pez

Ooops, *buy* pieces by the pound....

since we switched ISPs or board versions? There should be no reason with the ISP switch. I use opera and have no problems. I have not tried with mozilla, but I know NN is horribly broken. -T

The short answer is, I don't know what the SLA is with our provider. It's a web only account and not a business account. You generally don't get a formal SLA unless you get a business account. "Best Delivery" is ususally the term people throw around. I can look into it if you are concerned. -Tom

Acme plastic on Edsal Road. A full sheet is very expensive. However, you can my pieces by the pound. A very good deal for DIY projects. -T

After reviewing the web access logs, there was a lot activity during the period you specified. So the problem must of been local, not at the server. -Tom

You can now upload your own avatars. They are limited to 125KB in size, like all images. Please be frugal with your uploads, otherwise we will be paying $$ for more space. If you are experiencing other BB problems, please PM me or send me an email. -Tom

I think I have some pictures on my site. If not, shoot me an email and I can send you some. -T

Ohms law is V=IR. There are many ways to write it, but W=VA (the West Virginia law) is common for figuring out total "power". W = watts V = voltage I = current A = current (amps) R = resistence Horse Power can not be related directly to electrical power without a lot of assumptions (most of which are generally valid for what we are doing with our tanks). So David's normalization factor for HP to P is probably accurate for us. He definately seems to know more than me about it. -T

Reefmon has a 180. -T

I think I put him/her/it in the overflow. It stayed near the bottom for a long while, then suddenly dissapeared.

The fluidized bed type calcium reactors are very popular in Europe from what I under stand.

The type of caulerpa you have will directly affect whether your tang will eat them. -Tom

I have durso sandpipes on both of my overflows. The work very well. More to Michael's point though - an urchin Glenn gave me ended up in the overflow. Fortunately my tank has two overflows, so no disaster there. However, without some sort of screen, you are risking total melt down if it should become clogged. Both overflows in my case are mini-refugiums. A little algae growth, some sand from the main tank and lots of 'pods. -T

Larry is correct. A fluidized bed filter is used for biological filtration only. A Ca reactor is used to supplement Ca and Alakalinity by dissolving CaCO3 based material using CO2. The CO2 lowers the pH in the chamber, causing the material to dissolve. The "liquid" is very high in Ca and CaCO3, which added Ca++ and alkalinity to the tank. However, the effluent coming out of the reactor is high in CO2 and low in pH. So a lot of effluent in the tank will lower the tank's pH dramatically. -Tom

Scott, The pH of the effluent will be the pH of the chamber. You're shooting for 6.8 - 7.3, depending on the number of chambers. The Ca reactor will give you a solid alkalinity value, so your pH will not be as likely to swing up or down (assuming the alkalinity value is "normal"). If too much effluent enters the system, your tank pH will be very low and you will get a lot of algae growth. If you start having pH problems (low pH), kalkwasser is your best bet to bump it up. Off gassing only takes you so far before you have to artificially raise the pH. -T

In theory, yes. However, generally the rate drawn from the chamber is so small that the recirculation (contact time) has little to do with the overall performance. I'm assuming you want to know if you have a bigger pump if you will be able to use less CO2 or something like that? Well, sort of. The alkalinity and pH of the source water also affects the pH of the chamber. Well, let me be clear here, the source water affects how much CO2 you need to drop the chamber pH to a suitable level. The higher the alkalinity of the source water, the more CO2 you need to drop the pH in the chamber. For a single chamber unit, the direction does matter. You want to pull your effluent from the opposite end that the source water is coming from. For a dual chamber unit, the first chamber is completely recirculating, so it doesn't really matter where the effluent is drawn from. Hmmm, I think you still need the bubble counter. The flow meter replaces the needle value on the CO2 regulator. You match the input rate of alk/ca to the export rate of alk/ca. It takes about 2-3 weeks to get things truly stable. During that time, you burn a lot of test kits. The pH output depends on a 1 or 2 chamber unit. Generally the pH of the first stage should be around 6.8 or so. The second stage us usually around 7.3, but it can vary wildly. The Ca and Alk levels of the effluent are very high, so it doesn't do you any good to measure them. That's why you have to consistently measure your tank's alkalinity and Ca during the first month of operation. Hope this helps. -Tom

There has been some debate on how much co2 is actually removed in the second stage. In any case, that's the theory - to remove excess (not all) CO2. In practice, the pH in the second chamber is higher than the first chamber, so dissolution is at a much lower rate. Having never owned a single chamber unit, I can't comment on how they compare to dual chamber units. -T

Nope. Not good if you want lots of biodiversity in your tank. -T

You will get the most bang for you buck with the Iwasaki 6500K lamps. The 10KK AB lamps will give you the best color. -Tom

You can request special items.

Email from the BB is not working. As such, registrations and password requests do not work. We are in the process of moving the board to a new ISP, so please bare with us. If you need your password changed or registration completed, please send email to info@wamas.org. -Tom

Greetings to all Marine Hobbyists, At long last we have received a nice shipment of Live Rock. We currently have a great selection of Fiji Premium Live Rock and new to the Marine Scene, Bali Live Rock. This Bali looks great, it has a very "branchy" design reminiscent of the Marshall Island Rock. The Fiji is $5.09 per pound and the Bali is $9.99 per pound. Just last night a great batch of small polyp stonies arrived. If you are a big SPS fan you will love these purple, green and pink acropora. There are also two pink bird's nests available. If you're interested, stop by soon because these pieces really look great and they will go very fast. Out of quarantine this week are two Gum Drop Gobies, these guys are new to us, they look like big fat clown gobies, very cute. We also have a beautiful Midas blenny, he is a decent size and has great color. And for our customers with large tanks we have a very nice Blond Naso tang. Any of these fish would be safe and interesting additions to a reef system. The Marine Scene (703) 689-2815

From what I have read, carpet anemones are more difficult to keep alive for the long term. However, some people seem to have great success with them. And yes, the are famous for eating anything that hops onto them (aside from the clown fish). Whatever you do, research your choice first. Clowns don't host in just any old anemone. Certain clowns have their preferred anemone, and usually won't accept anything else. Check out Phil Henderson's anemone article on FINS: http://www.actwin.com/fins/ -Tom

There was a small DNS problem with one of the ISPs. There was nothing wrong with the board or the ISP that hosts the board. I can give you some techno mumbo jumbo if you want the full story. -T

If you stick to the general forum, you get mostly reef related items. The sump is another story - that's where most of the traffic is. It's kinda of a like high school - {squat} is cool, everyone else isn't. If I see another thirty posts about she-goat I will scream. Unfortunately, the last time I was there the "clique" invaded the general forum and the noise went way up. Haven't been back since. Oh well....