Jakedoza

yeah... Looks like it is clearing up.. Thanks!

I notice my tang getting a cloudy eye tonight.. it is now swimming funny as well.. I'm sure it is because it cannot see very well. Any suggestions?

sweeet.. good idea!

I think my pod population disappeared. Is there a way to test for it, or how can I go about encouraging pod growth without a refugium? Eventually I am going to set up a refugium, but currently I do not have a way to set one up. Thanks

I had an overflow with a lift pump, but now I have a different one. I see no way that it will ever loose siphon, even when the flow stops. I also have a Max fill line on my sump so I know that there is enough room in there for when the power goes out or when I kill my pumps to feed. On the power heads from the return I have drilled holes above the water line to stop backflow when the pump is turned off. With these fail safes I see no way it can or will flood. The only thing that could possibly happen is something getting caught in the overflow tube and stopping it up. There is as much chance of that happening as there would be on a drilled tank... which is like 1%. To each their own though.

I am running an overflow on my 135 setup. First I ran it as freshwater, and now as saltwater. It has been running for about a year with no problems.. Yes the power has gone out several times here. It is setup with fail safes to never overflow.. even when the power goes out..... and will continue to work when the power comes back on. All of my drain pipes are glued, my sump has enough room for draining water for when the power goes out, and my return power heads have vent holes drilled to stop any suction to prevent back-flow. It is not rocket science and I think that everyone that has had trouble with one just has not had the patience to set one up properly. Drilling the tank will be a much nicer setup though. You better make sure the tank is not tempered though. If I ever have to drain my tank for some reason I will most likely drill it. I didn't drill mine to begin with because the overflow option was easier to pull off for me.

so everything that I have read about "white bugs crawling on reef aquarium glass" appears to be pod related and is a sign of a healthy tank.. Even the photos I've seen look pretty much the same.. I'm looking at buying more fish this Friday at RCA's First Friday sale. Any suggestions? I know I will be buying at least 3 more Chromis.

nice to know I feel like I know something.

From my understanding it does two things. 1. aesthetics. 2. the blue will help mimic the light spectrum at certain depths. The more the blue, the deeper it will mimic. Blue wavelengths are transmitted to greater depths of the ocean, while red wavelengths are absorbed quickly. Water molecules scatter blue wavelengths by absorbing the light waves, and then rapidly reemitting the light waves in different directions. That is why there are mostly blue wavelengths that are reflected back to our eyes and the water appears blue... same reason the sky appears blue as well.. (water particles in the air)

ok... Here are two very high resolution photos.. One is as zoomed in as I can get, and the other is zoomed digitally with software. http://jakedoza.ftpaccess.cc/images/forums/arc/bugs/bugs.jpg http://jakedoza.ftpaccess.cc/images/forums/arc/bugs/bugs2.jpg

too small to count... Let me see if I can get a photo and blow it up.. (I wish I had a microscope).

I am not using a reactor... After looking closer at the tank I have tiny creepy crawlies.. I see them all over the glass. They will move in different directions and crawl around. Too small to take a photo of. smaller than a grain of salt, but visible.

so... my tank has been up and running for about 2 months now. All of the nitrogen levels are fine and the salinity is at 1.023. Calcium is off the charts, but then again I do not have any corals in the tank yet. I have about 18 hermits and 9 Mexican turbo snails with 3 blue/green chromis in the tank (135Gal). I noticed today that the water seems to have tiny particles in it, almost like very tiny bubbles making the water look cloudy. Anyone have any ideas or advise?

hahahaa.... nice.. I'm sure your wife thinks you are as weird as my wife thinks I am.

It really depends on how severe the scratches are. You can treat acrylic like a clear coat on a vehicle and wet sand/polish it out. It is a very tedious and time consuming process and usually not worth the time depending on how severe it is. Here is a great write up.. Good luck. http://forums.waterwolves.com/acrylic-buffing-101-t110079.html

I should be able to make it.. I have some lights I need to return to you anyway.

hmm..... I just bought 10 turbos for my tank. Cool idea! How about silver and blue.

Beuler.....

so, I figured I would give an update on the tank. The tank has been running well with just the crabs. There is now some color on the rock and I had the water tested at RCA and it looks perfect. I'm going to add some snails this week sometime. Here is a of my sump setup. I have a 20 gallon tank separated and one side goes to my sump and the other side is for fresh water to top off the system. I have a float switch in the sump that will turn on a very small pump in the fresh water reservoir and pump it into the sump. I also have a closed off valve from the overflow that will eventually go to a refugium. .. and some photos of a couple of crabs.

tear apart a few old hard drives.... good magnets in there

What is a rotifer?

bummer this wasn't posted 3 weeks ago..

ahh.. yes, I do mean 1.023. The LR I bought on the 5th had just came out of a tank (was still wet).. It was cured already. +1 on the crabs.. I added 20+ crabs, but I held off on the snails as per Jakes (RCA) advice. I'll let them roam the tank for a couple of weeks before I do anything else. I picked up my Mag12 and overflow today and hooked everything up. The wife says that it is too loud and that it sounds like a giant fountain.. She's right.. the overflow is what is loud.. the water draining back into the sump. I'll have to figure out a way to make it quieter. On another note.. Updated photos

So I have been testing my water every night.. Last night I tested it.. then retested it because I thought I may have done something wrong. Looks like my levels are all zeroed out.. if I were fresh water I would begin to add fish.. should I throw some cleanup crew in there? Is there anything else I should test?

ok, thanks for the info.