milesmiles902

That looks great. I've always loved the Barrier Reef. It's kind of tucked away, so it's surprising to see so much reefing stuff in one place. Its definitely worth the trip.

When I first went into this place, I couldn't believe how well put together it was.

Make a trip out there. You won't be let down.

Hey! Welcome to the forum.

Hello, I have been building new setup and it's finally finished. I have a few questions. My current 55g tank has no sump or refugium so I'm new to the sump thing. New system has 40 breeder diy sump with refugium. Any thoughts on best refugium substrate?

 

Should I reuse all the tank substrate or just a small "seeding" and replace the rest?

 

I've been working on this for at least 6 months and now that the time has arrived I'm a little freaked out [emoji51]

 

Thanks

Wow! That's pretty cool. I can't wait to upgrade. I don't know what fish owner isn't. :P

As for re-using the old subtrate, I would steer away from using all of the sand, unless you wash it. A lot of crud can build up in the sand (poisonous crud) and cause harm to other life. I think the ultimate way to seed the new tank would be live rock, with a good amount of old sand. With the new tank size, I imagine that you will be getting new sand anyway, unless it is bare-bottom....because who doesn't like a bare bottom.

Welcome!

Hey! Glad you could make it. 

You should definitely try to make it to the December Meeting. There are some pretty sweet raffle items.

http://www.pnwmas.org/topic/39219-pnwmas-december-meeting/

Happy Thanksgiving.

A slice of pumpkin pie a day will keep the doctor away.

That's crazy!

If I wasn't so far, I would definitely make my way up there.

I'm probably overthinking the gift exchange but are they supposed to be gag gifts? 

I wouldn't say that there is "supposed" to be gag gifts, but they do tend to appear. 

Some other gifts from last year were, frag plugs, calcium and magnesium dosing solutions, fish food. In general, aquarium stuff with the chance of a gag gift.

I would love for this thread to be all the things you just talked about. Those are what I find cool about the HMSC. Maybe another thread on the development of the exhibits.

Information on water parameters and husbandry would definitely be useful for any aquarium owner. Maybe for those delving into larger aquatic species.

I really don't know, but I definitely feel that this needs to happen. Thanks for asking the community.

I didn't get to participate in the white elephant last year, but I definitely am this year.

I remember JManrow getting a Frozen 1 gallon aquarium. I wonder what he put in it. :P

Someone should snag this and give that fish a good home.

Here's my frag. I went and glued some rocks on the plug for the little ones to grow into. I usually don't have good growth with Ricordia, but I hope this works.

I've done both, and in the end they both dried with no leaks.

I wouldn't be surprised if the general idea comes back to the pressure on the gasket from the weight of water in the tank. Kind of like how the weight of the water seals a plug for your sink or tub. If you put the plug on the other side of the drain, you have the water pressing the plug outward. The idea probably works the same for bulk heads, just flipped vertically.

On my 75 I haven't had issues. I just tightened the bulk head more.

Nice find. Never seen one of those before.

You did a phenomenal job designing that and have a great understanding of calcium reactors. Would you say it was roughly half the cost of a commercial one that size?

Yeah, the only reason I posted that was because there was some good information there about the type of coverage you want. There wasn't a lot of companies, but I am sure some people on here are bound to have it. Maybe ask your local fish store?

I don't think there were a lot of companies in this thread, but there was a lot of good information:

http://www.pnwmas.org/topic/37819-insurance/

I wonder if those less than <0.1 mg/L etc. are the detection limits of the instrument.

The RODI will be interesting.

Whoa! Glad you could make it to the November meet. It was a good one for sure.

It seems like most people answered your questions. If you need help with anything aquarium, let us know. We'd be glad to help.

 

I am jealous of all the good water you all get outta the tap!  

 

Mine is 263 TDS and we have a softener for the house and RODI for the tank.   I did send the water off for drinking water analysis, most of our tds comes from 

 

Alkalinity (as CaCO3) 168

Bicarbonate (as CaCO3) 165

Silica 38.2

Carbonate (as CaCO3) 2.46

Potassium, total 0.3

Copper, total 0.22

 

You can send water to these guys (not aquarium water, drinking water only!)

 

https://www.karlabs.com/watertestkit/

 

*Giggles in excitement*

This is the stuff I love to talk about. That is such a good price as compared to other distributors. Can we see the full lab report? What else did you get tested?  Were all the carbonates tested as CaCO₃? Did you get your RODI water tested? Did you test the aquarium?!?

You can tell I'm excited.

Woot woot! Show us the goods.

It's nice to know. Vortech and apex do the same which is why I have no concerns buying used ones.

I agree.

I think with many things in this hobby. You get what you pay for.

I'll give you all an update when I hear back.

AquaIlluminations is amazing. I called and they went through the steps in the guide above. It didn't work, so they logged into my Director to evaluate the issue. According to them it is a driver issue for that specific light. They told me to fill out a Return Materials authorization form and they will take a look.

I am not even the original owner and they are still willing to look at the product. For free.