madmike

The difference in sunpower vs powermodule is the build quality and another fan in the powermodule line/ ie the sunpower will have 2 fans, the powermodule will usually have 3/4. The tests in light output on them show VERY little difference in light output, maybe a 5% increase from the powermodules, not worth it IMO. The powermodule is built like a tank.... the sunpower I would compare to a Hum V The sunpower line used to only go up to 6 bulbs, so the powermodule line was necessary for those who needed 8 or 10 bulb setups, now they have released the 8 bulb sunpower line so the powermodule is really only needed for 10 bulb setups.

From what I hear, the TEK doesn't use a good T5 ballast like the ATI does so it can overdrive the bulbs, heating them up. Plus the tests have shown that the ATI produce about 20-25% more par than the tek elite fixtures.

Ive got a 40 watt aqua uv unit that needs a new bulb and quartz sleeve that I would trade you. Will cost about $75 for a new bulb and sleeve but these retail for $375 new.

Do you still have the swallowtail male Robert?

cool, see you on Sunday

$45 for #2

No, you definately can use both... 0zone wont really do anything for your nitrate/phosphate besides break down the organics a little faster. I never really notice much difference with just ozone in nitrate/phosphate but it does produce crystal clear water! I am currently dosing a vinegar/vodka mix and alot of it. I have gradually got up to over 200ml daily and have seen a great reduction in my nitrate from about 20ppm to less than 5 currently. I tried MB7 but didn't really notice a difference. All of the chemistry guru's on RC seem to think that the bacterial supplementation for carbon dosing is unecessary because the bacterial is already present in the system is sufficient quantities, and it makes sense... you are feeding the bacteria so that they reproduce, and in the process take in nitrate/phosphate for fuel to do so... pretty quickly you have PLENTY of bacteria as evidenced by the nasty dark skimmate being produced. I didn't contact avast, just figured it was a fact of life. I probably could get it perfect but when I pull it off every week or so to clean it I would need to re-adjust it just right.... just too lazy to do it that way, lol.

the swabbie works pretty good. I have it on a SRO 5000 cone skimmer and it cleans the neck about 4 times a day for a minute or so. I too have a couple gallon container with an auto shutoff incase of overflow and I can now leave the skimmer for a week or more without touching it. I do ALOT of carbon dosing so my skimmate is very dark and there is alot of it, I probably make 3 gallons a week! My only complaint is it is slightly hard to get it just centered so it cleans all of the way around the neck in 1-2 passes... it puts slightly more pressure on one side vs the other so I get a little build up every few days in just one spot. I have solved this by "spinning" the swabbie ever few days to a week to put the pressure in a different spot which will then clean the spot that wasn't getting pressure. (not sure if this makes ANY sense at all but it is pretty easy to do)

I just swapped out my membranes this last month after almost 3 years of use. Let me know how that avast ozone reactor runs. I have their swabbie on my skimmer and it is a great product. I currenlty run my ozone into my skimmer but would rather do a reactor. I had attempted to build one about a year ago but just couldn't get the pressure/water ratio right so I went back to putting it into the skimmer.

Thanks patrick!

I've had this one for about 4-5 months now... I'm watching it real close right now... I had a idaho grape monti cap get too close and burn it and a small section of skeleton is now showing... usually in these that is the beginning of the end :(

You are referring to someone who is making a dilution of muriatic acid from home depot etc. for the titration which yes could be all over the place. We are purchasing laboratory grade 1N sulfuric acid used in labs that is standardized so IMO there is no 10-15% error in accuracy as long as you can measure aprox 3ml during your titration you will be just fine

Why would a test kit be the best of both worlds? Most color titration endpoint testkits don't even color change at ph 4.2, they all have different endpoints that IMO can vary alk reading by alot. There is an interesting thread on RC that show different kits changing color anywhere from 3.9-4.5. I'll take a few hundredths difference with my ph probe vs a few tenths off any day

Grassy, Holmes-Farley uses a ph probe and sulfuric acid to test his alk, he stated he's been doing it for years this way

Thanks for the compliments guys!

I keep a jar of 4ph test solution nearby and dunk the ph meter in it every once in awhile... if it within range I keep on testing, once it it out of range I recalibrate. As meters go bad they seem to need calibration more and more. I usually get 18-24 months out of mine and that seems reasonable. Remember to calibrate the meter with 4ph and 7ph because our endpoint is now 4.2, not the standard 8 or so of a reeftank.

I am using vodka/vinegar mix. People who use it say that it is a little less prone to cause cyano. Read the vodka distilled article in reefkeeping magazine http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php It has good recommendations and starting points for vodka. Vodka is essentially 8 times more potent than vinegar so for every 1ml of vodka you will need to put in 8ml of vinegar to equal the same amount of carbon source. Distilled white vinegar is pretty cheap for a gallon from the grocery store so I just mix a gallon of vinegar with about 1000ml of 80 proof vodka and set my dosing pumps to deliver the daily dose. I have worked up to about 200ml daily over a couple of months in my aprox 500 gallon system. The jury is still out on whether MB7 or any other bacterial supplementation is really doing anything. They might work if somehow you didn't have the "correct" denitrifying strain of bacteria, but no one really knows exactly which ones are the best.... For as many people who claim success with a bacterial additive/carbon source, there are equally enough people who have had success without the bacterial additive, just the carbon source. I tried some MB7 initially when I started carbon dosing but after having a few small bacterial blooms, I realized that there were PLENTY of bacteria in the system to uptake the carbon source.

$30 for frag #2

No i've done all the pics before, Im just annoyed that I have to stand back 10 feet to get it all in the shot, cant really get any detail at that distance. Anytime

get ready to start ramping up the vodka dose, lol. My nitrates got up to 20 and lately I have been dosing over 200ml of a vinegar/vodka mix and my nitrates are down to about 5 now.

No problem... glad to see someone taking the plunge and trying something new! And good find on the local source for the acid, in a couple of years when I run out of mine I'll pick some more up there

You know how hard it is to take a shot of 12 feet with any detail? Apparently impossible for me! I think I need to learn to use a program to stitch photos together to get a decent full tank shot.

NICE skimmer!

at those numbers the gfo will exhaust pretty quickly, change it out as soon as you see it has stopped dropping or is going up.

ok.. ok.. here are some recent shots of fish