badguitarist

agreed on multiple heaters. The thing that first came to my mind regarding a heater in the overflow is that heaters are much more efficient with longer water contact times as in a sump. In other words, the water in your overflow goes through so fast that the heater wont have as much contact time with the water to heat it and will have to run a lot more, burning it out quicker.

yea that was another thought just run it through DI it should last quite awhile. and Chris your right those two ppm TDS could be bad but its pretty safe to say that many RO units final product water has more than two tds and there is just as much chance that that will be bad stuff after being filtered. Im more concerned as to what it will do with seasonal fluctuations, guess I'll find out in a month or so when the rains come

I'm not asking a question here simply telling a fun story. I bough a house back in February that is on a community well. We pay $40 dollars a month for access to the community well. When we moved in my wife and I noticed just how clean the water tasted compared to anything else. at the community well office (they service about 1000 homes) there are several "cleanest water in Oregon" plaques from various years hanging on their office wall. I never really thought about it too much in regards to what that meant for my aquarium, I just kept on plugging along with my RO unit. Right before I moved my inline TDS meter bit the dust after several years of use, I didn't buy a new one till just now. i hooked it up today and to my amazement the incoming water right out of my tap had a whopping 2TDS, not bad at all. Seems like something I might moniter throughout different times of the year but seems to me like there is not really any reason to use my RO unit. My old house had 250-300 TDS and I was happy with anything under 5 coming out of the DI portion. I think its just a matter of monitering the incoming water and if it gets bad at different times of the year hooking my RO back up oh and just seeing how my tank looks without using the unit of course. Looks like I need to find something else to do this evening I was planning on changing out all of my RO filters. I think they will last quite a while now...

Just cut the price of this tank in half, I want it gone. willing to deliver it for 50 bucks.

hey great thread, I always love seeing your dartfrog tanks Mike, especially the corner tank, (whistle) !!

Gill, I have hundreds of pictures of the greenhouse and have always wanted to put up an ongoing thread on it, I just simply don't have the time...one of these days I will get a bunch of pics up! Mike, I had a guy who was gonna buy it but broke his arm so there went all his money...He still wants it if he can come up with the funds. I am still needing a controller I'll give you a call in the next few days. and yes as far as downsizing This new tank is gonna be pretty cream of the crop corals, well that is except for this brown bubble coral in the greenhouse that has kinda grown on me... tank is still for sale, make me an offer

Hey thanks for the compliment, those pics are when the tank was first set up! Im glad that tank has been working well for you, Ironically I am going back to a 40 breeder, with a greenhouse full of coral tubs I didn't see a point to set up another big one in the house.

here is a link to some pics: http://s1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/badguitarist/

120 gallon tank, dimensions 60"x18"x26" awesome show tank! tank is drilled in both corners with 1.5" bulkheads and overflows Custom built heavy duty stand and hood, these are furniture grade and were built with tons of room in mind. asking $200 for all and am interested in partial trades for a good protein skimmer. or feel free if you have something you think is worth trading for, I may be interested. No livestock at this time though. I am moving and am doing a peninsula style tank, since this tank is drilled in the back it wont work... I can throw in a 20 or 29 gallon sump if needed and feel free to ask about any other equipment, I probably have it. I am down in Corvallis and am willing to deliver it up to the Portland area for $50. feel free to Pm or call me (541)760-2594 Thanks Kyle

just sent you a PM

Just sent you a PM!

Garret I love your list, I can relate to so much of that. I have a greenhouse that I only get out to once or twice a week, its completely automated. That doesn't mean stuff wont go wrong though. and Kim Yea I guess I am young I started keeping saltwater in 8th grade so 1999, I'm 25 now, so no I wasn't in diapers but not too far off, I have a stupid snowflake eel to blame for this hobby! I saw it in the store and to a 13 year old kid what could be cooler than a moray eel, right? so I set up a 20 gallon tank complete with undergravel filter and home came the eel. now I'm a full blown addict.

I feel all your sentiments and I will say I have been pissed off more than once at this hobby but as far as growing coral goes its a marriage for me, till death do us part. I have had tanks crack, SPS meltdowns, Whole tank crashes, clams and fish and corals that I've had for over a decade die. It always sucks but I have never once thought about getting out of this hobby. I had a 3 day power outage take down just about everything in two 75 gallon tanks. I have a generator now. algae infestations that cant be figured out, fish and coral disease that are just about impossible to diagnose. its all part of the game. Anyone who has been in this hobby a long time will tell you that it's just part of the art and science of becoming a better aquarist. Every dream tank you see in books and online is the eventual culmination of all of those aquarists successes and failures. I say take those failures and learn from them. Hope this was encouraging to at least some of you, oh and sorry about the terrible grammor, I am mega multi-tasking right now!

Man there are a lot of things that come to mind that could do this, Many crabs (hermits and non hermits), urchins could do this as well. What about larger wrasses? (dragon wrasse comes to mind) As for the shrimp with the ricordia sounds like he needed a nice throw rug, HA!

Just looked at the pictures and should point out the white flakes inside the tank are PVC "sawdust" nothing bad. I should also point out that the hood fits a metal halide quite comfortably. Thanks, Kyle

Finally got some pictures of the tank, Here you go!

ill try and get some pics up tonight or tomorrow. I don't have a camera but my roommate has an Iphone, unfortunately he works nights and I work days so we don't always see each other. CA2OR, this tanks dimensions are 36x18x18. I'm not selling sumps or other equipment. I was simply stating if you want to buy the tank and needed other parts to set it up I probably have them.

still here bump!

I dont have any extra heaters laying around. the return pumps are both small, a gen-x 1000 and a via aqua 1300 both do around 350-400 gallons an hour. I prefer slow rates of water through the sump and faster movement up top via powerheads but thats just me

Used 40 Breeder with stand and hood. Stand and hood were made by me and match. Nothing fancy but not poor quality either. Tank is drilled with two 1 inch bulkheads included. It also has a horizontal overflow. If you were needing a sump, return pump or other miscellanious parts there's a good chance I've got them and could include them for a good price. Asking $125 Would trade for these items: skimmer for 120 gallon tank. 250 watt metal halide electronic or HQI ballast(s) calcium reactor possible other equipment or animals? make me an offer! PM or call (541)760-2594 Thanks, Kyle

Yea dude that would be awesome. That may be the way to go. I'll get measurements this weekend when I'm at the greenhouse and give them to you!

I'm looking to buy a 60" by 18" glass tank. I'm not interested in acrylic. I have the stand and hood so it has to be those dimensions. I have a glass tank with a crack in it. I would rather just buy one I know works than bother with fixing mine. If no one has one I will just fix mine. Thanks Kyle (541)760-2594

I'm not sure where your at, I'm in Corvallis. I have a 75 gallon acrylic tank dimensions are 60x18x16. it is real scratched, it also has 3 holes drilled in the upper back of it. Would this work for you? its not going anywhere soon, if your interested feel free to PM me

That sounds about right, in my quest to discover what substrate is better, aragonite or regular crushed coral. that was the consensus. Aragonite dissolves at a pH up in the low eights and crushed coral dissolves at a pH right around 7.4. What this means, is that slowly aragonite will dissolve in our aquariums as our pH should be right around 8.2-8.4. This has definately been my experience as every year or so I add a bag of sand to my tank to keep the sand bed sufficiently deep. This is kinda part of the Jaubert system, dissolving the sand to keep up with calcium demands of the tank. Although in the modern age this method could never keep up with the faster rates of calcification in corals than they would have 20 years ago. Thats just my slightly derailed and slightly tipsy (come on its saint pattys day) input to this thread! Kyle

Impur- "Crazy. I've always had decent luck with API alk and calcium tests. Usually right on par with Salifert. Of course there is also that bad batch of Salifert out there....." I too have always had good luck with API. When I worked at a pet store we tested them against salifert tests and nothing seemed too far off.