BlkWolfe

I bought all my T5 parts individually. Theres a thick white O-ring around the bulb then another thin black one that surrounds the prongs on the bulb. However i tested out the IC660 I had earmarked for the frag tank and it's fried. So being the lazy sob i am, Albert's bringing in an ATI hood for me. If anybody needs IC endcaps/standoffs and SLS reflectors, they'll be up for sale soon. Saves me building a whole hood and mount for my retro anyway. The sump and frag tank are ordered, finally, so 2-3 weeks for that. Soon as the sump is in i can add the third leg at the front of the stand and fill it up. Also hoping to replace my iwaki 100 with something a little less power hungry... Hopefully get a little plumbing done in the next few days as well and the Acrylic is 3/4", shipping was included in the purchase price

Little progress again. Put together a couple timer boxes with power bars, cheap and they work. Also wired up some fans that put most "aquarium" cooling fans to shame.

Lana, Is it a 24" 20g? I might have some lights for you.

When i actually monitored...kept mine around 10dkh

either rinsed the hell out of it or mildly bleached it. Lots of dechlor like Jason said. also worry about P04 and other nuisance algea promoting yummies that can leach out. I had one bucket from an old DSB that grew mats of hair algae for weeks after it was cleaned.

Got a little more done Luminarcs are hung (thats quality, when you get an arched ceiling you didnt even ask for), actinics are in. Also got a layer of egg crate across the bottom with just enough sand to cover

I've had two 10g seamless bows and one 20g seamless bow. The 20g split down the right front bend, fully from top to bottom, and exactly down the middle of the bend. The two 10g's have been fine and in use for about 6 months before they moved to the closet. Buddy has one of the 8.5g "all-in-ones" with the filter in the back wall. Ill ask him how he liked it, but i think he ended up gutting it and just using it for water flow.

Could use a brazilian, if you actually want to see thong...

heh, yeah right Gotta bribe my little cuz to come and crawl in to do a little wipe down. Got the sand downstairs at least. Oh, and the actinics are actually on top of the tank waiting to be mounted with the reflectors... On a positive note, the skimmer is a couple weeks from completion

Throw the rock in tubs/buckets/whatever covered in water. Agitation shouldnt be necessary unless its multi-day Fish...for the less touchy ones, just throw them in a half full bucket. Try to keep temp swings to a min. For more sensitive fish, big rubbermaid or big cooler, run an air pump and heater on an inverter powered by the vehicle. Can even do small powerheads and live rock if you feel it necessary Deep sandbeds, just save a few cups and use them to seed a new bed. Dig up an old DSB and its useless, dont even use the sand again. and dont quote me, but i think bag buddies are a no-no for marine fish

Who would you rather see in a leopard print thong?

Tank was made by Chris at Midwest Custom Acrylics. He built the "1700g stingray reef" in the thread of the same name on RC. The guy building the skimmer for my little monster here also had nothing but good things to say about Midwest, plus the timing worked out perfectly. Course, that was before customs held it for 3 1/2 weeks for an inspection. I couldnt find the pic with the true beefcake in it, but i did find the one with a little corndog, beefcake lite, and our friendly neighborhood Cabana boy

An external skimmer between the tank and sump (overflow directly to the skimmer from the tank, then into the sump from the skimmer) would help clean the sump up, and the whole tank. Maybe a little $10 clip on fan to keep it cooler, kill the lights in the sump if need be. Personally i'd give the sump a good going over and suck all that brown poop out for the moment. can you say sump-cleaning-day?

Wasnt pricing it out for a full reef setup, just as a fowlr (rock and fish only). But i did forget to mention the hydrometer. Supplements and lighting beyond what it already has, except maybe a more marine color friendly bulb, would be wasted. and...now that i reread Lanas first post i see the reef part Thanks for 'splainin for me Christian

All you'll need is some live rock, aragonite based sand, and some marine salt. As long as you didnt use copper to treat any fish in the 10g previously, your half way there. You may even be able to get away with the flow the AC puts out, but another small powerhead for extra flow couldn't hurt About 50 bucks for live rock, 20 for a box of salt, and borrow a cup of sand here and there from other reefers (bring in some biodiversity). The size of the tank will need a little more attention, regular topoffs and a good water change schedule. As long as you have some patience and common sense, its very manageable. It can give you good habits for later and larger tanks. And yep, it would be great for a QT tank once you have the big one

JUST finished the stand. Gonna be have a little fun with the sawzall right away to pull the old stands out. Chris, im ready for a move tomorrow (sunday) if you are Food and beer as always. Wouldnt mind a couple extra hands to make the lift easier. Vapor, that milk had already been "in" wayyyy too long.

Stand is about 3/4 done. Still need to finish cross bracing and the plywood top, then drill for the overflows. Tidbits... Tank is 96x30x32 (399g) Acrylic Lighting will consist of (3) Luminarc III's running 10K's with (4) 75w VHO URI actinics

This was slated as a summer project while the wife was away visiting family stateside. However 3 1/2 weeks at customs blew that all to hell. Which worked out for the best, I didn't have time for it anyway. Now, the wife is back, we're slowing down a bit, and looky looky what the cat dragged in (with a little help from J and Tanker). If my attention span doesn't run out, updates will follow tonight when the stands done.

You might want to double check those wattages. 48" HO T5's are 54w... I've never heard of a 65w T5. There are 65w T6's but those are just PC's :P

5x65W T5? Heh, where the hell did you find that little monster? And just a little constructive critisism, either go deep (4") with the sand bed if your into that, or a thin layer (<1"). I had a 2" bed of sugar sand in my reef and it was a PITA to keep clean. Other than that, looks good and goodluck

What he said. Give it time and they'll catch up.

Keep the aqua clear, dont bother with a canister. Find some aragonite sand (sugar sand, or aragamax select would work), crushed coral is too large and allows all kinds of detritus to settle into it, which will just lead to lots of headaches later, and provides almost no buffering. I would highly recommend using live rock. It'll take care of decoration and biological filtration in one. As for maintenance...My 140g sps reef requires, aside from feeding, dumping the skimmer cup once a day and a water change/scraping every two weeks. Takes me about an hour. My 10g gets a 5g water change every weekend. Since i usually have a couple hundred gallons of saltwater handy, that only takes about 5 minutes. A small rubbermaid and an air pump would work just fine for prepping salt water And no, you dont have to have a skimmer

How long has the remora been running? They'll usually take up to a week to "break in", and youll stop getting bubbles returning to the tank. Then you can start playing with the cup height Don't know anything about the sea clone, sorry As long as your getting gunk in the cups, they're doing their jobs. If you turn them down too low so the bubbles dont make it up the neck, then you might as well unplug em. But while they're breaking in, just run them normally. Just have to live with the bubbles for the time being

They're fine

If you have the time, look for used setups. If you must buy new, i get some of my equipment from J&L aquatics ( jlaquatics.com ). 2 x 250w with ballasts, sockets, and reflectors is about 300 bucks new. If your going to use the rena, pull all the media out and just throw some live rock rubble in there. Every few weeks pull the canister apart, rinse it out, and give all the rubble a good swish in saltwater to get all the crud and detritus off it. i ran a canister at one time and couldnt believe all the crap that accumulates in there. Got an idea of what kind of corals you want?