Rascal

First - my experience with "the hair guy" (I think his name is Oz but I am terrible with names) has been completely different. I think he does a great job. I have always found him to be very nice, helpful, knowledgeable, and concerned about the well-being of the livestock both before and after it leaves their store. Second - it is not just "partially" your fault for not doing enough research before putting livestock in a tank with those parameters, it is all your fault. Not trying to pick on you, but the lesson learned here is that it is ulitmately your responsibility, and yours alone, to educate yourself about the care requirements before accepting responsibility for any living thing. You should never rely on a single source for information. Read a couple of good books, research as much as you can on the internet, and use this forum to help you. If, before you made that purchase, you had posted a question such as "Hey, my Ph is 7.8 and my nitrates are 80-160, should I add _______?" you could have avoided wasting your money and killing the shrimp. You would have received plenty of answers, maybe even sparked a little debate, and then you could have made an informed decision.

Agree 100% with this. If they are congregating on the glass, they are not there for the view. They are feeding on the algae film, which is on your rocks as well. The population will stabilize at a level commensurate with the food supply. No worries. In fact, count your blessings.

This seems like something we (as a club) ought to have.

What he said. Do it anyway. No one in his/her right mind is going to try to evict you for swapping out a regular outlet for a GFCI, especially if you have a licensed electrician do it for you. All grounding probes do is provide an alternate path to the ground. This does not mean it will be the exclusive path.

My $.02 - start a new thread for every question you can't find the answer to. That way, if someone ever has a similar problem and does a search for "+white +tips +digitata", they won't have to scroll through a multi-page tank thread just to find what they are looking for. To answer your question, white tips are sometimes an indication of too much light, but this wouldn't make sense if you're seeing the same thing both high and low in the tank. Is your Alk OK? Then again, it could just be growth tips. Pictures?

This is the easy way. It only works if you have an overflow and sump. First remove any standpipes and filter screens on the intakes, but make sure you have filter socks on all of the outlets to the drains. Then remove as much of the HA as you can by hand, and dump each piece into your overflow. Whatever you can't get by hand, just scrub off with a tooth brush. If you have a lot of flow in your tank most of this should remain in suspension and get swept into the overflow and collected by the filter socks. You can help the process along by collecting as much as possible out of the water column with a net. It goes without saying that the most important step in all of this is to remove and clean out those filter socks when you are done, otherwise the algae will just rot and release its nutrients back into the water.

Awesome!

Dave's right about the inlet on the Darts. Also, they are not pressure rated pumps. You can see the performance curve here. http://www.saltycritter.com/pumps/reeflo-water-pumps.htm Now, you can still get 1200 gph at 10 feet of head, which is why I thought it might work for you as a return pump. But I am not sure it would be the best pump to try to run everything off of. I would particularly worry about how it would deal with the back-pressure of the eductors and the spray-injector on your skimmer. I also think this is related to why the Dart's are so quiet -- low velocity means low noise but also less power. I believe the Barrucuda is a pressure rated pump so it doesn't have those characteristics.

You'd think after all this time we'd be able to find some reliable Db ratings for these pumps, right? My tank is also in my living room. I've used a Pan-World 100PX-X. With Dandy's mod (removing the fan and replacing it with a super quiet computer fan) it was tolerably quiet but . . . Then I switched to a Sequence Dart. 1/2 as loud, if that. The Sequence Snapper uses the same motor but a different prop, so the noise should be similar. You'd have to figure out which one would give you the flow you want given your head pressure. Either way, you could throttle either of them down if you wanted to to. Bottom line, they may be slightly over budget (what isn't in this hobby?) but if noise is the issue, these are QUIET pumps.

Chris: Good job seeing these things before they made it to your tank. If possible, you might want to cut out and discard any of the dead spots and make frags out of the healthy parts. AEFW like to lay their eggs on the recently killed parts. I don't think its ever safe to assume that you got them all with manual removal. As far as treatment, whatever you do, do it for at least 3-4 weeks, and repeat every five days. The reasons for this are (1) nothing kills the eggs; and (2) the FWs are reported to take 5-15 days before they reach sexual maturity and can lay new eggs. The good news is there are actually several things that will work. The bad news is that none of them are like interceptor. This is all tough medicine. I had good results with the FW Exit treatment at high doses, but I wouldn't rely on that entirely to eradicate the buggers. It might work, but for 100% confidence I think you've got to hit them at least 1x with something stronger. Most people will recommend levamisole, but my personal experience with that wasn't good. Granted, that's because I way overdosed it in duration and frequency, but still. I think it is just really hard on the xooxanthellae, and thus the coral, especially after repeated doses. It is very hard for the coral to recover. Don't discount the tried and true either -- TMPCC will definitely kill them. I also really liked 2 little fish's Revive Coral Cleaner. Benefit to this is very short dosing period and the corals seemed to tolerate it well (although it smells just like pinesol which is a bit scary to be dunking corals in). It looks like you've already done some manual removal and maybe a dip. If I were you I would hit them 1 time with something strong like levamisole, tmpcc or Revive, and then repeat treatments every 5 days with FW Exit for a month, inspecting with a magnifying glass every time. It is very important to make sure you really blast the coral with flow (direct flow from power head is best) after each treatment prior to removing it from the dip. A lot of the treatments will only momentarily stun some of them, but it is possible to blow them off of the coral at this time so they can be dumped out with the water you used for the dip. Good luck and keep us posted.

Dave: Not sure how broad is your definition of "bad ones", but FWIW those are definitely not AEFW.

I know how it feels. My tank is fully recovered now. 5 months since my bout with AEFW and no signs of the little buggers. I haven't added anything new since treatment. Still don't have much in the frag tank yet, but I could give you some small frags from the display. Rose, Pink, Blue, and Bubblegum Milles, Purple Stag, blue tort, lavender stag, green birdsnest . . . . LMK

Just set your heater to 79.5 so you don't have more than a 1 deg temp swing during the day and be glad your tank temp only rises to 80.5 without cooling it.

Agree with what has been said about the seems for your extension idea. There is nothing (that I know of) that will make a strong watertight bond between acrylic and glass, so you'd really be relying on the strength of the bond between the acrylic extension and plastic rim of your tank. I imagine you'd have to use Weld-on to create that bond, and I certainly wouldn't want to work with that stuff right on top of my tank. Another consideration that hasn't been brought up yet is what effect this would have on the seems at the bottom of your tank. When you increase the depth of your tank, you will also increase the amount of water pressure at the bottom of it. Take a look some standard tank dimensions and the thickness of the material used in those tanks, and you'll notice that the single biggest factor on how thick the material has to be is the height of the tank. You may not be increasing it all that much, but it is something to think about. I don't think you would. Drilling holes in glass can seem daunting until you've done it once, and then you realize how easy it is. For a tank like yours (glass less than 1/2" thick I'd imagine), it should take no more than 15-20 minutes to drill two holes and install the bulkheads. You don't have to drain your tank all the way. I would only drain it to 1/4 - 1/3 of its current level. This should leave plenty of room for your fish to be OK (better than catching them and sticking them all in a 5 gallon bucket anyway), and any corals or anything else left on the rock will be more than fine for the short amount of time it would take you to do this project. (Think of those pictures of reefs exposed during low tide - baking in tropical sun for hours). Another good tip is put a piece of bubble wrap on the surface of the water and tape it to the side of the tank below where you will be drilling the hole. This will keep most of the glass dust from falling into the water. For the inevitable pieces that do fall into your tank . . . don't worry about them. At worst you will have just added a teaspoon or two of silicone-based sand. Another option would be to add an external overflow box like this: http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?show...amp;hl=external A lot more work than just a couple of bulkheads, but probably still less than what you are thinking of. Good luck whatever you decide.

I have a little more than 200+ gallons. . . currently use 2 x 150W heaters; canopy fans go on w/ MHs, sump fan in basement w/ dehumidifier, and 1/4 hp drop-in chiller. Some thoughts . . . - Redundancy is key. Don't assume any piece of equipment is foolproof. Ex: After a temp probe malfunction on my AC, I now have my chiller plugged into a ranco temp controller which in turn is plugged in to the DC8. Both controllers would have to fail for there to be a problem. - Keeping the house temp as stable as possible helps a lot - My take on "the great temp debate": If possible, find your tank's set point and go from there. In other words, within acceptable ranges (say, 78-82), the best temp is the one that is easiest to maintain without using either your chiller or heaters most of the time. For example, in my house with the temp at around 70, all of the pumps and actinic lighting make the tank's temp around 79-80. So that's where I set my controllers. The sump fan comes on at 79.5, and the heaters if the temp gets close to 79. I don't use the chiller until the temp gets above 80. Most days the chiller only comes on when the MH's are on, and the heaters only turn on when the temp drops at night (having the fuge and frag tank lighting on reverse cycle helps with this too). In the summer the house temp will be around 72, and the tank's "set point" will increase as well. I have a powerful enough chiller now that I could maintain the same temps as now, but instead I will just gradually increase the temp .5 deg / month for the next few months, and then adjust it back down in the fall. This way I use a lot less electricity and it is easier to keep the temps stable. - Get a big enough chiller to do the job, but use sump fans as your first line of defense since they use way less electricity. - Having used both an inline and drop-in chiller, I much prefer the inline for flexibility of installation. The drop-in chillers really need to be right next to the tank in order to work. With an inline chiller and a basement sump, it is also possible to gravity feed the chiller instead of relying on a pump. - Either locate the chiller outside or vent the exhaust. This is critical IMO, especially in an enclosed space like your basement fish-room. If you put a 1/4 or larger chiller in here and don't vent the exhaust, you will turn that room into a sauna. -- Redundancy is key (Hey, I said that twice )

Agree with all above I think. Easiest and safest way is to try to get it dialed in so that Alk input = Alk consumption. Then use 2-part to raise Alk to where you want it. Much less chance of overdoing things that way, and much easier to get your Ca reactor to the "set and forget" point, which is really the best part of having one IMO.

I too don't think it is a problem with adequate water movement, surface agitation and a good skimmer, but here's an idea to artificially "shorten" your tank . . . Add a 6 " deep sand bed. Hide the bottom 5" with trim. There, now you have turned a 29" tall tank into a 24" tall tank with a 1" sand bed.

Not sure if you need the maxijet in there for flow, but IMO the problem is usually light. If you haven't already, try the power compact flood lights you can get from HD or Lowes. They have built in reflectors and really put out a lot of light at relatively low watts (15-17 for most of them). Generally lower Kelvin is better (2700 - 5500) for growing chaeto. There are a lot of good reasons to use a reverse light cycle, but if you are having trouble growing it I would try leaving the lights on 24/7 for a while and see if that helps. Depending on how big an area you are talking about, you might want to get more than just one bulb as well. Hope this helps.

Dave: I have had a few 6-lines over the years and have never known any of them to eat pyramid snails. I think the problem with using wrasses as biological control for these pests is that the snails tend to come out at night, while the wrasses are sleeping.

Haven't had much luck personally. Bought 2 -- ended up with one after a week. Bought 3 more for a total of 4 -- ended up with 1 after a few weeks. That was probably over a year ago and the lone survivor (my son calls him "Tuckerfish", after himself) is still doing great.

I've thought about rigging a dremel cut-off wheel to a maxijet somehow, so it could be used inside the tank.

Under any and all circumstances . . . yes. A pump cannot take in more water than it is pushing out (unless it is leaking). I agree with Dbartco -- wouldn't use an overflow for a closed loop. I'm not sure I'd even call that a closed loop. More like a sumpless return. Either way, it just seems to me there is an unnecessary risk of failure and headaches and I don't see any benefit to over using Melev's design. I think Bruce (bbyav) made something similar to this not too long ago. Do a search on here for "closed loop" and you should find the thread.

Like ErikS said, make sure it is the stand and not the tank itself that is off by using a reliable straight edge like a carpenter's level. If it is the stand and it's of by that little, a couple of hours with some sand paper (or about 15 minutes with a belt sander) might do the trick. Worked for me anyway.

I think Davelin did a bunch of research on this when he was setting up his tank. You can find some of the discussion here: http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?show...p;hl=arc++fault. If I remember correctly, he ended up using Arc-Fault breakers with GFCI outlets. I think the GFCI breakers are not as sensitive as the outlets.

Just FYI -- the circuit breaker is not the same as a ground fault circuit interrupter. The former only trips in the case of an overload -- too much current going through the device. A GFCI will trip when there is more current going out of the hot side of the outlet than there is coming back in the neutral side of the outlet. Strictly speaking, they are designed to prevent electric shock and not fires caused by arc-faults, but I have never had one fail to trip when there was a short caused by something getting wet.