albertareef

E & G kinda went together.... Bob posted the pic of his old tank under "out with the old" after he emptied it out so I posted the pic of it in it's new home under "in with the new". Sorry... didn't mean to confuse things.

Wow... that is going to look awesome. I love the deco paper with the crackle finish. Too bad the local artist thing didn't work out the way you hoped but this is going to look really sharp! Hmmm... wonder if it's too late to tear mine apart and start over... nope, my SO would kill me!

Sweet! I would love some of that...

I had a '71 that was in my family since it was new.... got rid of it in '85 but it was a great little car. 1600 cc inline 4 putting out about 90hp but the car was light so it didn't seem so bad. MacPherson struts in the front. Super reliable. I think we put one radiator and a water pump in it over the 14 years we owned it... not bad. If you can find one enjoy!

Hey Bob, Sorry to hear you are stepping down, but I am guessing you will probably be enjoying life a little more without having to bite your tongue all the time... Enjoy your new found (or rather rediscovered) freedom!

The one thing I see you getting in food grade vs mag flake is consistancy. Mag flake could change in every batch, I would guess that food grade mag would be more carefully monitored. Interesting point... I honestly don't know the details on food testing so well (anyone out there?) but for many reagent grade chemicals, you can get batch or lot specific analysis that list all detectable trace elements and their levels - which is one reason they can be rather expensive - vs. more generic lab grade chemicals which simply guarantee the presence of the listed chemical at XX %. So... with the latter, you could indeed have some pretty big lot variations in terms of the composition and not know about it. Hopefully, someone else can comment on the standards for human consumption items (testing frequency, parameters) but I think it might be more a matter of guaranteing what isn't in there (eg. toxic chemicals, harmful bacteria, etc.) than defining what is. The complication being "toxic" defined by human standards. I really have no axe to grind in this - just thought it was an interesting philosophical question.... and one with no clear cut "right" answer from my perspective.

Wow... I missed all the excitement! I think this point by Ryan is an important one to follow up on. As he indicates, lab grade is, in fact, more pure in terms of chemical content (typically % by weight) while consumption grade indicates freedom from toxic (for humans) components - or rather their presence below certain thresholds. Unfortunately, the higher purity of lab grade does not necessarily translate to safe usage for hobbyists since the remaining impurities, although at very low levels by percentage, could be very toxic to certain organisms. This is compounded by the fact that, in order to reach the desired level of purity, some chemicals are subjected to purification schemes that introduce highly toxic elements as a byproduct - albeit at very low levels (by weight). So... while lab grade might be great for insuring fidelity of chemical reactions in a lab setting (what it is designed for), it might be bad news in a reef because of it's particular "contaminant". Likewise, while consumption grade might be generally safe for us to use in food, its relatively higher levels of impurities could increase the risk of adding something you will regret! Unfortunately, this means there is probably no good rule of thumb to go by other than other peoples' experience with individual products or a manufactures' willingness to certify a product for expressed purposes. Apologies for the lengthy disrcourse but I think this is an important and interesting question.... and obviously one that generates some strong opinions! Skimmate anyone?!?!?

I think Izzy has the best idea... get an intel Mac, set it up with Parallels and then run OSX, XP, Vista, Unix, whatever you want without even rebooting! We have several machines running this way and people are pretty darn happy with it. Of course.... that means buying a new machine.

Nice! Wow... you all have some really nice specimens going! If anyone is actively fraging these days please keep me in the loop - I could make some room in the 120 for these! Especially partial to those with the purple, orange, pink or blue as the tank already has a fair amount of green going on. Keep the pics coming!

Glad to see the suggestion box up so quickly! I think there were several good ideas floated at the meeting yesterday which it would be good to have input on. Some of my favorites in no particular order... 1. Sponsoring a tank locally (OMSI?) and/or at the Hatfield - this seems like a nice combination of educational opportunity and way to raise awareness of the group. 2. Tank of the month - feature a member tank/story on the site then follow up with informal presentation/discussion at the next meeting. 3. Frag exchange/sale - having a mechanism to donate frags for auction/sale to support the club as well as facilitate exchanges between members. 4. Some featured "reef basic" presentation/discussions at the meetings where some of our local expertice could be put to use to help inform members in areas they may not be well versed in - this could help expand our overall knowledge base and perhaps draw in some newcomers and suplement the more detailed talks by invited guests. Not sure if this actually came up at the meeting but I would love to have something like an SPS tutorial. Thanks for the chance to throw some ideas out there! The group buy idea is pretty good to as it would allow us to use some group buying power - the trick will be finding enough people who want the same thing!

Hey Bob - yep, the Potter's is doing fine... he is a great looking fish! Everyone from your old tank has acclimated really well. I did have to rescue the clown Gobie from the overflow in my old tank when I tore it down but he still doing well. Still can't believe all the tangs are getting along... I guess the body types are just different enough that they don't perceive each other as a threat. It's all surprisingly peaceful.... I will keep my fingers crossed!

Thanks! Yep... I'm feeling pretty luck not to have not lost the whole lot all over my livingroom floor - especially since almost everything in the 120 was crammed into my old tank for 2 weeks while I was getting it put back together..... would have been ugly!

Thanks Bob! I posted some additional pics on the members tanks page so you can get a better look...

.... Lowman's old 120 gal is up and running again in it's new home thanks to much help from Bob, Austin and Patrick. Didn't change much but did combine most of his existing livestock with the inhabitants of my old 90 gal low-light reef which had been up and running for about 6 years. When I tore it down, I discovered the front seam (acrylic) had split about half-way along the top edge.... just in time! Current livestock includes, Sohal, Kohl, and Scopas tangs, clown, neon and nanoreef gobies, lawnmower blenny, dragonet, potters and coral beauty angels, scribbled rabbit, six line wrasse, a couple of chromis and numerous coral, anemonies, clam, crabs snails etc., etc. Amazinigly, everybody is currently getting along! Still need to get the Ca reactor up and running and tweak the seascape but it's running! I will try and follow up with some macro shots once I dig out my tripod but this gives an impression anyway.

.... and in with the new.... ... for me anyway. This is Lowman's old tank in it's new home. Thanks again for all your help Bob - likewise Austin and Patrick from Saltwater Fanta-seas, you guys are all awsome!

Hey Bob, the new tank looks sharp - I like the lighting and it looks good with the brick backdrop. Glad to see the new project is coming along. I will try and get some pics of the 120 up soon.