USCG CWO

NOT a happy camper!!! Take photos of the surgery.

I tried feeding it a half a silverside yesterday but it wouldn't take it. I'll take a gander at that webpage. Thanks.

Dennis, I got it from Isaac at Seahorse. I believe he had it under MH. Not sure of K rating. I have it under 6x54 T5's. I hope he moves out from under the rock soon. Shane

What gives with my BTA?? I don't mean to be offensive, but I believe mine is seriously retarded. I thought they needed to be out in the light and such?!? You make the call. Does my BTA ride the short bus?? (nutty) Why is it hiding under the rocks? [/img] [/img] Shane

I would like to thank Dennis for the frags he donated to my office tank. He was extremely generous, I mean more than generous, and now there is no more room in my tank. I can't wait to see it as it fills in. Thank you Dennis.

To late the kids saw him and he has finally succumbed do his injuries. I will have to go get another one. Now I know this sounds horrible, but do I leave him as food for the other inhabits, as he is in a really hard to reach spot, or do I fish him out. Will his decomposing mess with my water parameters?

My cleaner shrimp molted during the night, and as far as I can tell, in his weakened state wondered into my bubble tip anemone. I was able to pull him out, but now he is on his back kicking like he is in his death throws. Is there anything I can do to help him? He was our first shrimp and the kids are quite fond of him. Shane

I can bring adult beverages and front some money for BBQ. Weekends work best. Shane

Absolutely Mike. I am still building the canopy for my 75 but I should have it built by this weekend. Give me a week and I 'll shoot you some pics. If you can't wait that long, Isaac is running a single over his show tank by the door, and I am pretty sure he is using Radiums at home. He might be able to get you some photos. Shane

New Radiums I just purchased the dual 250w Galaxy ballest and 20000K radiums. I am looking forward to upgrading my lights. Should I be running VHO white to offset some of the blue or should I be running actincs with them? I have four VHO on Icecap end caps on a ARO ballest. Thanks Shane

Hey Brandy, I don't have pics, but so far we have added a small clean-up crew, two heads of frogspawn, one head of torch coral, small candy cane coral and a very small yellow watchman goby. We would like to keep whatever suits our fancy. We just have to be careful of over crowding. Shane PS: Don't tell my bosses but the TV is really for Friday movie day.

I'm game. Count me in.

I'm in. I owe Isaac a ton. Shane

Here's an update. We added the rock and water and now everything is running. Latest pics. Here is what the middle skin will look like. We are trying for an in-the-wall look without actually being in the wall. The opening on the left will be framed and covered and allow for ventilation.

I just returned one the day after I bought it. Everytime I unplugged something into the white plugs the unit reset all the programming, and would make a sparking sound. The unit also doesn't allow for much in the way of diverse timing. Big piece of (censored)! IMHO Shane

Kris let me know how the reactor works. I just bought two of the Little Fishes reactors, but one is still on order. I am going to run carbon, and Phosban. Hopefully that will be the end of my slime issues. I don't like medicating but I used Red Seas slime remover and it has worked like a charm, but now I am not getting any polyp extension or inflation. I am conducting a major water change today, hooking up carbon, and doing a general all around tank cleaning. Hopefully they will get back to being happy.

A couple more shots, front half and back half of the room.

There are five of us in the office. All of us enjoy saltwater, only a couple are willing to pay for it. (whistle) Dang Andy, I could have swore you said PFO ballast. Oh well I corrected myself.

I have to give some background first so please bear with me. Okay, so for those of you who don't know me I am in the Coast Guard here in Portland, and I'm a Coast Guard Investigating Officer. Basically I conduct maritime accident investgations, and represent the Coast Guard during administrative hearings for acts of mariner misconduct. We had a pretty drab conference/interview room in our office, so we decided to upgrade it to help make life a little better at work. So without further ado: We painted the walls and added a nice conference table and chairs, installed a 42" Plasma TV, a Onkyo 7.1 surround sound system, a Oppo 1080p upgrading DVD player, and we tied one of our computer workstations into the whole system. Next to come, video conferencing. Oh and I forgot to mention we built the entertainment stand and we added a 20 gallon tall, 175w MH with Hamilton magnetic ballast (Thanks Andy), and a sump we modified to include a skimmer section, refugium section , and submersible return pump section. So now that is out of the way, here's the pics. Let me know what you think. Basic Frame Adding Shelves Added Backing for top shelving Stain and polyed Getting there We have a few more things to take care of, like adding the skin to the middle and lower areas. I''l post more pics as we go. Thanks for looking. Shane

Jason, if you can't hook up with Lowman, I have some. I live in Vancouver over in Hazel Dell, by Columbia River High School. Let me know. Shane

Thank you all for the advice. I have shut off the lights, and added another Koralia to the tank so now I am running a 1, 2, and a 3 in a 55 gallon. It is so turbulent in there that my clowns are surfing the breakers on the surface. (laugh) I have been blowing off the rocks with a turkey baster and doing water changes, but this stuff is like a algae mat and does not come up very easy. Over my rugium I have the Cheapy HD CFL light set opposite to my tank lights. I'll see if I can fit another one under my stand. I'll swing in Isaac and bring you a water sample, but I am pretty sure it's was the bottled water, crappy Coaralife skimmer, and overfeeding on my part. Here! Here! Ryan. Shane

The reactors are on order. I'll hook up one when I get them in. Until then I've added an extra power head for more flow, I'm cutting back on food and light, and conducting frequent water changes. Anything else I need to do. This crap is everywhere.

Okay long story short went to D.C. for training. Left instructions for wifey to top off aquarium everyday while I was gone, I don't have a ATO. She ran out of RO water and instead of running to WinCo she used Dasani bottled water (two cases worth). (flame) I have now been fighting Cyanobacteria for the week I have been back. I am pretty sure it is the phosphates from the bottled water. Test show slight color change from 0 on API test kit. I have a refugium with cheato on my system. Now my question is, I am moving everything from my 55 to my new 75 in the next two weeks or so. Will the bacteria follow me over if I just move the rock and livestock over and use new water and sand? I was planning to use some of the water I currently have to hopefully alleviate the new tank cycling. On the new system I will be running a better skimmer and 2 phosban reactors(phosban and carbon).

Thanks Andy. I'll be getting in contact with you soon for the other thing. Great tank. I hope you like the firefish. My daughter has one in her 10 gallon nano. They are a neat fish.

I am just looking for something that doesn't bleach out my corals. Everything under my T-5's loses it's color or the color fades. Like reds fade to pink or orange. The bulb recommendation came from Isaac. It is what he runs at home, and in the tank to the right of his front door of his shop. It is blue but he says with the white actinic it evens out.