Well, let's say I got TOTM....before the pics, I'd cover the exposed area with sand. Nobody would know it was there, and I wouldn't admit it :)

I don't think it traps anything, other than some smaller snails. The bugs and worms seem to move around, although I do notice I don't have the same fauna I used to have with plain sand. I also don't think it's a concern either way with pressure points. If there is enough weight focused to go through the glass, it's going to go through the plastic at the same time. Which isn't likely :)

I realize that I'm a rookie at this, and my expereince is very limited, but I'll add my 2 cents to the conversation as well . . . I choose to use the eggcrate on the bottom before I added rock with the thought that it may keep me from scratching the tank and possibly damaging the tank if I was clumsy and dropped a rock. At the same time I had seen some tanks with exposed eggcrate and I didn't like the look of that. So . . . after the aquascaping was done I took my sidecutters and snipped the eggcrate as close to the rock as was feasible. It took about 15 min of time. My thinking was that if the sand gets blow around there is less chance of having some eggcrate exposed. So far I have not has any eggcrate exposed.

Dropping a rock while in water inside a larger tank won't damage the tank. Last time I removed a 1/2" piece of cross brace, I had to whack is 5 times with my framing hammer to actually break it. It's pretty strong stuff :) Conceptually, nothing wrong with that extra layer, and especially a good idea to trim away the excess.

I thought about doing that to remove the cross brace on this tank, but was worried that it would put to much pressure on the front and back panes of glass that it's siliconed to and crack them.. Kinda late to do it now as I would have glass shards all throughout my tank now. :lol:

the problem i have with eggcrate is nobody ever keeps their origional rock scape it gets changed a million times everytime a new huge coral or rock is introduced.

like brad said ive dropped some pretty big rocks in my day alot of gasps but not one break.

i dont see any huge disadvantages in using it just unsightly to see, and later your going to have to either move it or remove it:)

use a dremel tool to score a line across so that when you hit it it wont break past the score mark:) or just dremel it completely:P

I suppose that's a option.. Will have to give it some thought.

I'm glad I didn't go with a RO/DI that does anything less that 100GPD... I came into office for 9 hours on Saturday to let the water flow, and then it ran for another 8.5hrs on Sunday.. that got the tank to about 55-60%.. It's been running since 7am this morning and I still got about 20% in the DT to fill + the sump.. Glad I only have to do this once!

Patience, Patience, Patience..... :razz:


On a side note...

Does anyone have experience with Reef Lobsters in a reef tank?

My general manager asked me today if he could have a lobster in the tank.. Immediately I was hesitant, asked what kind he was referring too, and told him I would research it as I have zero experience with them.

I gave him two options after browsing Live Aquaria..

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p......&pcatid=555

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p......&pcatid=752

Any input would be greatly appreciated before I get myself into something I have no experience with.

Well the tank and sump is finally wet and circulating (during office hours until I get my check valve from The Reef Shoppe). The sand will be getting added as soon as I get the skimmer online in combination with a filter sock to polish the water after.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...Tank/photo.jpg

Picked up an Ocean Runner 2500 return pump yesterday to use a my feed for the Skimz 202. Unfortunately the seller broke the thread connector on it so I've got to fix that today before I can use it. (At least I got the pump for free because of it)

I've put reef lobsters in reef tanks before without any issue. Seem to be pretty secretive hiding 99% of the time, so don't expect too much from them. Hit or miss with other inverts like shrimp, personally if you're planning on keeping things like shrimp and decorative crabs scratch the lobster as the risk involved hardly seems worth something you'll never see.

I like, I like.

Are you going to get a pH probe for the RKE you just bought?