Luke33

Yea, Kessils are a great looking fixture but just not intense enough by themselves for sps. I'm actually thinking about changing my lights to all led :() so may have a fixture available very soon

I'd really like to know what everyone is using around here for their display or fragtank lights. What kind of reef are you running, are you getting good growth...etc. I'd also love to find someone with kessil's on the south side that I can throw a par meter under. I'll start. Display - SPS dominant, ati t5 with two led tubes. Growth is very good for sps and lps. Frag tank - sps only, lumen arc 400w mh with radium, growth is hit or miss depending on species

Yep, sounds like the outdoors is calling on everyone these days. I think there is a swap in Ohio in October, maybe it will be time for a road trip by then. But the crappie may be calling.....

Is that all lol, congrats

Ok people, its obvious its summer as its dead around here! What is everyone doing that is pulling you away from the hobby? I am still all in but have been spending most of my weekends fishing. Nothing crazy has been going on with my tank's besides having a jebao powerhead burn up and cause a bit of a headache. Any news with new setup's or any frag swap's anyone is planning on going to?

I have only seen positive feedback on this light. I mean Giessemann has always made solid product. Do it!

So what ever happened with your tank? You didn't start drinking the RODI and parish from lack of nutrition did you

I say give it a go Bud and let us know how your nitrates do. I have always heard about xenia and nutrient control but do not have any experience.

I know the Bloomington one has sw as well as 106 and Michigan rd.

I dose esv using a dosing pump. I like to keep my alk from 7.5-8 but 7-9 seems like the most common figures. Just keep things consistent

Thanks gorgi, it's growing slowly but surely.

Do I think they are the same coral, probably not but I would guess they are both mari pieces that are extremely similar. There are so many mari's coming out these days I bet the homewrecker is just a nice coral in another couple yrs. It will not be anything out of the ordinary.

How is the build going? You still liking the light?

Nice shots and nice corals. Its funny how your UC bananarama looks identical to quite a few others out there like RR Pink Floyd, RP Pandemonia...etc

Ha, thanks Miles.

Don, in that case I would run the sps ab + schedule everyone I'd having luck with. http://ecotechmarine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Ecotech_CoralLab_WP1.pdf

Hi Don, the gen 4 radions are nice but don't cover a lot of area. The photon v2 from reefbreeders is one I would take a look at. I believe Jacob is running them with success.

My guess is your venture slowly clogs from salt creep or calc buildup at the hole and eventually blocks the air pull enough that the water rises and you overflow.

Its pretty crazy to see how many companies are now using the jebao dc pump's as skimmer pump's. Back in the day you had to make custom volute's to get pump's like the askoll to work well but now we take a jebao and add in a pinwheel and venturi and done. I believe the skimmer manu's using them are - Octopus, Deltec, Orphek, Hi Seas, ATI, Skimz, Simplicity, Coral Box.

Well it sounds like the mass is using the Octo's.

Good to hear. Just saw they were blowing these out for $200 at coralvue.com. How loud are the aquatrance pump's?

I think that was the biggest issue with the SRO's, the pump's are powerful but almost to much as you have to run them in 5-6" water which is odd since no one has a sump with that level in it. Then the splash from the output is a bit annoying. That is why I never ran one. Once you find that sweet spot they seem to work great!

Hi everyone, I was curious what all skimmers we are using around here right now. Can you list the skimmers you are currently using and what you think of them along with your display size? I have really slowed down with the skimmers in the past few years because they are mostly set and forget and there is no reason to modify them. Recently I have been bit with the bug so I've been messing around quite a bit. What I think is a really positive thing these days is all the old skimmer's we once loved are now tossed in the trash in order to use the latest and greatest. What that means is you can generally find an old body and slap on a new pump and you have an extremely cost effective skimmer at a very low price. Skimz SN143 - 40g AIO - Rating would be a B, its a nice skimmer and efficient but the pump is pretty strong for the body Aquamaxx EM300 - 180g Display - Rating would be a C- as the pump is to weak for the skimmer body (recently retired) Vertex IN180 Modified with Jebao DC4000 PW pump - 180g Display - Rating would be an A so far as the pump is perfect for the body and the skimmate is just consistent 30w at 43scfh(1218lph) Air conversion if anyone cared SCFH - L/min. - L/hr. 1 - 0.472 - 28.326

Well, I replaced my diy skimmer this weekend with a old school vertex IN180. Ofcourse i am using a dc4000 pulling 43schf of air at 30w. So far this dude is just tearing it up, i'm pretty impressed. It surprises me how everyone spends hundreds of dollars on a skimmer when in all honesty you can get a used body for 50-100 bux and get a pump for 100 or less. I have been doing the skimmer game for a LONG time and you don't have to spend alot. 24hrs skimmer production.

Ecotech glue on the left, Premium Aquatics glue in center and dollar tree glue on right.