Maybe hanging it from the ceiling will work down the road, but as it stands, i live in an apartment and i don't think that my land lords will ... appreciate ... me drilling into their ceiling so that i can have it just hang there and be easily accessable.

That and i would be drilling into cement so i don't want to do that either as i don't have a cement drill (yet) and it will cause a lot of dust and debris around the tank.

Yeah.. I was in the same boat as you (kinda) I couldn't hang anything from my ceiling. So me and my dad build a mod so I had nothing hanging.

If you make a post, people will show you ways to build mods so you dont have to drill into your ceiling. You can build stands that are very simple and don't look too bad!

Yeah ... when i get some extra $$$ i am going to build a high canopy and place some fans inside it so that i can hand the fixture from inside the canopy.

But i also have the "WIFE" factor to contend with as well .... she says NO to hanging the fixture ... therefore i have the equation: happy wife = happy life

I drilled holes when I was in my apartment, easy to fill them when you leave. Just get a sheet of large plastic, or a tarp to cover you tank when you drill.

But I understand if the wife doesn't want it hung, too bad though, makes tank maintenance so much harder, and then you end up not doing it, and then it costs you money.

Amen to that. I had a 150w HQI hanging over my tank in a mod. Now I have the Aqualight Pro.... boooooooo! Honestly, I could preach all day about this. Having an open top tank makes tank maintanence a breeeeze. it was a big shock for me because I was so used to having the top open... I can barely fit my arm under my Aqualight Pro. Therefore, aptasia is growing furiously, as well as some bits of hair algae and other goodies.

I never realized or paid attention to that until you said it Rory. Not having easy access totally throws off tank maintenance.. and then things just go downhill from there.

Other hangers
 

Hey SerLunchbox,

Check this link out. About 3/4 way down the guy is using wall hangers to suspend it. I did this with my 33 and put a shelf on top. Works great, will get a pic when I get home tonight.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...&pagenumber=19

Well, i like the shelf idea ... but my wife, again, doesn't want hanging cables etc from the walls ....

ah well, i WILL eventually have a canopy built for this stand! May even build "around" the stand and put some wooden slats along the front (make a hinged front) so that it retains the structure of the original stand but may look nicer

So i hit a snag ...

My water was clear yesturday and isn't so clear today ... infact there seems to be what looks like grainular leftover salt on the bottom of the tank and on the sides. Any thoughts on how to clean this up? Just took SOME water out, but i still see it on the bottom. not a real grainular feel to it but slightly ...

Will the skimmer clean that out or what?

Should i add more freshwater? Thanks

Edit: Turned my powerheads off and it turns out to be extra salt ... gotta syphon that off ... it didn't get absorbed. Note to self, next salt tank you do, don't mix in the damned tank.

What is your saline level? That is what is important. What are you measuring it with? I try to keep mine around 1.024.

mine is 1.0245 and it is measured with a refractometer.