Recent content by bongo fury

What Wrasser said...great info on those posts. Thanks to Matt for taking the time to put it out there for us!

I have a reef tank, live rock, deep sand bed (about 5-6 inches), no top. The clowns are actually false percolas. But since other newbies would have different setups, perhaps you could include any specific concerns about the fish you recommend. For example, I understand that some blennies...

Can some of you "old-timers" tell us about fish...I mean beyond the typical damsels and clowns? I have a 30 gal tank with a couple of clowns (I had to get them for the kids, you know), but I want to add a few more fish. Since my tank is relatively small, I'd prefer fish that are not too...

Oops, my mistake. I was looking at the shipping cost, which is $37.50. The buy-it-now price is 61.99. Sorry for the confusion! Here's the link, if anyone's interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Reef-6st-100GPD ... dZViewItem

$100 bucks, eh? For a 30 gallon tank, it seems to make more sense just to buy my water. For $100, I could buy water for two years. So I think I'll put off buying an RO/DI unit until I get a larger tank. BTW, if anyone tries one of those $35 ebay jobs, please let us know if it works!

^ Yeah, I did a quick look on ebay, and saw some as low as $35. But I'd like to know what is the POS (piece of "crap") threshold. I mean, $35 is cheap enough, but not if the thing doesn't work. I'll search the forums a little more to see what I can find out. Thanks for your help! BF

Thanks Chris. What is the landscape for "budget RO units"? IOW, what should I expect to pay if I want a decent unit, but at the lowest possible price?

OK, so I found out that I can buy R/O purified water at my local grocer for 33 cents a gallon. Since I have only a 30 gallon tank, this seems like a great alternative to buying my own R/O unit as I'd rather put my money into other things at this point (like more corals!). About a dollar for a...

^ Great idea. I live in the Triad region of NC (Winston-Salem/Greensboro), and I understand there are clubs in this area. I haven't pursued it yet since I'm just getting started, but I definitely plan to do so. Thanks to all for the replies.

Man, this hobby sucks...I want all of them! Guess I'll have to tell my kids they can't go to college, 'cause I'm spending all my money on my reef tank. :D

Thanks for the link, Mrktplayer. I know about the normal acclimation procedures, but I didn't know if corals required anything beyond that. Apparently not. By the way, does anyone have "favorite" corals they would recommend for a beginner?

Thanks for the reply! I'll probably wait a few weeks as you suggest, just to be sure.

Hi all, I have a 29 gal tank, compact flourescents with 65 watts 12,000k daylight and 65 watts actinics, running for 8 weeks now. 45 lbs live rock and a deep sand bed. Nitrates, pH, and other numbers all look good. I now have 2 false percolas, 3 peppermint shrimp, a bunch of blue-legged...

Thanks IslandCrow, I appreciate your input. I had thought about the moisture/corrosion issue. There are rubber coated sockets that should take care of that, and they're only a few dollars each. You're correct though, a "normal" aquarium setup is inexpensive enough, and I'll likely end up...

Thanks for the reply. I thought there must be a good reason not to use these type bulbs, as I haven't seen them mentioned in any of the lighting discussions I've read. So it sounds like these would work fine in a FOWLR setup. I'm sure I'll eventually get into corals, but for now I'm taking it...