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Ditto - been using it since BRS offered the stuff. Works well but gets expensive in the long run. You can purchase the stuff online from chemical supply houses (it's simply soda lime).........I never bothered as I only use it during the summer as the house is more closed up in summer than winter. I use a single RO/DI canister with a hacked filter cartridge inside - simply cut most of the bottom out & replaced it with mesh = good air flow. FWIW - trick to buying soda lime is finding someplace that sells it in under pallet units

Now that's funny right there. Inferior? Name me another skimmer that will run with a broken impeller shaft with no loss in production? Can't say I've ever heard of any pump as reliable as the Eheim hobby line. Many have tried - so far nobody has matched the reliability. Not enough air? Um..........most of the time they're run with the air intake 3/4 closed.......making it bigger would do what? It all comes down to a balance.........I'll repeat what Saxby said to me when I talked to him about Deltecs @ our MACNA - "have you read Escobal (sp?)'s work?" I'll see your ATB & raise you a WM 181.......... I won't add anything to Steve, Chris, Craig or any of the other Deltec Johnny come latelys other than so say they're right (though I'd second Steve's "shouldn't have sold my 851"..........................bet the sum-batch is still running too)

Guess I'm hoping the director comes along pretty soon - faster than it took the Vega to come to market anyway. Well AI calls it an upgrade......but near as I can tell it's keep the heatsink & bolt on all new parts. I mean it's the mainboard, lights, plastic shroud, and power supply (mine is older). Still comes to about 1/2 what new lights would cost - very nice of AI to give an upgrade path.

Thanks, I appreciate the offer...........after further pondering I think I'm asking a question that can't be answered - I mean who the heck would have both to compare? And I'll fess up, I've followed your build thread.....nice to see the setup & coming back after the incident Question though - I understand the wireless controller needs to be plugged in to work & if not lights stay in current state................what happens after a power failure? I'm thinking of the time - the old controller had some form of battery backup to keep the time = it would just comeback t life & start right where if left off. Not a big deal in small failures but if one had a multi hour outage it could mess up some automation (fish feeding springs to mind). As I said I'm leaning Vega as it gives the most options....and if the SOLs worked they'd be nothing but better, price is only $20 per unit more for Vega.

Since I am no LED expert I thought I'd get some better opinions. Upgrading to either the Vega or Hydra..............just can't decide which. On the surface the Vega seems like the better option, it is the more advanced unit................but the Hydra seems like it will meet my needs & save a few $$$$ (that would be very few, like $60 for the whole upgrade). I have been satisfied with my SOLs, while they may not have given the brightest colors they reliable, quiet, and growth was fine. Odds are very low I'll be messing with custom pucks...........though it might provide a cheaper upgrade in the future. Leaning Vega but the Hydra seems to fit the bill also. I did notice that the Vega upgrade has violet while the factory version does not.........hmmmm Thanks (not intended to be a brand versus brand thread - just of the two upgrades)

Yep, any little hiccup gives them something to talk about - self created drama.................they must have all gone to the "Doug of Doom" school of broadcasting. "oh lordy 'recho com'n.......'reccho com'n........oh lordy"

Which means you're as good or better than those on TV or the radio

What kind of hermit? dead kind if the former is true.

Best ever...............one might notice that with a few exceptions the the amount of advice proffered is inversely proportional to the length of time spent in the hobby. I see one arm (though a tool in the other) & it looks to be a glass tank.................so what's the problem?

+1 Most excellent.

LOL - exactly, we needed a study for this?

JBJ - not uncommon. They tend to fail in the on position.

Think it's bad now just wait until you get to my age I like the Mr Clean idea, they work well when used by hand & should work with a magnet. Every single mag cleaner I've used leaves micro marks - even "acrylic safe". YMMV

Rubbish. They do not have emotions, about the only other organism that does would be primates, and maybe some other mammals. Training to respond to a stimulus is not indicative of emotion nor is the complexity of a given behavior. Here's one for ya - define progress. Intellect, oh bummer, that's dropping over the last decade or to put it another way we're devolving as s species.............so much for progress. Have to agree - member H-E-double hockey sticks, try it on any forum, always brings out the "police". Since it is a known reaction, one might ask it if was intentional? Happens on every forum - the self appointed morality patrol come out. First question for them is - how old are all the fish you have? Or have had? All lived to their maximum life expectancy? LMAO, yeah, that's what I thought. I'll not side with them (I wouldn't do it) or against them..........we all walk the line - the fish in a glass box against the predators in nature. Me, I'll focus more on the animals in my care & not worry so much about what others are doing.

Anthropomorphism - how can it be "happy" or anything else. Not much above a ganglion = all it does is eat, poop, breathe, breed. In our tanks fish are alive, healthy (or both) or dead.

+2

Type of magnet used in many pumps - impervious to rust, requires no plastic coating (which fails). There are several types but I believe the type used in pumps is the ceramic composition. No clue why anyone would make a saltwater impeller with a plastic coating & a magnet that will rust. Plastic wears, water gets inside, magnet swells = pump fails. I know rare earth magnets have gone up in price (Tunze switched off them some time ago for mounts)..........but ferrite? Maybe it's a cost savings but it's pretty much a given they'll fail at some point.

I do not understand this at all..........why the heck would anyone use this type of impeller in a pump? Seen this in other pumps such as Eden, same thing, always fail. It's not like Ferrite is $3,000,000 an ounce - so what's the point?

Yikes, that is a small area..............looks to be 1/2" under my first choice that being an Avast CS1. Along with the SWC & Reef Octopus mentioned there's always: AquaMaxx EM200 Reef Octopus Diablo XS 160 Bubble Magus Curve 5 Skimz SK181 Cone Skimmer I tend to like the AquaMaxx & Diablo as they use New Sicce pumps. The Reef Octopus space savers are nice but a bit of a clunky design with the gate valve sticking out. Note on the Skimz - only the SK181, that's the Eden 2000 pump.....all the others have issues. They use weird plastic coated impellers that fail (rust).....the ES2000 uses a ferrite impeller like everyone else = no such issues (I own the Warner Marine version, works great). Didn't mention any budget - there's always the Bubble King Minis, either the 180 or 200

I agree with both comments - but really learn the D40 first. It's very good & can do anything up to some really advanced stuff. Sorry about the RAW term. Raw is basically the data as it comes from the camera, In Nikon's case they are called .nef files. Jpeg images are processed by the camera using the settings you've given it (i.e. white balance). The raw data allows more manipulation in post processing but does require some knowledge/software/effort. IIRC - (big if there) you can hit the "i" button 2x and in the upper right is the quality setting.......select that & change it to RAW. I'd just try all the White Balance settings first & then create a custom one, that requires a gray card - a few bucks @ the photo shop.

You have a some options. I'm guessing that you shoot jpegs given the "auto" setting? This applies the camera setting when the shot is taken = not as much correction is possible. A) Shoot RAW - this will allow you to modify the white balance with software, you have the freedom to change it to match the look you're after (requires software such as photoshop elements, lightroom, Capture NX2........) B) Try all the white balance settings, see which one comes the closest. Given the over abundance of blue in most aquarium lighting you can start with "cloudy" - that's pretty warm. C) Create a custom white balance, guidelines in the link below. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081227133350AA72vgq

Seems the best answer so far. Guess I've been lucky, never had any angel pick on anything...........pygmy, majestic, and two Geniacanthus (watanabei & swallowtail). On the other hand many will say swallowtails are peaceful..........mine ain't. One of my favorite traits - leave them alone & they leave everyone else alone.............start anything with a cherub at your own peril. They fear nothing.

That's what we do with the old Dobie pads, once they're done in the fish tank they get moved to the kitchen.

Same area in the cleaning products aisle - labeled "Dobie". It's textured nylon around a foam (sponge) core. And good points on the Magic Eraser - original only.

Arm in the tank, use the magic sponge to remove all but the hard deposits...............but I only keep the front pane clean. It's an "in wall" design = I only do one side. YMMV Same height and 27" tank means I have no way to reach the back corners anyway (not without going underwater) Yep, you must keep up. I do mine once a week & make certain to remove all the hard deposits (or as best I can). Vacation = may take a couple weeks to get back to where it was, keep the time the same just work different corners. Dobie pad used to take longer (1/2 hour or more). Now it's under 10 minutes with a magic eraser. Previous was to use a pad mag cleaner to remove algae (dobie sucks at this, too textured) & then remove most harder stuff with a dobie. Third step was acrylic scraper. A pain. Magic eraser is one step - it removes algae (smooth) and some more stubborn spots. Final step is acrylic to remove bits of coraline. Fifteen minutes all told. Bonus is the magic eraser micro polishes. But I agree, glass & a razor would be even faster (and I could use a magnet with a razor attached)