BeltwayBandit

Well there used to be one... way back in the day someone thought to add gassy windbag as the 5000 post title. That one was removed...

Here they are. The ranks are set up in the admin section. Egg 0 Pod 10 Hatchling 25 Urchin 75 Starfish 125 Tang 200 Reefer 300 Master Reefer 500 Grandmaster Reefer 1000 Uber Reefer 2000 Legendary Reefer 2500 Oracle Reefer 3000

So I have had quite a bit of time to think and ponder over my new setup. I have finally decided to go with the marineland 6x3 300 gal setup. (I think). I have to check and see if they will custom drill a couple of holes in the back for me, if not....well I might get froggy like Bob. But. I was thinking. How can I minimize the number of penetrations in the actual tank and I had an idea. the 6x3 has corner overflows. I'm thinking about drilling a hole in the overflow, about midway down. Then put a uniseal fitting in the hole and run PVC (prolly 3/4 inch maybe 1 inch). Here is a sketch of my idea. This assumes that there is enough room in the overflow for a durso, return, and the closed loop suction.

Ok.. so I changed my plan...somewhat. I found an awesome African Midas Blenny at a local store and purchased him. I have a line on an RBTA (coming soon). My plan is to get the RBTA and let it settle and grow a bit. Then add a pair of clowns, possibly a royal gramma, and finally a mandarin (probably Jan/Feb at the earliest). I need some suggestions on PC compatible corals (NO kenya tree or anthelia.... been there done that). Thoughts?

Huston? What is this planet...Huston?

Yes a 90 at the top is a good idea. I was just trying to illustrate the concept. Sometimes old school is a good thing to remember.

Might I suggest http://www.703flowers.com/

Even at the current prices, MUCH less than the value of my critters!

After Isabel, I ran my 120 on life support with a 300w inverter and my pickup truck. I kept the tank running, and I could recharge the battery by starting the truck. I killed the battery in my truck, but saved the tank. (Fortunately the truck was still under warranty and the dealer replaced the battery at no cost. )

Ok folks. Its time for us to look into the wayback machine a bit here. Sometimes we get all carried away with our fancy gadgets and forget some of the old school tricks of the trade. So you have a power outage. You need 2 things for life support, air and circulation. Why not go with an old school air lift tube. You know, like the one you used to run that undergravel filter on your guppy tank when you were a kid. The physics still work. You get circulation and aireation at the same time. Here is a brief explanation, you bubble air at the bottom of the tube, the rising bubbles create a low pressure area at the bottom of the tube and literally pull water up with them. You bring water from the bottom of the tank up to the top, thus turning over the water in the tank and aerating it at the same time. For those of you who don't know what a lift tube is, I created a simple sketch in Paint (keeping with the old school theme).

the LFS that told me about them had the 5 footer. Tank, stand, and canopy $3000. The stand and canopy leave a bit to be desired for reef applications. Stand is too short, canopy is too short also. The stand and canopy are also rather...unimpressive workmanship. I'm not too worried since I'm going to be building this one into the wall. One other neat trick that they did. All of the tanks are 27"tall. That way they will fit through standard doors. It also means that you can get away with 250w halides instead of 400's if you want. BB

I just saw one of the 5 footers today. I have to say, my first impression was quite favorable. I'm looking at getting the 300 gallon one. http://www.marineland.com/sites/Marineland...00&mid=3228

Tank update. Everything is coming along nicely. I had a bit of cyano in my refugium. That has cleared up, I wasn't too upset by the cyano, since it was in the fuge. No cyano in the main tank. My Jawfish has settled in and built a nice burrow. Really cool fish. He is feeding nicely, my peppermints (lost 1) are all coming out and creeping around. I was able to manually remove the 1 aiptasia that I found (hitchiker on my chaeto). I also found 1 mantis shrimp. I entombed him in his burrow with some epoxy.... I am not sure what I will add next. My long term plan is to have mostly LPS corals and a mandarin. I'm looking to get some acans and maybe some favia and/or tracophylia. I also would like to get some blasto's. I need to wait at least 6 months or so for the pod population to bloom before I get the mandarin. I also have a line on an RBTA. I plan to add that in the next month or so. Once the RBTA is settled in I will probably add a pair of clowns. I haven't decided on what type. I'm a big fan of GSM's but I don't know if I want to deal with their aggressiveness. I will probably also add a wrasse of some sort. My plan is to only have rare/uncommon fish and corals. So long term fish: Clown pair (species not determined yet) Wrasse (not sure what type) Mandarin That will give me 5 fish, which is about all I want in this tank. I might add some dither fish like chromis (I would love some anthias but I don't think the tank is big enough)

A couple of other points. You could also get the postal inspectors involved, since it appears that they were soliciting bids and such before going under there is a high likelihood that some type of mail fraud occurred. Might not get your money back, but could send some folks to jail for a bit! Also, Dave did you check the wayback machine (or some other internet resource to find a cached page for AFY)? Its possible that they changed the address on the website recently to direct inquiries to Tenecor. One other interesting tidbit... if they weren't incorporated then they were a partnership with unlimited liability on the partners, not just the business. A partnership (or sole proprietorship) is the default organizational structure if there are no incorporation documents. Either one of those setups do not shield the individuals from the liabilities and debts of the company. My advice, go get em! here is the wayback for August 2007: (Addy is in NJ) http://web.archive.org/web/20070827103331/...FormGeneral.htm

My Jawfish:

Whew!!! My bluespot jawfish arrived safe and sound.. Even better, he has started his burrow in a perfect place!!! I'm so psyched... I built this tank for this fish, and a mandarin to be added later. I am psyched that my bluespot decided on such a perfect place for his burrow. FYI the burrow is on the far right/front corner of my rock pile. Here is a pic. the burrow (arrow) is right under the rock in the center/front of the tank!!! perfect!

Thats the good stuff! We have so many critters that we are unaware of in our tanks. I love seeing the creepy crawlies when the lights are out. BB

Thanks for the info.

Thanks, I didn't realize how much I missed my tank. Other side of the state, about 5 hours from OBX. I'm in Winston-Salem. You would have to mention that.... the new setup is much better. I have a class in DC on Tuesday nights for the next 2 months. I'll be around. BB

I got my first order from them in today. I have to say so far they are excellent. Decent prices. Flat rate shipping ~$35 with shipping and box charge, only a box charge if order over $225. Everything arrived alive, excellent packing 4-5 bags on each item. Very fast turnaround. http://www.reefhotspot.com/store/home.php

Here he is...

Yeah the base rock is very dense. Also, what you can't really see is that the rock goes all the way from back to front in the left hand corner. Ding ding ding ding ding. We have a winner. He is on the fedex truck right now. Just waiting for the delivery.

No more guesses on my fishy? :( Its a really cool fish.

Nope

My first fish is on its way...just ordered it online. Will post pics when it arrives. Guesses as to what it is might be rewarded..(don't know what I'll give just yet considering I have nothing but it will be fun).