victoly

Add more lights to the T5's if they won't grow what you want to grow.

If you buy water from somewhere, they are likely dumping water as well. Just plumb a RODI in-line to a drain and call it a day. There is a small subset of systems that function appropriately on non-RODI water, and generally these are for very experienced reef aquarist (timfish is the prime ARC example). The skimmer is going to be pulling out dissolved organic matter, which the cleanup crew would be unlikely to feed on. It has also been my experience that if you overstock cleanup crew, you're going to have a pretty big die off. Additionally, if you don't feed heavily enough, your cleanup crew tends to dwindle in numbers, which leads to a die-off, which leads to algae, which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place. I advocate a small, sustainable cleanup crew of hermits, nassarius, cerith, fighting conchs and limpets to keep nuisance algae under control and to keep the sandbed free of food crumbs. I don't really see it as an expert/non-expert thing when it comes to skimming. It's an additional tool in the kit that many people choose to use in combination with other methods. It's popular because it's generally simple to operate, and has beneficial side effects (aeration most notably).

65 miles is a pleasure cruise for me.

I've got a second option. I work out of Ranger, Texas with regularity. I don't know that I could justify a trip out there for something non-business related, but I could always pick up an order after I conclude work, as it's not too far away. Just an option.

I'm here to represent the pro-skimmer lobby. Check out all the top tier tanks in town and check out their sumps. Every last one of the has a skimmer.

you just googled beathing a dead horse.gif

don't worry too much about it. what you might try is using a turkey baster to blow off the dust if possible, and at the same time siphon water into a bucket that is going through a fine micron filter sock. also, change your filter socks as much as possible. I doubt that simply having carbon dust is going to kill anything. It might piss off a lot of your livestock, but I'd be more worried about drastic system changes to eliminate the dust than the dust itself. slowly remove it, via mechanical means if you can.

Reserved for

those 5 drivers are gonna be bigger than your tank ! i love it!

+3 dem hornets

I ended up putting it on the far right side of the stand so the sensor could be activated/deactivated by the MH when they go on-and-off. Thanks for the advice Patrick! I will see what I can dig into. @Yasmin, that is a good bundle. If I can't find anything locally, I'll be taking your recommendation and going with AquaCave! The regulator is definitely not an area that I would skimp on. Get something purpose built for aquariums! There are a few manufacturers who have them (carbondoser is what I have, but I have used miluakee's in the past and been happy with them). As far as the cylinder goes,keep an eye on craigslist. When you take the bottle to praxair/airgas to fill it, they will generally swap it with a new cylinder instead of refilling the old one. For media, BRS is the way to go in terms of cost. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/sh/feature/ is the de facto guide for setting up CaRx's. I'm not super familiar with the RK controller, so I can't really help there, but I'm sure if you post in that section of the forum, someone will be able to help you with the setup/code. I'm in the process of setting up my CaRx this weekend, so we can learn together

Booooooo

I've got an intank media rack I don't need anymore ...

Absolutely.

Thanks !

in conclusion, it's totally gone... maybe it was the kalk dosing, maybe it was a tank maturity thing, maybe it was seasonal.

bump

Hopefully the CR 140 will fit under your stand like it wouldnt fit in mine . Good luck with it!

water change, substrate vacuum, change all sponge media, change carbon.

It was doing OK, I just get tired of mixing it up, and the variability that comes with evaporation rates, kalk stirring/dissolution rates/pH spikes, etc. I prefer a solution that will set me up longer term.

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