FarmerTy

Grains of sand? You're hired!

Joking aside, not that I consider it a non-issue, but I've seen how my own corals react to higher temps, higher bacterial levels, and higher nutrient levels and I have faith that natural populations, even though they'll take a hit, will evolve and thrive over time.

Me too. It's so depressing. I was thinking today that there might come a time where some types of coral will only exist in fish tanks, like some animals do in zoos. I certainly hope that's never the case, of course. [emoji22]That's it! I'm setting up a Ty's Ark! Bring all your expensive and rare corals to me for saving! No uglies please. [emoji13]

Now that your arm is all warmed up, let's get some of that elbow grease on my glass panel. We're going to have to go up in grit size and possibly diamond tipped. I have faith in you.

Didn't Timfish try to do an in-tank glass polishing method?

One would think you could build a buffer out of a super high powered pump pushing saltwater and a rotating deflector of some sort. Or maybe a water proof air bubbler that you attach the sand paper to and let the vibrations polish the acrylic for you.

I keep my temperatures at an average of 81... Eat that global warming! The Great Tyrier Reef! I like it!

cool! Thnx! It's bc of the great network I've found [emoji6]Where? I want in! This reef club is doing nothing for me! [emoji12]

It is siphon-based so if you ever lose that siphon, water would stop going down to the sump. Depending on your equipment in the sump, it may cause some issues if it goes unnoticed long-term. Yes, aesthetics is another thing to think about. I know you're a little further away, but getting to look at a couple of nice setups would help you gear in on a setup you like and then you can mimic that and their success. We have monthly meetings that we rotate being up north and down south. Maybe you can catch the next one down south?

That's just depressing.

More volume of water for stability and a place to hide your equipment. While not needed, it does make keeping a saltwater tank a little easier in my opinion without having cords and equipment everywhere in your main display tank. You can even set up a refugium down there to help with nutrient export. If you plan to add a skimmer down the line, they aren't usually small, so having a sump to put it in will help hide it. I agree with Dan, for the sump, it's better now or never. Adding one in after the tank is already running is going to be difficult to drill the holes needed. You can always run a hang-on-the back siphon based overflow without drilling but there are certain positives/negatives with that as well to consider.

Got a picture of your current equipment? Is the 55-gallon drilled? Will you be using a sump? The filter you mention, what type is it?

Oh,no he diddnit! Haha!Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Boom! Knowledge! [emoji14]

I'd eat aiptasia too if I was hungry enough... [emoji12]

150ppm x 0.056 = 8.4 dKh Fixed!

It'll look nice for sure and will probably help with some added pop to corals and give you the ability to run dawn and dusk modes. BML shut down their Reef lighting though... wasn't sure if you had the ability to get a used one or not. People use the reefbrites as an alternative too.

Bump! Just a thought for some of you that are new and just starting a tank or just getting back into saltwater... you'll have a captive-audience of Dan, Gig'em, and myself there that you can throw questions at the whole time. I couldn't even guess to the years of reefing between us but probably over 25 is my guess? Just saying... And we're pretty friendly too... well... except for that Gig'em guy but he's better with beer. Maybe come at 7:15pm and give him 15 minutes first. Hope to see some other reefers out there this Wednesday at Whole Foods up north by the Domain.

T5 is where it's at!

I'm a complete nerd... I know. That's very interesting about the lack of GFO and macro algae. I wonder where all your phosphates went? I guess you had so much coral mass that the phosphate was utilized by them? I've heard discussions about having stock large enough that it starts to become your phosphate sink via their uptake.

Thank you for the response. Unfortunately I have decided to build a sumo for the tank in the stand once I get it. It will be build directly in the stand to get the largest size possible. Thank you for your help. Just a quick thought but if the sump for some reason ever leaks or gets cracked, if it's not removable, you'll have to tear down your tank to get it out. I'm assuming you'll build it to be removable but if not, just wanted to mention now so you can account for it in the planning stage.

Looking good Jen! What lights are you using again?

I don't trust either, especially the first one. It has hairy legs and I never roll the dice with crabs with hairy legs. That 2nd one does look related to a sally lightfoot like Tim mentioned.

Good idea to post them ahead of time Tim!

Keep doing your thing! It already looks 10x better than my first tank.

Happy corals! Woohoo!