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Xeon, I have no concept of how bright a mcd is. It's like saying a 100 liter tank - I have to convert it to gallons to get some concept (d*mn english system). I suppose there is a way to equate it to a normal incandescent lamp. Perhaps I'll do a web search. On an related note, anyone with an electronic controller can get fancy with the day/night cycles. An item like an AquaController combined with one of these gadgets could control the entire daylight and moonlight cycle. I know a number of people who do this. The only potential downside is having your corals spawn in concert with the mass spawning event on the GBR. -Tom

Blue is more like moon light that red. Especially at 10 meters down. Are you refering to the first fixture on the page? How bright are these? Do you need more than one or two? http://autolumination.com/fixtures.htm -Tom

All of the corals you mentioned do not need a lot of light. If you using MH or a lot of FL now, that could be the problem. I doubt nitrate could be the problem here, but a month is not a lot of time for things to settle down with respect to your cycle and the "aging" of the tank. In fact, there is a rather large debate about which nutrients limit growth (e.g., nitrate, phosphate, etc.) and there is no clear scientific evidence a this time. Give it a few more days and post back if things have not gotten better. (there is also the obligatory water change too). -Tom

I happened to be in the store when the "trade" was made and the pieces are very nice. Some of them would be prize additions to a SPS tank. -Tom

Isn't the next WAMAS meeting the second weekend in October?

Here's an interesting article that says man is at least partially to blame for a massive reef death in the Indo-pacific region. http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/livingthings/reef_mystery.html -Tom

Pardon me for rambling, but here are my thoughts...I takes about a weekend to make a hood. It only takes a couple of hours to cut the wood for the hood (depending on the design), but assembling the hood and adding the lighting is time consuming (but not difficult). You will need a lot of room if more than one person is working at a time (more than 8x10). We tried to have a building party when the club first started (it was our first club event) and we only managed to cut enough wood for one hood in 2+ hours. Setup, tear down, chit-chat, etc took up the rest of the time. There are two approches to this: cut all the hood in advance and build hood as the party, or party while cutting the wood and assemble it later or during another party. Otherwise, you need to have an assembly line type process in order to get everything done in one day. Far too organized for this club I'm willing to help out with this, but Saturdays are bad for me. -Tom

Craig, Which model do you have? -Tom

I've done a number of hoods if you need help with the design. I think there might be some diagrams on my website too. http://www.cyberreefguru.com/ -Tom

IME, refugiums really do nothing for algea in your tank. Refugiums are great for adding biodiversity and do act as a nutrient sink for certain types of aglea, but they generally can't starve algea from a main tank. You need to find the source of the what the algea is feeding on, which it seems you have a good start.

I thought some of you might like a little fish tale... http://www.dailyherald.com/search/main_story.asp?intid=38248311 I like the last part the best [ws]

If it matters, most GFCI receptacles protect all "down line" receptacles as well. So, any outlet wired *through* the GFCI will also be protected. You don't need one GFCI receptacle for each item you want to protect. There are also GFCI breakers, but they are very expensive comparatively. It's always best to have two independent circuits to your tank. One for your main pump and one for some other form of circulation (closed loop, power heads, etc.). That way, if one of them trips, the other will still be on (in theory). As a note, items with a large current pulse at startup are generally more likely to falsely trip a GFCI than any seemingly "random" event. Things like large pumps, magnetic ballasts, etc. Most high current GFCI receptacles tend to compensate for this, but it is not unheard of. Finally, my tank has been on a GFCI since I started it and it has only tripped when I grapped a power cord with saltwater covered hands. The exact time that I would want it to trip and for the exact reason I installed the thing. -Tom

If you are cutting holes, you want to use a real hole cutting blade. If I'm interpreting what Steve is recommending correctly, there is a pretty good probability the spade bit will shatter the acrylic when it punches through the other side. It may work on flat acrylic, but definitely not a tube. -Tom

I have one of these - it works pretty well. There are a couple of open source projects for computer based controllers. Then you don't need to invest in a AquaController or Octopus. -T

You can only post pictures in the gallery. The img tag will only work if you have a website to point the URL to.

Your LFS is giving you a line of bull. You can get a small pendant with a 150W DE lamp that will not overheat your tank. If you want to keep anemones, they generally require intense lighting (pacific anemones vice atlantic) - far more that FL lamps can deliver. See Phil Henderson's article: http://fins.actwin.com/articles/choosinganemone.php Also, heed Micheal's advice. All anemones are not created equal. -Tom

F-Can ballasts are made for less-than-benign environments, as they are completely sealed (potted). Again, they are generally tar ballasts in a sealed enclosure. You might be able to get a potted electronic ballast, but I have never seen one for MH lamps. Any electrical supply store will sell you a "can and core" ballast, from which you can fire mogul-based MH lamps. You need to buy a special "HQI" ballast to fire the double-ended MH lamps. I think standard MH ballasts are M-59; don't recall what the ballast is for a DE lamp. -Tom

You should always shield your corals from new MH lamps. The intensity of all HID lamps drops off exponentially within the first few days. I think Sanjay Joshi, Richard Harker, or Dana Riddle did an article about that a number of years ago. -Tom

Home Depot Fairfax Circle generally has it.

Long story, but it is spanish for fish

I second what Dave said. I did my 120 that way and it was a lot better than dumping the sand in. It can take days for your tank to clear and then you have sand all throughout your overflows and sump (if you have such things). -T

You need to provide more details about your tank before we can help you: 1) What kind of lights do you have. 2) How old are your lights 3) What do you feed 4) How often do you feed 5) How many fish do you have? 6) What are your tank parameters (pH, Alk, Ca, NO2,N03,PO4) 7) How much live rock do you have 8) How much live sand do yo have 9) What chemical do you use? 10) How much and how frequent? Also, read this: http://www.cyberreefguru.com/general/cyno.html -Tom

I was thinking about building one before Julian arrived. It would be easy and very inexpensive. I think I calculated about $20 in parts. You can get a dual unit for only $30 (power supply is the most expensive thing). -Tom

I cycled my first FO tank with them. With the right amount of acclimation, they will do fine. -Tom

Stichodactyla haddoni - blue, gree Entacmaea quadricolor - rose