Search results

I have had it running in my sump for a year without too many major issues. It is relatively quiet, and does fine in pulling out gunk from the 57g Illuminata with a 15g sump. No microbubbles return to the display, I empty out the cup every other week and clean it, pump has started and...

The Nanocustoms hybrid that Jake Adams brought with him to the talk last year looks like a pretty good/sleek option. You would still have to find a way to hang it, and I believe that the T5HO bulbs that it uses are a little unique and don't come in the same range of colors as more standard...

I've had luck with the window tint available at Tap Plastics. It was cheap, relatively easy to apply to the back of the glass, and does a good job. It isn't perfectly opaque, but it has been holding up well after a year. http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=272& Since it is...

I don't need to touch my gate valve on my full siphon drain when I shut down the return pump - the setup is pretty robust in returning to the same water level in the overflow each time I do a water change. There were some adjustments necessary in the first month or two, but I haven't really...

I've got a full height overflow (standard AGA) in my 57G that probably drains ~400 gph and I can't think of too many reasons to have the full height overflow. It is hard to clean down in the bottom of the overflow where detritus inevitably builds up. The best reasons I can come up with are...

I've been using the Tunze Silence line for the last 6 months - I believe it is the smaller one (1073.20). Pretty quiet in the sump as a return pump, comes with rubber suction cups to suspend itself from the glass, low energy consumption, and restarts just fine after a water change. I am quite...

Bottom line, as most people have mentioned - You need something to hold the water that is food safe (barrel, cheap aquarium). A lid is nice. No heater or filter necessary, nor do you need anything to circulate the water inside the container since it is ideally filled with RO water...

Who's bringing the hydrogen peroxide for dipping? :)

When I was getting the RBTA clone from Baymac settled in, it did manage to somehow get from one pillar to the next overnight. The two pillars are separated by a good 5" of sand, so I am guessing it took a ride in the currents. I'm glad it didn't end up getting sucked into the Vortechs -...

Since you want to replace all the rock in your tank with your newly acquired Marco Rock, I would just stage the replacement over the course of two months by replacing some fraction (25%) of your current rock every other week. That will give time for the new rock to settle in some more...

I have the cyclopeeze frozen bar and tried the sample last night. The sample is a gooey paste (think lumpy ketchup). I just added some tank water to it for dilution and used a turkey baster to drop it into different areas of the tank. I found the sample to have bigger sized pieces than...

If you don't want to go for the entire bucket of cement, you could use marine epoxy (Aquamend, etc) to stabilize the rocks and hide the rods. The epoxy will encrust over with coraline eventually and you won't be able to notice it.

I recall seeing this thread on Reefcentral - "150w radiums are not designed to run on anything but a a magnetic pulse start ballast rated for 150w HQI bulbs. (ANSI M81 spec ballast)." "The bulbs REQUIRE a special ignitor, which is what a "pulse start" ballast is, it sends a powerful surge...

Sadly, Sunpods and Radiums do not work well together. The electronic ballast that is in the Sunpod is unable to consistently ignite and drive the Radium, which is specified to require an HQI ballast (as Gresham pointed out). Most people on Reef Central find that it works for a little bit...

I also keep it below the baffle, but as high as possible while making sure that there is enough capacity in the sump to hold all the water when the return pump stops. Of course, this is something you experiment with after the tank and sump are filled with water. I also find that...

I've also had good luck with epoxy. I find a horizontal crevice in the rock, fill it in with some epoxy and then jam the frag into the epoxy. The frag will typically encrust over the epoxy after a while and you would never know that was how it got there. Like Bryan said, keep in flat...

All the 150W Phoenix's I have used have come in different packaging, but most of them do read PEC on the bulb itself. The bulbs were purchased from multiple places - no significant reason to expect any funny stuff on my side as the bulbs have worked and all put out the same "blue-ish" color.

I have an acrylic tank that I spray painted the back using blue Krylon Fusion. It has been a few years now, but it has held up just fine. I should still have some if you want to use it. I'm not sure about spray painting the inside bottom of the tank with Fusion - but I have heard anecdotal...

IME, the stinging usually happens when those tentacles stick to the tissue that they are attacking. My frogspawn and hammer have the tentacles extended, but tend to just graze each other rather than sting. Of course, the hammer doesn't play nice with my candy cane/trumpet.

I agree with Gomer that the Cadlights artisan series may be the way to go for you. It pretty much fits all the criteria you mentioned. I'm curious if there is a local dealer, though you could always take a road trip to LA and pick it up directly from them.