Well, since the line is there, it *MUST* mean something.  I mean, manufacturers don’t just put warning labels on things for no reason, right?

…right?

Well, the warning IS there for a reason.  Over time, salt water eats away at the rubber housing leading to cracks and often to a shocking end.  The (blindingly obvious) solution is to keep the water below the water line.  Wow!  And they said blogs were good for nothing.  Look at that useful information!

No.  The neat trick here is HOW to keep the water below the line.  Everyone knows the suction cups that come with heaters couldn’t suction their way out of a paper bag.  The real solution is styrofoam.

I had an extra piece kicking around the house and I drilled three holes.

Then I jammed the heaters through the holes.

Voila!  Float it in your sump and no more shocking endings!

Continuing our tour of the new reef tank in the Schad Gallery at the ROM.  Part 1 is here.

One of the things that quickly became apparent was that no expense was spared in building this aquarium.  There was a beautiful tank room that would make any reefer worth his salt envious.  Not only was the space clean and organized, but it had just about every toy imaginable.  Like I said in my previous post, there wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but there was certainly thought behind the design.  There are a few things I’d nitpick, but the overall design of the tank was excellent.

It’s been reported that Big Al himself forges these overflows from the tears of reefers who own SeaClones.

The only alarming thing in the room was the salinity bin.  I don’t know if this is the final step in the water change process, but 1.022 is low for a reef tank.

Little does Vlad know, but he’s being stalked by a pair of Solaris LEDs.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures!   Coming up next is the video.  Our editor monkeys are still editing furiously.

For us northern hemisphere-ners, the reefing season is almost done. The shops are bringing less and less coral. The forums are staying busy only late at night. And I am running out of calcium reactor media!

Just like a sports offseason, us too reefers have to retool, reorganize, and rethink how we look at our systems. We change some inefficient equipment, rework the plumbing, or even install a new sump. This is what we do in the summer months. And, oh yea, grow corals for the reefing season.

Personally, I am quite satisfied the way things are shaping up in my system. Things are on autopilot (metaphor people, not an actual autopilot). The way I intended them to be. But, never say no to improvement. So lets look at my to do list:

1. Setup a power-down backup system for the 320 gallon. This will be done using a vortech mp40w pump with a battery backup.
2. Install pendants for the prop system. Thinking of using T5s, but I am leaning towards uses the MHs that I already have.
3. Change the membrane in the RODI.
4. Buy new bulbs for the 320.

What are your plans for the offseason? Are you doing anything new? Buy a new pump? Lights? Tank? Let us know!