Sol

Actually, cooking base rock (while seeding it at the same time) is a good idea as well. The base rock--especially ocean-harvested, rather than land-mined--has the same phosphate buildup deep within its pores, and once you introduce bacteria from some live rock, the same "purging" effect occurs. Basically, be it live or base rock, what you're doing is getting bacteria to eat all the phosphates, and as they eat it the phosphate is bound into the bacteria's little bodies. Once the phosphate's gone (or the bacteria population is so high there's not enough phosphate to go around), the bacteria starve to death, and drop out to the surface of the rock. Then, through dunking, swishing, and water changes, you harvest/remove all of these bacterial corpses, and, in turn, all of the phosphates bound within their body. You keep doing this until the bacteria are at equilibrium, i.e., the bacteria population is not growing or shrinking, and it's no longer feeding on phosphates in the rock; instead, it's feeding on corpses of other bacteria. As you can see, there's nothing about this process specific to live rock. Base rock has the same phosphate buildup, and should get the same treatment. On a side note, it's really cool to watch this process from a more scientific perspective. A biology major friend of mine in college has taken to monitoring all the processes in my reef, and watching rock cooking (through a microscope to watch all the bacteria, and monitor population density etc) was one of the most interesting things yet. -Sol

Scott if you can't find anything shoot me a PM and I can make you something quite affordably. -Sol

When I last checked (a few months ago), tap sold Chemcast for everything, including 1/4". You might try multicraft plastics, they usually carry cyro and have much better prices (relative to the quality of material) than tap. -Sol

Got it. Almost makes it surprising that they even bothered to come out with a street-legal model on such a track-oriented car. Most of my car playing is on tight, short courses, so for me the 40-80 range is what's important. That, and soft suspension and high downforce. Glad you had fun. Is your cousin looking for a best friend, by any chance -Sol

Excuse my lack of knowledge--can you explain the difference between a 911 turbo and a GT3? The GT3 is not turbocharged right? Just looking at stats, the GT-R has a 0-60 of 3.7 to the GT3's 4.1, a drag coefficient of .26 to the GT3's .28. Hard to know about handling, though. I know what you mean about rich family/friends--I went to a VERY expensive high school (on a large scholarship), and got to drive my share of lambo's, ferrari's, and porsches. We can dream though, right? Did he let you really push it, or just drive it around? Almost a waste to drive these cars anything under 100... -Sol

Wow, jealous. You own it or just got to take a joy ride for a day? I'll still take a Nissan GT-R over it anyday though; having driven a 911 once, a carrera many times, and a GT-R for several months, the GT-R takes the cake by far. Cheapest by a long shot, and parts are cheaper too, so advanced tuning is more realistic on a lower sort of budget. -Sol

Hey Joel, Have you seen the ORCA 200? They say on the premiumaquatics site that the pump is a "restricted dart-needlewheel", but I'm not sure quite what they mean by "restricted". Reason being, I've been asked by a customer to make a skimmer out of some 10" tube they gave me. I'm worried a full on dart needlewheel would be too much air, but obviously they have SOME way to get this on an 8" tube, and I wonder how they do it... -Sol

I'm also experimenting with building my own cone skimmers. I so far have been heat-forming acrylic and using WO 42 for the seam, and while it definately works (holds water), it doesn't look great. I'll look into PETG like they did, but I'm curious on their "hot-air welding" rig. But long story short, if you're looking into buying one of these and can wait a few weeks while I play around, I should be able to get you a clone of these skimmer for MUCH cheaper. -Sol

If James doesn't work out, I can help too. Though not quite as good prices as James, I can do hell of a lot better than $56. -Sol

Not to speak on his behalf, but the specs of this skimmer are roughly the same as a deltec AP702, which is rated for 400 gallons. Nice build, man. And a great deal. Too bad I just built my skimmer -Sol

250 HQI = ~300 watts, or 3/10 KW Times ~10 hours per day, = 3 KWH per day. Times 30 days per month = 90 KWH per month times ~$.10/KWH = ~$9 per month. -Sol

Are they Schedule 40 or 80? -Sol

Hi there, If you can't find anything used, send me a PM. I can build you a custom acrylic tank at a very reasonable rate. Check the feedback forum on this site for some of my work. -Sol

Hi Garrett, If the tanks at saltwater fantaseas don't work out, shoot me a PM and I can build you something custom *very* affordably. -Sol

Air in. If you pull air out you'll be drawing moist, salty air through the fan which will destroy it in no time. -Sol

A Lumenarc III is 20X20 or more and so would leave basically no room for suppliments. Why are you set on using DE bulbs? SE tends to be more PAR per watt of electricity, and you can get even more light because you don't have to use a glass shield. Plus the range of bulb options is much bigger. I built a full tank setup (including lighting) this size for a customer, and what I ended up using is a lumenarc mini with a 250 watt reeflux 12K SE bulb, and 2 24" t-5's, one an ATI blue+ and one a UVL pure actinic. That light setup, IMO, was perfect for this size tank. Honestly no way I could have thought of to improve upon it. Color, growth and "pop" factor were all amazing. Just my thoughts, -Sol

Thanks for clearing this up Ryan. Everyone, other than the mixup, Ryan was a good customer. -Sol

I built an acrylic tank for Ryan. I delivered it as promised, and requested final payment. He said he didn't have the immediate funds, and I offered that he could pay later, interest-free. I checked in with him regularly requesting updates regarding payment, and rarely (roughly 1/4 of the time) got a response. When the responses did come, they were evasive "I'll get it to you soon" types of comments. I now have lost contact with him completely, despite my several attempts to contact him. Long story short, I've waited for payment for well over 2 months, and am still owed more than $200. I don't know if this is typical of Ryan but I thought it should be known. -Sol

I'm thinking of playing around with building a DIY one of these, and while I've seen lots of pictures, seeing one in person would help with reverse-egineering. Anyone got one I can look at? -Sol

Do you come up to Portland ever? If so, I'll take 'em. -Sol

I believe the limit on messages is currently 50. Try deleting a couple more and see if it fixes it. -Sol

I'm interested. You can see what I have to trade here. Also might be able to get you some eagle eye and solar zoanthids if you're interested. I'm also happy to supplement with cash. -Sol

I could help with doors if you want. In terms of lumber, I reccommend Crosscut hardwoods. It's a ways out towards St. Helens (Near Sauvie Island), but their selection is unbeatable. -Sol

I've got some corals for sale or trade at the meeting next week: First of a green with purple tips frog spawn: LARGE (small colony) frag $15. Next, a green with purple rim monti cap: Silver dollar size frag $5. And a green with blue tips acro sp.: $10 for a 1"+ frag. Interested in trading for interesting zoanthid frags, or SPS frags. Make an offer. -Sol

Oops, I voted for the wrong one then, I'd like to change my vote from "q" to "r".... Thanks Andy... -Sol