SquishyDuck

Mine opened up right away and are still looking good.

Yup. Found an interesting article on Halimeda. Toward bottom it discusses its reproductive habits: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-04/nftt/index.php

An elderly couple, who were celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary, was being interviewed by a local television morning show. The interviewer said to the couple, "Seventy years? That's impressive. I am sure our viewers at home would love some advice on how to stay together that long. So tell me, how do you two deal with the inevitable little arguments that come up from time to time?" The man answered, "We don't argue, ma-am." The interviewer replied, "You don't argue? You are telling me that in all those 70 years, you have never had an argument?" "No, ma-am." "How can that be?" The man glanced at his wife and then explained: You see, for our honeymoon we took a trip to the Grand Canyon. We decided while we were there to take the mule ride down into the Canyon. Part of the way down, my wife's mule stumbled on the path. She got down from that mule, looked it square in the eye and said, "That's One." Then she climbed back up on that mule and away we went. A little while later, her mule stumbled again. And again, she climbed down, looked it square in the eye and said, "That's Two." We continued our ride, and a little while later, her mule stumbled yet again. My wife climbed down, looked that mule square in the eye, pulled her .38 revolver out of her purse and shot that mule dead where it stood. The next week when I returned to work, the boys from the office decided to take me out for a celebratory drink. Well, one drink lead to two, two lead to three, and so on. I returned home around 2:00 am, stinking of whiskey. There was a cold dinner sitting on the table with candles burned down to the nub. My wife came into the room, looked me square in the eye and said, "That's One." And I can honestly say that in our 70 years of marriage, I have never argued with my wife.

Picking up from Rick in Vancouver works for me.

That case is insane. It looks like a UFO. I love it!

Wahoo! Thanks for letting me in. I am looking forward to this.

I'll be happy to take those off your hands. I will PM you my number.

I am so jealous. That sounds like it would be a blast.

I am working the plumbing on my new-to-me tank, and am trying to decide whether to put in a closed-loop system or go with powerheads for the additional flow. Since the tank is empty, I figure now is the time to make these types of decisions. I know this is largely personal preference, but was hoping I could implore some people to chime in with pros and cons of each. If you have a preference, let me know what it is and why. Here's the specs on the tank: - 70g acrylic: 42 x 24 x 16 - 2 x 1" drains. One in each upper rear corner. - Return from sump is from a Mag 12. Currently uses flexible tubing which I will be swapping out with 3/4" PVC. Calculating head loss, the flow rate should be around 760 gph. - Planning a reef tank. I would like to keep some SPS along with other corals. I am thinking about closed-loop partially for aesthetics and partially because of past frustrations with keeping them in place. Those little suction cups they give you don't work for squat. Of course, magnetic holders are available now, so maybe the latter reason is a non-issue. If I do go with a closed-loop, what things should I consider as far as size and # of drains/returns? What kind of flow-rate should I be looking for in a pump? What about the placement of the drains and returns? If I go with powerheads, how many would you recommend and what kind of flow rate for each? And while I have your ears (or your eyes as the case may be), there are no holes drilled for the return from the sump. I am assuming the way it was set up before, that the tubing just draped over the side. I will be drilling for the return line. Would it be better to go with one return, or should I T it into two? What are the advantages/disadvantages of either? Thanks for your input.

Thank you for the welcomes. Pics will be coming. There's just not much to take pics of right now. Everything is in pieces and spread about the room.

JManrow - Thanks for the link. Good stuff. andy - Thanks for the welcome. dsoz - Thanks for the offer. I will definitely let you know when I am ready. I am still getting everything set up and ready. Unfortunately I had cracked the bracing while getting the tank home, so I had to spend some time welding the acrylic. I am redoing the plumbing, and plan to put some work into buffing out some small scratches. Then I should be ready for my leak test. It's slow going, but I am enjoying the time I am spending working on it.

Hi, All! I recently joined and thought I would pop in and introduce myself. My name is Drew. I live in Vancouver. I have been thinking about setting up a reef system (again) for some time now. I found a used system that seemed like a good deal, so I picked it up: 70 gal display tank, 30 gal sump, nice cabinet and hood, 400W MH light, and a return pump of unknown origin. I am now in my planning phase. You may have noticed that I used the work "again" in the above paragraph. I will tell you that sad story now. About 5-6 years ago I wanted to set up a reef tank. I made the all too common noob mistake of rushing it. I didn't do any prior research and grabbed what I thought I needed and could afford on that day and set it up. It ran well for about 4 months or so, then crashed. Fast and hard. I struggled for about a month trying to fix it, but to no avail. Everything died. I was devastated. So I tore it all down. I have been reading and learning on and off since with the thought that someday I would try again. That day has come. Right now I am researching the various marine animals and deciding what it is I want to keep, what it is a can keep, and what would be responsible for me to keep. It's a difficult task as I am trying to look into the future and envision how I want it to be 1, 2, & even 3 years down the road. I am going to design the system around that. My mantra is "patience". I decided that even if I have to let the tank sit dry for 3 months while I figure out what I want to do and gather the needed equipment, so be it. I also read the article by Eric Borneman called "Mything the Point" that was linked in another thread in this section. I plan to follow the schedule outlined in Myth #15. I expect a long, and hopefully rewarding, journey. Anyway, glad to be here, thanks for having me, etc. Look forward to meeting some of you in person sometime.