BlkWolfe

A Jardini would be possible, just wanted something smaller to start with and grow out. i dont have anything big enough to house bigger than a large juvenile, and if i did get something bigger it would probably be devoted to the reefs Call it a learning experience

Go to another retailer. If they are properly caring for their fish, and barring the fish weren't originally collected with cyanide, there is NO reason the fish shouldnt surivive. If they're dying in the bag on the way home, they would have been showing considerable stress and pretty much looked like poop in the tank before they were purchased. Or they have the worst fish bagger north of the 49th If the fish survive a week in his tank then die, there are some serious issues with the tank as well. What are the specs of the tank? Size, rock, filtration, flow, lighting, equipment, stock, ammonia/nitrites/nitrates? If properly cared for, theres no reason most marine species wont live for 20+ years.

Wife and I are taking a bit of a liking to silver arrowanas. Got a tank thats looking awfully empty Whats the going rate on silvers and at what size? Wouldn't want to get ripped off

Yep, unfortunately its real

I've also got some green star polyps and a mix of mushrooms that seem to do ok under the pc's. wouldnt put anything light loving in this though Moogled, the worst part in almost all marine tanks is the live rock part. If you can manage to find a reefer leaving the hobby or downsizing you can get lucky and snag decent rock for $3/lb or even less. Base rock can come even cheaper if you dont mind the usually brown boulders. Seeding that with a little higher quality rock will eventually cover it in coraline and all that other colorful stuff.

the AC500 at the moment just houses the heater and a Fission skimmer im trying out. It also provides all the flow for the tank The original intention was to use it as a little fuge with some LR rubble and some cheato lit by a screw in PC, but i didnt have the clearance for a light the way its currently setup. So the live rock was removed and just used for the heater and skimmer now. Currently houses a pair of 7 year old Ocellaris clowns (my first marine fish, the female is about 3 1/2", the male 2"), and a pair of 3" skunk cleaner shrimp that have since been removed. They all worked quite well together, but things got a little busy and i neglected the little tanks maintenance, so the shrimp were removed to ease the nitrate buildup

Breakdown on a 10g i have on my desk... 10g Bowfront Seamless Tank - $12 18w PC light - $30 AC 500 (fuge/equipment hideout/tank flow) Used - $20 Won Bros 50w heater - $12 15lbs live rock - $45 So about $120 for a 10g My 140g sps reef on the other hand...

You wont be able to rely on the sandbed as your main bio filter. Are you planning on adding a decent amount of live rock Molino? Or just using it for decor and have some type of media in a power filter for your bio filter?

Pair of Ocellaris clownfish that just turned 7

I've been looking into getting something "larger" made. the material depends on what your looking for, what you can afford, and how many friends you got (if it gets big enough). Glass is cheaper, but heavier. An acrylic tank to my size was going to be around 400-600lbs, a glass tank was between 800-1000lbs. Both depending on thickness. Acrylic is clear, it doesn’t have the green tint that float glass does. This however can always be remedied by getting low-iron (one company makes "Starphire" glass that is pretty much used as a generic term for all low iron glass, regardless of company) installed in the pane your actually going to be viewing the tank from. Low-iron is quite popular with the reefing crowd since it lets all the colors through, and there is a noticeable difference looking through a 1/2" of float and a 1/2" of "starphire". Freshwater usually doesn’t call for it though, and can be expensive. Any tank will bow if its built poorly. Large acrylic tanks will have another sheet of material on the top like euro bracing and cross bracing with access holes cut into it for access to the tank and to overflows etc. Acrylic seams are "welded" together to both the pieces, not just glued together with silicon as a glass tank is. And be very, very careful when cleaning acrylic. Its pants-poopingly easy to put a nice little gouge into that brand new acrylic tank while cleaning or scraping the glass. Oh, and acrylic tanks have better insulating qualities than glass tanks, so there will be less heat loss through the material.

I get my PVC and ABS at Bartell & Gibson (not sure on the spelling)

Back on topic eh kids? Btw Albert, the redneck in question makes you look like the long lost asian fabio TheGr8Blade, fill from the hole as albert suggested, and knock off all the bubbles. Its also handy to soak it in saltwater for 5-10 mins before testing. This will at least enable you to mix up batches of saltwater with a similar salinity instead of every batch varying by a couple PPT because of the hydrometers inherint shortfalls. I'd recommend at the very least tracking down someone with a refractometer and checking your hydrometer against it. At best, get yourself a refractometer. They can be found here... Refractometer And here... Refractometer Incidentally, ive had better service and support from the shop in the second link. Your fish will thank you for it, and you'll be providing a much healthier and stable environment for them. Don't forget to aerate your new saltwater for 12-24 hours after mixing the salt in.

There's a "reply" button on the bottom right of the PM i sent you Thank you come again

he's simply using you for shelter and food. Your his sugar daddy Give him a light, he'll be fine in there. A 90g however is not suitable as a permanent home for him as he grows. Clown triggers have a bit of a reputation of going postal as they get older and decimating everything in the tank with them. Then again, if he's alone in the furnace room this wont be a problem.

Razor blade

Ill be down for some of the 3mm pellets when J does his

Neil, does it come in a slightly larger marine pellet? ive got the tiny ones and they're a bit small for my purple tang and lunare wrasse to track down once they've sunk.

I forgot JSTR was holding some NLS marine for me too and picked up a small container of it elsewhere My regal angels love the stuff, even the cleaner wrasse was gobbling it up Ill be getting some sent when J does his order RD

Heh i figured. had a line on one for a decent price (almost what a new remora pro costs) but still wouldnt fit where i needed it

Ever seen any MCE 600's in action? Edit: doesnt really matter, just measured and i cant get one in under the shelf above the tank.

Great post Ron

Inverted pop bottle like dunl said (cut the top off a bottle and slide it back into the body with the end pointing in) most likely your gonna be pulling rock though

I've always had to wait a little while with mine to get full foam production after cleaning

After cleaning you need a thin layer of "scum" to build up to allow the bubbles to make their way up to the collection chamber. Watch your skimmer after cleaning, nothing will collect for anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours until that film builds back up again. However when too much builds up, it will impede skimmate collection, hindering the protein laden foam from "climbing" its way up. Just think of it as a balance. This is why some larger systems use two skimmers. there is always at least one skimmer online, since cleaning a large skimmer and allowing it to do its break-in after cleaning can take quite a bit of time.

Courtesy of Darren Walker, aka Palmetto of Reef-Central