siskiou

Thanks! Will go and check it out soon. The float switch is working great so far. Are any of the plastic ones available locally?

I bought a float switch from Bobby (among many other things! Thanks, Bobby!) and am getting ready to set it up. One question though: is the float switch supposed to be submerged when the water level is at the desired level? -Susanne

Great! Thanks for the info!

The old power sweep in my 20H now requires weekly cleaning to keep sweeping. Since I got a hold of a bunch of used power heads a few days ago, I was thinking of getting a hydor flo and try that out instead. I have a choice of an MJ1200 or an MJ900. Are these too much for a 20H with softies? I also have a smallish Rio somewhere. Does anyone know if the hydor flo fits on maxi jets?

I sure hope so. When I typed in "RO/DI" on the Eugene craigslist, I never expected to actually find anything. And the previous owner was extremely nice and sold me a whole box of other stuff (squid, maxijets, filter bags) for just a few bucks! Just the RO membrane or the other filter media, too? Oh, and since my frequent water changes to fight the diatoms were actually just feeding them more earlier, should I do several waterchanges with the RO/DI saltwater now, or just top off and let the algae use up what's there and then hopefully vanish? Both methods have been recommended to me.

So, after finding out that I've been pouring terrible water bought at a price at a LFS into my tanks, I came across a great deal for a Typhoon III locally. It came with a TDS meter and is currently producing beautiful 0 TDS water. My tap water tests at 31 before filtering. I threw out the first 5 Gallons to flush it, just in case. My main question is: Is it okay for the unit to sit, filled with water, in between uses? I'll probably turn it on about twice a week for a few hours, but won't need it constantly. Will I have algae/bacteria growing in the housings (they're clear), and will the filter media get fouled? I assume most people don't have these running constantly, but I can't imagine emptying out all the housings in between uses, either. (scratch) And now I'm truly shopped out for this year!(whistle)

Yes, that seems to be the case. I guess I'll keep an extra bulb around in case one goes out. For now I'm running one 10k and one Blue+, which is plenty of light for now. Once my algae issues are under control, I'll add the other set of lights, just for a few hours at first.

Yep, the surface gets agitated a little. I do think I could use a little more flow in general. Might put an MJ1200 in there in addition to the CL and return flow.

No picture tonight. It didn't build up enough after my cleanup yet. Maybe tomorrow... PS: what are the mysterious LPPs listed under peoples' post number?

Right you are! I have to remember to buy lottery tickets again, since the last ones were duds!

Not quite. It doesn't have the slimey halo from the pictures. When I blow it off the rocks, it just flies off like brown dust and discolors the filter media brown very quickly (washes out fairly easily). It's not in sheets, like cyano and I can't just siphon it off the sand without taking a lot of sand with it. My bubbles are smaller, too. I'll try and take a picture later tonight when the bubbles appear. Did a big cleaning yesterday, but couldn't quite get it all off the sand, since I only had 5G of salt water mixed and ready. I need to get a larger container and eventually my own RO/DI, but after the recent light purchase my husband is going to blow his top if I suggest anything else in the near future!

None of the LFS close to me test for silicate or carry tests for it. I'm waiting on a reply from Sean to see if he does. I'm thinking diatoms, but my one concern is the sluggishness of my snails. Can diatoms cause this, too? I don't want to add more snails, only to have them slowly fade away. And it's been a good two to three weeks already, with no sign of the brown stuff going away. More the opposite! I've take some of the corals out and temporarily put them into a quarantine, because the zoas and GSP were being choked out by the stuff, no matter how often I blew it off and the hammer frag was looking a bit wilted. They are much happier again now. I'm thinking my old bulbs may have had something to do with it getting started. Now I don't dare run the T5s too long, because the diatoms love then. I've hooked up a canister filter to filter out what I blow off the rocks and have added some carbon, too. I'm cleaning the filter floss every day. Is there anything else I could stick in there, and how often should I change the carbon under the circumstances?

I don't have a phosphate test, but my other levels are: SG 1.024 Temp 78 F (temp did go up to 80 when we had the really high temps last week) pH 8.0 in the morning (working on getting it higher) Ammo and nitrites 0 nitrates about 5 Regarding the age of the tank: my main LR went in at the end of May after curing in a tub for a few weeks. I had a little bit of already cured rock from another tank in mine for a couple of months before the main load arrived. I'm actually thinking it might be diatoms, since it really doesn't look very "snotty" to me, more like a brown dusting. But I do get airbubbles with it at the end of the lighting period and I worry about the snails being so sluggish. I get my water at the LFS, but don't know what their routine for changing the media on their RO/DI is. My current salt is OceanPure. As with all of the salts, I've heard good and bad things about it.

For the last couple of weeks I've had an outbreak that I suspect to be dinoflagellates in my newish 40G tank! It's brown and covers the sand and rocks, but not in sheets, like red slime. It looks more like dust when I blow it off the rocks, and after a day of light the air bubbles show up. By morning things look somewhat better, but not much. My snail have really slowed down, too! Besides raising the pH and siphoning out as much as possible and skimming really wet, is there anything else that helps with this stuff? I've heard it can kill snails, hermits, crabs, fish... In places, hair algae starts to grow where the brown dust really settles in. Should I move the corals into my quarantine tank and leave the tank dark for a week? Will the two fish, a rainford's goby and an eviota goby be okay without light? They would be very hard to catch in all the live rock, but I'd do it if need be! I read an ozonizer can help? Anyone here have experience with these and can confirm that? Water changes and siphoning it off have not had much of an effect so far.

I haven't ordered yet and am still reading! Have you experienced any bleaching of your corals over time, going more and more pastel instead of keeping their original color? And how far above the tank do you have your lights?

Hm, I'm not totally convinced of that, having personally experienced a beautiful tank with absolutely no problems go downhill within a week of putting a new light fixture on. And plants really like the daylight spectrum for speedy growth.

Thanks! Does anyone know if it's okay for the ballast to only run 3 bulbs for a while and leave one slot empty? I want to not run the midday lamp for a while, since I read that it can really contribute to algae growth. My 40G is pretty new and is going through a diatom bloom, with a little bit of hair algae starting to pop up and I'm afraid it will really get going with a 6500k bulb in the mix (but I'd like to have it for later use).

We had serious problems (not just for the tanks, but us humans too) until we put in a cheapo little window air conditioner. It's not really powerful enough for the size of the room, but manages to keep the temp at 75 tops if we close the windows early in the morning, and run a fan pulling in cool air at night. I also have a fan going over the sump all the time, which really makes a difference. My tank temp used to go up to 83 (from 77). Now 79 is tops!

Thanks again, Darren. A touch of warmth wouldn't be bad, but I wish I knew how much one of the GE or ATI Sun adds. I think I'll go with one GE, one Aqualblue, one blueplus, one pure actinic and see what happens. If need be, is it possible to just run three bulbs for a while, and leave one slot empty (in case I hate the GE day bulb)? Or does that ruin the ballast?

The longer I wait, the less I know what to order!(plotting) Do I want to stay away from any daylight bulbs (GE 6700k or ATI 6000k)? Too strong, too yellow? If I put a daylight in the next to last slot, would it still be too yellow looking, with a blue+ and an actinic in front of it? Is the ATI Sun more yellow than the GE? Great tank shots, by the way!

Thanks! Do you have any pictures up of your tank? I'm wanting to order as soon as possible, since the website I'm ordering from has a "going out of business" sale. Do you consider your look as too blue? Should I get 3 11,000k and one blue plus, or two of each? Or two 11,000k, one blue plus and one pure actinic?

How do you change your location? I just put the marker into Eugene without zooming, and landed smack in a train yard, or something! The satellite map is great. It still shows our old car (now dead and gone) in the driveway.

It's supposed to be 100 here for Sunday/Monday. The living room with the tanks is 73 with the help of our trusty old window a/c. Tanks are at 79. If the a/c ever goes out, I'll have to go for the baggies full of ice! I remember the days without the little a/c and it was intolerable in our house by evening. We spent a lot of time at the mall then!

Thanks! Is the color of the screenings of any importance? I've seen them in white, grey, black. And I assume it's best to stay away from the metal version? What kind of look do you get with that bulb combination?