badxgillen

I am still waiting to hear back from Garret at the TPA about what coral colonies he has in store for us but I do know that we will have a number of nice raffle prizes in store for the PNWMAS club such as... A brand new Echotech MP 10 propeller circulation pump to get your water flow in style. A very flexible and non intrusive way to keep that water moving in the reef tank. A duel sensor automatic top off unit to help keep that salinity stable long term, and piece of mind when you are away from the tank for a period of time. And something that everybody needs once in a while, a full case of some of the finer marine grade salts. I have been using the fritz for a little while now and I am pretty happy with it, here is a chance to give it a whirl. We will have a few other items to add to this list of prizes including some certificates from some of our fine sponsors here at PNWMAS, we will post some more news on the meet soon so keep your eyes peeled.

It is time again to mark the 2020 calendar, we will be having a PNWMAS club meeting at the new Premium Aquarium store at the end of the month! Not too long ago the TPA made a transition into a new building in south Salem that seems to be a great fit for their establishment, nice open spaces and rows and rows of coral and fish tanks, not to mention a wide selection of dry goods. As usual the club will provide some food and beverages for those who attend as well as a raffle to partake in. I am also getting some confirmation on a coral group buy in for a nice colony or two brought in by the TPA. Once we have more details on that we will post them up here so just stay tuned. When - Saturday February 29th 1:PM Where - The Premium Aquarium 4071 Liberty Rd S, Salem, Oregon 97302 What - Sales, Raffles, Food, Friends, and a coral group buy.

So I will be taking a few frags to a couple select members tomorrow, hope to see some other nice corals while I am out and about. Let me know if you want to trade something, or just need some cheap corals.

Another item in the raffles will be the Santa Monica Filtration Waterfall Algae Scrubber, something that I have been wanting to try out for some time now. I guess I will have to tap into my coral funds to grab a few more tickets for this one.

Looking forward to some more captive bred fish locally, let us know when you have some available, good luck yeah.

So the super busy and thinker might want this rock?... If so I can facilitate grabbing it and transporting it up north during a PNWMAS meeting if that is of any help? I dont live far from Albany.

We will have a few items to be won for the raffle! One of my personal favorite magazines out there right here! Tons of great articles, sweet photographs, interesting interviews, exotic locals, and of course, amazing corals. We have a stack of this informative literature to be raffled off that will give your reefing library a serious boost! If your not into reading much, or already have a subscription to Coral magazine, then we will also have a couple nice gift certificates available that can help you add some nice stock to your aquarium. Paradise Coral has a very good selection of designer Zoanthids and other very nice looking livestock, get a chance at winning some spending power at this meeting in Kelso. Another item on the list of prizes is a Eheim Auto Feeder, one of the reliable and versatile feeders on the market. It is nice to have these on hand when leaving for prolonged periods of time, or to simply keep those fish that eat multiple times a day happy like Anthias and such.

I would be up for it if it falls through, I have a nice spot in my 220 for that bad boy.

Gonna see if I can get a car pool going on of some of the Corvallis folks, getting up to Washington isn't that often but a visit with Roy and my fellow reefers makes for a great incentive.

As usual I have a large list of things that I can cut if someone is interested. I snapped some crappy cell phone pics of a few I had to cut for a friend and will have extras due to the nature of my fragging methods. Naty spiral Montipora pieces. I will get a better shot soon as this is a nice coral. Had to trim my Australian Pink Hyacinth Acropora again. A few chalices including the mango, Miami Hurricane, and cotton candy. A few Birds nests including the ORA Hyacinth Hystix. Digitatas too like Forest Fire, Green, Red, Blue... Pink Damicornus and Greens. I have some Stylophoras I may cut as well. I also have a ton of zoas and other corals that could use a trim. I always have a few extra drags lying around too. I did also cut my main photosynthetic Gorgonions for the next trade. Gold bases, Gruubs, purple polyp, and maybe even a whip or two. Still some Euphyllia left too, and then there are the Zoas... I will add to this post again very soon.

“As mentioned, the meeting at Stylasters would make an opportune place/time to have a frag swap, and being a little further up north there may be some folks and corals we don't normally get to meet and trade with. So lets get one started here. These are the general guidelines I like to recommend for these coral exchanges. If you would like, you can do your trading on the fly by just bringing by a few pieces and hoping that some one will have a desirable coral you want...Or better yet, you can post up what you have to trade and work out a preemptive exchange here on the forums, that method always works best for me. You can feel free to use this thread to post your trade-ables in or start a thread of your own. But First, let me get you some of Bert's basis tips for success here. 1.) make an attempt to have a fragment of reasonable size and health and try and get things cut and ready a few days to a week ahead of time to have the wounds healed up for the exchange. And double/triple check for pest invertebrates or algaes before sending your corals out, we try to keep invasives to a minimum here...And once you get your frags home, just in case, always acclimate the specimens then dip the corals before you put them into your personal aquarium. QT Aquariums are best but good old Revive, Coral RX, Melafix, Iodine, or Bayer will do much better at prevention than nothing. 2.) Try to package your corals appropriately. This can mean not putting a spiny coral like birds nest into a thin dollar store bag or not utilizing insulation on an extended cold or warm trip. Try a small cooler or Styrofoam. If you can't find either of these and the destination is a long distance, keep the vehicle air conditioned or heated appropriately. As far as packaging goes you can double bag and use thicker mil plastics, or something else like a Tupperware or specimen container. I have even used washed out yogurt or cottage cheese containers that stack well inside the coolers. Just use something that will work, nothing like losing a nice and colorful animal because the bag got too cold and leaked all the water out on the way home. 3.)Do your best to be courteous and fair to one another by not take advantage of each others ignorance or generosity. These are people of all levels in the hobby so give them the benefit of your knowledge and experience instead of the cold shoulder. And speaking of generosity, that giving nature has always been smiled upon here at PNWMAS and pay it forward tends comes back around these parts. So Let's see em folks, Whatcha Got!? Corals that is!”

That is right! We are all headed up north for our next meeting over to the reputable reefer Stylaster's house! If you have not seen his amazing setups then you are in for a treat, this guy has been doing this for a long time and he most certainly does it well! Just look at his custom made aquarium, It is a 312g with a 125g sump a 40g refugium and a 50g frag tank plumbed through into his garage, all full of corals. He also knows a thing or two about the hobby making him a very versed person to chat with about all things aquatic. So feel free to bring your questions as there will be a wealth of knowledge in several of the people attending this gathering, some real salty dogs if you know what I mean. And in addition to Stylaster opening his home for us to meet up at, we will have food, beverages, and raffles to participate in for those who attend. Being a little further up north it seems like a good time to do a little bit of a frag swap too so I will include the link to a trade thread here... http://www.pnwmas.org/forums/topic/46526-frag-swap-at-roys-house/ Where - 244 Sparks Drive, Kelso WA 98626 When - Saturday Febuary 1st 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM What - Food, friends, fun, and frags!!! So save the date and make the drive out, you won't want to miss it and we don't want to miss you!

Reminds me of the giant Dardanus Megistos hermits that would come in pretty frequently. I have seen bright orange, red with spots, and a yellow variety... All of them are Devastating to a reef. If you want something that will scour all your rock of algae, coral, and anemones look no further. These guys clean house!

Well unfortunately I did not have my camera with me as I rushed from my shop and had accidentally left it at home, hence the terrible cell phone shots I got here. That being said, it was a wonderful time! Amazing raffle prizes, Awesome people, Good food, and a fun gift exchange. It was a Hoot! Thank you all for those who made it possible, with a special thanks to Albertareef, Suncrestreef, JeremyEvans, and Gumby for helping out with the event. And another big thanks to all those who attended, it was another killer holiday meeting. The whole TPA crew made it out, Garrete was kind enough to shut down his shop so everyone there could attend. Lots of people getting their coral trade on, I know I left with a bunch of new frags. Paratore taking home some new coral frags to add to his collection. Thanks for bringing those goodies to trade, I can always make room for a few more polyps. Dominic sporting the festive sweater unwrapping a surprise package,with Albertareef to the right manning the gift exchange. Gumby losing his white elephant gift while OptumusPrime has a good laugh about it. This kid knew what was up with those delicious chocolates. Daniel of Reefi Labs brought over the latest light model he has created, the duo extreme! R-3, Roy, and WhatTheFrag waiting to see who will win in the raffle drawings. JereEvans taking home the Reefi LED light! Now we all wanted a new controller unit for our systems but your gonna have to just hand over the Apex AlbertaReef, Stylaster won fair and square with tickets in hand. After the festivities many of us made the trip over to the Premium Aquariums new location which has transitioned over very well.

Well Dodge, I dont have any of those listed except the candy apple reds, I do have CARs.

Too bad those anemones are all gone, those looked nice.... But maybe you have some Rastas, scrambled eggs, and dragon eyes hanging out?

Some amazing corals posted up here! I will bring a few frags for you Cody, Jim I will get you a few cuts as well, and I have a little piece of Aculeus Acro for you Jeremy. Dodge, I don't know if I have anything that you want or don't already have. You have some nice looking frags there.

Indeed, I will be headed that way in just a few hours for the festivities, then maybe stop off at the new Premium Aquarium location afterwards if time permits.

I would trade for one for sure, lets find out what you might be interested in.

I will see if I can get you all the corals you want set aside for tomorrow.

Alright, I would use this opportunity to do a little coral frag trade\sale or whatnot. Let's see here, what do I have hanging out here that I can cut or already have fragged... --- SPS --- Super Blue Stag Acropora - Aussie Green Aculeus Acro - Upscales Microlados Acropora - Myagi Tortuosa Acro - Twilight Dragon Acropora - Aussie Pink Table Hyacinth Acro - Purple Stylophora - Blue Ridge Heliopora - Hyacinth Purple Hystix - Ponape Birds Nest - Pink Lemonade Pocillipora - Green Damicornus - Neon Green Spongodes Montipora - Candy Red Montipora Capricornus - Green Apple Montipora Capricornus - Idaho Grape Montipora Capricornus - Flower Petal Montipora Capricornus - RR Nauti Spiral Montipora - ---Encrusting Corals --- Forest Green Branching Psamacora - ORA Kelly Green Psamacora - Pumpkin Pie PSamacora - GB Watermelon Psamacora - Blue Encruting Psamacora - Lemon Lime Encrusting Psamacora - Mine Field Cyphastrea - Super Red Cyphastrea - Bling Bling Cyphastrea - Lucky Charms Cyphastrea - Toxic Fields Leptoseris - Orange Leptoseris - JF Jacko Lantern Leptoseris - Spartan Leptoseris - Hell Fire Leptastrea - Alien Eye Leptastrea - --- LPS --- Orange Crush Acan Echinata - Alien Eye Chalice - Cotton Candy Chalice - Hollywood Stunner Chalice - Miami Hurricane Chalice - Oregon Mummy Chalice - Key Lime Mango Chalice - Green Moon Favia - Green and Purple Favia - Green sparkle Platygyra - Blue Valley Platygyra - Green Turbinaria Cup Coral - Yellow Lettuce Turbinaria - LA Lakers Turbinaria - Caulastrea Neon Green - Euphylia Hammer Neon Green - Euphylia Hammer Purple Tip Green Base - Euphylia Frogspawn Neon Green - Euphylia Glabrescens Teal - --- Photosynthetic Gorgonions --- Gruubs Gorgonion - Purple Knoby Gorg - Purple Plume Gorg - Spiney Whip - Purple Flat Blade Gorg - Softies Purple Discosoma Mushroom - Mean Green Hulk Rhodactis Mushroom - Giant Green Actinodiscus Carpet Mushroom - Purple Base Orange Polyp Ricordia Yuma - Kenya Tree Coral - Devils Hand Lobophyton - Green Tree Sinularia - Cabbage Sinularia Dura - Clove Polyps - Green Star Polyps - Fade to Blue Star Polyps - Purple Star Polyps - --- Colonial Zoas & Palys --- Captain America - Radioactive Dragon Eyes - Blond Blue Eyed Bithes - Blue Eyed Girls - PZ Punk Rockers - Iron Mans - Midas Gold - Sunny Ds - Utter CHaos - Pink and Golds - Rainbow Raptors - Candy Apple Reds - Alellies Blues - Nuclear Greens - Mind Blowing - Flame Skirts - Blueberry Fields - Aquacultured Neon Green - Aquacultured Neon Orange - If you are not open to trades and really want something let me know and I can let things go for a very reasonable price. And more to come as I take a look in my aquariums, and pictures to add when I can get to it.

Just a reminder, this annual meeting is under a week away, get that day marked off on your calendar ASAP if you have not already. And with that being said, here is an update on those much sought after raffle items the PNWMAS club has lined up. Now for those of you who already have a nice RODI unit and top notch lighting systems and such, maybe you could put to use a decent controller unit... Such as a brand new Neptune Apex!? If there was one unit that has been tried and true it is the Apex, just ask a number of our fellow forum member, as they seem to swear by them... And as a bonus of this raffle prize, our board of directors member SunCrestReef would be lending his technical expertise to initial setup and programming! That will be of a huge assistance in getting things started with the unit itself. But wait now, you already have a good water filtration system, great lighting, and an automated controller system!? Then just keep watching, we have another couple raffle prizes in store for this killer December Holiday meeting.

Or maybe some one out there could use a little lighting upgrade for their system, something like a... REEFI Duo Extreme LED! I have to admit, I have been wanting to try one of these myself since they hit the shelves earlier this year. Always fun to play with new technology that is functional, and looks good too. Whats that!? You don't need a new light? Then just wait until I tell you about a couple more awesome raffle prizes that will be at the December holiday meeting.

I got about $320 or more under my belt each month on electricity!... Way too much I would say, but I dont feel like I am your average reefer. My water bill is also very high, about another $200 a month.... And then there is the gas heating, as I hear the house not the aquariums.

Anyone need a new BRS Reverse Osmosis Water unit!? Because we will have one in the raffle this December meeting! We all need good clean water to start our aquariums with and these guys get the job done. Already got one!? Well then, just stay tuned for some of the other goodies we will be adding to the raffle roster, I think this year we will have a little something that everyone can use.