pledosophy

Know the feeling bud. i moved up here from So Cal to. LFS's just aren't as abundant or large in these parts. There are several good stores around. Not sure where in WA you are but if your close to Oregon then Check out the Vendors here. Waves and Aquaticus get most of my business. Both are great for frags. Good Luck.

I have a dual 400w MH ballast, but it is not HQI. It comes with cords and such but I have no reflectors. Let me know.

Here is my 2 cents. I am a relatively new member and not really that active here on the boards, but maybe the opinion of someone who is new to the site would be helpful?I moved here from Southern California from a huge reefing community. I found out about this site at a Mc Menniman's when I was staring at there tank, from a fellow passer by. It actually took me awhile to find this site. I was not that active on thereeftank and there was no club forum on RC where I was more active on. JME I did not really come here to learn, although I welcome every oppritunity. I am a member of 5 other reefing type sites, a mod on one of them, there are so many sites out there IMO it is going to be hard for a site like this to compete if that is it's sole purpose. No disrespect at all to the people here, there are some very intellegent members here who can teach a lot, it's just hard for a local community to compete with international boards. I came here looking to find people in the area with common intrests, and to find local places to do business with, since I was not from around here, it was my best option. Personally for me I think the meeting would be better if there was a more social element to them. I think it would help build the community as a whole, more so then a lecture presented by a speaker that I have already downloaded off the internet. It is something this site can offer that the other international boards cannot. A chance to see friends and hang out is more appealing then most speakers would be to me. I have not attended a meeting, although I would like to, because of the days and times they are scheduled. In my line of work there is no way I can get away on a Sunday until after 6pm. On the topic of speakers I would like to see, since you asked, Dr. Martin Belli Marc Lamont Amanda Vincent Leng Sy Anthony Calfo Although I would find these speakers captivating, I don't think anyone except Calfo would appeal to the members of the club. They are just to specialized in areas that are not common to most reefers. IMO this is going to be a dilema with any speaker in a club this size, like Steve pointed out. IMO maybe an alternative to bringing in outside speakers would be to utalize the assests this club already has. There are many highly knowledgable people on this site that could give presentations on a number of topics. I think not only would it be beneficial for the speaker (you always learn something when formulating a presentation), the atendee's, but also for the community as a whole. Like I said, just my 2 cents. I do look forward to continuing to visit this site and to get to a meeting if I ever have the oppritunity. I would like to become a paying member, but since I don't get to meetings, or have paypal, not sure if that is feeasble. Hope that Helps. Kevin

I have T5's and MH (HQI) over different tanks. I love them both. I like how the T5'S light is more spread out where the MH varies depending on how far from the bulb it is, a definte upsidedown V pattern. Then again I love the shimmer from the MH. I have moved corals from one tank to the other without noticing a difference in growth patterns. My T5's put out less heat then the MH's but with the canopy fans neither puts out to muchfor the tank. My seahorse tanks uses T5's and the temp runs around 74. JME for what it's worth

I'm jealous. Still working on the plumbing for my 65g. Hope to have horses of my own again by late April

A hitched horse is a happy horse. Glad there doing well.

Awesome!!!!!

You could get an acrylic box made for under $20 at Tap Plastics and glue it in for the overflow box. You can even use one of the existing holes for the drain. Pretty simple DIY job.

I got Weldon 4 today at Tap plastics. Also got precut acrylic for the sizes I needed for my overflow I am building. Total for acrylic, applicator and Weldon was like $16 and change. IME if you go slow with the dremel the teeth come out fine.

Still small by Southern California Standards. It is nice though

I've had much personal experience with Ecosystem's Miracle Mud. It's worth the doe. I agree many things are gimicks, but I've talked with Leng many times, he knows his ish. His fish store was a few miles from where I moved here from. One of his inventors and I are friends. It's more then just a gimick IME. While sand and other filtration are effective means of nutrient export the mudd is cultured and seeded with many eggs that bring new life to the system. I plan on running a skimmer as well as a refugium, but IME refugiums are invaluable since they constantly are producing food for the corals as well as providing filtration for the system. Piero, Taps Plastic sells precut pieces of acrylic so for the lazy DIYer that's an option. They charge by the square inch and there is no extra charge for cuts or discounts for buying 4x8 sheets. Depending on the size, acrylic is easy to score to cut. A table saw might save some time and give you a cleaner cut, but no experience using a table saw. If your looking to drill holes, holes saws work well, a dremel can be used but is a PITA IME. I'd rather just pay for the holesaw. Just keep the bit cool and wet, go slow, take a couple breaks, you'll be fine. Any input on other sumps you'd recommend for a 65g?

I plan on replacing the bioball with rubble rock. Thanks for the input. I have made sumps from 20g's before but thought this looked "neat". I would like to be able to have a liverock compartment, filter sock, refugium, and divided return area. I also need it to fit under my 65g which is 36" long. If you really ahve one you will sell me for cheaper, love to see a pic. I saw some at Waves, that looked cool, and would need little mods, but I have a G.C. to Liveaquaria for $100 so was looking there. I really like the Ecosystem ones, but $$$$ to much for me. I do plan on using there Miracle Mud though. Any input would be great.

Anyone use one of these? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=13648&ref=3969&cm_mmc=LiveAquaria_DFS_Links-_-Fish_Supplies-_-LiveAquaria_Gen_Page-_-Filters&subref=AA&N=2004+22778 Have a G.C. to liveaquaria and need a sump to resetup my 65g. It will be a reef system. Thanks for the input.

I vote for seahorses, but I'm seahorse obsessed. If you want to do them let me know and I can help out a bit.

Thanks for the tip, loved the show. Funny my old LFS was named Window to the Sea.

I'd love to give the book a read. I like to read many of the books since I deal with most of the newbs on the org. Nice to know what there reference when they have one. Talking with people who are succsessful is the best way to get the most up to date info IME as well. Nice to be able to ask a question and find a few people who have done it a way succsessfully. That's why I love forums. Do you have a Screen name over there? Mine is Kevin.

I'm glad we're on the same page. Cool. Glad I didn't offend you. WC's aren't that bad except they take seahorses from the wild. Other then that, very similiar to TR. I'm lazy so think I'll stick with CB for now. On seahorse.or read the posts, several of the articles are out of date, partly my fault since the two I'm writing on (tankmates, and Seahorse Species Mixing) are still not completed. I need to get moving, but have been pretty busy lately, and lazy. For your horses I bet they hit 6" easy, if they're good eaters 8" will not be hard to hit. For dwarfs my favorite site is seahorsesource.com, but Florida collector has WC's for cheaper. Let me know if yo need any info on keeping dwarfs. I know a bit, but know people who know much more.

Reefgeek, I know I am new to the forum, and to the area so I don't want you to misread me. My intentions are to be helpful. I'm not tyring to attack you at all. I'm really a friendly guy. For some reason I often come across wrong on forums. If we were to sit down together and share a few brews you would not have this perception of me. I've been working with seahorses for over six years. Have bred a few species. Am a mod on a seahorse forum. I don't know everything, the first to admit that, (especially with corals, I'm a total SPS/LPS newb but totally fascinated for now. Love that i can come here and get so much good info) but my experience in this hobby is alomst exclusivley with seahorses and there care. My views admittedly are quite conservative. Here is my take. Scott Micheal is great! Full of usefull information on numerous topics, but not so well versed on the finer points of every topic. He has his specialties, or chooses ot to focus so much on seahorses in his books, since they are a small portion of the hobby. Some people specialize in seahorses. They would be a better reference IMO. People like Marc Lamont, Dr. Martin Belli, Pete Giownja, Todd Gardener, Jeff Mitchell, Alyssa Abbot, David Warland even Amanda Vincent would be a better source IMO. Since these people work exclusively with seahorses they have a broader knowledge and more in depth research then someone who is writing a book on all aspects of the aquarium hobby. I would never ask Marc Lamont info on how to keep a SPS coral, he doesn't know jack, much in the same way I would respect his research on seahorses more then the writings of Scott Micheal. JMO. IMO from what I have read of Micheal, he is off on temperature requirement, nutrition, and tank mate compatibility. JMO. The horses you have will grow much larger. I am not the best at seahorse identification especially with juvies, which is what you have, but my best guess is that you currently have reidi or kuda. The coronet is not fully developed and I always seem to have trouble between reidi and kuda juvies. The kuda seem to have a coronet that is sloped backward a bit more when full grown. Most of the seahorses currently on the market being sold as TR are maricultured seahorses raised in net pens in Asia. They are concieved in holding tanks, then moved to ocean pens for raising, then back to tanks to be trained on fozen, then shipped out. The current species being produced in these pens are kuda, reidi, and kelloggi, although many of the seahorses being sold as TR Kelloggi are actually kuda IME. If you've been reading for three years you may have come across the difference between a CB seahorse and a maricultured seahorse. A CB seahorse would be sold as such due to it's advantages of never being exposed to parasites. Many people treat maricultured seahorses with a FW dip, a treatment of praziro, and a course of fenbedazole to comepensate for the parasite introduction, which is a great thing to due but will not eliminate the parasites that grow in the intestianal walls. I'm sure I'm not telling reefgeek anything he doesn't know but thought I would include it so it might be able to help someone who is not so well read. The net pens do make for efficent fry raising but were originally designed by Project Seahorse only to help aleviate the use of WC seahorses in the TCM. IMHO I think that the sale of these horses initially to the hobbyist maket was an after thought. All of this aside many people have great experiences with TR seahorses, and I'm sure you will too. I initially only dealt with WC's so I am of the opinion that TR seahorses can be great pets and live a wonderful life in captivity. My problem with the 12g nanocubes besides there tendancy to run warm (which can be compensated for) is that they don't actually hold 12g's of water. Closer to 8 or 9. Add rock and sand and there's not much water volume left. Also IME using several different size system seahorses do take advantage of the added room. For some reason this is so accepted with tangs, but still so foriegn to seahorse husbandry. While the seahorses are small I think the smaller tanks with temperature modifications will be great grow out tanks, but as they double and then triple in size a 12g nanocube can be problamatic. I have never tried to run the setup myself but have read several postings fom experienced keepers about troubles they have with the setup. So my advice on the nanocubes is based soley on acedotal evidence. Like most things it all depends on your level of dedication, and experience, as well as the ability to handle issues that arise. I'm not saying it's impossible to do, but much more challenging then running a 29g tall IMO. I don't know of anyone off hand that has tried the 12g nanocube with the fission skimmer. I do have a friend who uses an aquapod 12g with a chiller to grow out her erectus fry to 6 months. Personally I have found that seahorses utalize every inch of room of much larger tanks. On the nutrition aspect. Eating frozen is great. One of the benefits of buying TR horses. The difference between mysis and cyclops is great. Part of it has to do with the seahorses digestion system. Cyclops are rather small. It is easier for a seahorse with the way there digestion system works to eat larger items. Analisis of seahorse poop has shown that brine shrimp are very hard for a seahorse to digest and many times full size undigested brine can be food in the fecal matter. Cyclops is smaller, harder to digest. the nutritional profile between cyclops and mysis also varies. Most succsessful breeders I know begin to introduce frozen mysis as soon as three weeks after birth. Being TR your seahorses are probably used to mysis by now. Most likely Hikari or P&E. Mysis is better for them in the long run and much easier for you as a keeper IME. If you've been researching seahorses for three years are you a member of seahorse.org? If so what is your SN. Mine is Kevin. My offer stands to buy ya a beer. I'm fairly new up here. Haven't made many friends, looks like we have a common intrest. I'lll buy the beer, you can school me on corals.

I can't believe he told you to remove your rock.

P.S. Reefgeek, the horses look good. I admired them at Waves as well.

Reefgeek, I would try to get them onto frozen mysis ASAP. You can shave it into smaller pieces if necessary for size purposes. Will make your life way easier in the long run, The nano tanks are nice but won't make a good permanet home without mods. Seahorses need lower temps, 74F or lower for good long term health reasons. Impur, 29g tanks are great for seahorses. I wouldn't go with more then 4 if they are the only things in the tank. Remember these fish can range from 5 to 10" and are a high bioload fish. Taller tanks are better for te courtship dance but also seem to help with Gas bubble disease with seahorses. Evidence is all ancedotal on that though, no offical research. If you want more info on seahorses try seahorse.org Kevin

Sorry the dimensions are off for what I need good luck though.

Would be very intrested in the class. I know a bit about photography, have been a professional photographer for 9 years, but always find a way to learn something. I went with a different place this time because i needed the prints for a client tomorrow, but I will defenitley try them for future work.

Forgot to say thank you.