Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread - Page 9

Cprowler · #**201** 11/22/2007, 08:41 AM

AWT?

melev · #**202** 11/22/2007, 08:43 AM

AquariumWaterTesting.com

Here's a blast from the past. Look at this picture from October 2005. At the bottom left of this image, you can see how small the Toadstool Leather was. The Devil's Hand was huge!

H2OLUVSME · #**203** 11/22/2007, 09:25 AM

I guess you couldnt take a current one from there, and see anything but the toadstoll now huh?

Im glad your thread is getting back on the pic heavy side

Of course all of your pics, and your tank, look awesome.

jnarowe · #**204** 11/22/2007, 12:37 PM

I can't imagine that your Mg is that low considering the salt you are using. But maybe I am projecting my own results, which include the use of Gen-X Ca media. That media includes a large amount of Mg.

That PO4 number is a little scary and I wonder why the silica is high? When I was discussing my skimmer with someone, he mentioned that the stones are silica and that they break down at high pH (9.0+). I am well below that pH, but he made the point that we would have to assume that some minute breakdown was occurring at 8.30.

That is something I have been thinking about for some time now.

Airman · #**205** 11/22/2007, 02:17 PM

Jonathan,
Is that why sponges grows so well in my tank? My pH is 8.4 and I have sand on the bottom of my tank. I get a gray sponge that grows all the time. I like the sponge because it make the tank look more natural. About every four months I have to remove some of it.

jnarowe · #**206** 11/22/2007, 02:37 PM

Could very well be. That gray sponge (if it's the same slick surface one I have) will over-run and kill just about anything in its path. I have tried hard to eradicate it from my system.

Airman · #**207** 11/22/2007, 03:12 PM

The surface is not slick. It grows in long vertical fingers the coloration is blackish or gray.

bmwaaron · #**208** 11/22/2007, 03:13 PM

Which salt are you currently using Marc?

Oh and BTW happy Thanksgiving everyone!

jnarowe · #**209** 11/22/2007, 03:27 PM

definitely a different sponge then. You have to be very careful about sponges though, as I have had experience with a viscuous sponge that ate a bunch of ricordia, and then ate the rock they were on. Seriously, the sponge ATE the rock!

Airman · #**210** 11/22/2007, 03:40 PM

My ricordia spilt but it is not close to the any sponge.

Goodwin9 · #**211** 11/22/2007, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bmwaaron
Which salt are you currently using Marc?

Oh and BTW happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm curious too, I forgot to ask....

bmwaaron · #**212** 11/22/2007, 04:13 PM

Marc have you had any experiance with this type of standpipe?
http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson...HGB/index.html

melev · #**213** 11/22/2007, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jnarowe
I can't imagine that your Mg is that low considering the salt you are using. But maybe I am projecting my own results, which include the use of Gen-X Ca media. That media includes a large amount of Mg.

That PO4 number is a little scary and I wonder why the silica is high? When I was discussing my skimmer with someone, he mentioned that the stones are silica and that they break down at high pH (9.0+). I am well below that pH, but he made the point that we would have to assume that some minute breakdown was occurring at 8.30.

That is something I have been thinking about for some time now.

Their testing results aren't as accurate as we'd like. Everyone's tanks test high in Silica, and Boomer has been trying to educate them on testing seawater vs fresh. He knows his stuff and he's confident that they are incorrect on several tests. You can read his comments in the Reef Chemistry forum.

Since my PO4 was 3.0 back in 2005, .23ppm doesn't even make me flinch. My own kit has reported 0 each time I've done the test in the past 45 days, so it is low.

Hop · #**214** 11/22/2007, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bmwaaron
Marc have you had any experiance with this type of standpipe?
http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson...HGB/index.html

A few people I know on another board are running them and love them. Most replaced their herbie pipes with them and I have not heard one complaint.

melev · #**215** 11/22/2007, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bmwaaron
Which salt are you currently using Marc?

Oh and BTW happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Red Sea Reef Pro, the one pictured in the water change article. I've been using if for about a year or so.

melev · #**216** 11/22/2007, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hop
A few people I know on another board are running them and love them. Most replaced their herbie pipes with them and I have not heard one complaint.

Yes, the HGB came out a couple of years ago and it was a pretty neat system. I remember the thread in the DIY forum when he first documented it.

bmwaaron · #**217** 11/22/2007, 08:13 PM

Im thinking about trying it with the new tank. Wish me luck

DrBegalke · #**218** 11/22/2007, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Their testing results aren't as accurate as we'd like. Everyone's tanks test high in Silica, and Boomer has been trying to educate them on testing seawater vs fresh.

My latest sample came back 0.0 in silicia, I was shocked...

Alaska_Phil · #**219** 11/23/2007, 01:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
AquariumWaterTesting.com

Here's a blast from the past. Look at this picture from October 2005. At the bottom left of this image, you can see how small the Toadstool Leather was. The Devil's Hand was huge!

Hey, that's about the size of my toadstool! And it's several times bigger than when I got it already.

Whatever happened to that devils hand? That was one impressive leather.

Phil

yellowwatchmen · #**220** 11/23/2007, 02:56 AM

Awesome tank

Dudester · #**221** 11/23/2007, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bmwaaron
Marc have you had any experiance with this type of standpipe?
http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson...HGB/index.html

That looks a lot like the CJ standpipe.

ksouers · #**222** 11/23/2007, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jnarowe
First, Chuck, my local Walgreens didn't have it. And I am getting sick of the question, "What are you going to use it for?"...like how do I explain that? I tried and just got a blank stare.

I get that quite often at Lowe's or HD as I have a machine shop and frequently modify things to get exactly what I want, usually something other than it's intended purpose. It happened last week when I wanted 100 feet of 1/4 inch tubing. My usual response is "Why do YOU want to know?"

Quite frankly, it's none of their d*mned business. I don't need to explain myself for a legal purchase. I won't answer them if I don't want to.

Sorry for the rant. Sometimes people's nosiness just galls me.

Someone want to help me down off my soapbox now?

jnarowe · #**223** 11/23/2007, 10:58 PM

well, what's funny about that is that they have nothing better to do. I think some genuinely are trying to help, but many are just too stupid to understand what I am trying to accomplish anyway.

ksouers · #**224** 11/23/2007, 11:09 PM

You are oh so right on about the "stupid"!!!

The same visit I needed a 1/8-18 NPT pipe tap. All I could find were machine thread taps. When the attendant offered to help, and I explained what I needed, he escorted me to the center punches.

I just gave him a blank stare then turned and walked away.

jnarowe · #**225** 11/23/2007, 11:12 PM

They don't carry pipe taps any more and haven't for a couple of years AFAIK. I had to go to Tacoma Screw to get pipe taps.