bluecheese

Who can do the Maths? DOH! Are you picking on me?(clap) Well yes I agree with that, but now comes the mad mathematical and philosophical equation. So as you increase wind and decrease temperature which direction does your evaporation go? Since evaporation E is directly proportional to Temperature T (E=a*T) and the speed of the wind S increases E by a factor x but also decreases T (from t1 to t2) by a factor y we have (E from fan= x*S -(t1-t2)*y*S , thus E = a*T + (x-[t1-t2]*y)*S. If the lamp source generate heat Then as height increases , T (from lamp heat effect) decreases of a factor h*T. The new equation is then E= (a-h)*T + (x-[t1-t2]*y)*S. Therefore find the ideal height h equal to your evaporation coefficient a (this will remove the temperature variable associated with evaporation (rock2) , then determine the ideal temperature swing (t1-t2) needed to equal your wind evaporation factor divided by the temperature change evaporating factor( x/y) (this will eliminate the Wind evaporation factor). Et Voila! E=0 (laugh). So the real important question is where is the cheese?(nutty) Still with me? (wife) I agree with Nyles you have a lot of evap. Would adding a canopy help with the evap? (it might also increase heat and we are back to the mad equation).

Given your set-up I am wondering if your lights are too close to the surface. Do they generate a lot of heat? Once you add a fan or 2 you'll cool down and that should decrease evapporation.

Sent you PM

I was going to, but gotta last minute plan change and I am headed to Seattle instead. I can make other arrangments with you or wait for the May meeting (whistle)

I was interested!(laugh)

Thanks John, Thanks for the CC, lost of pods in there. You have a very Nice tank too. Looking good in my tank. Did you ever find out what those 2 "intruders/anemone?" might be? I also wanted to ask you where you got your electric control panel from? It looks very nice!

I am interested in the live CC. Sent you PM

Sounds good let's set this up!

Blue Tang hid in a cave for 3 weeks because he was bullied by my yellow tang. When I finally isolated the yellow tang and gave him "Jail" time, the blue Tang reappeared. In my case I was lucky I could actually see him in the cave, so I knew what to do.. What are you other renters? Any chance one of them scared the little guy?

I know they look tiny now and that 3 0r 5 of them does not seem to make quite a difference but they will get big. So unless you are planning to part with them when they get "big" I would agree with others, you are good with those 3 you have. Otherwise I would go for a yellow tang (to complement the spectrum of colors you have, but not for its potentially agressive temper!)(enforcer) Good luck!

Interested by the green shrooms (drooler) . Nothing to trade yet, sorry;)

Just curious where you fill up your CO2 tank in PDX?

Thanks Thanks for those suggestions. here is also a special for this week for those of you who don't get your salt locally. (whistle)

So Starr what is the update on the Xenia. Is it growing? I'll be ready for it and your shrooms soon. Do you come to PDX often?

I agree this was a Great Meeting. There really was a little bit of everything for everyone. Great Intro from Chief Great Technical talk from Life light. I had not thought about the frequency of lights as an important factor for growth and how different of a spectrum between the sunlight and our "gas" mimicking lights. But now that I heard it it does make sense. Would be good to have that talk with the key points posted /summarized somewhere. Good opportunity to promote and support an educational/research project. Great participation and interaction from a good crowd of about 40-50 reefers. Seemed that there was quite a bit of trading going on. And last but not least, oustanding prestation from everyone at Fanta Seas, Austin, Patrick, Mike etc.. for not only being very friendly and helpful but also very generous. The deals on the frags were awesome. (rock2) Dsoz, I am glad you got sand from Austin, I had pooled together sand from CCR, Austin and another source, but did not get to distribute it back before you took off. That mix came with a very nice stomatella and other crawlers. Pretty awesome! The live sand will not speed up to original nitrate cycle but will boost your bacteria load and speed up growth and diversity. So you are investing for a better future.(clap) Maybe next time we can organise the sand exchange a little better so that we get a few more participant and get an even better mix to redistribute. It was great to put a face on some of you that I have started to know only as a screen name. Would have been nice if more people had been wearing their name tag, as I am sure I missed a few of the celebrities that usually make the highlight of this site! (wife)

Link to other salt discussion Vanz, yes there is another thread on the topic U R right I just found it in the Newbie section here Maybe those 2 could be merged.

Thanks Sean, that would be great! May I suggest that we pool all sand samples into one bucket, mix it well so that we can all take back home one nice scoop of rich diverse sand?

OK thanks dsoz that makes sense. I guess the key to prevent Cal from going sexual is to keep the nitrates on the edge. I'll check with H20Cool if he plans to bring either Chaeto or Calurpa at the meeting. I'll give a shot at Chaeto and see how I like it. I have found Calurpa to be very good at doing what it is supposed to do and it has a strong buffering/mopping effect with regard to nitrates, or maybe my skimmer is just very efficient! I bought the sand from Ryan at Advanced, it was actually a sweet deal and he gave me a break too. Very nice people. Austin at Fanta Seas has offered live sand from any of his tanks for Sunday. I'd like samples from as many different systems as possible. If we can just pool all the samples into one bucket , mix them up , everyone can go back home with a good diverse mix of bacteria, pods and surprises (naughty) . Blue is everywhere, blue sky, blue moon, blue sea, blue berry, and even blue cheese , yes Dsoz life is blue tiful :eek: Don't go barfing now!:p

Other idea for increasing membership Let's hope it does help with that one aspect of it. Another radical/not so radical idea, is a combination of pieces that I have read on several threads with regard to: increasing traffic, role of LFS and whether there could be benefit for everyone. So here is a scenario that you might have tried before and if you have then disregard, but by searching through this site I have found no previous thread touching on this, this way. So here we go Buckle up! : Once a month a given LFS (agreeing to participate , TBD and rotating every month) will host a PNWMAS day with a specific discount (% off) on his store to all current registered members. On the special PNWMAS day (the x% off for members) will be advertised by a banner (maybe purchased by PNWAS in order to reuse from store to store) at the entrance of the store and a matching sign next to the cashier. Existing members will be given a password or "MAGIC Word" like " ReefGeek" on this site the week before the event so that the LFS could be sure they are members. Non members will not get the discount but will be given a PNWMAs business card from the LFS explaining how to become a member for free and receive members benefit in the future. Why everyone wins (*Do I really need to go there?*): The LFS might see an increase in traffic from members eager to get that frag they wanted, and who will be also more likely to return to the store because the LFS was just so AMAZING. The banner might also pull in non-members thinking they are coming for a great deal, and spending $$ anyway. = Increase TRAFFIC The members get ...well... that seems pretty obvious (a decrease in the number of posts on this topic (wife) ) (laugh) = SHINY HAPPY People PNWMAS gains potential new members (rock2) = More LURKERS (laugh) there are variations of this of course, for instance the LFS could decide to only give discount on Live stock or chemicals or Any purchase above a magic number ($100) etc.. LFS could have the sale all day or between 12 and 4 pm. Now this is getting a little more stretched but someone could also ask a radio station to come goof off in front of the LFS during that time and have them advertise their show and free gift to everyone showing up at the store (like I have heard them doing many times on the radio( although I do not know if this might be a sponsoring/paying scenario to the station?). etc....Anyway does this sound far far away in a distant galaxy or close enough to what can done ? Pros/Cons? At the end of the day One big happy family. Everyone says (Blue)Cheese (clap)

Ok great. I learned something. Because I often hear/read (and lurk(naughty) )about people shopping around for salt, I had the misconception I would find a huge range of prices between LFS. I know it was the case on the East coast. Sounds like here and at my level I might only be able to save a few bucks (if that much) even by going to the bigger distributors. So I might as well just buy from the local LFS and foster that relationship. Thanks. I apreciate all inputs everyone gave. This was helpful! So Steve how about splitting a pallet next time? J/K(nutty)

I got here from word of mouth through RC. I would think it has to be a web issue, the visibility is linked to the ease in finding this site on the net. At one point I lost the site, could not even remember the "short and easy"DOH! name and tried to google it again and it was work to find it again. My keywords search were combinations of: Reef, Reefing, club, Oregon, Pacific Northwest, hobby, aquarium, frags. None of them lead me directly to here. It might be helpful to register the site with an extended list of keywords that are more likely to be used by hobbyist. For instance I googled "Reef club pacific northwest". PNWMAS came at position 18 (page 2) "aquarium hobbyist club northwest: comes on page 3 "Reef Club Oregon " is burried beyond page 5 This could be part of the problem If you google PNWMAS this is what you get: Welcome to the PNWMAS website Forum, surveys, stories archive, and reviews. Site requires registration, which is free. pnwmas.org/ - 19k - Cached - Similar pages The keywords in bold seem to have nothing to do with aquarium, and it might be worth trying to change that line with some keywords that might make the search more direct.

Great this is very informative and impressive ( John [with that volume I assume this is not just a hobby?] ). I was not really looking for a discount with my 2 buckets as Steve highlighted, just the most economical way to go about buying my salt based on everyone's experience. I had no idea it took 50-100 buckets to consider a discount, although it makes sense if the margin is low. Steve how often do you place an order? Would adding me down for 10 buckets on your next order be a consideration?

IMO It really depends on the topic of the thread. You can expect a complete different ratio post/lurk whether it is a descriptive thread (My tank blabla bla that will most likely allow anyone to comments on OOh and Ahhs, which will probably see high post/lurk) or a very technical post that will limit the input to the people who feel comfortable addressing the problem (this will probably yield low posting high lurking), or a DIY project where everyone can chime in (without the fear of sounding clueless) and ask questions or just a chat thread which could go about any possible way. I know you mentioned you were just curious as to why few people were posting. And if you allow me I'll turn the question around ? In general are we not getting our $$ worth from people that are posting (i.e the forums are not serving their purpose)? Is there insufficient involvement that compromises the value of the threads with high lurking but low posting? What would more posting add that is missing from the current "behaviorial" posting? I am a Nub here so my perception is obviously very fresh and based only on my visting this site over the last few months. In my limited time, I try to read as much (lurk) as I can, post only if I have a point to make or a burning question that I could not find an answer. I tried to avoid duplicate posting if someone has already spoken my mind. I agree with what someone stated clearly above, having 10% participation is actually what you would expect in the classroom..(laugh) For more on this topic see my comments in the general discussion forum "What do you want out of this club"

It seems everyone has their opinion when it comes to the best salt, I don't. Just go on RC and you can spend hours reading on the miracle of each brand. I have been using IO and have been happy with it, but I am not married to it. Being new to the hobby in Portland, I am committed to no one yet and I just want to know where people shop for salt deals and whether there is one source that is consistently a better value. There was an "interesting" post back in September suggesting Waves was a good source. I need to buy about 400 Gal of salt right now and know I will buy many more buckets, so if anyone wants to send me in the right direction or is ready for a large order, let me know.

I'll pass on the worms (nono) (nutty) Thanks. Maybe better luck next month!! (clap) But I'll be interested in some of your green? skirt zoos (if they survived your Tank Catastrophe) and if you ever feel inclined to let them travel the world (laugh)