FarmerTy

The good: Everything made it through the dip just fine. The bad: It took me 4hrs to complete and I used 28 gals of freshly made saltwater, 1/2 a tablet of interceptor, 24 teaspoons of KCl, and about 1/6 a bottle of Bayer insecticide... Not to mention 5 pairs of nitrile gloves. The ugly: I had one casualty... RIP my little grabber. [emoji30] Dip 1 of 3... Check. I'll see you in a week.

I've run the Korallin C1502, a no-name brand CaRX (probably an old PM CaRX), a Deltec P601S, and a MTC Procal CaRX. By far and away my favorite is the MTC Procal. It doesn't require a feed pump, has a secondary chamber to increase pH, has a flow meter, a needle valve for effluent control, and a pressure gauge to read reactor pressure. My only complaint is it doesn't have a pH port for my probe but one of these on the effluent line with some PVC will do the same thing. The Korallin ran brilliantly but was highly overrated by the manufacturer for the size tank it could handle. My 125-gallon was SPS heavy and it barely kept up, that's with a 400 gallon rating from the manufacturer. I think he could handle 100 gallons heavily stocked. The no-name brand CaRX worked like a charm, my only complaint was it was a little undersized for my 215 gallon SPS heavy tank and I had to fill about 3" of media every month to keep up. The Deltec is a POS in my opinion. I really don't understand how it was so touted back in the day but it couldn't keep a stable effluent to save its life. I think I'll use some concepts from the MTC and modify the Deltec to function better. It leaked as well and had to heavily silicone and use grease on the o-rings, then pray to the CaRX gods to keep it from leaking. Like Dan said though, as long as it can keep a stable effluent, it's just really an acrylic tube. The carbon doser regulator he mentioned is amazing. I have one myself and wouldn't run another reactor without it. Geo's have great reputations but I've never owned one and cannot speak about it. With ratings, as long as it is rated enough for your tank, you're good to go. If it's rated higher, then just run less media or it just means you'll have to refill it less often. Don't get one rated lower obviously. I believe Niko's has a Aquamaxx CaRX sitting in their used equipment room somewhere. I'd hit them up if that's the one you're interested in.

A good vinegar soak every 6 months does it for me.

Awesome, want to PM everybody helping with addresses? I'll see you at noon on Saturday sir.

Yowzers! You must think I'm the most successful agent ever!

Remind me what part of town are you in again?

You looking to pay a company to do it or do it yourself? I think Juiceman used a company back in the day to move his tank. Maybe ask him.

Nah, I think it's still crazy. [emoji12] DI resin is like $20/year for me. If I could pay $20 for someone to dip all my corals for me and guarantee no more pests annually, I'd be cracking open that wallet in a heartbeat. Take my money!

Thank you for the mad scientist meniacal laughter Jolt, I had forgotten to include it. Isaac, you'll at least know my corals were dipped going in and dipped while in the tank, I'll let everyone take care of the dip going out. I can't do everything! Haha.

It's time! I'll be doing my first round of dips tonight and follow up with 2 more dips each following week for a total of 3 dips in 3 weeks. Step 1, dislodge all corals from rock and prep them for easy dipping. Put small frags on plugs so they don't roll around and burn each other. Step 2, let the dipping begin! Dip 1 Bayer dip - pour until its milky white in container of tankwater (never been able to overdose it), leave for 10 mins, then shake each coral really hard in solution to dislodge any pests. Use gloves! Dip 2 Interceptor dip - 1/2 tablet (exact dosage not important for dip, can be up to 100x recommended dose with ill effect). Crush up tablet, combine with hot RO/DI water to mix and dissolve thoroughly, then add to tankwater in container. Dip acros for 30-60 mins. Dip 3 Potassium dip - 2 teaspoons of KCl (potassium chloride... Can be found as water softener pellets at Home Depot) per gallon of water. Will raise solution roughly 1200 ppm of Potassium to a total of 1600 ppm (most teef tanks are at 400 ppm already), causing flatworms to fly off coral and all animals to die. Dip for 30 mins. This one is the harshest dip out of the 3 as the other two hardly even bother the acros.

This is something I keep saying I'm going to do, but always get lazy and never follow through on. I saw a post recently where someone was using an online tank tracking site, but can't recall the url. Any suggestions? Found this via the googles: http://successfulreefkeeping.com/resource/aquarium-monitoring-options/ some of us use aquaticlog.com Apex has a log and graph function for parameters, which is what I use now. Before that, a handy notepad and a pencil took care of it.

It would not be ideal outside, especially for the winter. The small RO/DI lines can freeze easily and your efficiency will be reduced with the lower temperatures causing you to make water at a much slower rate than your unit is rated. If it's impossible to fit it under the sink like most do, I'd see if you can just have the lines setup and remove the unit when not using it for storage. Then when you need some water, just plug the water line in and start making water again. Kind of a temporary setup with the lines already plumbed. My best analogy is like pulling out your blender to make smoothies and then putting it back up when done. If there is no other option, I'd just take a stroll through Ikea and buy some sort of ready made cabinet to put it in outside or maybe a plastic storage tote of some sort with holes drilled through it with some insulation in it as well.

I can't commit just yet until I talk to the wife but if I'm open that day, I'll be there to help.

What's the final word Dave? We moving the tank Saturday? What time?

I use the BRS super glue, cheap and I can usually get through the whole bottle before it starts clogging too much. I use the superglue/2-part epoxy sandwich as well... superglue... epoxy... then superglue and then smash it to the rock and hold for 10-15 seconds.

You need to have a set statement so it knows what default programming to go back to if there are not any other instructions. At least that's what I understand of the programming.

Yeah, wave1 technically doesn't ever employ with my programming. I guess I should have left open time slots when I modified the programming. It's really just a less powerful, off sync version of wave 2 so I guess I not really missing it much. Good catch!

Well if you're doing that, who's swallowing the fish? I say it has to be a puffer.

Finally, someone got his name correct! [emoji23]

If it's a straight shot, it should be pretty straightforward. If it's a angled staircase, then you may have to sit the tank on its side as you turn corners. Having a blanket under the tank to spin it helps immensely and protects the glass as well. Have some strong friends as well, though a 150 isn't too heavy for 4 people.

+1, I stopped looking because I'd start coming up with reasons to buy something new and "upgrade". What I have works just fine... just leave well enough alone. I can live vicariously through you Jim! I want to check out that Geo twin reactor once you got it all hooked up!

Looks like you had some great results with the cleaning!

Awesome! This is the one meeting a year I drag my wife out to and make her attend! [emoji41] You know what would be a fun game for the Holiday party? Have everyone submit a picture of their tank that plan to attend, either close up or FTS, and then we could have everyone try to match up the picture with the options of reefers that the picture may belong to. The person with the most guessed correct at the end of the meeting will win a prize.

I've found using vinegar and leaving it overnight will take care of most things stuck on the glass. To save on vinegar, I was crafty with the placement of the tank... such as leaving it on its side and such.

I'm open from 12-3pm that day Dave.