Chief

Nyles, I am just getting over a pretty bad outbreak of hair algea. The only thing I am doing different from 4 months ago is: I changed all my lights. My 2X96 watt actinic PC's were over a year old. They should be changed every 6 monthts. My halides are on a one year cycle. I changed my brand of salt. I used Kent for about a year, and have recently changed to OceanPure. I also added a calcium reactor. I think this helped a little, but I am not sure. I'm not sure which one made the difference, but I can honestly say that I am feeding the tank more then I ever have before and the algea is just about gone. My skimmer is way overrated at 750 gallons, so I am not so worried about the feeding. I feed once a day, but I am pretty heavy handed. I don't know if this will help you, but it was worth a shot. Jay

Welcome to the PNWMAS. Nice tank. (welcome) (To) (P) (N) (W) (M) (A) (S) Jay

I converted half of my 55 gallon fuge to a frag area. It is lit by a 250 watt XM 10k. Here are some pics: Jay

I use firefox and before yesterday all thumbnails opened in a "save/open" dialog box, now they open seamlessly. I didn't change a thing. Jay

You asked for it. Keep in mind that these pics are under a 6500K Compact Flourescent bulb. The 10000K XM goes in tonight for the frag area of my fuge. My frags: Miles' Frags: It was a great day. We really need to to do this again. Jay

I'll bring my dremel also. I have a big bottle of glue, my shears, and lots of rubble. I think I'm ready. Jay

I will bring my refractometer. Jay

We might have one of the local schools come to the house on a field trip. That way they could admire the reptiles in thier cages and see the Reef tank in action. Pictures are great, but no substitute for the real deal. If it ever happens, we will be sure to post it here. Jay

Stacy and I when to see NIN on our anniversary this last year. It was a great concert. Jay

Nice job. I have some acrylic in the garage right now that I am trying to decide what to do with it. I am thinking about a frag tank or a QT tank right now. Or I could do a second chamber to my calcium reactor. It will be fun when I can get around to it. Jay

The tank is looking great. Keep it up. Jay

Here's how I did mine. It is probably not the perfect design, but I consulted with a few fish stores before I drilled. Get as much advise as you can and drill away.:eek: As you can see from my signature line, I no longer use the Dolphin 8800 ( way to much flow, think washing machine ) and I didn't split my returns, but I have plenty of flow with the Barracuda and 6 returns. Jay

If I didn't think my wife would kill me, I would be in for an 8-way OM. It was in my original design for my closed loop. Replumbing everything is going to be a huge chore, but I am going to have to do it someday. Maybe next year. Hope you guys get enough people for the group buy. Heres a bump for ya. Jay

I think you will be happy with the Mak4. The mag pumps can run a little hot, even if they are run externaly. Jay

I have Gen-X PCX70 as my return ( about 1500 gph ), it is T-ed off to my fuge. I am thinking about putting an eductor on my return to increase the flow, or maybe a sea swirl for more random flow. Jay

Awesome nano. It looks like you took some time to plan it out. Great job. Jay

I won't be participating in the DIY demo, but I will be watching. I think it would be a good solution for flow in my future frag tanks. Pot luck sounds good. We'll be bringing some food. Maybe I can get Stacy to make some cookies. (hungry) (drooler) She makes the best cookies. Jay

Stacy and I were asked by a friend to do a "Show and Tell" presentation on the animals we keep. We thought it was a perfect opportunity to expand their fragile, little minds about coral reefs. I originally thought that they were going to be bored with the presentation but I was dead wrong. Before I could get my first sentence out, there were about 4 hands that popped up. They had a ton of questions for me. Some were very advanced. I brought some coral skeletons for them to touch. I had a picture board to illustrate what I was talking about. I took the skeletons out of my fuge just before I left, so there was some pods and worms in them that the kids found. They loved it. They are just getting started with oceanography so it was perfect timing. Some of the kids actually knew what polyps were, and that coral are animals not plants. I can see why Roger gets so jazzed. The kids really soak this stuff up. All in all it was a good day. A couple of the kids asked if they could keep a small chunk of a coral skeleton which wasn't a problem. They were so into the coral reef talk that they weren't as interested in all of my reptiles. We brought a bearded dragon and a rose haired tarantula also. In the middle of my discussion on the snakes, the kids kept asking questions about coral. It was a lot of fun. A half hour went by very quickly. Here are some pics of the discussion. Jay

Ours loves the Colt. Don't stick your hand anywhere near it or POW!!! He snacks on your flesh. Jay

No need to go to the extreme. I trust you. I would hate to see you get out of the hobby. You are very creative with your DIY projects, and I think you really enjoy it. You are always welcome to frags of my stuff when your system gets back on its feet. Jay

The next membership year starts on July 1st. About the first of June I will be e-mailing everyone with a reminder to renew. I will also post a "renew you membership" thread. Jay

I definately want to see the maxijet mod. I probably won't get a chance to use it until I get a frag tank going, but the demo would be cool. Jay

Miles, I would love to help you out. The red bugs have me a little worried. If you think you can get them all, then I have plenty of room in my 240 for your stuff. Let me know what you want to do. Jay

I knew I was in trouble when my doctor said "I think I need to get the scalpel" (booboo) Before I knew what was happening, he gave me about 4 shots and when to work. It took three weeks of recovery. The system needs to be there for people when they need it. I went on unemployment once and it was nice to know it was there. I was beating the streets looking for a job, but there were a lot of people just going through the motions. We ( Ray's FoodPlace ) just placed an ad at the employment office for a checking position and didn't get a response for over a week. While we are on the subject of state or federal assistance abuse, chew on this thought, since it is something I see every day. What would you think about random drug testing for anyone on assistance? I see tweakers come into my store all the time with $400.00 on their Trail cards. They buy candy and munchies with the card and pull out a wad of cash for their beer and energy drinks. Could save taxpayers millions. Just a thought... Jay

You opened a big bag of worms with this question... For starters, my wife (spayne) and I, have chosen to be child-free. I even risked life and limb to go through the little 15 minute procedure ( mine lasted 1.5 hours (scary) , but that is another story ). I think we need a better pro-active approach. Maybe set up a NPO that teaches prospective parents "the ropes". Maybe some free counselling for the first 3 years of a babies development. As for "caps", "applications", and the like... We need a better system. People on welfare should not be "rewarded" for having more children. I think the cap should be on the amount of public assistance you can receive. Also I think we should have a hand-up system, instead of the hand-out system. The tax credits are crazy. I have a friend with 3 kids that gets back $7000.00 a year in taxes. I pay at the end of the year solely because I have chosen not to have children. Now that I own my home it is getting better, but I am a far cry from thousands of dollars in returns. Why am I being punished??? I am not against children. I have just chosen not to have any. I have the upmost respect for parents. Their job is the hardest. It just pains me to see a person teaching their child how to use the Oregon Trail card telling their son/daughter that they are going to need to know how to use it. I see it all the time working in grocery. Education is the key. Jay