Jeff & Norlaine

I am running out of ideas... temperature? I have some float magnets for cleaning (Magfloat?) and I keep them out of my tanks as I opened one up some time ago and found extensive corrosion so I assume it was leaching something or other. I have also found that many submersible pumps (Genx and similar) are not as well sealed as they could be and there are rusting parts so I use them only when absolutely required and remove them from the tank otherwise. It must be something fairly toxic for it to impact your fish so quickly. I have heard, but not experienced, that cyanide captured fish have weakened organs and often die during acclimatization but clowns are so hardy this seems unlikely. I hope you solve it. Do let us know.

Alright! tyvm I have used these guys a couple times http://www.diamond-drill-bit-and-tool.com/...-Drill/MAIN.htm

It is relatively common to keep live rock moist like this during transport and I have not heard of any problems from the ink or other chemicals leaching from the newsprint. A fish lying at the bottom of the bag inactive while aclimatizing is unusual. It may be that 2 hours is too long to acclimatize given the size of the container. Is the tank itself well oxygenated? Are you using an overflow box and/or a skimmer to provide oxygen and gas exchange? If not, then definitely add an airstone to the tank and consider an airstone and a larger container when aclimating fish. The salinity should be checked with a meter or refractomer. The swing arm devices are notoriously inaccurate. You can also use a good hydrometer such as you would have for making beer Good luck! Jeff

I Thought I would share these thoughts for anyone else buying skimmers. In the past I started with a 90 gallon tank, moved to a 180g and a 135g running off a shared sump. Currently I just have the 180 and a 90g sump. I am in process of installing a 400g with a 135 sump. I started with an ASM400Gplus which is very similar (identical?) to the Euroreef but made of a thinner and cheaper acrylic than the Euroreef so about half the price but you have to be careful you don't break it. It worked OK but it was hard to keep it at the optimal level and the level control mechanism is not that accurate (output tube that slides up and down). You can mod the outlet to add a gate valve (which you might consider with the Euroreef as well). I never got around to this. The collection cup was broken during my move to Calgary (move insurance covered this but I haven't replaced it yet) I added a Tunze DOC 9020 when I went to the two larger tanks. The Tunze is very compact and meant to handle up to 528 US gallons (marketing claim). This skimmer was twice the price of the ASM and looking at it you wonder how it could keep up but it works very well, and is very compact and is very easy to adjust. I do not fiddle with settings for this unit after cleaning. It is very easy to use. It is also small enough that when I want to give it a thorough cleaning I just put it into a bucket with some vinegar and water and let it run overnight. The only problem is that it doesn't do a great job of gas exchange just because of its small size. Finally I have a 5 foot tall dual injector custom built skimmer. This is an external skimmer that I run off a panworld ps200 high presure pump. This skimmer is very powerful and allows level adjustments with the gate valve on the output and air control on each injector. This does a great job of skimming and the gas exchange is unmatched. It is very tall, loud, requires a powerful pump, the injectors need periodic cleaning and I also find it is as difficult to control the level of the skimmer as with the ASM. It cost me $500 for the skimmer (it was used from a marine fish store that upgraded their in-store skimmers) plus about $300 for the pump. In the future, if I have a fish room for equipment I would always get the biggest tallest skimmer I could find as the performance is really terrific. If I was forced to put my equipment in a cabinet I would go with the Tunze. I don't think I will ever go back to the ASM/Euroreef style skimmer. Possibly if it was a large cabinet I would try an Octopus style recirculating skimmer to improve on the gas exchange. I hope this helps someone save some money in the future! Jeff

I called around to all the marine stores in Calgary a couple weeks back. They all had them. One place was half the cost - about $7 or $8 for 1 inch bulkheads. The had lots of different sizes. These are marine aquarium stores - not the general pet stores.

Thanks so much! All of you! I will have another go at it and see if I can find it now. Much appreciation! Norlaine

We tried to find Gold's when we first arrived a couple of weeks ago. We are not familiar with Calgary and still just getting lost a lot. Anyway, we would up in some very industrial area and couldn't find the store. Any hints as to how to get there? We're coming from just outside the city, west on the Trans Canada.

Hi, we are new to Calgary and trying to set up our marine tank here before shipping our livestock from Winnipeg. I am having trouble finding stores that sell the types of products I am looking for. Right now I am trying to find a GenX pump (GX4100) - a submersible one that will move 1000 gallons an hour. If anyone has some suggestions of retailers to try I would appreciate it very much! Thanks in advance...

Thanks Boss. I appreciate your help Jeff

Thanks for all the welcomes! We have had lots of responses from different forums on the septic topic and have done some further research (way too much technical reading!). Some of the first posts we read on this subject said it would ruin our septic field - that could be a $10k - $20k or more problem. Upon further research it seems this likely won't be a problem if we keep control of the water changes so we are going to go ahead and set up the tank and investigate practices that limit the amount of water changes. Thanks again for the welcomes. Jef & Norlaine

Thanks for the number. If I ever meet Mitch I may have to buy him an answering machine. What about "Gary"? Who is this? I want a well-made tank. I have made two requests for quotes so far - one from Calgary and one from Edmonton. One is a higher end "do it all" sort of outfit and the other doesn't actually make them at their shop but they farm it out. My preference is to deal directly with a high quality builder that doesn't drive a Porsche. Is this Gary? Thanks for all of your comments and thoughts so far. As an aside I have started to shift my rock from the 180 to the 135 - I am going to try to take the 180 offline and get the movers to take it to Calgary. My fish look confused. This is not any fun at all Jeff

Does anyone have contact information for "Bow Valley (Mitch) or Gary". I tried searching for Bow Valley and found a couple different phone numbers but no one answers. And I don't have a clue how to reach Gary. Any help is appreciated. Thanks! Jeff

I am looking for a builder of a large tank (120"x28"Dx30"W) and cabinetry in Calgary. Who should I contact? This thread mentions Mitch/Bow Valley, Gary (??), Gold's... is there anyone else? To clarify, I am looking for a glass tank - not acrylic. I appreciate your thoughts Jeff

I am moving to a residential neighborhood west of Calgary that has 2 acre yards, community water service and a septic field in my yard. What do people with septic fields and reef tanks do with their water change water? This is a nice neighborhood so I can't just create a "dead spot" in my yard. I have heard completely opposite opinions on reefcentral - "it will be great for your septic field" and "it will kill your septic field" I would really like to hear from people in a similar situation. Thanks for your thoughts. Jeff

I used Reef Bones for my base rock. It's the same idea - dry rock. It is cheap and works great. I used it for all the areas where it was going to be mostly covered. I also cut it up and attached it to eggcrate that I used to cover overflows and parts of the back wall. It is much more cost effective than live rock and as long as you use a variety of live rock from different sources it will all look live in a few short months. If I had to start over I would do the same thing again. Jeff