WAVES

i would think your keg would need a lot higher pressure than you would want to put into your reactor.... 2 regs seems like a better choice IMO. I have free fresh hops,, YOU PICK!

Whats really a shame is that many of you are stabbing your self in the foot. Do as you wish in your group buy, Im simply pointing out (now that I have no financial interest in the matter) that generally threads like this are doing nothing but irritating the sponsors. No shame here, participate away! Nuff said for me, Hijack over.

IM going to pull a bob fenner and respond inside your post in a different color: I read your post yesterday morning, but wanted to chew on it a while before responding. I thought about simply sending an e-mail or PM, but because you made your post in this thread (publicly), I thought it was most appropriate to respond here. Hopefully we can keep this discussion in an even keel. I know emotions, sarcasm, etc do not always come across in type. For the record, what I have to say below is meant with all sincerity, respect, and civility. Honestly. I hope we can have a dialogue like that here. First off, I realize that you are approaching the termination (through sale or closure) of your business, which has been your passion and “obsession” (as the logo reads) for the past few years, and that must be very, very hard. I’m sorry for that, and I honestly wish that you’d been successful enough to keep it going. Actually its going to be very easy! Its been a fun ride but Im very ready for a new gig I feel frustrated by your response, in part, because in the short time I’ve been reefkeeping (2.5 years), I feel like I have gone out of the way to support your shop in particular. The vast majority of my reef dollars have gone to LFS, and of that portion, the majority has gone to Waves. This has been intentional. And I can’t speak for everyone, but the people I have gotten to know in this club spend most of their reef dollars locally. You have been a very good customer and I know you spend money with me that you could buy online, the thread was not directed specifically at you and I dont want it to feel that way. Rather to the entire board Many of my purchases have happened when Jordan was there and you were not so I don’t expect that you’d remember, but since I first started my tank, here are some of the items I have purchased from Waves: • Ballasts • Bulbs • Return pump • Powerheads • Refractometer • Ph meter • Numerous test kits • Fish and coral food (flake, frozen, pods, etc) • Various supplements • Aragonite sand • Frag racks and disks • Numerous fish • Numerous corals – both frags and colonies I usually come in at least once a month, shortly after payday to see what is new and to pick up routine items. My total spending at your shop is in the thousands. Most of the time I don’t even ask for the PNWMAS discount that you offer. For many of the items I could have bought them cheaper somewhere else, but I chose not to. However, I have more recently opted to buy some of my supplements from BRS because I feel crazy not to. With the rising demands of my tank, if I bought all my supplements at your store, I would not have any money left for livestock purchases! (an exaggeration, but not by much) By example, the price you charge for mag flake is much higher than what I can get it for at BRS – and that’s before the group discount! I have asked about prices for higher quantities (don’t remember who I spoke to there about it), but the price break Waves offered was not that great. I go through a ton of this stuff. I don’t dose two part, but I believe you only have it in small, prepackaged containers, and I know it isn’t cheap. That’s simply not a viable system for folks who are dosing daily (mag, kalk, two part, etc). Don’t get me wrong. I don’t expect you to stock every single thing that every person needs for a great price. On the contrary, I expect you to stock only the things that you can be reasonably competitive with and keep the inventory moving, and I expect to go elsewhere for a portion of my shopping. I realize my mag flake for instance is more expensive on the shelf vs BRS, mostly because I bought stickers, manually fill each container, weight it to be sure its got enough etc. and yes if someone wants 3 pounds or something, its not going to be the same as someone who wants a 50 pound sack. Related to that, I don’t think it’s fair, or realistic, of you to expect everyone to spend 100% of their reefing $ locally. The fact is that LFS do enjoy a great deal of support in our area. Reefkeepers from other areas regularly comment on the number and quality of stores in our region, and especially in the Portland area. This would not be the case if there were not a lot of people spending a lot of dollars locally. Additionally, in the (short) 2.5 years that I have been in the hobby, I know of several new saltwater/reef businesses have started up just in the Portland area. Unless the number of hobbyists grows substantially to support all of these new businesses, somebody is going to have to close their doors. Even with the recent closures, I believe (though I could be mistaken) that the total number is substantially higher than it was when I got started. Online retailing has been common for some years now, yet a very substantial number of local brick-and-mortar reef stores have managed to find their niche in the marketplace and keep their doors open. I don’t think we’re suddenly going to find ourselves without local stores, which seems to be the picture you are painting. yes i agree there are lots of new stores, and I dont think there is any way for them all to survive, there simply isnt enough business to go around. And speaking of online retailing, I’m not sure I follow whether you expect us to support all of the club sponsors or only LFS. You refer to both in your post, but PNWMAS has a number of sponsors that are not local (check out the advertising banners near the top of the page). Do you expect the club to decline sponsorship from businesses that are not locally based, or from businesses that are based locally but who regularly ship product to other regions through internet sales, etc? of course not, my point is simply to support the business that support your hobby. If you get help with chemistry, free water testing, and general aquarium help and dialog with a sponsor then why not buy from them? How about your own practices? If you expect the hobbyists to only support LFS and not online retailers, are you going to insist that SLS only sell through brick-and-mortar stores when you start your new job? I know because you told me that you bought the lumber and sheeting for your shop remodel directly from a wholesaler. You needed a bunch of stuff in one order, and it was a great deal for you. Should I, as a wood products guy, be upset with you for cutting out the local retailer because you had an opportunity to save a serious chunk of cash? I don’t think so. This has NOTHING to do with sunlight supply, and in no way should any of my comments reflect on the company in anyway. With that said, they manufacture and distribute, we are talking about the channel going from the bottom up, not from the top down. (in the sense of manufacture to distributor to retailer to consumer) My whole point again is to support the companies that support you, who ever that is. So I wouldnt expect a manufacture to determine who to sell to in this fashion. I bought my lumber from my customer, he supports me, I support him. Finally, I find it very, very hard to believe that PNWMAS did your business more harm than good. I have seen people, through this forum, refer business to Waves many, many, many times. I have done it myself more than a few times. I would not have even known that your shop existed if it were not for this club, and you are just a couple of miles from my office. More indirectly, the experienced hobbyists here are continually advising new reefers to buy quality testing equipment that newbies are generally reluctant to spend their money on (refractometers, quality test kits, etc). A lot of that advice turns up as business for LFS. And beyond that, there have been a lot of people who, without the support, advice, and encouragement they received through this forum, would have given up the hobby, discouraged by their struggles. For every one that stays in the hobby, even for a few extra months, they remain consumers and bring at least some portion of their $ to the LFS. And besides, if you really feel that the club does more harm than good, why have you continued to be a sponsor? 90% of my business i would guess is non club members, or at least they are possibly club members that dont post much if any. Ever wonder why I dont do club meetings at Waves any more? its because in the past club members dont spend any money, yet force my non club member customers out the door at the time of the meeting. In short, Im better off having 1-2 non club member in the store, than the whole club meeting as (simply historically speaking) I will do more business. Historically speaking, it costs me more in soda than I make in profits from the meeting( not to mention loss of sales from non club members that turned around and left) Thats not to say there arent some club members that have been VERY supportive of the store, like yourself, pledosophy, Rugbyfish etc. Im sure there are more but those are the ones that come to mind immediately. Im sure others are supporting other stores too,, It all comes back to my main point, support the stores that support you. OK. That’s it for me. For what it’s worth, I don’t feel bad about spending a portion of my $ with online retailers, sponsors or otherwise. Local stores do have value for customers and will continue to have a place in the market, and I will continue to go out of my way to support them. I have and will continue to make purchases with club sponsors that I would not have if they were not sponsors, but I don’t think that means I have to be completely exclusive. I just don’t think that’s a reasonable demand. I hope other folks don’t get guilt-tripped into taking on an unreasonable burden. Again, I’m not angry, and I hope that the above comes across the way it is intended – with sincerity, respect, and civility. I’d welcome anyone else’s thoughts on the matter. And Joel, I truly wish you the very best in your next venture. thank you, again in no way was I specifically directing my comments to you. what has been really frustrating to the point of being funny, is I get countless people coming in an telling me how sad they are Im leaving the business, but many of them come in and get free water testing, ask tons of questions, only to turn around and tell me what a smoking deal they got on ebay, or where ever. People just cant seem to put 2 and 2 together. Although the bulk of the reason Im leaving is not financial, if I was making a decent living at this, I would put up with the downside. (like working weekends, my slowly rotting away hands from the saltwater, stress etc.)

Ive got an idea,,, I know the club still hasnt caught onto this yet,, and I feel I can say this because I will no longer own my own store in 5 weeks... But how about supporting sponsors instead? I have had countless people come in and say "Im so sad your leaving", yet they want to do a group buy and bypass the retailers in the area. (not specifically this thread, just the nature of this club in general) If you want the remaining stores to stick around, why dont you spend your money there instead of online? I know I know,, you only have so much money. Well how much do you think that bucket of salt, or that $5 frag will cost when you have to pay shipping? Or when you have a pump burn up and you are desperate!? Are you going to pay overnight shipping or call the LFS for help? SUPPORT LOCAL STORES! IF the club supports them, they will support you. This may seem unfair, or "angry", we all have different opinions and different points of view, really my situation has just put me in a position where I can speak my mind. I thank all of you that have supported me and other local business, without you, I wouldnt have wanted to stay in the business as long as I did. I really enjoyed my time owning Waves, but I must say, PNWMAS did me more harm than good in my time as owner of the LFS. Threads like this are case in point.

sorry for the confusion (lots of PM's) I have JUST the fixture for this price,, you will need to find your own ballast and bulb. I do have bulbs, but Ive sold all my 150w ballasts.

why dont you put a little 150w halide over it? I know a place you can get a fixture for less than $25.

not crazy just need the right pump for the job. I have a dart feeding my Orca-200 skimmer, calcium reactor, chiller, and 3 media reactors. I still have to have it throttled back to keep from overfilling the tank.

I dose about 10ml per day in my 150 at home,,, and we have been dosing about 10ml in each of our FO tanks. It kept the nitrates below 30 in the FO with a huge bioload and bioballs. I HIGHLY recommend it, but you need a very good skimmer, and I would recommend a dosing pump. (ive always thought you could run a aqualifter with diluted vodka for 1 minute with a good timer). My corals at home have fabulous color, I attribute it to the vodka, even with HUGE feedings (I have an auto feeder feeding 3 times a day, plus nori, plus frozen ever few days). My PO4 last I checked with my colorometer was .01 and my phoslock is old. I have 3 leopard wrasse, 4 tangs, 3 skunk clowns, 4 anthias, one pigmy angel, 3 flame wrasse, 1 cigar wrasse (red and white striped, yellow tail), and probably others Im forgetting.... I dont bother checking for nitrate at home...

I wouldnt blame Orbitec, its not their fault someone else infrindged on their patent. From what I hear, Orbitec isnt interested in making LED lights for tanks, and they will happily tell you how to get around the patent. PFO simply didnt do there homework first. If you had a patent, would you stand by and watch someone else profit from it?

Id love some of that sponge, thats nice coolored,,, too bad it usually only grows in the dark areas... Id give you some store credit for a couple chunks

Ryan i would recommend getting a couple extra O-rings for the neck while you can. Mine broke, and I had a customers break too. Might be a good idea to have a couple on hand since the model is discontinued. Coralvue has em.

Mike your welcome to any of my gear if you need. Suction cups, dollies, bags garbage cans, 100gal vehicle tank etc

Why not blue rim pink chalice? Must we follow the footsteps of Tyree?

I carry these and use one of them myself:

According to Randy Reed from Reed Mariculture, clams cannont digest green phyto, only browns. the regular green DT's is only green phtyo. Yes they will ingest it (water will clear up if feed in a bowl) but they will not digest it. The cell walls are too thick. Stick with Reeds products instead of DT's (the owner of DTs is a complete............. well you know.) Also, Crocea and Maximas are rock boring clams, they need to be on the rocks to be in there most natural situation. Usually these clams are imbeded in the rock and there mantal is flush with the rock. Derasa (shown in picture in this thread) and Gigas are deeper water sand clams. They dont need as much light, and do great in the sand bed. hth

You know whats funny is you know how these work: http://www.oreck.com/air-purifiers/xl_air_purifier_tower_pro.cfm ozone! Hey here is a brilliant idea, lets pump a known pollutant into our air and call it a purifier! Just goes to show a commercial can sell anything. Why else would Kent still sell Tech I? (had to thrown that in there!)

He is already guilty,,,, of ABUSE He should have been kicked out of the club and shut down years ago from his "fish in the bag 3 days later" sale. Talk about animal abuse, what the heck is with leaving fish swimming in there own pee for days when they could be released into the water they are floating in. I say we stick him in a seinfeld bubble and see how clean it is inside days later, better yet if no one buys him we throw away the key. Convicted perv or not, he should have been gone a long long time ago.

I run mine in an "ozone reactor" instead. I just ozone into the bottom of a phosban reactor and fill it with ceramic media. The air/water output goes into carbon next, then phosphate media. Seems to work well.

WOOT! I knew it wasnt the skimmer, just happen to be a bum pump. Silent tank,, humm must have been thought through and plumbed by a professional!

NOPE, closed all mondays holiday or not!

Hey Mark bring that skimmer pump in. I just had one die on me here at the shop so I pulled one off the shelf. Its running on my skimmer now but its quiet, Ill swap it out with your noisy one if you like.

Really? Ive never seen spears at lowes or HD. Lowes has "american standard" and i forget what HD brand is. Nick, I think its a 1" and a 3/4". Ill send Jordan with the skimmer to swing by and see if you can find one that fit. Thanks for the help!

Anyone know of a hardware store in portland that carries spears brand PVC fittings? I have a couple unions I need to match for a skimmer.