Reefer82

I used to change my prefilters every other di. For me that was about 600gal of product and 2400 gal through my prefilters that were rated at 3-3500. Always seemed to work out well for me. Your water conditions will dictate what you can/can't do though. I have fairly low tds...low 200's

Brandon has an aquafx unit and it came w a refillable di cartridge. Open up and verify that and you may just need the resin.

I saw those two there last weekend. They looked nice. Stewart has one that's pretty big over in Avon. You might ask him for advice as its several years old.

Decided to use my Marineland 28 bowfront that's been collecting dust since August and setup a frag tank. Its being filtered and skimmed by an Octopus BH-100F. Lighting is a 4x24w Aqualiclife T5 fixture w timer. Flow will be provided by a couple koralia 425 nanos with a 750 just waiting on standby if needed. I am using a 150w jager heater and have one of those digital temp/alarm deals on it. The plan is to make a full width 3-4 tier eggcrate rack system. I'm torn on white or black at the moment. Black seems to be a scarcity and everyone I've seen that has it available in town is only special order by the case. I don't think so... that being said if you have a half sheet around you probably have a buyer What are your thoughts on bare bottom and no live rock? I've seen quite a few online that way but never in person. I have a bit of small pieces I could finagle under the rack if necessary or could put it in the outlet chamber of the Skimmer (it has a huge chamber that's easily accessible for filter mediums and whatnot) I planned to run a floss pad and probably a bag of purigen as my filtration and that's it along w weekly water changes.

It reads like its more of an approach to industrial products than consumer systems. I'm sure it could be adapted for consumer use pretty easy but I couldn't imagine what they could charge for a carbon nanotube membrane. Probably $1200 claiming it'll last forever. Lol

What RO/di membrane did you purchase? Is your water treated w chlorine, chloramines, etc? What prefilters and ratings are in place and what's the frequency of change on them? The actual unit isn't of much concern, its what's inside that does the job. You making 100gal a month will quickly burn through di if your seeing high tds out of the membrane.

Ill have to read up on all this. Getting the new tank going shortly and will need to make it as quiet as possible. Not sure what my options are with a factory drilled tank and overflow though. Fwiw Ferguson's plumbing on west 84th St used to carry all kinds of stuff. The catalogs are available online here. http://www.ferguson.com/homeowner/product-catalogs

I have the same light...the lack of any sort of control really sucks. There is no way to dim the fixture unless you crack it open and do some wiring. There are some write ups on that modification out there but I wouldn't recommend it unless you really know what you're doing. The switch is a 3 position rocker so it requires manual intervention to get from blue only to all on for "daytime" the only real option is like Shane mentioned and get a secondary moonlight, leave the main light on all on and use timers to control both. I run lights out from the time I go to bed till I get up. Usually that's 11p-10a. Typically two hours before and after I run blues only and have all on from like 1pm-9p. Seems to work, everything I have is alive, the right color, and not bleaching or melting. The color isn't the best but its because the spectrum the fixture puts out is like 95% 10k. Fwiw I have no algae issues whatsoever so if the gha problem you have is light related its either too long of a cycle or you've got some hidden phosphate/nitrate issues at hand. I swear the light is almost incapable of growing algae...I can't keep it alive. Gha meets a quick death in my tank. A frag of candy cane I got from Jr had that or bryopsis on the base and I just threw it in. 48hrs later it was completely gone.

Dustin, its now time to work on an array for an IR laser grid above your tank.

Reid it's nothing special but I have an extra API saltwater kit you can have that's not expired and probably has well over 50% left in the bottles for nitrite/nitrate. I'm on the edge of Brownsburg/clermont if your reasonably close.

I removed about 15% of my rock once to rid it of mejanos I acquired with no ill effects. I have a decent load of fish in the tank as well.

Well that's good. Maybe they'll pack this one better too!

You should never have tried to fix that... hopefully the company or ups doesn't deny the damage claim because you "tampered" with it. I think I'm about done shipping anything anywhere. I had a light get smashed by usps, a buddy get a car spoiler broke in half by ups, and fedex straight up "lost" a friends computer. Lol. Reefnewby82 has a remora and isn't impressed by it at all. Might be an opportunity to discuss w him and possibly reselect. He's got a decent bioload and it doesn't skim much.

Thanks for having us all out. My wife thought your tank looked really good. Shes getting excited about having a wider tank now. It was super clean, I almost like the lack of coraline on the walls and overflows w the black backing We need to get Brandon a spot on PBS i think. Club funds enough to cover? Lol

Exactly what I was thinking...looks good!

Why have a frame at all? Just attach the eggcrate to itself, cut a stairstep like piece for each side like you would steps on a deck and glue/tie down. I think that would inhibit flow a lot less than PVC would.

I'm running an aquamax hob-1 and am very impressed with it. I have a reasonably heavy bioload in my 44 and it being rated for a 75gal seems to do the job quite well. The pump on it is internal so the only thing in the tank is the uplift tube. The pump is a sicce and extremely quiet. Aside from a low gurgle at 5' its more or less silent. No vibrations of any kind to speak of.

That sucks. The helfrichi is THE fish I want in my tank someday. Just can't bring myself to drop $100 on one.

Heaters are the devil, I'm convinced... That sucks you had to go through that. What size tank do you have? I'm assuming decently sized w the description of rock/fish. The nitrates are probably being caused by all of the life that was lost as opposed to bacteria being wiped out. If you had no bacteria your ammonia would skyrocket and quickly decimate your tank with the Bio load you have. Welcome to the forum and I'm sure if you need a hand or some advice it'll be easily had here. Most of us know each other from the monthly meets which btw one is upcoming this Saturday. It would be a good opportunity for you to meet a lot of knowledgeable people and find out who's nearby. Its always good to know who's around in case of disaster, it could mean the difference of life and death for your reef. I had a cycling Pico tank that had a heater failure several months back and it was literally steaming, water was in the upper 90s and while I saw a small change in parameters the cycle was probably set back a week or two at most.

Ill second the electrical issues. I was testing a k1 out awhile back in the sink and it lit me up like a christmas tree. Easily the worst shock I've ever had. I had never had an electrical issue w any aquarium related equipment before but now I know better.

No problem guys, I got a call first thing this morning to interview with my former employers largest competitor. Maybe I won't get Saturday off afterall, Guess we'll see!

At least its for a good cause and not some life changing disaster as it always seems to bring our tanks to an end. Just remind your kids of your sacrifice when they're older and howmaybe much better off they were due to the experience and maybe they'll surprise you with a nice big tank one day!

Flexible PVC or '"spaflex" as you'll see it sold by in some places is the same as regular sch 40 PVC piping except that's its slightly flexible. It doesn't bend or contort in any unusual ways but for gentle curves or large radius 90's it works fine and smooths out the flow. Its expensive but given the reduction in cost of fittings and potentially fewer headaches down the road its not a bad idea. The only downside is if you need to add to the system later. You have to cut the stuff with a saw, which is hard since it likes to bounce around when the blade bites into it unless you have a few extra hands to help.

Well since The Room Place is in trouble and decided to yank the jobs out from beneath my wife and I this afternoon I suppose we will be attending. We both got a Saturday off for the first time!

I figured it would be alright, just wanted some feedback. I didn't think it even touched phosphates, which is why seachem makes a phosphate remover as well. Either way good to know. There's only a couple visible pellets whipping around. Hopefully the fish didn't ingest too many... I did rinse the bag, unfortunately I was holding it where the seam was ruptured. It was an area probably less than 1/4" so I didn't even realize it.