YBeNormal

Your corals can be out of the water for a few minutes and any fish can survive in very low water levels for the short period of time that it will take to move the tank. I'd drain the tanks down as far as reasonably possible (more than 6"), move the tanks quickly and fill 'em back up.

Per the Vendor Terms of Service, vendors are not allowed to respond to this type of thread, nor are they allowed to respond through other members. You might want to contact each of our sponsoring vendors individually.

Hand tight is not the same for everyone. Some people have a very strong grip and can get a good "hand tight" seal. Others need to use a wrench to get the nut that tight. Just be very careful if you use a wrench. You should only have to turn the nut 1/4 turn or less.

Of course! Didn't you receive my response? I sent it at least 15 seconds ago!

Troy, I missed the payment you sent in via the payment gateway. I fixed it a few minutes ago and you should now have full member access. Sorry for the hiccup.

Lookin' good! I hope you have a wide patio door to bring that into the house. Most standard entry doors have openings are only 36" wide.

Sorry guys and gals, I had to hide the original post and responses regarding pending legislation that may or may not affect us and the pet industry. Guidelines for our nonprofit status specifically forbids lobbying for or against any political candidate, legislation, etc.

Thanks everyone but I really played a minor supporting role in this project. Sonya and Chip came up with the basic idea and we worked together to come up with a very rough sketch in about an hour. Sonya provided detailed measurements of the existing tanks and shelving a week or so later that we relied on for the entire project--very important--and the measurements were spot on! Chip and I did the frame construction together and Sonya did the hardest part, staining and finishing the wood, then all three of us worked together to install everything. I have to say, I enjoyed this project more than any project I have worked on in the past two or three years! And yes, it really does look even better "in person". Kudos to Chip and Sonya for coming up with the great idea!

So when are you going to align the doors and put the finishing pieces on the wall already? I mean, come on...it's been over 24 hours since I left your house! Seriously though, the tanks really look great, especially in person.

Table saw.

Even with the best of automation, things can go wrong and it's a good idea to have a trusted, experienced reefer drop by to check on things. Most of us have developed friendships with WAMAS members that live close by and almost all of us are more than willing to help out a fellow WAMAS member.

Yes, you are allowed one sales post in the general forum if you are getting out of the hobby. Hobby related items only of course and you must include prices for all items. Where are you being transferred too?

Nice job!

Good choice! Besides being a WAMAS sponsor, AWI has a lifetime guarantee on all parts and they stand behind their guarantee!

...and less than half of them were by Jason the Filter Freak!

What should I be looking for? >> A common unit that does not use proprietary filters. I think that rules out Kent Marine. Do they all pretty much do the same thing or are some better at filtering than others? >> They all do the same thing. Some are more efficient than others and the non-proprietary ones use interchangale parts so they are cheaper to maintain over the long run. What should it do? >> Look for one with 5 stages (or more). The first stage is for sediment, the next two stages are for carbon, then comes the RO membrane, followed by the DI resin. The sediment filter removes large particles. The carbon filters break down and remove chlorine and chloramine and other chemicals. The RO membrane is the workhorse of the unit and removes most of the remaining impurities. DI resin mops up and anything left after the water goes through the RO membrane. What brands do you like? A lot of us use Air, Water, Ice products. They are a WAMAS sponsor and offer a discount for orders placed by club members. The Filter Guys and Buckeye Field Supply are two other popular online vendors. Most of the LFS in our area carry RO/DI filters as well. Are they easy to install? Water line in, water line to waste and water line to the product output. Two screws mount the entire assembly to the wall. Maybe a 10 minute job! What is the upkeep like? Depends on your water demands and your source water. I change the prefilters every 4-6 months, the DI resin every 6-9 months ('cause it's cheap, not because its' exhausted) and the RO membrane should last 3-5 years. Really bad source water and water with high CO2 concentration (i.e. some well water) will wear the filters and resin out sooner.

You can adapt that setup with an $8 relay from radio shack and an old 9VDC or 12VDC walwart, and I'm sure you have one or two of them gathering dust somewhere. If you are really into DIY and want to get a little fancy, search for the ATO builds I posted in the DIY forum.

DIY electrical work is OK if you know what you are doing. Considering the types of questions you are asking though, my suggestion would be to have a licensed electrician do the work or at least give you a hand with it. We have a couple of them in the club that have helped other club members and I understand their rates are very reasonable. That said, I would consider two 15A runs rather than one 30A run for redundancy and yes, #12 is too small for 30A. You would have to go with #10.

It was a spammer. I deleted the posts and the spam account.

I don't like the idea of having 120VAC running through one of those $6 switches and submerged in a sump. Use of a 9V or 12V DC power supply and a relay makes the setup much safer IMHO.

Then I recommend you stick with that set up for now. The decision point is partially a matter of personal preference and partially driven by your specific circumstances. Each of the three options achieve the same objective, reaching and maintaining the desired level of Alk and CA, and each option has pros and cons. Most people start with two-part as it is relatively easy and does not require an investment in expensive hardware. The next option is often to switch to kalk stirrers due to rising Alk/Ca demands or to eliminate the need for manual daily supplementation. Some people accumulate lots of high demand corals over time and find that the kalk stirrer can no longer keep up with demand. The choice at that point is to use the kalk stirrer and supplement with two part or to move up to a kalk reactor.

http://en.microcosmaquariumexplorer.com/wi...rvest_Realities

Stripping (messy), sanding (lots o' work), staining, applying new finish, sanding, applying more finish, maybe sanding again and applying more finish...no fun at all. Maybe you can skin over the stand instead?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention the visit by Happy the Clown (hope I got the name right!). He was a big hit with the kids--even one of the bigger kids! Sorry James, I couldn't resist...

I haven't missed a quarterly meeting since I joined the club and I enjoyed this one more than any of the previous ones. The presentation by Ned and Anna was very interesting and the conversations at dinner afterward was just as entertaining. They really are great people and have a lifestyle that the rest of us can only dream about. Special thanks to BRK for donating the 48" Orbit T5 light fixture that I won in the raffle. I guess I will set up a frag tank after all!