Folta

From what I remember on the instructions of most temp controllers I've seen, they typically say to set your heater to as high as it will go (to give the controller full control). But that would make sense to set it at a cut off. For example, if you had your controller to cut it at 80 degrees, and it got stuck on it would start going up... but then the heaters cut off at 85 degress would kick in and shut the heater off. Is that what you were saying?

Well, there's a lot of personal preference in choosing bulbs. First off, you would need to tell us what ballasts you have. 10k, 20k, 14k, etc... they are going to effect the color.. 10k is closer to 'white' while 20k is closer to 'blue'. Some people like one thing, some the other. You can also do a whiter bulb with actinic supplementation if you'd like. For starters, read through this: http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm There's photos, par ratings, etc for many bulb and ballast combos. Keep in mind that what a picture shows isnt' always how they look in real life, so try going to some of the tank tours and see other tanks in person. Good luck with finding what you want!

That description sounds like what it is, however without a picture its very hard to say. Can you try at least finding a picture on the web that looks the same and post that?

Chip, I'm sure you have your suspicions of where the bubbles are originating... a connection that looks sealed but isn't perfectly sealed, pumps not letting bubbles rise to the surface with a little bit of bubbles getting in, etc.. Take one pump offline at a time, and see if it helps, starting of course with what you suspect most. For example, if you suspect that its your return, then get a mag 18, 24, etc, submerge it, and use that as a temporary return with some clear tubing (with no connectors to guarantee you don't introduce bubbles that way). If its an internal pump that could be pulling air down occasionally (after I clean my seio 2600's, even though they're a good 6" below the water surface on occasion that will still pull air down in a little vortex and spit bubbles everywhere that take quite a while to dissapate). Good luck in locating the source!

Ok, I'm not quite sure what you mean about the seal and all. However, it sounds like you have the mixing pump on 24/7? You actually want the kalkwasser to settle to the bottom of the reactor, or at most mix it very very slowly so that it never really kicks up. This is why you also have the input water come in to the bottom and the output water at the top... so the kalkwasser stays in the chamber and only clear water goes to the tank. What kind of reactor do you have? Do you have pictures of it?

Sure, what would you like to know?

My kalk reactor is doing great - no leaks, kalk mixes up well every so often, and seems to be maintaining my calcium, alk, and pH quite well. This is a pic before the input side has a line to the bottom (so that the input water goes down to where the kalkwasser powder is in the bottom, and away from the water that goes out the top to the tank), and a pump in the middle that points down (and goes on every so often to mix the kalk powder up a bit). If I recall, the total cost of the unit was around $40.

I bought a used 180 gallon drilled (two 2" holes) for $150 from a club member here.

There, fixed the quote for you Did I read that right.. you won it for $9.99!?

Very nice Dave!

One thing you can do is get a mesh bag, put your crushed coral in it, and then put the bag in the water for a while. That way the bacteria can grow off of it onto the sand, and then eventually you can pull the bag of CC out.

Hey, I didn't mean to imply that what I said was anything other than my opinion. As far as the text and what not goes, you could always have a white background for that section of the page (for example, as you have on the front page, it's still white by the gallery even though the background was set to gray). And as for 'standard resolution', these days it's actually 1024 x 768, changed a few years back from the old standard, 800 x 600. In fact, the largest base uses 1024 x 768, and the second most popular resolution currently is 1280 x 1024. I guess I just don't feel the forums/gallery congealing properly with the rest of the site until the background is consistent and the page is centered (or the forums aren't), but again that part is just imo.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make the tank tour; I'll be at the beach this weekend. I do want to say though that Eve has a spectacular pair of tanks, and it is well worth the trip to see them.

The problem with the white is that there doesn't feel any real connection between the forums and gallery, and the rest of the site. It makes it feel less professional, like it was just all thrown together. With the same color background for the forums and gallery as the rest of the site, it feels more like a single site. Also, it's just too bright. The page doesn't scale with resolution, so those of us who run a desktop in the higher res basically have the wamas page all in the left half of the browser.... and the white kinda overpowers the page. With the grayish-blue, the actual content pops out more.

Like the ocean! calm and soothing... The gray/blue definitely looks better.

John, I know this isn't a fish but I was wondering if carried the calibration fluid (4.0 or 10.0, and 7.0) for the pinpoint pH monitors? My friend knocked mine from its resting spot and decalibrated it :(

It's always a shame to see people do things like this... one of the nice things about this hobby is being able to trade/sell frags to each other to diversify what we all have, and to preserve species (i.e. if someone has a certain coral and nobody else does, and something happens to the tank....). I recall a similar incident on here some time back.. Someone bought a believe it was a blue oregon tort from Leishman and then came on here and tried to sell it for twice the price he paid for it? *shrugs*... it takes all sorts...

How much are the power blue - 4" tang, and the six line wrasse? I'm also curious as to what the powder blue hybrid is?

Chip, no, they are not true pressure pumps.

Oh man... I always hate to see pics like that.... :(

Hey Dave, sorry to hear about your loss. How long do chain link eels naturally live for? Do you know how old he was when you got him?

Hey guys.. My T5's are all Geissman bulbs. I don't think my issues were lighting; rather water parameter issues... all softies are doing very well, but my calc/alk/ph were not where they should be (remedying that now)..

Scales Tropical Fish Warehouse Cloverly Towne Center 744 Cloverly Street Silver Spring, MD 20905 301-384-7839

I've stopped by a few times. The place is big, and the tanks look nice. They did not have any saltwater setup yet, however they have a row that's going to be used for saltwater, a clam tank in the front, and tons of cichlids.

Alex, when I used the product, I had a ton of cyano bacteria. I first shut off my pump for the overlflow, and skimmer, then used the product (just had maxijets running)... within a day, ALL the cyano turned a vibrant green color. The next day I turned my skimmer back on, and very quickly got a ton of skimmate. I did not have to do any ciphoning at all, and the cyano did not return.