ThePremiumAquarium

lol oh the bliss. I am going to take tomorrow morning off just so I can pretend to be unemployed and enjoy the rest of my 6 pack.

LOL it has done pretty well actually but like hot pink stretchy pance it will soon be tossed on the burn pile. Think more along the lines of wearing one white glove all over the place. Garrett

Do you have the 12mb or 20mb service available at your location? If not that sucks but if so, that means way less lotion!

Nah just know what not to invest in (laugh)

Defiantely nothing against you Benny but Boo! Its slow, undependable, no option for no contract, poor service, mother company in big lawsuits over customers that can't get service and are still being charge early termination fees, and in general most who switch end up coming back to me or comcast. Stick with a dedicated line that you can indeed still be entirely mobile with. Qwest now offers free WiFI at thousands of places such as McDonalds, Starbucks, and oh Barnes and Nobles! Thats right free for all Qwest high speed customers. No need for slow Wimax with patchy coverage at best! lol

No problem. Two part isn't for everyone that is for sure. I have a calcium reactor waiting and ready. I use to use it all the time but my demand is so low and I can adjust when I need to using two part and for me at this point it just makes a little more sense. Plus I get a ton more bang for my buck and from what I have seen, sps grow like mad if done correctly either way. I would just make sure to run a kalk reactor or drip kalk when using a calcium reactor. It really helps to balance out the alk, ph, and calcium lvls once you get it all dialed in. Garrett

Guys if you want a REAL internet service provider with a dedicated connection that is always fast and who you know someone who personally can help you solve your problems then you all should just let me know. (whistle) I can get you hooked up with a constant good deal that not only starts with a great price but continues after a 12 month promo with a good price for life! LOL I love working after hours... Oh wait I am always working... or not... depends on how you view your job. Seriously though if you need any help let me know. I am indeed the other guy. :p Garrett P.S. much love to my comcast friends. your friend Qwest!

Its defiantely coming along! Out of curiosity, what are you using for lighitng? I see the VHO actinic whites and I see what looks to be 4 MH pendents and are the other flourescents that are alternating with the MH, are they t-5's or VHO's? What are the color temperatures/kelvin ratings that you are running and what wattages on the MH's? Thanks in advance. Garrett

Dennis, Undoubtably some fo the mass is definately a buildup of bacteria and microalgaes. The larger particulates, often a sort of sandy or light brown color is mostly just decaying biomass full of nasty. On a side note, it seems that micro fauna such as copeapods, amphipods, bristleworms, etc. seem to really like to sift through and eat alot of the particles that build up. So I would imagine these are probably the best critters to take care of breaking down the larger stuff into smaller more bacterial and algae energy sources. Still the majority of this stuff in excess or just left to sit and decay definately result in an increased nutrient level (nitrates, and the like). I say suck it out and joyously spatter it on the street! More coral color (rock2)!!!

I am not sure exactly how many pounds to be exact but from what others have mentioned I believe most people mix up one pound of each for one gallon liquid of each. My guess is that would last a pretty decent amount of time due to its high purity/concentration. I haven't been dosing magnesium but I do have some ready for when I need it. I just don't seem to have a problem getting my magnesium up to 1300-1400 with regular water changes. I am more so anticipating future need as I continue to stock up. Let me know if you would like some. I still have plenty of all but the carbon left. Garrett

Ben, The silt that builds up is detritus. I try and suck it up using a maxijet w/hose or siphon. This build up can contribute to unwanted nutrient build up and is primarily composed of small bits of decaying biomass including food, algaes, poo, etc. Its really hard to get it out of our systems which is why I use a filter sock to grab most of it. Of course that doesn't really help if you don't change your filter socks often enough like myself DOH! I have been more proactive lately and will continue to be in getting this gunk out of my tank. I have seen coral colors and polyps extension drastically improve once the majority of the detritus is removed. Garrett

I have been eyeballing the pool all day. I feel quite confortable with my hands in my tanks though! Beer is cold indeed. Later tonight I may just crack open a nice bottle or two of Heff and slice a a lemon up for some added delicious.

I think more people feel that it is amazing than just us because it has a price tag of over $1700 right now! Garrett

That is what I intend on doing to mariculture my corals. I of course plan winning a large amount of $$$ to help fund it but you never know. Garrett

Keep them IMO. They are an essential part of any good cleanup crew. I only remove them once they get really large as in about 3-4". I had one once in one of my algae tanks that was at least a foot long and about as thick as a pencil. It ate alot of detritus and excess food lol! I am not sure I would trust one that big next to my softies or slow fish though (bad exerience with a really unhealthy, small scooter blenny I tried to rescue (laugh)(whistle)(sad)) Garrett

Erik, 440 is a pretty decent level. When I mix up my kent salt, it is usually right about 510-520. Most day that a calcium level around 450-500 is a pretty good number. I have used several brands with good luck and only one brand that I feel must have been a bad batch as levels were way off on almost everything. Pacific coast has always been a pretty mid line salt in my experience. I wouldn't hesitate using it on occasion.

I would simply have the return for the UV go back into the section that it pulls water from(red square). The total water movement through your system should then equalize. It may appear that returning the already sterilized water back into the section that it is pulled from may be pointless but in fact it will not at all affect its ability to do its job. I think this will really help with a nice steady flow throughout your refugium. Garrett

I will take it all if you can wait for pickup until early next week? I will be out of town this weekend or I would buy it all now. Thanks, Garrett

I will have to snap a couple of update pics this weekend and get them up on here. I am hopeing for one of the bulbs to arrive for the fixture that is over the tank with the rock tower. I would love to grab pics with light above it . It was good chatting with you Mike and I am glad that your tank is coming along. Thanks for the frag of pavona and the 2 cardinals! Garrett

I have a horrible habbit of bookmarking every good reef info website that I come across. The problem is that it takes an hour or so to go through all of my favorites to find what I am looking for. Recently I have been just copying and pasting info that I find relavent and then saving it in a Reef info file on my computer. It has come in handy a few times thus far and its fun to have some pretty substantial info to back yourself up when education is necessary. Garrett

All of my tanks are setup from 100% wikipedia info. I find the info to be 100% accurate... 10% of the time. Garrett

These tanks have been around forever. They work well for betas and goldfish but for a reef... well you be the judge. I will not comment lol. Garrett

Hey Miles, I will take both of the candy canes and the zoa pack. Send me a PM with some available pickup times for this week. Thanks, Garrett

Sent you a PM.

I just visited this! It is pretty darn impressive and definately is the largest reef I have seen. They also incorporate alot of natural light which is cool. They really don't have a ton of coral though. Mostly just thousands of reef fish. Garrett