Holly

http://www.cnidarianreef.com/lamps.cfm This site has bulb comparisions. The Iwasaki rated best in PAR for IceCap ballasts (which I have) but it's 6500K, which I don't want. The best above 10K for IceCap (according to this site) is the AquaLine Buske 13K. It's single-ended, and I found it on EBay for $110. http://cgi.ebay.com/10K-400-Watt-Aqualine-Metal-Halide-Bulb-Brand-New_W0QQitemZ4304882362QQcmdZViewItem I like the looks (tank pics) of the AquaConnect 14K, CoralVue 15K (SE is 14K), and Hamilton 14K. Then I found several blogs that said that the XM SE 250W 15K bulbs were THE BEST SE. Too much info! UGH (scratch) Do you know anything about these bulbs? I'm leaning towards the Buske or XM rightnow, based on what I've been reading...

I have SE. My corals are all doing great and seem to be growing a little, so maybe if I move up to some good SE 14Ks, they'll really take off. Since I can't get the Pheonix DE, what do you recommend for SE in the 14-15 range? I change my MHs every 9 months (T5s every 6 months), so if it depreciates at 9m, that's OK I wish I'd gone ahead and put in ballasts for 400W bulbs instead of 250W. I have plenty of wattage (7+/gallon) but I don't think the quantity of light on the bottom is as high as I'd like...

I got a family membership even though my husband and kids couldn't care less about reef tanks. I prob can't make it to many meetings (with small kids and all, not too easy) but I'll buy from the sponsors and pay dues. This may be the nicest group of folks I've met since we've moved to the PNW

In Feb I have to replace my bulbs and I have a question. I have 3 250W Ushios now, 10K. I was thinking of going up to 14K or 20K temp color. Should I do that or stick with 10K? My tank is 24"deep.

(waving) Hi and welcome!! Do you have any pictures of your tank? (fish)

Maybe there's been a significant drop in killer whale populations?? I've no idea about that, but it'd certainly explain the overabundance of the sea lions...

Put it in a festive gift bag???

The farm-raised salmon weren't good survivors. They swam at the surface expecting food and were immediately picked off by fish eagles, etc; Also they didn't breed as easily as the wild salmon. They didn't have 'survival instincts' ... I suspect that most enetically engineered fish would prob be incapable of reproducing, not because of sterilization only, but because of lack-of-survival-skills. I mean, if you took a tank-raised clowns (with generations of domestication behind it) and tried to let one loose in the ocean with wild clowns, do you think it'd (1)survive long enough to breed or (2)if it survived long enough to be viable, be capable and comfortable enough to do so? That's seriously improbable... 'Kinda like the glowing fish. Nature is harsh, and I figure a glowing fish conditioned to domestication probably couldn't make the jump into wild survival under any circumstance... Esp since it's GLOWING AT NIGHT and easy prey for predation. No way a glowing fish would survive long in the ocean. Easy target RonJR - You're RIGHT that there's always that margin of error! It's absolutely there. No doubt. And that's why 100% should be sterilized ... I never heard about the prob with sea lions, but I haven't lived on the W Coast for a long time. No idea it was such a prob. Gonna google it some more! I'm sure they're an issue, but there's no way they're more of an issue than the extensive over-fishing. The trawlers and over-fishing have to be stopped before the people start slaughtering hundreds of sea lions. Seals are hungry natural predators and their numbers have to be kept in check, but I've seen Discovery programs about the salmon boats, and their take is disgustingly, ridiculously huge. There should be more stringent limits on it. Sea lions rely on salmon as a natural food source; these people do it for money. One salmon boat with nets can kill far more fish in a week than the sea lions, I'd suspect... (scratch) I'm not dissing fishers; I know they have families to support and this is their livelihood. I just think that you can start slaughtering the salmon's natural enemies because the number of people relying on profits from salmon is too great to be supported by natural salmon populations.... That's crazy stuff!!

Wild salmon taste better, but there are far fewer of them. I'm not sure it serves them to taste better. It may be the end of them. When Bush came into office, he had captive-bred salmon included in the counting of wild salmon, so they could be taken off the Endangered Species List and fished almost without limit. http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/salmon01bk.htm Things like this, in my opinion, are a far bigger threat than a few glowing fish (that were sterlized) sitting in a lab tank. People often get very upset at the phrase "genetic engineering," but it's done some good things. It's created vegetables resistant to insects and drought, to feed poor desert areas. It's created fish and animals resistant to disease. Not all of it's good, of course, but I don't think it's all bad either. Sometimes the benefits (by conserving natural sources or feeding people/animals in areas w/o resources) outweigh the downside, if it's done responsibly and carefully (ie, sterlization, etc). I'm not a big fan of genetic engineering; I just think issues such as this have a lot of grey area. Many tank-raised clowns won't bond with anemones now, because over time and breeding, they've lost that drive... That's a kind of incidental genetic engineering that's not good, but breeding clowns in captivity allows us to conserve more wild clowns, so I'm not sure it's the worst thing in the world. There's a trade off for everything. I'm not sure that Oceans, as big as they are, can supply enough fish for food and entertainment at this rate indefinitely (esp since most of the tank specimen come from only equatorial and temperate regions), so maybe it's wise to use land-based labs to help meet both requirements and take some pressure off the real thing. Nature is best, but it can't really support all of our demands... That said, I don't see why anyone would care about those glowing fish. I wouldn't want them, because it's not like they're 'real' fish.. but if less picky Petsmart people take those instead of real fish, then whatever. 'Doesn't really matter, so long as they're sterile (the fish, not the Petsmart shoppers LOL) (whistle)

My fav is the woman mouthing "THANK YOUUUUU" LOL @ CCR & RonJR

Wow - that's quite a lot.. More than I thought... (didn't mean to rhyme there) Thanks!

Nice zoos! Those pics are really good; Very good resolution on the ones in focus...

This is NSFW and NSFkids but ROFL ! rofl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmVU08zVpA

I was just wondering how many due-paying members are in PNWMAS..? I finally got around to joining via PayPal today (family membership). (clap) I was curious as to the head count. Does PNWMAS include WA and OR only?

OMG that's amazing. I LOVE that wood. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.. That's an amazing set-up.

Thanks Queen! Upscales got 3 cb butterflies in, but I snagged up one of them before they'd even been acclimated and put into the tanks. I also got a yellow tang. Those two bonded while I was treating them in the quarantine tank and now they're inseparable. That yellow sure loves romaine! I have macro in my main tank, and he really enjoys pecking at it too. CCR - I hadn't thought of that... I only left it under there for about 15min tho. That was enough time to fry it to a crisp. (clap)

It's gorgeous!

I'm still gonna go in search of a butterfly today, though, so I can start the quarantine process. Better safe than sorry. Upscales is supposed to be getting a shipment in today, so hopefully they'll have one. I've never been to Upscales or Waves and would very much like to see them. It's just further from where I live in Salmon Creek WA than some of the other shops...which is why we haven't been. Quite a schlepp

The aptasia was attached to the top of a powerhead (at the surface) but disappeared when I tried to pinch it off. It went down into the hole where the plug cord enters the powerhead. I just took the powerhead out and now have it baking under the MHs. That should kill the bugger. (clap) The location right at the surface is probably why the shrimp didn't get it. Hopefully, if there are any more, they're down low enough to be taken care of by the peppermint.

I've found my first aptasia in my tank... which means there are prob 100,000,000 more in there, right? I tried to remove it, but it shriveled up and seemed to disappear. (cussing) I have plenty of peppermints already in there. I called FantaSeas and Upscales but neither have copper-banded butterflies in right now. Any other ideas (until I'm able to get a butterfly)?

dachshunds*

These dachsund's are all ADORABLE. I always liked those though, esp the smooth. CUTE

I see the post! How adorable!! How are things going with him (her?)??

No, not our first dog. Years ago, we had danes. Very sweet dogs but they don't live very long. :( My husband's a boxer guy. His old boxer died of brain cancer at 10yrs of age. Husband prefers big dogs. I love boxers too but they need room to run around (our yard is very small), and our kids are scared of larger dogs. Whitman is PERFECT. Quiet, smart, affectionate, non-destructive, doesn't dig or chew, doesn't require long walks, almost house-trained already, perfect size for the kids, totally loves people... I've never had a dog this perfect before. (clap) Yeah, they're kinda pricey, unfortunately. What kinda pup did you get Michael? How old is it? I must've missed that post...

We got a puppy (not a 'Xmas puppy'.. We'd planned on getting 1 and got him when we got back from Disney). He's a king charles spaniel. I think we've tentatively named him Whitman cuz he's so sweet