Recent content by planedoc

My sump has become a water clarifier. It's been invaded with tube worms. The filter feeders really make a difference

It takes x amount of watts to heat a given amount of water. It does not matter if those watts come from a big heater or a small heater it's the same amount of energy. It's like saying that if you fill your tank with a hose twice as big but only leave the water running half the time it will...

Here is a calculator. You will quickly find that a ups will only provide a very short backup time. To back up just an 80watt return pump for an hour is about a $200 ups. http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm

In reality I bet less than 10% of marine tanks ever last more than five years. Most leave the hobby or disaster strikes so they never get to be full size. Nice tank and good looking fish. I have 5 tangs in my 240 gallon, very happy fish

You really only need 4-6 turn over per hour through your sump. With FOWLR you could get away with as little as 300 gph. Think about how much you skimmer does per hour. Any more than that is not doing you any good. You sump turn over is not tank flow. Powerheads which operate at less than...

What's it's matter if you enjoy it. I know some that have spent 10k on dui tickets just to hang out in a bar with a bunch of drunks. Everyone needs a hobby. (hole to dump extra money into)

I always read zero nitrates. I've had tank for 3 years but the rock has been captive for around 10 years. Very stable system. They are looking good again today :)

Usually my BTA that was once one 3" Anemone has split twice and I now have two 12" ones in this tank and an 8" and growing in my other tank. Usually 1/3 to 1/2 (at the most) of the tentacles have actual bubbles on them. Today for reasons I don't know all of the tentacles have bubbles...

If your in Tampa Bay what's wrong with the beach sand? I'm sure there is some nice sand within 25 miles of Tampa

No exactly sure what your asking. That pictures shows that with that sump design the water level in the two baffled Chambers will be constant and the chamber with the return pump will fluctuate with evaporation. Your skimmer will work best with a constant water level. Each skimmer has a...

I run a 300 and a 250 on my total 285 gallon system. If a 500 Watt would some how stick on it could heat your system to above 90 rather quickly. A 300 and 250 would be the biggest I would use. Forgot to add that I'm Indianapolis and keep house at 68 in the winter

Use the head loss calculator to determine what kind of flow you have into your tank. I'm guessing around 600 to 700 gph with that pump. http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php/head-loss-calculator

It's a big tank but that's a big worm http://youtu.be/c73MXl8Mj5E

Tonight I was feeding my purple lobster and three large serpent stars fresh[/IMG] salmon when this worm came crawling out if the sand. It's kind of creepy

No matter what you use it has to be calibrated often. If you have a cheap hydrometer you can add a calibration sample and than mark where the true reading is if yours is off. You can take it to friends house or a store and use their calibrated refractometers to calibrate yours.