Made out like a bandit!! :)

[dmolavi]

Originally Posted by GoldfishJoey

Sign me up. The last time I checked the BRS they were out of the 50 lbs box. But yay!!!!

You're in

[GoldfishJoey]

Originally Posted by dmolavi

Re: The RO/DI...I created an Excel spreadsheet that lets me input my townships water pricing, and then calculates the impact the use of the RODI will have on my water bill. It isn't very much. I can email you the file if you'd like to take a look at it.

The unit itself isn't that big, and sits comfortably, with room to spare, on a shelf in my laundry. Obviously, the RODI doesn't impact your electric bill, since you're using cold (vs heated) water for the system.

We were thinking more along the heater and an other power head. But that's more my BFF's rant then mine. but send that email away. Ill PM you my email if I haven't already

[dmolavi]

It's not as bad as you think. With a 100 gallon tank, you've probably only got about 80 gallons of water in there (rock and sand take up a lot). If you do 20% changes each week, that's only 16 gallons.

A 20 gallon Brute can isn't too big, and doesn't need a mega heater to heat it (and you only need to heat the water before you add it) or a large powerhead to circulate (again, I only turn it on when I add the salt to help the mix, then leave it on for a few hours to give it agitation...).

Your top off water doesn't need to be heated, since it's added in much smaller volumes.

(I don't have your email address here at work, so PM it to me and I'll get you the file).

[GoldfishJoey]

Originally Posted by dmolavi

It's not as bad as you think. With a 100 gallon tank, you've probably only got about 80 gallons of water in there (rock and sand take up a lot). If you do 20% changes each week, that's only 16 gallons.

A 20 gallon Brute can isn't too big, and doesn't need a mega heater to heat it (and you only need to heat the water before you add it) or a large powerhead to circulate (again, I only turn it on when I add the salt to help the mix, then leave it on for a few hours to give it agitation...).

Your top off water doesn't need to be heated, since it's added in much smaller volumes.

(I don't have your email address here at work, so PM it to me and I'll get you the file).

Done.

Since you put it that way... Hmmm... I can try that for my argument on why I need an RO/DI unit. Lol. The issue is he wants to gut some cabinets we have installed in the garage and build a shelving unit. He's been putting if off for a while. Maybe it will motivate us to do something about it. We were thinking about a 30 gallon container and the such. But using a heater and power head only when mixing sounds like a better deal to me. We were actually thinking of doing two containers. One for the RO and one for mixing. I think if we rearrange the garage we will have more space to figure things out in the mean time. We talked about leaving it in the patio. Long story short this was an uphill battle to discuss.

[dmolavi]

I hear ya It's always an uphill battle.

I'd imagine that given your location, you might not have to heat the water at all, or minimally. Just let it sit in the container and it will get up to temp.

[GoldfishJoey]

Lost two more. One yesterday and one today. Gerrrrrrrrrrrr

[Evansimp]

Originally Posted by GoldfishJoey

Lost two more. One yesterday and one today. Gerrrrrrrrrrrr

Sorry to hear that. I really hope things get better!

[GoldfishJoey]

Originally Posted by Evansimp

Sorry to hear that. I really hope things get better!

I hope so too... :/

[dmolavi]

Originally Posted by GoldfishJoey

Lost two more. One yesterday and one today. Gerrrrrrrrrrrr

:-( Don't lose hope or give up. It'll get better.

[GoldfishJoey]

Originally Posted by dmolavi

:-( Don't lose hope or give up. It'll get better.

Hope so! Not giving up. Just really sad I keep losing them. I'm ready to give up on having fish though. I may just go reef.

[Ronin77]

Sorry to hear your tank is giving you brain trauma, sounds like your on the right track though. When I had my nano tank I battled hair algae forever. Your a tough girl since yours is a much larger scale. Hang in there!

[GoldfishJoey]

Originally Posted by Ronin77

Sorry to hear your tank is giving you brain trauma, sounds like your on the right track though. When I had my nano tank I battled hair algae forever. Your a tough girl since yours is a much larger scale. Hang in there!

Thanks Ronin! trying. I didn't lose any this morning. So I'm happy about that. Two in a row back to back kind of got to me. Thinking of when I get my tank up and running with fish again I may just have to do two clowns, and two more chromis. So I'd have four chromis and two clowns. Thoughts???

[Ronin77]

You've got a sweet tank. You might consider one yellow tang or a few anthias for some color. It's crazy how tanks can go wrong so fast, then other people have the luck of the Irish. I'm thinking of getting rid of my 3 occelaris clowns and getting one golden maroon, my 54corner does fine with them, but I think it would def. help with bio-load. IMO I think your tank would have been just fine with just more live rock and of course good water. Lol it's all in the water!

[GoldfishJoey]

Originally Posted by Ronin77

You've got a sweet tank. You might consider one yellow tang or a few anthias for some color. It's crazy how tanks can go wrong so fast, then other people have the luck of the Irish. I'm thinking of getting rid of my 3 occelaris clowns and getting one golden maroon, my 54corner does fine with them, but I think it would def. help with bio-load. IMO I think your tank would have been just fine with just more live rock and of course good water. Lol it's all in the water!

Yeah, that was my bad. Trust me, ill never do that again. It was such a huge headache. Oh man. I'm thinking of putting in some of the reef ready rock. Not sure of the name but I really like the color. It's a really deep purple color. Looks nice in tanks. Expensive but hell of a nice color without the creepy inhabitants crawling around.

Any who ha... The tank looks great after the huge water change. I also added my old uv sterilizer from my old tank in there and it's been keeping the level of algae down. Hopefully it can also kill any of the free swimming parasites that are in there as well. I've spotted a bit of Cyanobacteria in a few spots... Going to eradicate them ASAP. But for the most part everything is looking better. Kind of bummed that my sand bed is low. :/

Thanks for your comments and encouragement. ill try to keep swinging away the best I can. Here's some updated pics from today.




Clamitha is doing well.


Brain maze is getting the green to pop more! Super awesome to watch.


Cleaner shrimp hanging out


"My monster of the sea" I don't know what type of anemone this is... Any one know?


Ricordea...


My favorites yet I have no clue what they are. Except for the pulsing Xenia's. doh!


I think these are elephant ears if I'm not mistaken...


Frogspawn growing after taking a hit by the powder blue.


Up close and personal...

[Evansimp]

How's everything going?!

[GoldfishJoey]

Originally Posted by Evansimp

How's everything going?!

Not so good. I have one fish left. It's been one week and everything perished but my blue damsel. Today I found Isopods in my DT. I'm assuming that maybe this could have been the culprit as to why they died. After the ich was gone they were healthy as can be and all of a sudden they'd be on the floor of the tank the next morning. I Don't understand it. I don't know where those things came from and now I'm just sad about it all. My damsel looks ok... But I'm crossing my fingers he's not next tonight. I've done a 10% water changes daily in a 30 gallon tank. Just really sad.

[GoldfishJoey]

Originally Posted by Evansimp

How's everything going?!

Thanks for asking Evan. I appreciate the smile and support.

[Evansimp]

im sorry! Maybe think of it as starting fresh! Now you can get the stock you really want, and maybe you could start quarantining to make sure this never happens again! to me stocking a tank is always the best part!

[GoldfishJoey]

Originally Posted by Evansimp

im sorry! Maybe think of it as starting fresh! Now you can get the stock you really want, and maybe you could start quarantining to make sure this never happens again! to me stocking a tank is always the best part!

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Problem is I have to wait a few months in hopes these Isopods, ich... Or whatever is in the tank is free of. Quarantining the tank inhabitants before they go into the DT is a must after all this madness. Thanks for looking at the bright side of stuff!

[Callen]

Originally Posted by dmolavi

Also, if you didn't get it during the group buy last week, I'll be doing another the first week of June; they drop the price to $179.

@ dmolavi: I know it isn't the first week of june....but can I get in on this? Or will you be doing another order soon? I bought an RO unit at my LFS..which I wasn't completely sold on, but I couldn't find anything better. As luck would have it, it had a broken part so I returned it. I'd much rather have the RODI unit you are showing here. How/where do I get one?

@Joey: I enjoyed reading your thread, all of the ups and downs and all of the encouragement and advice people gave along the way. I'm just started a 75 gallon saltwater tank this weekend. So excited!