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HMSC asking PNWMAS for help with Corals


JManrow

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The Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport is asking those of us knowledgeable in keeping of corals, to please share our knowledge with them!

They are currently in the process of moving everything over from their tropical marine tank located in the student work area, to a 200 gallon tank. I talked with HMSC Curator, Dennis Glaze this morning. All water parameters are being tested except for Magnesium and Phosphate. They do not currently have these test kits. Does anyone have these kits they could donate? They are using PhosBan in a mesh bag right now. If anyone could spare some of the 2 Part Magnesium, and maybe some GFO from the group buy awhile back, or if someone has an excess of supplements and could donate some, that would be awesome!

If anyone could help out with these kits, and demonstrate the proper way of using them during our visit on April 18th, they would be very grateful to us.

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I am going, and live in Oregon City. If we can hook up sometime this next week I can take it down.

 

I have some GFO that I can put in a bag and bring. I may even be able to bring some CaCl2 and Na2CO3 for two part. Being part of a college, they should be able to get these chemicals rather cheap. Probably cheaper than even from bulk reef supply.

 

Is their new tank stable enough for us to bring living things? I know last year I sent some corals down. I would like to bring some others down this year too. But if their tank is not ready for them then I will wait.

 

dsoz

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I am going, and live in Oregon City. If we can hook up sometime this next week I can take it down.

 

I have some GFO that I can put in a bag and bring. I may even be able to bring some CaCl2 and Na2CO3 for two part. Being part of a college, they should be able to get these chemicals rather cheap. Probably cheaper than even from bulk reef supply.

 

Is their new tank stable enough for us to bring living things? I know last year I sent some corals down. I would like to bring some others down this year too. But if their tank is not ready for them then I will wait.

 

dsoz

 

That would be great if you could bring the chemicals. The tropical marine tanks has been set up for over a year now. As far as receiving livestock, Dennis said they are moving everything to a larger tank this week. I know they have smaller holding tanks too, so all should be fine. I am sending you a PM.

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Hey John I can bring over some bulk supplies like Kalk, Mg., Calcium.

I have like a 3 lbs. bag of each.

Is this something they can use?

 

Post back or PM and let me know.

 

Mike, that would be great! Anything like this will be put to good use.

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Test Kits

 

I only have my one set of Salifert Mg, PO4, KH/Alk kits for my home use, so I can't really help them out there. If anyone... hobbyists of LFS, could help out with kits of any brand, new or used, that would help them very much.

 

Once they have the proper test kits and know which ones to order, HMSC can order their own from a supplier, or possibly one of our PNWMAS Sponsors!(rock2)

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Appreciate the help

 

Here's the skinny on our reef tank situation:

 

We have a tank (~100 gallons) that's been up/down/up and running for a few years now. We use it as a teaching tank, allowing students (mostly from the Aquarium Science Program) to tinker with it, maintain it, change filtration dynamics, etc. In the tank we have tons of live rock, many clownfish, royal grammas, blue tang, peppermint shrimp, hermit crabs, and snails. We have an anemone, polyps, and some hard corals - however we have never really worked out our lighting situation very well, and so the hard corals do not do well, and we have the typical cynobacteria and hair algae challenges.

 

As for the second tank, it's between 150-200 gallons (I'm at home right now and so I can't get the measurements to say for sure). Anyway, some of you may remember the Wet Pet Room we had up front in our Visitor Center. The reef tank we had up there is the one we have re-acquired to use in the back area.

 

I have not set it up yet - I need to sand and buff the acrylic first. We do have a ton of holding capacity for donations while in the process of setting up this new tank.

 

Here's the good part: Dr. Miller-Morgan and myself are fish health and life support sytem specialists - not marine aquarium specialists. Any education towards assembling and maintaining marine aquariums only enhances our abilities to help others with their fish health problems. If PNWMAS has members willing to put in the time, effort and energy - this new tank situation may be an excellent vehicle for an even better relationship with the Club, the coastal community, students and prospectful members to the Club.

 

I'm up for any teaching and help you all can offer - in any form possible. The keys to a successful relationship are good planning and consistency in whatever we do.

 

Looking forward to your visit!

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2nd Attempt Appreciate Help

 

I can't find my first "Appreciate Help" post so I’ll try again!

 

I'm looking forward to your visit and the barbeque this coming Saturday.

 

We have a 100 gallon reef tank up and running. We use it as an educational tank, and so the tank has been up, down and reconfigured many times. The overall system has never been close to perfect - we have cyanobacteria and hair algae challenges. Also, our hard corals are not doing well, and I have not been able to keep any pulsating xenias alive very long. We have tons of live rock, many clownfish, one blue tang, two royal grammas, peppermint shrimp and hermit crabs - snails don't last long either. I would love to acquire a lawn mower blenny.

 

As for donations, we have tons of holding capacity, and we are in the process of setting up a second reef tank - between 150-200 gallons. This tank needs sanded and buffed first.

 

Dr. Miller-Morgan and I are fish health and life support specialists - not marine aquarium specialists and so any thing new we learn will of course be helpful towards analyzing marine ornamental fish/invertebrate health concerns.

 

If PNWMAS has club members willing to put in the time, energy, and work - maybe this second tank would be a good project for the Club to sponsor, teach with, and help maintain. Just an idea that we can talk more about during your visit

 

So again, I want to thank you for your continued help and donations

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Just curious, what course materials are the students using in their studies? Have you and Dr. Miller-Morgan had a chance to look at any of the hobby related "best sellers" yet? Ther are a few books which I would consider essential that are easy reads, and would be beneficial to have some people look at maybe... they are not scientifically written, but are in plain English and can give a great background and lots of general knowledge.

 

Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Fenner, Natural Reef Aquariums by Tulloch and Moe, and Corals by Borneman are three such books.

 

The basis for a lot of the current hobby either came from these books, or is reinforced by them.

 

A good understanding of all of these would accelerate the assistance that some of our club members would be able to provide, getting more into detail on problem solving and getting out of the theory.

 

My belief is that once the basics are down, then a lot more experimentation and learning can take place by the students as the tank environment will be much more stable.

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I'm guessing you will be wanting hands on help and be glad to do whatever I can when im there(I live in Medford) be happy to get you test kits as well(please let me know if you want extra's) I have been in the hobby over 20+ years opperate mine and my partners culturing and holding facilty's plus run a tank maintenance business I,ve been running for 6 years now so be happy to give what advise I can.I also planned to bring up coral dontations of hardy lps and softies let me know if you still would like these.

 

Thanks,Jody

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Dennis says they are ready to receive corals or any other livestock. I asked him what type of MH bulbs he uses. The metal halides have XM175/DB on them. I then asked how old they were. He said he didn't know, so I am assuming they are in need of replacement!

 

Does anyone have any 6 month old or even older MH Bulbs laying around they are not going to use? I'm sure any old bulbs would be better than what they are using now.

 

We need to get these guys set up with a source to buy supplies!DOH!

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I picked up 2 brand new 175 watt SE bulbs 14K from my bud at ReefTech plus a Salifert mag and phos test kit he gave me a good deal on them but if others would like to chip in feel free to pm me otherwise no biggy as I planned to cover the cost.I will also be bringing frags of cultured lps and softies.

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