Recent content by Speakerman

definately pass on it and go with a needle wheel reef octopus. This is the 3rd skimmer I've had, and I'd say about 3 times better than the 2nd best I've had. It's really amazing how much skimate I get,and extremely dark skimate at that, basically sludge. Crystal clear water is important :-)

the beneficial bacteria doesn't necessarily die off, some of it will go dormant. The bacteria that does die off, produces ammonia which keeps other bacteria alive, and that cycle will continue for days until all of the ammonia and all of the non-dormant bacteria are consumed. In other words...

try doing a big water change, like 90%, dose prime to dechlor, and then run a new batch of carbon in your filter for a few days. Do you have any driftwood in the tank?

I had a 38g tank a while back with a single 175w metal halide 14k bulb, cost me about 150 bucks. A retrofit kit would probably be the way to go.

I've got an african cichlid 125g tank with 2 rena xp4, 2 aquaclear 70 ph's and a 20 gallon sump filled with plants. I've gotta say, Cichlids compared to tetra's/guppies, the guppies are for more advanced aquarists. I've seen guppies just disapear for no reason, but I've seen cichlids live...

Suggests ammonia stress/poisoning. At least in freshwater aquaria over the years, "skipping" off the rocks or substrate has nearly always been associated with <0 ammonia.

Well the tank is still up and running smoothly, the diatoms have completely taken over, but I believe they have reached their pinnacle and our now starting to calm down. (they don't regrow as fast after I clean the glass) Also, I'm starting to get some purple spots growing on the rocks, however...

The overflow system on my 125g FW is very similar to the one in picture on first photo. The trick is to build the overflow pipe as long as you can, so that it barely fits into the tank and the pvc runs the entire height of the tank, this ensures that the water has enough momentum to force it and...

They have calmed down a lot since I got them, they seem pretty happy now, and are all eating well.

lol no wonder it canceled my post! Anywho, if I were in your position, I would build a crude sump to house both of your current protein skimmers. You can use any size tank and it doesn't even need to have baffles. There are plenty of options for pre-made HoB overflow skimmer boxes, or you can...

in 3/4" plywood the veneer on either side is 1/16" and there are 3 layers inside that are 3/16" thick, each of which are glue perpendicular grains

Here are the best pics I could get of the chromis, they sure like to move around a lot.

Sweet, I just noticed I've got nitrogen bubbling out of the sand, I guess that's as positive an ID on a finished cycle as I can get.

20% bleach then rinse then rinse again

lol I love fiberglassing! anyway, I was talking to my brother who is an engineer, he basically told me that glass and plywood are very similar in the amount of weight or tension they are able to hold/withstand, but plywood has a lot more ductility or elasicity which allows it to bow out under...