for the 30g oceanic cube. That being said I doubt it's 24" wide so T5 *probably* won't be a consideration. You'll probably be looking at halides or pcs. I'm not a fan of pc lighting, but it does have applications. Assuming halides, will you be building a canopy or looking for a pendant? I'm not too familiar with all of the different pendant, I just know there are nice ones out there. 150w would be more than enough, but you will be limited in lamp choices. You could do 175w, though the only lamp I would recommend there would be the Iwasaki 14k (can be labeled as 14k or 15k). Par monster and good color to boot. For 250w I would do mogul lamps where you would have the most options available. What I wouldn't do is 250w DE (generally speaking, too much par and electricity), and I can't think of a single application when I would put 400w over a 30g tank. Garrett.

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I do a vinegar bath. 5:1 water to vinegar is fine. Usually I'll toss a pump in at the same time to circulate/agitate water. Double duty as the pump gets cleaned at the same time. A simple rinse under the sink is fine. You don't have to go crazy trying to get all of the vinegar out afterward as many people add vinegar intentionally to their systems. The residual amount left over certainly won't be enough to cause any harm. G.

I can't argue the merits of skimming capability of one over the other as I've owned neither, though from doing a fair amount of research I would classify both of them as excellent skimmers. However, a dart is just a tiny bit cheaper to replace than a red dragon.

James, Nice Orca! G.

Thanks Nadir. I too shall have to update my favorites. G.

Sean, do you have a rock work plan outlined yet?

Onyx, glad to have you guys on. I followed your gf's thread on RC for a spell. It's good to have you guys as members of WAMAS. Where are the other 2 nano-streams? I see one each on the left and right panels, but I don't see the other two. Garrett.

IME quadricolors don't move a lot. They situate themselves when first placed in a tank, or when environmental changes dictate that a change is necessary. Mine has been in the same place for 4 years or so. Crucifers are pretty much the same. Generally speaking they are hardy (by anemone standards), and can tolerate a wide variety of lighting conditions. I kept mine under VHO, then PC, then T5, then halide/VHO and finally halide/T5. The anemone appeared to do better under strong lighting, and definitely showed better coloration. Even though they are a non-hosting anemone, mine did host a clown for a spell. Here's a linky: http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?show...mp;#entry171235 FWIW I no longer have this anemone as I passed it on to Doug. Garrett.

There is more than one way to skin a cat (though any way you do it is fine by me). Whenever I speak to someone brand new in the hobby I tell them to read, read, read. And the book that I always recommend first is Bob Fenner's "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist". It's probably a bit dated by now, but the point that he tries to get across is that there are numerous methods to maintain a successful reef aquarium. Use what works for you. When I first started I had a 42 hex with a 30 gallon gravity fed fuge. I kept the typical softie/beginner corals. (My nitrates were 0) I moved, got a remora pro HOB skimmer and tossed it on the same system. I mostly kept LPS/zoanthids and I picked up a RBTA. (My nitrates were 0) Murphy swung by one weekend while I was away. I sprung a leak, lost everything. Used the opportunity to have the same 42 hex drilled. I added a 100g rubbermaid stock tank (adding 60g +/- to the water volume), used it as a refugium, added a ER skimmer that I mesh modded, turned the 30 into a zoanthind tank and then a prop tank. (My nitrates were 0 the last time I tested... I'm going to say in 2005) Now my 42 hex is sitting on my garage floor of my new house. There is no skimmer, no refugium and I have a feeling that if I measure my nitrates they'd be 0. I'm planning an upgrade, and I think I'm going to go BB (or a RSSB (I copyrighted that - real shallow sand bed)) with a high end skimmer and no refugium. Why? Why not? I just want to try something different. I know the limitations of my past systems and what I could successfully keep (that means long term, not 2 years). I also have an idea that I'll be able to keep more pretty sticks this way. Skin away says I. G.

Maybe we can get Rik to chime in. G.

Sean just informed me that he will offer these at 50% off to all customers who want one. What he didn't allow to slip out was that in order to get this pricing you have to buy the matching bidet. Garrett.

I would have culled them. Well, that's not completely true... 'cause there is someone out there that is going to pay big money for them. So I would have wanted to cull them, but I would laugh behind the person's back who purchased them for 600 a pair. The best analogy I have would be to related them to a yardsale, where people pay you to take out your trash. Same concept with these guys. JMO. G.

Man, I was hoping you guys really would be closing so you'd have a fire sale. j/k Johnny, I can't wait to make it up that way to check out the new digs. Garrett.

Sean, you can get a wall anchor that can the weight of that pendant no problem that is probably 1 1/2" long. No need to worry about drilling through the floor at that point, 'cause if the slab is under 1.5" anyway you'd be a dead man by now. And it's easy enough to cover up when you leave. ...or go with the brackets. What's the deal with the leak? G.

Sean, for a clean look you can get masonry anchors from the hardware store. You will need a masonry bit (you can get a cheap one as you are probably only going to drill 2 holes). G.

Go here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...hreadid=1460865 You'll have to have some idea of what you want to keep (livestock wise) and what appearance you'd like. Grim is awesome and can put together some sick color combos. G.

Sean, this is what you need: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...hreadid=1510621 I would sell my first born for one of these. Heck, I would probably pay someone to take my first born and then pay double for one of these. Garrett.

Thanks Brian for the link. G.

Sean, nice light. Have you decide which bulb you are going with? How is the spread on that thing? 30x30 is a lot of square footage to cover. G.

Try the lighting section. It is typically used in fluorescent lighting applications. G.

Walt, thanks for putting this together. For those of you going, have a good time. Garrett.

He's not kidding! G.