pdxmonkeyboy

Curious if you ever pulled the trigger on any torches? 

I have had jebao powerheads fail.  The pumps though... ROCK solid.  I have the huge 20,000 lph pump on my closed loop. I honestly have to touch it to make sure its on. 

Are you impressed with it? Scott and i were thinking about going halvsies on one. 

 Check my dragon soul torch thread in classifieds.  Have a 2 head.

Nate. If you go that route i have a cabinet saw and plastic blade. I even have professional acrylic solvent. 

So are you good then?  I was thinking a 6 pack for like $150.  They are all named pieces.

I could probably make you up a small pack of some of the classics.  They are pretty, not expensive, and hardy. 

Or i could sell you a tiny frag of something amazing and you can watch it melt away. Lol.

48 minutes ago, Zoolander said:

I can always count on you lol

You and I are the last ones on here with a sense of humor so....

The guy in eugene with the 240 tank for sale has a couple 250 watt setups with bulbs and ballasts.  

Based on your goals of killing everything in your tank, Chromis are going to assure success! 

What is your definition of "cheap"  A cheap torch is going to be at least $50.  

Sent a PM on the 210. Can make it to eugene this weekend.

Cheap and gross is where I strive to be.  LOL 

I found the salifert pretty easy and has enough resolution to measure higher and lower ratings.  And its cheap.  The reality is that the most current thinking on nitrate for SPS is that it really doesn't matter / keep it around 10 or higher.  My nitrates are 20-ish and my SPS have never been happier. 

Based on lots of research and personal experience, these would be my go to checkers.  The are presented in what I feel is overall importance for keeping sps.  If you have more than $1k in livestock I would suggest a full apex and trident as well. 

Alk.. Hannah alk checker

Phos..  Hannah low range phos

Nitrate.. salifert 

calcium.. I used red sea.. but I really don't have an opinion. salifert also good. 

Mag.. just have the fish store do it once every couple months.

If you are dosing elements I would do a ICP test every 3 months with lots of corals, every 6-9 months with a reactor.  (or just add a little iron and manganese and iodine every week).  I am getting off topic LOL

looks like a scolymia to me. 

I have my doubts about copper binding to rocks and then magically unbinding.  This seems to be along the same lines as the "once you use copper in a tank you can never put corals in it again.  I can't imagine that any appreciable amount of copper would bind to your live rock over night.  Plus Jay herndal says " Copper doesn't seek out plastic to absorb onto, not like it does with calcium based sand and rocks."  

Simply running carbon on your tank would get rid of any free carbon in your water. 

I am not certain on the copper kill aptasia but I was raising aptasia in a 20 gallon and topped off the tank with maybe 2 gallon of water at proper copper level... poof.  every single aptasia gone.  They are just anenomes after all. 

I added 8 peppermints to my grow out tank.  They devoured all the aptasia..then starved. Aptasia came back. 

If you can train a file fish to eat them they get after it!  I have a file that ate every single aptasia in my 550 display in two weeks.  I am currently starving a new file fish in the grow out. 

If you can take rocks out...  take them out and put in water with copper in it for a day or two.  All aptasia dead.  Rinse, put back in tank. Shouldn't harm the bacteria at all. 

yo Jdog.  What is that last picture? 

Right?  

Thanks for having absolutely no sense of humor. 

There is a reason that your main tank is referred to as a display tank.  When it comes to sumps I prefer function over form. 

I don't race my corvette with the hood open...  

I decided that it was important to have a nice looking sump so that I could impress the ladies.  I wanted something with multiple colors and some kind of fluorescent trim.  You ever see birds of paradise that clean up there nests by removing all the leaves and sticks and then dance around flashing their bright colors?  That was essentially what I wanted to do with my sump.  It was a solid plan.  I ended up with three of these chained together with 4" PVC and uniseals. 

2 hours ago, sherb said:

Do not use ammonia lockers with copper; apparently it creates toxic byproducts. 

All good information except prime is safe with coopersafe and copper power.  It only forms toxic products if used with cupramine. 

Prime lasts for 48 hours.  So you have yo keep adding every 48 hours. 

watched it last night.  Little puffy so cute!! 

Go to R2R.. there is a wealth of information and all your questions can be answered.  Ammonia can be dealt with by dosing bacteria or prime to lock the ammonia up.  HOWEVER, you can only dose prime with certain types of copper and I can't remember which one .. I believe its the chelated copper.  Copper power?