Ron Popeil

i think youll be much happier in the long run with T5 rather than LEDs. 

im running an 8 lamp ATI Power module. im not doing any of the fancy lamp dimming it can do, just on/off T5s and letting the LEDs handle the actinic and dawn/dusk. 

while i wish i would have gone with 10 lamp fixture, im very happy with the 8 lamp. im not sure what type of reef youre planning on creating, but if youre going mostly SPS, id suggest you go with 8 lamps for the best coverage. 

i have my pump at full power right now, i dont think a bigger pump is necessary. if you do plan on running a herbie style overflow, i think a manifold off the main pump may cause drain issues from what i remember reading. just so far as you may see fluctuations in your over flow water level....which then affects the quietness of the system. 

17 minutes ago, R-3 said:

That’s kind of what I figured out! What size simplicity pump are you running? 

im telling you, the quiet drives are not just quieter than the originals....THEY ARE SILENT. 

im running the simplicity DC1600 

i had two original mp40s and after i switched my return pump and skimmer to Simplicity DC pumps...the vortechs were the loudest part of my aquarium and they became increasingly obnoxious. i invested in two mp40 quiet drives....and HOLY CRAP. 

quieter than silent. and they move a tremendous amount of water.

i know theyre ridiculously expensive. but you wont be disappointed and you wont have to buy crappy powerheads first and then wish you would have just bought the best. 

ryan, i strongly recommend you make your aquarium as simple as possible. if you dont mind me asking, why did you choose two filter socks? long term, do you really want to wash and replace two filter socks constantly? 

forgive me if you already know what a herbie style overflow is, but ill explain mine here: in the overflow for this aquarium, you have two holes. one hole will be your full drain, this pipe comes up just about 3/4 of the way of your overflow. put a cover of some sort over this, so that you dont impede waterflow, but prevent unwanted objects from being pulled down. the other hole will be your emergency drain. this extends barely above the water line of your overflow and below rim of your aquarium. cover this too! 

below the full drain, you have a gate valve, it has to be a gate valve. this goes into my (only) filter sock just below the water line of my sump. the emergency drain also connects to a pipe below the water line of my sump. it takes a bit to finesse the system, but once you dial it in, you get every gallon per hour of your return pump going down your full drain pipe. you want just a little trickle going down the emergency drain, as much as you can tolerate.

this set up is SILENT in comparison to your durso. 

for me the hum of the sicce return was too much. no amount of rubber feet or suction cups could stop the resonation. the switch to a simplicity DC pump was amazing. 

i think i use a shark magnet, i had it laying around from the old days. scary powerful. i use that for as long as i can before i need to bust out my kent scraper for the coralline. 

hope this helps!

two questions for you:

1. what overflow method are you using? (i highly recommend herbie style)

2. how important is noise to you? i found my sicce return pump to be too noisy. so i went with a simplicity dc pump. SILENT. 

noise was very important to me and now my tank is eerily quiet. which is awesome. 

hello hello! no, just stalking all of you from sunny florida.....i was so excited to see ryan with the same tank as me and wanted to follow along with his progress. 

hi ryan! i also have the marineland 150DD and i absolutely love it. although, now i secretly wish i would have gone with the 300DD! I like your open rockwork too. like you, im a fan of a few big rocks to set up the structure, and leave lots of empty space. here is my tank when i set it up last year (using rocks i bought at waves back in like...2007!)

and here it is this year....way too filled with SPS

hello everyone, sorry been super busy. i have responded to PMs.

Reef Madness, just that specific tank is available, the rest of the system is in use.

Thank you!

here is the kalk stirrer.

the sea swirls are about 4 years old. some work, some do not. they are 1" and working ones $50. non working ones $30 (easy to fix)

Mike, it is the third tank down seen here.

white lumen max elite with glass and 10k halide lamp - $75

lumen arc reflector with custom 24" dual T5 with lamps - $75

kalk stirrer KR140 $100. never used.

57w Aqua UV sterilizer $100

5 lb bucket of substrate for FW aquarium

piece of driftwood

$25 for both

I also have an acrylic frag system/qt system. i believe it is 36" x 12" x 12" $50

numerous other odds and ends from halide lamps and sea swirls.

will take cash or trades for SPS.

thank you!

i am running two Sols on a 24" x 24" 60 cube and have been exceptionally pleased. for your system, if you have spa, i would recommend four for even coverage. you could probably get a way with three, but youd be happiest with four.

i am looking for sea grasses and other exotic macroalgaes. show me what you have available and i will come pick it up!

I am looking for large pieces of millepora...preferably blue, red or purple.

Thank you!

what about a picture of that anemone the pink skunk is in?

the sea swirls are all 1"

marineland actinic + LED strip. $20

kent calcium reactor body. great for media reactor, kalk stirrer, etc. $5

padded, latchable case for...guns, phosphate colorometers, special things. $10

sea swirls. working ones $40. non working ones $20 (easy to fix)

LED moonlight. $10

will consider SPS trades. or mangroves.

anyone have any mangroves they have grown tired of?

i am looking for several. thank you!

Brian....they are available. Ask your local store Monday morning....and you will have it Monday afternoon!

carpet anemones are not sexually divisible, unless they are the s. tapetum species from what i understand....e. quadricolors though, tend to do decently enough when manually spliced. a big red carpet like that would be quite the center piece...

im willing to bed that is a dussumieri tang. a beautiful large tang. one of my favorites.

hello sps folks!

need to do some fragging?

i am looking for the following varieties of corals:

green slimer

millepora - purple, blue, other interesting varieties

bonsai - you know, the little purple guy with bright green polyps

blue tenuis

solentarensis

purple tort

i need some new colors. if you have some flashy corals, let me know!

thank you!

good crab. blue eyes and fuzzy....bad.

jon, thank you! i think im a bit more happy with how the tank looks now....ill get a recent picture soon.

bill feel free to come over and listen to mine. i think youll find there is almost no noise to complain about. you have my number....and my address.

thanks every one for the input!