Tharsis' 20 long ~2-11-12~ sps and lps pics!

I have heard some good things about it, and I will definitely share my experiences with it when I start getting everything together.

 

I have read where quite a few people recommended the aqua c remora. I was looking at the odyssea bakpak clone, but others recommended the remora over it. I did pull the trigger on the coralife ,after like you reading reviews on bothsides. I was on a budget and the coralife fit in and most of the problems people listed were adjusting due to water level, but I will be running an ato setup so I wasn't concerned. I don't have the coralife setup yet, out of the box it looks decent. If you already have the remora, I would say at least try it first if you are on a budget.

 

Yeah I may give it a shot, I will have to dig it out and see if I even have all the parts for it still.

I have no idea how it works so I will have no clue if it is in fact working properly haha. I may post some pics of it in action and hopefully someone with some remora experience can chime in.

I have basically allowed myself $400 for the upgrade from my 10 gallon tank, so saving ~$100 will be awesome. Now that i think about it I may use that extra cash to get an RO unit.

 

Im not sure what you were planning for skimmer placement, but the remora is a hang on model. If that doesn't matter and you have the parts I would still go with it. It has gotten good reviews on marine depot. I completely understand the budget thing. I am starting from scratch so am buying everything. I get what I can off of craigslist, which is pretty limited in my area.

Sidenote: If you do decide to get the coralife, I got mine from Big Als. It shipped for free and was EXTREMELY well packaged. I ordered on Saturday, so it didn't ship until monday, but I got it that Weds.

 

Yeah I tested the remora on the 10 gallon and it is essentially a stand up HOB as opposed to a hanging HOB...

 

Does it still run, or don't like the HOB idea?

 

yeah I just tested it, it looks like it works well, it is making tons of bubbles (I assume that that is good).

Here are some pics of it in action in fresh water. You can see that it basically is flush with the surface that the tank is sitting on (hence the stand up HOB).











You can see the bubbles forming in the collector tube. I am assuming that the skimmate rises up the tube into the collector plate, so bubbles are a good thing.

The water level has to be pretty high in this arrangement so I think if I decide to go with this I will add some pvc to extend the pump lower into the tank.

Can anyone see how this arrangement wouldn't work? If I can save some money by not buying a skimmer I will be pretty happy. But if there are any doubts that it won't work i would rather know now.

 

As long as you have room for it to fit where you are going to place the sump and to be able to remove the collection cup to empty it, i don't see a problem. As for lowering the pump some, I don't think that would be an issue either, it's not like you are adding feet to the height it has to pump so I doubt you would have any problems. The coralife has two different tube lengths to mount the pump with. I say give it a try, that will be at least $100 you don't have to spend.

 

I just extended the tubing so the pump is now resting on the bottom of the tank, no problems. So it looks like I am good to go.

There are a lot of calcium deposits and gunk inside that I cannot reach so I am going to run it with a vinegar solution for a few days while I wait for my goodies to arrive in the mail.

 

I just ordered 50 pounds of dry rock from John at Reefcleaners.org, looking forward to seeing what they send me.

This should be a very fun week as all of my goodies arrive in the mail. It looks like I will have this puppy up and running by next week! This was quite the spending spree I have gone on...i wish I could do this all the time haha