drimo
Reef Addict

Check out Part 1 in case you missed it.

I wrapped up the plumbing for my water mixing station this weekend.

The first thing I did was install the Uniseal on the top barrel for storing RO/DI water. Installing the Uniseal was tough but I learned a trick is to either use warm soapy water or your favorite water based lubricant. I'll let you guess which one I used but it was a lot easier than just trying to jam the PVC through the Uniseal.

I put a ball valve on

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I was recently inspired by a Reef Central thread, Salt Water Mixing Stations Let's See Them, to redo the way I mix saltwater. My goal was to make it easier to perform water changes by having a built in pump to send water upstairs to my tank rather than lugging buckets up and down the steps. Honestly that is my biggest deterrence to doing water changes, so if I can make them easier to perform, I will do them more frequently.

This is the design I wanted to make. It would allow me to

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MACNA 2010 will be my third MACNA. I have had a great time each year and I always learn something new at the presentations. My favorite thing about MACNA is the vast knowledge that is available by going to the talks, but it can be difficult to pick the presentations you want to go to. I created a free app for my webOS (Palm Pre or Palm Pixi) phone that will help to plan which talks to go to.

The "Unofficial MACNA 2010 Schedule" app will show a schedule of the presentations

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I have been having an issue with heat build up and one easy way to deal with it (without getting a chiller) is to use fans. Fans on an aquarium help to increase evaporation, which cools the aquarium because some of the warm water is replaced with top off water. It does mean the top off water will be used more quickly, so if you go this route, be prepared to refill your top off reservoir more often.

I decided to use some old computer fans as a method for introducing cooler air on top

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Over the last few weeks I've noticed some SPS bleaching in my tank. I've been pretty busy lately with a lot of projects at work, plus the birth of our first child, so the tank had to go on autopilot for a while. About the only thing I have been doing regularly for the past two months was replace top off water and feed the tank.

So tonight when I went to get more top off water, I checked the TDS. The TDS coming in was 373. The TDS coming out was 356. And then it all clicked.

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