andy

I LOVE the Kessel 160. No fringing or disco-effect visible in the tank, really bright at 100%, on-chassis color and brightness controls, plus a decent controller available. Total win for a relatively shallow tank. Pics are rough though, LEDs freak out camera sensors. Everything looks like old-school Radiums

I just got distracted by other stuff :-) The tank is still a work in progress. I'm gradually adding coral, nothing fancy... and I still love the small tank. No skimmer, 15 mins of maintenance once a week.Too easy. I'll try to get a picture this weekend.

Heartbreaking. SO little margin for error in this hobby :-( Best of luck on the recovery.

You got my vote! great stuff..

Ok, thanks for the info.

I guess I'll try mine in the shadiest spot in the tank. I'm reluctant to lower the lighting, everything else seems really happy.

Meteor Shower..

Hmmm. High flow is going to be a problem. Not good.

Will do, it'll be a couple of weeks though... got other stuff going on right now. Thanks.

Good thinking! I'll have to do that.

I've never used one, but I hear dosing pumps work well for this. When I was dosing kalk, I had the AquaLifter push fresh water through the kalk reactor, rather than pull limewater... just an idea, if you are using a reactor.

I can turn down the Kessil, I'm running at ~60% -- you think the Cyphastrea is overlit?

My new cyphastrea is refusing to show any PE at all. I've moved it around but haven't found the sweetspot yet. There's a lot of conflicting info re: ideal light and flow out on the web. Some says low light and medium flow, other high light and flow. Any advice for getting those chubby polyps open and colorful?

Change in plan: The Hydor stopped working, and their customer support is as useless as _______ on a _______. So, it's back to my beloved Tunze (I'm eating my words re: float switches) for a Nano Osmolator. Works first time, every time. It's super-sensitive just like onefang said. Plus, those crazy Germans engineer everything to the Nth degree The only downside? The pump sounds like a two-stroke motor and is super-powerful (lots of water, very fast) I might just hook up a relay to the Osmolator and use an AquaLifter instead. I've also added more livestock... good sized chunks of Strawberry Fields monti and Armageddon zoas from Beer503. Man does that Strawberry Fields grow fast! Beer503 warned me, but still... crazy growth. Also have a nice green/orange/purple acan and a Meteor Shower cyphastrea from OiaB. And, needing a pelagic fish to keep things looking active... I bought a Decision Fish. That is, a small Banggai Cardinal that'll outgrow my tank in about 12 months prompting a decision: upgrade, or trade in the fish

I love a Banggai Cardinal in a reef tank; they just meander around above it all. IME groups tend to fight down to a single survivor, so a single is best unless you've got a breeding pair like Jmanrow :-)

That's a good one. I was gonna say "people trying to maximize their income" but that'd probably be too cynical.

Welcome aboard, and happy reefing!

Heh, thanks but my 10gal PetSmart Special is enough tank for me. Don't need one of those giant 20 gallon jobbies complicating my life ;-)

Welcome back. All the cool kids are doing it ;-)

Evidently, Pacquiao had a shoulder injury going into the fight and the NSAC refused his camp's request for a shot to settle it down. I don't think it made that much difference when it's all said and done.

I'm not a huge fan of either of them, honestly. Of the two, I'd rather see Pacquiao win but I don't see how he gets there -- he doesn't have the power he did at lightweight, and Mayweather's defense is still the best in the game. Mayweather by decision

In my experience, quality pays for itself. I've bought cheap stuff and have pretty much always regretted it. I've seen others cheap out, and end up getting what they pay for too. If you feel differently, or have a different experience that's fine -- but that's your experience, not mine. And of course things cost more on a bigger tank, but you've got a much bigger livestock investment to protect so I'd argue it's even more important to go with better gear... but again, that just me. I don't pay your bills. And I certainly agree that basic husbandry outweighs equipment -- that's why I said "Go slow" twice. I don't think anyone is saying that lighting is the single most important variable in maintaining a healthy reef. I'm certainly not.

Everyone's situation is different, but I see a lot of "penny wise and pound foolish behavior" in the hobby. It's easy to talk yourself into cheap equipment to save a few bucks today, they pay... and pay... and pay far more over time with livestock losses, 'fixes' like goofball supplements and other 'medicine' (snake oil, almost across the board) and a list of other band-aids. Go slow, get quality equipment and healthy livestock, then glow slow again.

Thanks for the frags! You've got a great collection, and a really nice tank.

Me too! :-) PM sent on monti.