Recent content by Mihai

Boy do those guys (McMaster Carr) have valves! They have so many in fact I have a hard time choosing! If you have a note somewhere of a good one, help me :-). Now, regarding the type - is brass OK? It's RO water going for the top-off, will it leach in the tank and kill the corals? M.

Does anybody know of a good source for a solenoid valve for my auto-top-off? There gotta be some really reliable valves around: each fridge has one and I'm yet to see one fail, but I have no idea where to buy one without the fridge. If it works at 120V even better, although 12V may work OK as...

Thanks - I was leaning toward an IceCap electronic ballast - seems to be OK except for a little less light than the M80. M.

After being a happy customer for about 6 years with PFO tar ballast they started giving up on me. First one, then the other and then the backup. All three in the same way: they developed a bulb burning capability - they burn bulbs very fast (a few days). They seem to have problems starting them...

I was pretty much on the fence on this, and you're pulling me down. Last time I fixed it it wasn't too bad, but it didn't end up good either :D. I did scrape it with a blade pretty well, then used vinegar and it *looked* really clean. Was it really clean? Not sure... M.

Hmmm... the tank is a hex tank, so the glass is not cut at 90 degrees, but rather at 60 or so. As such, they do come down to a narrow edge (which is chipped here and there, but not too bad). Actually, about 1" under the leak there is a small chip in both panes (at the exterior), but that's not...

I think I used "Perfecto" aquarium silicon from Petsmart - I didn't realize that there is a difference in quality. Also, I'm not sure if I used acetone - maybe I did, but I think I used vinegar - maybe that's why it didn't work as well as it should have... I'll give it another try with -...

You may be onto something - I think that this is the only tank that I setup without the usual foam cushion because it has a wooden base that holds it - the base sits on a wooden table that sits on a hardwood floor. Needless to say that either the floor, table or base can be slightly warped - I'm...

Hi there, I have a problem with a strange tank leak. The tank is a 35 gal hex tank that I got a long time ago (about 5 years ago) from Wade. For five years all was fine until around last Thanksgiving (2008) when, late evening (11pm) it just started to leak big time. I mean, from a vertical seam...

I have big sump and fuge (for a 90 display I have a 20 gal upstream fuge, a 75 gal sump and a 60 gal prop tank), so the supply of pods should not be a problem - it wasn't after adding the social wrasses to the tank although those are active feeding fellows too, so I'm not very worried about...

That would be an expensive meal :) M.

Oh, that was a close one! Thanks for the advice guys, I'll pass on the six line. It's very pretty, but it's not worth the pain and anguish. Thanks a lot, Mihai

Oh, so the six line may be the aggressive one... I thought that the socials would be the nasty ones. I also have a mated pair of clowns an old and big royal gramma and a pair of mandarins. Any of those would be in danger of the six line? They are all adults. Also a cleaner shrimp, a blue star...

I have a couple of social wrasses (Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis) in my 90 gallon reef tank and a friend of mine wants to give me a six line wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia). Will they get along? Thanks! Mihai

I just started some carbon yesterday and it seems that it already is a tad better. Maybe it's just an illusion. I'm also starting a series of large water changes (large is relative: 30 galons in a 230 gal system), perhaps this would do it without the drastic measures. I think that the fish...