ThePremiumAquarium

http://www.polar-tech.com/ These guys have some nice customizable sizes of styro, or styro lined shipping boxes. I use different shipping supplier for different kinds of orders. Heat packs can be purchased at a number of online venues or if you want to just get some cheap 8-12 hour heatpacks, those can be purchase by the box at Costco. I use those guys for shorter shipments. Packing peanuts and the like can be purchase from several different locations including office supply stores and UPS or FedEx stores.

That is a sweet little globe tank! I love it. I have always thought about setting up a small tank similar to this but just have never gotten around to it. Great bio diversity in that little system. Any reason for not scraping some of that coraline alage off so that you can see more of the tank. It looks great with some of it on there but I would think it would be nice to see some more of the life in that tank.

I am down with sugar sized sand as well though I don't mind a slightly larger size either. Rick, put me down for 400lbs Is this going to be individually bagged? 50lb bags? Thanks,

My first was in 05' aswell. I think they are now pretty much standard.

Hey guys. I got the frags and they are ready for pickup. I don't have the flu anymore so that is nice lol. My phone is busted but I am getting a new one later today so I should be able to receive calls after noon or so. Thanks, Garrett

I went to see it with the wife and some friends. Everyone thought it was pretty scary. I didn't really find it to be that scary but it was definatley a nice change of pace. There were a few parts towards the end that I thought were pretty cool though!

Says they will be coming out in 250w and 400w versions with a 10K/20K and a 20K/20K choice. I love it. I think this is a great innovation and it will be good to see what happens with them. I wouldn't mind having the ability to increase my par and then change to a color up option when I am looking at my tanks the most. Excellent stuff.

Great stuff Ryan! Excellent work as always. This should be a real fun grow out competition.

Here is a site of interest as well. It is still expensive but considerably less than some and prices include shipping. http://safesand.stores.yahoo.net/arsaforaqand.html

Erik, It was a good go while it lasted. I am sure you will think of many more things in the future! I can't wait until we can have one big frag swap/sale weekend or something. That will be sweet! Garrett

Rick, Do you have a tally going yet? I am game for at least 10-12 bags depeding on cost. If it is over $15 a bag then I will pass. Let me know what you come up with. I think we could probably get enough orders going to get to the 3000lb or 4000lb mark.

Brandon I would go with 4x400w HQI's with actinic supplementation via VHO's or t-5s. I personally will probably use t-5s because I like the color options that they have. Sounds like you are almost ready to really start cracking on this thing. Are you going to run a closed loop for flow in the center and front of the tank or just use some really powerful powerheads? I haven't decided what I want to do there yet.

Jody once yours grown out, put me in line for a piece. I would definately love to add it to the collection!

I agree. I try to only buy maricultured or aquacultured corals when possible. This kind of movement is the way of the future and we need to encourage the an increase in coral mariculturing facilities by purchasing their corals.

I would like to get about 500lbs or so aswell. It would be awesome if HD could order us some in.

That is one nice green monti there. I don't think it is Montipora capricornus. I think it is a different species though I am unsure of which exact species. The lighting setup that you have over your tank should really maximize the colors of any sps that I can think of. I used to be able to super color corals that were completely brown and nasty colored with that light. It will be interesting to see what it turns into after a few months. Garrett

I really wouldn't put more than 1 trigger in a 55g or 72bf. You might be able to get away with two but it is going to be dirty and too aggressive for my liking. Grassi, you might be able to add another simply because you have a fish only setup running but CA2OR I just wouldn't do it. If you did add a 3rd you would have a nice, cloudy poo fest lol. I wouldn't add a clown or picasso unless you want your reef tank to become a fish only tank. Also your knuckles might eventually turn to solid steel and lose all feeling.

I tried black sand in one of my smaller tanks and in my experience it was kind of ugly. It wasn't so bad at first but mostly turned to a brownish grey color with time and as the tank matured. I used the Caribbean Sea brand stuff though I am not sure of its exact origins. I didn't have any problems with it being magnetic but I didn't get the magnet close enough to the sand most of the time to run in to that issue. I have learned my lesson there lol. I personally would only use a white substrate. I like the reflectivity that it provides for my corals. I also like the buffering ability of aragonite. I think that it really helps buffer the tank and stabalize pH. I eventually mixed in white aragonite sugar grain sized sand with the black sand and was much happier but ultimately was the most satisfied when I switched back to white. I like to have a mix of sugar sized grains and a bit larger grains. I use Caribbean Sea Floor Special and mix in some finer grain aragonite sand with it like rinsed Southdown or similar. I also usually add in a small ratio of the larger aragonite sand just to get a few larger grains for building homes and adding structural security and such.

LOL I just found one that I put in one of my algae tanks months ago. I thought he was gone because I hadn't seen it in months and then today I was shocked when he just poked his head through some of the algae to check on how the neighboring tank looked.

Blaine is kind of a creeper... Just don't let him near your luggage.

I am in for 10 bags or so if they are around $10 a bag.

I had a great time in Puerto Villarta but there wasn't really any reefs. Lots of pretty angel fish and such as well as a couple of sea turtles. I think you could make a killing collecting snails and shipping them up here. It is amazing how much life there is there. The jungles were the cool part too though they don't really consider their forests jungles. There were iguanas everywhere we went and lots of other tropical critters. Cool place to visit but definatley not a reef destination if that is what you are looking for.

I watched all 3 of those videos yesterday. It is such an amazing tank! I don't know that I would want a tank that I have to literally dive 8ft down in order to stock the thing and clean it. It would probably still be worth it though. I want to see more sps in that thing and maybe a dozen or two different tangs to go with all those little guys. I am a bit jealous of his 3 panes of glass! Amazing setup. I might just have to move to Germany so that I can visit regularly. Nice stuff!

They still sell southdown just not locally. I have seen it available from many east coast suppliers for $4-$5 a bag its just a matter of getting a pallet of it over here.

You could try some of those rare earth magnets. I would try getting the ones that are coated in epoxy and maybe using 3 of them per koralia. They should do the trick and hold something like 85lbs each. They can easily pull through 1" thick glass/acrylic.