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Your Squamosa is beautiful, is that the Marshall Island variety?

I'm torn about which one to get, the Croceas are nice to!!!

Of course, me getting one will be about 4 months down the way...but I can dream!! [smiley=Looking.gif]

 

Awesome Clam!

Can you show us a picture of the denitrator and explain how it works? TIA

 

sure. what it does is this: water flows in the top of the unit from any source in the tank or sump, it can be gravity fed, fed from a pump, or whatever, as long as it gets to the denitrator. for about 6 months(this is the only drawback, the time it takes to seed the unit)you control the flow through the unit to about 70 to 80 drops a minute, this is accomplished by a simple airline regulator valve. after about 3 weeks you need to check the nitrites coming out of the output of the denitrator(you have an input on top and an output on the side)they will go off the scale as the water going through the unit is flowing so slowly that it loses 02. when the nitrites go off the scale, that means that the unit is cycling. the nitrites will do no harm to the system as your bacteria in your filter will consume it. the bacteria that grow in this 02 deprived unit use nitrates as a food source and the water coming back out of the unit will eventually be free of nitrates and after about 6 months,if the unit has been properly cycled, your nitrates will drop. in my case they dropped to 0 and have been 0 for almost 8 years. after your nitrates drop to 10 ppm you need to double the drip rate and leave it that way for as long as you have the unit. there are some people that have these units that feed the bacteria extra, it is thought that after the nitrates drop that there is not food available in the system to feed the bacteria. the extra food that is fed you ask??????? unflavored vodka!!!!!!!(oh to be a bacteria) i have never done this as my tank is nitrate free and i don't mess with a good thing. you can see from the pic the input at the top and the output on the side. mine is fed from one of the ball valves that come with rio pumps, it is connected to the pump that is hooked to the skimmer. those ball valves have a small hole that is used for airation when the rios were used as powerheads, i just put a hose in the hole and tapped the water coming out of the hole.

 

here is a pic of my crocea also

 

and while i am at my other squamosa

 

and my derasa, i have a teardrop maxima coming in today and will post pics as soon as he is accliamated

 

The claims are just beautiful.


phil

 

thanks guys(you see what i mean about feeling at home??)
and just for fun, here is a pic of my clown trigger

 

and as a change of pace, my 25 gal freshwater eclipse.

 

Awesome looking livestock!