new school

ive used all 3 of these and found that my pc's never lasted as long, plus about 60% of them cracked at the joint union. had excellent success with vho and t-5. i like to try new things, so i switched when i noticed pc bulbs becoming more difficult to find. vho's were very good to me, yet i decided to switch to t-5, used my same icecap ballasts to overdrive my t-5 bulbs apun seeing you get a 10% increase in par and lumens, but again the bad news was that t-5 bulbs didnt last quite as long from the heat and overdriving them.(minimal) i like the color options from t-5 bulbs. the highly coveted 454vho color(gas) is now available in t-5 from uvi.even in 24" length, also the ati blue-plus is becoming a big hit among t-5 only and t-5/ halide combo tanks. you cant go wrong with vho or t-5 whatsoever. it may take you some time to get a good bulb combo to aquire the color in your tank you desire. the white bulb may make your tank too white or yellow. you can also try a pink(its actaully pink/white) or the uvi actinic white in place and you will get excellent green pop and red pop. try it only if your not happy with your original combo. hope this helps.

thank you fishmanmike01, its a nice feeling to know your tank is doing well and thriving but even nicer when you get a compliment from a collector and fellow reefer. i really do appreciate the nice comments very much, so thank you all! jasonh , unfortunately there have been different variations and a (morph or two) over the yrs.... #1 is the one that is blue with a metallic sheen that most people have, this one grows at a med pace and is widely available. especially on r.c. and a local shop in pdx. this one came from the soloman islands prior to their civil war, was also farmed by tyree and bob beckett and was available at the same time the ort was in 99-2000. people got them very confused. this thing is a strong grower! again "darker in color" #2 there is one that is straight up chalk blue, no sheen, polyp colors, or metallic haze, whatsoever and grows so slow you would have to wait 3-6 months to get a small frag or two or for it to be large enough to produce "many" fragging points. thats the one travis at upscales has had in limited stock for yrs now. he gave this to tyree and it was reef farmers lead off coral. people got them confused because bob and tyree both sold them thru reef farmers at one time. it was a huge debate for over 10 yrs now. when they are side by side you can tell the difference. the lame thing was it sold straight up as the "soloman island blue" for about a yr, and all of a sudden the ort became the bigger deal cuz no one had it, simply because it actually grew slower, not because it was less beautiful. some people decided they wanted to own both, bought them and lost track of lineage, when one died, they unknowingly caused this issue, which one is which? if an aquarium isnt lit extremely well, has a lot of nutrients you couldnt tell the difference between the two by color other than one grows slow!!!! if a tank is ulns, has no real high nutrients and runs a excellent lighting combo you can tell the difference pretty easy by the slightly lighter shade, and depth of color to the skeleton around the base. the 1st torte will be quite darker with that light metallic shine sometimes it even looks like a hint of blue spray paint. with some green even at the base edge sometimes. now everyone is gonna go look at their acro and wonder what it is? if you can frag it at the same pace as most other colonies, it aint the original! travis and shaun (if you find him) will both verify how slow it grows. this is why it was so difficult to keep available, the expectation early on, was that it would grow like most other acros. it didnt. if you had a problem in your aquarium and your acros rtn a little, this tiny slow growing frag died cuz it never grew large enough to withstand a small event. even causing more of the ort hype. crazy

patrick said he would order some for me a week or so ago, i need some as well, so maybe if you call him..... i will too. if we call him enough times its not really harrasment. we still have to be identified.........block your number. either way we need a dealer up here, these are the vho454 of the t-5 world.

finch6013 on the less than 200dd im not sure if its a problem? on the larger ones the overflow grate/grill teeth are too close together, when you pump the sump water up into the tank the grill restricts the return flow. cut out some teeth with a dremel and use raingaurd mesh. not sure if you know this but marineland tanks can be customized, addtnl bulkheads, overflows, glass type. no where near expensive as other manufacturers. if i do it again id do a large center overflow, i dont like the viewable space their corner overflows absorb. tell you this, ive seen that 93 at a shop in san jose filled and growing, it was so nice i was tempted to buy one...the overflow on its the only one i know in the middle.(unless they since changed?) it also had a larger bulkhead std from marineland compared to their rectangles. 3 viewable sides. no black back, the wires were hidden in a custom homemade plastic abs cover. was clean. snapper for return, mrc polywhite special sump, mrc skimmer, a ati 10 bulb t-5 fixture, 2 mp20s (front to back). was one of the nicest, simplest tanks ive ever seen. like a mini upscales cube without the plumbing. looked so clean it was almost labratory/medical like with all the white acrylic under the tank. thank you, undertaker oo. i do appreciate that very much.things are really starting to grow in now. that doser is the best piece ive purchased in a long time. i was lucky to be able to take several frags of my high end sps and trade thru a shop. having said that, i know saltwater fantaseas, rose city, and west side are authorized distributors for profilux and are pre-approved to order. michael w ghl direct,(profilux) will educate you over the phone before you buy it. he likes to let you know all about faunas balling salt options and how to more effectively set it up and use them.(can be costly if your lrg than a 120) also he is a cool funny sounding euro dude that is very, very knowledgeable about these things and how they compare with other dosers and reactors..... its very easy, easier than a reactor. more stable, and if a tank is under 250 gallons i cant imagine why in the future that calc reactors will become the second choice. according to ghl and grotec, dosers are currently used in 80% of aquariums overseas now. not sure how true this is but each time i look on the euro/japanese sites, its all i see with sometimes a lime reactor. they have several doser options they push that include the fauna balling salts. they dont even try to sell it without salts now. kinda wierd but your dealer can get it without. 499 for the 4 pump minus salts is what im told. you will need some 1/4" tubing, any type is fine, 2-3 containers for your solutions. i used randys diy 2 part with his diy 3c mag technique. bout the same price as a reactor setup. i had planned on keeping my reactor as a spare for emergencies but ended up selling once i set this up. this thing is easy! imo, anyone considering switching its worth it. one cord. no regulator cord or adjusting, no reactor pump/return pump, or water line taps. no co2 tank dumps, or re-pressure testing your tank, the one thing i think i should point out is calc reactors introduce harmful c02 into the aquarium. even if you run a probe and run off chamber you still get small amounts of c02. these levels are not present in nsw......also you can get small amounts of harmful metals and build up toxic compounds from your reactor medias. some worse than others. you can find the specifics if you google it. with the doser in a diy solution application the only negative ive learned is bromide from "some mixes", not all. also bromide "is" found in nsw in trace amounts. it seems most euro users dosing are using the balling method, grotech or fauna with positive results for over 4 yrs now. japanese use a local branded 2 part,(dont remember the brand) like most things aquarium related, americans seem to try/receive newer technology later. were gonna be seeing more doser options in the near future. vertex, bubble magus, and digital aquatics have all announced new dosers by yrs end. bubble magus released a decent looking one last yr but due to demand cant keep it in stock, and have more models coming. also several other nutrient manufacturers have also anounced they intend to get into the balling salt market as well. i would like that. as much as diy solution seems cool and are very easy i would be more comfy w say a seachem balling product. once you make your first solution and setup the controller you will kinda feel like it was too easy....i felt like, man i musta did something wrong. 48 days in, dkh 8, calc 420-430, mag 1400, and ph 8.3. i got worried when i did my first water change not realizing that the new mix would change my parameters a little, but within 3 days completely back to normal. dkh was 9, calc 480, mag 1450, and ph 8.2 so not really an issue but after 35 days of testing and staying exactly the same i tripped out for a min. anyway hope this helps someone and i think im gonna do a nice review on r.c. for this.

the oregon torte came from a friend that decided to get out of the hobby so i scooped it from him, along with some others that were very nice and large. i also have cali and the original oregon torte as well. im going to pull some live rock soon and lower the profile of my aqua-scape. some of my acros are growing quickly and its time to adjust now that the tank has really settled in and taken off.

a few updated photos, a side photo i really like now that i have moved some corals around and did a lot of thinning. a shot of my superman table milli a shot of a new tenius i scooped from a friend as well. im going to get better shots soon. just need a camera.

updated info i pulled my calcium reactor. my regulator was milwaukee and constantly jamming up! drilled it and just kinda got tired of fiddling with it. added a new 4 pump profilux doser, 2x5 gal cans for the cal and alk diy, and a 1 gallon can for magnesium. been 40 days and have used .5 gal of solution in my 200+ gal system. i cant believe i didnt do this earlier. i can get any calc number or alk number i would like with ease. also no fluctuation other that when i do a water change. and then it settles right back within a day or two. best piece ive bought since halides.

i have this tank, as does randys, and downhill biker. you could go 2x400's, plus some t-5 and keep anything you want to. or at least 12 t-5's maybe up to 16 if its a custom canopy or fixtures. also be prepared to modify your overflows by trimming out the grates so you can increase the flow to a good level for the reef. i wish i had got the 250 because even though the 3ft depth is sick the 4 ft length still seems short to me. the 5 ft woulda been nicer, 12 extra inches doesnt look so bad now that this is in place. hahaha, however if i had the 250 i would probably say i wish i had the 6 footer. i love my tank and would do it again. i really like the starphire glass, but be warned you will need at least 3-4 dudes to carry this!

you can see the union in the back gives me the ability to easily shut em down for service. a single union at lowes is 9.99. also the std true 2" unions were 14.99 ea. i was able to connect my 3/4 in sea swirls in one piece with an elbow, a t, 2 2" slp x 1" slp couplers 2 1"x1"slp x thrd and then threaded straight into the actual elbows on the sea swirls with minimal connect points.its 16 inches wide from end to end. you can work it many ways but this was the thinnest width i could create for myself. everything is sch80 and glued except the threads into the sea swirls. i coulda added another union on each side but figured the spare i had from a previous system would make it easier to swap out. hope this gives you some ideas or pictures that might help buddy.

hey frank, i will tell you i never had a closed loop. i been a power head guy for ever. traded some frags for a vortech and will be adding another asap! the flow is amazing. i use a combo of k4's, mp40, 2 sea swirls and two adjustable returns. i keep an extra sea swirl so when it croaks i have a spare.(whistle) i run my two sea swirls thru a true union and my basic returns are fixed ball valve. this way when one of my sea swirls goes out i can turn em off and still valve the same amount of flow thru my basic returns. i use a single dart for this return with double unions. it has the flow i need and is easily reparable. also keep a spare one of these as well. had way too many seals leak over the yrs! still an excellent pump. little heat transfer low wattage and can be valved back with a savings of electricity. just wished they wouldnt leak. i would try a red dragon or flowstar if parts were redily available. should it die i fear i would be outta luck! every single reeflo pump ive used has had seal issues, 3 darts, 1 barracuda, however if you keep a couple seals around you will never be mad! double true unions for easy repair. fwiw, i have seen some sick tanks with one or more closed loops, and some 4-8 way ocean motions. some of those nice acros i scooped were in a tank built 8 yrs go by the shop we met at. it was beautiful work and they used schedule 80 bulks with primer and glue. no flaws what so ever, it leaked because the bulkheads failed over time. (rubber gaskets) i also seen this happen to 2 other very nice aquariums we know of, (sch80!!) just simply leaked over time, same thing. i would probably be replacing my tank before 8 yrs simply due to growth, but melt downs happen.

i like a med profile height with some caves and curve. its actually a u shape. lower profile on the right side and higher on the left. there are many cut thru openings where fish can hide and such, along with almost as much open space behind as in front. you just cant really tell. i will probably take some rock out as its growing pretty quick now, i still like it a little lower profile. 200 gallon dd. sorry the picture color is off my camera is my phone today, and im not a photo shopper but my colors are much brighter in person. my tank is 4 long 3 deep 27 tall, not peninsula but i do enjoy viewing all 3 sides. a dude named bricky on r.c. has a pretty sick one. he is based out of seattle and has some ties to the barrier reef "store". look it up, the build is worth it.

i probably wouldnt say its a steal either, i sold mine with a lumenmax elite and galaxy 250 with all the needed goodies for 6 hundo.....a decent deal.

i dont believe in photo shop at all. i think its a misrepresentation of tank and livestock. in all areas. i see these stunning tanks and you can see threads on the lighting changes and the growth over time and believe its a truly beautiful thing. then you can see the final images that are shopped, yes very beautiful but not what it truly is..... the camera is capable of such amazing pictures, you can use better film and lenses, along with light and a nice camera that altering simply is not needed. its just a way to make something look like it is not, and will never be!

+1 andy, thats why i kinda threw in the concerns part. i use a profilux 4 pump doser with "randys" diy 2 part, low ph method with the mag flake/epsom and some amino acids. also lugols and bio fuel. "no mb7" i add a little potas and coral vite with 10% water changes weekly..... there are several concerns coming out with brightwell products. the salt, bio fuel and mb7 are getting good feedback however. thats about it....

yes its left over aquaticus goodies, very, very, very left over aquaticus stuff. they sold to a person and their deal fell thru. after that they have been tied up with other family, work, and financial what not. the add basically says what really is left in there. not much to be had but you may find something. mostly store retail fixtures and such.

how bout i throw a few kinks in the mix...... several of these are packed by the same vendors and re-branded. there are several threads on this at r.c. you can google this as well..... reef crystals and instant ocean have accidentally been filled in the wrong buckets several times. lol.. a few are better than others because of emphasis on magnesium. d&d is a good choice. i have been hearing good things about brightwell. like there is so much magnesium it will actually heat while mixing. they even stated it on the packing. but some of their claims are now being disputed on other forums?? who truly knows..... also another new product released is called royal nature. intsead of using salts mined with additives like other manufacturers they actually employ a "green" method of evaporation with water from none other than the red sea. several samples were given to high end aquarists and the results claimed sound good too. im highly interested in this new mix!!!! currently staring at a aprx half used kent and seachem 5 gallons and neither seem any better than any others used in the past. im pretty certain that the new three being d&d, brightwell, and royal nature have put more emphasis on magnesium and relative trace elements due to simply being a newer product because technology gets better. but i could be wrong.... good luck, im sure whatever you use will be fine. some of the best aquariums simply use instant ocean, kinda funny to me.

some people using carbon sources whether it be vodka, sugar, or bio-fuel have had the opposite of results expected and have experienced algae outbreaks. using a denitrator/carbon sourcing/media reactors you may be attempting to much nitrate and phosphate removal. its more than likely you have phosphates and nitrates even with the methods your using, the algae is being used at the level its supplied therefore making it difficult if not impossible to test. +1 to kshack for contacting vendors for additional chemical support. there could be problems with too many methods of removal and one could be affecting the other causing certain "unknown" nutrient levels to rise!! not particularly phosphates or nitrates, however something else we really do not have the means to test for?? do you have a "de-i" on your r.o. system? if so how many? just having a basic r.o. may not be enough to polish your supplied (well/city) water. most advanced aquarists have a 3 stage "basic" r.o sounding like posted plus one or more additional de-i.....also if you have a calcium reactor test for nitrate/phosphates on your effluent, some arogonite and reactor medias are super high in phosphates and dont get noticed till way too late! test your r.o effluent as well. you my find something overlooked. could be a bad membrane from the get go? most algae outbreaks are from phosphate/nitrate and or "some" excess nutrient available making algae's explode...... i use bio fuel and like it very much, i also use gfo and carbon in my two little fish reactors the same as you. i had to battle algae before and those tests helped me solve my issue. hope it can help you some...... +1 on always having your mag over 1350!!

+1 kshack, im thinking the meter is bad or off. check your ph manually and kh. either that or your r.o. needs membranes replaced. should never be 9.9? more around a neutral 7. also being this high could mean you have very hard water so try to test the tds of it coming out after r.o purification. if high this will cause super find sand to bind together as well.......how much water flow do you have? co2 trapped in your sand bed will absolutely cause cementing of substrate. increase flow, usually that will help precipitate co2 out of the aquarium and aid in flow over you sand bed a bit.

jsw, gald you got that cleared up, hahaha. always something i swear.......i have used and had most all brands of salt vary with particulate and claims of purity, you know the marketing hype. did you peep this new product? i was thinking about giving it a try.......http://reefbuilders.com/2010/01/08/royal-nature-evaporated-seawater-aquarium-salt/ hey, if your using some filter pad now, find some polyfilter all white if you can. it will kinda change different colors if you have small amounts of untestible chemicals, metals, phosphates that can get in an aquarium and can also be a detector for r.o. servicing as well... nick at rose city has some lg packs of it for less than 10 bones. if you use a sock you can cut it into small shapes and drop it into the sock. whenever you do a sock switch check the color and you will find if anything funny is getting by the r.o system..... we may never detect this stuff with a test kit.i think this aids in give me good colors and can also remove those super difficult minor elements that carbon and gfo dont. p.m. me sometime.

there a lot of good info and help here. but in understanding water quality and how it really affects your tank there is a lot to know. do not use tap water. there are so many variables that affect every aspect of your aquarium, ph being the most followed by phosphates and nitrates. if you use tap water at all then this could easily be your problem. tap water changes daily based on underground run off if its well water and daily chemical needs/dosages if its city water. your ph is directly affected by your magnesium levels albeit not a huge ammount. if you are doing regular water changes like it sounds then its probably a reasonable assumption this is fine. if your corals are actually dying you should be registering ammonia! your ammonia test kit ok? also doing water changes in multiples meaning several a day can shock your system big time, doing lg water changes should mostly be avoided unless absolutely in emergency. sounds like your there right now. i cant stress enough to not use tap water. if theres metal, using a polyfilter will tell you overnight by turning black. it must be a true polyfilter and not the two color white/blue or basic nylon polyfilter like in a canister. what do you have in your canister?? change your carbon immediately and trace down each wire lead and plug for stray voltage like recommended. kalc water will absolutely smoke your aquarium if used while your ph is high or added to fast!! and i would follow wegotjs advice by keeping it simple. also check your lighting schedule, if on for too long can also give you a rise in ph. 8.8 is bad but shouldnt cause a crash by itself. mine yrs ago ran around 8.4 daily and when i dosed kalc it would swing to 8.6-8.8 if my reactor overshot causing some stress but no crash. keep in mind test kits go bad and are not always accurate. we all been here before, never the same circumstances, but it happens.

nothing is currently for sale, as i do appreciate the interests from board members i was only interested in the vortech. thank you. trade done and jsw is a very good member and trader here... thank you much.

very nice! i think i might have to come visit after all........hows the tort and other goodies doing?

i figured the people here should know, jsw is a good guy and the trade we did was excellent and his word is solid. i received exactly what we agreed too, and im very happy! i hope the tort, and other goodies are doing well for you! thank you much.(rock2) the vortech is great. sorry i lagged. wil

as a customer we choose to spend our cash where we like. we allow retail store to profit and stay in business. if we dont like the products or services we also have a right to say so! i imagine if 30 people in 30 days told a retailer i dont think your prices are at market value or you really didnt provide me a great experience and/or have tan corals then guess what? coral prices fall!! just because someone has a ton of oregon torte or any exotic for that matter doesnt mean its available or even worth the price?. i simply dont shop at soutas any more because its too expensive, never available, not because i "cant" afford it, and its also lousy service when you ask for a price and ricky asks poppa whos 5ft away for the price and they both stress out about if its a good deal or not and if the customer will even buy it?! yes i have oregon tort, but im gonna stand up and say how my experiences have been because its my right. i hope you all feel the same. especially in times like these, we set the market value, not the retailer. i shop local too! i rec upscales, saltwater fanta-seas, rose city and congratulate tim at west side on the newest and very nice addition to our market! *also tim has started a brand new oregon tort aqua culture program thats gonna have great success! keep up the good work tim! (bill?) just because a retailer had something excellent to provide once does not mean its gonna last. look at these retail shops starving while another smashes it!

i ordered this thru saltwater fanta-seas. about 550.....i spoke with michael from ghl directly, and the profilux products have std map pricing that cannot be discounted. because of this, all indirect internet sales are over. any proilux item is to be purchased thru aqua-direct/ghl or an authorized profilux retail "store" dealer. i imagine this is why cherry corals and other internet dealers no longer had it when i was looking. i'll say i also had some store credit to burn as well.......thanks patrick! cant wait to see this in action.