400 gallon project

[untamed]

Originally Posted by Joe Reefer

Do I smell Deltec?

Nope. That's all I'm going to say until I actually have it. It's going to be quite a project to find a way to install this thing.

Originally Posted by asmodeus

Untamed I'm just bugging ya about your skimmer obvious your skimmer is working for you. imagine having Super fuge's skimmer on your tank.........................

IMO its not the tube its the pump that works in the skimmer and that is why the ASM G5 and 6 are good since they have the Sedras pumps attached to them.........

I took your comments as you intended. The G6 is doing all I could expect of it, but it is overwhelmed. I have had a few conversations with "Fudge" about his skimmer. I like his philosophy...big pump, big chamber, tall...self cleaning...pretty much describes what I'm thinking about.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by untamed

I like his philosophy...big pump, big chamber, tall...self cleaning...pretty much describes what I'm thinking about.

Self-cleaning? Say what? This I'd like to hear more about!

[Delphinus]

Here Myka, check out these pages: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-11/totm/index.php
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=30974
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=686757

*Somewhere* in there is some details about his self-squeegee'ing skimmer head, and some videos too IIRC.

Also, there are some skimmers which employ a spray head which spray down the skimmer neck in an effort to keep it clean. And, I think there are a couple commercial versions of self-cleaning skimmers (Deltec, I think), although they tend to be pretty high-end things.

[untamed]

I lost my Powder Blue Tang the other night. I only had him for 1 month. No explanation, but he was reduced to a clean skull less than 24 hours since last seeing him alive. I suppose this means that my clean up crew is very good at what they do!

I liked this fish a lot and expect that I'll try again.

[michika]

I'm really sorry to hear that.

[justinl]

sorry to hear that. it really was a great fish.

[untamed]

While my battle with hair algae is under control, it is very much still there. My one remaining sea hare continues to do a decent job. It could be that this is just where my tank ends up.

In an effort to figure out what is going on, I've purchased a Pinpoint nitrate monitor. $250 later, the official low-range reading on my tank is.... zero ppm

Yes, absolute zero. I then verified the test by diluting the 10ppm calibration fluid 50/50 with aquarium water and got a reading of 5 ppm.

So...what does this mean? I suppose it means that any available nitrate is being used by algae faster than I can detect it. I'm going to theorize that algae needs light to make use of the nitrate. That would suggest that I might be able to detect nitrates in the morning, before the lights come on.

More on this as experimenting continues.